Medicinal rinse / WED 5-18-22 / Cold weather cryptid / Long loose hood / Stop texting after a first date say / Tree that's a source of salicylic acid a precursor to aspirin / Animal that wears red pajamas in a popular children's book

Constructor: Andy Kravis

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: solving a jigsaw puzzle — familiar phrases are clued as if they were steps in the solving of a jigsaw puzzle:

Theme answers:

• LAY IT ALL OUT THERE (18A: Confess one's true feelings ... or Step 1 for solving a jigsaw puzzle?)
• PICK UP THE PIECES (28A: Recover after a heartbreak ... or Step 2 for solving a jigsaw puzzle?)
• FIND THE RIGHT FIT (50A: Look for an ideal partner ... or Step 3 for solving a jigsaw puzzle?)
• SEE THE BIG PICTURE (65A: Get some perspective ... or what you do once you've solved a jigsaw puzzle?)

Word of the Day: "THE WIRE" (47D: TV series named second-best of all time by Rolling Stone, but which never won an Emmy) —

The Wire is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. The Wire premiered on June 2, 2002, and ended on March 9, 2008, comprising 60 episodes over five seasons. The idea for the show started out as a police drama loosely based on the experiences of his writing partner Ed Burns, a former homicide detective and public school teacher.

Set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland, The Wire introduces a different institution of the city and its relationship to law enforcement in each season, while retaining characters and advancing storylines from previous seasons. The five subjects are, in chronological order: the illegal drug trade, the port system, the city government and bureaucracy, education and schools, and the print news medium. Simon chose to set the show in Baltimore because of his familiarity with the city.

The large cast consists mainly of actors who are little known for their other roles, as well as numerous real-life Baltimore and Maryland figures in guest and recurring roles. Simon has said that despite its framing as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals. Whether one is a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge or a lawyer, all are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution to which they are committed."

The Wire is lauded for its literary themes, its uncommonly accurate exploration of society and politics, and its realistic portrayal of urban life. During its original run, the series received only average ratings and never won any major television awards, but is now often cited as one of the greatest television series of all time. (wikipedia)

• • •

This is the kind of puzzle that can go very wrong. The potential for forced-corny-pun-haha-get-it!? is always high when you try to force familiar phrases in another direction, and especially when you try to do it in bulk like this. A bunch of puns is one thing, a bunch of puns compelled by brute force to march in the same direction, that is (or can be) another. And YET(I)! And yet somehow this theme works very well. There's an aptness to every "step" in the jigsaw process, and an overall lightness of touch that, because it didn't feel like somebody elbowing in me in the side going "har har, good one, amirite?!," made me appreciate the way the theme answers just ... fit. The whole thing was very smooth and low-key. Subtle. No clowns honking horns. Nothing jarring. Every phrase has a strong non-jigsaw meaning, but with a little push, they all slide right into their respective jigsaw meanings, no problem. The steps are in order, everything's symmetrical (again, without any forcing). It's the kind of puzzle I can feel myself instinctively resisting on some primal level, but it's so well executed, and, again, so unhammy, that it won me over. It also made me remember that I love solving ("solving?") jigsaw puzzles but don't solve them in non-vacation contexts any more for two reasons: cats. Well, just the one cat, really. Alfie cannot lay off. The pieces are all just so many toys for him to run off with. He does the same thing with broccoli florets. He's a weird boy. Olive would probably leave a puzzle alone, but we're never gonna find out because ... Alfie. 

[Alfie]

This was a very, very easy puzzle. If you time yourself, you probably didn't break any records, but that's due in part to the fact that the grid is oversized (16 wide, to accommodate the first and last themers). It's one of those puzzles where everything is riding on the theme, so it's a good thing the theme comes together, because the rest of the solve was a bit on the ho-hum side. Lots of overfamiliar, repeater-type stuff. Like, lots and lots. I won't enumerate it all, but the fact that we get LLAMA *and* LLANO should begin to give you some idea. I really don't understand the decision to put DOUCHE in the puzzle. This is literally the first appearance of the word in the NYTXW, ever, a fact which will surprise almost no one. What's most annoying about DOUCHE is that the clue is so coy. Like, you put DOUCHE in the puzzle, you should own that fact by cluing it as the thing that everyone is thinking of when they see DOUCHE. It's a "feminine hygiene product," or else it's an insult for a really annoying man (an insult whose insultingness surely comes from the feminine-hygiene meaning). Trying to hide from these meanings behind a general [Medicinal rinse] clue is, I don't know, a bit bizarre. It's like you're trying to avoid anatomical specificity, and yet the answer is virtually screaming anatomical specificity, whether you like it or not, so ... better to just go with it rather than retreat into vagueness. The wikipedia entry for DOUCHE is 99% about the vagina. If you can put DOUCHE in the grid, you can say "vagina." It won't hurt you. Or at least make the clue more women-specific. You know this answer is going to jar people, so I don't really get the point of including it in the first place, but if you're going to do it, Do It.

Notes:

• 41D: Sluggish (LOGY) — you ever have words that you just can't stand the sight/sound of. Well, LOGY is definitely one of mine. LOGY makes MOIST seem positively comforting. LOGY's main problem is it looks/sounds like "loogie." It's truly awful. Top Ten Repulsive Word.
• 60D: Brand originally called Froffles (EGGO) — two things. First, Froffles is better, please go back to Froffles. And second, I wrote in EDY'S.
• 35A: Plethora (SLEW) — I wrote in SOME.
• 20D: Evil clown in a horror film, e.g. (TROPE) — I wrote in TROLL. You can see a pattern developing here.
• 26A: Stop texting after a first date, say (GHOST) — big thumbs-up to this bit of clue modernization. I like the "old" meanings of GHOST just fine, too, but it's nice to see ordinary words get pushed slangward (especially when that slang now feels like a permanent part of the cultural landscape). Don't GHOST people. It's mean. Unless they're awful. Then definitely GHOST them. OK bye.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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