Mathematician Noether / SUN 2-25-24 / Ancient Greek area north of Thessaly / Color-blending technique / Slathered in sauce, in restaurant-speak / Knocking onomatopoeia / Natural decorations on some bookshelves / Home of the 123-story Lotte World Tower / Sorry ass?

Constructor: Scott Hogan and Katie Hale

Relative difficulty: Very very easy

THEME: "Special Treatment" — familiar phrases imagined as health care puns :(

Theme answers:

• 22A: I visited the cardiologist, who ... DIDN'T MISS A BEAT
• 31A: I visited the dermatologist, who ... MADE A RASH DECISION
• 47A: I visited a dentist and now I ... KNOW THE DRILL
• 69A: I visited the anesthesiologist and now I've ... LOST MY TOUCH
• 89A: I visited a sleep specialist, who ... GAVE ME THE NOD
• 105A: I visited the radiologist, who ... SAW RIGHT THROUGH ME
• 120A: I visited the podiatrist and now I ... STAND CORRECTED

Word of the Day: EMMY Noether (130A: Mathematician Noether) —

Amalie Emmy Noether (US: /ˈnʌtər/, UK: /ˈnɜːtə/; German: [ˈnøːtɐ]; 23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She proved Noether's first and second theorems, which are fundamental in mathematical physics. She was described by Pavel Alexandrov, Albert Einstein, Jean Dieudonné, Hermann Weyl and Norbert Wiener as the most important woman in the history of mathematics. As one of the leading mathematicians of her time, she developed theories of rings, fields, and algebras. In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws. (wikipedia)

• • •

Wow, this is so painfully corny. Why do people keep making these? I guess because Will keeps taking them. I absolutely Do Not Get It. These long pun stories, they're a time-honored tradition, but they seem like the biggest cop-out. Just a huge non-theme. Ordinary phrases linked by only the most preposterous imagined scenarios, which turn the ordinary phrases into puns of some kind. And the puns aren't even groaners. They're either completely weak (i.e. obvious), like DIDN'T MISS A BEAT, or they are borderline inscrutable, like GAVE ME THE NOD (are we calling sleep "THE NOD" now?), or they are completely made up—nobody but nobody ever "visited the anesthesiologist." That is not a doctor that you go to. That is a doctor that attends surgeries. I've only ever seen anesthesiologists at my actual damn procedures. I never "visited the anesthesiologist." And what, just to get some numbing drugs? What the hell? That makes no kind of sense. Plus, the idea that anesthesiologists make you lose "your touch," what? You go under. That is losing a lot more than your "touch." Then there's the fact that the themers change tense, and veer back and forth between the doctor doing things and the patient doing things. It's a mess. An old-fashioned, unambitious, uninspired mess. Completely baffling. 

And there's not nearly enough longer / interesting fill to make up for the cornball theme. In fact, there's hardly any. I'm looking around for literally any answer I was happy to see, and I can't find any. "YOU GAME?" OK, yes, that's pretty good; that, I approve. That's got something. But the rest of it ... it's not bad, but at best it's just ... there. Taking up space. The theme is all there is today, and the theme ... well, if it's your cup of tea, god bless you. I envy you. I was just hurrying through this thing, grateful that it was easy (so I could be done with it quickly). 

I don't know who this JENNA is (30A: Partner of Hoda on "Today") and I had trouble remembering and then spelling Linda COHN (started with COEN) (93D: "SportsCenter" anchor Linda), but other than that the only trouble I had with this puzzle came entirely in and around the worst of the themers: GAVE ME THE NOD (again, ?!?!?!). I'm on various social medias, and I don't really know what ADD is (86D: Button on social media). I "Like" you or I "Follow" you or I "Friend" you, maybe. ADD is ... weak and generic. So it didn't occur to me. The clue on WIENERS is actually really good (66D: Pack of dogs?) (i.e. hot dogs), but it was hard, and crossed the dumb themer I couldn't get, so it made that section harder. I don't know anyone who decorates their shelves with GEODES, so that was nowhere near the front of my mind as an answer for 77A: Natural decorations on some bookshelves. And for some reason [Have over] was a tough clue for HOST (for me). Oh, and the "GAME" part of "YOU GAME?" wasn't readily apparent to me either (59D: "We doin' this?"). So all along the length of GAVE ME THE NOD, I had issues. Elsewhere, zero issues. None. No resistance. Comically easy.

Notes:

• 1A: Favors (ASKS) — "Favors" here is a noun
• 5A: Slathered in sauce, in restaurant-speak (WET) — I feel like this is specifically burrito-speak. Are there other speaks that apply?
• 57A: Sorry ass? (EEYORE) — I kinda like this clue. He is a sorry ass. I don't so much like that "ass" is also a crucial component of another clue in the puzzle (110A: Rude ... or, without its first two letters, rude person (CRASS)). Feels like a dupe, even though "ass" doesn't technically appear a second time.
• 96A: Professional who works a lot (VALET) — so, a car lot.
• 
  37D: Behaved like the lion in Oz (COWERED) — I guess he does that. Some part of me doesn't like this answer because he's the "cowardly" lion, and ... COWERED is a homophone of "coward," which actually fits the lion better ... I dunno. It's legit, but it's rubbing me the wrong way. Like ... wrong "coward," man.
• 67D: Man's name that becomes a distance if you move the first letter to the end (EMIL) — I am usually so bad at these "when you move a letter"-type clues, but damned if I didn't nail this one right out of the box. 
• 95D: Knocking onomatopoeia (RAT-A-TAT) — got this off the "R," which isn't that impressive. I think I would've gotten it even without the "R"—it's the only "knocking onomatopoeia" I can think of.
• 101D: Ancient Greek area north of Thessaly (THRACE) — I am aware of lots of ancient Greek names without being (very) aware of where any of them go on a map. Still, I was happy to piece this one together quickly.
• 103D: Color-blending technique (OMBRÉ) — this is a hair-coloring technique, as I understand it. Where the hair shades from one color into another, often getting lighter toward the tips. I first learned of OMBRE (in crosswords) as an old-timey card game, like Euchre or Whist, whatever those are (I learned them from crosswords too, I think ... or else from the poetry of Alexander Pope, I forget ... yep, sure enough, they play OMBRE in Pope's "The Rape of the Lock"; weird the things you (kinda sorta) remember from sophomore-year British Literature).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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