Low-key place for gnocchi / THU 12-12-24 / Balayage providers / Get serious hang time, as a skateboarder / Toon with a monkey named Boots / Italian dynasty that produced four popes / Line below a swoosh / Hogwarts exam after the O.W.L. / Word after one fell? / Roger B. ___, justice who infamously authored the Dred Scott decision (1857) / Novice gamers, informally

Constructor: Daniel Bodily

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (with a smaller grid today—14x15)

THEME: solving by numbers... — familiar phrases have their last words swapped out for the number (of the clue) where that word can be found in the grid. The resulting number-swapped phrases are *also* familiar (though unclued):

Theme answers:

• SWEET SIXTEEN (19A: Part of a bat that produces the best contact) (i.e. "sweet SPOT," as SPOT is the answer to 16A: Domino pip, e.g.)
• CATCH TWENTY-TWO (36A: Get serious hang time, as a skateboarder) (i.e. "catch AIR," as AIR is the answer to 22A: Express publicly)
• AREA FIFTY-ONE (52A: Three-digit numbers in parentheses) (i.e. "area CODES," as CODES is the answer to 51D: Writes in C or R, say) 

Word of the Day: IGA Swiatek (32A: ___ Swiatek, four-time French Open winner) —

Iga Natalia Świątek (Polish pronunciation: [ˈiɡa naˈtalja ˈɕfjɔntɛk] [...] born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the WTA, having held the position for a total of 125 weeks and placing her 7th on the all-time list for number of weeks spent as No. 1. Świątek has won five major singles titles and is the only player representing Poland to win a major singles title. She has won the French Open four times and the US Open once. Świątek has won 22 singles titles, including the 2023 WTA Finals and ten WTA 1000 titles. In 2024, she became the first Polish tennis player to win an Olympic medal, earning bronze in singles at the Paris Summer Olympics. (wikipedia)

• • •

Back on track today with a nice (if not terribly tricky) Thursday offering. There's no need to turn the relevant clue numbers gold today. I get that you like to do fancy things with the appearance of the grid whenever you can, but engoldening those numbers made the puzzle feel somewhat more remedial. Like ... let me figure it out! I'd've figured it out! I don't need a glowing neon sign pointing to the numbers in question. Makes it easier, but I don't need it. Make Thursdays Hard Again! Sigh. Whatever, the puzzle is still good. The concept is clever, and the fact that the resulting (unclued) theme answers are solid non-gibberish phrases themselves is pretty impressive. There's something really simple about the concept and execution, but as I have said so many times, simplicity can be very entertaining if executed correctly. I'll take this puzzle over the fussy clunkiness of yesterday's admittedly more thematically elaborate puzzle any day. The puzzle might seem a little light on theme material, but there's another thing I don't really mind. Better to nail three answers then cram in four and potentially subject the grid to too much pressure, the kind that makes the fill buckle and squeal. As it is, three nice answers and a very solid (if slightly undersized) grid, with only one answer doing any real squealing (looking at you, TANEY, whoever you are). Even if you knew his name, you gotta admit it's a real outlier in this grid—a very unnamey grid filled with mostly very familiar words and phrases. TANEY's crossword-friendly name seems to appear about once every two years, so ... see you in 2027, Roger.

I took a very weird path through this grid, falling all the way to the bottom before I ever picked up the theme. And I think the thing that tipped me off to the theme was the (ultimately coincidental) fact that the last themers "missing" (or "replaced," rather) word was CODES. That got me thinking about some kind of "code" happening in the grid. Then I filled in enough of the last themer to see AREA FIFTY-ONE, and I went straight to the answer at "51" (i.e. 51D), and bam, theme solved, code cracked—replace the last words in the themers with their corresponding gold-coin answers (16, 22, 51), and there you have it. Once I got that last themer, I went right back and filled in the two others:

Cracking the code was the only challenge today. Well, that and TANEY. No other points of resistance today. Took some help from crosses for me to remember ETTA Baker's name (most crossword ETTAs are Jameses or, in olden days, Ketts ... which I only realized Just Now is a pun: ETTA Kett ... "etiquette" ... apparently the "ETTA Kett" comic strip "originally offered tips to teenagers on manners, etiquette and the social graces" (wikipedia). And here I had mentally sorted her as a part of the broader "L'il Abner" universe, LOL).

