Dystopian sci-fi film of 1997 / FRI 4-19-24 / Absolute ___ (big and strong person, in modern slang) / TV journalist Tur / Bill with Ben Franklin on it, slangily / Zoetrope creations / 1999 comedy in which Alanis Morissette plays God

Constructor: Kate Hawkins

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: OMNI (38A: Onetime magazine that covered science fiction) —

Omni was a science and science fiction magazine published for domestic American and UK markets. It contained articles on science, parapsychology, and short works of science fiction and fantasy. It was published as a print version between October 1978 and 1995. The first Omni e-magazine was published on CompuServe in 1986 and the magazine switched to a purely online presence in 1996. It ceased publication abruptly in late 1997, following the death of co-founder Kathy Keeton; activity on the magazine's website ended the following April. // Omni was founded by Kathy Keeton and her long-time collaborator and future husband Bob Guccione, the publisher of  Penthouse magazine. The initial concept came from Keeton, who wanted a magazine "that explored all realms of science and the paranormal, that delved into all corners of the unknown and projected some of those discoveries into fiction". (wikipedia)

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A triviafest that was way out of my wheelhouse. Well, not way out. I was lucky enough to have heard the phrase "Absolute UNIT," (18A: Absolute ___ (big and strong person, in modern slang)) and I remembered tertiary Othello character CASSIO, and that GATTACA existed (and how to spell it) (13D: Dystopian sci-fi film of 1997), and that Inside Out had emotions as characters, but I forgot OMNI existed (in erst-en times) and I'm just going to have to accept that some portion of the world is going to continue watching network TV (and TV news, dear god, why?), but I ... am not. Have not for a while. Who's on SNL?? Billions of people (give/take) have been cast members by now, I have no idea. Somebody? A person's name? Is that it? Great. And "TV journalist," no way, no hope. That was the one that really got me today, because I wrote in FLAP for 8A: Blowback (merriam-webster dot com: FLAP def. 6a. a state of excitement or agitation: TIZZY, UPROAR). It's the UPROAR meaning of FLAP that my brain was clearly thinking of when it chose that word as the answer to 8A: Blowback (FLAK). Obviously KATY is a more namelike name than PATY, but look, if you give me 11D: TV journalist ___ Tur, I don't know ... I've never known a "Tur," I don't know what country of origin that name has, and for all I know, people there have names like PATY. Maybe it's a weird form of "Patty / Patti" or maybe it's some derivative of "Patel," I dunno. But FLAP felt right and that was that. Had to track down that error and that meant running every Across, then starting in on the Downs, stopping at PATY and thinking, "OK, if anything looks suspicious, it's that," and then figuring out my error. More embarrassing for me: I finished the puzzle and had no idea what PGS could mean? (5A: Things attached to spines: Abbr.). Book spines were the first thing I considered and *still* I had no idea. I sincerely googled "pgs" and got only movie ratings, and then tried again and got "Preimplantation Genetic Screening" (!); only after going to a wiki site for abbrevs. did I see that it just meant "pages." The abbr. for "pages" in my world is "pp." Probably in other worlds too. That was one of the more bizarre post-solve googling adventures I've ever been on.

Fridays continue to play like Saturdays for me. This one just did not have enough marquee answers to make the squeeze worth the juice. I count two proper marquee answers. Two? That's at least four too few. VIBRAPHONE and ANIMATIONS are long(ish), and they're fine, but they are not what I would call "marquee"—you need to be splashy, original, fun, some combination of those, to qualify as a "marquee" answer, and today there's just "I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY" and "SOMETHING CAME UP," with only the latter of those two really landing (my one Whoosh moment of the solve). "I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY" really wants to be "I HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY" (at least that's the expression my brain was shouting at me when I got the ALL DAY part). The version in the puzzle is fine, just ... formal. So that's two marquee answers, only one of which really hit the mark for me. The rest of the grid is solid enough, for sure, but between the lack of long flashy answers and the insistence on leaning so heavily into pop culture trivia (including for ordinary words like SADNESS, DOGMA, OMNI), this one just didn't resonate with me the way late-week puzzles often do (and the way Fridays used to—I miss fun Fridays; Saturday has taken over as my favorite day of the week this year, pretty solidly).

I loved seeing SOJU (it's been 12 years since its last NYTXW appearance) (51D: Korea's national drink) and I appreciate the effort to be current with HUNDO (49D: Bill with Ben Franklin on it, slangily*), and that clue on UNIT. I didn't know Sadie Hawkins dances were called SADIES, but that was easy to infer. The part of the grid that was hardest for me was the NW. AHAB was a gimme, but after that ... oof. Don't think of ADVIL as a hangover "remedy," no idea who the HEIDI is, "?" clue on ABBOT so no way, and then ... well, I had the "B" at 4D: Cutting insult so obviously that was gonna be BARB ... sigh. I am a big fan of Lionel Hampton and Milt "Bags" Jackson—got a Lionel Hampton CD in the car right now—and I still didn't get VIBRAPHONE right away. I think I got "marimba" confused with "maraca." And then DEBUG ... well, I might've got that, but BARB seemed unimpeachable, so ... train wreck up there. I went clear across the grid without getting any real traction until I finally hit on good ol' EDEN Prairie, Minnesota (25D). EDEN IDEA BEST PLEBE EASE etc. and finally I was off and running. Well, walking, anyway. Sometimes jogging, but mostly walking.

Bullet points:

• 29D: "Alas!" ("AH, ME!") — this remains execrable, one of the stupidest and worst non-things you can put in your grid. I judge it extremely hard. It should be deleted from all wordlists everywhere. Just awful (and the last thing I got today—not what you'd call a fabulous finish).
• 14A: Shell company? (CREW) — the complement of people (company) in a racing shell. I briefly thought this was short for J. CREW, and that they had somehow added a shell to their logo (??).
• 15A: Concept in holistic medicine (AURA) — this is goofy. Does anyone with the word "medicine" anywhere near their names sincerely talk about AURAs? Come on.
• 26D: Choice (BEST) — "Choice" is being used adjectivally here. Think meat. Or think something else, if you prefer. Actually, don't think meat, since the BEST meat is actually "Prime," not "Choice."
• 35D: Surprise, F.B.I.-style (BUST IN ON) — boo to police violence in my puzzle. There are nicer, funnier ways to clue this that don't involve the cops.

Enjoy your Friday. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*re: 49D: Bill with Ben Franklin on it, slangily (HUNDO) — why "Ben"? no need for "Ben" here; "Franklin" is enough. You don't need "Ben" for the shortening or slang part of the answer either, since "slangily" has you covered. Now if you'd just opted for [Benjamin], that would've been completely acceptable—much harder, probably, but still correct, as "Benjamin" is in fact slang for a $100 bill

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