Tech product that's promised but never delivered / WED 12-13-23 / Business-generating partner at a law firm / Hit 2009 film with a hit 2022 sequel / 1979 Robert John hit that repeats "I don't wanna see you cry" / Social dance in 3/4 time

Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium

THEME: WATER CYCLE (55A: Natural process suggested by the starts of 17-, 24-, 26-, 45- and 47-Across) — first words of themers form the cycle: OCEAN -> VAPOR -> CLOUD -> RAIN -> RIVER:

Theme answers:

• OCEAN SPRAY (17A: Co-op responsible for more than two-thirds of cranberry production in North America)
• VAPORWARE (24A: Tech product that's promised but never delivered)
• CLOUD NINE (26A: Hog heaven)
• RAINMAKER (45A: Business-generating partner at a law firm)
• RIVER CARD (47A: It might make or break a hand in Texas hold 'em)

Word of the Day: PSALTER (21A: Book of hymns) —

[from the Psalter of Saint Louis]

A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons. They were commonly used for learning to read. Many Psalters were richly illuminated, and they include some of the most spectacular surviving examples of medieval book art.

The English term (Old English psaltere, saltere) derives from Church Latin. The source term is Latin: psalterium, which is simply the name of the Book of Psalms (in secular Latin, it is the term for a stringed instrument, from Ancient Greek: ψαλτήριον psalterion). The Book of Psalms contains the bulk of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. The other books associated with it were the Lectionary, the Antiphonary, and Responsoriale, and the Hymnary. In Late Modern English, psalter has mostly ceased to refer to the Book of Psalms (as the text of a book of the Bible) and mostly refers to the dedicated physical volumes containing this text. (wikipedia)

• • •

***ATTENTION: READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION (if it's currently mid-January, that's you!)*** : Hello from the first properly wintry week of the season in Central New York! It's January, which means it's time once again for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. So ... 17 years ... not bad. At this time last year, I was recovering from COVID and still dealing with the very fresh grief brought on by the untimely death of my cat, Olive. I was very grateful for the blog at that point, since it grounded me in routine and gave me a place where I could lose myself in a pastime I love, and share that love with others. OK, yes, true, I don't always *love* crosswords. Sometimes it's more hate-love or love-hate or "Why are you being like this, you stupid puzzle!?" It ain't all positive vibes, as you know. But I realized last year that part of what makes this blog so fun for me, and what makes it a solace to many readers, is the sense of commiseration it provides. Sometimes the puzzle thrills you, and maybe I agree with you, and maybe I don't; and sometimes it infuriates you, and maybe I agree with you, and maybe I don't. But either way, the blog is here; it's *always* here. You get to have your feelings validated, or you get to shake your head at my errant judgment and often breathtaking ignorance, but either way, you get to share an experience that's an important part of your daily life, and maybe you learn something new. Above all, I hope you feel that there is a real person with a real life and real emotions and (very) real human flaws who's telling you what it was *really* like for him to solve the puzzle. I never wanted to be an expert, offering some kind of bloodless know-it-all advice and analysis. I wanted blood. Blood on the page. There will be blood! ... But also, music videos. And Words of the Day. And, if you hang around long enough, cat pictures. Like this one:

This is Ida (she put herself in the bin, I swear). Ida is the happy sequel to last year's grief. At the beginning of January, I was mourning. By the end of January, I was still mourning, but now I had a new companion (as did my other cat, Alfie, who *really* needed one). Why am I talking about my cats? Because they are constant, they give shape and rhythm to my day, and I love them even if they sometimes drive me crazy. Just like crossword puzzles! (See that! Segue! This is why you should pay me the big bucks!) 

However much I love writing this blog (and I do, a lot), it is, in fact, a job. This blog has covered the NYTXW every day, without fail, for 17 years, and except for two days a month (when my regular stand-ins Mali and Clare write for me), and an occasional vacation or sick day (when I hire substitutes to write for me), it's me who's doing the writing. Every day. At very ... let's say, inconvenient hours (my alarm goes off most mornings at 3:45am). Over the years, I have received all kinds of advice about "monetizing" the blog, invitations to turn it into a subscription-type deal à la Substack or Patreon. But that sort of thing has never felt right for me. I like being out here on Main, on this super old-school blogging platform, just giving it away for free and relying on conscientious addicts like yourselves to pay me what you think the blog's worth. It's just nicer that way. 

How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are three options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar on the homepage):

Second, a mailing address (checks can be made out to "Michael Sharp" or "Rex Parker"):

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905

The third, increasingly popular option is Venmo; if that's your preferred way of moving money around, my handle is @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)

All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All Venmo contributions will get a little heart emoji, at a minimum :) All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I. Love. Snail Mail. I love seeing your gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my awful handwriting. It's all so wonderful. My daughter (Ella Egan) has once again designed my annual thank-you cards, and once again those cards feature (wait for it) cats! My cats: Alfie & Ida. This year, an elegant set of five!

These really capture the combination of beauty and goofiness that I love in cats (and puzzles, frankly). I'd say "Collect All Five!" but every snail-mail contributor will get just one and (hopefully) like it! Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD." Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership and support. Please know that your support means a lot to me and my family. Now on to today's puzzle... 

