Metal next to tungsten on the periodic table / WED 12-21-22 / Country with second-most Portuguese speakers / Large-scale corporate union / Manhattan on an envelope / Ideal for audiophiles in brief

Constructor: Nancy Stark and Will Nediger

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?" (63A: "Why are you making such a fuss?" ... or a hint to 17-, 36- and 43-Across) — theme answers are all different kinds of "big deals":

Theme answers:

• FIFTY PERCENT OFF (17A: Sign in a clearance section)
• MEGAMERGER (36A: Large-scale corporate union)
• ROYAL FLUSH (Dream hand for a poker player)

Word of the Day: AGNI (30D: Hindu fire god) —

Agni (Sanskrit: अग्नि, romanized: Agni, Sanskrit pronunciation: [ˈɐgnɪ]) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. In the classical cosmology of the Indian religions, Agni as fire is one of the five inert impermanent elements (pañcabhūtá) along with space (ākāśa), water (ap), air (vāyu) and earth (pṛthvī), the five combining to form the empirically perceived material existence (Prakṛti).

In Vedic literature, Agni is a major and oft-invoked god along with Indra and Soma. Agni is considered the mouth of the gods and goddesses and the medium that conveys offerings to them in a homa (votive ritual). (wikipedia)

• • •

Hmm. OK, so ... hmm. The theme works in a very general sense. The first two themers, however, feel arbitrary: very and somewhat, respectively. It's not inaccurate to say that either one is a "big deal," though, so my main problem with those first two is really with the second, which is that it is dull. And "mega" is just standing in for "big," so ... a big merger is a big deal, yes, that is true. FIFTY PERCENT OFF has a snap to it, where MEGAMERGER is just a depressing sludge of a word. But OK, technically both answers are apt. But ROYAL FLUSH kinda goes off the rail. Do you call a good hand a "big deal"? Of course you “deal” a hand in poker. I get that "big" is (now) being used metaphorically, and that a ROYAL FLUSH is "big" in that it is the best hand you can hold, but the thing is "big deal" is a perfect description of themers 1 and 2, but an iffy one of 3. The revealer is the best part of the puzzle, as an answer in its own right. It would be welcome in any puzzle at any time. And as a revealer, it has some sass, it's clever. Thank god they didn't just hand us BIG DEAL, that would've been dull. Still, even with the good revealer, the theme as a whole feels workmanlike. Functional, but not exciting. 

I don't really understand some of the fill choices today. Specifically, above all, RHENIUM? That seems like one of your more obscure elements. If I've heard of it, I've barely heard of it. I think it's reasonable to expect solvers to know *a lot* of the elements of the periodic table. But some deep cuts ... feel desperate. And aren't so fun to encounter. At least the last time this answer appeared, the clue told us it was named after a German river. Today: "next to tungsten"??? What the hell? How is that supposed to help? It's Wednesday. The rest of your fill is widely accessible and familiar, and then you just drop RHENIUM in? With *that* clue? As I say, I don't understand these choices. RHENIUM was jarring. AGNI was also jarring, as I still see it as ye olden fill meaning "lambs" (Lat.). 

Just as I wonder how deep into the periodic table is fair game, so I wonder about the Hindu pantheon, though AGNI is pretty major (per the "Word of the Day" description, above), so you (I) can't really complain. But HUFFISH? Hoo boy, I can complain there. What ... is that? Is it like the normal word "HUFFY?" I asked my wife if she'd heard of "HUFFY": "Kind of ... I've heard of 'in a huff'..." "OK, well have you heard of HUFFISH?" "[long pause] ... no." Again, not a choice I understand. And because FWORDS was also bad (what, are we just doing any letter of the alphabet+WORDS now!?!?!) I quickly rewrote the whole damn grid (well, the east side, anyway). Just to satisfy myself. I managed to pick up both HASHISH and ARSE, which pleases me, if no one else.

[dang, looks like I duplicated ERA ... ah well, just make it EPA, it's fine...]
[oh no, NEEDY dupes NO NEED ... this is why you have proofreaders!!! I could
fix it, but I'm not getting paid to fix it, so I'm not gonna.]
[OK, I'm gonna ...]

[Why has no one used PGUP before!?! It's a perfectly cromulent abbr.!!]
[If I had more time, I'd open up the constructing software and go after RHENIUM!]

I had O--T at 49A: Expel and was mad when the answer was OMIT because that is not accurate cluing. Thankfully, the answer was not, in fact, OMIT, but OUST, a much more accurate answer. The only good thing about FWORDS (plural!?!?) is that it crosses SALTY, and if any language qualifies as SALTY, it's the F-word. The real F-word. Not "fie" or "fiddlesticks." I liked FOIST ON, for reasons even I don't quite understand. There's just something ... I dunno, oddly energetic about it. Maybe I just like the clue (44D: Shove down the throat of). I like that the puzzle went for BAFTA / BODE over the more obvious but dated choice, NAFTA / NODE. Remember NAFTA? Remember Ross Perot? I mostly try not to. Gotta wrap things up, as wife will be back soon with dosa and samosa and probably some other -osa I forgot. See you tomorrow (assuming I can get the wifi hotspot on my phone to work in the nowheresville no-wifi place we're headed to tomorrow).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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