Race of mythical beings, in fantasy fiction / MON 5-19-25 / Alternative to Ax or Brut / Woodwind in a jazz band / Pilkey, author/illustrator who created Captain Underpants / Discontinued Apple program for organizing images / Cohort that grew up with the internet

Constructor: Kiran Pandey

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)

THEME: "OH GEEZ!" (69A: "Yikes!" ... or, phonetically, a hint to 17-, 28-, 46- and 61-Across) — two-word phrases where the first word starts with "O" and the second with "G" (so all the themers are "OGs":

Theme answers:

• OLIVE GARDEN (17A: Casual dining chain with unlimited breadsticks)
• OLYMPIC GAMES (28A: Event whose symbol is five interlocking rings)
• OPERA GLASSES (46A: Theater binoculars)
• ORANGE GROVE (61A: Starting point for Tropicana or Florida's Natural juice)

Word of the Day: D'Angelo (38A: Musical genre for D'Angelo and Erykah Badu => NEO-SOUL) —

Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (/diˈændʒəloʊ/), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" for R&B supergroup Black Men United. His debut studio album, Brown Sugar (1995), was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and received widespread acclaim from music critics, who have credited the album for ushering in the neo soul movement. His third single, "Lady", reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.

D'Angelo would then collaborate with artists such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and then-girlfriend Angie Stone. His next album, Voodoo (2000), debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 and continued to receive critical acclaim. The album's lead single "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", earned him the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance; likewise, Voodoo won Best R&B Album. Following this period, D'Angelo became increasingly uncomfortable with his growing status as a sex symbol. This was followed by numerous personal struggles, including alcoholism, which resulted in limited musical output for several years.

After over a decade spent mostly out of the public eye, he then released his third studio album, Black Messiah, in 2014. The album was met with critical acclaim and peaked at number five on the US Billboard 200. The same year, D'Angelo was hailed as the next Marvin Gaye by GQ. D'Angelo also contributed to the soundtrack for the 2018 video game Red Dead Redemption 2, performing the song "Unshaken". (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle provides a good example of the value of Downs-only solving. Solved normally, I think I might've found this a little simplistic. The revealer's fine, clever even, but the theme answers themselves are no great shakes, and there are at least a small handful of weak short answers that would've irked me more, I think, if I'd encountered them at speed. DAV and FAE are just bad, IMO. They have no place in any grid that isn't taxed considerably by the theme (or by beautiful longer fill, in a themeless). On a Monday, with a relatively straightforward theme, no, they should not be here. All the petty little things about the puzzle would've stood out more, or I'd've noticed them more, because there wasn't enough stuff to occupy my attention otherwise. But solving Downs-only ... now I'm on an adventure. Yes, FAE and DAV still grate, but I've got bigger fish to fry, as I try to wrangle the longer Down answers (which end up being some of the best fill the grid has to offer). I enjoyed the struggle to get CUSTOM FIT (which is a good answer). I enjoyed trying to remember deodorants and not being able to use Across clues to help me out—gave me longer to scroll through products, commercials, etc. as I eventually inferred a handful of Acrosses and then had OLD SPICE jump out at me (I was thinking of those weird half-man / half-horse commercials, so when I figured out the answer, I had a genuine "yes! that's what I was thinking of!" moment. I enjoyed being baffled by what "woodwind" in a jazz orchestra could possible have seven letters and an "L" in its second position. I could think of only three plausible woodwinds in a jazz orchestra, and none of them fit the profile. I forgot to reckon with the different saxophone *types*. ALTO! That's what that pesky "L" was doing there. These are the miniature battles, fought and won, that make Downs-only solving much more interesting than regular solving on a Monday. This puzzle seems like a decent, average Monday, but I had an above-average experience because the way it played Downs-only was genuinely entertaining (and because, unlike a regularly-solved Monday, it actually required a bit of effort on my part).

[Some good ALTO SAX in here (25D: Woodwind in a jazz band)]

Another feature of Downs-only solving is that innocuous-seeming words can turn suddenly perilous. Is it EACH ... or APOP!?  (31D: Per person). When you can't just look at the Across clues, the dilemma ... dilemmas even harder. See also PEEP v. WORD (34D: "Not another ___ out of you!"). Or what I thought was a BUTT v. REAR situation that turned out to be a third option: TUSH! (41D: Patootie). Then there was the puzzlingly non-"S" plural FEET (9D: Poetical units). I teach poetry—whole lessons on FEET!—and I still had to think a bit to come up with that one. CUSTOM FIT was probably the toughest hurdle of the day, as I ultimately had to accede, however reluctantly, to the near-certainty that FAE was going to be an actual answer in this puzzle. Had the CUSTOM part and wanted FIT but rejected it because, well, FAE, come on ... but then had to accept it once the "-IT" part became undeniable. So many little obstacles to overcome, but in the end, they were all overcomeable. Felt good. The puzzle ended on a slightly sour note, as I think I say "AW GEEZ," not "OH GEEZ," but the latter seems perfectly reasonable, so it didn't undermine my overall good vibes too much.

Assorted observations:

• 4D: ___ Pilkey, author/illustrator who created Captain Underpants (DAV) — I know that series is tremendously, generationally popular but for whatever reason this guy's name just didn't break through. My wife after solving this puzzle: "Am I supposed to know who wrote Captain Underpants?" Me: "I know, right?" We both just took an educated guess at his name, based on the crosses. The "D" in his name (crossing SPA DAY) was the last of his name letters for both of us.
• 33A: Discontinued Apple program for organizing images (iPHOTO) — the fewer the discontinued commercial products, the better. The less shilling for Apple, the better. The only reason I have any kind of affection for iPHOTO today is that it helped me pull off the PEEP / WORD differentiation at 34D: "Not another ___ out of you!" ("PEEP").
• 37A: Race of mythical beings, in fantasy fiction (FAE) — the last time this term appeared was three years ago, when Erik Agard clued it as [Neopronoun with a nod to folklore] (in a Friday puzzle). Before that, the last time it appeared was ... when I was two months old. That's right, January, 1970—when FAE was clued as [From: Scot.]. And before that ... there was no before that. You now know the clues for all three lifetime FAE appearances. For perspective, GAE has appeared thirty-three times, and ... "What the hell is GAE?" you rightly ask (allegedly, Scots for "go"). If we're bringing FAE back, then I think "Neopronoun" is the only reasonable way to go, 'cause if FAE were viable as "fairyworld," believe me, people would've used it, and clued it that way, more than Zero Times.
• 59D: Cohort that grew up with the internet (GEN Z) — starting to get exhausted by all generational labeling and assumptions. There are too many generations now. As a member of Gen X, I apologize. Yes, Baby Boomers came before, but that was a meaningful demographic because ... well, it's in the name. The babies, they boomed. Gen X was just like "kids are different now, let's divide people up." And so on. And so on. And so on. And now those gen divisions are all being defined by tech usage / access. They're arbitrary moments in time. Used to sell stuff and divide people from one another ... usually in order to sell stuff. I know I'm yelling into the wind here (or at a cloud, if you prefer), but I would love the "Gen" crap to all expire, asap. 
• 39D: Film incorrectly announced as Best Picture before "Moonlight" (LA LA LAND) — I enjoyed remembering this fantastic moment of television.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]