Makeup brand known for its risqué product names / FRI 11-22-24 / Macronutrient grouping? / One with an "accept all cookies" policy? / Understudy opportunities? / Daisylike bloom / Hermès competitor

Friday, November 22, 2024

Constructor: Sarah Sinclair and Rafael Musa

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Daisies (12A: Bunch of Daisies => TROOP) —

Daisy is the initial level of Girl Scouting. Named for Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low, they are in kindergarten and first grade (around ages 5–7). They meet in minimally groups of five girls with two adult leaders who help the girls plan activities to introduce them to Girl Scouts.

Daisies earn the Promise Center and Petals, which focus on the Girl Scout Law and are placed on the front of the tunic in a daisy design. They also earn Leaves and Journey Leadership Awards. Their uniform consists of a light blue tunic. They may also wear their tunic with a white shirt and khaki bottoms or with an official Girl Scout Daisy uniform. The Girl Scout Membership Star is worn with blue membership disks and they wear the Girl Scout Daisy Membership Pin.

Daisies use the Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting for Daisies and the National Leadership Journeys to work on activities, may camp only with a parent present, and have the option to sell Girl Scout cookies. They may earn the Daisy Safety Award and the Bridge to Brownies Award. (wikipedia)

• • •

I really loved this puzzle, so I'm going to start with the worst thing about it, just to get it out of the way. And that worst thing is NARS (23A: Makeup brand known for its risqué product names). I don't so much object to a brand name I don't know—you get those from time to time. I just object to that name's being so incredibly, improbably ugly. Especially for a name attached to a beauty product. NARS? That's not a brand, that's a typo. Maybe you meant MARS—that's a cool-sounding name. But NARS ... NARS is one letter short of NARDS, which, of all the slang for testicles, is probably the least mellifluous. I got NARS entirely from crosses and just ... stared. Checked and rechecked the crosses, sure that one of them must be wrong. But nope. Nowhere to go but NARS. Thank god I knew that it was PRADA (9D: Hermès competitor) and not PRADO (which is a museum). Fashion name crossing fashion name at a vowel—that is maybe not the best choice. PRADA is (arguably) universally known, so that probably gets you out of Natick territory. But you're near Natick. You're close by. Like ... in Needham. That's what a near-Natick is called now: a Needham. 



OK, now that that's out of the way, what a great puzzle, just loaded with marquee answers of real distinction. And they really let loose the "?" clues today (8!), but in a way that somehow managed to feel non-obnoxious. They were mostly simple and cute and right on the money, starting with the winner at 1A: One with an "accept all cookies" policy? (SANTA). Iconically, that's Cookie Monster, or me, but neither of those fit, so I had to work a little to get SANTA, and getting it made me smile. Make me work a little, make me smile. I'm not looking for anything more than this on a Friday. The grid was delightfully uninundated with names. This cleared the way for the marquee name, so it could really shine—loved the way OLIVIA RODRIGO dropped down the damn center of this puzzle like a dagger, like tada! All other names step aside, the headliner's here. I wish the clue for her had been less boring (13D: Youngest artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100)—something more personal, or more specifically tied to her songs / albums, but I enjoyed seeing her nonetheless, cutting through 8 (8!) answers of 8 (8!) or more letters. She's really holding it all together. I'm a fan (of her in this puzzle, of her irl). I also love that she took The Breeders with her on tour. Such a bold choice. "Kim Deal [of The Breeders] said it was odd at first, but after learning Rodrigo knew St. Vincent and is a fan of Billy Joel and Sheryl Crow, she said "[Rodrigo]'s just really into music. Knowing that, it made more sense. She just really liked us!"" (wikipedia). The kid's got good taste.


[gratuitous Kim Deal content—new fantastic album out today]

Thirteen answers of 8 or more letters and not a clunker in the bunch. Love the unusual juxtaposition, like KIDS TABLE and BEER HALL ("You kids stay there, the grown-ups are ... going out for a while"). Or the politeness of "NO, I INSIST" alongside the rude impatience of TOOT-TOOT. I love the shade of "former" in 20A: Google's former motto ("DON'T BE EVIL"). I mean, there's no other way to clue that, but still, it's a reminder that their putative values have, uh, changed (evil is, as you maybe know by now, quite profitable). I also loved how the answer to 52A: Field of stars? was ASTROLOGY and not ASTRONOMY (which wouldn't fit). "In astrology, stars are seen as celestial powerhouses, radiating their energy and influencing our lives in profound ways." The clue felt like it was trolling astronomers and other science types, and that's fine by me. I liked the BLIND DATES with MERE MORTALs and the OLD NORSE guy who SLEPT LATE and I even liked LOLING, as it is an abbreviation I've actually used and it crosses NARS, which deserves to be LOL'd at.


Initial mistakes were few and unserious. RACY before SEXY (18D: Like many Halloween costumes), OPEN before SPIT (18A: Dentist's directive), BATS before ANTS (7D: Creatures that sleep by taking hundreds of minute-long naps throughout the day). Other than that, the only significant resistance in this thing came from the SW corner, where I found BETRAY very hard to get ahold of (40D: Reveal unintentionally). I wanted BLURT or BLURT OUT or BLAB or some other blithering "B" word. Also had some trouble parsing EASY A'S from the back end, especially given that "?" clue (57A: Understudy opportunities?). I was like, "... 'YAS! YAS!'? Is that something people ... exclaim? ... I don't get it." But no, it's EASY A'S, and the clue is actually great (after all, EASY A'S are classes where you can understudy (i.e. not study much at all) and still do well).


