Short Japanese sword / SAT 3-29-25 / Soffritto-based sauce / Where to get into the nitty-gritty? / Primary lang. of Gambia / Underground venues for some heavy-metal bands? / Political grp. dedicated to helping those who are H.I.V. positive / Birthplace of writer V.S. Naipaul / Cry from a cutthroat competitor

Constructor: Christina Iverson and Jacob McDermott

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: TANTO (16A: Short Japanese sword) —

A tantō (短刀, 'short blade') is a traditionally made Japanese knife (nihontō) that was worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The tantō dates to the Heian period, when it was mainly used as a weapon but evolved in design over the years to become more ornate. Tantō were used in traditional martial arts (tantojutsu) and in the seppuku suicide ritual. The term has seen a resurgence in the West since the 1980s as referring to a point style of modern tactical knives, designed for piercing or stabbing, though the style is not present on any traditional tantō.

A Tanto knife may refer to an American style of blade based [on] the Japanese tantō, usually with a squared rather than curved tip. (wikipedia)

• • •

Nice easy (-ish) Saturday puzzle. Felt way more like a Friday than a Saturday on every level—well, on two levels. The grid shape has good overall flow, which I associate with the best Fridays. No getting boxed into stupid sequestered corners, no giant hunks of white space. Also, the cluing was accessible, so while I definitely had to exert some effort here and there, the primary solving sensation was closer to "whoosh whoosh" than "aargh." There was only one answer that struck me as kind of obscure: I had no memory of TANTO, except maybe as an Italian word ... yep, it looks like that's the way it was clued literally every time it appeared before today (and it appears far less today than it did in days of yore). [So much, in music] is the most common clue for TANTO, but today they went with the samurai sword (the seppuku sword!), and I imagine that's going to slow a lot of people up, at least a little (as it did me). I got a few crosses and then thought "oh, they've just found a new non-Lone Ranger way to clue TONTO, cool." Nope. They found a new non-music way to clue TANTO. Anyway, TANTO stands out like a sore TANTO in this grid, as everything else feels extremely LEGIT and familiar. Well, maybe not ORBED, but the rest of it, for sure.

[TANTO ... also Spanish ...]

The only things I really winced at, or came close to wincing at, or didn't particularly care for, were the THE in THE MONA LISA (not hard, just ... gratuitous and ugly) (23D: Only beauty to go through history and retain her reputation, per Will Rogers) (I think Will Rogers is making me wince here more than the THE is). I'd also never heard the expression "barreled out," so even with -ELED sitting there, I had no idea what was going on. Barreling implies speed to me, whereas "peeling out" absolutely positively explicitly refers to leaving rubber on the road (and making a screeching sound while doing it). And while I've heard of barreling, I've never heard "barreling out." Unfamiliar clue phrase plus bad answer equivalency = frowny face emoji. Also didn't love the very general answer for the very specific clue at 40D: The W.N.B.A.'s Caitlin Clark, for one (PHENOM). There are so many specific things that she is, for one, that I never would've suspected something as generic as PHENOM. I thought maybe they wanted her team (Indiana Fever) or her position (point guard) or maybe even her native identity (Iowan). If you play for the Lakers, you're a Laker, and if you play for the Celtics, you're a Celtic, but what are you if you play for the Fever? Or the Heat, for that matter? A Hot One?

How'd you get started on this one. I opened with ... the MINES part of IRON MINES (1A: Underground venues for some heavy-metal bands?). With four letters open before MINES and "heavy-metal" clue, I probably should've been able to infer IRON, but I figured, why not just test the MINES part first, before you get too confident. Testing MINES proved ... inconclusive. All I was able to "confirm" was ENG (correct!) (8D: Primary lang. of Gambia) and ... "I'M OVER" (in correct). I dunno, "I'M OVER here!" just seemed plausible, what can I say? (6D: "___ here"). NO WORRIES, though, as I was fairly certain 20A: Gun was REV, which took out "I'M OVER" and gave me the "V" I needed for NAIVE (7D: Like a mark) (a "mark" here is the target of a scam). [Neon sign word] was clear all on its own (OPEN), no crosses needed, and from there, everything just opened up. Northwest, sorted. Nothing else took nearly so much effort.

["Mr. DINKINS, would you please be my mayor?"]

The first big highlight of this puzzle for me was CHEWING GUM, specifically the clue on CHEWING GUM (27D: Wrigley field?). It's an obvious pun, but a good one. I also loved the casual colloquialness of "NO WORRIES," "I DON'T CARE," and "EAT MY DUST" (I had it as "EAT MY DIRT" for a second or two, conflating "EAT MY DUST" with "EAT DIRT," I think). "EAT MY DUST" takes us back to PEELED out, which now makes me like that answer a tiny bit more (but then I never hated the answer, just the clue). The long (8+) answers in the NE were probably my favorite. Not sparkling, exactly, but very solid (ANTI-SOCIAL BACKSTORIES!). Liked the strange and potentially misdirective clue on COIN TOSS (28A: It requires a flipper), and adored Mr. TUXEDO CAT, hello, baby (32A: One always seen in a fancy fur coat). So happy when he turned up. I was spinning my wheels a bit in the center of the grid, trying to figure out what state the steak was in (CUBED) and [Encircled] could possibly mean (ORBED!?), when I decided to change SAND DUNES (9D: Where to get into the nitty-gritty?) to SAND BOXES, and bam, "X" marks the spot. Put that letter in and then there he was, my TUXEDO CAT. I wrote him in thinking "if this is wrong I do not want to be right." 

[it wasn't wrong]

More stuff:

• 25A: What's got about an ounce of scents? (SACHET) — I had no idea how much a typical SACHET holds by weight (or volume), so I'm just gonna take the puzzle's word on this one. I assume the SACHET is filled with pot pourri, whatever that is. A mix of things, I think.

• 46D: Soffritto-based sauce (RAGU) — "soffritto" = aromatic ingredients sautéed over low heat for long time. "In Italian cuisine, chopped onions, carrots and celery is battuto, and then, slowly cooked in olive oil, becomes soffritto. It may also contain garlic, shallot, or leek." (wikipedia). RAGU here is the general name for the meat sauce, not the brand name (although ... I mean, the jarred stuff probably also starts with "soffritto" so ... I guess that works, too).
• 48D: ___ Convy, host of TV's "Super Password" and "Win, Lose or Draw" (BERT) — yet another opportunity for me to talk about The Love Boat, on which BERT Convy was a frequent guest, including one time where he went on the cruise in drag (with his pal ARTE Johnson, who used to appear in crosswords allllll the time, ask your parents). 

[yes that's 3x Academy Award nominee and
mother of Laura Dern, Diane Ladd]

• BERT was in drag because it was a ladies' cruise (was this the one where there was a contest and the grand prize was a date with Engelbert Humperdinck? Having watched well over 150 episodes by this point, it's possible I'm conflating episodes). He was on the ladies' cruise because he was stalking his own wife, whom he suspected (for no reason) of being unfaithful. Scarily, even violently jealous men were considered cute back then. You get a lot of them on Love Boat. Real creepfest, much of the time. My wife and I are constantly turning toward each other and going "Why Do These Women Like These Guys!?" But back to BERT. IMDb tells me he was on seven (7!!!) episodes of The Love Boat. Google image search tells me he was also on something called The Love Boat II (!?), which I think was just a late (1987) Love Boat special (the series per se ended in 1986). Check out this TV ad—I miss the good old days of ridiculous TV and the ridiculous print ad illustrations that went with it ...

[a real Who's Who of '70s/'80s TV talent ... and also Celeste Holm!!]

[Celeste Holm!]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]