Counterpart of a dog lover / MON 6-30-25 / A milk drinker may have one / "I'm done with you!" / Crescent moon, for instance / Exchange of negative commercials / Ancient city fooled by a horse

Constructor: Dena R. Verkuil and Andrea Carla Michaels

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (with one real stumper, for me, solving Downs-only)

THEME: "YOU TALKIN' TO ME?" (36A: Classic Robert De Niro line in "Taxi Driver" ... or a hint for 17-, 25-, 51- and 61-Across) — exclamations that end with a person's name:

Theme answers:

• "GEEZ, LOUISE!" (17A: "My heavens!")
• "WHOA, NELLY!" (25A: "Hold it right there!")
• "NO WAY, JOSE!" (51A: "Absolutely, positively not!")
• "BYE, FELICIA!" (61A: "I'm done with you!")

Word of the Day: "BYE, FELICIA!" (61A) —

In American English, the phrase "Bye, Felicia" or "Bye, Felisha" is an informal phrase and internet meme intended as a dismissive send-off, wherein a person or idea is rendered so unimportant his or her name is reduced to "Felicia." According to Ice Cube, who starred in Friday and co-wrote its script, "'Bye, Felicia' [...] is the phrase to get anyone out [of] your face that's saying something stupid". Nicole Richie said "Felicia is, like, some random that you just do not even care about." // The phrase originally comes from a scene in the 1995 American comedy film Friday in which Ice Cube's character says "Bye, Felisha" to dismiss Angela Means' character, Felisha. Due to the phrase being spread orally, it was incorrectly recorded as "Bye Felicia", now the most popular variation. // In an interview with Vibe magazine to commemorate the film's 20th anniversary, Means said she believes the phrase wasn't in the script and Ice Cube ad-libbed the line "based off what I gave him as an actor." (wikipedia)

• • •

Gonna go out on a limb and predict that a lot of solvers (particularly older solvers) will not be familiar with the dismissive expression, "BYE, FELICIA!" It's very common, but there's gonna be a generational dividing line with that one for sure. I never saw Friday (1995) and never heard the expression "BYE, FELICIA!" until many years (decades?) later. It might even have been in a crossword context that I first heard it. Let me check ... no, I've never written about it on this blog, so it must've been while solving some other crossword. Annnnnyway, by the time I got down to that answer, I understood the basic structure of the theme, so I was looking for a name at the end of that answer, and once I got the "-ICIA" part, I had it. Definitely the newest and least broadly known of today's theme answers, but that doesn't make it invalid. I think it's a nice way to end this themer set ("BYE!"). As for the theme itself, it's very good: tight, clean, and with just the right kind of playfulness for a Monday. The revealer's relationship to the themers is perhaps a little loose—you have to imagine someone named Louise or Nelly or Jose or Felicia saying it—but it's such a good line, such an iconic line, that I don't mind the looseness. At all. In fact, I kinda like imagining the (unlikely) scenario of someone with one of those names wondering out loud if they're being addressed directly. Actually, people with those names probably get self-styled "funny" people using those expressions in their presence all the time. Is this true? Let me know, all you Louises and Nellys and Joses and Felicias out there.

The fill today definitely runs a little toward the stale / olden / crosswordesey. I don't need to list it all out, you can see it for yourself, pretty plainly. Just in case you can't, here's an abbreviated list: SRI ESTE NENE AYE SSN ÊTRE ERIES TKOS etc. etc. But you do get four solid long Downs, at least one of which (CAT PERSON) feels pretty fresh and original (10D: Counterpart of a dog lover). And the clue on MUSTACHE is unexpected and clever (39D: A milk drinker may have one). I got it off the "M," so it wasn't hard, but I did enjoy it. I have to wonder about the clue on ESSAYS, though (13D: Pieces of 1,000 words or so). Out of what orifice did they pull the number "1,000?" That seems ... totally arbitrary. Did A.I. write that clue? Nope, even A.I. (i.e. Google Assist, that annoying top search return that you have to scroll past if you want to find truly reliable information) is telling me that the number of words in an essay varies wildly depending on context.

