Odysseus' captor / WED 4-9-25 / Starbucks drink made with olive oil / Sage-colored sage / M&M color replaced in 1995 / Actor Sprouse of "Riverdale" / Sorghum relative / Where Jewish singles might mingle / Septet with the #1 albums "Be" and "Map of the Soul: 7"

Constructor: Aidan Deshong and Oren Hartstein

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Three-star reviews — ordinary phrases clued as if they were 3-star reviews of ... random things:

Theme answers:

• MIXED RESULTS (19A: Three-star review of a cocktail shaker?)
• HIT-OR-MISS (25A: Three-star review of Battleship?)
• PASSABLE (40A: Three-star review of a no-stress class?)
• IT'S JUST OK (51A: Three-star review of Tulsa?)
• GOOD NOT GREAT (60A: Three-star review of the Friday before Easter?)

Word of the Day: COLE Sprouse (12D: Actor Sprouse of "Riverdale") —

Cole Mitchell Sprouse (born August 4, 1992) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Cody Martin on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005–2008), and its spin-off series The Suite Life on Deck (2008–2011), and his role as Jughead Jones on The CW television series Riverdale (2017-2023). In his early career, Sprouse appeared in various projects with his twin brother Dylan Sprouse, including The Suite Life and Big Daddy (1999) (wikipedia)

• • •

MIXED RESULTS, true. Two out of five of these feel like actual review phrases with precisely written clues. I have smiley faces written on my puzzle print-out next to HIT OR MISS and IT'S JUST OK. MIXED RESULTS doesn't quite hit as a review phrase and stands out for being a noun phrase where the rest ... aren't. PASSABLE is definitely a review phrase, but the clue on that one is botched all to heck. Just because a class is PASSABLE doesn't mean it's "no-stress." A "D" is passing, and no one wants a "D." If you were taking the class Pass/Fail (which is what I wanted to write in here, despite the fact that it's not a plausible review phrase), then ... even then, it's just PASSABLE. All classes are PASSABLE. The only class that's "no-stress" is an EASY A. So the clue clunked there. And GOOD NOT GREAT is something you might say in a review, but something about giving the crucifixion a meh rating feels ... off, even to me (not exactly a committed Christian). I like IT'S JUST OK because the wordplay is kind of funny and though I've never been to Tulsa (that I can recall), that review feels accurate (feel free to insult the place where I live—Binghamton, NY—I won't mind; you won't be the first). I should ding IT'S JUST OK for fudging things by adding the "IT'S" part (for symmetry purposes) (the "IT'S" is merely implied in three of the other themers—god knows what's implied as the lead-in to MIXED RESULTS). I think of three stars as a good review. I mean, if it's GOOD NOT GREAT ... that's not the same as "JUST OK" or "PASSABLE." Still, I like the attempt to make them all middling reviews; it gives the theme some needed coherence. But I swear I'm not doing a bit when I say that the execution of this theme was so-so.

The long Downs today are winners. Strong, solid, in-the-language, no weaknesses. Some of the mid-length stuff is nice as well. Not that fond of plural EARFULS (earsful?) but I liked seeing CALYPSO (esp. as clued) (37D: Odysseus' captor), and there's some good action in there as well (DWINDLE, NOURISH, WIGGLE). Unfortunately, the shorter fill is a bit on the dismal side again today. ILIUM ILOSE AGRA ATTN SRA LSAT ISTO ... the entire NE corner (well, HTTP OHSO REPO), more UMA, more NIA, more REA ... the oddly formal "SEE YOU" (if you are shortening "I'll see you later" to two words, the phrase is "SEE YA"). The only thing that made me really wince (and kind of wretch) was OLEATO (66A: Starbucks drink made with olive oil). Where's my "Not All Debuts Are Good" sign ... I know it's around here somewhere ... anyway, imagine that I'm tapping it. I love coffee (like, Love coffee), and I've been in and around many a Starbucks over the past 30+ years or however long they've been around, and I kid you not when I tell you this is the first time I've ever heard of an OLEATO. Am I just not looking at the menu close enough? Is it regional? Here's the thing: I don't actually care, as I don't go to Starbucks unless I'm traveling and desperate, and even if I did I wouldn't put olive oil in my damned coffee. Does the olive oil cover up the fact that Starbucks coffee is just PASSABLE (at best)? Please, constructors, don't get it in your head that some niche proper noun that's really just a concatenation of vowels with a consonant or two thrown in counts as "good" fill. It looks desperate and is decidedly not good. We already have to know all the damn Starbucks sizes (VENTI, GRANDE ... the absurd TALL...) OLEATO is an oily bridge too far. Though now I know it, so ... at least I won't be caught off guard next time, I guess. (Apparently this drink was intro'd in 2023 and is "a revolutionary new coffee ritual" ... pass)

Bullets:

