Events akin to streaks / FRI 8-8-25 / Freudian drive to survive / Hybrid feline whose coat may feature rosettes / Their tracks diffract light into rainbows / Competition conducted in rounds over rounds / Synthetic fabric sometimes called "elastane" / Caregiver known as a "nutrix" in ancient Rome / Bouts held in a dohyo / Way to the left?

Constructor: Rafael Musa and Matthew Stock

Relative difficulty: Medium (I think ... I'm out of practice)

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: UNDIE RUNS (55A: Events akin to streaks) —

An Undie Run is an event where a large number of people disrobe until they are only wearing underwear, and then run. The site of Undie Runs are typically college campuses, but they may occur on other sites such as streets. Undie Runs may be purely for entertainment, a form of protest, or as with the ASU Undie Run, fund-raising for charitable purposes. It is reported that the Guinness Book of World Records considers the Undie Run that took place on September 24, 2011, in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States to have had a record number of participants. There were 2,270 participants in that Undie Run, which was held to protest Utah's conservative laws. COED Magazine, a magazine in the United States marketed to college students, has reported that Undie Runs are the "number one university sanctioned event". (wikipedia)

• • •

[34A: Reassuring words when help is needed]

Hello. It is currently 1:50AM EDT and I have just (just!) arrived home from my weeklong extended-family vacation in Santa Barbara (SB -> DEN -> SYR, then 1hr 20min drive home). I have to be at the gym at 8:30AM, which means ... hell, I don't know what it means, mathematically, but I have to go to bed (very) soon, so this will be (very) brief, and I'll tell you all about my vacation tomorrow. Or never, who knows? I solved this puzzle on my phone (which I never do) in the car (which I really never do) so that I could start blogging as soon as I came in the door (after a few minutes of smushing my kitties). I don't know how people solve on their phones regularly. Not being a "digital (ha!) native," phone-solving does not come naturally to me. Too many fat-finger (fat-thumb) keyboard mistakes, too much fumbling with cursor placement, clue toggling, etc. It's a fine way to solve if you have no other way to solve and are not in a hurry. You can see here how long it took me (this is about twice my normal Friday time—though I didn't think it was any harder than average):

The puzzle seems fine, solid, mostly good, but there's only one answer that really stood out to me because ... well ... I had no idea what I was looking at, even after I had the answer completely filled in. That answer: UNDIE RUNS (55A: Events akin to streaks). The problem stems, in part, from the fact that I've literally never heard of these, but more so from the use of the word "streaks" in the clue. I think the clue means "streaking." Are instances of streaking called "streaks?" Streaking involves running naked, which is very very different from running in your underwear, for many many reasons, ranging from the legal to the practical. The noun "streak" to me means one of two things—an unbroken series of things (like your crossword streak) or a ... smear? Smudge? Marks left behind by ... something. So, first I thought the "unbroken series" form of "streak" was involved, and maybe there was some kind of video game frame of reference; like, if you are on a streak in a video game where you don't die, maybe you are on a "un-die run." That seemed so awful that I was then forced to move onto the "smear" meaning of "streaks," which was somehow much more awful. Why are there streaks in your undies? Please answer without using the word RUNS. Please. Pretty please? I had to look up the term after I was finished to realize it was just people running in their underwear. According to wikipedia, UNDIE RUNS are popular university events. If my university has hosted such events, I have been blissfully unaware. The fact that I haven't heard of them doesn't mean they're not real ... they already seem a lot more real to me than ECO-HOTELS do (17A: Establishments with many green rooms) (presumably all the rooms in such an establishment are green?). 

Besides UNDIE RUNS, there were no other tough spots, no other mysteries ... except for Iris CHANG, who wrote a couple of very well regarded books about Chinese history before dying very young in 2004. I struggled some with BENGAL CAT, which is a "hybrid" of ... what? (15D: Hybrid feline whose coat may feature rosettes). Hmm ... looks like Asian leopard cat (not a cat I knew existed) and domestic cats, primarily the Egyptian Mau (which I also didn't know existed). If it starts BENGAL and the next word isn't TIGER, I don't know it. But the CAT part was easy (why are they saying "feline" in the clue except to avoid saying "CAT"?) and the rest was eventually inferable. 

I need to go to sleep so off we go to the Lightning Round:

• 1A: Who wrote in an 1852 novel "Any mind that is capable of a real sorrow is capable of good" (STOWE) — as in Harriet Beecher, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (the 1852 novel in question—a tremendously popular book).
• 6A: Stick around camp? (TENT POLE) — me: "Oh, I know, it's the ... thing ... you toast marshmallows with ... for S'mores?" Sadly no.
• 36A: Means of defense for an elephant (TUSK) — also apparently a means of defense for a Cape buffalo ... (OK, TUSKs aren't the same as "horns," but ... close enough for my purposes here):

[FAFO, I guess 😢]

• 43A: Their tracks diffract light into rainbows (CDS) — this was cute. I guess CDs (which contain music "tracks") do diffract light that way.
• 4D: Follow to the letter? (WRITE BACK) — the phrasing here feels a little forced, even for a "?" clue, but the idea is that someone writes you a "letter" and then you "follow" suit and WRITE BACK
• 7D: Freudian drive to survive (EROS) — huh. Did not know that. "Libido," that's a Freudian drive I know. Also ... "death drive," is that something? Yes! Two Freudian drives that I know. But EROS, missed that one.
• 23A: Way to the left? (WEST) — looks like a political clue ... but isn't. On a map, conventionally, "left" is WEST.
• 33D: Table tennis or beach volleyball (COED SPORTS) — neither of these seem definitively "co-ed" to me. The times I've seen these sports on TV, they've been single-sex. I know CO-ED versions exist, but ... they exist in regular tennis, too? Odd.
• 45D: Animal that's mostly white, helping it hide in its natural habitat (PANDA) — gonna go to sleep now and trying not to think about what color PANDAs "mostly" are. I think I'd've said "black." Pictures are deceptive. Apparent black/white-ness really depends on the angle. But their heads and torsos are white, and that's a lot of surface area, so I'm inclined to believe the puzzle. OK, that's all, good night from me and this PANDA:

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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