["May contain inaccuracies" LOL I'm sure that will hold up well in court]

ESSAYS can be virtually any length. 1,000 words is ridiculous. "Or so" doing a lot of work in that clue. Can't believe someone, somewhere in the puzzle-making process couldn't have written a better clue for that one. 

Solving Downs-only, there were two answers that were very tough for me. The first was ALKALI (11D: Base that dissolves in water). I wasn't exactly sure how "Base" was being used in the clue, but even if I had known it was "Base" as in "counterpart of acid on the pH scale," I probably still would've needed to run the alphabet of possibilities at T-OS (as I did) to get the "K," which got me to ALKALI. But the real toughie for me today was an innocuous-seeming four-letter answer near the heart of the grid: FLAK (29D: Carping). I had the "A" and that's it. I couldn't make anything out of [Carping], esp. considering the answer couldn't end in "-ING" (as it wouldn't fit). I was thinking of adjectives meaning "complaining," such as you might use to describe a complaining person. Maybe ... something like "SORE" or "CRABBY" or "WHINY" or I don't know what. It was very tough to infer any of the missing letters from their crosses. Lots of possibilities for S-O, -OS, and AR-. I ran the alphabet for S-O and still got nowhere. It was only when I reran the alphabet that I realized I'd missed SFO as a possibility. Thought about potential F-A- words for many seconds before FLAK finally dawned on me. You catch FLAK or you give FLAK, and while "carping" is a plausible synonym, it's not one that trades places easily with FLAK (not in the ways that I would use FLAK). I'm not impugning the clue, just trying to explain couldn't easily make the connection. Downs-only solves can get perilous quickly, and in the strangest ways...

Bullets:

• 24D: "___ camoly!" ("HOLY") — what ... is this? I've heard of "holy moly!" and possibly the jokey "holy cannoli!" (?), but "camoly?" What the hell is "camoly" even supposed to be doing? What sound is that? Is there a pun? Why would anyone add a "ca-" to the perfectly good "holy moly!"? "HOLY CAMOLY!" would've made a good theme answer if anyone on god's green earth had ever been named Camoly. Any Camolys out there? Calling all Camolys! Help me, Obi-Wan Camoly, you're my only hope!
• 58A: Murmur during a massage ("AHH") — Is "AHH" a "murmur"? Especially in this context? I know we all love alliterative clues, but ... how to say this ... I've been seeing my massage therapist for the better part of a decade now so she's heard me make any number of sounds, but never "AHH" (that's more a "slipping into a warm bath" sound). Maybe some of my noises qualify as "murmurs," but most of them are guttural sounds indicating "&#^$% that part of me is apparently really *#&$^ing tense, thank you for figuring that out." Most of these sounds are unspellable. 
• 32D: Buyer's protection (GUARANTEE) — I tried to make WARRANTY fit here. It would not.

Glad to be back on blogging duty full time now. I had a great week on Lake Ontario with my best friends. Much needed catching up / hanging out / eating / drinking / movie-watching time. We did jigsaws:

[Puzzles of 1,000 pieces, exactly]

And went birding:

[weird red-faced chicken/duck called a "gallinule" (this is not the actual gallinule we saw)]

[at Montezuma National Wildlife Preserve]

[didn't see one of these, but now want this exact drawing tattooed on my body somewhere. If I were a bird, this is what I would look like. This is the energy I would bring. All park illustrations should be done by schoolchildren]

And on the last day we went to the Eastman House mansion and museum in Rochester, NY, where I took a selfie with a very unexpected statue of Philip Seymour Hoffman (!?)

Thanks to Eli and Mali and Clare and Rafa for filling in. You'll be seeing more from them later in the summer (I go away to MN for a weekend in mid-July to see my daughter—currently Production Manager at the Great River Shakespeare Festival—and in August I've got a full week in Santa Barbara with my extended family, followed immediately by the Lollapuzzoola xword tourney in NYC). I enjoyed sleeping in, even if my body did keep waking up very early like "Time to Blog!" I've trained it well. Luckily, it let me fall back asleep, at least a little. I'm writing this on Sunday evening, but it's back to 4am wake-up calls for me starting Tuesday. Can't wait (no, srsly). I'll leave you with two last pictures of Lake Ontario, taken from the back yard of the place where we were staying ... 

