___ Ketchum, "Pokémon" protagonist / MON 4-7-25 / Some broadcasts updating current events / Baseball score due to the defensive team's error / Instruments for John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins / Intel chip whose name sounds like an element on the periodic table / Treat with the right Stuf?

Constructor: Jeffrey Lease and Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Hardish if you solve Downs-only (as I do on Mondays); probably normalish otherwise

THEME: TEN-TO-ONE ODDS (53A: Big payout potential ... or a hint to the words in the shaded squares (and the clue numbers on which they begin) — the words "TEN" and "ONE" are embedded in four longer answers (in shaded squares) and both "TEN" and "ONE" begin in squares with odd clue numbers in them)

Theme answers:

• "TENNIS, ANYONE?" (19A: Court summons?) [TEN starts at 19, ONE starts at 21]
• WELL-INTENTIONED (27A: Having a benevolent goal in mind) [29, 31]
• TENOR SAXOPHONES (45A: Instruments for John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins) [45, 49]
• TEN-TO-ONE ODDS [53, 55]

Word of the Day: ENOS (68A: First son of Seth, in Genesis) —

Enos or Enosh (Hebrew: אֱנוֹשׁ ʾĔnōš; "mortal man"; Arabic: أَنُوش/يَانِش, romanized: Yāniš/’Anūš; Greek: Ἐνώς Enṓs; Ge'ez: ሄኖስ Henos) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He is described as the first son of Seth who figures in the Generations of Adam, and is also referred to within the genealogies of 1 Chronicles.

According to Christianity, he is part of the genealogy of Jesus as mentioned in Luke 3:38. Enos is also mentioned in Islam in the various collections of tales of the pre-Islamic prophets, which honor him in an identical manner. Furthermore, early Islamic historians like Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham always included his name in the genealogy of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, (Arabic: ’Anūsh أَنُوش or: Yānish يَانِش). [...] 

Genesis 4:26 says: "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enosh; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord". The traditional Jewish interpretation of this verse, though, implies that it marked the beginning of idolatry, i.e. that men start dubbing "Lord" things that were mere creatures. This is because the previous generations, notably Adam, had already "begun calling upon the name of the Lord", which forces one to interpret הוחל huchal not as "began" but as the homonym "profanated". In this light, Enosh suggests the notion of a humanity (Enoshut) thinking of itself as an absolute rather than in relation to God (Enosh vs. Adam). (wikipedia)

• • •

Seems like an elaborate theme for a Monday. An elaborate theme that doesn't quite work (only one of the themers ("TENNIS, ANYONE?") actually goes from TEN (at the start) to ONE (at the end)), and one whose core premise is hard to care about at all—half the damn clues in any puzzle are "odd" (obviously). Yes, you've got to get the numbers to line up right for the "TEN" and the "ONE" and I'm sure there's architectural challenge involved there, but why should anyone care? The fact that answers or parts of answers start in boxes with odd numbers in them ... that adds nothing to the solving experience. It's a "look-at-me!"-type thing that solvers are only going to see after they're done, and then what? Ooh and aah? Seems like a lot of work on the constructors' end for very little puzzle payoff on the solver's. The theme answers themselves are perfectly good stand-alone answers: solid, colorful. And for a grid with such obvious structural complexities, it's remarkable that the fill overall came out as nicely as it did. But conceptually, this didn't quite work for me. I appreciate the effort it must have taken to make the grid work, on a physical level, but that effort didn't really translate into solving enjoyment. I want a Monday to be simple, elegant, maybe funny, and I definitely want the revealer to stick the landing. Most of that didn't happen today.

And I really needed the revealer to stick the landing today, because I found the Downs-only experience somewhat challenging, slightly frustrating, and so I needed there to be a payoff. I was very grateful for those shaded squares, that's for sure. Once I saw there was a pattern (TEN in one set of shaded squares, ONE in the other), I could fill the shaded squares in the other answers in, and boy did I need that assist, particularly in the NW, where the only Down I was certain certain of was HYMNAL (4D: Church songbook). I guessed OWIE correctly, it turned out, but again, I wasn't certain certain. TRANSLATING was too long for me to be certain about it for a while (3D: Interpreter's job). But the real sticking point up there was the very first clue I saw: 1D: ___ liquor. I like to drink. I like to drink liquor. I drank some last night, in fact (this drink we just call a "Bourbon Rubino"—two parts bourbon, one part Amaro Rubino (floral, distinctive, delicious)). So when presented with [___ liquor], I'm thinking ... liquor. Actual liquor. HARD liquor, in fact. I haven't thought about MALT liquor in years. I remember the "Schlitz MALT Liquor Bull" really well, but it's been 40+ years since I've seen him. Anyway, I had no good guesses until HARD, which I still think is a good guess, but unfortunately not a right one. Being able to fill in the "TEN" up there in the NW really Really helped sort out my MALT liquor sitch. The shaded letters helped in other areas as well, but nowhere so much as there.

