Replacement for the Spanish colonial real / FRI 8-9-2024 / Animals that appear in the fossil record before trees / Stigmatize sexual preferences, in modern lingo

Constructor: Hemant Mehta

Relative difficulty: Medium (9:07)

THEME: Themeless

Word of the Day: TELEX (Email ancestor) —

Telex is a telecommunication service that provides text-based message exchange over the circuits of the public switched telephone network or by private lines. The technology operates on switched station-to-station basis with teleprinter devices at the receiving and sending locations. Telex was a major method of sending text messages electronically between businesses in the post–World War II period. Its usage went into decline as the fax machine grew in popularity in the 1980s.

• • •

Hey friends, it's Malaika! I solved this puzzle while listening to Orville Peck's new album, which is called Stampede. I think my favorite song off it is Chemical Sunset. I simply adore a country song with a little harmonizing!!

Easy themeless puzzles are my fave, and this one rocked. Such a blast! This grid shape seems to lend itself to Really Good Friday Puzzles; at one point it was used on a Friday three weeks in a row. When I make a themeless puzzle, I start with one entry locked into place, and then construct everything else around it. I know others who do the same, and I like to guess what the Inciting Entry was. Here, I'd expect it to be KINK SHAME.

I'm really stunned at how many of the long answers were delightful. INDIE BANDS / GO OUT ON TOP was an awesome way to begin the puzzle, and the little column of LET ME EXPLAIN / BREATH MINTS / ALMOST DONE was also very fun. I particularly liked that last entry which sounded so conversational. I say ALMOST DONE way more than I ever say "I'm almost done." (I will say that I found the clue for BREATH MINTS (Apt anagram of TINS BEAR THEM, minus an E) difficult to parse, and not particularly interesting or fun. I feel like we've been getting more of this type of clue since Joel took over for Will-- is that true, or am I totally off-base here?) 

On the right side of the puzzle, I liked MUSEUM TOURS with it's clue, [Journeys into the past?]. Although that is making me realize how few wordplay clues we got here. That was one of just three in the whole puzzle. One reason for this is that it's tough (though not IMPOSSIBLE hehehe) to clue conversational phrases like I MISSED YOU with a pun. But I think GLASS TUMBLER and BARREL RACE definitely could have had some punny options.

I know a couple people who don't like to include weapons or violent entries in their puzzles, but it doesn't bother me (as a constructor or as a solver). I thought it was nice to get a Godzilla mention in reference to H BOMB-- it reminded me of how the production team of the most recent Godzilla movie wore matching shoes to the Oscars.

And they won!! Best Visual Effects on a budget of $15 million

As a final note... what do you guys think about how he stacked A PLUSES atop B TEAMS? Do you think it was on purpose, or a happy coincidence?

Bullets:

• [Wedding planning website, with "the"] for KNOT — This site is ubiquitous amongst thirty-somethings in NYC. I've gotten three wedding invites on it so far, and there are always ads on the subway for it.
• [Where you can find ME] for US MAP — The "ME" in the clue is referring to an abbreviation for Maine
• [Line drawn after an early wrong guess in hangman] for TORSO — This puzzle may not have had a lot of punnery, but this was some nice imagery
  

xoxo Malaika

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