Notes:
  • 15A: Macronutrient grouping? (AEIOU) — we just had a whole supervocalic lesson here on the blog a few days ago, and bang, here we are again, with a word that contains each of the five vowels (AEIOU) only once. That's what a "supervocalic" is. Slightly weird to call them a "grouping," since the vowels are dispersed throughout the word (and don't appear in order). But I think the "?" on the clue takes care of any imprecision in the clue phrasing. It's a nice misdirective clue, actually.
  • 30D: ___ Annie, role for which Ali Stroker was the first wheelchair user to win a Tony (ADO) — not being a musical aficionado, I know about ADO Annie solely from crosswords. She is a character in Oklahoma! and not, as you might expect, Annie Get Your Gun. I'm not sure ADO Annie even owns a gun. I mean, it's Oklahoma Territory in '06, she probably does. But nobody was yelling at her to go get it, is my point.
  • 10D: Daisylike bloom (ASTER) — nice, unforced "Daisy" callback. The ASTERs are particularly lovely around here in autumn. Though you wouldn't know that today, as (for the first time this season) the ground is blanketed in snow.
See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. looks like this is actually the second appearance of NARS in the NYTXW, and I was equally mad about it the first time.  

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

120 comments:

Anonymous 5:54 AM  

As someone for whom, during the first decades of his life, Halloween was a magical, fun, eerie and mischievous children's celebration that belonged primarily to children and was for children before it was purloined and co-opted by adults who have nothing better to do, I find the reference to halloween costumes as SEXY more than mildly cringe-inducing and definitely creepy (and not in the way "creepy" is used at Halloween, but in the guy-in-the-trench-coat-hanging-out-by-the-playground way)

Son Volt 6:05 AM  

Lots of fun with this - MERE MORTAL, NO I INSIST and KIDS TABLE are all top notch fare. Clueing voice was just edgy enough - maybe not end of the week level but solid.

Love SPIT Love

Yankee fans will get a kick out of the KAY x YES cross. Like OLIVIA but not a huge fan of using a full name as a marquee entry - cheap real estate. The “accept all cookies” misdirect is temporal with online shopping. Bêtise is a bit much.

Look at Miss OHIO

Enjoyable Friday morning solve.

Buck

Conrad 6:08 AM  


Medium for a Friday. Liked it as much as @Rex did. I didn't get the connection between "Daisies" and TROOP (12A) until I came here.

Overwrites:
21D: BE gOOd before BE COOL
29A: jAY before KAY
35D: BEER tent before HALL (the Oktoberfests I go to aren't so fancy )
42D: StylE before SHAPE
49D: Wanted a-rod before SOSA, but remembered that A-ROD was closer to 700 HRs (he had 696). And besides, the clue didn't say "for short".

WOEs:
23A: Makeup brand NARS
44D: David and Peter YATES. I need to get out more.

I really wanted beep-beep for 4D, because that's what a car with an impatient driver does. TOOT-TOOT is for tugboats, or maybe trucks when a kid makes that tugging motion.

D. Flutie 6:11 AM  

To be consistent, the two "near Natick" towns along the Boston Marathon route (which was the reference in the unfair cross that led Michael to coin the term) are Framingham and Wellesley, both of which have long borders adjacent with Natick, seamlessly flow into and out of Natick, and are along the same commuter rail line as Natick - these three towns are closely connected. Needham, on the other hand, borders only a small portion of the southeast corner of Natick, has only one state road that links them, has far less seamless flow in and out of Natick, and is on a wholly different commuter rail line - and is only very loosely connected to Natick.

Anonymous 6:11 AM  

Finally solid cluing and no trivia. Half my usual solving time which for many of you would be four times your usual time.

Adam 6:16 AM  

NARS and YATES were WOEs for me, but the crosses were fair. I had it as BiERHALL at first, given the spelling of Oktoberfest, but quickly fixed that when CREDOS came into view. I agree with @Rex--a lovely diversion on a Friday morning.

Anonymous 6:18 AM  

I really don’t understand how TAC is part of OOO. That threw me in the SE.

Anonymous 6:36 AM  

Those aren’t funny. Needham is funny. Alliteration is funny. And mnemonic.

Anonymous 6:36 AM  

Tic tac toe

kitshef 7:20 AM  


Overall quite entertaining, but that SW corner left a bit of a bad taste with ASTROLOGY and SOSA.

Mixed feelings about OLIVIA RODRIGO. Some songs I like, and several that are just awful, including drivers license, which, like all her worst songs, normalizes clinginess and not letting go and obsession as expressive of deep love.

Anonymous 7:21 AM  

@Anonymous 5:54 The clue would have benefited from including the word “adult.”

Anonymous 7:22 AM  

Fun, delightful puzzle. Loved it.

Anonymous 7:24 AM  

Apparently the constructor hasn’t been to the dentist in 20+ years. No spitting. Just a suction tube.

Twangster 7:27 AM  

NARS is also one letter away from NARES (nostrils).

On the AEIOU front, this song by Jim James is seriously amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUYf2yu78Ts

Lewis 7:41 AM  

Monday through Thursday, I, an experienced solver, savor the wit, verve, and skill in the puzzles, which are like delectable appetizers at a fine restaurant.

Meanwhile, my excitement grows as it gets closer to the main event, that sweet challenge of Friday and Saturday capital-P Puzzles that make me think sideways, test my fortitude, entertain me with crackling wordplay, and reward me victories along the way.

I come into them wondering if they will simply give me an enjoyable taste or if they will be a beast of a feast, a Proper Friday, a Proper Saturday.

So, how about today? Did it Friday properly? Oh yes it did, IMO. Riddles, so many delicious riddles – right from the start, with [One with an “accept all cookies” policy?]. Many answers that couldn’t be filled in due to vagueness, multiple possibilities, or out-of-wheelhouse. Grins from wordplay, such as [Understudy opportunities?] and devilish clues like [Macronutrient grouping?].

