First-rate, in slang / FRI 5-9-25 / Superboy's crush / Roughly 62% of its claimed territory is in Antarctica / Pioneer in computer science who has a college at Yale named after her / What might be caught Red-handed? / Genre heard at many raves, for short / One-named singer in the 2023 hit "Prada"

Constructor: Willa Angel Chen Miller and Erik Agard

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: GRACE HOPPER (11D: Pioneer in computer science who has a college at Yale named after her) —

Grace Brewster Hopper (née Murray; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. She was a pioneer of computer programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC programming language and COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. She was also one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I computer. She is credited with writing the first computer manual, "A Manual of Operation for the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator." [...] Hopper began her computing career in 1944 as a member of the Harvard Mark I team, led by Howard H. Aiken. In 1949, she joined the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation and was part of the team that developed the UNIVAC I computer. At Eckert–Mauchly she managed the development of one of the first COBOL compilers. // She believed that programming should be simplified with an English-based computer programming language. Her compiler converted English terms into machine code understood by computers. [...]  In 1959, she participated in the CODASYL consortium, helping to create a machine-independent programming language called COBOL, which was based on English words. Hopper promoted the use of the language throughout the 60s. [...] During her lifetime, Hopper was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world. A college at Yale University was renamed in her honor. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Technology. On November 22, 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. (wikipedia)

• • •

[23D: Emotionally complex, in a way]

Well, I won the proper noun battle today. It was pretty close to a draw, with some names being gimmes and some drawing blanks, but I managed to push through and finish this one in fairly regular Friday time. If Erik's name is on the byline, I know the grid will be very well polished. I also know there will be names coming that I will not know. Probably. And in fact, today, there were two—that's not so bad. Pretty normal, actually. GRACE HOPPER was the (literally) big mystery to me. Had to infer both parts of her name, though after I got GRACE and the "H," I really did want HOPPER, so I must've heard of her before. I think I saw RAYE sing something the other day while I was scrolling through god-knows-what app—oh yeah, here it is: "RAYE's orchestra reacting to her big finish." I seem to have missed her, and "Prada." I know a singer named RHYE, but not RAYE, so her name, two doors down from GRACE HOPPER, clogged things up slightly for me in the mideast. 

But I knew DRU Hill (I'm the right age) and moreover I knew LUIS Robert, Jr., who I'm guessing was unknown to virtually everyone who isn't a fairly serious baseball fan and/or a Chicagoan. Lots of people win Gold Gloves, every year, and most of those names are not exactly what you'd call "crossworthy." Matt OLSON? Matt CHAPMAN? Nick AHMED? Anyone? Again, active baseball fans yes, regular-ass people, probably not. But LUIS Robert is very large and very good at baseball, and since he's a Chicago White Sock, he's in the same division as my Tigers. So I'm familiar. Speaking of big-time Chicagoans, congrats to the new pope. Look for LEO XIV to be coming to a grid near you very soon (or never ... though I expect he'll at least be a clue for LEO in the near future). One more [LEO + Roman numeral] for the crossword pope pantheon!

Beyond names, though, this one is really tight and clean and entertaining, and actually strays very little from familiar names, terminology, and colloquial expressions. Very talky, this one. There's a mini drama about a driver whose car has broken down and who desperately needs assistance to get to the DRU Hill concert on time. He shouts at the passing cars, "DON'T YOU SEE!? I NEED A RIDE! HAVE A HEART!" In a grim version of this story, it would become a CRIME DRAMA, as the stranded motorist eventually does get picked up (on a foggy SEASIDE), but then is never seen or heard from again. His family fears the worst, but they hire Sam SPADE, who eventually discovers the missing man—he's using a completely different identity, living in CHILE with his dog, PILAF, and working as part of CHILE's Antarctic Oversight Team. But why? Tune in next season.

[52D: ___ flakes (fruity Chinese snack)]

I had AT ALL TIMES before AT ALL HOURS, but when none of the TIMES crosses worked, I made the change to HOURS fairly quickly. I ran into a funny double-mistake in the NE when I thought the RAJA was a RANI and, therefore, thought the CANIS MAJOR was a CANIS MINOR. So much depends on an "N." Anyway, CAKE got me out of it. CAKE is reliable that way. Mmm, CAKE.

Further commentary, in bullet-point form:

• 5A: Impossible to contact by ordinary means (OFF THE GRID) — this reminded me that I once had a crossword podcast with my dear friend Lena, back in 2016-17, called "ON THE GRID." It only lasted four episodes, but they were so fun to make. Every episode had a drinking segment, where we'd literally drink, and discuss, some alcoholic beverage that makes frequent appearances in the grid (MOET, ASTI, etc.). My favorite drinking segment by far was the SLOE Gin Fizz one. It all went so beautifully wrong. Good, silly, pre-pandemic times. Oh, and hey—the first guest we had on the show: today's co-constructor, Erik Agard! I'd forgotten that. Wow, life is ... long.
• 22D: What might be caught Red-handed? (FLY BALL) — because the Cincinnati Reds are a Major League baseball club and one of their players might do the catching of said ball.
• 36A: Fine-textured wood used in musical instruments (PEAR) — did not know PEAR. Did know EYRE. No error on EYRE did I make. No error on PEAR either. Just terror. (exaggerating for the rhyme)
• 10D: Genre heard at many raves, for short (EDM) — Electronic Dance Music. I know the term well, but my brain rendered it as EMD, which is a kind of mash-up of OMD (one musical group) and EMF (another). Whether and how the KLF factor in here, I simply don't have time to explore.

• 33D: This, too, shall pass (PHASE) — simple clue, but somehow hard to solve. Me: "... legislation? ... kidney stone? ..."
• 46D: Superboy's crush (LANA) — it's at least somewhat confusing that the original Superboy was just a teenage Superman, but then later there was another Superboy, separate from Superman, who was in fact a partial (?) clone of Superman. Anyway, I watched Smallville for a bit, back in the day, and LANA was all over that show.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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