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Famed actress who portrayed Queen Christina in 1933's "Queen Christina" / SUN 6-29-26 / ___ fresca (refreshing Latin American beverage) / "Mighty" Mudville batter / "Runaway Bride" actress Wilson

Constructor: Mike Hobin

Relative difficulty: Pretty Easy

THEME: All-In-Clue-sive — The theme answers contain circled letters, and are all clued as "Apt clue for the circled letters". The answers serve as clues for the circled letters.

Word of the Day: CHER (65D: Entertainer who doesn't sound very selfish) —nothing stood out as unknown to me, so I'm highlighting an icon for my mom, who has loved Cher her entire life. 

Cher^[b] (/ʃɛər/ ^ⓘ SHAIR; born Cheryl Sarkisian,^[a] May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Goddess of Pop", she is known for her androgynous contralto voice, bold visual presentation and multifaceted career, while cultivating a screen persona that mirrors her public image by often portraying strong-willed and outspoken women. An influential figure in popular culture, her continual reinvention has fueled multiple comebacks over a career spanning more than six decades.

• • •

Welcome back to another Eli Weekend Day! Sunday solving on the phone is always an adventure, because the size of the grid means I almost always have a typo at the end, and finding it is much harder than usual. But even with that and my bandaged thumb, I finished under 10 minutes, so I'm calling this one easy. It's a theme that feels familiar, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Let's see what we're working with here. 

Theme answers:

Since these are all clued the same way, I'm going to write out the answers and the corresponding word from the circled letters.

• 22A: TOP RANKING ROYAL (KING)
• 29A: TOLKIEN TREE CREATURE (ENT)
• 46A: NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN (OFTEN)
• 63A: PACIFIST'S RENOUNCEMENT (FISTS)
• 84A: OUR HOME NEAR THE SUN (EARTH)
• 99A: CAST A REALLY LONG LOOK (STARE)
• 110A: MOUSE ERADICATOR (CAT)

So, I have some nits to pick. From a consistency perspective, I would have liked to see the circled letters span multiple words consistently (or be contained within a single word consistently, though that's admittedly less impressive), but I get that that would be incredibly difficult. I do appreciate that the "answer" words always change the meaning from the circled letters. But the wording of some of these answers really strains credulity. Crossword cluing is something of a wild west, but even as an amateur, I can't imagine an editor letting some of these fly. 22A is odd wording, but not really a problem. I think 29A works well, and might be my favorite of the bunch (I do love an Entmoot).

46A is solid, if a little bland. The trouble for me is really the next three. 63A is really straining the pairing. Do pacifists renounce fists, like, in general? Do pacifisit bros not fist bump? For 84A, having to describe our location as "near the sun" is a strain. There's two rocks closer (at least that's what 90s sitcoms led me to believe). And the word "really" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in 99A, which makes it feel less satisfying. 110A is kind of ridiculous, but in a fun way. I like picturing a cat death metal band called Mouse Eradicator. So, I guess the theme is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Solid, clean, occasionally fun, but it doesn't all hold up to scrutiny. But who besides me is really scrutinizing?

Outkast (106A) intermission!

The fill didn't stand out to me too much, but that also means it didn't irk me too much. Sometimes that's all you can ask for. Most of the short stuff felt fine. I'll call out KEN (8D: "I'll take 'Crossword Clues' for $2,000, please, ____!") for the purely selfish reason that I auditioned for Jeopardy a couple of weeks ago. It's my 5th or 6th time through the audition process, so I'm not getting too excited yet, but maybe some good crossword blog energy will help.

Jennings, you magnificent bastard. I read your book! (I'm not associating Ken with Rommel in any way, I just thought the quote would be fun).

As you can see from that picture, I also can relate to 14A: Unlocked (BALD). The only 2 answers I marked as "Boo" in my notes are MADE PAR (47D: Did as expected on the links) and UNSHUT (104A: Ajar, say). Made Par is probably fine, I just hear "shot par" way more frequently. And I have a bit of a golf aversion these days, but that's a me problem. Unshut just feels off. I also noticed that the clue for APE (45A: Goon) is duped in the clue for EGAN (70D: Jennifer who wrote "A Visit From the Goon Squad"). I'm not the most anti-dupe advocate in Crossworld, but there's a million ways to clue "Ape" and this could have been avoided.  

