They use "like" in a non-Valley Girl way / WED 7-26-23 / What a communion wafer represents with the / Return to original speed musically / What a guitar gently does in a 1968 Beatles song

Constructor: Mary Crane

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: FINISH LINE (53A: End of a race ... or a hint to the conversation closers at 18-, 26- and 42-Across) — familiar phrases are reimagined as descriptions of "conversation closers" (or LINEs you would say to FINISH a conversation):

Theme answers:

• STOCK SPLIT (18A: Lover's "It's not you, it's me"?)
• SHRINK WRAP (26A: Psychiatrist's "I'm afraid our time is up"?)
• SHALLOW END (42A: Comment like "Sorry you're upset! Gotta run, late for my nail appointment"?)

Word of the Day: "The THREE-Body Problem" (33A: "The ___-Body Problem" (Hugo Award-winning novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin)) —

The Three-Body Problem (Chinese: 三体; lit. 'Three-Body') is a science fiction novel written by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It is the first novel of the Remembrance of Earth's Past (Chinese: 地球往事) trilogy, but the whole series is often referred to as Three-Body. The trilogy's second and third novels are The Dark Forest and Death's End, respectively. The series portrays a fictional past, present and future where, in the first book, Earth encounters an alien civilization in a nearby star system that consists of three sun-like stars orbiting each other in an unstable system. The title refers to the three-body problem in orbital mechanics. 

The Three-Body Problem was originally serialized in Science Fiction World in 2006 and published as a standalone book in 2008. In 2006 it received the  Yinhe [Galaxy] Award for Chinese science fiction, and in 2012 was described as one of the genre's most successful novels of the previous two decades. By 2015, a Chinese film adaptation of the same name was in production. The English translation by Ken Liu was published by Tor Booksin 2014. The translation became the first Asian novel ever to win a Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. (wikipedia)

• • •

Greetings from the north shore of Lake Superior. I am in far northern Minnesota for summer vacation with my best friends, and while I considered taking the Whole time off, I figured I could squeeze in a few short-write-ups while I'm up here, especially since I'm planning on doing as little as possible. Might as well break up the nothing with a little something. But by that same token ... well, I'm on vacation, and my friends are singing Abba at full voice in the next room while solving jigsaw puzzles, so I'll be able to stand doing this laptop typing thing for only so long before I start feeling like I'm missing out, I'm sure. So, yeah, let's get to it. 

This one did not quite come together for me. The themer set, in fact the very concept, just didn't quite cohere. SPLIT just doesn't jibe with WRAP and END very well. An END is a finish, and a WRAP is a finish ("that's a wrap!"), but a SPLIT ... sigh, yes, when a couple "splits," they are finished, their coupleness is over, but "It's not you, it's me" is not a SPLIT. It's a "stock" (i.e. cliché) line you might say if *you* are splitting up with someone else. But the puzzle wants me to believe that the line itself is a SPLIT. It's not. Also, what is up with that clue on the third themer. It's a mess. The first two are tight and follow a pattern: [So-and-so's "[line]"]. [Lover's "It's not you, it's me!"?]. [Psychiatrist's "I'm afraid our time is up"?]. And then there's this convoluted mess of a third clue: [Comment like "Sorry you're upset! Gotta run, late for my nail appointment"?]. Not sure what "Sorry you're upset" has to do with any of it. Or "nail appointment" for that matter? One or both of those things is supposed to indicate "shallow"ness, I guess, but the distance between that clue and SHALLOW END is vast, and the waters separating them choppy. Awkward as heck, and totally off-pattern from the much more sharply imagined first two theme clues. 

The grid does give you some hefty long Downs to add to your solving pleasure, and while the first two were nice (AT THIS RATE, DREAM HOUSE), their counterparts were both icky to me in different ways. I always find the term FRIEND ZONE somewhat repulsive (28D: Situation involving unrequited love), since it's something one dude says to another, usually mockingly, about said friend's inability to score, but it's super-gendered (only ever said of guys whose desire for a woman isn't returned), and it implicitly assumes that the woman has *done something* to the guy (put him in said zone). There's an undercurrent of hostility to the whole concept. It's also part of this dumb idea that being friends with a woman is some lesser state of being. I'm currently on vacation with my best friend of 30+ years, who (it turns out!) is a woman. We are friends—there is no "zone," and our love is very much requited. So boo to FRIEND ZONE and the bro culture that birthed it. Boo also to YO-YO DIETER and all eating disorder clues (29D: One whose weight goes up and down). 

There are three "ON"s in this grid (ON TASK, ON MEDS, IN ON). One too many. Also, probably shouldn't put "End" in your revealer clue ([End of a race...]) when END is in one of your theme answers (SHALLOW END). The whole puzzle was startlingly easy, despite the theme's being not at all transparent. I mostly got the theme answers by just imagining what familiar phrase might fit in the space available. Everything else came almost instantly. PAINT was by far the hardest thing to come up with (45D: Coat that might be satin?). I don't really know paint terms well, so the concept of a "satin" finish didn't register with me at all. I got a WEE smile out of the clue on SIMILES (23A: They use "like" in a non-Valley Girl way). Don't remember much else, as it all flew by. I'm going to fly now, while my wife and friends are still awake. At least I think they are. I don't hear singing any more, but I do hear "Twist & Shout," so hopefully someone is still awake to solve jigsaw puzzles with me. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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