Hang with the boys, slangily / TUE 1-21-25 / Playground pathogen / Body personified by the Greek Titan Selene / Sit non-ergonomically / Marine photographer's aid

Constructor: Dan Caprera

Relative difficulty: Medium, maybe a little north of Medium

THEME: SCAVENGER HUNT (37A: Popular camp activity ... or, literally, what the circles are creating four times in this puzzle) — the circled squares in each theme answer spell out a type of "scavenger"

Theme answers:

• CORNER DRUGSTORE (17A: Convenient source of tinctures and tonics)
• LUIS FONSI (29A: Singer of "Despacito," which has more than eight billion views on YouTube)
• CARD TABLE (49A: Item with hinged legs)
• "OH, YOU HAVE NO IDEA..." (61A: "That's not even the half of it...")

Word of the Day: Selene (66A: Body personified by the Greek Titan Selene = MOON) —

In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Selene (/sɪˈliːniː/; Ancient Greek: Σελήνη pronounced [selɛ̌ːnɛː] seh-LEH-neh, meaning "Moon") is the goddess and personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. Several lovers are attributed to her in various myths, including Zeus, Pan, and the mortal Endymion. In post-classical times, Selene was often identified with Artemis, much as her brother, Helios, was identified with Apollo. Selene and Artemis were also associated with Hecate and all three were regarded as moon and lunar goddesses, but only Selene was regarded as the personification of the Moon itself.

Her equivalent in Roman religion and mythology is the goddess Luna. (wikipedia)

• • •

Non-consecutive circled squares, spelling things. There are probably less appealing theme types, but not many. There are a few problems here. First, the revealer is SCAVENGER HUNT, but ... there's no "HUNT." I don't have to "hunt" for anything. The circled squares tell me where the scavenger is. It's the opposite of a hunt. It's a found. "Found it, it's right here, in these circled squares." Second, only two of these "scavengers" really scream "scavenger!" CONDOR and HYENA, sure. CRAB, I guess. I mean, yes, OK, but that's not my first crab thought, or even my third or twelfth (please don't demand to see eleven other crab thoughts). The least "scavenger" of these, though, in my mind, is the LION. I've watched "Wild Kingdom," I know that LIONs hunt. And then the HYENAs come along and try to get a piece. The fact that LIONs *will* scavenge doesn't really put them in the same category as animals like the HYENA and CONDOR who are primarily scavengers. So, it's called SCAVENGER HUNT, but only half the animals seem like full-fledged scavengers ... and there's no hunt. Non-consecutive circled squares always seem like a low thematic bar. The letters "L" "I" "O" "N" must appear (in order) in tons of answers. LUIS FONSI? Sure. Also LITTLE ONES and FLIP PHONE and VIDALIA ONION and so on ad infinitum. Does not feel special at all to have found "L" "I" "O" "N" in any answer. The only themer here that feels like "ooh, nice find," is "OH, YOU HAVE NO IDEA." The "OH" feels a little tacked on, but it gets you the "H," and thus gets you a five-word answer, with one "HYENA" letter in each word. There's something special about that. There's nothing special about any of the rest of it.

The real nadir of this puzzle, and maybe all puzzles, is BRODOWN (36D: Hang with the boys, slangily). Just garbage. The bro- (bruh brah bruv) -ification of the puzzle is slightly out of hand, as are all these goofy slang terms that (some?) guys seem to need to describe merely hanging out together. I had to endure BRODATES just last Monday, and now you're trying to tell me there are actual human beings who use the term "BRODOWN." Make it stop. It's idiotic. Not All Debuts Are Good—once again I am tapping the sign. Sadly, BRODOWN is by far the most "interesting" (i.e. attention-getting) thing in the grid, outside the themers. What else is there? Two (2?!) Spice Girls clues? ADZ OVA MAO CERA RVER ENE EWE ASP and other sundry bits of crosswordese?  A single COOTIE? (11D: Playground pathogen). Hard to find stuff to like today. OMELETTEs. I like OMELETTEs. Wish there were a lot more going on this grid than there is.

I had more than a few hiccups today. EAT UP and SCARF before SNARF at 1A: Gobble. Failure to know my MELs at 15A: Name of Sporty Spice in the Spice Girls (MEL C) as well as failure to remember the Spice Girls song "2 BECOME 1" (46D: "2 ___ 1" (Spice Girls song)). ANYWAY before ANYHOO. SONAR before SCUBA (33D: Marine photographer's aid). Obviously no idea about the post-BRO part of BRODOWN (which I have been reading as a noun this whole time (like a "hoedown") but is actually a verb phrase, which is somehow worse). Add to that the fact that while I know "Despacito," I could not remember who sang it. He's been in the grid before, but just twice—once in LUIS form and once as FONSI. If LUIS FONSI had been in the clue and the answer had been "Despacito," I'd've been in great shape. But that's not what happened.

Bullets:

• 55A: Word after phone or, modernly, Zoom (SEX) — Zoom became so depressing as a facsimile of human interaction during peak COVID that I can't imagine wanting to use it for that purpose, but no judgment. If "webinar" is your kink, that's none of my business.
• 66A: Body personified by the Greek Titan Selene (MOON) — "Body" really threw me. Wanted something like "ocean." Definitely some body of water.
• 19D: Sit non-ergonomically (SLOUCH) — this clue feels like an accusation (I have to remind myself roughly 500 times per write-up to sit *up*).

