Not on the up and up, slangily / TUE 12-23-25 / Top execs, colloquially / With all judges present / Former N.B.A. star Shawn with the nickname "Reign Man" / Brownish-yellow fabric / Short version of an impactful story / Character played by Bruce Lee on "The Green Hornet"

Constructor: Nathan Hale

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: C-SUITE (47D: Top execs, colloquially ... or what 20-, 28-, 39- and 59-Across are, phonetically?) — two-word "sweets" where both words start with "C":

Theme answers:

• CHOCOLATE COIN (20A: Classic Hanukkah treat)
• CUPCAKE (28A: Classic classroom party treat)
• CANDY CORN (39A: Classic Halloween treat)
• CHRISTMAS COOKIE (59A: Classic Yuletide treat)

Word of the Day: Shawn KEMP (23D: Former N.B.A. star Shawn with the nickname "Reign Man") —

Shawn Travis Kemp Sr. (born November 26, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Reign Man", he was a six-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-NBA Second Team member. Kemp is widely regarded as one of the best slam dunkers of all time and made the 1996 NBA Finals with the SuperSonics.

Kemp was a member of the United States national team at the 1994 FIBA World Championship where he won gold and was named to the All-Tournament team. He was part of a famous Pick And Roll duo with All-Star Teammate Gary Payton and is often associated with Payton. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle is very well made. I just found it dull. The themer set is dull. Somehow those "sweets" are just putting me to sleep this morning. The revealer is clever, for sure, but it's also one of those business-speak phrases that I wouldn't care if I never heard again. So ... structurally, I can see that this puzzle is very sound, but aesthetically, it's just not my thing. Not the theme, anyway. The fill is actually better than average today—with the exception of that upper-middle section, with its always-unwelcome playground retort and its extremely intrusive French legal phrase (7D: With all judges present). I've had to endure BANC many times, but with BANC alone, you at least have a little flexibility. BANC just means "bench" in French, so you could get a little more creative with it. [Fixture in un parc] has been used. [French bench] seems to be a favorite. But EN BANC really locks you in to legalese, and today's clue doesn't even clue you in to the French of it all. But that EN BANC section is the only real weak spot. I guess NCIS/NCO isn't a terribly pleasant way to open, but elsewhere, things get smoother. I actually said "nice" out loud as I finished off the ALL IN FUN / VIGNETTE corner—really good work through there. And most everywhere else is clean. I appreciate that. I just wish I'd found the whole concept more exciting. I did appreciate the puzzle throwing that bonus themer at us, though—I'm not really sure what a CAT CHAIR is (is it sweet?), but I want one for my cats now. Actually, scratch that. They have plenty of chairs. All the chairs in this house are CAT CHAIRs. Hell, every rectangular-shaped surface in the house is a CAT CHAIR. This crossword puzzle was on the counter for all of ten seconds before it became ... CAT CHAIR!

[Ida says "hi"]

At first I thought this puzzle was holiday-themed, but then CANDY CORN came along and made the needle on the record scratch (that's the cliché sound effect that played in my head, at any rate). True, Halloween is a holiday, but not a seasonally appropriate one. And classroom party CUP CAKEs have nothing to do with holidays at all. But holidays aren't important to the way the theme works, and anyway, it's half holiday-themed, so that's something. Not aggressively jolly, but semi-jolly. No real difficulty today. The cluing was part of what made the puzzle feel dull. Really flat and straightforward across the board. You've got that lone "?" clue that's at least trying to liven things up (37D: Big Apple org. that's going to blazes? = FDNY). And I really like the artistic approach to TINE (35D: One of three on the pitchfork in "American Gothic"). See, that gives my brain something to do. It's creative, and highly specific, while still being gettable if you've somehow never seen and therefore can't picture American Gothic. I mean, what other countable thing is likely to be part of a pitchfork? Clues don't have to be hard to be entertaining. I wish more of these clues understood that. 

My only MISHAPs today were SLY before SUS (50D: Not on the up and up, slangily), and ... that's it? I think that's it. I had a weird moment of hesitation writing in the "C" in SCOW, thinking "didn't we just have this word? And wasn't it spelled with a 'K'?" The answers are "no" and "no." We had SKIFF recently. I searched my blog for SKOW and the only thing I discovered was that over the nearly twenty-year life of this blog, I have repeatedly (four times!) made the SKOW-for-SCOW mistake. And talked about it. I assume SKIFF is the word I'm thinking of every time I opt for SKOW. If I were Word Dictator, I would change SCOW to SKOW today. Right now. Actually, a real dictator would be sure to slap his name on it. "SKOW brought to you by Rex Parker." "The Rex Parker Center for SKOW Studies." It would be the greatest center. They're already saying it's the greatest center they've ever seen. Incredible.

Bullets:

• 12D: Short version of an impactful story (VIGNETTE) — love VIGNETTE, but hate this clue, and hate the word "impactful" with the white heat of my entire soul. Whatever you think you're saying, I guarantee you there's another, better word that you could use. Unless you are specifically talking about meteor literally striking earth, no. Merriam-Webster is right that "hating a word doesn't make it less real," but the fact that they decided to say that specifically about "impactful" tells you that the word sucks and you should stop using it. It's ugly jargon. Yes, it's real, people use it,  but we don't have to encourage them. Sometimes descriptivism goes too far. Some "shoulds" and "shouldnts" are good. They give us a society worth living in. Anyway, I don't think "impactful" is even relevant to this clue. Surely there are lots of VIGNETTEs out there that are dull as paste and leave no particular impact at all.
• 30D: Character played by Bruce Lee on "The Green Hornet" (KATO) — nearly spelled it KETO, but that's the diet. Did KATO do KETO? Almost certainly not. Bruce Lee doesn't seem like a fad diet kind of guy. Although ... "Lee avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing empty calories that did nothing for his body" (wikipedia). But that's a long way from the anti-carb / high-fat extremism of the KETO diet (which started as an epilepsy treatment and then ... drifted).
• 23D: Former N.B.A. star Shawn with the nickname "Reign Man" (KEMP) — the one bit of trivia that might throw people today. I know KEMP well because not only was he a star back when I played close attention to professional sports, but he also shares my birthday. Not just the date—the exact day. I know a number of famous people who share my birthday (Charles Schulz, Tina Turner), but Shawn KEMP is the only famous person I know who was born on precisely the same day. "Reign Man" is a weird nickname. Did the people who named him not see Rain Man? I get it, he rules ("reigns"). And he played in Seattle ("rain rain rain rain"). But still.

Time for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲! Note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE PET PICS, I'M ALL FULL UP FOR THIS YEAR, thank you.

Remy paws a paw-print ornament. Adorable high-five, or prelude to destruction? The best thing about cats is who the hell knows, could go either way.

[Thanks, Olivia!]

Oliver says "oh so I'm a jester now? Because I'm short? You think I am funny? Do I amuse you?" You better give him a treat real soon. 

[Thanks, Dennis!]

Milo just wants to be a good boy. "Am I good now? Is it over? When is this over?"

[Thanks, Elissa!]

Here's our first meta-holiday pet pic—Clementine reenacting a cat picture I posted earlier in the month (12/4)

[Thanks for the weirdness, Richard and Karen!]

Here's the 12/4 picture for comparison:

Grady's fine here, thanks. Nope doesn't need anything. These accommodations are perfect. He'll be down for dinner. OK, you can go now.

[Thanks, Joanne!]

Finally, a holiday message from Molly and Tidbit: "What are you lookin' at? You didn't see nothin', move along ... oh, yeah, and like the sign says, Merry Christmas. Now beat it."

[Thanks, Aane and Mary!]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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