Today’s box came with brow-furrowing areas that required many visits, countered by thrilling splat-fills cascading out of a single just-slapped-in answer. With lovely answers, such as NO I INSIST, KIDS TABLE, and MERE MORTAL. Interest all over the place in a low-word-count grid with nary a clunker.

Yes, Sarah and Rafael, you properly Fridayed today. I left your creation beaming and satisfied, and dazzled by your skill. Thank you so much for this!

Anonymous 7:46 AM  

Oh my God thank you

DeeJay 7:47 AM  

As a massive Olivia Rodrigo fan, I'm glad to hear OFL is a fan as well. I think her first album, Sour, is as perfect as Carol King's Tapestry.

Great songwriter, wonderful melodist, striking voice. If you don't know her music and you like pop music, check her out.

Thank you, Sarah and Raphael, for giving Liv the marquee placement she deserves.

Anonymous 7:52 AM  

Thank you for posting Look At Miss Ohio - “I want to do right, but not right now” has to be in the running for All-time Greatest Song Lyric.

Anonymous 7:52 AM  

Surprised there’s no mention of COOL being a part of an answer plus a clue (46D). I thought that was frowned upon.

And since I’m here, I’ve always wondered and it doesn’t Google well: what does WOE stand for?

Dr.A 8:04 AM  

And NARS was the first answer I was able to get! Loved the puzzle too. Again, we all have our knowledge base. It’s’ a great brand and it’s been around for years. But yeah, if you don’t use make up you wouldn’t know! Just like I had ROSE before SOSA ugh! That really messed up that corner for a while.

dash riprock 8:07 AM  

Yeah.. okay. But not as entertaining as y'day's. So, tepid thumb up.

One error at 9d x 23a, schtoopid - up late putting kibosh on game, ZZzz: projected a favorite museum onto the answer at 9d, PRADo. But, as everybody and his grandmother knows PRADA, sussed the errant lickety + split. (No inkling about NARS, 23a.. no matter.)

Anonymous 8:09 AM  

Amazingly, Average Joe has the same number of letters as Mere Mortal 🤷🏽‍♂️ That took some time to resolve.

Anonymous 8:29 AM  

That's being a teenager

Anonymous 8:34 AM  

NARS was very for me! I have their blush with the embarrassing name of orgasm. As in I’ll have the orgasm please.

Bob Mills 8:34 AM  

DNF because of the NW corner. Don't get AEIOU at all. Had to cheat to get OLIVIARODRIGO and still couldn't solve it.

mmorgan 8:36 AM  

NARS was my last word and I got the happy music so I knew it was right. But I’d never heard of it. Never heard of OLIVIA RODRIGO either but had no trouble getting it. SANTA made me smile, too. I had no trouble getting answers I understood not at all, like TROOP. Lovely, fun puzzle.

Anonymous 8:38 AM  

🙄 not all songs are about having perfect feelings, jeez

Jim 8:44 AM  

Seems to me that "less seamless" fits as a characterization of a near-Natick. Awkward and doesn't fit well.

Anonymous 8:58 AM  

As does JoeSixPack

Nancy 9:00 AM  

I was completely mystified by TROOP, but Rex explained it.

Wonderful clues for EASY "A"S; ; ASTROLOGY; AEIOU; and ANTS.

It's amazing how quickly I, who never look at ads or watch commercials, remembered DON'T BE EVIL as Google's "former motto". Could it be the unintended irony? Not that I'm saying Google is EVIL, mind you, but it's not exactly the soul of beneficence either, IS IT?

A SEXY white sheet for a ghost? A SEXY fright wig and hump for a witch? SEXY bones for a skeleton? I guess Halloween costumes have changed since I was a child, but I just don't see it. I saw SEXY coming in at 18D, and said to the puzzle: "You're kidding me, right?"

Just what I want in a Friday themeless. Good cluing, lively fill, and no junk. Very enjoyable.

Stuart 9:03 AM  

Loved this, except 15A. Why is AEIOU a “macronutrient “ grouping? Inquiring minds want to know.

Anonymous 9:03 AM  

What on earth

RooMonster 9:09 AM  

Hey All !
NW got me good. Toughest section of this puz. Was waffling twixt VAPID and STAID, ARESO and CANSO, and having OH I INSIST there. Erased everything to the IS IT line, threw in STAID, and finally saw AEIOU (after first trying ONION and UNION, har). That got me to NO I INSIST, which led to APU, TROOP, SANTA, Happy Music.

Rest of puz put up a nice FriFight, but got through it IK. Don't polish my nails, don't know NARS. For a company with risque product names, you'd think the actual company name would be better.

BEiRHAus - BEERHALL, wanted HONKHONK or BEEP BEEP before TOOTTOOT. An L and O fest in SE corner. EASY AS could've been clued " ___ pie".

Happy Friday!

Two F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

Anonymous 9:10 AM  

Ado Annie lived somewhere near Claremore, which was in Indian Territory (I.T.), not Oklahoma. Had party politics not entered into the picture, I.T. would have become the state of Sequoyah. I.T. was solidly Democratic and O.T. leaned Democratic. Teddy Roosevelt didn't want potentially 4 new Democratic senators tilting the balance of power in a heavily Republican Senate (60R/32D in 1908, after Oklahoma was admitted). As a result, the Twin Territories were forced to merge.

Whatsername 9:11 AM  

I had a good time with this one aside from my few but quite annoying errors. No idea on OLIVIA R so that took some guessing and erasing. Held myself up with HORN TOOT in the NW but it brought forth a pleasant memory when I saw the answer and remembered my dad’s clever LIL poem about toots. In the SE, had my BEER in a TENT instead of a HALL and my letter-sounding name was JAY, probably because I just read a book about John Jacob Astor. With those two wrong downs, I had nothing in the bottom crosses and couldn’t see KIDS TABLE to save my life. Anyway, aside from my own self-inflicted issues, I have to agree with RP today - a most enjoyable Friday.