Other Downs-only struggles followed. Couldn't get to "C'MON!" from 7D: "Time's a-wastin'!"—the clue phrase is cutesy/archaic, which the answer phrase really isn't. I wanted something like "STAT!" or "ASAP!" even though the equivalency there was bad too. I stopped knowing EMINEM songs around 2002 (when 8 Mile came out), so the Monday-level song for me would've been "The Real Slim Shady" or "Stan" or "Lose Yourself" or something like that. "Rap God" was from 2013—new enough that I missed it, old enough that if I did know it at some point, I forgot it. I did guess EMINEM here, but only because it's a rapper in six letters, who else is it likely to be (on a Monday)? 

The PENTIUM clue confused me because it made me think of actual elements, not the element-like ending -IUM (15D: Intel chip whose name sounds like an element on the periodic table). I was like "is there a Pentel URANIUM ... something?" I had to guess at the "Pokémon protagonist" (11D: ___ Ketchum, "Pokémon" protagonist). Card games have protagonists? I am never going to understand Pokémon. It's a kid's game and I was an adult before it ever came out and my own kid never went near it, so nope. No hope. Oh, sorry, I'm being told that ASH is from the Pokémon anime, not the card game per se ... sigh, OK.

The anime originally focused on Ash Ketchum and his travels across the Pokémon world with his partner, Pikachu. They were retired as protagonists after the 25th season, and Pokémon Horizons introduced two new protagonists, Liko and Roy. (wikipedia)

So ... really, technically, an erstwhile protagonist, it seems. I eventually guessed ASH, but that "A" was absolutely a guess—inferred by analogy with the "protagonist" of the Evil Dead movies. OSH seemed like a reasonable guess, especially since ASH is a regular word, why in the world would you clue ASH like this on a Monday??? You've got, let's see, fire residue, wood, ___ Wednesday—so many options, what are we doing here? Also, what are we doing with the clue on NPR NEWS!?!?! (43D: Some broadcasts updating current events). I could barely understand that clue. "Updating" was not clear (all news ... updates ... that's what it does ... and "current events" would already seem to cover the "NEWS" part of your answer???). And "broadcasts," plural? NPR NEWS is a broadcast. Singular. It's a thing "This is NPR NEWS, I'm Lakshmi Singh." Yes, NPR NEWS comes on at the top of the hour and features "updates" (i.e. news!!), but I wouldn't call it "some broadcasts." It's a broadcast. NPR NEWS is a current events broadcast. To sum up: clue, plural; NPR NEWS, not plural, boooo! Truly clunky clue writing.

Bullets:

• 20D: "___ were you..." ("IF I") — IFI is ... not the greatest fill. IFI sounds like a Pokémon character to me. Maybe IFI, OPI, and COO are, like, ASH's friends or something, I don't know...
• 54D: Org. concerned with protecting workers (OSHA) — all these government oversight agency clues feel fraudulent in 2025. I feel like you need to add the word "putatively" or "nominally" ... or else "once" (as in "this agency once protected workers / the environment / whatever ... I remember those days ... good times...")
• 24D: Baseball score due to the defensive team's error (UNEARNED RUN) — this is a lovely debut answer. Also lovely—this Tigers highlight from yesterday (these runs are all earned, I'm afraid...):

That's all for today. Thanks to Eli for filling in for me this weekend while I was away doing this:

That's right: We ... are the champions. Pairs Division champions. More on this tomorrow, after I've had more rest, and more time to process everything from my truly wonderful weekend at the 2025 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (full results here). If you were there too, and you have pictures to share, please send them along (rexparker at icloud dot com). OK, I'm going back to bed now. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. congrats to Paolo Pasco, who won the Individuals Championship ... which is also, I hear, prestigious:

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]