Plastic explosive used in many demolitions / THU 10-9-25 / Cutesy name for a certain leviathan / Some ancient Italians / Storage device that has fallen out of fashion / One of 300 at the National Mall / Fictional character who says "I am a brain ... The rest of me is a mere appendix"

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Constructor: Freddie Cheng

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: ALL THUMBS (58A: Klutzy ... and a hint to 17-, 25-, 35- and 49-Across) — clues describe thumb positions and answers indicate what those different positions mean; you basically just have to insert "thumb(s)" after the number in each theme clue:

Theme answers:
  • "NO WAY, JOSE" (17A: Two [thumbs] down)
  • "I NEED A RIDE" (25A: One [thumb] out)
  • NOTHING TO DO (35A: Two [thumbs] moving around each other)
  • "WORKS FOR ME" (49A: Two [thumbs] up)
Word of the Day: SEMTEX (13D: Plastic explosive used in many demolitions) —

Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications.

Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, originally under the name B 1 and then under the "Semtex" designation since 1964, labeled as SEMTEX 1A, since 1967 as SEMTEX H, and since 1987 as SEMTEX 10.

Originally developed for Czechoslovak military use and export, Semtex eventually became popular with armed groups and insurgents because, prior to the 2000s, it was extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am Flight 103. (wikipedia)

• • •

Took me longer than it should have to figure out how the theme works today, though maybe I'm being too hard on myself. By "longer than it should have," I mean that I got the revealer and didn't understand it right away. At that point, I had only one theme answer in place ("NO WAY, JOSE!"), and I just didn't know what to do with ALL THUMBS. With the "ALL" part in particular. Didn't help that "Two down" looked like it might have some kind of crossword meaning, like maybe 2-Down was involved (?). I think I had to get "WORKS FOR ME" in order to finally see the whole thumbs-up / thumbs-down thing. Even then, I had NOTHING ___ at the center answer and no idea what it could be. Two [thumbs] moving around each other??? I actually tried to do this, physically, at my desk here, just to see if anything would come to me, and I quickly realized I had no idea what "moving around each other" even meant. Moving around each other ... how? I was kind of holding my thumbs toward each other and then cycling them around each other, almost like I was pedaling a bike with my hands. The word you really need here is "twiddling," but maybe [Two twiddling] was thought to be either too much of a giveaway or just too weird-looking. Anyway, "moving around each other" did nothing for me. I think I had "NOTHING TO IT!" there for a bit. Which brings me to the main reason that central answer just doesn't work. All the other answers are clear, standalone, familiar expressions that one might say, and the thumb gestures stand in for those expressions more or less accurately. "NOTHING TO DO" is not a common spoken phrase the way the others are. It's a state of being, as in "I have NOTHING TO DO." I can imagine someone saying "NOTHING TO DO," but that's very different from its being a meaningful expression on its own, the way, say, "NO WAY, JOSE" is. With the others ... I don't think of "NO WAY JOSE" and "two thumbs down" as equivalent, but they're ballpark, both expressing a negative reaction, and the others work at least equally well, so OK. But NOTHING TO DO is an outlier, and an awkward one.


The cluing felt hard today, or hardish, though the only thing in the puzzle that I didn't actually know, in the end, was SEMTEX. Oh, and EFT, which I just keep forgetting, apparently. Electronic funds transfer?? Yes. I am old school, in that I expect my EFTs to be Newt-onian (an EFT is a juvenile newt, as any longtime solver knows). This is only the fourth financial EFT, as against 68 amphibious EFTs in the Shortz Era alone (192 all time). I had to work a little to get LATINS, which is deeply ironic, as I just finished teaching the Aeneid for the umpteenth time, and it's the LATINS, led by King (... wait for it...) Latinus, that Aeneas encounters when he lands in Italy, and the Latin king's daughter, Lavinia, whom he must eventually wed (after a stupid war that goes on for five books just 'cause Juno wants to make it all as painful as possible, even though she can't stop it (because Fate!)). I do not really buy DO HARM as a standalone phrase. DO NO HARM, yes, that is a phrase, a very specific and meaningful phrase where the Hippocratic oath is concerned. DO HARM sounds like the terse direction of a sadistic interplanetary emperor. The rest of the fill seems fine—no strong reactions.


