Like some Scots / WED 4-22-26 / German river to the North Sea / Villain in the Bible's Christmas story / "Strega ___" (1975 children's book) / God served by the ravens Huginn and Muninn / Annual show with astronaut-shaped trophies, for short / Former N.B.A. champion Jeremy / Condition that might involve stimming, for short

Constructor: Hoang-Kim Vu

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: REDUCE / REUSE / RECYCLE (11D: With 31- and 43-Down, an environmentalist motto ... as suggested elsewhere in different ways in this puzzle) — some are "reduced" (with shorter synonyms found inside those answers in circled squares), some answers involve "reused" letters (with the second half (shaded squares) reusing the letters from the first half),  and one answer (CAN) is recycled (i.e. used four times) [apparently the CANs are actually the REUSEd bits and the shaded squares are RECYCLEd—this could’ve been clearer (more on this below)]

Theme answers:

• ENCOURAGED (17A: Spurred on) ("urged")
• DAUBS (36A: Applies, as facial cream) ("dabs")
• INSTRUCTOR (60A: One offering lessons) ("tutor")

• SHEESH (21A: "Good grief!")
• PULL-UP (28A: Exercise for the arms and back)
• REAPPEAR (31A: Emerge once more)
• TEAMMATE (44A: You might pass to one)

• CAN (35A: Ax)
• CAN (37A: Paint container)
• CAN (59D: John)
• CAN (42D: Is able to)

Word of the Day: LOUCHE (26A: Rakish) —

: not reputable or decent // Louche ultimately comes from the Latin word luscus, meaning "blind in one eye" or "having poor sight." This Latin term gave rise to the French louche, meaning "squinting" or "cross-eyed." The French gave their term a figurative sense as well, taking that squinty look to mean "shady" or "devious." English speakers didn't see the need for the sight-impaired uses when they borrowed the term in the 19th century, but they kept the figurative one. The word is still quite visible today and is used to describe both people and things of questionable repute. (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

An easy, dull puzzle with repeated CANs. That's the upshot. I went back and looked at the shaded squares, and the circled squares, and saw all the architectural business that was going on, but none of that was important to the solve. All the REDUCE and RECYCLE stuff would be invisible were it not for the shaded and circled squares, so all it gets from me is a post-solve "huh" [shrug]. The Actual Solve (which is the thing that so many Architectural Marvels™ seem to disregard) involved filling in a weak and lackluster grid with no distinguishing characteristics. Imagine a boring and easy themeless puzzle with a boatload of crosswordese and two extra CANs—that's what this felt like. We get to go to Initialism Hell over and over with ADHD RSVP VSOP UPC NSC EDU VMAS. We get a bevy of overfamiliar crossword names in AGEE ELISHA ARMANI UTA ELBE ET AL (I'd add GARR to this list, but all appearances of GARR are good, Teri GARR forever!). We get your usual assortment of crossword gunk in BANC HELI IMAC INNO (!) ENOS NONA, your usual assortment of crossword exclamations in SHEESH YEOW UGH. None of the theme answers are interesting answers per se. TEAMMATE? REAPPEAR? Not exactly blowing the doors off the place. No, this is a puzzle to be admired after the fact. The problem is: I like the fact. The fact itself. I don't want to wait til after the fact. Give me better fact!

Worse, the theme itself, for all its elaborateness, is still a little murky. I'm still not 100% sure which is the REUSE part and which the RECYCLE. I figure the repeated CANs have to be the RECYCLE part, since you RECYCLE cans (beer, soda, etc.). But CAN is definitely reused ... three times. With the shaded squares, you could also make an argument either way. The letters in the first half are definitely reused in the second half, but they are also recycled (i.e. transformed into something different—in this case by reordering/reversal). Also, the symmetry of the puzzle is oddly ... off. You get symmetry for the circled-square answers, but with the shaded-square answers, two of them are symmetrical, but the other two just ... aren't. And then with CAN ... you have this perfect symmetrical pattern going, why not finish it off? Instead we get CAN ... CAN ... CAN ... PHO!?  That fourth CAN is in the dumbest place (42D). There's no joy in the solve and an awkwardness in the execution. 

