Answer to the riddle ending "How many are going to St. Ives?" / WED 3-11-26 / Language in which "computer" is made up of the characters for "electric" and "brain" / Vaudeville show

Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Easy (~8 minutes)

THEME: SERENDIPITY — Happy chance, as illustrated by the four invention stories at 17-, 24-, 36- and 44-Across

Theme answers:

• [In 1968, Spencer Silver at 3M Corporation was attempting to develop a superstrong adhesive ...] for POST IT NOTES
• [In 1928, Alexander Fleming at St. Mary's Hospital in London found mold in his cultures of staphylococcus bacteria ...] for PENICILLIN
• [In 1945, Percy Spencer at the Raytheon Manufacturing Company noticed the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted close to a magnetron ...] for MICROWAVE OVEN
• [In 1943, James Wright at General Electric was attempting to develop synthetic rubber for the war effort ...] for SILLY PUTTY

Word of the Day: CONTE (Old French tale) —

Conte is a literary genre of tales, often short, characterized by fantasy or wit. They were popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until the genre became merged with the short story in the nineteenth century. Distinguishing contes from other literary genres is notoriously difficult due to the various meanings of the French term conte that span folktales, fairy tales, short stories, oral tales, and fables. [Wiki]

• • •

Hey friends! I'm glad to see you all for an off-schedule Malaika MWednesday. I solved this puzzle while listening to orchestral covers of pop songs from Bridgerton. I love these and could listen all day long. 

I'm really curious to see what y'all think of this puzzle. This type of theme, where there's simply a list of words with zero wordplay or raison d'etre, is not my favorite. In fact, I taught a class on creating crossword puzzles on Sunday and emphasized that this type of theme would not be successful if they're trying to get published. Oops!! Sorry guys. Go ahead and make your lists!! 

Part of the lackluster feel to me is that the revealer is just a random entry. It could have been anything, right?? It could have been "good luck" or "pure chance," or "happy accident." There's nothing especially fitting about the word SERENDIPITY (it doesn't even have anything to do with inventions) except that it had the right number of letters to fit symmetrically in the grid, so it doesn't feel like a fun reveal. Similarly, I haven't heard someone say MICROWAVE OVEN in like a decade (it's just "microwave" in my circle) which makes it feel like they just needed a correct number of letters with that phrase as well.

Another thing that I found odd is the phrasing of the clues. I associate that styling, with the italics and the ellipses at the end, with a wacky clue / entry combo, and was expecting that, and then very surprised to not see it materialize. At the very least, I would (grammatically) assume that an ellipsis indicates a partial sentence. So I'd think that the clue for (e.g.) "chocolate chip cookies" would be: In the 1930s, Ruth Wakefield played around with a recipe and invented... and then the entry would fill in the blank. (That's one of my favorite invention stories btw, tragically left out of this puzzle.) I really don't get why the ellipses or the italics are there at all! I would have phrased, e.g, the first clue as just: [In 1968, Spencer Silver's experiments with superstrong adhesive resulted in this common office supplies]

The fill was nice and smooth, and I liked seeing DETECTIVE, and CHINESE with that clue, but overall, the puzzle felt very meh. Really curious to see if you guys felt the same way. I am also open to the possibility that I have a bad attitude right now because I learned the hard way last week that I have an allergy to PENICILLIN. It was harrowing. 

Benoit Blanc!! Probably my favorite DETECTIVE right now

What else? I used to always point out when a theme only involved white men. I guess I can do that here. But it seems like the people who care about that notice it on their own, and the people who don't care roll their eyes when I rant about it. *shrug*

Bullets:

• [Alternative to fries, maybe] for SLAW — I had "tots" here for ages. I genuinely cannot imagine a situation where you offered a choice between fries and slaw. Fries or a salad?? Absolutely! Or if you are at a barbecue place getting a plate, I guess you can choose your sides and both are options. But you should absolutely be allotted more than one side, and slaw and fries simply do not occupy the same conceptual space while planning out a plate.
• [Answer to the riddle ending "How many are going to St. Ives?"] for ONE — Can one of y'all explain this to me please
• [Many first-time smartphone owners] for TEENS — Had a hilariously un-self-aware moment when I angrily thought "I can't believe teens have smartphones!" and then remembered that I got mine at age sixteen. Oops!! I probably shouldn't have had it though!! And now there are kiddos getting them at age thirteen. Definitely bad vibes.

