Odysseus' faithful dog / MON 3-24-25 / Like seaweed or raw octopus / K-pop group with an "army" of followers / Person who has reached near-mythical status / Call of Duty handle, e.g. / Vehicle in a light rail system / Character in "Frankenstein" films who doesn't appear in the the Mary Shelley novel

Constructor: Victor Schmitt

Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: ALL OVER THE MAP (57A: Here, there and everywhere ... or where to find 20-, 33- and 41-Across's ends?) — last words of themers are all things you might find on a map:

Theme answers:

• BATHROOM SCALE (20A: Something you might step on before or after a shower)
• MORAL COMPASS (33A: Set of ethical standards)
• LIVING LEGEND (41A: Person who has reached near-mythical status)

Word of the Day: "The Boys" (38D: "The Boys" and "The Bear," for two) —

The Boys is an American satirical superhero drama series developed by Eric Kripke for Amazon Prime Video. Based on the comic book of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, it follows the eponymous team of vigilantes as they combat superpowered individuals (referred to as "Supes") who abuse their powers for personal gain and work for a powerful company (Vought International) that ensures the general public views them as heroes. The series features an ensemble cast that includes Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Chace Crawford, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Elisabeth Shue, Colby Minifie, Aya Cash, Claudia Doumit, Jensen Ackles, Cameron Crovetti, Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. [...] The Boys premiered its first season of eight episodes on July 26, 2019. A second season premiered on September 4, 2020, with the third season following on June 3, 2022. In June 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on June 13, 2024. In May 2024, the series was renewed for a fifth and final season, which is expected to premiere in 2026. As part of a shared universe, a spin-off web series (Seven on 7) premiered on July 7, 2021, an adult animated anthology series (Diabolical) premiered on March 4, 2022, and a second live-action television series (Gen V) premiered on September 29, 2023. // The series has been nominated for eight Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2021, and has won seven Critics' Choice Super Awards and six Astra TV Awards. (wikipedia)

• • •

Yes, those are all parts of a map. They can all be found on different parts of a map, possibly all on the same map, so ... sure, that revealer works. It's not exactly exciting, but it's kind of a textbook Monday: straightforward, clean, easy. Not sure why cheater squares were needed (black squares after "CCS" and before "NSA")—just makes the short fill shorter. With a theme this undemanding, should've been easy enough to fill the grid without resorting to that kind of crutch, but whatever—that's a technicality that no one is really gonna notice. The theme is basic—last words all share a common trait, and those same words are used in different (non-thematic) contexts in each of their respective answers. That is, non-map kind of "scale," non-map kind of "compass," non-map kind of "legend"—though the compasses are at least vaguely similar, in that both of them concern direction. The only way to take "compass" a truly different direction would've been to have it be the kind of compass you use to draw circles. But I think making the compass figurative (as it is in MORAL COMPASS) is a sufficient change of meaning. Best not to think about it all too much. The themers all end in different map elements. That's it. That's the puzzle. It's Monday. It's fine.

The short fill is the one place this puzzle falls off a little, but not in ways that are gonna make anyone throw their puzzle across the room. SRI URSA BTS SSN ORR ETTA etc. Nothing you really want to see there, but nothing you haven't seen a million times before, nothing that's gonna give you trouble, so nothing that's likely to register as truly bothersome. Solving Downs-only, I can tell you that the only short fill that really (*really*) bothered me is ROLD (14A: ___ Gold, pretzel brand). Awful. Truly awful. No excuse for a non-word like that on an easy Monday. And in a section where you've added a cheater square to make filling the grid easier, it's really inexcusable. Cheater squares are what you add because you need to get *rid* of things like ROLD. As a Downs-only solver, you need the Acrosses to be recognizable things, and ROLD was Not. I assumed I had a mistake there, but couldn't see what it could be. ROLD went right through the one answer up top that I was struggling with—the poorly clued SLIMY (7D: Like seaweed or raw octopus). I assume that I'm supposed to think of the seaweed and octopus as edibles (why else would "raw" be in there), and I've never thought of edible seaweed as SLIMY. Nori (the edible seaweed I experience most often) is the opposite of SLIMY. So boo to that clue. And huge boo to ROLD, the worst debut I've seen in a good, long while. Not All Debuts Are Good. And now constructors are going to have it ROLD in their databases, and they're going to assume it's OK to use. And it may be—but only in the tightest of spots, not in a basic 76-word Monday grid. The northern section of today's puzzle is send-it-back bad. Just because it's an easy Monday doesn't mean you shouldn't polish every inch of your grid.

Only two other answers gave me pause during the Downs-only solve, making this among the easier Downs-only solve I've ever done. GAMER TAG was gibberish to me for a while (10D: Call of Duty handle, e.g.), until I'd inferred a bunch of crosses. I recognize the term, but honestly, even after I got GAME, the only thing I wanted was GAME NAME, and that seemed (and was) impossible. I also had some reluctance to enter TV DRAMAS (38D: "The Boys" and "The Bear," for two), since, if I recall correctly, The Bear won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. [Looks it up]. Yep! Also the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series—Musical or Comedy. Not at all self-evident that that show is a TV Drama. As for The Boys, I have no idea. I don't have anything to do with Amazon anymore. 

Bullets:

• 62A: Character in "Frankenstein" films who doesn't appear in the Mary Shelley novel (IGOR) — I don't think "fun facts" usually qualify as "fun," but this one kinda is. It's definitely a "fun" way to clue an answer that's been in the crossword countless times.

• 2D: Knight-___ (medieval character wandering in search of adventure) (ERRANT)) — this clue, also fun. Probably didn't need the whole parenthetical bit, but by getting "wandering" in there, you make explicit the word you're looking for ... plus, it just makes the concept in question more vivid. I studied medieval literature in grad school, so I've read about more knight-ERRANTs than I can remember. (Weirdly, I had a vivid grad school dream just last night, one in which there was some kind of reunion, and I was seeing certain people for the first time in 20+ years, and it was slightly stressful ... also, I realized *in the dream*, "... wait, why does everyone look the same? People would've aged." My dream brain does not have aging technology, apparently. 
• 
  44D: Country between Djibouti and Sudan on the coast of the Red Sea (ERITREA) — got it on the first guess, no crosses. This may seem like no big deal, but it feels like a big deal, in that ERITREA was not a country when my basic idea of world geography was set in stone (or nearly so) back in middle school. ERITREA only got its independence in 1993. In fact, I'm pretty sure I only learned about its existence because of crosswords (possibly in 1993 itself, when ERITREA first appeared as a country in the NYTXW: [Nation born May 24, 1993] (Sep 12, 1993)—I can't believe the NYTXW was ever that timely with its cluing!). ERITREA actually appeared many times before 1993, but only ever as a part of Ethiopia ([Former Italian colony], [Ethiopian province], etc.)), and never during the time in which I would've been solving (i.e. post-1991). ERITREA's capital is ASMARA—handy to know, as Asmara frequently appears on ERITREA clues, and is an answer itself, from time to time (12 times in the Shortz/Fagliano Era, *37* times before that).

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

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]