Need for a greedy Swede? / WED 9-30-26 / God whose name has one "I," fittingly / Best and most awesome, in slang / Trig function that can output every real number / Movie with the record for the longest time between its release and the release of its sequel (63 years) / Isle that's the traditional burial site of Scottish kings / "___ Troyens" (five-hour French opera)

Constructor: Joel Woodford

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: sounds like it! — Theme clues are words ending in "-et" that must be read as two words (___ it!") in order for them to make sense: 

Theme answers:

• EXAM PAPER (17A: Market!) (mark it!)
• CHECK BOX (24A: Ticket!) (tick it!)
• SURPRISE PARTY (34A: Planet!) (plan it!)
• SUITCASE (47A: Packet!) (pack it!)
• FRONT DOOR (55A: Locket!) (lock it!)

Word of the Day: LES Troyens (22D: "___ Troyens" (five-hour French opera)) —

Les Troyens (pronounced [le tʁwajɛ̃]; in English: The Trojans) is a French grand opera in five acts, running for about five hours, by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. Les Troyens is Berlioz's most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he did not live to see it performed in its entirety. Under the title Les Troyens à Carthage, the last three acts were premièred with many cuts by Léon Carvalho's company, the Théâtre Lyrique, at their theatre (now the Théâtre de la Ville) on the Place du Châtelet in Paris on 4 November 1863, with 21 repeat performances. The reduced versions run for about three hours. After decades of neglect, today the opera is considered by some music critics as one of the finest ever written.

• • •

The answers are arbitrary and a little dull, but the theme concept is clever and the fill (despite some weak spots) holds up pretty well. There's something slightly meta about this theme: you take a common cluing conceit—the [___ it!] variety of clue, where the answer is whatever the "it" might literally represent (i.e. [Watch it!] might be MOVIE, [Beat it!] might be EGG, etc.)—but here you hide that clue inside one-word homophones. So you have to mentally unpack the clues to get to the [___ it!] version, and then you're good. It's not a tough theme, but it's got ... something, As I say, the answers are a little arbitrary. You can "plan" lots of things, just as you can "lock" lots of things—SURPRISE PARTY and FRONT DOOR just happen to fit symmetrically in the grid with the other answers. But that's the nature of the [___ it!]-type clue. [Step on it!] might be STAIR ... or FLOOR ... or SCALE ... there are usually many potential answers and you often have to work crosses to find out which. 

The theme answers end up a little lifeless today—SURPRISE PARTY makes a nice marquee answer, but the others just kind of lie there. So it's a good thing the fill has some pep. A whole troop of PEP BANDs in fact (36D: Musical promoters of school spirit) (wanted PEP SQUAD!). PANACHE has more PANACHE than most of the themers combined. I also enjoyed the KICK-BUTT SPARKLERS in the NE (though I could do without BUTT and ASS in the same grid—cluing it as a donkey isn't fooling anyone, mister! (53D: Burro). The fill definitely gets creaky in places: SSE, EKE, OPIE, XES, ETAS, OLEO, EENY—what is it with this EENY/EENIE obsession the NYTXW has. I mean, I know, it's the common letters, but oof, "counting rhyme" part is among the lowest forms of fill. And you notice you never see MEENY. Or MINY. Just EENY/EENIE. I don't really want to see any "counting rhyme" parts, but ... Justice for MINY! Let him come off the bench sometimes! He'd at least bring some novelty to the whole "counting rhyme" scenario. He's only ever gotten in the game once, and that was fifty years ago (Oct. 26, 1976). (So, for the record, that's one MINY, four MEENYs, and ... 210 EENY/EENIEs! And counting. And counting. And ...

There wasn't much today in the way of resistance or challenge. I think BAMBI was the hardest thing in the grid for me, largely because I had no idea there'd been a sequel (?!?!?!) (4D: Movie with the record for the longest time between its release and the release of its sequel (63 years)). Waaaaait a minute. Direct-to-video!? You can't count that. Booooo! A 2006 film that premiered in Argentina (!?!?!) before being released as a direct-to-video title in the States!? Boo to this "record." You should have to release it like a real movie and people should have to actually see it for it to count, esp. if you want to use it as a bit of trivia for your crossword clue. In case you were wondering, the sequel went through several titles (??) before producers finally alit on the highly imaginative ..

