Pam's mom on The Office / SAT 5-9-20 / Bollywood's Rukh Khan / Something Jane Goodall Rube Goldberg Nadine Gordimer have in common / Not exactly roughing it in modern lingo

Constructor: Erik Agard and Miriam Estrin

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (6:33 on an oversized grid at a sleepy 4 in the a.m.)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: CARL Laemmle (56A: ___ Laemmle, film pioneer who cofounded Universal Pictures) —

Carl Laemmle (/ˈlɛmli/ (listen); born Karl Lämmle; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a German-born filmmaker and the founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films.

Regarded as one of the most important of the early film pioneers, Laemmle was born in what is now Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1884 and worked in Chicago for 20 years before he began buying nickelodeons, eventually expanding into a film distribution service, the Laemmle Film Service, then into production as Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), later renamed Universal Film Manufacturing Company, and later still renamed Universal Pictures Company. (wikipedia)

• • •

Once again, my beloved Friday puzzle arrives a day late. Lots of bounce, lots of pep, tough but doable, filled with surprises. Kind of a nice idea to turn Saturday into Friday II, since Saturday can slip into dreary drudgery from time to time, with the cluing erring on the side of toughness rather than funness. Not sure why we seem to be seeing so many over-sized grids of late. I haven't done a systematic analysis to see if this impression of more frequent larger grids is accurate or not, but it sure feels that way. But other than throwing my times off (i.e. making it harder for me to judge "difficulty" level from the clock), I don't really mind. I do generally think there should be good *reason* for going to sixteen-wide, but ... I mean, today, you have very good reason: IMPOSSIBLE BURGER (16). Bam. There's your reason. A fantastic modern entry (37A: Vegan serving in a bun). You need the sixteen, you take the sixteen. Can you build a grid around IMPOSSIBLE BURGER that lives up to the hot modern promise of IMPOSSIBLE BURGER? Oh, you can? Oh, you're gonna slash TAKE THE L and BEERAMID right across the middle of IMPOSSIBLE BURGER, in an astonishing Gen-Z grid flex? Well, sure, by all means, go right ahead, I'm not gonna stop you.


This is a roller-coaster ride of high/low culture. You have these wee moments of opera and cathedrals and cow genuses (?!) and Latin plurals and then zoom, GLAMPING! Zing, HOLLER! BEAR HUGS! SHEBANG! NUH UH! DEEP-SIXES! This thing is all over the map, in the best possible way. I was grateful that they just gave me 1A: Something Old, something New? (TESTAMENT), but after getting most of the NW, the puzzle seemed a little easy, a little plain. But then I rode TAKE THE L down into the center of the grid, and things got a Lot more interesting. I appreciated that there were enough difficult roadblocks to make it interesting for me, and that my reward for overcoming those roadblocks was always More Goodness Around The Corner. Why doesn't ULNAE irritate me in *this* grid? Because this grid is strong all over, so ULNAE is a simply a (highly bearable) bump in the road. I'd probably reclue BOS if I ran the world, but there's something almost comical about this lone bit of Maleskary crashing the party for a hot second. Like some wee old dude with a monocle accidentally stumbling into a college party. "Pardon me, might one of you be so good as to point me in the direction of the Classical Language and Literature Department. I am to deliver a disquisition on cow genuses on the morrow. I say, should you young scholars not be at your books? What's that? You're studying the ancient ... BEERAMIDs, was it? I must say I'm not familiar with these structures. Well, carry on with your merry-making, students. Boola boola, etc." I like this guy.

[MORE THAN]

Five things:

• 14D: Action film staple (SET PIECE) — I don't normally like action films, or I thought I didn't, and then I watched "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3" (1974) earlier this week, and it was amazing. Anyway, I think I don't really know what is meant by SET PIECE here. I know the term primarily from football (i.e. soccer). But this is what wikipedia says about the film meaning of SET PIECE: 

In film production, a set piece is a scene or sequence of scenes whose execution requires complex logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term is often also used more broadly to describe a sequence in which the filmmaker's elaborate planning is considered to allow for the maximum payoff for the audience, such as a thrilling action sequence or awe-inspiring science fiction sequence. (wikipedia)

• 17D: Saving face? (RESCUER) — couldn't get NOBLE from just the "E" so had to approach the NE corner from underneath. Thank god for GLAMPING, because SET PIECE and this one (RESCUER) were not quick in coming. I kept doubting -UER, which did not seem a likely way for a word to end.
• 50D: ___ patch (BRIAR) — me: "Ugh, the E/A question! Well, f*** it, I'm just picking "A" and crashing into the corner. If I'm wrong, I'm sure crosses will tell me." And I wasn't wrong. For once. 
• 25A: Disquisition (TREATISE) — I had this down to TREATI- and *still* had no idea what word could work there. Keep in mind that at one point in my life I actually wrote a dissertation. :(
• 54A: Mammal with a pouch where it can store its favorite rock (OTTER) — well, as OTTER clues go, this one's at least original. The way it's worded, I thought it was a fictional animal. Like, the weirdly specific information was some reference to some famous animal in some book or something. But I guess OTTERs have favorite ... rocks? Actually (I looked this up), each otter keeps its own particular rock in a loose pouch across its chest and then *uses* that rock to bust open shellfish. The clue makes it sound like the OTTER is just fond of small objects. The rocks are TOOLS (30D: Fixing things). Anyway, cool OTTER facts, man. I like the PET OTTER PHILIP stack in this grid. I imagine that someone has a pet otter. A pet otter named PHILIP. He may or may not operate a little underwater gas station. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. not sure how I feel about "The L" being in the grid *and* in the clue for SHO (10D: "The L Word" airer, for short). Normally, my solver-sense would say "Dupe alert! Can't do that!" But this is such an ostentatious wink at one of the freshest answers in the grid that I can't really be mad at it.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]