THEME: LATIN LOVERS (64A: Stereotypical charmers ... or those charmed by the answers to the starred clues?) — familiar Latin phrases
Theme answers:
AD INFINITUM (17A: *Forever)
SUI GENERIS (25A: *One of a kind)
MAGNUM OPUS (31A: *Masterwork)
POST MORTEM (46A: *After the event, as an analysis)
QUID PRO QUO (51A: *Reciprocal exchange)
["et cetera et cetera, AD INFINITUM, ad astra, forever, and ever..."]
Word of the Day:SUI GENERIS(25A) —
Sui generis is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind" or "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". It denotes an exclusion to the larger system an object is in relation to.
Several disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include:
Biology, for species that do not fit into a genus that includes other species (its own genus)
Creative arts, for artistic works that go beyond conventional genre boundaries (its own genre)
Law, when a special and unique interpretation of a case or authority is necessary (its own special case)
Intellectual property rights, for types of works not falling under general copyright law but protected through separate statutes
Laws of war, for types of actions that are argued to be legal due to exceptional circumstances in conflict
Philosophy, to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality that cannot be reduced to a lower concept or included in a higher concept (its own category) (wikipedia)
• • •
[this cover gives me grad school flashbacks]
So it's a bunch of Latin phrases? That's it? Somehow LATIN LOVERS is not nearly enough to elevate this above the level of "mere random list." No "Love" content here at all. People who do not "love" Latin use these terms all the time. They're basic terms that have made their way into the English language. The least familiar of these is almost certainly SUI GENERIS, a term I sometimes use now but one that I don't think I really understood until way into adulthood. The others I've known since I was a child. On the whole, this feels conceptually uninspired. Plus the fill is pretty stale. I like PUNTS ON alright (not pretty, but colloquial and fresh-feeling to me), and GATE AGENT's OK I guess, but OBIT PAGES felt janky ("pages," plural? That's a lot of deaths ... and anyway, I think we just call them the "obituaries" or the "obits"), and beyond that, there's just a lot of crosswordese. Haven't seen OLLAS in a while. You know it's crosswordese when Spelling Bee is like "nope, not a word" (trust me, I've tried ... a lot). ORONO is another I'd know nothing about if it weren't for crosswords, particularly crosswords from the '90s. Ha, the data confirms it!: Mid-'90s! Peak ORONO! (34D: City that's home to the University of Maine)
[1997: 12 appearances—more than all ORONO appearances in the last decade combined]
TASER is always grim. Never happy to see it. But I'm way happier to see TASER than I am ****ing WWIII right now (7D: Hypothetical (one hopes!) global conflict, for short). "One hopes!" Yes, LOL, hilarious! Fingers crossed! Somehow this answer doesn't seem that funny to me right now, coming as it does in the middle of an undeclared war being waged by total incompetents who have the most powerful military on the planet but absolutely no strategy, no end game, no organized international support, and historically low support at home. What could go wrong?! Earlier today (Sunday), I went to see SIRAT, a harrowing, brutal, relentless movie that takes place against the backdrop of a very ill-defined and never directly-shown military conflict that feels a hell of a lot like WWIII. This is all to say that I was in no mood to appreciate the cutesiness of the WWIII clue. I guess actual WWIII remains "hypothetical," but pffffffft I dunno, man. It's all a little too plausible at the moment for me to be able to chuckle at it.
As usual, the longer answers were the trouble spots in my Downs-only solve. OBIT PAGES took a lot of inferred crosses. PUNTS ON was PUTS OFF at first (4D: Kicks down the road, as a decision). My [Italian cheese] was ASIAGO before it was ROMANO, and my [Rx writers] were DRS before they were MDS. Wasn't sure about the second vowel in "OVI-" (67D: Prefix meaning "egg"). Now that I write it out, "OVA-" does seem pretty unlikely, since OVA are the eggs themselves. OVO is Latin for "egg." It really could only have been OVI-. But still, I was cautious, and left the final letter blank until SISTER came along and confirmed the "I." Most dangerous error of the day was DUVET for QUILT (54D: Warm bed covering). One thing I will say about this theme—it really, really helped with the Downs-only solve. Once I got a couple of Latin phrases, I knew to go looking for them, and QUID PRO QUO ended up being a real lifesaver—one I probably wouldn't have been able to infer so easily if I hadn't understood the theme.