No "records" for you, BAMBI II. Pinocchio may have finally been transformed into a real boy, but you're not a real movie. Back to the IP forest with you!

Bullets:

• 9D: Feature (ASPECT) — another oddly difficult answer for me today. "Feature" can mean so many things, and it can be both noun and verb, so I needed almost every cross. Sadly, one of those crosses was CLERK, which also had a clue so vague I had no idea (21A: Administrative role). Real "watching paint dry" difficulty here.
• 51A: Need for a greedy Swede? (KRONA) — I see you're doing a little rhyme thing here, but the clue makes no sense. If the Swede is being "greedy," then by definition there is no question of "need." Just want.
• 53A: Nail a test (ACE IT) — the one moment of the solve where I winced—all of your theme clues involve [___ it!] phrases; there shouldn't be stray ones in the grid. Distracting. Inelegant. 
• 40A: Best and most awesome, in slang (ILLEST) — Hip-hop or rap slang, specifically. Context would be nice.

["We the ILLEST / Need a nurse / Here's the check / Grab your purse"][Warning: profanity by the truckload]

• 29D: God whose name has one "I," fittingly (ODIN) — ah we're doing more puns, I see, cool cool. (ODIN is a one-eyed god—he sacrificed the other for wisdom)

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️Upcoming Crossword Tournaments✏️:

• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago, IL, Sat., Oct. 3, 2026)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...

Courier and Century Gothic, for two / TUES 9-29-26 / Greek goddess of the earth / Where some monster home runs land / Muslim holiday, informally

Hello, everyone, it’s Clare for the last Tuesday of September! Hope you’ve all had a wonderful month. I’ve been loving the turn toward fall weather for the most part, except for the day I went to All Things Go (a music festival) in the DMV this past weekend, and it… rained most of the day, and I was exceptionally cold. But my love for MUNA (and the other singers, of course) trumps all! I also got a ton of sports-watching in this weekend with the WNBA playoffs starting and football and golf and F1 (which I’ve become mildly obsessed with). The big news is that my sister now has a puppy, too! She’s absolutely, incredibly, completely adorable (if slightly evil at times because she’s a pup who just wants to nibble). Her name is Gunner (of Arsenal Gunners fame), and I’m obsessed. Keep reading to see as many pictures as I can reasonably add:)

Anywho, on to the puzzle...

Constructor: Hanh Huynh

Relative difficulty: On the harder side of medium

THEME: JOIN HANDS (58A: Wedding officiant's directive ... or what both halves of 17-, 25-, 35- and 50-Across do?) — Each half of the theme answers can be combined with “hand” to form a common expression

Theme answers:

• UPPER DECK (17A: Where some monster home runs land) 
• HOT MINUTE (25A: Pretty long time, in an idiom) 
• SECOND HELPING (35A: Another plateful from the buffet, say) 
• LEFT FIELD (50A: Position of Rickey Henderson in M.L.B.)

Word of the Day: KAREN (55A: Indie rock singer ___ O) —

Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978), known professionally as Karen O, is an American singer and songwriter. Known for her dynamic performances and distinctive vocals, she was a key figure in the 2000s garage rock and post-punk revivals, and in the New York music scene. She is also regarded as a style icon. Karen O is the lead vocalist of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who have released five albums and hit singles like "Maps", "Gold Lion", and "Heads Will Roll"... Her accolades include nominations for eight Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, two Critics' Choice Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. Rolling Stone named her one of the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time" in 2023. (Wiki)

• • •

That felt like a decent, if slightly boring, Tuesday theme. I get how each of the theme answers could form expressions such as “upper hand,” “deck hand,” “hot hand,” etc. We’ve just seen this type of theme a thousand and one times before, so it’s lost its novelty for me. I’d say my favorite answer was HOT MINUTE (25A), and SECOND HELPING (35A) was a nice long answer. 

I liked ELTON (9A: British John) crossing LOO (10D: British john) and KAREN (55A) of rock music fame crossing GREEN DAY (39D: Band with the 6x platinum album "American Idiot") of pop/punk fame. There seemed to be slightly more “?” clues than average. My favorite clue/answer in this puzzle was definitely CAB (24D: What can travel a fare distance?). 

