[Can't talk, eating] / THU 3-27-25 / Event in a tent / Reflexology setting / Cartoon series about a super robot / "Do you remember the ___, Mr. Frodo?": Sam Gamgee / "Son of the Dragon," in a medieval Romanian sobriquet / Mac platform renamed in 2016 / Onetime talk show whose studio audience was known as the "Dog Pound," familiarly / Request made through a downstairs intercom

Constructor: Brad Lively

Relative difficulty: Medium 

[14x16 grid!]

THEME: pass it on / pass it back — "IT" is transferred from one answer to either the preceding or the following answer, in four different rows

Theme answers:

• CIRCUITS ("circus") / MOJO ("mojito") (17A: Event in a tent / 19A: Minty Cuban cocktail ... Pass it back) 
• GRAVY ("gravity") / TAR PITS ("tarps") (26A: Sir Isaac Newton wrote about this ... Pass it on / 29A: Covers for a rainy day) 
• BRITAIN ("brain") / VISOR ("visitor") (40A: Smart sort / 42A: One signing a guestbook ... Pass it back)
• WHEN ("whiten") / SUBTITLE ("subtle") (52A: What some toothpastes do ... Pass it on / 53A: Not obvious)

Word of the Day: VOLTRON (42D: Cartoon series about a super robot) —

Voltron is an American animated television series franchise that features a team of space explorers who pilot a giant super robot known as "Voltron". Produced by Peter Keefe (executive producer) and Ted Koplar through his production company World Events Productions, Voltron was an adaptation of several Japanese anime television series from Toei Animation. The original television series aired in syndication from September 10, 1984, to November 18, 1985. The first season of Voltron, featuring the "Lion Force Voltron", was adapted from the series Beast King GoLion. The second season, featuring the "Vehicle Team Voltron", was adapted from the unrelated series Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe was the top-rated syndicated children's show for two years during its original run, and it spawned three follow-up series, several comic books, and a line of toys. (wikipedia)

• • •

The theme was pretty easy to figure out, but the cluing for some reason felt pretty amped up today, so my overall experience was actually a little slow. At one point early on, I had nearly the entire perimeter of the NW filled in (DISNEY, DISCS, SEE, YES I DO), and no idea what was supposed to go inside. Something similar also happened later in the SW, where I had CENAC and then .... [tumbleweeds]. The theme itself feels stuck in no man's land. You move "it," but you don't have a good revealer phrase, or phrase that makes the theme make sense, so you use ... two different ones? That are unrelated to each other? If all "IT"s had been moved to the right and you had a revealer like "PASS IT ON" (or even "PAY IT FORWARD"), you'd have something. Something coherent. "Pass it on" and "pass it back" don't pair that well. "Pass it back" is always a literal thing, like "here, take this piece of paper and pass it to the person behind you." But "pass it on" is about transferring information. The latter is a much more common / colloquial phrase than the former. The pair are mismatched, and so the theme just isn't as tight as it could/should be.

All the theme answers, as they appear in the grid, are unclued (i.e. there's no explicit clue for CIRCUITS, MOJO, etc.). This is a feature not a bug, but before you figure out the whole "IT"-shifting thing, it definitely makes the puzzle harder. It gets easier when you hit an italicized clue—those are basically screaming "this is the tricky part!" at you. I knew that I wanted MOJITO at 19A, but didn't get what exactly was wrong with MOJO until I hit 29A: Covers for a rainy day, which I instantly saw was gonna be TAR PITS: TARPS + "IT." Somehow TAR PITS was the thing that made me see what was going on with MOJITO. The theme was easy from there on out. Kinda paint-by-numbers. But as I said up front, the cluing stayed pretty tough, so I still had to work to get to the end. That work ... was not always pleasant. I think DROP TROU is one of the dumbest phrases in the world—like, from another era, slangy in an ugly way (24A: Provide a brief glimpse?). It's the reason I see TROU in the grid (as a standalone answer) way way more than I should. I just physically hate the phrase. Personal quirk, what can I say? Not the puzzle's fault, but enjoyment level dropped hard there. ETAPE, though, that is the puzzle's fault (49D: Tour de France stage). I got it easy enough, but man that's an ugly old-school foreign crosswordese word to foist on solvers. Its frequency dropped off hard after Shortz took over in the early/mid '90s, but it still hangs around, sadly.

