Central Asian savory pastry / FRI 10-20-23 / Hat material for the paranoid / Setting for a battle in "Lawrence of Arabia" / Irreverent Christmas tune / Distinction not used in the military / Undertone of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" / Adage for the risk-averse

Constructor: Jacob McDermott

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: SAMSA (25D: Central Asian savory pastry) —

Samsa (Kazakh: самса, Kyrgyz: самса, Uyghur: سامسا, Uzbek: сомса, somsa, Turkmen: somsa, Tajik: самбӯса, romanized: sambüsa) is a savoury pastry in Central Asian cuisines. It represents a bun stuffed with meat and sometimes with vegetables.

In the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, as well as in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, samsas are almost always baked. In contrast to South Asian samosas they are rarely fried. The traditional samsa is often baked in the tandoor, which is a special clay oven. The dough can be a simple bread dough or a layered pastry dough. The most common filling for traditional samsa is a mixture of minced lamb and onions, but chicken, minced beef and cheese varieties are also quite common from street vendors. Samsas with other fillings, such as potato or pumpkin (usually only when in season), can also be found.

In Central Asia, samsas are often sold on the streets as a hot snack. They are sold at kiosks, where only samsas are made, or alternatively, at kiosks where other fast foods (such as hamburgers and borscht) are sold. Many grocery stores also buy samsas from suppliers and resell them.

Some related or similar dishes include the deep fried Indian snack with a similar name, the samosa. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was, indeed, FIRE (47D: Awesome, in modern slang). It had so much whoosh-whoosh, so much Weintraubian energy, that I got actively mad at "AH, ME" when it turned up in the NE, like "No! You do not belong here! Go home!" ("AH, ME" being one of those quaint expressions that no one but the crossword and fainting-couch Victorians ever say). But "AH, ME" is the price you pay for that SAFETY FIRST / PHONE BOOKS pair (that "AH" juxtaposition is Not friendly), and I guess it's a fair price. Luckily, the price for cool long-answer juxtapositions wasn't nearly so high throughout the rest of the grid. From the DARN TOOTIN' DEBATE TEAMS to the EVIL GENIUS with the GEL INSERTS to the PLEXIGLASS MOTEL ROOMS (avant garde!) to the GOODY BAG PARTY FOUL ("Only one per person, jerk!"), to the landscaping disagreement ("I'M SO SORRY about the PEA GRAVEL. I know you wanted to go with mulch, but ... hear me out!"), to the sexy Santa ALTER EGO, "SANTA BABY," this puzzle had pizzazz for days. Days and days. I legitimately laughed out loud at this answer right here:

Well, at the clue, and then the answer, and then the clue and answer together. As good a repurposing of the Hindenburg disaster as there ever was. Short fill was minimal and marginal and (almost) never terrible. The grid felt so polished, and like it was made to entertain, and not just entertain one in-group or generational group, but a broad swath of solving humanity. Oh, the humanity! I mean this in the non-tragic way! Hurray.

Here are some little things that I didn't quite get. First, SEX (!) (4D: Undertone of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It"). I don't really get "Undertone" here. Is it that the song has sexual *implications*? Oh wait ... LOL ... I've confused this song with "Let's Fall in Love" ("Why shouldn't we / Fall in love?" etc.), an Arlen and Koehler song from roughly the same era—possibly because the full title of the Cole Porter song is, in fact, "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" (!). Anyway, "Let's Do It" is the one that goes "Birds do it / BEEs do it / Even ..." ... uh ... I forget. What else does it? Birdies in the breeze? Yelping Pekingese? Pizzas topped with cheese? Something [it's "educated fleas"]. Anyway, the birds/BEEs bit alone very much suggests SEX, but I still don't love the word "Undertone" here, somehow. Maybe it has a "sexual undertone," but I don't like the noun here. “This song’s undertone is SEX”? Bah. Not right to my ear. Clunky. Also, "undertone" implies subtlety, and, I mean, the song just outright says "birds" & "BEEs" & "do it" ... not much that's subtle about that. I had the "S" and the "X" and honestly wondered to myself, "... is there SAX in that song?"

I was mad at myself for not remembering the Central Asian savory pastry, but on looking it up, I'm less mad. I'm sure I've seen SAMSA clued in this non-Gregor way before, but the knowledge has since vacated my brain. I thought "wait, is this just some alt-spelling of SAMOSA?" And while yes, they are etymologically related, no, they are totally different snacks, with the SAMOSA being fried and the SAMSA being more often baked (among other differences, I'm sure). The puzzle needed a little thorniness, so I didn't mind having to fight through a food answer here. Seems at least possible that the SAMSA / AQABA crossing flummoxed someone, somewhere, though. I don't even know how I know AQABA, and am not sure I could even come close to locating it on a map, were it not for my now being somewhat sure that it's in the vicinity of "Arabia" (i.e. the Arabian Peninsula) (31A: Setting for a battle in "Lawrence of Arabia"). And yet I have heard of AQABA. I think there's a Gulf of AQABA. Ah, (me), here it is:

[One of the dots at the top of the Gulf]

I associate ROAN with horses (it's a coat color), but "ROAN leather" (7D: Bookbinding leather) is just a specially treated sheepskin. According to the website "The Language of Bindings" (!?) (ligatus.co.uk), in bookbinding, ROAN refers to:

A variety, or varieties, of leather produced from a superior grade of unsplit sheepskin. Roan is softer than basil, and is coloured and finished in imitation of morocco. The typical roan has a close, tough, long, boarded grain, a compact structure, and is usually dyed a red color. Originally, roans were leathers tanned exclusively with sumac (as were the moroccos); however, in later years they were often tanned with other vegetable tannins. They were used extensively for covering books from about 1790 until well into the 19th century, but have been seldom used since that time.

Shout-out to SUMAC, an old crossword friend! Nice.

The hardest thing for me today was parsing GEL INSERTS. I assumed that the answer would have to do with feet (and not fish), but the GEL part ... is nowhere indicated in the clue, so when you're trying to put the answer together out of only a handful of scattered letters ... not easy. I thought the answer was some kind of SHOES ... GOBLIN SHOES? GOLEM SHOES? I had every letter except that first "E" before I finally Saw It. Didn't slow me down too much, 'cause the crosses were all pretty easy, but that was the one significant moment of delayed revelation today, for sure. OMG looking over the grid just now I realize I completely forgot about BODY DOUBLES! How does one grid have so many good long answers? It's just marquee answer after marquee answer. If you can't come with 8 to 10 good-to-great marquee answers, please don't bother making a Friday themeless. The bar is too high. There are also nice little touches here and there. Plus VILE anagrammatically crossing EVIL! SIGH echoing it's stupid AH, ME cousin on the other side of the grid! And even fun short words like BENDY and FOP. And all starring Greta GARBO!? What more do you want? See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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