Urban casual fashion / MON 10-19-26 / Thai currency units / What everyone becomes at the touch of love, per Plato's "Symposium" / New York city, county or river / Pre-1917 Russian autocrat / "Rocky III" actor with a mohawk

Constructor: Michele Govier

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)

[8D: Darth Vader's childhood nickname = ANI]

THEME: SHADOWBOXES (57A: Punches the air ... or a hint to what 1-Across creates in this puzzle — the SUN (1A: Center of the solar system, with "the") in the NW corner must be imagined as shining over three elements of the grid that cast "shadows" (represented by shaded squares (or "boxes")) on the answers below them:

Theme answers:

• AWNING (13A: Cafe overhang) casts a "shadow" on FAWNING OVER (18A: Giving excessive praise and flattery)
• TREE (29A: Branch plant?) casts a "shadow" on STREETWEAR (35A: Urban casual fashion)
• HAT (37A: Sombrero or fedora) casts a "shadow" on "THAT'S RIGHT" (41A: "You are correct")

Word of the Day: OSWEGO (38D: New York city, county or river) —

Oswego (/ɒsˈwiːɡoʊ/ oss-WEE-goh, Onondaga: Deyoʼswé·geʼ ) is a city in and the county seat of Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is situated at the mouth of the Oswego River on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Syracuse and 74 miles (119 km) east-northeast of Rochester by road. The city promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York".

The first European settlement at Oswego was a British trading post established in 1722, and it was first incorporated as a village in 1828 before becoming a city in 1848. British forces briefly captured the city during the War of 1812, but were defeated nearby later that same month. The canalization of the Oswego River was a major boon to Oswego, attracting settlement and investment; this was later bolstered by its status as a rail hub for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, though this status had begun to decline by the 1940s. During World War II, Fort Ontario was the site of the only Jewish refugee camp in the United States. Today, the city's economy is primarily based around manufacturing and services. (wikipedia)

• • •

Whoa. I was prepared to give this two-and-a-half stars based on the fact that the revealer seemed slightly off (*anything* can cast a "shadow"—what AWNINGs, TREEs and HATs provide is shade) and the fill is quite poor. The latter remains true, but I have a lot greater tolerance for it now that I fully understand the theme. See, I absolutely did not notice, at first, that the "shadows" were created by identical words directly above and slightly to the left of them. I did the puzzle Downs-only, and I was caught up in the intricacies of that struggle, and so somehow never saw doubling. I just saw the "SHADOW BOXES," not what was (in the conceit of the puzzle) causing the shadows. Once I saw the AWNING above the shaded "AWNING" in FAWNING OVER—which was well after I'd finished the puzzle and was already marking up my print-out—I had a real "ohhhhhhhhhh" moment, and revised my rating of the puzzle upward, quite substantially. Now that I fully understand the theme, I see that it's *way* denser than I thought it was, with three themers, a revealer, three shade-casting answers (AWNING, TREE, HAT), and, of course, the SUN. That's 58 squares worth of theme material out of 184 total fillable (i.e. non-black) squares. That makes the grid nearly 1/3 theme. Dense. So the fill, yeah, it's less than great, for sure (IGA NNW ANI BAHTS ASAHI TSAR ARON CST NALA ORO XER OAKEN etc. plus the dreaded EAPOE, ugh), but the theme is Really imaginative and structurally demanding, so I think the puzzle is an overall winner nonetheless.

The Downs-only solve was mostly easy, though the NE gave me some trouble, as IRON LAW is not a phrase that rolls off the (my) tongue—I want it the law to be "iron-clad," and I want it to be a rule, not a law (I knew it wasn't "rule" because "rule" is in the clue, but the phrase really wants to be "iron-clad rule") (9D: Rule with no exceptions). I also imagined that Plato thought that everyone became a FOOL at the touch of love (11D: What everyone becomes at the touch of love, per Plato's "Symposium" => POET). Oh, and that MOVE was SWAP (10D: Change places). In the middle of the grid, I wanted STEAMED before SEETHED (26D: Was fuming mad). OSWEGO would've been hard for me, but a. I live in the state of NY, not *that* far from OSWEGO County, and b. I managed to infer the initial "O" from -AF (OAF). New York has a lot of Native American place names with "O"s. OSWEGO, ONEONTA ... my "local" baker is in OWEGO (about 20 minutes away). I went for a walk in OTSININGO Park this morning. I'm surprised anyone outside NY is expected to know where / what the hell OSWEGO is, especially on a Monday, but the crosses were all fair, right? I can see that answer flummoxing Downs-only solvers, but I lucked out, geographically. 