xoxo Malaika

Three points of self-promotion, which I'll bury after the signature:

1) I constructed a themeless puzzle for the Boswords spring league! The league has already started (Rex has a link to it below) so I'm not sure if you can still register. But if you already have, keep an eye out for my puzzle! I can't say when it's coming, alas-- it's a surprise!

2) I will be at Crossword Con and at ACPT on April 10, and I hope you come say hi to me if you see me! As far as I know, I am the tallest woman to construct a NYT crossword, so I should be easy to spot. (If that's wrong, please tell me.)

3) Back in December, I published a cute little book of easy crosswords. I probably told y'all about this when it came out, but I'm newly excited because my friend sent me a picture today of someone solving on the train!! So exciting.

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Focus of Gandhi protests / TUE 3-10-26 / 8-pointer in Scrabble / Mediterranean dish whose name can be translated as "pampered daddy" / Bizet's "Habanera," for one / All-time best-selling female rapper worldwide / Version of a car model / Sol's sister, in Roman myth / Eddie who voiced Donkey in "Shrek"

Constructor: Daniel Bodily

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (**for a Tuesday**)

[19A: "Star Wars" antagonist"]

THEME: J-LO (72A: Bronx-born star, to fans ... or a phonetic hint to 3-, 8-, 17-, 32- and 45-Down) — five Down answers end in "J," so in each case the "J" is ... "low" (visually, within its answer)

Theme answers:

• BRITISH RAJ (3D: Focus of Gandhi protests)
• FRESH OJ (45D: Drink that's just been squeezed, say)
• BABA GHANOUJ (17D: Mediterranean dish whose name can be translated as "pampered daddy")
• RADIO DJ (8D: One playing 45s, informally)
• NICKI MINAJ (32D: All-time best-selling female rapper worldwide)

Word of the Day: SKOPJE (70A: Capital of North Macedonia) —

Skopje is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultural centre of the country. As of the 2021 census, the city had a population of 526,502. Skopje covers 571.46 km² (220.64 mi²) and includes both urban and rural areas, bordered by several municipalities and close to the borders of Kosovo and Serbia. [...] In 1912, following the Balkan Wars, Skopje was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia. It became part of Yugoslavia after World War I and, following World War II, became the capital of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, one of its constituent republics. In 1963, a major earthquake devastated the city, after which it was largely rebuilt with international assistance. Skopje became the capital of independent North Macedonia in 1991. (wikipedia) // North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's population of over 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities. (wikipedia)

• • •

Today I learned there is a North Macedonia, but no South Macedonia, or even just a plain old Macedonia. Just North Macedonia. The Balkans remain the part of the world to which I am the most map-blind. Like, I cannot keep all the countries straight. I grew up with Yugoslavia (Winter Olympics, 1984! That's how I learned Sarajevo existed). Then everything went to hell in that region in the early '90s, and by the end of the decade there were all these new countries, or new-old countries, and I have not made it a priority to go back and look at the region and figure out what and where they all are. And SKOPJE (pronounced "SCOPE-ya!") ... if you had shown me that name earlier this morning, I definitely could've told you it was a city, and I almost certainly would've placed it somewhere in the Balkans, but otherwise ... no clue. Needed many crosses (beyond the "J") to recall it today. This was one of several things that made this puzzle somewhat tougher than a regular Tuesday. Not tough tough, obviously. Just a little more challenging than usual.