Anonymous 9:14 AM  

What on earth …

Dan A 9:17 AM  

And Regular Joe too

pabloinnh 9:18 AM  

Probably would have been more medium if I knew who OLIVIARODRIGO is, which I probably should, and now I do. I don't feel left out by never having heard of NARS. My wife's supply of makeup goes virtually untouched except for Halloween.

Hello to the YATES guys. There was a YATES family in my little home town but I haven't met these two. How do you do.

Nice crunch Friday, SS nd RM. Satisfying Solve and many answers Really Made me smile. Thanks for all the fun.

Dan A 9:18 AM  

Wonderful Friday

Stuart 9:22 AM  

Belay my last. I get it now, thanks to OFL’s comment about misdirection in the clue. 😂

Anonymous 9:26 AM  

Fun Friday puzzle.

Taking the grid it from the middle out, I started thinking we have a “BE” theme. letitBE, BEerhall, BEtray, BEcool. Then I remembered this be a Friday themeless, and enjoyed the ride.

Anonymous 9:31 AM  

READ THE BLOG

Carola 9:36 AM  

Medium for me, fun to solve, with its witty answers and clues. Favorites: KIDS' TABLE, so apt with Thanksgiving coming up, and MERE MORTAL.

Do-overs: Like others here I had BE nice, BE good..., and BEER tent.
No idea: OLIVIA RODRIGO

@Rex, François NARS can't help his last name.

Anonymous 9:52 AM  

1-Across was worth the price of admission. Didn't care for GAL PAL, because I don't care for that phrase in real life. But a really enjoyable solve.

Anonymous 9:58 AM  

LOLZ The NW stumped me because I was sure “a bunch of daisies “ was going to be slang for a wedgie caused by Daisy Dukes! Could not get that image out of my head!

Gary Jugert 10:03 AM  

No seas diabólica.

Google sure needed to change the motto, didn't they? I love the colloquial phrases in this puzzle. Funniest puzzle in awhile.

BIER HAUS sure made BEER HALL hard to see.

Lovely puzzle. They're not giving up on changing the crossword to The Name Game after a brutal week of gunk.

😫 GAL PAL.

Propers: 9
Places: 2
Products: 5
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 2
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 24 of 70 (34%)

Funnyisms: 7 😂

Tee-Hee: SEXY SPIT. I read through a bunch of product names on the Nars website and then had to take a nap. It's scandalous.

Uniclues:

1 The elf in the mall.
2 Vikings.
3 Falls from heaven.
4 Calling the whole retrograde thing a myth.
5 Cut the cake already!
6 Stink up the elevator.
7 Rom-Com title for Franglish romp.
8 Where to find bejeweled wee lasses.

1 SANTA GAL PAL
2 OLD NORSE TROOP (~)
3 HEATS HALO LIFE (~)
4 ASTROLOGY TABOO
5 PLEASE GO ALLOT
6 BETRAY TOOT TOOT
7 LES SEXY HIM
8 PRADA KIDS TABLE

My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Armed grub. LARVA HAS AMMO.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anonymous 10:05 AM  

Seeing Peter YATES in the puzzle reminds me that I need to watch “Breaking Away” again soon!

Anonymous 10:06 AM  

Thought you might point out “cool” being part of a clue and part of an answer. Unusual to see that imo.

Beezer 10:06 AM  

I had to let that answer fill in through crosses because I thought of “eery”and “sewn” at first. Yep. I actually used a sewing machine to make my kids’ Halloween costumes when they were little. Yikes I had a lot of energy then!

Anonymous 10:06 AM  

Thanks. That would have been my 86th guess

Beezer 10:08 AM  

I also thought the use of the K signaled BiER…

Anonymous 10:08 AM  

Oh wooow. Slaps forehead.

Anonymous 10:09 AM  

Same same. ROSE for SOSA

Anonymous 10:11 AM  

took a while searching the NARS website to see some saucy product names; climax and after glow...how risque

SouthsideJohnny 10:19 AM  

Wow - a rare day indeed. Rex was effusive with his praise and one nit that I’m not sure is all that big a deal - we get obscure brand names and regional fast food stores and other things like WAWA all the time. Hard to argue that NARS is any more egregious than that (or even the stuff like “Seat of ________ county, WA” nonsense that the NYT is enamored with. Anyway, nice to read a rant-less review every now and again.

I guess if I have a nit with Rex’s review - I would suggest that he not encourage the textisms - as the NYT seems to be embracing them more enthusiastically, which means we are going to have to deal with a bunch of alphabet salad when they run out of the more popular ones but can’t help themselves and start dishing out the obscure stuff.

egsforbreakfast 10:20 AM  

My old POP WARNER coach used to say "There's no 'I' in team." We had to call b.s. on him, though when he expanded it to "There's NOIINSIST."

I loved seeing IDIOCY in the puzzle, because it happened to be the complete final text in a string I had yesterday with a phishing scammer. I love to play along with these people by making my replies increasingly absurd as we text along. Generally, the string ends with an all-caps F*** YOU. But yesterday's ended with the single word IDIOCY. Made me LOL.

Mrs. Egs and I had several BLINDDATES once I ASTER out. We had to give it a second whirl after the first one ended with the line that has become part of our family lore: DONTBEEVIL, PLEASEGO!

Not a whooshy one for me, but a very fun Friday. Thanks, Sarah Sinclair and Rafael Musa.

Suzie 10:24 AM  

Glad I'm not the only one who made that error.