Have a non-SLOUCHy day. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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"Bad you!" / MON 1-20-25 / Tween sister of Barbie / Kevin of "Shark Tank," also known as "Mr. Wonderful" / Eccentric expert / Path of advancement for a lawyer / Go along with prevailing wisdom / Geometric figures whose subparts mimic the full shape / Sensation of acceleration / "Biscuit" for cookie or "chips" for fries

Constructor: Katie Byl and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Medium (normal, easy Monday) (solved Downs-only)

THEME: WORK LIKE A DOG (56A: Do one's job to the point of exhaustion ... or a hint to the ends of 20-, 27-, 36- and 49-Across) — last words of theme answers, when reimagined as verbs, are what a dog might do:

Theme answers:

• PARTNER TRACK (20A: Path of advancement for a lawyer)
• POINT GUARD (27A: Position for Steph Curry or Caitlin Clark)
• FOLLOW THE HERD (36A: Go along with prevailing wisdom)
• STYLE GUIDE (49A: Manual for consistency in writing)

Word of the Day: CHIGNONS (35D: Hair knots with a French name) —

A chignon (UK: /ˈʃiːnjɒ̃/, US: /ˈʃiːnjɒn/, French: [ʃiɲɔ̃]), from the French chignon meaning a bun, is a hairstyle characterized by wrapped hair on the back of the head. In the United States and United Kingdom, it is often used as an abbreviation of the French phrase chignon du cou, signifying a low bun worn at the nape of the neck.

Chignons are generally achieved by pinning the hair into a knot at the nape of the neck or at the back of the head, but there are many variations of the style. They are usually secured with accessories such as barrettes or hairpins. Chignons are frequently worn for special occasions, like weddings and formal dances, but the basic chignon is also worn for everyday casual wear. (wikipedia)

• • •

Didn't notice the theme while solving (Downs-only), and my first thought on seeing the revealer was "GUIDE dog, OK, GUARD dog, yes ... HERD dog? Isn't it 'HERDing dog?' And TRACK dog!? What is that, a greyhound!? Boooo to racing dogs! Or is it ... a TRACKing dog? I dunno, man, two of these don't really work." But the reason they didn't work is because I was taking the theme the wrong way, i.e. imagining those last words were all supposed to precede "dog," when they're just verbs—actions a dog might perform. Work a "working dog" might do. A working dog might TRACK or GUARD or HERD or GUIDE. Yes, taken as verbs, all is well. And a couple of the themer phrases are even interesting answers in their own right (PARTNER TRACK, WORK LIKE A DOG). I could take or leave NO-GO AREAS, but BRITICISM I like a lot. It was fun to watch that answer come into view while solving Downs-only. "CRITICISM? WITTICISM? ... nope, BRITICISM! Nice" (61A: "Biscuit" for cookie or "chips" for fries). POINT GUARD is a weird one, in that it feels like a twofer. A working (hunting) dog might POINT. FOLLOW THE HERD also has a "not just the last word" kind of relevance, in that the whole answer seems like something a (herding) dog might do. But this extra-ness doesn't detract from the basic consistency of the theme. Like the (imagined) dogs in this grid, this puzzle works. It's not the most exciting theme ever, but it does what it says it does, and cleanly, so ... fine. Good Monday.

There was only one real "!!!" moment while solving Downs-only, and that came in the NE corner, where back-to-back six-letter names nearly did me in. I can't think of a less appealing show than Shark Tank. I've never seen a single ep. You'd have to pay me to watch it. So I have no idea who Kevin O'LEARY is ("Mr. Wonderful???" Yeesh) (10D: Kevin of "Shark Tank," also known as "Mr. Wonderful"). And as for STACIE ... look, I could remember SKIPPER. Wasn't she Barbie's ... something? Cousin? Waaaaaait a minute, my instincts were right. SKIPPER *is* Barbie's younger sister! How many younger sisters does Barbie have!?!? Three!?!?!? The third is Chelsea, who was called Shelly *or* Kelly (!?!?!) from '95 to '10 before becoming Chelsea in '11. STACIE is the only "tween" it seems. Skipper started out 8 but then jumped to 14 at some point. Chelsea seems stuck at age 7. Anyway, O'LEARY next to STACIE looked like a deathtrap for me, but once I was able to run both PARTNER TRACK and NO-GO AREAS through there, I remembered STACIE's name, somehow. And once I inferred ULTA (from U-TA; nothing else works there but the "L"), I could see that the most likely name-like thing I could make from the letters I had was O'LEARY. I had DYED as DEED before O'LEARY kicked in. Problem solved. Disaster averted.

My one other almost significant trouble spot was SUN-TZU (5D: Chinese general who wrote "The Art of War"), as I could remember only LAO TZU (the founder of Taoism). Very different people. And I had it as TSE at first, not TZU. But I ended up with CUS as an answer, which looked very wrong, and so I changed that "S" to a "Z" (CUZ! 25A: Since, informally), but still had LAO TZU. Eventually NO-GO AREAS and UPDO saved me. Big "D'oh!" moment when I saw SUN-TZU's name come into view. Should've been a gimme.

Bullets:

• 41D: "Bruh" ("DUDE") — Bruh! More 'bruh!' I gave you a Bruh / Brah / Bruv lesson just a few days ago, and here we are. In Thursday's puzzle, BRUH was the answer (to ["My man!"]). Here, the vibe is less excited (no exclamation point). More of a "What were you thinking?" bruh and less of a "Nice one!" bruh. So many bruhs. Too many bruhs. Lord, please never let bruhs appear in the plural, thank you, amen.
• 48D: "Bad you!" ("TSK TSK") — Has anyone ever said "Bad you!"? What a weird ... thing. To use. As a clue. Did AI write this clue? 
• 60D: Eccentric expert (GEEK) — I had NERD. Not sure GEEKs are eccentric, per se. Their level of interest in a topic is ... unusual, sure, but many GEEKs (of one kind or another) are normie as hell. 

Try to enjoy this Monday. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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