On a Sunday, I feel like this was all acceptable. Not necessarily ideal, but acceptable. I guess you could say the puzzle "made par." Nope, still don't like it. The puzzle shot par.

Stray Thoughts and Simpsons GIFs:

• 113D: Pi follower (RHO)  — When I was memorizing the Greek alphabet, this pairing was always "pyro" in my head. And since I was a nerd growing up in the 90s, I would picture this:

• 58A: Corp. worker concerned with employee development (HR REP) — This has not always been my experience in corporate America. Many HR departments seem far more concerned with protecting the company & CEO at all costs.
• 70D: Jennifer who wrote "A Visit From the Goon Squad" (EGAN) — Our previous dog Maeve would go through phases of wildly excited behavior that we called "goonies." That eventually evolved into saying we were getting a visit from the Goon Squad. I'm looking forward to what inside jokes will evolve with Huckleberry (see yesterday's post).
• 103D: Video game brother (LUIGI) - Someone posted this GIF on my timeline once, and now it forever peers into my soul:

• 100D: Patty or Selma, to Bart and Lisa (AUNT) — The puzzle decided to do my job for me today.

That's all from me for now. Enjoy your Sunday!

Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

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Depictions of Arcadia / SAT 6-28-25 / State for "The Shawshank Redemption" / Wedding presider of Greek mythology / Hungarian has 18 of them (yikes!)

Constructor: Jesse Guzman

Relative difficulty: Pretty Easy, I think? (I sliced my thumb cooking dinner two nights ago, and thanks to the bandage, I'm basically solving one-handed on my phone)

THEME: NONE

Word of the Day: ANGELICA (45A:Sweet wine of California) —

Angelica wine is a historic sweet fortified wine usually from California made typically from the Mission grape.^[1] It is often served as a dessert wine.

Some varieties consist of the unfermented grape juice fortified with brandy or clear spirit immediately after pressing. Others are made like port, where the only partially fermented wine, still retaining a large amount of sugar, is infused with brandy. The relatively high alcohol of the brandy arrests the fermentation, leaving a fortified wine high in alcohol and high in residual sugar (usually about 10 to 15%). It is typically made from 50% Mission wine and 50% Mission brandy.^[2]

Angelica dates to the Mission period in California and its name is thought to be taken from the city of Los Angeles.^[3] It was produced by the Franciscan missionaries and is one of the first wines made in the state. Several California producers continue to produce Mission-based Angelica.

The wine is sometimes made in a simple style and is inexpensive. Some is made with great care from ancient vines and can be quite expensive. Bottles of Angelica as old as 1870 can still be found and show great distinction.

• • •

Hey everyone, it's Eli filling in for the next couple of days. You'll have to excuse me if I'm a little distracted today, since my wife and I adopted this 130 pound sweetheart today:

Meet Huckleberry!

But enough about me, on to the puzzle!

This played fast and pretty fun for me. I'm still learning to construct, but this seems like a pretty small word count. Nothing held me up too much, and I'm not seeing much I wasn't familiar with. I imagine solvers of the pre-Nintendo era may have trouble with the mini theme between BOWSER (1A: Fire-breathing antagonist of Mario in the Mario universe) and KOOPA TROOPA (16D: Turtle-shelled flunky of 1-Across), but anyone my age or younger probably dropped those in without thinking. My head also went Nintendo on OCARINA (2D: Light Winds) thanks to Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

The only thing that stood out to me as unknown, was ANGELICA (45A: Sweet wine of California). I live in California, I enjoy wine, and in fact I live in the city that is apparently the namesake of this wine. But I can confidently say I've never heard of it. I've almost certainly never had it. In this house, we only recognize one Angelica:

The crossing triple stacks are impressive. Of the acrosses, SANTA TRACKER (26A: Deer stalking aid?) is probably my favorite, even though it took me waaaaayyyyyy too long to realize the clue was referring to reindeer. SEALED THE DEAL (29A: Shook hands, say) went in instantly without any crosses and CAMERA LENSES (32A: They focus on subjects of interest) bores me a bit for some reason. On the downs, surrounding KOOPA TROOPA with DAISY CHAINS (14D: Midsummer head decorations) and TOUR DE FORCE (18D: Receiver of a four-star review) worked amazingly well. That's not the first definition of DAISY CHAIN I think of, and TOUR DE FORCE made me excited for the Tour de France (which starts next week), but both of those things just made it feel fresh for me.