Suzie 10:25 AM  

Wearing that blush as we speak!

mathgent 10:31 AM  

Very crunchy for me with minimum sparkle. Raphael is a good constructor but he's done a lot better.

Nancy 10:35 AM  

Oh, God, contemporary pop music! (Rant coming).

I didn't know OLIVIA -- but because of all the various comments, I went back to listen to what Rex had linked to. And I was quite taken with the sweetness and the melody and the acoustic-ness of the song. I have no idea what the lyrics were since OLIVIA was pressing some sort of long mic-like thing to her lips, making it impossible to read her lips and not enunciating of course, because that wouldn't be cool enough or "now" enough -- but anyway I'm liking it even without knowing what she's singing abou-- YIKES!!!!!

I'm away from my laptop and suddenly the volume swells to a deafening level and the song tempo quadruples and the inhuman-sounding buzzy, tinny, hideous instrumentation chimes in and my ears feel like they're bleeding and my heart starts pounding and how fast can I get back to my laptop AND TURN THE DAMN THING OFF!!!

And to think -- that song initially seemed so lovely...

I need an antidote. Rex has posted something from "Annie Get Your Gun". At least that's what the link says -- even though I've never seen a cast album or any album with THAT cover. So I click on the link and...

I don't know what it is, but I know what it isn't. It isn't "Annie Get Your Gun". Once again, it's loud, electronic-sounding, fast-paced pop something-or-other. And I found it, too, truly hideous.

Is it all simply a matter of what year you were born and what your influences growing up have been? I should ask the various musicians here. Is it all just a question of taste, or is some of this stuff truly unpleasant?

Beezer 10:41 AM  

This was just a truly enjoyable Friday puzzle experience. I started getting a grip in the NE, then managed to track around and complete the puzzle with no cheats. I experienced a lot of pauses where Rex experienced them, and was also delighted at the aha moments with the misdirection.
For SOME reason OLIVIARODRIGO resides in my gray matter but I’m not really familiar with her music, so I need to check it out. It made me think of the Spanish guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, and I need to go back and listen to that too.
Hermeś and PRADA really ARE competitors. They are two of the few high level designers that have limited distribution and have not sold out their quality to the masses. This sounds like I can actually afford to buy their goods, and I cannot (um…maybe a scarf) but then again I refuse to buy the cheap and cheaply made so-called “designer” brands that like to include huge logos on everything they make. Idiocracy at its finest.
I don’t wear makeup much now like I used to, and maybe(?) I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know NARS. Well, I guess Francois started it in 1994, but now it’s owned by Shiseido…which I have heard of. News on the ‘net says that there was a big todo when NARS said they were going to start animal testing with their products because China requires it.

jberg 10:41 AM  

My dentist (and my hygienist) stopped telling me to SPIT years ago--they just stick a suction tube into my mouth and tell me to "close," i.e. my lips. What they do direct me to do is "open," so that's what I put as 14-A. At that point, I had no idea that screenwriters worte SPEC scripts, I thought of Hallowe'en costumes as worn by little kids, needed the first name and ROD before I realized I'd heard of OLIVIA RODRIGO, and knew that LET IT BE was a song, but not that it had an eponymous album. So it took me a long time to work it out. I wan't at all sure of OLD NORSE, which I've always heard called "Old Norse/Icelandic," and didn't associate Ladies' night with GALPALs -- I thought the idea was to lure single women to the bar by offering them cheap drinks, which would in turn lure single men. But I guess times have changed.

And then, LOLING? I seems like it needs a double L, by the rules of English orthography, but then it would be a different word. It gave me NARS, at least, whatever that is!

Finally I saw SO EXCITING, so those costumes had to be SEXY, which made me SPIT, and that cleared up the top half. It seemed ridiculous to be seeing AEIOU again so soon, with that very vague clue, but the crosses confirmed it (fortunately, I didn't go with "Am toO!" out there on the playground).

Down below, I was holding a hot compress on an itch, God knows why; and since to put something on the back burner is to set it aside but keep it warm, I didn't see HEATS for too long a time. But OK, SHAPE came along and fixed all that. In retrospect, it was nice to see that warm compress sitting on top of HEATS, though.

Either I don't understand the rules, or they have changed -- I thought you weren't supposed to have "Cool" as a clue and BE COOL as an answer. And as for that HALO on the pretzel package, are you kidding me? I guess not.

I did admire the double I in NO, I INSIST!

I'm not going to say anything at all about the double entendre at 39-D.

Anonymous 10:42 AM  

Is she really the new Carol King ?
MREVERYMAN also fit 45A.
Nice puzzle

Anonymous 10:43 AM  

On the way to Cape Cod this summer we drove past Natick. My boyfriend could not understand why I was so excited I wanted to take a photo of the sign.

Anonymous 10:46 AM  

I went to the dentist this week and had to spit multiple times. Best way to get rid of traces of blood and calculus!

Anonymous 10:47 AM  

I’m LOLing

GILL I. 10:54 AM  

When I wanted to get all tarted up, I use NARS sheer glow. And yes....LOLING ensues.

What a fun, doable Friday for moi. I enjoyed a bunch of stare fest moments especially looking at the word macronutrient. Hmmm, maybe some kind of food served at the KIDS TABLE? It ends in a U....Some more hmmm"s. Leave that area on a SANTA sleigh.

See if I can get OLIVIA RODRIGO without a peek cheat. I did. I'm loving this. Sara and Rafael are my kind of people. Can it be SEXY? Is my dressed up as a biker chic a consideration? I did win a prize for my outfit. My GAL PAL did approve. Move on to some BLIND DATES only because I'm a MERE MORTAL....