Today's puzzle was another case of my liking the theme but not being exceptionally fond of the execution or the fill. There just aren't enough great longer answers ending in "J," so some of these come off as a little contrived. FRESH OJ also feels like you just slapped an adjective in front of OJ. Do people still drink frozen OJ? I think I heard recently that those cylinders of frozen orange juice concentrate (so familiar from my childhood) were being discontinued. Yep, confirmed. Anyway, if you do distinguish between kinds of orange juice, I believe the term is "fresh-squeezed." Also, RADIO DJ felt mildly redundant, as did BRITISH RAJ. Are there other RAJs besides the BRITISH RAJ? To be fair, none of today's theme answers sounded outright alien. They just seemed like common abbreviations with an adjectival modifier in front of them. BABA GHANOUJ and NICKI MINAJ both work great. I had real trouble with the spelling of BABA GHANOUJ. I knew the answer, but not the spelling. When I first saw the clue, I didn't understand the theme, and so that "J" ending, yikes. I think I must've imagined a "SH" ending? That's how it's pronounced (to my ears), and oh look, that's how it's most commonly spelled. Good, I'm not going crazy. Anyway, the "J" ... when I finally got it, I thought "oh, right. That spelling." But it didn't come to me straight away. As for NICKI MINAJ, she's a right-wing stooge now, so ... no (further) comment.

The fill on this one was on the weak side, largely because the grid is super-choppy and loaded with short stuff. IOTA ARIA ADHOC OFT AFAR ... that's quite a chain of repeaters. And there are more of them, everywhere. They really deaden the grid, though the longer Acrosses do give the grid some life back. That SW corner, though, is really rough. ON ZOOM ... my neck stiffened up just writing that. Wince City. Woof and oof. I DUNNO about that answer, man. Outside of the corner (the SKOPJE corner), I didn't have too much trouble anywhere except the NE, where writing in COURT instead of FLIRT (7D: Show romantic interest, in a way) really cost me some time. How much time? I dunno. Seconds? It's Tuesday, things go pretty fast no matter what the "relative difficulty" is. 

Bullets:

• 36A: 8-pointer in Scrabble ("J" TILE) — pretty sure I audibly booed this answer. Cheap way to get your "J" in.
• 31A: ___ Owens (birth name of Queen Latifah) (DANA) — a good artist to listen to if you've ever had it up to here (with ... whatever):

• 58A: Apt anagram of BRUSH (SHRUB) — because they are similar types of plant, I guess. Although if you look up "brush," the word you will see is "scrub (vegetation)," not SHRUB.
• 6D: Version of a car model (TRIM) — this threw me because I think of TRIM as having to do with the aesthetics of the car (the exterior and interior finish), and that's correct, but something about the wording of the clue made me think the answer was going to describe a whole-ass car, not just the aesthetic. The clue's not wrong, my brain just couldn't process it.
• 27D: Comedian Bargatze (NATE) — an extremely popular comedian I've never seen. I follow some comedians on social media, so I'm aware of the phenomenon that is NATE Bargatze. But I couldn't tell you anything about him except that he is, as I say, very popular, and I think he doesn't really, uh, work blue. Is that still a term people use? Yeah, here we go: he's sometimes called a "clean comedian." He was the highest-grossing stand-up comic of 2024.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Biceps, boastfully / MON 3-9-26 / Zimbalist Jr. of "77 Sunset Strip" / They go to a higher court / Temporary guest from a canine shelter / Period for Fred, Wilma and Pebbles / Birthplace of the bossa nova, informally

Constructor: Christina Iverson and Andrea Carla Michaels

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)

THEME: BEST ACTRESS (60A: Academy Award category ... or a hint to the starts of the answers to the starred clues) — first words of theme answers are also last names of women who won BEST ACTRESS Oscars:

Theme answers:

• (Sally) FIELD HOCKEY (16A: *Outdoor sport with sticks (1979, 1984))
• (Emma) STONE AGE (25A: *Period for Fred, Wilma and Pebbles (2016, 2023))
• (Jodie) FOSTER DOG (35A: *Temporary guest from a canine shelter (1988, 1991))
• (Halle) BERRY PIE (51A: *Popular fruit dessert (2001))

Word of the Day: EFREM Zimbalist, Jr. (55A: Zimbalist Jr. of "77 Sunset Strip") —

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (November 30, 1918 – May 2, 2014) was an American actor and theatre producer. Known for his "mellifluous voice and air of sophistication," he was known to television audiences for his starring roles on the crime drama series 77 Sunset Strip (1958–64) and The F.B.I. (1965–74), his recurring role as "Dandy Jim" Buckley on Maverick (1957–58), and as the voice of Alfred Pennyworth in the DC Animated Universe. He also appeared in numerous films and on the Broadway stage. He was a Golden Globe Award winner (out of four total nominations) and a two-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee.