But for all of the fun clues, things such as SMALLER (22D: Like subcompacts vis-à-vis compacts) and NEATENED (38D: Made nice?) felt bland. And SEEDED (4D: Numbered in a tournament bracket), especially in a puzzle with NEEDED (13D: Had to have), seemed like too much of a push for easy letters. EXEC (41A: Board appointee, for short) crossing EXED (37D: Crossed (out)) also felt too similar.  

ONSITE (12D: Like not-work-from-home days) doesn’t feel like quite the way to describe work that’s not from home. HARD (25D) is a boring way to clue brain-busting. With GAEA (49A: Greek goddess of the earth), I’ve heard (and spelled) it both ways.

Psych Shawn GIFfrom Psych GIFs

The spelling didn’t slow me down too much, but I put in “Gaia” at first. I also think ON THE DL (26D: Just between us) could’ve been clued more obviously to show that it was slang. Also, seeing DEEJAY (48D: Spinner of tunes) written out like that is also just weird. 

On the other hand, I liked OLD DOG (44D: Subject of a saying about new tricks), and my dog RED (18D) was also in the puzzle! That’s obviously what the constructor intended, even if he clued it as "visibly embarrassed.” I also enjoyed OPPOSITE (3D: Like black and white), and I liked seeing SANAA (29A: Capital of Yemen), which I haven’t seen in a puzzle in a bit. I wasn’t expecting to see GYRATE (49D: Move like Shakira in her "Hips Don't Lie" video) in the puzzle, but it certainly describes how Shakira moves her hips! ENNUI (9D: Ho-hum feeling) is simply a wonderful word.

Misc.:

• I was actually *this* close to seeing KAREN O (55D) live! I went to the inaugural Daisy Chain Festival (put on and headlined by Olivia Rodrigo) in Irvine, California, a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely wonderful (albeit way too hot — see: 95 degrees). The festival was led by women, and Olivia brought out a few different special guests. I saw Sarah McLachlan sing “Angel,” dedicated to Dolly Parton, and sang along with Stevie Nicks to “Landslide.” KAREN O was supposed to join (presumably to sing “Heads Will Roll” by her band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) but couldn't make it at the last minute. So I had to “settle” for seeing Alanis Morissette sing “Ironic,” instead. 
• I simply think we don’t need to have DRE (53A: Dad on "Black-ish") in puzzles referring to the character played by Anthony Anderson, who has a whole section in Wikipedia about his “Rape and sexual assault allegations.” 
• The puzzle was clairvoyant, with GAS (43D: Pit stop refill), given my newfound love for F1 and all things Oscar Piastri. I still know very few technical terms and miss loads of nuances, and the races can be very boring, but it’s still rather fun. And did I mention how adorable and talented and incredible Oscar Piastri is? 
• Also! The wonderful (albeit slightly evil at times, said in a loving way) Max Verstappen also recently took on 100 racers in a Red Bull karting spectacle. He started from the back, and he passed them all within 35 minutes (he passed two-thirds of them in the first 30 seconds; it was hilarious). It was also wildly entertaining with the live radios. Here’s a link to highlights for all.
• I stared at NOONE (16A: Who "wants to be defeated" in "Beat It") for the longest time before realizing it was actually two words NO ONE.
• I miss the good old days in middle school where you could give someone a candy heart that says "I LUV U" (33A: (candy heart message) to tell them you had a crush on them.
• I actually haven’t been reading that much lately, but I have a TV recommendation for absolutely everyone: You must watch “Widow’s Bay” (if you haven’t already). It recently swept at the Emmys, and it’s absolutely brilliant. I made a cocktail from the show for an Emmys watch party, and then the actor who won for best supporting actress shouted out the cocktail in her speech. I felt seen.

Alright, if you’re still with me, here’s my sister’s amazing puppy, Gunner:

And that's all from me! Have a great (and hopefully not too cold) October.

Signed, Clare Carroll, who's always RED-HAND(ed)

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️Upcoming Crossword Tournaments✏️:

• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago, IL, Sat., Oct. 3, 2026)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...