Back up to try and figure out that macronutrient thing. STAID has to be correct. It starts with an A and ends with a U OH....Light Bulb! Shining bright. AEIOU. NO I INSISTS....PESTO, I'm done.

EASY AS...you were my last one. Sit back and enjoy your work. No cheats today. Even if I had to, I still would've really enjoyed my fun workout. 10 stars from me.

Andrew Z. 11:02 AM  

Not a fan of this puzzle. Never heard of Olivia Rodrigo and NARS crossing ASTER was an alphabet run. Add LOLING and a clue in a foreign language and this became less than ideal.

jb129 11:05 AM  

BETISE? AEIOU again? LOL with an ING? SEXY for Halloween costumes?
Betcha couldn't tell I really enjoyed this puzzle :)
And it taught me something - I didn't know Google's former motto DON'T BE EVIL.
Thank you Rafa & Sarah for a fun, almost whooshy Friday :)

Anonymous 11:08 AM  

Could some kind soul please explain the clue for AEIOU for me?

jberg 11:09 AM  

I think my earlier comment may have given off too negative a vibe -- I did enjoy the puzzle quite a bit, but was just describing the difficulties I had encountered along the solving route.

I looked up the whole Wikipedia article Rex posted for his word of the day, and was happy to see that the Daisy level of scouting was launched in 1985; I'm pretty sure that back in Sturgeon Bay in the 1950s girls had Brownies and Girl Scouts, and that was it. My granddaughter has been a Girl Scout all through high school, so I knew that they now go older, but was not aware of the extension youthward. Probably a good thing.

ADO Annie is the one who sings "I Can't Say No." Give it a listen!

Anonymous 11:11 AM  

In a YouTube video about creating a NYT crossword, the creator said they explicitly do not reuse words in answers and clues (possibly excepting connecting words), so this set me back. “It can’t be ‘BECOOL’ because they already used ‘Cool’ in a clue…”

jae 11:13 AM  

Medium.

I did not know NARS (Hi @Rex, my wife knew it), IDIOCY, HALO, and YATES.

Most costly erasures: oPen before SPIT (Hi again @Rex) and StylE before SHAPE.

Smooth and solid with more than a LIL bit of sparkle, liked it.

Anonymous 11:15 AM  

Too bad OFL dislikes Francois Nars last name.

Anonymous 11:15 AM  

Got NARS right away. (IYKYK). First guesses: 7D: EELS, 4D STEPONIT, 9D GUCCI. Love that Needham is now a near-Natick!!!!!

Anonymous 11:19 AM  

Have never had a dentist tell me to spit, really?

Upstate George 11:39 AM  

Anonymous @7.52: "I want to do right, but not right now" is good, but I think St. Augustine did it better: "Oh Lord, make me chaste. But not yet."

Anonymous 11:40 AM  

Average Joe went in with much confidence here as well. and step on iT rather than TOOTTOOT

Kate Esq 11:52 AM  

Nars is named after the brand’s founder, Francois Nars. It’s not. Particularly weirder name than Estee Lauder, which we have all seen 8 million times in the crossword. It’s also, I would argue, more mainstream in the cosmetics world than Estée Lauder is today. Nars is a very popular brand and has been around for a long time, and their Orgasm blush was very in the zeitgeist at one point. Estée Lauder is a company that still owns a lot of brands, but I think the Estée Lauder brand is pretty passé in the under 40 (50? 60? Who still buys makeup at Macy’s?) crowd.
I liked this puzzle a lot. A little chewy that was satisfying to break down.

Anonymous 11:56 AM  

This played extremely challenging for me and took forever, but mostly because of the SW corner. TESLA next to YATES was hard enough, and trying to parse EASYAS was not fun. I don't think there is anything about the definition of BETRAY that would indicate it is unintentional. It is very possible to intentionally betray somebody. I understand the usage, but it was definitely a struggle. Overall what I expect from a Friday, and glad to see it isn't fully loaded with obscure proper nouns as NYT has been fond of doing lately.

Tom T 12:01 PM  

Initial mistake was immediate and serious--I saw the 1A "refuses no cookies" clue and instantly thought of Sesame Street, then saw the 5 letter spaces and completely inexplicably entered oscar--the grouch! Wake up, brain! So with the grouch in place, the top half of the puzzle was indecipherable.
But I kept at it and, lo and behold, the bottom half came about as close to whoosh as I'm ever likely to get, which allowed me to get back to the north from below, answer by answer. It was NO I INSIST and TOOT TOOT that finally help me evict Oscar the Grouch.
No Happy Music. But checked my grid and discovered that I was a victim of the NoRS/PRADo "Needham" (great new term, Rex). No idea about NARS, and should have recognized PRADA. PRADo just popped out of my brain, mostly because there's a street in my hometown called "The Prado."
With all that, I finished in a very good time--for me--on a Friday.

Anonymous 12:01 PM  

I'm from Needham! It was insane to see your blog reference my little town. I'd send you a postcard but I don't think we have any!

Anonymous 12:06 PM  

I’d go with Dedham.

Queenoid 12:13 PM  

Yeah - we all have our areas of knowledge. I suggest that the PRADA/NARS crossing was maybe skewed female - and SO MANY PUZZLES are skewed male that it made me happy. Because I knew NARS off of the N, and then PRADA off of the DA

Anonymous 12:13 PM  

congratulations.

Anonymous 12:14 PM  

Good fun Friday dance. Loved the Understudy clue! Got OHIO from recognizing the Cayahoga reference from the great Randy Newman song about Cleveland’s flaming River. Good stuff all around! Now I Needham some Natick.