31-Down

Other Thoughts:

• 16A: Shot (KABLOOEY) — My first thought was Don Martin from MAD, but I couldn't find any images that actually used the word "kablooey." You can see where I would assume one would exist, though:

• 13A: Colorful treat on a stick (ICE POP) — Is an ice pop always colorful? Isn't ice just... clear? Popsicles are colorful, sure, but even a lemon ice pop can be a tepid yellow. Maybe this is just a regionalism.
• 7A: Exercise with Yang and Wu styles (TAI CHI) — Bringing this up because I have a brand to keep.

I think that's all I've got for today. I didn't even call out KAREN Gillan (22D), but what is there to say except that I think she's great? Nice puzzle today; I had fun! 

I did have the pleasure last weekend to take part in the Westwords tournament in Berkeley, and as is always the case at crosswords events, I spent a lot of time hanging out with absolutely fantastic people in addition to solving some amazing puzzles. It was an absolute blast, and I encourage everyone to go to a tournament, no matter what your solving level. I'll see you all back here tomorrow!

Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

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It's not observed in Hawaii: Abbr. / FRI 6-27-25 / Scientist whose "number" is a dimensionless ratio / Half of a Jungian syzygy

Constructor: Carolyn Davies Lynch

Relative difficulty: Very, very easy (9:05)

THEME: Themeless

Word of the Day: Automated external defibrillator (EMTS, clued as [Many A.E.D. users]) —

An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia, and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electricity which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.

• • •

Hi friends! It's Malaika here for an off-schedule Malaika MWednesday. When I construct puzzles (which I do far more often than I solve, nowadays) I typically am making easy themeless puzzles. So I am always interested to see how other constructors approach their easy themeless puzzles.

The first thing I noticed about this puzzle is the shape. A "stagger stack" (aka those three central answers, arranged using stair-step shapes of black squares along the edge) is probably my second favorite layout for a themeless puzzle, and I've used one very similar to this many times before. (Although, not for any of my NYT puzzles, I'm now realizing.)

Jason Derulo has fallen down the stair-step shapes on Carolyn Davies Lynch's crossword puzzle

The second thing I noticed was how incredibly easy this puzzle was. As I said, I enjoy easy puzzles, but this one was too easy for me. I was finished with three-quarters of the puzzle in five minutes. And I would consider myself a proficient, but not speedy solver!! A puzzle outlet called Puzzmo keeps track of the way you solve their puzzles (like, the order in which you filled in the letters) so it can give you stats about your performance. (Side note: Is this a fun cute thing or is this creepily reminiscent of our surveillance state perhaps logging our every keystroke? I think it's the former.) They have one stat that they call "plonks," referring to you correctly filling in every letter of an entry without a single cross. To me, a "plonk" has the feeling of answering a question on Jeopardy.... or even taking a test. You aren't "puzzling" anything out, you're just filling in the trivia. "Plonking" in a long answer when the clue has some esoterica or tough wordplay can feel really satisfying, but doing so with ten answers in a row is a little dull.

I am super duper curious to see how the difficulty played for you guys! Taking a step back, there are definitely wordplay clues in here, like [One making the first move?] for PAWN and [Places to bear witness?] for ZOOS (that one was fantastic) and [Mass reply?] for AMEN, but the question marks made these easy for me. I actually think all three of these could have done without the question mark, and given the puzzle a little more tension.

