Freedom, per Janis Joplin / THU 11-7-24 / Claymation character of old "S.N.L." / Gaming console that preceded the Switch / Place for a Lady chapel / Stylish Miami neighborhood, in brief / Debut character for Zadie Smith / Mario Kart character with a pink outfit and a mushroom cap / Pink-colored Euro banknote

Constructor: Joe Deeney

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Off TO the side... — familiar phrases containing "TO" must be written in the grid with "TO" moved (one column or row to the side) in the direction indicated by the word that precedes it in the phrase—up, down, left or right. (Shaded squares indicate the position of the "TO"s):

Theme answers:

• BRINGS [UP TO] SPEED (18A: Fills in with the latest)
• NOTHING [LEFT TO] LOSE (3D: Freedom, per Janis Joplin)
• COME [DOWN TO] THE WIRE (61A: Result in a photo finish)
• GET RIGHT [TO] THE POINT (27D: Not beat around the bush)

Word of the Day: Lady chapel (53A: Place for a Lady chapel => APSE) —

[Wells Cathedral, Somerset, UK] 

A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, and they were traditionally the largest side chapel of a cathedral, placed eastward from the high altar and forming a projection from the main building, as in Winchester Cathedral. Most Roman Catholic and many Anglican cathedrals still have such chapels, while mid-sized churches have smaller side-altars dedicated to the Virgin. (wikipedia)

• • •

Got the theme early:

 

And while I thought the concept was clever, I think it's missing something. Like ... a point. Why are you moving "TO"s. If there were some revealer or some spelled-out phrase or something that made the specific practice of moving "TO"s meaningful, if the moved "TO"s were expressing (in some visually punny way) a familiar phrase or something like that, then this theme might be impressive. But as it is, you just move the "TO"s ... just to move them. If there's no real reason, no revealer, why not make the moved words different? Not just "TO," but "FOR" or "IN" or whatever. "I'LL BE [RIGHT WITH] YOU!" Something like that. I guess it's simpler this way. I mean, it definitely is simpler—once you grasp the theme, you can just write "TO" in all those shaded squares, and you know that "TO" is going to be involved in the larger phrase, so the repetitiveness of the theme smooths the road for the solver. I would've appreciated more variety and more challenge (in the theme). And more coherence in the context. There's a good core architectural concept here, but no clear main idea to hang it on. I enjoyed working it all out, but there was something hollow and anticlimactic about it. I kept waiting for the revealer that never arrived.

["The Joy of SECT"]

While the theme seemed promising but underdeveloped, the fill, yeeeeesh. I made a lot of faces today. There's the usual culprits, like short gunk that's maybe a little gunkier than it needs to be today. You know, your ALII WIIU, your ING NNE, stuff like that. In smallish doses, that's harmless, but unfortunately it was gunkily complemented by a bunch of longer answers that clanked and sputtered throughout the grid. SEISMO is perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever seen in the grid (69A: Shaky start?). I exaggerate, but not by much. Certainly the stupidest-looking standalone prefix. SEISMO sounds like the name of the mascot at a seismology convention. Imagine someone running around in a furry cartoonish Richter scale costume, trying to get the seismologists hyped about their jobs—that's SEISMO! "Oh, SEISMO, you lovable scamp! You make my knees shake and my heart tremble!" And what is this ridiculous fully-spelled-out "OKAY" in "NOT OKAY"? NOT OK has made twelve NYTXW appearances because that is how you spell NOT OK when you have to spell NOTOK. "NOT OKAY," on the other hand ... surprise, this is a debut. NOT OKAY ... it's not OK. Unwelcome debuts seem to be happening more and more. Debuts are not good for their own sake! Some answers should never see the light of day! 

[I don't know what this is, but it's SEISMO!]

BAD EYE threw me off with its informality (41D: One might require a higher prescription). It looks weird as a standalone phrase. And again, it's a debut. Overstuffed wordlists are going to be the death of us all, I swear. As for OSBORNE, holy cow that was hard (40A: Given name of baseball's Ozzie Smith). I know very well who Ozzie Smith is, as his career was at its peak during my peak baseball card-collecting years. But I thought maybe he was an OSCAR or an OSWALD or something, I dunno. And speaking of "popular when I was a kid," this puzzle skews verrry old in its pop culture references today. Ozzie Smith and Will GEER and Janice Joplin and MR. BILL and Gloria GAYNOR (19D: "I Will Survive" Grammy winner). Real "half a century ago" vibe to this group. Spelling GAYNOR could cause issues, especially if you aren't sure about AYER, TOADETTE, or OSBORNE. I definitely left that "O" space in GAYNOR blank til the end. GAYNOR crossing TOADETTE and OSBORNE crossing NOT OKAY and BAD EYE ... that felt like a real rough patch. And obviously, the less said about BROSPEAK, the better (43A: Greek language?). (note: frat boys ("Greeks") talk like everyone else in college, honestly ... a techbro angle on this clue might be more appropriate)

[Janis Joplin, "Me and Bobby McGee," written by the late great Kris Kristofferson: "Freedom is just another word for NOTHING [LEFT TO] LOSE"]

Notes:

• 4D: Stylish Miami neighborhood, in brief (SOBE) — assuming this stands for "South Beach." SOBE has appeared in the NYTXW 21 times in the Modern Era, but this is its first appearance as a neighborhood. Before that, it was the beverage co. (e.g. [Beverage brand with a lizard logo]), or else a partial (from the phrase "SO BE it").
• 13D: Debut character for Zadie Smith (ZED) — a "letteral" clue, and a British one at that. Zadie Smith is a British writer, and ZED is the British term for the letter "ZEE," so ... there you go.
• 57D: Subject of the obsolete "plum pudding model" (ATOM) — well I'm glad it's "obsolete" because I never heard of it. "The first scientific model of the atom to describe an internal structure." Proposed in 1904 and then rendered obsolete in 1911 by the discovery of the atomic nucleus. A seven-year run? That's it? "Cats" ran for longer.
• 64D: 2020 #1 hit for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion ("WAP") — the "W" stands for "Wet" and the "A" stands for "ASS," and if you're someone who thinks "WET-ASS" is inappropriately vulgar for the crossword, well, I have some bad news for you about what the "P" stands for ...

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

***

Important Note:

As of Monday, 11/4/24, the NYT Tech Guild is on strike. 

From The Guardian:

The Guild is asking that readers honor their picket line by boycotting the Times’ selection of games, including Wordle and the daily digital crossword, and to avoid other digital extensions such as the Cooking app.

Annie Shields, a campaign lead for the News Guild of New York, encouraged people to sacrifice their streaks in the wildly popular Wordle and Connections games in order to support the strike.

You can read more about the strike here (nyguild.org).

There were some anti-union talking points being credulously repeated in the comments yesterday, so just to be clear (per Vanity Fair): "The union said Tech Guild workers' main concerns that remain unresolved are: remote/hybrid work protections; “just cause” job protections, which “the newsroom union has had for decades”; limits on subcontracting; and pay equity/fair pay." 

Since the picket line is "digital," it would appear to apply only to Games solved in the NYT digital environment—basically anything you solve on your phone or on the NYT website per se. If you get the puzzle in an actual dead-tree newspaper, or if you solve it outside the NYT's proprietary environment (via a third-party app, as I do), then technically you're not crossing the picket line by solving. You can honor the digital picket line by not using the Games app (or the Cooking app) at all until the strike is resolved. No Spelling Bee, no Connections ... none of it. My morning Wordle ritual is was very important to me, but ... I'll survive, I assume.  

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