Literally dwarf dog / FRI 1-4-19 / Small mammals that secrete musk used in perfumes / Heraldic charge indicating supposed illegitimate birth / Certain mideast native / Avid fan of Stephenie Meyer young adult series / Serengeti stampeders

Constructor: Neil Padrick Wilson

Relative difficulty: Medium to Medium-Challenging (skewed pretty easy until I hit the upper NE) (6:03)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: BAR SINISTER (11D: Heraldic charge indicating supposed illegitimate birth) —

In heraldry, a bend is a band or strap running from the upper dexter (the bearer's right side and the viewer's left) corner of the shield to the lower sinister (the bearer's left side, and the viewer's right). Authorities differ as to how much of the field it should cover, ranging from one-fifth (if shown between other charges) up to one-third (if charged alone). The supposed rule that a bend should occupy a maximum of one-third of the field appears to exclude the possibility of three bends being shown together, but contrary examples exist. Outside heraldry, the term "bend (or bar) sinister" is sometimes used to imply illegitimacy, though it is almost never true that a bend sinister has this significance, and a "bar sinister" cannot, by its nature, exist. [...] The usual bend is occasionally called a bend dexter when it needs to contrast with the bend sinister, which runs in the other direction, like a sash worn diagonally from the left shoulder (Latin sinistermeans left). The bend sinister and its diminutives such as the baton sinister are rare as an independent motif; they occur more often as marks of distinction. The term "bar sinister" is an erroneous term when used in this context, since the "bar" in heraldry refers to a horizontal line. [...] Sir Walter Scott is credited with inventing the phrase bar sinister, which has become a metonymic term for bastardy. Heraldry scholar Arthur Charles Fox-Davies and others state that the phrase derives from a misspelling of barre, the French term for bend. Despite its not being a real heraldic symbol (a bar cannot actually be either dexter or sinister since it is horizontal), bar sinister has become a standard euphemism for illegitimate birth. (wikipedia) (my emph. / my emph.)

• • •

Also:

In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon(shield). (wikipedia) 

I had to look up the answer *and* the clue phrase on that one. Yikes. This puzzle was pretty easy until the NE, where that top 3x5 section very nearly did me in. I don't really know SABRA, in that ... I have only ever seen it in crosswords, and even now, before looking it up, can't tell you with confidence what one is. I think it's something Israeli, but ??? Hang on ... Aha!

A Sabra (Hebrew: צבר‬, tzabar) is a Jew born on Israeli territory. (wikipedia)

So, you know, ballpark! But vague awareness of the term didn't help. At all. For a while I had just -A-R- and zero idea how anyone could make any "native" out of that. Also, typically, was not sure if "Mideast" meant Middle East or, like, middle part of the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Is that a thing? Looks like yeah, kinda. Here's an example:

Anyway, almost zero hope up there with SABRA. And something even closer to zero hope with SFC—oy, military classifications. So crosswordesey. Keeping them straight is like keeping all the UK military awards straight. DSO? OBE? RAF? ISAY? Even with -FC I thought maybe PFC (which, yes, is a thing: Private First Class). SFC is Sergeant First Class. Somehow I was able to guess the "B" after getting -ARSINISTER (Simon Bar Sinister ... is that someone??? Yes! He was a mad scientist on "Underdog," one of my favorite cartoons as a child!)

Guessing the "B" made me remember SABRA was a thing so I tried the "S" and boom, done! But man did lose a lot of time up there. Didn't help that it took me longer than it should've to get both ARIA (13D: It might have a cadenza ... I think I guessed SOFA at one point) and CORGI (18A: Literally, "dwarf dog" ... I wanted something like SIRIUS ... some constellation or something). Ironically, I've been listening to a lot of ARIAs lately, as I have developed a low-grade opera enthusiasm. I know nothing about opera, so it's all new and interesting to me. Do you all know this new opera podcast, "ARIA Code"? It's wonderful. I'm knee-deep in "La Traviata" because of it. Where was I? Oh right, I tanked the NE big time. The rest, mostly easy.


The longer answers in the SW were much friendlier and (to my mind) much nicer than their NE counterparts. I MEAN, REALLY! = divine. Most of the rest of this is fine. Lots of colloquial sass. I probably lost many seconds out of pure defiance when I, for the life of me, couldn't remember "Twilight." I could see the book cover. I could see the actors. But my brain just wouldn't click onto the dang title. Kept coming back to it, and it kept not coming back to me. "TWIHARD," ugh (22A: Avid fan of a Stephenie Meyer young adult series). Where are the TWIHARDs now? Those books weren't good (well, the one I bothered reading). I still can't believe that was a phenomenon. It really died ... hard. My only other sticking point came when I had -O--L for 50D: Texter's "too funny" and guessed LOLOL. Do people still do ROTFL? ROFL? Feels dated for some reason. I'm much more likely to write LOLOL despite the fact that the letters don't really mean anything once you get past the LOL part. I just think of the extra OL as an intensifier. You can add as many as you need. Did you know I was the first person to put XOXO in a daily NYT crossword. It's true. I had no idea, but then I saw the stats and was like "Dang! Look at me, putting such tenderness out into the crossword databases of the world!" Very on-brand.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. there's a Slate piece that came out yesterday about Tuesday's whole 2D/racial slur controversy. Not much in the way of new or surprising info, but it's a decent summation of the issues involved.

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