Fictional band fronted by David St. Hubbins / SUN 12-24-23 / Highly prized collectibles, in lingo / Dude, in modern slang / Kim's ex, in tabloids / Locale in the final scene in "Vertigo" / Name of Lincoln's favorite dog / Ancient landmark whose name translates to "high city" / Aphrodite's frequent companion / Lover of Hero in Greek myth

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Wrap Stars" — an "ELF" rebus—five "ELF" squares, whom the puzzle calls SANTA'S LITTLE HELPERS (get it, 'cause they're helpers and they're little, i.e. smushed into single squares) (100A: Workers seen in five squares in this puzzle?):

Theme answers:

• SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER / CRUEL FATE (26A: One who's not afraid to brag / 9D: What awaits a tragic hero)
• FEEL FOR / CARAMEL FLAN (34A: Sympathize with / 3D: Sweet custardy concoction)
• BARRELFUL / ANGEL FOOD CAKE (54A: Quantity of beer ... or monkeys? / 39D: Spongy dessert)
• HEEL FLIPS / PERSONNEL FILE (72A: Skateboard tricks started by kicking with the back foot / 36D: Record kept on an employee)
• BELFRY / OFF THE SHELF (117A: Locale of the final scene in "Vertigo" / 75D: Not custom, as merchandise)

Word of the Day: MING-NA Wen (97A: Actress Wen of "The Mandalorian") —

Ming-Na Wen (Chinese: 溫明娜; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Melinda May / The Cavalry in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020). Wen made her breakthrough in The Joy Luck Club (1993) as June Woo. She also voiced the eponymous character in the animated film Mulan, its sequel, and reprised the role as Mulan in the video game. Additionally, Wen made a cameo appearance in the live-action remake of Mulan (2020).

She is also known for playing Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian (2019–2020), Star Wars: The Bad Batch(2021), and The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022) and for playing Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen in the medical drama series ER (1995–2004). Her other works include Kingdom Hearts II (2005), Sofia the First (2014), and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018); the roles of Chun-Li in Street Fighter (1994), Detective Ellen Yin in The Batman (2004–2005); and Camile Wray in Stargate Universe (2009–2011). She was honored as a Disney Legend in 2019. (wikipedia)

• • •

It's Saturday night and my daughter just got into town so I am not going to spend too much time with you all tonight. Priorities! This puzzle was fine. Five small ELFs, OK. The only "Santa's Little Helper" I recognize is Bart Simpson's dog, but if that's what these guys wanna call themselves today, fine by me. The theme itself is pretty light (one-note concept, with only five relevant squares—I've seen as many if not more rebus squares in a 15x15 grid before), but the "ELF"-containing answers are frequently good—the best thing about the grid by far. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER is a real winner, and the others are pretty good too, or at least OK. The worst of them was OFF THE SHELF, which is bad mainly because of its clue (75D: Not custom, as merchandise). The term is "off-the-rack." It means specifically "ready-made, rather than made to order," and is used specifically of clothing. OFF THE SHELF is how things fly during big sales. Maybe. Still, "ELF" answers are mostly good, and the grid is mostly solid, and I've had far less enjoyable Sunday experiences, for sure. So let's just call this a win.

I just watched The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) today (part of the Criterion Channel's current Hitchcock collection, and one of the few post-1940 Hitchcock movies I hadn't seen). It's not one of his best, though it is compelling for a number of reasons, one of which is Doris Day looks amazing and sings "Que Sera Sera" a whole bunch. The other is that you can see Hitchcock working out things he ends up using in other movies, like big taxidermy scenes (see Psycho), and, to my astonishment, a Jimmy-Stewart-in-a-bell-tower scene (see Vertigo)! At least, I would've called it a "bell tower." Apparently that is what BELFRY means. I have never heard the term BELFRY used without bats being somewhere very nearby. Which is to say I've never heard it used any way but metaphorically. But since I knew I was dealing with an "ELF" rebus, BELFRY wasn't that hard to turn up. 

I had BRUV before BRUH (99A: Dude, in modern slang). Apparently BRUV is exclusively British? Hmm. I've heard it a bunch, but maybe I just ... watch a lot of British things / listen to a lot of British hip-hop? I have no idea. I forgot about MING-NA Wen. I don't know her from all her "Star Wars" / Marvel baloney, but I definitely remember her from her many years on "ER" (97A: Actress Wen of "The Mandalorian") If there's any proper noun trouble to be had today, it will probably involve her name and the area round her name, which includes KANYE (who I thought was just YE now) (92A: Kim's ex, in tabloids). SPINAL TAP runs through that area too, but that was a gimme for me, and probably a lot of people. The most famous mockumentary of all time (73D: Fictional band fronted by David St. Hubbins).

I've complained about the awful RARES before, and recently, so this sudden reappearance is dismaying, please stop (64A: Highly prized collectibles, in lingo). I had BASS SOLOS before BASSLINES (8D: Iconic features of "Under Pressure" and "Come Together"), and would never have put the word RUSES in the same universe as surprise parties (53A: Surprise birthday parties often involve them), so that area was a teeny bit tough. That area also had LOUD TIE, which I eventually and weirdly wanted to be LOUD TEE (???) (42D: Article of clothing that might be decorated with candy canes). So yes, minor confusion all through there. But then that area also had the "Ithaca is GORGES" pun, which is iconic around these parts (Central NY), so that helped me clear things up. The only SILENT- answer I really like, or can tolerate, is SILENT E, as that is a thing you learn when you are first learning the basic rules of pronunciation as a child. SILENT N ... is not such a thing (61A: End of autumn?). Nor is SILENT B ("thumb"). Or SILENT M ("mnemonic"). Or SILENT L ("colonel"). Or SILENT T (which could've at least been made relevant today ([Christmas feature?])). But wordlists have every possible SILENT- permutation in them now (probably), so here we are. Any letter can be SILENT if you want it to be (well, F, G, J, Q, V, Y, and Z have not appeared after SILENT ... yet). OK, I said I was gonna keep this short, so ... finished!

[LOUD TEE]

Two crossword news announcements. First, there's an article by Natan Last in the most recent New Yorker called "Can Crosswords Be More Inclusive?" (it's titled "Rearrangements" in the print edition, for some reason). I think it's an excerpt from his forthcoming book on crosswords. Very much worth reading. Also, there's a big profile of the entire NYT Games department over at Vanity Fair ("Inside the New York Times' Big Bet on Games"). It's interesting and revealing ... and I get quoted a bunch, which is fun (for me, anyway). Oh, and I made a custom crossword for a design agency's annual holiday card, and that card then got written up in an ad agency industry magazine. Very unexpected. I haven't received the actual card in the mail yet, but the pics make it look nice:

And now, more Holiday Pet Pics! Not dividing by species today, just diving in!

[Babette is nine years old and/or it is Hanukkah; Babette doesn't care as long as there are treats (thanks, Michael)]

[This is Chloe. They call her "Rat," but a rat could not pull off that sweater. Probably. (thanks, Mak)]

[Theo here is noble, whereas Georgie ... well, see the next photo]

[Georgie's been baking in the sun, you're gonna have to give him a minute (thanks, Anne)]

[Lily, Priss, Baby (tail only) and Greta fight for Christmas tree supremacy (thanks, Frank)]

[Pearl waits patiently for a Christmas miracle, aka treats (thanks, Barbara)]

[Spartacus also waits. It's a little more intimidating when Spartacus does it (thanks, Deborah!)]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]