Bullets:

• 29D: Pre-1917 Russian autocrat (TSAR) — yes, it *could* be CZAR, but if it's a Russian ruler, *always* default to TSAR. Most of the time, if it's CZAR, it'll be in the context of some political appointment, like "Drug CZAR."
• 24D: Work likely to be shown at an independent cinema (ART FILM) — got this easily. I see a lot of ART FILMs, though I'm not sure I'd use that term. I'm watching the 1977 Japanese horror-fantasy film House right now, which feels like an ART FILM, but only in the context of 2026 USA. In 1977 Japan, it was a smash hit. Extremely mainstream, whereas ART FILM to me implies something with less obvious commercial appeal. Yes, the wikipedia entry says that an ART FILM is "not designed for mass appeal." House is the kind of movie that would play at an "art house theater," but I don't know if it's exactly an ART FILM. All the terminology here is, let's say, imprecise. But whatever House is, it's fascinating (and wild, and hilarious), and you should see it. 

• 51D: Winter hrs. in Wichita (CST) — didn't know if Wichita was Central or Mountain, so had to wait on that first letter. In the end, "CAN I GO?" was a lot more plausible than "MAN, I GO!," so I managed to enter the correct letter.

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Non, ni, 'a'ole / SUN 10-18-26 / Less than satisfactory, slangily / Novel form of summer escapism? / Tree that can be a source of water for thirsty elephants / Taib? Tbia? / Cupcake, in Ireland / ___ Allen, host of "Chopped" / "Ibis" poet / Pricing game on "The Price Is Right" / Sex symbol of the 1950s-'60s, familiarly / Reason to head for the hills / Bob ___, alter ego of Mr. Incredible

Constructor: Peter Gorman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Tell Me About Yourself!" — The puzzle is talking to you about itself (?)— “I" phrases are clued in some kind of punny or unexpectedly literal way (???):

Theme answers:

• "I NEED SOME SPACE" (23A: Heyhowareyou) [you 'need' to put space in between the clue words]
• "I TELL YOU WHAT" (32A: "What") [literally, just the puzzle telling you 'What']
• "I MISSED YOU" (49A: All--can-eat buffet) ['You' is missing from the clue phrase]
  "I DON'T SAY THIS LIGHTLY" (65A: "This") ['This' is clued in bold, i.e. not lightly]
• "I'M OVER HERE" (86A: See 88-Across) [the clue for 88-Across ([Here]) is literally directly below this clue]
• ON EARTH (88A: Here)
• "I HAVE NO WORDS" (97A: Non, ni, 'a'ole) ['no' words, i.e. words that mean 'no' in other languages]
• "I'M A BIT CONFUSED" (114A: Taib? Tbia?) ["a bit" confused, i.e. with letters mixed up]

Word of the Day: HEIDI Gardner (106A: "S.N.L." alum Gardner) —

[from the Apple TV show Shrinking]

Heidi Lynn Gardner (born July 27, 1983) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, an NBC sketch comedy series for eight seasons from season 43 in 2017 until season 50 in 2025. She was promoted to repertory status on the show in 2019. [...] Gardner departed the show in 2025, after the conclusion of the show's 50th season. In 2026, Gardner admitted that she was ultimately cut from the show ahead of season 51.

• • •

I can't talk much about this because I feel like I don't really get it. I never caught on to what the puzzle was trying to do ... or else I did, and I just didn't like it. I'm still hung up on how the "I'M OVER HERE" / ON EARTH thing is supposed to work. I get that [Here] is (literally) ON EARTH, but ... is the idea that "I'M OVER HERE" is, like, physically higher in the grid than ON EARTH? Because that answer is not really "over" [Here], i.e. ON EARTH. It's way on the other side of the grid. If it were literally over the answer for [Here], maybe it would make more sense to me. Maybe. I dunno [oh ok, just realized that 86A: See 88-Across is “over [Here]” in the clues! I never look at clue layout, so that was obviously hard to appreciate]. "I TELL YOU WHAT" is funny in its ridiculous literalness, but "I NEED SOME SPACE" doesn't really land. You just ... don't space the words? But ... "you" are speaking, so do you really "need" space(s between your words)? But I guess if “you” are the puzzle, it makes sense, “you” should have spaces. The way the "I MISSED YOU" clue is written is so awkward—the "you" in "All-you-can-eat" is just missing, so you get this double dash ("--") thing, which (for me) was really hard to read / make sense of. Whatever sense of humor is happening here, it's mostly just missing me. The fill also creaks throughout. The SMOLT / OCTAL pairing is a real lowlight, as is IN A MEMO, NO BUENO (?) and ABED, a word no one uses that also gets an "?" clue (3D: Undercover?). Never thought of ABED because I've never used the word ABED. Feels archaic. But like I said, I shouldn't go on because this felt like it simply wasn't for me. Maybe it's over my head, like some kinds of comedy that everyone seems to love and I'm like "I don't get it." It's very possible.