Bullets:
  • 32A: One of 300 at the National Mall (ACRE) — at first I was like "... STEP?" Like maybe that's how many steps there were to the top of the Washington Monument, or the Lincoln Memorial (lol that would put Lincoln very, very high up). 
  • 39A: Marvel series focused on Thor's brother (LOKI) — so ... just [Thor's brother], then. Not sure why all the other words are necessary if you're just gonna end up at [Thor's brother].
  • 55A: "The Burghers of Calais" sculptor (RODIN) — No idea what this is. I know that RODIN is a sculptor, and that's all I had to know. Let's look at some art, shall we?
[oh hey, it's at The Met: "The monument commemorates the heroism of six leading citizens (burghers) of the French city of Calais. In the fourteenth century, at the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War, they offered their lives to the English king in exchange for the lifting of his siege of the city. By portraying their despair and haunted courage in the face of death, Rodin challenged contemporary heroic ideals and made an event from the past seem immediate and real."]
  • 35D: Annual breast cancer awareness observance (NO BRA DAY) — I did not know this was a thing, or still a thing. Seems like an impractical option for many women. According to wikipedia, "The day is controversial as some see it as sexualizing and exploiting women's bodies while at the same time belittling a serious disease." I misread the clue as [Annual breast cancer awareness month] and, having the "NO-," wrote in NOVEMBER (which fits ... it's wrong, but it fits). Breast Cancer Awareness Month is actually right now, October, and NO BRA DAY is next week (October 13)
  • 39D: Heroine of Verdi's "Il Trovatore" (LEONORA) — I must've seen LEONORA a bunch over the years, as an answer as well as in clues, because I plunked her down with just a few crosses despite knowing nothing about this opera.
  • 48D: Cutesy name for a certain leviathan (NESSIE) — "leviathan" makes me think "whale," and I was like "did Ahab have a 'cutesy name' for Moby-Dick!? WHITIE?" But no, "leviathan" is just a gigantic (watery) creature, so ... the Loch Ness Monster, aka NESSIE.
[I own this cutesy Moby-Dick shirt—design by Kate Beaton]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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31 comments:

JC66 5:50 AM  

I got up early today to celebrate my 86th birthday.

Conrad 5:52 AM  


Medium. No WOEs (needed a few crosses to remember SEMTEX at 13D) but a surprising number of overwrites for a Wednesday, particularly in the North Central.

Overwrites:
At 4A, my snippet was a frond before it was a SPRIG
Off the incorrect F in frond, my 4D bean was a favA before it was SOYA
That led to my 15A Jabba being an alien before he was OBESE
Off the incorrect L in alien, my 5D lunchbox item was a very questionable blt before it was a PBJ
At 28D, my "Me too" opposite was NOt I before it was NOR I
My 38D straight poker was stud before it was a TINE

Bob Mills 6:01 AM  

Medium difficulty is about right, I'd say. Hardest area was the SE, where I needed a cheat to get the MYLAR/CHER cross, and had "sodas" before COLAS. Liked the theme and revealer, which led me to INEEDARIDE and NOWAYJOSE.

Lewis 6:42 AM  

Such an enjoyable puzzle that I could find nothing opposable in it.

Anonymous 6:47 AM  

The extra verbiage in the LOKI clue may be due to the fact that Thor and Loki are actually not brothers, traditionally. But they are brothers in the Marvel Comics world (and related movies and such).

Anonymous 6:51 AM  

Happy birthday!!

Anonymous 6:52 AM  

Nice one! 👍

tht 6:59 AM  

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a nice one!

Anonymous 7:01 AM  

Happy birthday!!!

Danger Man 7:05 AM  

I'm with Lewis.

JJK 7:07 AM  

I agree on ‘medium’ and pretty much everything that Rex said. I have to admit that I do occasionally twiddle my thumbs (waiting at the doctor’s office maybe) and I thought that clue and answer were fine.

I have not heard of NOBRADAY and don’t see how wearing no bra promotes breast cancer awareness.

JJK 7:08 AM  

Happy Birthday!!

SouthsideJohnny 7:10 AM  

Well I tried. I kept hoping the theme would come to me. I glanced at the reveal, no help. I put it down for a while and came back to it, nada.

In the mean time, in addition to the gibberish-like theme entries, I putzed around with the likes of SEMTEX, NESSIE, HOLMES, LEONORA x RODIN, et c. until I finally gave up and through in the towel.

This is a good example of the type of endeavor that turned me off to Thursday grids, trivia in crosswords, and stunt puzzles in general. Oh well, tomorrow’s another day. It seems like eons since we’ve had a Robyn Friday. It would be a welcome relief.

Anonymous 7:14 AM  

Happy Birthday!!!

Anonymous 7:18 AM  

Took a bit to get into the puzzle, but once in the solve flowed pretty easily. I thought the theme worked really well. I, too, needed to twiddle my thumbs to understand "nothing to do," but I don't think it is a misfit in the theme. The theme is all about the thumbs, not about the expressions.

LostInPhilly 7:27 AM  

lol

REV 7:28 AM  

I also thought of whales for leviathan and considered FUDGIE from the Carvel ads. Anyone else?

WHITIE for Moby Dick is legitimately hilarious.

Fun puzzle. Super fun write up. 👍👍

tht 7:39 AM  

I liked the puzzle. Medium, yes, a happy medium between too easy and too hard. WORKS FOR ME.

WOE: SEMTEX. Oh, and also: CHER Hair? If you SAY SO. And that was a fairly obscure way to clue RODIN.

