One-named poet from the 13th century / SAT 8-17-24 / Randall's eldest daughter on "This Is Us" / Toaster's opening / The "1" in 8-8-1, e.g. / Potatoes, in Indian cuisine / Reason one might read a "Speed Hump" sign and laugh / So-called "king of the Egyptian gods" / In Buffalo, it's a faux pas to order this with Buffalo wings / Something that's good to do a 180 on? / Low-cost lager from Anheuser-Busch, familiarly

Constructor: Brandon Koppy

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (one hard section, the rest easy)

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: NATTY ICE (36D: Low-cost lager from Anheuser-Busch, familiarly) —

Natural Light is an economy brand 4.2% ABV reduced-calorie pale lager introduced in 1977. The brand was originally called Anheuser-Busch Natural Light. In 2008 The Wall Street Journal listed it as the fifth largest selling beer in the U.S. Natural Ice is an economy brand 5.9% ABV ice beer, introduced in 1995. Nearly two decades after the introduction of Natural Ice a malt liquor named Natty Daddy (8% and 5.9% ABV) was added to the market in 2012. It competes directly with the MillerCoors brand Keystone Light, Milwaukee's Best Light, Southpaw Light while Natural Ice competes directly with Keystone Ice/V9, Milwaukee's Best Ice and Icehouse and Natty Daddy competes against Keylightful, Keystone Lime and Icehouse Edge. Anheuser Busch continues to add to the Natural Light profile releasing Naturdays in 2019. Currently there are three flavors, original strawberry lemonade, pineapple lemonade and red, white and blueberry. (wikipedia)

• • •

For a puzzle that was ultimately pretty easy, I had a Lot of initial wrong answers today. Some of them understandable, some of them (much) less so. I was writing them down on a notepad as I solved, so I have the strangest list here next to me. If future archaeologists ever found it, they'd be like "what the **** were these people up to!?" It reads as follows:

OMAHA

SYRUP

YA HEAR (ick!!!) [that "ick" was for the *correct* answer; more on that later]

JAMBOREES

LUNCH

Off to the side there's an "Ohio!" (reminding me to address the slur on that state's piety at 10D: Like Medina, Saudi Arabia, vis-à-vis Medina, Ohio) ("Hey, you don't know that, how dare you!" I said quietly to myself) (my wife and daughter are still, like normal people, asleep at 4:30am as I write this). Then down below I've written "PRINCE 🎵" to remind me to put this on the blog:

[20A: Reason one might read a "Speed Hump" sign and laugh]

But back to the list: I'm not sure I actually wrote in LUNCH, but I definitely wrote in all the others. Yes, I thought the brand of frozen french fries were "Born in OMAHA" (I had the ---AH- and my brain sent out a big OMAHA signal; pattern (mis-)recognition!) (19A: Grown in ___ (brand of frozen French fries) (IDAHO)). Yes, I thought forsythia might be a SYRUP (again, pattern (mis-)recognition—I had S-RU-) (5A: Forsythia, for one) (SHRUB). And then "YA HEAR!?" wow, if only that had been right. "YA HEAR!?" is an actual complete expression. It's even made two appearances in the NYTXW before. Whereas "YA FEEL!?" (debuting today, no surprise there) really really (to my ear) needs a "ME" after it in order to make any sense. I have heard "YA FEEL ME!?" many many many times over the decades, mainly when rappers have tried to explain themselves in one way or another. The "ME"-less version ... that got by me. Consequence of getting old, I guess. Grimacingly painful to write that one in the grid. I assume it's perfectly valid, in some contexts, but it still felt oof. Which is too bad, because this grid is really quite lovely and largely oof-free. JAMBOREES for CAMPOREES will surprise no one, as the Boy Scouts have a National Jamboree every year. CAMPOREES is one of the stupider portmanteaus (-eaux?) I've ever encountered, but I *have* encountered it before, so that change wasn't too hard. Which brings us to LUNCH, which ... well, again, I had letters in place (-CH), which triggered the pattern-recognition part of my brain, which (again!) sent up the wrong answer. "Wait, you can't order wings with LUNCH? You can only eat them ... as a standalone dish? Or a snack? I knew Buffalo was its own self-contained island of climatic and cultural weirdness, but that's absurd" (46D: In Buffalo, it's a faux pas to order this with Buffalo wings). But no, not LUNCH. RANCH. I love the idea that some burly Bills fan snarfing wings is gonna use a word like "faux pas" with orange Buffalo sauce dripping off his lips and fingers. "RANCH? Oh dear, no. It's simply not done," he splurted.