[xwordinfo dot com]

The only answer that got me legitimately mad at the puzzle, though, was "OM NOM NOM." (43A: [Can't talk, eating]). Thanks, I Hate It. To be clear, I would've loved (or at least liked, or at least abided) "NOM NOM NOM." That dropped first "N," though, ugh. Ugh. "NOM" is often clued [When repeated, sound of eating] or [When repeated, sound effect for Cookie Monster]. "OM," however, is only ever a meditation syllable. I see that there are some GIFs out there that have the eating sound effect as "OM NOM NOM," but that doesn't make me like it. I also see plenty of "NOM NOM NOM." If it's "NOM" in crosswords (it is), and it's "NOM NOM" in crosswords (once, a couple years back), then it should be "NOM NOM NOM." Like so:

I stopped watching cartoons in the early '80s, so VOLTRON (while a very familiar name) did not leap to the front of my brain until I had some crosses in place. There was a decidedly '80s tween boy vibe to this, with the kids' cartoons and the video games and ARCADE and the Tolkien and what not (46D: "Do you remember the ___, Mr. Frodo?": Sam Gamgee). I was an '80s tween boy (for the early '80s, anyway), and yet none of this stuff resonated with me. ARSENIO, that resonated with me (14A: Onetime talk show whose studio audience was known as the "Dog Pound," familiarly). Right on target. I was the right age to experience that phenomenon in real time, with full force. I wish more stuff resonated with me, but sometimes you just don't luck out. The fill on this one seems fine, but its "highlights" were (mostly) not for me. ESTUARY is a fine word (though hard for me to get today, for sure) (5D: Long Island Sound, e.g.). "LET ME UP" sounds more like something you'd say if someone was sitting on top of you than something you'd say through an intercom. Also, if it's really a request made over an intercom, then it's rude. And not really a request. More of a command. 

Explainers etc.:

• 15A: Expressions of contempt (SNORTS) — not sure what you call it when both KEA and LOA show up in your grid, but that's what happened today. Me: "SNEERS! ... ugh, no, it's SNORTS." Me, later: "oh ... SNEERS ... there you are" (62A: Expressions of contempt)
• 21A: Figure for the prosecution, for short (ADA) — Assistant District Attorney. I prefer the Dental Association. Or the Lovelace.
• 39A: Electronic device from which users take "sips" (VAPE) — do you know how impossibly uncool this looks? Just smoke. I mean, don't, you'll get lung cancer or emphysema, but aesthetically, I'd much rather watch you smoke than "sip." There's a reason people smoked like crazy on film in the olden days and hardly anyone vapes on film. And it's not just health-consciousness. Smoking just looks great. Whereas vaping just looks desperate and sad, no matter how hot you are. To be clear, my objection is not moral in any way. It's purely aesthetic. 
• 56D: Feature of some outdoor obstacle courses (MUD) — could've been anything. Or, wasn't clearly MUD, at any rate. Clear as MUD!

• 59A: "Son of the Dragon," in a medieval Romanian sobriquet (DRACULA) — in retrospect, this should've been obvious, maybe, but oof, no. No idea. Thought they were throwing some Game of Thrones crap at me here. "Romanian" should've tipped me. But it didn't.
• 60A: "At the Movies with Ebert and ___" (ROEPER) — as with ARSENIO, I am the right demographic for this as well. None of the spice of the Siskel days. But it was on and it was about movies and it had Ebert, so I watched sometimes.
• 53D: Reflexology setting (SPA) — "setting" is a word that the puzzle uses in confusing ways sometimes. I thought maybe there were "setting"s in reflexology, like maybe you set your foot ... phaser ... to stun or something. But I guess some SPAs just offer "reflexology," so there's your "setting."
  
• 8D: Mac platform renamed in 2016 (OSX) — is it iOS now, then? Nope, that's mobile. It's actually macOS, so ... look for that in your grid sometime soon, I guess, inevitably, sadly. LOL they should have a cereal shaped like old Apple Macintoshes called "MAC O'S!" Would. Buy. (N)OM NOM NOM!

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

P.S. Happy Opening Day to all who celebrate! As always, go Tigers.  

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