Anonymous 12:16 PM  

had 'owls' for the nappers which gave me 'old welsh'...seemed plausible.

okanaganer 12:36 PM  

It was going pretty smooth until I hit 13 down and thought... who is that... I know this... BILLIE EILISH!!!! didn't fit. Never heard of OLIVIA but it's good that I occasionally get dragged out of my cave to learn the name of a recent pop phenom. And Rex is right that the rest of the names are blessedly few and quite manageable. (YATES was tough because I spelled it YEATS for way too long).

Bizarre clue for the perfectly innocuous ADO. One typeover: BEHAVE before BE COOL... I blame Austin Powers.

Unknown 12:44 PM  

Loved this puzzle. OOO was such an amazing misdirect; I typed and deleted "OUT" so many times as I struggled with the crosses until I got the other misdirect, "clef." Referencing JBERG -- I was also misdirected by the clue containing "DONT" and the (ironic) answer I knew for google -- "Don't be evil." But I kept thinking "former" meant it couldn't be "DONT" because don't already appeared in the cluing, so they must have changed their motto. Same problem with "cool" as a clue and "Be cool" as an answer. Is that a rule, or just one of those guidelines that should only be broken fabulously -- as here. Beatles "Get Back" and Ali Stoker references both made me smile, as both were amazing. And I managed to finish pretty fast despite not knowing Olivia Rodrigo.

Anonymous 12:48 PM  

The characters of Oklahoma are a blind spot for me. Thought for the longest time that this wheelchair-using role was named “ADA Annie”, which just seemed so utterly bad.

“Mere mortal”, for me, is the very definition of sparkling fill. Especially after, like so many others, I too plunked in one of these phrases of equivalent length — Regular Joe. so fun.

I really want to fix “NARS” by changing it to “MARS” and changing “LOLING” to “LOL OMG”, but can’t fix the whole corner and leave it to better minds.

Great puzzle, nice to see you all as always.

Anonymous 12:59 PM  

READ. THE. BLOG.

puzzlehoarder 1:04 PM  

Another Saturday tough Friday for me. I'm completely unfamiliar with NARS and OLIVIARODRIGO. At least the two halves of the singers name are easy enough to recognize with a few letters but NARS was strictly from the crosses.

One of my biggest obstacles was a self inflicted SPIN/SPEC write over. That had me thinking the Google motto was something ending with the word ciVIL. That was another answer I was clueless on but could recognize when it showed up.

I had no idea how I could fill the NW until TOOTTOOT showed up. STEPONIT looked good there based on PESTO.

Things came faster south of the equator but the northern half was slow going.

Before MEREMORTAL showed up all I had were the two Ms and my initial guess was MrsaMerica? LOLING!

Anonymous 1:15 PM  

I read them both. Still have zero clue WTF a nutrient has to do with a supervocalic. And AEIOU still isn’t a word. Anyway … once I got AEIO on crosses I guessed the U.

Anonymous 1:23 PM  

You must be on the younger side before they started sucking the rinse water out of your mouth. Dentists used to have little round basins to spit out the water. Don’t be too horrified…they also had a pedal that released a stream of clear water to clean the basin each time! I have to say…Im not sure the suction method is more pleasant for the patient, but I understand why it changed.

Anonymous 1:25 PM  

The echte Oktoberfest (i.e., in Munich) is held in temporary quarters on the Theresienwiese in beer tents not BEERHALLs.

Anonymous 1:36 PM  

It’s not “nutrient” it’s “macronutrient” Does that help? How about “mAcrOnUtrIEnt?”

M and A 1:38 PM  

yes, Google! DON'T BE EVIL. Go back to that there old comments section setup.

First reaction to the openin "accept all cookies" clue was an answer of MANDA.

Nice fillins and extra SEXY Jaws of Themelessness with fangs. Ready to go trick or treatin, evidently?

staff weeject pick: LIL. Cool ?-marker {Small small?} clue.

Thanx for gangin up on us, Ms. Sinclair darlin & Mr. Musa dude. Marvelously themeless.

Masked & Anonymo1U (s)

no spam. none. just runtpuz:
**gruntz**

Anonymous 2:26 PM  

A solid Medium puzzle for me, started in the SE coner and did down only to the NW corner, NW corner slowed me down

Anoa Bob 2:47 PM  

I thought that BETRAY was more of an intentional than unintentional action.

I'm not familiar with OLIVIA RODRIGO so clicked on Rex's link. Had it only been audio, I would have thought it was a very early Joni Mitchell. And that's high praise from someone who has a bunch of Joni's vinyl LPs. Here's Joni playing the dulcimer and singing "California".

I was intrigued by the 7D clue "Creatures that sleep by taking hundreds of minute-long naps throughout the day". The definitive indicator for sleep is a distinctive change in brain wave patterns. So I was wondering what three letter "creatures" could realistically have their brain waves monitored. Ah ha, why ORCS of course! I was surprised to see it was ANTS. Pray tell, how does one measure ANTS' brain wave patterns? And if they do actually sleep, do they dream?

My guess is those "hundreds of minute-long naps" are just periods of inactivity. To say they are sleeping is a classic case of anthropomorphism, if you ask me.

Anonymous 3:35 PM  

Nope, still doesn't help as the letters aren't in order. Would any word containing all 5 vowels be a good enough clue? If "macro" is the key, what does "nutrient" do other than supply the rest of the vowels?

Anonymous 4:31 PM  

There must be room for Braintree in here someplace.

Anonymous 4:34 PM  

I think you’re trolling now but just in case, they Don’t Have To Be In Order. Just read the blog, man.

Anonymous 4:49 PM  

Is it just me, or should 57a read under study with a space? An easy A has nothing to do with acting, right?

Anonymous 5:11 PM  

What with the 7 ? clues and my starting off with the first two lines blank except for filling VAPID in 1D, I didn't think I'd finish. But I did, after going back up to the top again at the end. This, even though I was, and still mostly am, completely ignorant of APU, the RODRIGO woman, the location of the three Brit cities, the YATES Brothers and the Daisies reference.
But LOLING? Please.