As for IGA Swiatek, you all should know IGA by now, especially as I had this to say about her just two months ago:

Hers is a name worth committing to memory. She has won five Grand Slam singles championships. Arthur ASHE, by comparison, won just three, and he appears in the grid seemingly every other day.  (True, his cultural importance transcends tennis, but still, IGA Swiatek is gridworthy and has a right to recurrence, is what I'm saying) [Oct. 15, 2024]

The only thing I really hated about the grid was the clue on NEWT. Not sure why, especially at this particular historical moment, you deliberately steer into the work of one of the world's foremost exponents of fascist anti-trans fearmongering. I mean, you didn't clue RON as Weasley, see how easy that was. So NEWT ... I mean, dear lord, I'd almost prefer Gingrich over anything HP-related at this point, but the little amphibian will do just fine, thanks.

I tried SHOWED OFF before SHOWBOATED but it wouldn't quite stretch far enough (SHOWBOATED is a great answer, btw). I think of "ON THAT NOTE" as more a preface to departure or subject change than a "by the way" substitute. "While we're discussing it..." appears to hold you on the current topic, whereas "ON THAT NOTE" is usually used as a springboard to something else. I don't know if I'm expressing myself clearly, but "ON THAT NOTE" does not feel exactly equivalent to "by the way," which is essentially what "While we're discussing it..." means. 

Further commentary, in bullet point form:

• 1A: Strike one! (POSE) — The "!" and lack of quotation marks indicates that the answer is going to be something that you literally strike, not a baseball answer. 

• 27A: Balayage providers (SALONS) — it's something to do with hair, right? I've seen it in crossword clues before, but then I forget what it is. Sounds like a rock-climbing term ... hang on ... here we go! Yes, hair: balayage = "a technique for highlighting hair in which the dye is painted on in such a way as to create a graduated, natural-looking effect." (oxford languages/google)
• 57A: Low-key place for gnocchi (TRATTORIA) — was going to question the "low-key" part of this ("odd...") but then realized they were going for the rhyme with "gnocchi," so ... still odd, but slightly fun. 
• 8D: Mind repeating that? (MANTRA) — I like the misdirection here fine, but I don't know how "Mind" fits in here (or if it does at all). A MANTRA is something you say Out Loud, not just in your 'mind," but I guess your "mind" does control your lips, so ... OK. (note: I know that the clue is using "mind" in the sense of "do you mind...?" but I figure some kind of wordplay is (maybe) intended)
• 24D: Plant used in xeriscaping because of its tolerance to drought (AGAVE) — trust me to know what "xeriscaping" is. Please. Every word after "xeriscaping" in this clue is entirely unnecessary. All plants used in xeriscaping have "tolerance to drought." That's the point. No irrigation required.
• 34D: Extend, as a contract (REUP) — my ears want RENEW here. I think of REUP as more of an intransitive verb.
• 31D: Word after one fell? (SWOOP) — corny, but it made me smile anyway.

That's all for today's puzzle. Now, once again, it's Holiday Pet Pics time!

Speaking of "Strike a POSE" ... Monty and Augie are working it!

[Thanks, CJ; and RIP, Augie]

I know it looks like Santa has taken Archie and Machi here hostage and is holding them for a large ransom, but I am told they are home and well and safe from the white-gloved menace, phew!

[Thanks, Tom]

These next two belong to different owners from different parts of the country, but they seem like they should be friends. I want them to meet and team up and maybe solve mysteries, such as "where are our treats?" and "why are we not being given treats?" Also, their names are Hazel and Lulu, and if that's not a winning name for a duo, I don't know what it is.

[Thanks Mary & Bonnie, respectively]

Here we've got two more hilarious hiders. The first, Camille, is more of your typical, mischievous, get-up-in-that-tree kind of cat ...

[Thanks, Steven]

... whereas the next one is more … my specific energy at a Christmas party (literally laughed out loud when I saw this in my Inbox—I feel you, Opie!)

[Thanks, Gretchen]

And lastly today we have sweet Samsara. I know she doesn't look terribly festive, but when you're a twelve-year-old cat who has twice survived cancer, I think just showing up and hanging out with the wreath is merriment enough. Merry Christmas, Sammy!

[Thanks, Mac ... I hope she's OK with my calling her "Sammy." If not, apologize for me!]

See you next time. 

(And again, I *will* get to all the pet pics eventually, so please be patient, thank you!)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]