And, in case it was not clear, I thought the long fill on this was fantastic. A puzzle cannot be easy unless the majority of the entries are recognizable terms, and that can be tough! SO THERE WE WERE might have been the winner for me. Sometimes conversational terms in puzzles can feel a tiny bit off, but this one is a phrase that I use and have heard, word-for-word, all the time. Also going to call out TEAM SPIRIT, SI SE PUEDE, FANTASY NOVELS, MICRO MANAGERS, SUCH IS LIFE, POP UP STORES, SPOON REST, and MONGOOSE as my favorite long fill. Sheesh that is so much!! Actually kind of mindboggling.

The opening scene of Casino Royale features a mongoose fighting a snake and because I watched that movie when I was way too young, that image it will be burned into my brain forever

The short fill sometimes gave me pause (meaning, a couple seconds of slow down) particularly ASUS (I had "Acer" for soooo long... They are also Taiwanese!!!) and the crossing of EMTS / ANIMA. But the rest of it was super smooth.

Bullets:

• [Language mutually intelligible with Hindi] for URDU — I didn't know this! My grandparents speak and understand both Hindi and Punjabi, but I didn't know that Urdu was so similar as well. I wish English had a mutually intelligible language.
• [Rooibos, by another name] for RED TEA — One of my coworkers taught me that what we call "black tea" in English is known as red tea in Chinese. (The leaves are black, but it is reddish when brewed.) But then in English, we separately have a red tea category for rooibos.
• [Feature of many a deluxe Swiss Army knife] for SAW — How big is the deluxe knife that it can fit a whole-ass saw in there????

xoxo Malaika

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Boat with broad, square ends / THU 6-26-25 / Accessory for Broadway's Phantom / Atmospheric prefix / Brillo competitor / Baby fish with pink, coho and sockeye varieties / First Holy Roman emperor to be called "the Great" / Bygone jeans brand whose name means "happiness" in Hebrew / Bell for the telephone, for one / Eponymous Belgian town / Cocktail of tequila, lime juice and grapefruit soda / Potato, in Indian cuisine

Constructor: Simeon Seigel

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: ___ OR ___ — theme answers are familiar phrases where the first word follows the pattern _OR_; you must read the "OR" as a separate word in order to understand the pair of words in the theme clues:

Theme answers:

• HORN BLOWER (19A: Hurricane / Nor'easter) (word starting with "H" or "N" that means "blower")
• SORE SPOTS (10D: Sees / Espies) (word starting with "S" or "E" that means "spots")
• PORT AUTHORITY (Pundit / Tsar) (word starting with "P" or "T" that means "authority")
• CORD CUTTER (52A: Cleaver / Dagger) (word starting with "C" or "D" that means "cutter")
• WORM HOLES (33D: Wells / Mouths) (word starting with "W" or "M" that means "holes")

Word of the Day: OTS (34D: Certain rehab docs) —

Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use scientific bases and a holistic perspective to promote a person's ability to fulfill their daily routines and roles. OTs have training in the physical, psychological, and social aspects of human functioning deriving from an education grounded in anatomical and physiological concepts, and psychological perspectives. They enable individuals across the lifespan by optimizing their abilities to perform activities that are meaningful to them ("occupations"). Human occupations include activities of daily living, work/vocation, play, education, leisure, rest and sleep, and social participation. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well that was hard, until I figured out the theme, and then it wasn't. And though the puzzle got easier after I got the theme, the fill did not, unfortunately, get better. This was full of wincing and ughing on my end, for sure. SAMLET? (7D: Baby fish with pink, coho and sockeye varieties). LOL, what in the world? The last time that word appeared in the NYXTX was, no joke, the literal day before I started this blog in 2006. If it's a word that's distinct from SALMON, why isn't "salmon" in the clue? Not that that would've helped ... except that it would've eliminated SALMON (also six letters) as a potential answer. SAMLET!? "Hmmm, what should I name my all-fish production of Shakespeare?" "Hmm. How 'bout Mackerelbeth?" "No, that's no good." "As You Pike It?" "Nah ... what else you got?" "Uh ... Tuna Gentlemen of Verona?" "No, that's silly! Keep thinking!" End scene. SAMLET? Craziness. Another thing I've never seen—OTS clued as "docs" (34D: Certain rehab docs). I had to look it up even to understand what the letters stood for. OTS has appeared many many times over the years, but only ever as an abbr. for "overtimes" (i.e. the periods in sports following regulation time, played only if there's a tie). No idea that BEANO was anything but an anti-gas product (1D: Original name for "bingo," after the bits used to cover the playing cards). No idea that SASSON was Hebrew for anything (7A: Bygone jeans brand whose name means "happiness" in Hebrew). I could've inferred what a PATENTEE is, but man that is one ugly word (and one I've never encountered before) (16A: Bell for the telephone, for one). The crosswordese was rampant today, from OTTOI (whose memory lives on solely because of crosswords), AER, AROAR, the dreaded ERIEPA (which I always want to pronounce as one word (air-ee-APE-ah!) but which is really just ERIE, PA). Then there's the awful, cutesy slang for the disease that killed over a million Americans between 2020 and 2023. Nevermind that I haven't heard anyone actually call it "'RONA" in years (53D: Covid-19, colloquially). Yuck and BOO to that clue.