Following on from yesterday's ESP, another referent to a non-existent thing (NESSIE). I thought Leviathan was a peculiar clue; it's difficult for me to picture a Leviathan in any way different from a whale, and NESSIE looks different from that in every illustration I've seen. More eel-like, somehow. The word "cryptid" feels less deceptive and more accurate, while retaining a certain Thursday feel.

Feel like I NEED to bone up on my LATINS. If I were ever boned up on them at some point in the past, I am certainly DEBONED now.

Better get started on my day; there is never a day when I have NOTHING TO DO. Hope yours is a good one.

tht 7:40 AM  

A good point.

Lewis 7:40 AM  

A capital-R Riddle puzzle. Where I’m hopelessly stymied as to why NO WAY JOSE is the answer to [Two down], not to mention the other theme clue/answers, and then finally I uncover the revealer and the heavens part.

Those are the best riddles. The ones that get you good.

This puzzle was a fun, smart, and engaging. Enough bite to satisfy my brain’s workout ethic. Lovely misdirect for me in [Infantry arm]. Lovely wordplay in [Break the Hippocratic oath, say]. And something I’ve never done before while solving a puzzle: maneuver my hands into various thumb-centric positions.

Then pure joy at remembering “twiddle”, a Hall Of Fame word I haven’t thought about in ages. Icing on the cake was the glorious PuzzPair© of APE and a backward KOKO.

Came into the box hoping for a day brightener and left it buoyant. Bravo and thank you, Freddie. I loved this!

tht 7:45 AM  

Gibberish-like? Which entries are gibberish-like? Or do you simply mean unfamiliar to you?

RooMonster 7:48 AM  

Hey All !
One up could also be OkeyDokey.
Two up - Siskel and Ebert Recommend. A bit long, that one.

Nice puz. A bit more difficult than a WedsPuz has been lately. Har, just realized it's Thursday! Would have accepted this as a WedsPuz, but a ThursPuz? There's no trick, seems to me. Just a straightforward cluing trope. The ole brain is slow this morning (is taking forever to find anything on SB), but am I missing something?

National Mall, was thinking SHOP, TREE, ELMS, STEP before finally realizing ACRE. Sheesh.

Did like the Theme, just seemed placed on wrong day. But was fun to figure out. I made the gestures as I got to the clues. 👍

Welp, have a great Thursday (apparently)!

Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV

pabloinnh 7:48 AM  

Hapyy birthday indeed! Coincidentally, my long time singing partner had his 86th on Monday. Glad you're both still at it.

Anonymous 7:57 AM  

Enjoyed most of it except where I ran into problems in the S/W. Never heard of NOBRADAY, LEONORA, IMS or EFT. But my problem is with WORKSFORME. I think of Two (Thumbs) Up as exuberance, something exceptional, above and beyond. Whereas 'works for me' seems like an indifferent shrug maybe even with a 'whatever' uttered. Two thumbs up is something I would not being saying for this clue.

pabloinnh 8:00 AM  

I often like the puzzle a little more than OFL but today even more so, as I thought this was the best revealer I have seen in a long time. I had all the themers in place and they made no sense, then ALLTHUMBS showed up, everything clicked, the lights came on, and the giant aha! Terrific.

Agree with OFL on the proper cluing for EFT, SEMTEX was a total WOE, but I did feel all cultured and smart for the second day in a row by knowing the RODIN sculpture immediately.

I understand the Dolly Parton reference but at some point someone called her a "dumb blonde" and she responded "I,m not dumb, and I'm not BLONDE". And today she's saying "I ain't dead" so there's that too.

Very nicely don FC. A Fair Chance that this is my favorite Thursday in quite a while, and thanks for all the fun.

RooMonster 8:12 AM  

Happy Birthday JC66! Or should I say @JC86! 🎉

Roo

RooMonster 8:14 AM  

LOKI was adopted.

Roo

jberg 8:18 AM  

Finished with an error— NOt I instead of NOR I, and could not see ACRE.

Gotta run, early medical appt for my wife. She’s wearing a surgical boot , so I have to drive her.

Anonymous 8:23 AM  

You forgot about the puzzle on 10/11/2018 where NoBraDay was the theme

Andy Freude 8:24 AM  

Thanks for the Verdi clip, Rex. Trovatore is probably familiar to some as the opera destroyed by the Marx brothers in A Night at the Opera. It has some of the best music and the most ridiculous plot of any opera I know.

But the music that’s stuck in my head this morning is the Ramones:

Twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours ago
I wanna be sedated
NOTHING TO DO, nowhere to go . . .

mmorgan 8:24 AM  

The revealer was a genuine A-HA! moment for me. I had the themers partially filled in but could make no sense of them. The revealer was easy to get but I didn’t look at it until near the end. Then a giant light bulb went off and everything made sense. I love it when a revealer really helps the solve, rather than just saying something cutesy about the themers. So yay! And “twiddling your thumbs” means “sitting around having nothing to do” so I have no objection to that pairing. Nice puzzle!

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