The puzzle was easy except for a couple of moments. I know that some mattresses sit on SLATS, but I did not know that BEDSLATS was a term, so when I got BED and had no idea what was supposed to follow (9D: Supporters of a king or queen?). FRAMES, SHEETS, LINEN? That answer was the only way out of the N/NW section, so I had to interrupt my flow and go start again in the NE. I weirdly had trouble coming up with both Scots clues today (47A and 34A: Like some Scots). I say "weirdly" because I've been to Scotland many times, studied abroad in Scotland in college, written about Scottish literature in grad school, etc.). Those repeated ("reused") clues added another bit of confusion today—were they part of the theme? The answer is no, I think, as repeated clues (unlike repeated answers) are a conventional feature of crosswords. And yet in a puzzle with a REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE revealer, the reused clues seemed thematic. Again, a carefully made puzzle would've avoided the repeated-clue gimmick and avoided the confusion.

[Some Scots]

Bullets:

• 1A: "All the world," per Shakespeare's Jaques (STAGE) — first, all the world's a stage. Feels weird to be asked to remember the line, and then be required to leave a word out of the line. Second, I've totally forgotten who Jaques is. Who is this "c"-less Jaques!? Oh, right, As You Like It. Never was a huge fan of the Shakespeare comedies. They all bleed together in my head. Mistaken identity, Forest of Arden, bawdy hijinks, what not. This particular Shakespeare line is obviously famous. So famous that you end up finding references to it in the unlikeliest of places ...

• 8D: James who wrote "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" (AGEE) — he was just a crossword name to me for the longest time, but I started reading some of his film criticism and it's stunning—smart, engaging, energetic, original. I got the first half of this Library of America set at a used bookstore in Rochester, and I keep it by the comfy chair downstairs and dip into it from time to time.

• 20A: Condition that may involve stimming, for short (ADHD) — "stimming"  = self-stimulation through any number of repeated movements or sounds. Remember fidget-spinners? Do those still exist? Those are stimming tools.

• 10D: Dish traditionally flavored with Saigon cinnamon (PHO) — good clue. I learned something about PHO that I did not know, but not knowing the PHO factoid ("phoctoid!") did not prevent me from getting the answer (three letters, "dish," "Saigon," inferable)

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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1972 hit for Tanya Tucker / TUE 4-21-26 / Wild West way of settling disputes / Cool, in '90s slang / Literary friend of Finn / Starbucks alternatives from the Golden Arches / Dual degrees for physicians / Haitian currency unit / "___ dat" (slangy agreement)

Constructor: Victoria Fernandez Grande

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: FLYING START (57A: Early advantage ... or a hint to the beginnings of 17-, 25-, 36- and 49-Across) — familiar phrases where the first word (or "start") is also the name of an airline:

Theme answers:

• SPIRIT GUIDE (17A: Mentor from the beyond)
• UNITED WAY (25A: Major charity whose recipients include the Red Cross and Salvation Army)
• FRONTIER JUSTICE (36A: Wild West way of settling disputes)
• "DELTA DAWN" (49A: 1972 country hit for Tanya Tucker)

Word of the Day: GOURDE (18D: Haitian currency unit) —

The gourde (French: [ɡuʁd]) or goud (Haitian Creole: [ɡud]) is the currency of Haiti. Its ISO 4217 code is HTG and it is divided into 100 centimes (French) or santim (Creole).