So, five out-and-out missteps. And yet this puzzle played pretty easy overall. Easy and delightful. The first answer that really made me perk up was DIRTY MIND, and then came the center stack, which is a real piece of work (no, I mean that unironically—I loved it). My only complaint is that it was way too easy to get through. I no-looked STAIRMASTER from pattern recognition alone (ST--RMA----). SCREAM QUEEN was a cinch, given what I had in place already—it's the answer that got me to change "YA HEAR!?" to "YA FEEL!?" (still feels bad...). GOES NUCLEAR might've taken a little more effort, but not much. A great stack that unfolded all in a rush, which made it read like the world's most bizarre headline: "STAIRMASTER SCREAM QUEEN GOES NUCLEAR!" (if she was already screaming on the Stairmaster, "Nuclear" must be pretty bad). 

Moving on, I also loved the remaining marquee answers down below: MACGYVERS (as a verb!) and "I NEED A HUG" and "NO BACKSIES," the last of which absolutely saved my hide in the SE, which was (for me) the only tough (i.e. properly Saturday) portion of the grid. That SE corner just ground me down (comparatively). I don't drink beer, and I really don't drink convenience store beer, so NATTY ICE, yikes. I had heard of the NATTY part, so that went in OK, but the last three letters, nope. Also nope: STAR as a verb (43A: Mark as important, in a way). And the idea that "8-8-1" was supposed to represent a win-loss record (i.e. 8 wins, 8 losses, 1 TIE). Sports woes continued with my not really knowing or caring that the RAIDERS (of the NFL) had moved to Las Vegas, and thus thinking that "Eleven" must refer to a dice roll (though I did think "shouldn't there be a comma after "Eleven" if it's a dice roll...?") (38D: Eleven in Las Vegas). Eleven players on a side in football, that's what that "Eleven" means. Forgot the river through Glasgow for a bit before the "C" and "Y" finally jogged it loose (CLYDE). The only time I ever think about the LSAT is when crosswords force me, and I forgot the top score was 180, so even that little answer held me up (54D: Something that's good to do a 180 on?). And LOL at the idea that I know any of the character names on This Is Us (network TV character names being among the least appealing of pop culture clues). Would much have preferred the Hardy heroine or the titular Shirley MacLaine role or really any other TESS (esp. in a puzzle already crowded with TV stuff: HBO DRAMAS and SQUID GAME and what not). So I had NATTY- and REESE'S and not a lot else down there in the SE. But then "NO BACKSIES" slid in and saved my backside. Did I NEED A HUG? I did not. I was fine. Moved over to the SW and finished the puzzle off with next-to-no effort, the end.

More:

• 11D: So-called "king of the Egyptian gods" (AMON-RA) — if the puzzle is too (TV) show-y, it's also a bit too Egyptiany, I think. AMON-RA and OSIRIS!? (39D: God slain by his brother, then resurrected by his wife). Who's paying the NYT for this kind of exposure? Big Egyptology, no doubt. Anyway, that "O" in AMON-RA can also be an "E" or a "U" (yes, all valid spellings of this dude), so let's just hope you know your Indian menu words (18A: Potatoes, in Indian cuisine = ALOO)
• 62A: Toaster's opening ("HERE'S...") — as in "HERE'S to my stupid brother, whose marriage to Lisa here is in no way ill-advised! Salud!"
• 25A: Some skintight clothing (SHAPERS) — maybe the hardest answer for me in the top half of the grid. After SPANX and SPEEDO I didn't have anything left in my skintight "S"-word arsenal. I am more familiar with the term "SHAPEWEAR" than I am with SHAPERS, but I assume it's valid.
• 1A: Ireland's second-best-selling musical act after U2 (ENYA) — if I ever saw a bigger gimme at 1-Across on a Saturday, I'm not sure when that was. Four letters + Ireland + music should trigger your ENYA reflex immediately. It's doubtful you'd even attempt a Saturday if that reflex were not already well developed and lightning-fast. I've been listening to her first album a lot lately and I love it, partly because it's just a nice atmospheric thing to have on in the house during Drinks hour (5-6pm, ritually), but also because the cover (front and back) features two adorable babies:

[Babies!]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]