He was the son of classical musicians Efrem Zimbalist and Alma Gluck, and the father of actress Stephanie Zimbalist. In addition to his acting career, Zimbalist was also a decorated veteran of the Second World War, receiving both the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals. In 1994, Zimbalist received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to television. (wikipedia)

• • •

Let me tell you about the nine-year EFREM Zimbalist drought of the late 20th century. It was the mid-80s. Ronald Reagan had just been re-elected and everyone figured that Zimbalist, who had campaigned for Goldwater 20 years earlier, would soar to even greater crossword prominence in Reagan's America. But as Reagan's second term wore on, EFREM found himself and his father, a famous violinist of the same name, snubbed from the grid, year after year. Some said the EFREM name was blackballed after it got out that Zimbalist Jr. had supported John Anderson in 1980. Some say it was because he made joking comments about "jellybeans" and "astrologers" when asked about Reagan for a 1985 Playboy interview. Some say his disappearance from the grid was a total coincidence. I say those people have no imagination. Anyway, the EFREM Zimabalist Jr. blackout continued under George H.W. Bush, lending more credence to the idea that the Great EFREM Erasure was indeed political payback. After Clinton was elected, EFREM's fortunes changed. Clinton, an avid solver himself, saw an opportunity to leave his mark on the crossword landscape, and one of the first things he did was restore EFREM to crossword prominence. Thus EFREM finally reappeared in 1993 after a nearly nine-year absence, and went on to appear nine (9) more times in the Clinton Era. After that, George W. Bush., as if attempting to outdo Clinton while simultaneously distancing himself from his father's legacy, supported the Zimbalist revival with even greater fervor: EFREM made a whopping twelve (12) appearances during W's presidency. Since then, and particularly following Zimbalist's death in 2014, EFREM enthusiasm has waned, though we've never seen anything close to the nine-year EFREM drought of the late '80s / early '90s. (Note: some of the above is verifiably true—the crossword stats, mostly; and the Goldwater part; the rest, who knows? Maybe)

I want to thank today's puzzle for ... well, reminding me that EFREM Zimbalist Jr. once existed (and that I couldn't pick him out of a line-up on a dare), as well as for reminding me that the Oscars are coming up (Sunday, Mar. 15). As for this theme, it's OK, I guess. A first-words theme. Feels like the kind of thing that's been done before, not terribly imaginative. But timely! I wish there were more to it. I wish the revealer were snappier instead of just literal and explanatory. I wish the fill were a little less ye olde (TET ARS URSA ... EFREM for god's sake). But all in all it's a totally acceptable Monday puzzle. The longer Downs aren't all that long, but they are solid, and even though its letters aren't terribly exciting, I really liked "SEE HERE!" I like quaint indignation. "I say! SEE HERE! That's not cricket!" I had a blarghy feeling about the fill after the NW corner (URSA AOL ESP already had me teetering, and then UNFED tipped me into mild gag territory). But things evened out. I don't really believe BERRY PIE is a thing. What Kind Of Berry!? No way I'm ordering some mystery "BERRY" PIE. That was the one answer that made me grimace when it came into view. But I love FOSTER DOG a ton, and UPSELLS is also pretty fab, so I come out on the thumbs-up side today.