• 24A: Sell/buy-back agreement, for short (REPO) — I thought REPO was when they take back (i.e. REPOssess) the car (or whatever) because you couldn't make payments. I don't really know what this particular REPO is getting at. Maybe it's the same thing? [it’s a finance term: “repurchase agreement”— 🤷🏻]
• 4A: Sorghum relative (MILLET) — I know sorghum is a crop of some kind ... that is all I know about sorghum. MILLET is a grain ... popular with the gluten-free folks, I think. According to wikipedia, sorghum is also known as "Great MILLET." The MILLET taxonomy is extensive and confusing. Too deep in the cereal grass weeds for me.
• 67A: M&M color replaced in 1995 (TAN) — I miss TAN. Bring back TAN.
• 37A: Sea ___ (COW) — hardest of the three-letters, for me. Even with the -OW I was like "See ... HOW?" As in, "you can see how this clue might be confusing." A Sea COW is another name for a manatee.

• 22D: Sage-colored sage (YODA) — I guess that is his color. My brain had trouble processing this clue. Differentiating "sage" meanings at speed ... apparently it's too early for that.

A little bit more about this past weekend's ACPT, as I didn't really talk about the puzzle side of it all (you go for the people, but yes, there are puzzles!). I can't / won't talk about individual puzzles in any detail, as some people will have ordered the puzzle pack and won't have solved them all yet, but I can say that the solving takes place over two days, most of it on Saturday, when you solve six puzzles in two three-puzzle chunks (Puzzles 1, 2, 3, then lunch, then 4, 5, 6). Puzzle 7 is on Sunday morning, and it is (appropriately) Sunday-sized (the others range from the standard 15-wide to 19-wide, typically, I think). Most solvers are in the main ballroom, a cavernous place. If you've seen the movie Wordplay, you have seen the ballroom. Because there were so many solvers this year (a record number, I think: over 1000 total), solvers had to be put into overflow rooms downstairs. That's where all the pairs were located too, so that's where my wife and I were. These rooms hold maybe 50 people each (I'm guessing). We had a video link to the main ballroom so we could hear Shortz making announcements and introducing the puzzles. Once you start solving, there's a big official timer on the screen up front so you know how long you have left. 

[Angela Olson, Christina Iverson, Katie Hale, unintentionally color-coordinated]

Solving as a pair is an odd experience, as there is some talking involved (you gotta communicate with your partner!). You'd think it would be a distraction, but I honestly didn't notice anyone else's talking. Everyone was very good about whispering. I was probably the talkiest one, as I found myself kind of whispering my way through the whole thing in a way I'd never have done, or been tempted to do, solving solo. The trickiest bit is getting the actual letters into the grid. Every pair got two puzzles, one for each team member, and some teams worked separately and then combined their work at some point, but this seemed like the sloooow option, so we both worked on the same grid directly—she worked from the NW down, I worked from the SE up, and eventually we met up in a chaotic flurry of lead. You have to trust your partner a lot (we never checked each other's work) and you have to make sure you're not blocking your partner's view of the clues any more than you absolutely have to. No one really tells you how to do this; you just learn as you go. I think we'll actually be better next time. Less awkward, anyway.

[The "A" Finals: Will Nediger, Paolo Pasco, Dan Feyer—spoilers for the final puzzle!]

You get a bonus for every minute you finish early, so the minute marks are all that matter. If you finish and look up and the clock reads 9:50, then you absolutely take all those 50 seconds to check over your grid, make sure there are no blank squares (leaving blanks is the worst feeling! I know from experience!) and that everything written in the grid looks like a real thing. You might also have flagged iffy / awkward areas for review at the end. If you finish and look up and the clock reads, say, 9:07, that is somewhat more stressful because you have to decide "do I eat the extra minute to check my grid thoroughly or do I just give it a quick scan for blanks and turn it in before 9:00!?" My advice for most people is "Eat The Minute!" but if you're gunning for a top finish, you might throw caution to the wind. I've seen too many crushed solvers to recommend throwing caution anywhere, but it's easy to get caught up in the moment and do rash things. 

[a blurry selfie with the great Wyna Liu]

If you finish early, you can leave the room. Most people go out and process their post-solve feelings with other solvers. Or go to the bathroom, whatever. Without giving away puzzle specifics, I will say that the puzzles were particularly well made this year. I had a few moments of "ugh, what?" but only a very few. The caliber of puzzle was generally a notch higher than the average NYTXW, I'd say—but then all the constructors were top-tier (here's the list), and the puzzles were probably tested within an inch of their lives. If I seem a little disappointed in the puzzles this week, it's probably (in part) because they're suffering by comparison. To sum up: it was great fun and we won! Should I post the picture again? No? Sorry, can't resist.

I forgot to thank Mike Nothnagel for making me a Manhattan (he brought his own booze!) and bringing it to me in the lobby on both Friday and Saturday night during the tourney weekend. That's a good friend right there. Thanks, Mike.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]