Gonna go watch the Oscars now, I think, for as long as I can stay awake. Take care, everyone. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. my wife’s aunt Sandra died last week and so my wife (Penelope) is off to NZ today to attend the memorial near Auckland. She wrote a really moving remembrance of Sandra yesterday. You don’t have to know either of them to appreciate it. ❤️
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THEME: "History Course" — an "IDES" of March theme + a salad theme, all brought together by CAESAR (126A: This puzzle's subject, in two very different ways) (CAESAR is a salad type and "BEWARE THE IDES" was said to Caesar (in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) as a warning about his impending death (69A: Infamous warning for 126-Across ... and for solvers, when filling in seven squares in this puzzle?))
OLIVE OIL (7D: 1/2 cup, slowly drizzled and whisked to form an emulsion)
LEMON JUICE (35A: 2 tbsp., for acidity)
ROMAINE (22A: One large head, shredded, with the outer leaves discarded)
GARLIC (51A: One clove, crushed)
PEPPER (86A: Ground, black, to taste)
BREAD CUBES (107A: One cup, seasoned and lightly toasted until crispy)
ANCHOVY PASTE (67D: 2 tbsp., for a briny flavor)
EGG YOLK (125A: One, coddled or raw, add an extra for a richer flavor)
PARMESAN (89D: 1/2 cup, freshly grated)
Extra theme answer:
MIDDLEMARCH (40D: George Eliot masterpiece ... or a punny hint to seven squares in this puzzle) (because the IDEs of March are in the "middle" of the month (i.e. the 15th, today))
Word of the Day: UX (37D: The "U" of UX = USER) —
User experience (UX) is how a user interacts with and experiences a product, system, or service. It includes a person's perceptions of utility, ease of use, and efficiency. Improving user experience is important to most companies, designers, and creators when creating and refining products because negative user experience can diminish the use of the product and, therefore, any desired positive impacts. Conversely, designing toward profitability as a main objective often conflicts with ethical user experience objectives and even causes harm. User experience is subjective. However, the attributes that make up the user experience are objective.
• • •
Well the theme density here is genuinely impressive. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. This is basically two complete themes in one. I mean, if just one of these themes had been the theme, that would've seemed ... maybe not totally sufficient, conceptually, but certainly sufficient by volume. I mean, there are ten ingredients in the damned CAESAR salad alone, and then seven "IDE"s, which means fourteen additional theme answers, plus CAESAR, plus MIDDLEMARCH, which (if my math is correct) means there are twenty-six (26!) theme answers total in today's puzzle. Absolutely bonkers. And the salad ingredients are all symmetrical!?! Truly, in terms of density and architectural complexity, this puzzle is spectacular. I just wish it had been more fun to solve. Finding a bunch of "IDE"s was kind of fun, I suppose, in that way that any rebus is fun because you have to hunt down the relevant squares, but ingredients of a CAESAR salad!?!?! Ten of them? Pretty boring. I kinda wish the puzzle had just stuck to the Julius CAESAR / hidden "IDE"s / MIDDLEMARCH of it all and ditched the CAESAR salad stuff entirely, in favor of making a much (much) more colorful and (esp.) cleaner grid. I'm much more impressed by cleverness than I am by sheer density, more drawn in by a theme that is conceptually tight and genuinely playful than I am by a theme that seems to be trying to cram in as much as possible. I was also distracted by two things that feel conspicuously missing from the puzzle. One such omission is the word SALAD, and the other, much more glaring omission is "OF MARCH." The quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is "BEWARE THE IDESof March"! The clue should say "Partial infamous warning," because that's what "BEWARE THE IDES" is. I suppose MIDDLEMARCH running through the middle of "BEWARE THE IDES..." is supposed to somehow make up for, or make me forget about, the missing "OF MARCH," but honestly that bit just feels sloppy. I can see that architecturally, the puzzle is quite meticulously planned, but as I was solving, it felt confused and messy. The idea seems to have been that two just-OK themes smushed together would add up to something more than just OK. But for me, that just did not happen.
