Black Death-era Iberian king dubbed "the Ceremonious" / SAT 10-11-25 / Johann ___, philosopher who influenced Hegel / Car touted for its dual efficiency / Symbol for electric flux, in physics / "___ Deo gloria" (Latin doctrine) / "Wax" collectible, informally / Spot to order a witbier or hefeweizen / Dominatrix's practice, for short / Like typical frat boys, informally / Serialized and melodramatic, as a show

Constructor: Sam Ezersky

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Johann FICHTE (27D: Johann ___, philosopher who influenced Hegel) —

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (/ˈfɪxtə/; German: [ˈjoːhan ˈɡɔtliːp ˈfɪçtə]; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant.

Recently, philosophers and scholars have begun to appreciate Fichte as an important philosopher in his own right due to his original insights into the nature of self-consciousness or self-awareness. Fichte was also the originator of thesis–antithesis–synthesis, an idea that is often erroneously attributed to Hegel.

Like Descartes and Kant before him, Fichte was motivated by the problem of subjectivity and consciousness. Fichte also wrote works of political philosophy; he has a reputation as one of the fathers of German nationalism. (wikipedia)

• • •

I sometimes think about John GOWER. John GOWER was an important 14th-century English writer, a contemporary and friend of Chaucer's who wrote three major works of poetry in three different languages. I think about GOWER not just because I was trained as a medievalist and have read more Middle English poetry than I care to remember, including GOWER's most famous work in English (Confessio Amantis), but because in my head he is the prototype of a kind of name, and a kind of fame, that has special crossword relevance. That is, specialists will absolutely know who he is, but the general population absolutely will not, and so ideally his name just sits in a glass case marked "Break Only In Case of Emergency" and constructors never, ever have to use him. You could perhaps justify using him if you were desperate and everyone of the crosses was extremely clear and fair, but mostly you wouldn't go near him, even if you kinda liked him, because you know that the vast majority of people are never going to have heard of him. I bring him up today because I feel like this puzzle broke that glass case not once but twice (!), for two crossing answers (!!?). An "Iberian" king named Peter the Ceremonious!? (39A: Black Death-era Iberian king dubbed "the Ceremonious"). And I'm supposed to know his Roman numeral? (PETER IV). And he's crossed with some German philosopher (FICHTE) whose main claim to fame is influencing a much, much more famous philosopher? Put both of those guys in a DIESEL HYBRID and yikes, you've got some kind of reverse Thelma & Louise situation ("reverse" in that I would not care at all if they drove that car off a cliff). It's not that I couldn't navigate that section. I could, ultimately. It's just so bad. So desperately proper nounishly bad. At least with TYRONE (another "?"), you crossed him with a proper noun who is properly famous (it's possible you don't know LAMAR JACKSON, but multiple MVP awards in very recent years means he is in no way obscure) (53A: Youngest-ever QB to win multiple N.F.L. M.V.P. awards (by age 27)). There's some rather nice stuff in this grid, but everything in and around the HYBRID part of DIESEL HYBRID, from those awful names to AN EYE *and* AN ACT (?!?) to SOLI to whatever FALSE CUT is, kind of cast a pall over the solving experience.

For the record, John GOWER has been in the NYTXW once: January 4, 1948. After that, GOWER appeared about ten times as [Dancer champion] or [Champion of dance], and I have no idea what that is about ... oh, wait, it's not [Dancer champion], it's [Dancer Champion]—some guy named GOWER Champion who was an actor, director, choreographer, and dancer. He's got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! But not on the Crossword Walk of Fame, it seems, as he was last seen in 1987. That gives him something in common with FICHTE, who also hasn't appeared in the NYTXW since the '80s (1981, his sole appearance). PETER IV, like FICHTE, also has just one lifetime appearance in the grid before today, though that appearance was much more recent (2020). I really wish someone would hear me out on my PETER IV / Johann FICHTE Thelma & Louise remake. It could be some kind of European fantasy time-travel deal, where they're running from, I dunno, let's say Count CHOCULA, who wants to imprison them in his S & M (SANDM) dungeon. I know, I know, it all sounds a little BROEY, but I think it could work. 

["Frankenberry! Booberry! Come! To the sex dungeon!"]

My fav moment of this puzzle was BROEY (26D: Like typical frat boys, informally). BROEY into SOAPY. I was like "are they really doing BROEY?" and then I got SOAPY and thought "I guess so!" (37A: Serialized and melodramatic, as a show). I might watch something that was BROEY if it was also SOAPY. It would probably also have to be CAMPY, which isn't here today, though I wish it were, CAMPY is always welcome in my grid. Most of the answers today, even the marquee stuff, didn't do much for me. IPHONE CAMERA feels oddly formal and long, as does LP RECORD—even more so. I have never heard anyone use the expression "LP RECORD" outside of this one specific musical context:

[I see you've sent my letters back

And my LP RECORDs and they're all scratched

I can't see the point in another day

When nobody listens to a word I say]

I did (almost) grin FROM EAR TO EAR when I got that answer—my one big moment of whoosh in this puzzle:

And the SE stack of 12s is very nice. I admired that. But otherwise, as I say, stuff like DATATYPE and DIET TIP really aren't lighting me up. That last one was particularly rough for me. I think I had it as a DIET MAP. Like, "let's map out your diet plan." I couldn't believe you'd get a trained "nutritionist" involved for a mere "TIP." Outside of the broader FICHTE/PETERIV area, though, there weren't many real struggles today. 

A few more things:

• 19A: It might be smelt? (ROE) — Smelt ROE. Fish eggs. Smelt is a type of fish. Most of you probably knew that.
• 4D: East Egg resident in "The Great Gatsby" (TOM) — I was like "I just read this, how do I not know a three-letter resident?? Who lived there besides Gatsby? No, wait, Gatsby lived in West Egg ... who lived in East Egg?" I guess TOM (Buchanan) is a supremely forgettable character (to me). DAISY Buchanan, iconic. TOM? ... again, I *just* read this book earlier this year, and he weirdly slipped my mind. 
• 8D: Engineer who supposedly found inspiration while tending to a boiling kettle (WATT) — I did not know this. Fun story:

There is a popular story that Watt was inspired to invent the steam engine by seeing a kettle boiling, the steam forcing the lid to rise and thus showing Watt the power of steam. This story is told in many forms; in some Watt is a young lad, in others he is older, sometimes it's his mother's kettle, sometimes his aunt's, suggesting that it may be apocryphal. In any event, Watt did not invent the steam engine, but significantly improved the efficiency of the existing Newcomen engine by adding a separate condenser, consistent with the now-familiar principles of thermal efficiency. The story was possibly created by Watt's son, James Watt, Jr., who was determined to preserve and embellish his father's legacy. In this light, it can be seen as akin to the story of Isaac Newton and the falling apple and his discovery of gravity. (wikipedia)

• 41D: With fewer than 11,000 people, the world's second-least-populaous country, after Vatican City (TUVALU) — most famous for being a Survivor location at least once. I wrote in TUVALU but then panicked about the last two vowels—wondering whether I had them in the right order—and so pulled the latter part of the answer and waited for confirmation from crosses. TUVULA ... looks like something, though that something is possibly just UVULA (with a "T" on the beginning). 

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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