Teedmn 5:46 PM  

@Nancy, I think it's a bit of what era of music you grew up with and your tolerance of certain sounds. If I recall correctly, you don’t care for the Beatles but I know you love Simon and Garfunkel. I like both.

I used to like music that was loud and heavy metal in my first few decades but now I’m more into folk rock. I will never acclimate to Rap. I love Gillian Welch. You should listen to “Look at Miss Ohio” that @Son Volt 6:05 posted a link to. I can’t guarantee you'll like it but I'm positive you won’t find it offensive.

jazzmanchgo 5:48 PM  

I was born in 1953; for most of my adult life I've written about music (mostly jazz and blues, but I also have deep appreciation for many other genres -- "Ancient to the Future," as Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) puts it.

There is "unpleasant" music in all genres, from all eras and time periods; there is also pleasing, aesthetically valid music in all genres, from all eras and time periods, if only we learn to listen. New developments in harmonies, instrumentation, rhythms and beats, melodic conceits, lyrics, tone and timbre, volume, techn ology, et al. almost always cause controversy. The music of Louis Armstrong was called "savage jungle music" by "mainstream" critics in the 1920s and '30s; a few years later, Charlie Parker was called "anarchic" and "unmusical;" both Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane were pilloried as being "anti-jazz;" we don't even need to go back and revisit the legendary "Rite of Spring" riots (would anyone still disparage Igor Stravinsky with the venom they spewed then?)

The "Shock of the New," as Chicago trumpeter Brad Goode has expressed it, is "shocking" only until people's ears learn to hear and appreciate it on its own terms. That doesn't mean that all of us will like everything; it does mean, to me at least, that after we learn to appreciate art on its own terms, rather than just our own preconceived ones, to learn that "I don't like it" does not equal "it's not good" (and, for that matter, "I like it" doesn't necessarily mean "it IS good'), we expand our palate and the range from which we can harvest inspiration, insight, and even joy. And Jah knows we need more of those things in our lives now than ever.

MetroGnome 6:00 PM  

There is a "me," though.

Anonymous 6:14 PM  

And Sequoyah is almost a macronutrient.

Anonymous 7:34 PM  

I had beerhaus there for a while

Anonymous 7:45 PM  

Same problem as Stuart. So "Facetious grouping" would work just as well? (Insert grumpy cat image here.)

Anonymous 7:54 PM  

A really enjoyable puzzle, Sarah and Rafael. Best wishes from (actual) Needham

Anonymous 8:01 PM  

I’d wager to be 95% of the non-makeup wearing folk who solved this did not know NARS. That’s a tough, obscure pull.

Anonymous 8:01 PM  

I’d wager to be 95% of the non-makeup wearing folk who solved this did not know NARS. That’s a tough, obscure pull.

OISK 8:13 PM  

Failed entirely in NW. Just a single error did me in. I had OH instead of NO I insist. Didn't associate cookies with Santa, didn't know the "troop" clue, Or the "macronutrient", so I was dead. Worst finish for me in years! But, had I just thought of "no." I would certainly have finished correctly! OH, NO !

Anonymous 8:45 PM  

I had beerhaus for the longest time and once I changed it to hall it was an aha moment and that entire corner came together

Aelurus 10:45 PM  

I know this is really late, but it’s still Friday, so here goes.

@Anoa Bob 2:47 – I was intrigued too that 7D turned out to be ANTS. Sometimes I watch a particularly industrious ant carrying what seems to be something impossible for an ant to lift, let alone travel a great distance with it. Once, a very large upright leaf that had the ant leaning from side to side as a counterbalance just to stop from falling over. The most surprising item was a small butterfly that had died with its wings closed. It was still enormous compared to the ant and I followed along and watched for at least 15 minutes as the ant traveled up a pebble, across a twig, knocked against another ant in line, and managed through any impediment to just keep going. In all that time the ant did not falter or take a rest. If any ant would need a 1-minute nap it would surely be that one. I wished it a good journey and continued on with mine. Yes, how does one measure ants’ sleep patterns? And what was this ant thinking? When the destination was reached, was it: “Hey, guys, look what I found!” So many of Earth’s creatures are endlessly fascinating. I’m reminded again that I appreciate not only the brain fun of good crosswords but also the amount I learn from them.

Favorite clue: at the start, 1A, “One with an ‘accept all cookies’ policy?” for SANTA.

Thanks, Sarah and Rafael!

Anonymous 10:55 PM  

All those gobsmacked and dumbstruck by teen queen Olivia R need to start taping Jimmy Kimmel, who had a great bit piece of improvised comedy with her a few months ago wherein Jimmy and his wife and their two young kids pick OR up on the side of the road hitchhiking one morning on their drive to dropping the kids at school and hilarity and song ensue. Very sweet and memorable bit. And if you weren’t a fan or even aware of her then you’ll not ever forget her now. Count me among the newly converted.

Aelurus 11:41 PM  

PS to @Anoa Bob 2:47 – Just had a chance to listen to your link to Joni Mitchell, a favorite of mine too and I've got a bunch of her vinyl LPs. What floored me was that Joni was playing a dulcimer! And so beautifully. Thank you for it! I made a dulcimer in college as a physics independent study (acoustics and the mathematics of fret placement, but I think the assistant physics professor also loved making musical instruments and I found out I loved making mine). I've yet to master it, though.

Anonymous 6:34 AM  

The reuse of cool is why I came to read Rex’s review, and I was surprised he didn’t mention it. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one slightly startled and mildly irked by it.

Anonymous 8:46 AM  

Can someone explain "accept all cookies?"

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