The SW corner is ... in need of deletion. CTRLR? (108D: "Refreshing" web shortcut). Uh, yes, that's a debut, but I don't think you should be proud of it [repeatedly slaps "Not All Debuts Are Good" sign]. RIS? It hurts. The Grafton answers always hurt. Any letter of the alphabet + IS, bah! RIS used to be clued as a Parisian's laugh or as the culinary RISde veau, but in the Modern Era, it's usually "R IS for [something]," and it's always ugly. But the worst answer down there has to be TYS (118D: Expressions of appreciation, in texts). Time was, if you had to use TYS, you clued it as "multiple guys named Ty." So, [Cobb and others], e.g. Then in 2023 someone got the idea that it could be the plural form of a texting abbr. that is never (ever ever ever) pluralized. Ever. By anyone. Ever. And now here's TYS again with the same damned preposterous clue. "TY" is indeed an abbr. for "thank you." But I swear to you that it is unpluralizable. It would be like if I saw PLSS or THXS or BRBS or CYAS in a grid. Like, what? What are you doing?
Most of the "IDE"s are tucked into short answers, so we don't even get the benefit of very many inventive hiding places. I really liked IDÉE FIXE, but then NOIDEA came along and basically doubled up "idea" (Fr. "idea" + English "idea"), which is a no-no, or should be. Further YOHO cannot stand alone, no matter what past crosswords have told you (58D: Start of a pirate-y pillaging song). Also, "5/8" is V-E Day, not V-DAY!!!! Again, I'm baffled by the cluing there (57A: 5/8 or 2/14). In short, I think this puzzle is a true architectural marvel. It just bored me (when it wasn't outright bugging me).
Bullets:
41A: Psychologist Solomon (ASCH) — never heard of him. Apparently really important in the psychology of conformity. ASCH crossing USER (37D: The "U" of UX) was probably the toughest part of the puzzle for me (I'd never heard of "UX" and assumed that the "U" stood for UBER) (UBER X is a thing, after all—six NYTXW appearances since 2021).
25A: Handled vessel in a museum (AMPHORA) — very pleased that this technical term came to me rather quickly. I don't think I've ever seen an AMPHORA outside of a museum or heard one referred to outside of (art) history books.
39A: ___ Jones, bobsledder and hurdler who has competed in both Winter and Summer Olympics (LOLO) — I kinda sorta remember her, but it's been a while since she was in the spotlight (late '00s, early '10s). I get that it's a big deal to have been an Olympian in two completely different sports (hurdler in '08 and '12, bobsledder in '14), but ... if you don't win a medal, your name just isn't gonna have legs (even if it's as crossword-friendly as LOLO). I'm surprised that it took this long to get her in the puzzle. LOLO has made two other appearances in the Modern Era, both times as Obama's stepfather, LOLO Soetoro.
73A: Creature to take a gander at on Haleakala? (NENE) — cutesy clue for crosswordese. A NENE is a Hawaiian goose (hence the "gander" pun).
129A: Stile coins that have gone out of style (TOKENS) — I don't think "style" has anything to do with it. Are rotary phones out of style? Or were they just rendered obsolete by newer and more efficient technology? I guess the "stile" / "style" pun was too tempting.
113D: Open before December 25? (PEEK) — "peeking" is not "opening." These are not synonyms.
15D: Curmudgeon's exclamation (BAH!) — yes! True! This curmudgeon says BAH! An accurate clue!
116D: Olden honeyed drink (MEAD) — it's true that this drink is associated with "olden" (specifically Anglo-Saxon) times, but it's still around.
[Ornamental chalice not required]
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. I'm pleased to announce that These Puzzles Fund Abortion is back for a sixth installment. These benefit puzzle collections have raised nearly $400,000 (!?!?!) for abortion funds since 2021. The puzzles are made by some of the best in the business, and having worked on the test-solving and editing end of things in past years, I can attest to how much effort goes into maintaining high puzzle standards. This year's collection includes
15 full-size American-style crosswords
3 cryptic crosswords
1 variety cryptic crossword
1 “rows garden” variety puzzle
1 acrostic
The constructor / editor list is absolutely stacked. All you gotta do is donate $25 and you get all 21 puzzles. Donate $50 or more and you get every TPFA puzzle ever published—that's 123 puzzles in all. You will receive your puzzles as a zip file, with the puzzles coming in both .puz format (for solving on computer using solving software Across Lite or Black Ink) and as PDFs (if printing puzzles out and solving them on paper is more your thing). Click here to read more about the puzzle collection, and here to donate.
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A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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