Anarchist Sacco / THU 5-29-25 / Female in Mexican-style wrestling / Insect named for the Virgin Mary / Over-the-top dramatic / Second star ever photographed, after the sun / 2013 film that presaged ChatGPT / Mensa, for one / One with a minority opinion about the shape of the world / Source of the line "The female of the species is more deadly than the male"

Constructor: John Kugelman

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: TEASE UP (60A: Give height, as a hairdo ... or a hint for entering the answers to the starred clues) — you have to insert "T"s into the black squares following the apparent answers to the starred clues in order to see the real answers to the starred clues [sorry, my bad—the “T”s are “up” above those aforementioned black squares]:

Theme answers:

• 19A: *Mensa, for one (CONS[T]ELLA[T]ION)
• 36A: *One with a minority opinion about the shape of the world (FLA[T]-EAR[T]HER)
• 54A: *Two sure things (DEA[T]H AND [T]AXES)

Word of the Day: SAVILE Row (9D: London's ___ Row) —

Savile Row (pronounced /ˌsævɪl ˈroʊ/) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society at 1 Savile Row, where significant British explorations to Africa and the South Pole were planned; and more recently, the Apple office of the Beatles at 3 Savile Row, where the band's final live performance was held on the roof of the building. [...] Tailors started doing business in the area in the late 18th century; first in Cork Street, about 1790, then by 1803 in Savile Row itself. In 1846, Henry Poole, later credited as the creator of the dinner jacket, opened an entrance to Savile Row from his tailoring premises in Old Burlington Street. Founded in 1849 by Henry Huntsman, H. Huntsman & Sons moved to No. 11 Savile Row with the ending of the war in 1919. During the First World War, Huntsman's was a tailor to the military, producing dress uniforms for British officers. In 1969, Nutters of Savile Row modernised the style and approach of traditional Savile Row tailoring; a modernisation that continued into the 1990s with the "New Bespoke Movement", involving the designers Richard James, Ozwald Boateng, and Timothy Everest. The term "bespoke" as applied to fine tailoring is understood to have originated in Savile Row, and came to mean a suit cut and made by hand. (wikipedia)

• • •

[Love to read the classics]

Sometimes solvers will say (in the comments section of this blog), "I never noticed the theme," and I always think "how is that possible?" Today, however, I can see very much how that is possible, as I barely noticed the theme and certainly didn't know what the revealer (TEASE UP) was supposed to mean until well after I'd finished solving. The theme appears to involve all of 11 squares (?), across three very short answers. I actually had to HUNT for the starred clues because there are so few and they are not attached to what appeared to be the grid's longest answers (which are most typically the themers). After I found them all, I tried for a bit to make something, anything T(ea)(se)-related, go "UP" in relation to those apparently short theme answers. CONS? Well, there is a TEA right above CONS (in ICED TEA), maybe that was something? But that yielded nothing. I tried to find the answer by reading "UP" after the end of the answer, but CONSDLO was nonsense. I honestly don't know what caused me to see the "T"-in-the-black-squares gimmick [again—this is not the actual gimmick; the “T”s are “UP” above the black squares]. I certainly had no idea Mensa was a CONSTELLATION, and yet I think I saw CONSTELLATION first. Lots and lots and lots of practice solving crosswords—particularly cryptic crossword clues, somehow triggered my letter pattern recognition impulse when looking at the grid, and those black squares in the themer rows somehow became simply missing letters in a longer answer ... and the "T"s slid right in. I still don't get how "UP" is working in the revealer [see all the red comments, above]. Those "T"s aren't going up. I guess you have to put them up (???) on the grid in order to make sense of the starred clues? My overall impression of the theme is that it is virtually non-existent and totally irrelevant. I have to believe that some chunk of solvers will not see it at all—and not really care, since "successful" completion of the puzzle doesn't necessitate understanding the theme. As long as you get the happy music at the end, you win, so ... yeah, a big "who cares?" from me, with a mild frowny face for the unclear "UP" part of the revealer.

The puzzle's theme is completely upstaged by its fill today. It's like this puzzle wanted to be a themeless puzzle, as its longer non-theme fill was often marquee-worthy, whereas the theme itself seemed meager, like the puzzle was only grudgingly indulging in thematic convention. LUCHADORA (21D: Female in Mexican-style wrestling) and FULL DIVA (36D: Over-the-top dramatic) would be highlights in any grid, particularly a Friday or Saturday. They give the puzzle a lot of character and color, as do "AMSCRAY?" "SO ARE WE" "ET VOILA" (nice corner) and CRINGEY (57A: "Yikes"-worthy). So despite the fact that the theme was a literal afterthought for me, the solving experience was not bad. This was a debut for ONE-USE (47D: Disposable). Maybe "single-use" is more common (it certainly seems to be, based on some quick searching), but ONE-USE went right in for me. There's a decent amount of short fill today, but somehow the puzzle never felt gunky. It did feel a little choppy, perhaps, and I definitely missed the long Acrosses (which are a typical feature of most themed crosswords). Obviously the long Acrosses were *there*, technically. Just invisible. To me. Hence my general "so what? / who cares?" response to the theme. But taken as a themeless grid, it wasn't bad.

Buncha mistakes today, none of them long-lasting, let alone fatal. SEVILE before SAVILE, LUCHADONA (?) before LUCHADORA (which, I realized as soon as I got it, was obviously the word I was aiming for), GETS MAD before GETS HOT (33A: Sees red), ACER before ASUS (56D: Laptop brand), RIGA (!?!?) before VEGA (35D: Second star ever photographed, after the sun). Is RIGA a star? No, that's the capital of Latvia. Maybe I'm thinking of Rigel? Yes, that's it (Rigel = "a blue supergiant star in the CONSTELLATION of Orion" (wikipedia)). My astronomical knowledge is really getting taxed today. I think that's it for mistakes. Oh, I definitely considered KATYDID (!!?!!) for 41A: Insect named for the Virgin Mary (LADYBUG). I was like "people called her Katy? how did they get from Mary to Katy? also, seems pretty ... familiar." Seemed pretty funny to call the Virgin Mary KATYDID, since Mary famously ... you know ... didn't. They don't call her Virgin Mary for nothing! Anyway, had no idea LADYBUGs were named for her, so that's ... an interesting bit of trivia I'll probably forget.

Round-up:

• 38A: 2013 film that presaged ChatGPT (HER) — if you could kindly never put "ChatGPT" anywhere in my puzzle ever again, that would be greatly appreciated. I can see that A.I. is going to be a ubiquitous feature of human life for the rest of my life, much to the detriment of everyone and everything*, but you know, you're not required to embrace / celebrate / namecheck the companies that purvey it. (Not yet, anyway—who knows what the government will require of us in the future; at this point, any indignity seems possible)
• 55A: Stage props? (HAND) — tough clue, as it's metaphorical on both ends. "Props" here is "approbation" and HAND is "applause." You give someone a "stage" performer "props" by giving them a HAND.
• 2D: Anarchist Sacco (NICOLA) — this refers to the notorious Sacco & Vanzetti case. They were anarchists convicted of murder and eventually executed despite worldwide uproar at the apparent unfairness of their conviction (which involved anti-Italian / anti-immigrant bias, conflicting ballistics evidence, recanted testimony, etc.). I know very well who Sacco & Vanzetti are. And yet, in typical-me fashion, I misread the clue as "Artist Sacco" and was like "how the hell should I know?"

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*blah blah exceptions for specialized uses blah blah  

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