Sorry, I really truly have nothing big-picture to say about this puzzle. I found it toughish in places, but somehow also finished quickly. The TONE / ABED / NO BUENO part def slowed me down, but other than that, there weren't any obviously thorny places. Occasionally the clues got (for me) very hard, like with GELATO (117A: It's cold in Italy) and BUN (115D: Cupcake, in Ireland) and even OVID, whom I've read a bunch, but "Ibis"? (36D: "Ibis" poet). No idea. Four-letter poet, though—not hard to infer. I don't know who various SNL alums are or who hosts Chopped or who the "alter ego" of Mr. Incredible is (?!?!), so I had to work through those, but that's just normal everyday solving trouble. Seemed like there were a lot of names, but none of them sank me. I think my favorite clue of the whole puzzle was 56D: Reason to head for the hills (SKI TRIP). The puzzle was pretty light on high points for me.

["I'm right over here / Why can't you see me? Oh oh oh..."]

Bullets:

• 24D: Sex symbol of the 1950s-'60s, familiarly (MARILYN) — was expecting a nickname ("familiarly"), but first names are "familiar," and she was commonly referred to by just the one name, so that's fine.
• 85D: "Lay it on me" ("SHOOT") — kept wanting it to be "SAY IT." Which is reminding me that ON EARTH (the "H" cross) was actually pretty hard to put together.

• 117A: It's cold in Italy (GELATO) — does GELATO mean "cold" in Italian? No, that's FREDDO. That makes this clue weird, since GELATO (the frozen dessert) is cold no matter where you are. 
• 7D: Novel form of summer escapism? (POOL READ) — I have definitely heard of BEACH READ. I have definitely not heard of POOL READ. I get it, I just haven't heard anyone use it as a term.
• 48D: Series finale? (ETC.) — Does that even really need the "?" I had ESS here.
• 82D: Something in which you might stand for a spell (BEE) — this one seems like it should have a "?"—does anyone call the act of spelling a word a "spell"?

• 96D: Pricing game on "The Price Is Right" (PLINKO) — I guess it's a classic game from that show, but I haven't thought about that show since the '80s and am surprised we're still supposed to know things about it. It's still on the air, isn't it? Does Drew Carey host it? [checks] Yes. This is his 20th season. I forget that daytime TV still exists. Sometimes I forget that network TV still exists. I don't think I could name more than a handful of shows currently on the air, across all the major networks (ABC NBC CBS FOX). 
• 71A: They can make a pronounced difference (UMLAUTS) — cute, but also very vague, as many diacritical marks (all of them?) do this (i.e. change pronunciation of a letter).
• 115D: Cupcake, in Ireland (BUN) — I thought "Cupcake" was a pet name, so I really wanted "HON," but that didn't seem very Irish.

That'll have to do for today. Sorry I couldn't work up enthusiasm for this thing, even negative enthusiasm. It just missed me. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. maybe I'm just crossworded out—I had a lovely day up in Ithaca at the Finger Lakes Crossword Competition, scoring puzzles and chatting to people and eating Oreos and what not. Turnout was as big as I've seen it, which is great, since all the proceeds go to Tompkins Learning Partners, an adult literacy org. It's fun scoring puzzles because you get to see exactly the place(s) that are most difficult for people. There was a cross in the Toughest puzzle today that wiped out maybe 1/3 of solvers: Beethoven's "MISSA Solemnis" crossing Chocolat director LASSE Hallström at the "A." The Toughest puzzle also had a tricky theme where answers were represented literally in the puzzle, like AGEBEAUTY ("Age before beauty") and DEATHLIFE ("Life after death"). One of the answers was NOONDOGDAY, for Dog Day Afternoon, which some people had apparently never heard of—I saw a couple Dog Day Afterboons and at least one Dog Day Aftersoon. Maybe they thought SOONDOGDAY was Soon Before Dog Day—sounds like something directed by LASSE Hallström (he directed My Life as a Dog, after all). Anyway, a good time for sure. But yes, I'm tired.

[Middle school cafeteria!—this photo shows the whole room but you can't really see the bulk of the crowd, who are at table in red chairs near the front of the room]

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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