Title kitten in Key Peele action comedy / SUN 6-10-18 / Early online forum / Rope for strangulation / Utah's Canyon locale of petroglyphs

Constructor: Ruth Bloomfield Margolin

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (9:50)

THEME: "Rush Hour Headaches" — rush hour-related puns (?)

Theme answers:

• CHUTE FOR THE STARS 923A: Lane restricted to allow motorcades through?)
• CRAMPING MY STILE (36A: Pressing and shoving me as I enter the subway?) 
• ROUTE OF ALL EVIL (55A: Highway obstructed by accidents, detours and contruction?)
• BUSSED YOUR BUTT (82A: Took public transportation while one's wheels were at the shop?)
• I NEED TO LOSE WAIT (98A: "This tollbooth line will make me late!"?)
• PAY YOUR FARE SHARE (116A: Split an Uber?)
• MAKE THE TEEM (15D: Get to Grand Central right at 5:00?)
• GIMME A BRAKE (66D: "I'm scared by the speed you're going in this traffic!"?)

Word of the Day: Priyanka CHOPRA (60D: "Quantico" actress Priyanka) —

Priyanka Chopra (pronounced [prɪˈjaːŋkaː ˈtʃoːpɽaː]; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress, singer, film producer, philanthropist, and the winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant. One of India's highest-paid and most popular celebrities, Chopra has received numerous awards, including a National Film Award and Filmfare Awards in five categories. In 2016, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2017. (wikipedia)

• • •

I don't really want to get in to it. This is not a good puzzle, but sadly it isn't far off of average for the NYT Sunday, of late. Or maybe "of ever." Weak, awkward puns ... but big, so there's more pain to experience. I continue to be stunned that they don't get better submissions than this. Why Don't The Good Constructors Make Sundaysssss!? The state of the NYT Sunday is a travesty and a tragedy and more of y'all should be barking at the powers that be to get their **** together (note: **** = "acts," if anyone asks). I haven't even seen tomorrow's Washington Post Sunday puzzle (by Evan Birnholz), but I guarantee you—GARE UNH TEEEEE U!—it's better than this. Evan's most shamelessly phoned-in effort is gonna be better than this, because conceptually, this just isn't good enough. It's the opposite of ambitious. It's the epitome of rehashed. And the puns miss so bad, so much of the time. What even *is* a "CHUTE," traffic-wise. I've been driving for over 30 years, and the only chutes I know about are, like, trash chutes, and the game Chutes & Ladders, and then maybe water parks have chutes that you go down (another name for "water slides"?). I dunno. I *do* know that I would probably have been 30 seconds to a minute faster than I was if I hadn't stared blankly at MAKE THE TEEM for so long ... first, was not expecting a themer there, in the Down position, but second and more importantly, TEEM is a noun now?? As in "the time when a place is TEEMing with people?" Can you hear the depth and magnitude of my exasperated sighs. I feel like New Jersey can hear me.


Why is there no BUTT-specific part of the clue for BUSSED YOUR BUTT? Please, dear lord, liven this thing up somehow. And *that* is your WAIT pun?? I NEED TO LOSE WAIT? Where do I begin to explain why this isn't good? As with the TEEM answer, the phrasing just doesn't work, at all. It's a grammatical nightmare. If the puns were at all bold or clever or entertaining, maybe you could get away with the wacky usage, but these are so dull they *wish* they were groaners, so grammar weirdly matters. It's pretty much all you have left. Paying a fare is already a thing, so PAY YOUR FARE SHARE just doesn't reorient the base phrase enough to be interesting. I like CRAMPING MY STILE OK, but that's about it. I would get into the fill, but ... I don't want to. So that takes care of that. Let's just say it's rough all over. OBLAh blah blah. FILI. XYLO. IOR. Argh, I'm doing what I said I wouldn't do. I have to stop. Write your congressperson. This madness must end.


Oh, wait, I almost forgot. We need to talk about ANOS, mostly because it set off this hilarious and revelatory tweet exchange:

Good luck getting "100 Anuses Of Solitude" out of your head today, or ever. I'm stunned (in the happiest of ways), that editor Ben Tausig has made tilde-means-tilde the official policy of the American Values Club Crossword. Look what happens when you decide to set high standards and take your job seriously! Good things. Oh, also, I should mention that Ben also sent me the following note re: AVCX subscriptions

You may have seen that the AVCX, in tandem with solvers, is creating a fund to subsidize low-income solvers who struggle to or cannot afford subscriptions.

There is no application process or necessity for explaining the reasons for needing a subsidy; we're going on the honor system. So anyone who feels that they can't afford a subscription, but would like one, can simply email editor@avxwords.com, and they'll be signed up for a year. We currently have something like 140 available, so if you would like to spread the word, please do so!

Thank you,
Ben

So today's NYT puzzle isn't good, but people can be good, and crossword can definitely be good, so go do the Washington Post Sunday crossword and subscribe to the AVCX and have yourself a merry little June 10th now.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Caleb Madison and Marley Randazzo are putting out a new crossword at Motherboard called "Solve the Internet." It's a "new weekly mini crossword puzzle, covering memes, rap beefs, internet drama, and everything else your brain may or may have not absorbed in the last few weeks." It's hard as hell if you are an out-of-touch Gen Xer like me, but that makes it great pop culture training. Give it a try.

P.P.S. 68D: No-nonsense quartet? is ENS because there are four of the letter "N" in "No-nonsense," you're welcome.

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