May that happen in Shakespeare / MON 4-10-23 / Snarled-up mess of debris / Fifth-century leader of the Huns

Constructor: Gia Bosko

Relative difficulty: Easy (the easiest puzzle I've ever done ... which I know I said about last Tuesday's puzzle, but hear me out ...)

THEME: "redundantly" — familiar phrases wherein a thing is equated to itself:

Theme answers:

• "FAIR IS FAIR" (18A: "The rules apply to everyone," redundantly)
• "A DEAL IS A DEAL" (23A: "Stick to the agreement," redundantly)
• "WHAT'S DONE IS DONE" (36A: "There can be no changing things now," redundantly)
• "IT IS WHAT IT IS" (47A: "We'll just have to adapt," redundantly)
• "LOVE IS LOVE" (57A: "We all deserve to have our intimate relationships honored," redundantly)

Word of the Day: SINÉAD O'Connor (43D: O'Connor with the 1990 hit "Nothing Compares 2 U") —

Shuhada' Sadaqat (previously Magda Davitt; born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got received glowing reviews upon release and became her biggest success, selling over seven million copies worldwide. Its lead single, "Nothing Compares 2 U" (written by Prince), was named the number one world single in 1990 by the Billboard Music Awards.

She has released ten studio albums: 1992's Am I Not Your Girl? and 1994's Universal Mother both went gold in the UK, 2000's Faith and Courage received gold status in Australia, and 2005's Throw Down Your Arms went gold in Ireland. Her work also includes songs for films, collaborations with many other artists, and appearances at charity fundraising concerts. Her 2021 memoir Rememberings was a best seller.

Throughout her music career she has been unabashedly honest about her spiritual journey, activism, socio-political views, as well as her trauma and mental health struggles.

In 1999, she was ordained as a priest by the Latin Tridentine Church, a sect that is not recognized by the mainstream Catholic Church. She consistently speaks out on issues related to child abuse, human rights, anti-racism, organised religion, and women's rights. In 2017, O'Connor changed her name to Magda Davitt. After converting to Islam in 2018, she changed it to Shuhada' Sadaqat. However, she continues to record and perform under her birth name. (wikipedia)

• • •

Solved Downs-only, as I always do on Monday. Got the first 24 Downs I looked at. That's 24 answers in a row where I read the clue and wrote in the answer with absolutely no letters in place. Then I hit a Down I didn't know. Then I got the remaining 14 Downs, just like the first 24, all in a row, no stopping, no crosses in place. By that point, the one answer I hadn't gotten filled itself in easily. It seems ... at least plausible ... that I could've broken not just the two-minute but the one-minute mark, if I'd really gone full tilt. You'd think not looking at the Acrosses would *hinder* you—I mean, that's the whole point of solving Downs-only: to throw some difficulty into the mix. But when the puzzle offers absolutely no difficulty whatsoever, you actually save time by not bothering with Acrosses. I am all for easy Mondays, but this was ridiculous. The theme idea seems cute, if ... well, redundant, and a bit boring. Lots of word repetition—I mean, that's kind of the point of the theme, but still, lots of "IS" and then a double helping of "WHAT" as well. Three of the themers are perfect equations, with exactly the same thing on either side of the IS, but then the two "WHAT" answers change all that. Still, there's enough thematic consistency, I think— the "redundantly" clue gimmick pulls it all together nicely. 

But I'm still stuck on how absurdly easy it all was. The Newsday Monday puzzle used to be the paradigm of easiness—it's the first puzzle I ever tried to solve Downs-only. Well, this gave me less trouble than even the most pushovery Newsday puzzle. This pretty much means that there's virtually nothing of interest outside the theme—nothing more than overfamiliar humdrum fill. It's a very bland grid. Unsurprisingly, the most interesting non-theme answer in the whole thing is the one Down I *didn't* get at first glance: 37D: "They just want to see how we'll react" ("IT'S A TEST"). I thought "IT'S A TRAP" then "JOKE" then "IT'S NO BIG" (which is a thing I think we said in the '80s, omitting "Deal"). The point is, I didn't know for sure, so I left it. "IT'S A TEST" is kind of a contrived phrase, but today, that gets it points for originality.

I did have to sorta look at the way the Acrosses were shaping up before I wrote in BLOW at 53D: Erupt. I wanted SPEW. Well, no one ever really *wants* SPEW, but you know what I mean. But I could tell that the themer down there was going to be LOVE IS LOVE, so I mentally slotted the first "L" and got BLOW that way. What else? Not a lot going on. "BE IT SO" and BASS ALE are kinda creaky. I'm looking around the grid for stuff to like, and not seeing a lot. "SPAMALOT" and DRYING UP are a solid pair of long Downs, so that's something. There just doesn't seem to be that much to say about this one. IT IS WHAT IT IS, indeed. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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