[HORNBLOWER]

So there wasn't much that was amusing me in this one today. Everything is riding on the gimmick, and while I did have an "aha" moment, for sure, I can't say there was much joy, or awe, or pleasure, or anything that accompanied the "aha." I was just glad that I could (finally) see what was going on with the answers. Me: "well, those both blow, but ... what does 'horn' have to do with it?" I think I finally figured it out with "S" OR "E" SPOTS. "Sees" and "Espies" both mean "SPOTS" but ... how are they "sore?" How? How? Somehow, my brain managed to crack "SORE" into three parts: "S" OR "E." And that was that. My brain had a lot less success trying to parse OWEITTO (32D: Must give). It's an awful clue. Where is the "IT" coming from??? For that matter, where is the "TO" coming from? [Must give] = OWE. Good luck swapping out "OWE IT TO" for "Must give" in a sentence (without calling in lawyers and lexicographers, i.e. without seeming desperate). 

[Watson / Mabuse?]

I think you're supposed to admire how many theme answers there are, and how several of them actually intersect (not the easiest thing to pull off, structurally). I recognize the architectural achievement, sure, but it did nothing to increase my solving enjoyment levels, which remained pretty low throughout. There just wasn't enough cool fill, or enough wit or cleverness, to make this consistently entertaining. The main theme idea is cute, but it's not what you'd call funny. It's a little word trick that's tough to figure out, but once you do ... shrug. In the end, it was gimmicky without being delightful. Plus you had to endure awkward Latinness with DATUM and STERNA. There's no joy in that.

Bullets:

• 59A: They try to admit the worst first, informally (E.R. NURSES) — do the nurses do the admitting? Whatever, I'm going to assume that's true and say that I like this clue. The real meaning of "admit" is disguised nicely.
• 65A: Choice words ... which are necessary to interpret the answers to 19-, 36- and 52-Across and 10- and 33-Down) (ORS) — I'm only just noticing this (awkwardly worded and completely unnecessary) revealer now. "Which are necessary to interpret" does not begin to get at what is going on here. Something about the "ORS" being buried or hidden or something like that would've made more sense. If you're going to bother with a revealer, at least get the phrasing right.  
• 63A: Marquis name? (DE SADE) — sadism and COVID in the same corner, what a day!
• 13D: Music export from Tokyo, informally (J-POP) — short for "Japanese Pop Music," not to be confused with K-POP, Korean Pop Music (of which BTS is an example) (20D: Music export from Seoul)
• 38D: Love lines? (ODE) — "Lines" of poetry about something you "love." Poetry dressed up as palmistry. Nice.
• 39D: Dutch cousin of Mac or Ben (VAN) — as in, say, Martin VAN Buren (our mutton-choppiest president). I thought "VAN" meant "from," whereas "Mac" meant "son of?" But I guess using "cousin" in the clue gives you a lot of leeway in terms of how close the equivalency really is. I wrote in VON at first, but that's German, not Dutch.

[VAN!]