The word "gourde" is a French cognate for the Spanish term "gordo", from the "pesos gordos" (also known in English as "hard" pieces of eight, and in French as "piastres fortes espagnoles") in which colonial-era contracts within the Spanish sphere of influence were often denominated. (wikipedia)

• • •

A standard "first-words" theme-type, solidly executed. Strangely, the one place that I struggled (slightly) in this puzzle was with the FLYING part of FLYING START (57A: Early advantage...)—I had the START and the only word I could think of to precede it was RUNNING. Since that wouldn't fit, my brain was left going "blank-ING START, blank-ING START ... I know there's another phrase here, what is it?" If I'd just looked at the "beginnings" of all the theme answers, like the clue told me to, I probably could've figured it out quickly, but instead I just threw crosses at it until I got it. It was probably the "Y" from SAWYER that gave it to me. Anyway, the themers do indeed "start" with companies that specialize in "flying" so ... nothing very tricky going on here. Very straightforward wordplay. This is the kind of phrase that's tailor-made to be a revealer—any phrase with "start" or "end" or an equivalent synonym of either is a potential theme provocation. Like ... you could do COLD OPEN, and have the theme be phrases where the first word is something cold. If you've been solving crosswords for any length of time, you've seen scores of variations on this theme type, which is never going to wow you, but which can be enjoyable if the theme phrases are colorful enough, and today's are pretty good. Well, the last two are, anyway. FRONTIER JUSTICE does evoke certain grim images (lynchings come to mind), but it's a great phrase, and "DELTA DAWN" ... I mean, who doesn't like "DELTA DAWN?" Put it in every puzzle, I'll never be unhappy to see it. (I grew up with the Helen Reddy version, so that's the version you're getting)

The fill on this one was a little above average for a Tuesday, I thought. I could've done without two foreign currencies (few things reek of crosswordese like foreign currencies), and I'm not sure crossing FLYING with FLY was the best idea, but otherwise I didn't wrinkle my face at the grid much at all, and generally enjoyed making my way through the grid (often a chore in early-week themed puzzles, where the fill often feels like an afterthought). The fact that the grid was fun to move through is particularly impressive given that there are only a small handful of answers more than six letters long: just two 8s and two 7s. Normally, the longer answers are the thing giving the grid life, but today's puzzle relies on an army of 6s to get the job done. The effects are particularly nice in the SW corner. I don't love the idea of plural MCCAFES (I've only ever seen one, that I remember, and that was in NZ), but otherwise, in addition to the always lovely "DELTA DAWN," we get SEX and CLIMAX (!) as well as the musical stylings of CELINE Dion and the consonantal onslaught that is MD/PHDS. Did CELINE ever cover "DELTA DAWN"? Not that I can find. She does sing something called "New Dawn," but it's a pretty boring gospel song, so here's the VH1 Pop-Up Video version of that song from Titanic instead, enjoy:

Bullets:

• 56A: "But Daddy I Love ___" (Taylor Swift song) ("HIM") — I never saw this clue, so I can't really complain, but I'm gonna complain anyway—no need to shoehorn Taylor Swift into yet another puzzle, esp. for a completely ordinary word like "HIM." And, I mean, if you really want to do a musical fill-in-the-blank clue with a song containing "HIM," there are sooooooooo many to choose from. Branch out! 

• 29D: Left-wing protest group (ANTIFA) — feels fresh, but it's not new—this is actually the fifth appearance of ANTIFA (which debuted in 2018). This answer always makes the fascists mad, so I like it.
• 10D: Female form of the animal that outnumbers humans in Iceland (EWE) — this feels forced. As a clue for SHEEP, I'd love the Iceland trivia, but as a clue for EWE, it's ungainly ... the whole "Female form of the" part makes it wordy and awkward. 
• 46D: Literary friend of Finn (SAWYER) — This clue makes it sound like Tom was bookish. Remember how Tom got out of painting that fence so he could go off and read Dostoevsky? Classic.
• 57D: Cool, in '90s slang (FLY) — I was there (the '90s, that is), and I still hesitated here, even with the "F"—my brain went "... FAT ... wait, isn't it PHAT?" The "FLY Girls" were dancers on the popular early-'90s sketch show In Living Color. J-Lo was a FLY Girl. The word came out of hip-hop culture and was everywhere for a while. If I could bring back any '90s slang, I'd bring back FLY. Beats PHAT by a country mile.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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