Gillette razors / MON 10-7-24 / Fictional archaeologist with a fear of snakes, informally / Fixture at many a cash bar / Supersoft sweater material / The Gaels of the NCAA / What adequate ventilation provides / Sweeping camera movement / Something a loyal customer may redeem for a free drink / Like the slang "totally tubular" and "da bomb"

Constructor: Desirée Penner and Jeff Sinnock

Relative difficulty: Very easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: TIME AND TIME AGAIN (39A: Repeatedly ... or what can precede both halves of the answers to 19-, 25-, 53- and 63-Across) — both halves of the theme answers can follow "time" in a familiar phrase:

Theme answers:

• SLOT MACHINE ("time slot," "time machine") (19A: For which 7-7-7 might be a jackpot)
• STAMP CARD ("time stamp," "time card") (25A: Something a loyal customer may redeem for a free drink)
• OFF LIMITS ("time off," "time limits") (53A: Taboo)
• PERIOD PIECE ("time period," "time piece") (63A: Historical drama, e.g.)

Word of the Day: LAMAR Jackson (16A: ___ Jackson, N.F.L. M.V.P. in 2019 and 2023) —

Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. (born January 7, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2016, and was selected by the Ravens with the final pick (No. 32) in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. Intended to serve as a backup in his rookie season, Jackson became the Ravens' starting quarterback after an injury to the incumbent Joe Flacco. He went on to clinch a division title with the team and became the youngest NFL quarterback to start a playoff game at age 21.

Known for his dual-threat play style, Jackson led the NFL in touchdown passes in 2019 while setting the single-season record in rushing yards for a quarterback.For his success, Jackson became the second unanimous NFL Most Valuable Player(MVP) and the fourth black quarterback to win the award. Jackson followed up his MVP campaign by becoming the first quarterback to have multiple seasons with 1,000 rushing yards and led the Ravens to a third consecutive playoff appearance. Following the 2022 season, he signed a five-year contract worth $260 million. In 2023, Jackson led the Ravens to the top seed in the American Football Conference (AFC) and was named NFL MVP for the second time, en route to the team's first AFC Championship game since 2012. (wikipedia)

• • •

Really enjoyed this one. It was one of those days where all the Downs-only magic was flowing my way. SLAMS ERICA CASHMERE right out of the gate, then double back to get PIVOT (after inferring the "P" in SPEC). Slight hesitation at STAMP CARD ("is that a thing? ... oh, right, yes, yes it is") and then up and through SLOTM-, which couldn't be anything but SLOT MACHINE ... so I was flying, whooshing, without even looking at a single Across clue. But with two themers down, I still couldn't tell what the theme was supposed to be, so I tumbled down into the center of the grid (ASTI AIM LIP ATM DUE), and then, from "-EANDTIM-" ... bam, right across the grid. 

What a rush to pick up a grid-spanner from just the middle chunk, and a bigger rush to have that grid-spanner clearly, concisely, and perfectly reveal the theme to me. Didn't need to read the clue on TIME AND TIME AGAIN to know exactly what it meant. I thought "OK, if that's the revealer, then there's going to be two ... times ... probably." And sure enough, I look up, and yup, that checks out (time slot, time machine; time stamp, time card). Something about the exhilaration of flying through the grid on just the Downs coupled with the clear and clever wordplay on the revealer phrase made this one a lot of fun to move through. And the remaining themers were still fun to get because, even knowing the gimmick, I still had to pick them up without their clues. Got to experience another no-look whoosh moment later in the solve when I threw down PERIOD PIECE off of just a tiny chunk of central material ("-IOD-"):

Confirmed that answer with PAN (64D: Sweeping camera movement), and from there, it was a fairly easy trip over to the SE corner and ... done. Ended on SRSLY, and yes, SRSLY, despite some less-than-great fill here and there, I liked this one a bunch. The "both halves"-type themes can often yield two-part themers that feel at least a little bit forced, but all four of today's offerings were rock solid—rock solid as standalone answers, and rock solid as two-part "time" followers. Since "time flow" is a thing (isn't it?), I had a moment where I thought AIRFLOW was a themer (29A: What adequate ventilation provides). But then I looked at the symmetrical answer (NY STATE), and couldn't make sense of "time NY" or "time state" (although that kind of sounds like a thing). Also (going back to AIRFLOW), though "air time" is a thing, "time air" is not. So no, those 7-letter Acrosses have nothing to do with the theme. Just the four themers today—clean and clear and thematically perfect.

Moments I could have done without: OBI crossing OBIE (not a dupe, but feels like a dupe); NY STATE (I live in it but it doesn't feel like a solid phrase to me—NYS is an abbr. I've seen, but NY STATE seems to be trying to have it both ways (abbr. and non), and it just feels off); and then, because I had to stop and work for FIERY, my attention was called to the crosses on that one, which are ... not good. Weird to write in FIERY and know it has to be right but really want it to be wrong because MII and ATRAS look so bad. They really want to be MOI and ATLAS ... but FIERY > FOELY, I'm afraid, so I just had to wince and move on. Those minor infelicities, however, did very little to dampen my overall enjoyment of this one. We also get a couple of decent long downs. CASHMERE ... so soft. And who doesn't love Paul GIAMATTI? I will confess I did not care for The Holdovers, but American Splendor is one of the best biopics I've ever seen (and I don't even like biopics!). GIAMATTI is a perfect Harvey Pekar. Perfect Pekar, I say! If you haven't seen it, treat yourself! 

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

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