Tell-all Reddit sesh / FRI 4-25-25 / Ran through some laundry, say / Number that stands for letters, in brief / ___ saltado (traditional Peruvian dish) / Wyndham alternative / She "learned" Arabic in December 2015

Constructor: Adrian Johnson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: LOMO saltado (8D: ___ saltado (traditional Peruvian dish)) —

Lomo saltado is a popular, traditional Peruvian dish, a stir fry that typically combines marinated strips of sirloin (or other beef steak) with onions, tomatoes, french fries, and other ingredients; and is typically served with rice. The dish originated as part of the chifa tradition, the Chinese cuisine of Peru, though its popularity has made it part of the mainstream culture. [...] The dish is normally prepared by marinating sirloin strips in vinegar, soy sauce, and spices, then stir frying these with red onions, parsley, tomatoes, and possibly other ingredients. The use of both potatoes (which originated in Peru) and rice (which originated in Asia) as starches is typical of the cultural blending that the dish represents. // In his 2013 article in the Huffington Post UK, British-Peruvian chef Martin Morales called lomo saltado "one of Peru's most loved dishes" and said that this dish "shows the rich fusion of old and new worlds. This juicy mixture of beef, onions, tomatoes, aji Amarillo paste and soy sauce sauteed in a large pan (or wok) is one of the many contributions Chinese immigration brought to Peru." He explains, "Lomo Saltado is sometimes known as a Criollo dish but more known as a Peruvian-Chinese dish; a favourite chifa dish. These are its true roots". (wikipedia)

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A little heavy on the contemporary pop culture trivia for my tastes, but the longer stuff was so good (and so prevalent) that all the short (mostly) actor and singer names ended up being mere gnatlike annoyances rather than real puzzle-ruiners. I just DEEP SIGHed my way through them and tried to focus instead on the really good stuff like DEEP SIGH (35D: [What is it this time?!]) and HEAD SLAP (41A: [Oy!]) and AND WHAT NOT and what not (25D: "... plus all the rest"). JUST A SEC is pretty ordinary stuff, but everything else of eight letters and longer in this puzzle is at least good, if not very good or excellent. The SOVIET BLOC bloc in the NW reads great from top to bottom, as does the CARBO LOADS short stack in the SE—every ten-letter Across in those two quadrants, just smooth as hell. And please, no complaints about not knowing AYO EDEBIRI. How many times has she been in the grid by now? (Lots—just this past Tuesday, in fact). Hers is the one pop culture name in the puzzle I actually welcomed, as I don't think I've seen her get the full-name treatment before (she's always AYO—four times this year already—but before today, her last name has only ever appeared in clues, never the grid itself). I did not spell her last name correctly at first pass, but I was damn close (went with EDIBIRI instead of EDEBIRI). Felt good to feel like I had her name (almost) well and truly under my belt (only recently got there with UZO ADUBA—another award-winning TV actor—and I've had way longer with that name). 

I like HIDDEN STAIRCASE (34A: Passage in a mystery novel?), and I like how HIDDEN STAIRCASE is doing the opposite of hiding, i.e. hanging out in the dead center of the puzzle. I'm now imagining a HIDDEN STAIRCASE-themed puzzle where HIDDEN STAIRCASE is the revealer and also "HIDDEN STAIRCASE" can be found in the grid on the diagonal, from SW to NE (or NW to SE, works either way). You could clue the revealer as [There's one of these in this puzzle], something like that. Although I guess there would be two ... though only one of them would be truly "hidden." Anyway, because it's a 15, you could put that revealer anywhere, on any row, and it would work with the diagonal version of itself. No circled squares to help you see the diagonal HIDDEN STAIRCASE, though—that would negate the whole "hidden" part. Maybe you could also work SPIRAL STAIRCASE in there, and that one *could* have circled squares. Sorry ... these are the ideas you usually just scratch in your notebook and then never show anyone because they are insane. The Point Is: HIDDEN STAIRCASE, good answer.

Only a few outright mistakes today. The EDEBIRI spelling, I've been over. I also (very) briefly thought the [Home of the Bahla Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site] was AGRA (!?), and (in that same section) I thought it was INSIDE DIRT, not INSIDE DOPE. Looks like INSIDE DOPE is far better attested, but because DIRT and DOPE are both gossip / insider info, INSIDE DIRT felt right. Also in that same NW section, I encountered one of the few answers I just outright did not know: LOMO saltada. Would've been totally content with LOMI saltada, which is what I had when I was stuck in the DIRT. Other things I simply didn't know: MIA whoever that is (F&F movies are v. popular, obviously, but I can't imagine sitting through one); and TIP ROAST ... I've heard of "tri-tip," but never TIP ROAST, which sounds like someone's name, or like an insult-comedy-based retirement celebration for Tip O'Neill (he was Speaker of the House forever, as fixed and seemingly eternal a political presence as Ronald Reagan when I was a kid ... then he died and Reagan died and yadda yadda yadda here we are! History!). 

[Got my Fun City Editions Blu-Ray of this John Sayles movie (1983), with this decorative slipcase, in the mail the other day; exciting (to me)]

Notes:

• 16A: Sch. that joined the Big Ten in 2024 (UCLA) — speaking of "when I was a kid," if you had told 12yo me that UCLA would one day be in the Big Ten I would've said "you dirty liar" and then when you showed me proof from a future newspaper, which you would have on your phone because newspapers don't exist anymore, after I came to after having passed out from seeing your phone, I would've boooooooed this new college sports development. In my day (!) the Big Ten was just upper midwest schools and UCLA was in the Pac-Ten, which was all west coast schools, and those two conferences *fought each other* annually in the Rose Bowl. It made sense. Now it's just a mishmash of garbage bowls and gerrymandered conferences with no regional character whatsoever. There are 18 teams in the Big Ten. Words, what do they mean, do they mean things?
• 4D: "Fighting" Big Ten team (ILLINI) — O.G. Big Ten team (joined 1896 ... 128 years before UCLA joined).
• 55A: Wyndham alternative (OMNI) — the "alternative" in an OMNI clue is usually "Hyatt" (7 times) or "Marriott" (6). This is only the second use of "Wyndham" in an OMNI clue. This is perhaps the least consequential or interesting statistic I've ever cited. 

• 1D: She "learned" Arabic in December 2015 (SIRI) — go ahead and put scare quotes around "She," too. Please. 
• 7D: Ran through some laundry, say (BLED) — because laundry is (notoriously) sharp, so when you run through it, you cut your feet and they bleed.
• 36D: Tell-all Reddit sesh (AMA) — don't love SESH in the grid and, it turns out, don't love it in the clues any better.
• 42D: "My child is on the honor roll" and others (DECALS) — oof, wrong on two counts. First of all, the "decal" would say "My child is on the honor roll at [such and such a school]"—just saying "My child is on the honor roll" on its own would be a weird thing to advertise via "decal." Second of all, the term is "bumper sticker"; you only ever see this message on bumper stickers. Things you put on your car are bumper stickers. I don't know where you stick decals, but "My child etc." messages go on bumper stickers. Exclusively. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. HARRY is the first name of singer/actor HARRY Styles (just in case you thought “HARRY” was a “style” of music (!))

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]