• 60D: Car that went defunct in 1936 (REO) — not to be confused with the GEO, which "went defunct" in 1997.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Opera with a baritone Iago / WED 6-25-2025 / Rite place at the rite time? / 2008 romantic drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow

Constructor: Ben Zimmer and Zach Sherwin

Relative difficulty: Hard (21:46)

THEME: CENTRAL AC — Eight answers in the grid (four across, four down) have their central two letters, AC, in their own box

Theme answers:

• [Historic agreement of 1215] for MAGNA CARTA
• [Expansive parcels] for TRACTS
• ["Dream a Little Dream of Me" singer of 1968, familiarly] for MAMA CASS
• [Healthful snack brand] for TERRA CHIPS
• [Onomatopoetic breakfast trio] for SNAP CRACKLE POP
• [Source of prophecy] for ORACLE
• [907, for a high one] for AREA CODE
• [Popular stocking stuffer?] for SANTA CLAUS

Word of the Day: TETRA (Flashy fish) —

The Characidae and their allies are distinguished from other fish by the presence of a small adipose fin between the dorsal and caudal fins. Many of these, such as the neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), are brightly colored and easy to keep in captivity. Consequently, they are extremely popular for home aquaria. [wiki]

• • •

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Malaika MWednesday!! (Although I am writing this at nighttime on Tuesday-- it's been a fantastic night in Brooklyn.) Zach Sherwin! He is a comedian / songwriter who does a show called "The Crossword Show" which I was lucky enough to contribute to back in 2023. I don't think I've ever solved one of his crosswords, but he has solved many of mine! So it's fun to have the tables a little bit turned.

Incredibly apt puzzle today, as NYC is getting obliterated by a heatwave. I have a very high tolerance for heat (+ live in a very dense, cool, pre-war building with high ceilings and a courtyard) and have resisted installing my AC unit for soooo long... but today (or rather, Tuesday) was the day that I cracked. 105 degrees is simply too hot to tough it out!! (So maybe the puzzle wasn't quite apt for me personally, as I have had CENTRAL AC for exactly two years out of the past twelve.)

Very interesting to see a rebus puzzle on a Wednesday! I think on Wednesdays, the rebus squares should have circles. But I also think that generally every puzzle should be slightly easier than how it was published, so maybe ignore me. This played hard for me in terms of cluing though! I finished three-quarters of this puzzle in about ten minutes, and then used over ten minutes just aimlessly guessing in the top-left corner. Those two stacked long answers (MAGNA CARTA and ALBATROSS) both had trivia clues that just didn't click for me, plus Bobbsey Twins trivia (NAN), space trivia (PLASMA), and referring to a TAMALE as a treat which just felt weird. It's a food item! Would I call a sandwich a treat, or an empanada a treat?

The theme itself was executed well. It's interesting to see how an idea for a theme can get implemented in different ways-- I think that this could have very well been a Monday puzzle with four long across answers that had AC at their center and no rebus at all. Adding the rebus made it a Wednesday level. I wish there had been a bit more of a rationale for why they were squished together in a box (I was expecting a revealer like "AC unit"), but I guess we wouldn't have gotten the down answers if the AC's weren't rebusified. 

Stay cool everyone!!!

Bullets:

• [Flanged girder] for IBEAM— I read this clue over and over again and thought "those can not possibly be words. Are those words." Well, let me tell you, they are words!! "Flanged" means that it has a ridge on the end, and a "girder" is a piece of a framework.
• [Miscellaneous collection] for RAGBAG — Really??? Not "ragtag"???? What on earth!! 
• [Bit of gear for Vermeer] for PALETTE — Was so stuck here thinking that the entry would be something super-specific to Vermeer and my hours spent rereading the YA book Chasing Vermeer would finally pay off but alas no
• ["Quickest way to Harlem," in song] for A TRAIN — This is the best train in NYC, in my opinion (so fast!! Manhattan Brooklyn Queens!! Beach!! JFK!!!!) but this entry took a bit to click because I associate the A with Washington Heights
• [Rite place at the rite time?] for ALTAR — Very good clue

xoxo Malaika

P.S. One of my crosswords was published today! It's small and themeless and you can solve it here.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

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✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

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• Lollapuzzoola 18 (NYC) (Sat., Aug. 9, 2025) 
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📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

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