• • •

Seems more like a Monday theme, with the difficulty amped up by cluing, and possibly the mere presence of VAPORWARE, which ... if I've heard it (and I think I have), I had no idea what it meant. I assumed it was a real thing, not a promised but undelivered thing. Maybe something that vapor ... izes ... something else. Weird how misty words attach themselves to computing ... The Cloud ... VAPORWARE ... OK, so, just two misty words. Anyway, the precedent of "The Cloud" made me assume VAPORWARE was also an actual, not theoretical thing. I actually didn't read the whole clue there. I got as far as "Tech product" and my (SAD) EYES glazed over and I just worked crosses til something vaguely producty showed up. So, as I say, this one possibly-less-well-known themer may have made the theme seem more midweek-worthy. But in concept, it's a Monday. First words do what? They do this. The end. And yeah, that sure looks like the cycle. Puzzle does what it says it does—takes you from OCEAN to (fresh) WATER, which gives life to plants and us and all the assorted organisms and critters. The themer set is lively enough, and there are some bright spots in the fill, particularly the vivid and apt juxtaposition of DEAD RUN and OVERDO IT. The SE corner is a bit of a mess (more below), but overall, while I was never IN AWE OF this one, I also didn't CRINGE much either (42D: [Oooh, that's embarrassing]). Felt like a very serviceable / passable / acceptable Monday, aired on a Wednesday, with Wednesday-level cluing. 

But yeah that SE corner was less than great. So, I love "SAD EYES," it gives me big childhood radio-listening nostalgia, but it's ... not exactly current. And it wasn't exactly a legendary song. And since you've already gone back to "The Waltons" in this puzzle (58A: Will of "The Waltons"), "SAD EYES" feels like a step too far into the pop culture past. I would probably not have commented on it, would've found it largely unremarkable, were it not stuck in an already struggling corner. Nobody likes SESH. Nobody likes SLRS, and (worst of all) TAKE A CUE ... haven't seen an answer with this much "EAT A SANDWICH" energy in a long time. It's so bad on its own. You TAKE (your) CUES from... someone, maybe. But TAKE A CUE, oof. It kinda wants to be TAKE A TIP and kinda wants to be TAKE CUES and ends up in this weird no-man's-land, where it looks ... right-ish, but ... it just doesn't want to stand alone, as a phrase. It's not great. That whole corner just feels GREASY, and the problems all start with TAKE A CUE, since it is the pillar of its community. It should be the best thing in there, but instead: the opposite. 

Today, we have the glorious NYTXW debut of [drum roll] ... TV-Y! (56D: "Sesame Street" rating) ... [crickets] ... [more crickets] ... [still more] ... Me, after writing in TV-G and realizing it was wrong. "Great, another TV rating to gunk up the grid, huzzah." I did appreciate the puzzle's ANTIWAR sentiment, even if it did come in the form of a caricature of a '60s peacenik (again, the puzzle demonstrates a predominantly half-century-old cultural frame of reference) (25D: Like the sentiment of a "Drop Acid, Not Bombs" poster). I had trouble in only a few places today. The first place was square one, where I took one look at 1D: Furrow former and blanked, then took a look at the next clue, 2D: Cray cray, and thought "Oh god, there's some dumb clue-based theme today where both words in the clues alliterate or something, why me, lord!?" (P.S. no one says "Cray cray" any more, please stop, total CRINGE). Turns out my fears were misplaced. I just couldn't make sense of "former" in [Furrow former]. I thought "former" as like "onetime" or "ex," and I kept thinking "Furrow" was "Farrow," so [Furrow former] = [Farrow former] = [Farrow ex] = ??? ... SINATRA?  LEVIN? All these thoughts crossed my mind before I'd entered a single thing confidently in the grid. Eventually I just tested PLOD (1A: Wearily put one foot in front of the other) and then LOCO and eventually PLOW showed up and then I thought, "Oh, right, former. Something that forms ... something else. That is a word, isn't it?" 

Other hiccups included PSALMER at 21A: Book of hymns despite being a medievalist by training and having seen and read about PSALTERs plenty. And then I found the SW corner a little hard to get into because I wanted the [Barrel maker] to be a COOPER (because that's what barrel makers are called), and I couldn't for the life of me figure out the [Slangy summons] at 42-Across. So I abandoned that corner and left it for the end. Then, when I finally got in there, like a sucker, I stepped right in the AVOIDS / AVERTS / EVADES kealoa* (44D: Sidesteps). Seriously, cycled through them all, in that order. Finished the puzzle with BREWERY. Speaking of brewing: coffee. Now. Yes. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. Since I said yesterday that I would post pics of your pets in holiday settings if you sent them to me, I have been ... well, “inundated” may be an exaggeration, but only slightly. I'm gonna be posting Holiday Pets all month. Not Mad! Here's Janine's late pupper Cinnamon, followed by Ian's 12yo cockapoo Dobby, who enjoys, well, sleeping 

Lots more where these came from. Keep 'em coming. 

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] ATON/ALOT, ["Git!"] "SHOO"/"SCAT," etc.  

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