Animal in the Qatar Airways logo / FRI 9-22-23 / Dish whose name means stuffed in Turkish / Object pantomimed by extending one's thumb and pinkie / Dapper pachyderm / 2018 film set in Mexico that was nominated for best picture / Furry animals with black-tipped tails / Eponymous town in SE Connecticut / Urgent, hyperbolically

Constructor: Rafael Musa and Michael Lieberman

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Lady PENH (53A: Lady ___, founder of Cambodia's capital) —

Penh (Khmer: ពេញ [pɨɲ]), commonly referred to as Daun Penh (Khmer: ដូនពេញ [doːn pɨɲ]; meaning "Grandmother Penh" or "Old Lady Penh") or Lady Penh, was a wealthy woman who is credited as having founded Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, in 1372 AD. // Her statue can be seen near Wat Phnom. (wikipedia) // Phnom Penh (/pəˌnɒm ˈpɛn, ˌpnɒm -/; Khmer: ភ្នំពេញ, Phnum Pénh [pʰnomˈpɨɲ]) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, industrial, and cultural centre. [...] On the banks of the Tonlé Sap, Mekong, and Bassac Rivers, Phnom Penh is home to more than 2 million people, approximately 14% of the Cambodian population. (wikipedia)

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I almost laughed out loud, this was so good. I was like "yesssss, whoosh whoosh, that's what I'm talking about! Where have you been?" Feels like Fridays have been a little ... I dunno, stalled, sluggish, stale for a while, with Saturdays coming in behind and doing their best to make things fun, but, you know, you can't put too much "fun" burden on Saturday, because it's Saturday, and its job is primarily violence. Things have felt out of whack on the weekends, is what I'm saying, but today, hallelujah. I spun my wheels for a bit in the NW and then I got traction and then down I went, all in a rush:

It's so nice to have a huge breakthrough after fussing around in a cramped corner for a while, and TOO BIG TO FAIL definitely gave me that breakthrough feeling. I mean, I hate the concept of TOO BIG TO FAIL, but it's a great phrase for crosswords. And then when the next fast drop into the grid came from a clue that actually used the phrase "downhill fast," well, I had to stop to take a picture. After that, the hits kept coming—so many that I kept blinking and shaking my head wondering how long the puzzle could keep it up. The excitement of LIFE OR DEATH alongside COLD FUSION. The complete sentence of JAMES JOYCE ACTS NORMAL ("Does he?" I wondered). The surrealism of OXYMORONIC CARROT CAKE (Man Ray wishes he painted that!). And then especially the modern colloquialisms "END OF RANT" and "YOU HAD ONE JOB!" The latter really felt like an exclamation point—an ironic exclamation point, because if you round off your pyrotechnic puzzle with "YOU HAD ONE JOB!," well, you're definitely doing your job. I'd have to go Way out of my way to find fault here ("I still hate the word E-CIGS!" I halfheartedly wanted to declare ... "Stop making me know recent 'Star Wars' things!" I briefly grumbled). But nah, this is close to ideal. Friday is back. At least for today.

The hardest part was getting started. No way I was getting STOATS from that clue (1A: Furry animals with black-tipped tails). I thought maybe COATIS (!?). I got SCOT and TIX but then figured that the animal on the Qatar Airways logo was a LYNX. "Four letters, ends in 'X', obviously LYNX, woo hoo! Wait, why would a snow cat be in Qatar? Ah well, who knows why people put things on their logos, better not overthink it, since it's obviously LYNX" (it was not LYNX). I forgot that ORYX was even a thing. Here is the thing that ORYX is:

You used to see ORYX in crosswords sometimes, back in the day. I think. Actually, looks like we've seen it plenty in recent years as well (first time this year, but 20th time (!) since I started blogging in '06). Also it's in the Margaret Atwood title Oryx & Crake (I always thought those were people's names ... hmm, looks like that is indeed what they are ... I should really read more). With LYNX locked in there, all the Acrosses looked a mess. And while I got ARM, I could not figure out TAXI even with that terminal "I" (2D: Cry made while waving, perhaps). I thought it was going to be "[something] HI!" "OH, HI" seemed an unlikely "cry," but maybe "YO, HI!" or "HI! HI!"? So I was kinda stuck, but Trust The Process, as they say—and on Fridays, with grids like this, with banks of long answers, The Process is "Work The Downs." To that end, I went COBS LANA LSD DEC and then looked back at the mess that was the front ends of those first long Acrosses. And the power of all the correct crosses basically bored a hole right through LYNX, i.e. I could see the Acrosses clearly despite the stupid cat's trying to block my view. After that, I was out of the gate and downhill fast.

I could actually see the Man Ray painting in my head, but all I could think was SMILE, which wouldn't fit (22A: Prominent feature of Man Ray's painting "Observatory Time: The Lovers"). When I got LIPS I felt good that at least I'd pictured the right thing. I had "END OF ..." at 35A: "OK, I'm done complaining" and couldn't remember what came next. First thought: "END OF THAT!" I think I was thinking of the expression "Well, that's the end of that," which may not even be an expression—just a thing I'm hearing in my head right now that seems plausible. Anyway, once I got RANT, I thought "of course." I actually laughed out loud at BUD ICE. Are beers still calling themselves "ICE"? Feels like a late '90s marketing gimmick ... like the mid-'80s clear beverage craze. Pepsi Clear! That was a thing, right? Gah, no, it was Crystal Pepsi, of course it was Crystal Pepsi. Somehow BUD ICE is even stupider when you know they once used a "sinister penguin" in their ads. I'm guessing "once" means ... it didn't go so well. "The penguin ... his Q score ... it's so bad ... Shut It Down!" (It's possible the penguin was in fact quite popular):

I went from thinking "I don't know this 'Star Wars' crap!" to "Ooh, I remember now, it's definitely ANDOR!" to "Wait, are you sure? I mean, the Ewoks live on ENDOR" back to not caring and letting the crosses handle it. I had PUGS before POMS (30D: Some small dogs, familiarly) and SWIM NOODLE before POOL NOODLE (11D: Water aerobics aid). My worst moment was completely blanking on Gatsby's first name. "English Professor Can't Remember Gatsby's First Name" read the headline in the imaginary shame-based newspaper in my head. I did remember. But only after thinking things like "... ROY? ROY Gatsby? Wow, that really sounds wrong." Indeed. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. Happy 23rd birthday to my daughter, who recently moved from Minneapolis/St. Paul to a little town called New York City. Be nice to her, New York! XO

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