Bootleg booze / WED 3-26-25 / British politico Corbyn / Alternative to a Stella or Sam Adams / Handouts from street preachers / Rave over, metaphorically / Pre-covenant name for a biblical father / Alternative to a Stella or Sam Adams / Fabric that George Costanza said he'd drape himself in if it were socially acceptable / Downward force on earth, informally

Constructor: Nathan Hale

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: COVER ALL THE BASES (40A: Take care of everything ... or a hint to what four squares in this puzzle do) — black squares "cover" all the "bases" on a baseball diamond: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and home:

Theme answers:

• NOT MY [FIRST] RODEO (19A: "I've done this before")
• HAVING [SECOND] THOUGHTS (25A: Not so sure about a wedding)
• GIVES THE [THIRD] DEGREE (54A: Thoroughly interrogates)
• WRITE [HOME] ABOUT (63A: Rave over, metaphorically)

Word of the Day: SATIVA (3D: Cannabis variety) —

Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous flowering plant. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The specific epithet sativa means 'cultivated'. Indigenous to Eastern Asia, the plant is now of cosmopolitan distribution due to widespread cultivation. It has been cultivated throughout recorded history and used as a source of industrial fiber, seed oil, food, and medicine. It is also used as a recreational drug and for religious and spiritual purposes. [...] The informal designation sativa and indica may have various, controversial meanings. Morphologically, the name sativa designates tall plants with narrow leaves, while indica refers to short plants with wide leaves. Among the marijuana community however, sativa rather refers to equatorial varieties producing stimulating psychoactive effects, whereas indica-type plants from Central Asia are used for relaxing and sedative drugs (THC:CBD > 1). (wikipedia)

• • •

I feel like you already know what the problem is here. Certainly if you've ever seen a baseball diamond, you know. How in the world do you make this puzzle and *not* put the "bases" in the right place???? Or at least in a "diamond"-type shape? I got the [SECOND] square first, then got the revealer and thought "OK, it's not gonna sit perfectly symmetrically, but that's OK, a rough 'diamond' will do, I guess." But no. I got no diamond. None. Just a squiggly top-to-bottom arrangement of the "bases." It's unfathomable to me that you would bother to do this theme without putting the bases in the right place. Four squares. "Where should I put them? I know... random places!" SMH, what the hell? And on Opening Day, no less. Oh, no, sorry, that's tomorrow, not today—one more thing this "tribute" to baseball gets wrong. I don't mind at all that the "bases" don't work with the Downs, but the non-diamond arrangement is killing me. The concept here is fine—I've thought of it myself, as has virtually any baseball-loving constructor, I guarantee you—but the point is it would be tough to do right because if you don't put those bases in (roughly) baseball-field position (which is a challenge!), your puzzle will look silly—kinda like this puzzle. I love baseball, and I particularly love Opening Day, so this puzzle just makes me sad. Disappointed, really.

So it's a non-starter, in terms of its execution. I do like the way the "bases" are handled, with black squares standing in for (or "covering") missing words in longer phrases, and all the phrases themselves are colorful, particularly NOT MY (1st) RODEO. Aside from the theme, the highlight of the puzzle for me was probably the very end, when I crossed PBR (51A: Alternative to a Stella or Sam Adams) with "BEER ME!" (52D: "I'd like a brewski") to close things out. I've had puzzles end on lowlights far too many times, so it was semi-thrilling to finally do one that went out on top—peak puzzle experience, right at the end. That PBR / "BEER ME!" moment was especially welcome because it followed hard on the heels of the absolute worst moment of the solve—"GOT YA!" The term is "GOTCHA!" You have to strain your mouth hole to say "GOT YA!" Like, you have to try to enunciate, and differentiate the "T" and "Y," because that "T"-to-"Y" shift just comes out "TCH".... which is why we have GOTCHA in the first place! GOT YA, lol, no, what, stop. You coulda just turned the YAMS into TAMS and been done with it. No one blinks, no one balks, no one winces. Some editorial decisions (or non-decisions) are unfathomable to me.

SOAMI remains one of the worst bits of fill on the planet, right up there with its kealoa* counterpart, SODOI (4D: "Likewise"). SLIGHT BIT feels odd to me, as I'd use ONE BIT or THE SLIGHTEST (as in "not in ___") before I'd ever used SLIGHT BIT. "LITTLE" is the adjective that wants to go with "BIT." I never cared for Seinfeld (Julia Louis-Dreyfus was the only one on that show I could stand to look at for very long—I watched every episode of Veep, a far superior show). Since George is such a dip, I figured the "fabric" he would cover himself in was VELCRO (33D: Fabric that George Costanza said he'd drape himself in if it were socially acceptable = VELVET). That's certainly the fabric I would cover him in, if called to do so. 

Bullets:

• 3D: Cannabis variety (SATIVA) — went into a dispensary for the first time in my life earlier this month, in Michigan, a state that screams "WE HAVE LEGAL WEED!" at you the second you cross the border from Ohio. I was with a friend who is far better versed in such matters, far more familiar with the cannabis world. I don't smoke, so I was mostly just a spectator. It was so professional, clean, well organized. The manager could've been the manager of a spa, she was so efficient and friendly. I don't know what I was expecting. Something ... else. Something cornier, honestly. Anyway, I may or may not have left with gummies which I may or may not have tried since and which may or may not have had any effect on me. Can't stand the smell of pot, so I won't be smoking any time soon, but I will admit to being cannabis-curious. Anyway, SATIVA and INDICA are familiar terms to me, as they should be to you by now, if only for xword purposes.
• 69A: Pre-covenant name for a biblical father (ABRAM) — after the covenant: ABRAHAM. I much prefer this clue for ABRAM to the Presidential middle name clue ... I can't even remember whose middle name ABRAM is!!?!? Ah, it's James ABRAM Garfield. Good to remind yourself of these things from time to time.
• 48D: British politico Corbyn (JEREMY) — So weird to me that we get JEREMY Corbyn before we get KEIR Starmer, the actual Primer Minister of the UK, and a guy whose first name (unlike JEREMY) is begging to become crossword-common (RIP, KEIR Dullea, you've done yeoman's work, buddy, but it's time to let someone else take over). Hey, did you know a KIER is a [Large vat for bleaching cloth]? Me neither, probably because the last time it appeared in a crossword was July 12,1992—the fourteenth (!) and final (!!) appearance of KIER. But I have a sneaking suspicion that KIER might be making a comeback very soon ...

[Severance, renewed for a 3rd season, hurrah]

I'm happy to announce (all this week) that a new edition of These Puzzles Fund Abortion is available now (These Puzzles Fund Abortion 5!). Donate to abortion funds, get a collection of 23 top-notch puzzles from some of the best constructors in the business—mostly standard U.S. crossword puzzles, but also some cryptic crosswords, variety puzzles, and even an acrostic. Rachel Fabi and C.L. Rimkus have done such a great job with these collections over the past few years, raising over $300,000 for abortion funds around the country. I support a number of charitable organizations, but hardly any of them give me crosswords in return. So I'm going to give TPFA5 my money today [update: done!], and I hope you do too. Here's the link.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] => ATON or ALOT, ["Git!"] => "SHOO" or "SCAT," etc.  

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]