So weird to find out today that so many of the Best Actress Oscar winners who fit this theme (i.e. whose last names are also ordinary words) are also multiple Best Actress Oscar winners. I'd forgotten that Sally Field won two. I can name every movie referred to in today's theme clues except the one Field won for in 1984—I remember the infamous speech ("You like me, you really like me..."), but I'll be damned if I can remember what she won for. Was it Places in the Heart!? [checks with the internet]. It was! Ha! Thank you, brain! Good ol' brain, still working. For now. For the record, the movies referred to today are:

• Sally Field: Norma RAE (of crossword fame!!) (1979); Places in the Heart (1984)
• Emma Stone: La La Land (2016); Poor Things (2023)
• Jodie Foster: The Accused (1988); The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Halle Berry: Monster’s Ball (2001)

Stone is nominated again this year for Bugonia, though I think it's something of a foregone conclusion that Jessie Buckley is going to win for Hamnet (a movie I have no interest in seeing ... I can't really explain it ... I like Shakespeare ... I love Paul Mescal ... Jessie Buckley is fantastic ... I think I'm just allergic to Oscar Bait). I just saw Halle Berry in Crime 101, which made me wonder why she isn't in more things. Or maybe she's been in a ton of things and I just missed them all. She is charming in Crime 101 as an insurance agent specializing in "high-wealth" customers who finds herself devalued by her bosses because she's "old" and (therefore?) (allegedly?) losing her ability to hook clients with sex appeal. This is the least plausible part of the movie, as Halle Berry looks stunning at all times. Hard to look at anyone else when she's on screen. But whatever, she plays the part really convincingly and endearingly, and she has an odd and compelling chemistry with Mark Ruffalo (a cop who figures out that Berry has gotten involved in some criminal shenanigans).

Bullets:

• 64A: Vietnamese holiday with a palindromic name (TET) — did we really need the "with a palindromic name" part? TET is one of the most common crossword words there is. Even if you're a total crossword novice and have never heard of TET, those crosses are all easy. No need to do so much handholding, NYT! I know it's Monday, but yeesh.
• 10D: They go to a higher court (APPEALS) — pretty straightforward, but from a Downs-only perspective, this was not so easy for me. The hardest answer of the puzzle, maybe. It just felt like there was some kind of mild trickery going on. Like, maybe the court was a basketball court or a  tennis court, or a food court. Maybe "court" was being used to mean something like a "story" in a building and the answer was something like "escalators" or "elevators" or "stairways." Thankfully, none of these fit, and eventually I was able to infer some of the crosses and get to APPEALS.
• 11D: Round up, as cattle (WRANGLE) — again, easy enough, but with no letters in place I couldn't think of this word at first. The only thing that came to mind was RUSTLE, which wouldn't fit.

• 38D: Biceps, boastfully (GUNS) — this was great. Much more fun to think of arms than to think of ... arms.
• 54D: Group assisting a sheriff (POSSE) — this was grim. Made me think of lynching. I'll take a hip-hop POSSE over a sheriff's POSSE any day.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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First (and last) queen of Hawaii / SUN 3-8-26 / Certain supervisor on a film set / So-called "rooster sauce" / Inventor and actress Lamarr / Indigenous people of the Great Lakes / Anna Howard ___ leader in the suffrage movement / Predinner beverage / Baseball announcer's update / Spanish letter / Sci-fi franchise that takes place in "the Grid" / Some budget-friendly grocery stores / Role for Geena Davis in "A League of Their Own" / March 8 observance connecting billions of people around the world / Structure in a shipping container

Constructor: Kelly Richardson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Join Together" — a puzzle celebrating INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY (71A: March 8 observance connecting billions of people around the world ... including the 22 people whose names cross this answer); so ... every answer crossing the revealer is a woman's name

Theme answers:

• ISSA Rae
• NINA Simone
• EMMA WATSON
• SADE
• Rita ORA
• Anaïs NIN
• LILIUOKALANI
• HARRIET Tubman
• Tara REID
• NORMA Talmadge
• Lupita NYONG'O
• MALALA Yousafzai
• Sally FIELD
• GWEN Stefani
• Sandra Day O'CONNOR
• TONI MORRISON
• ICE Spice
• INA Garten
• Anna Howard SHAW
• FRIDA KAHLO
• TINA Turner
• HEDY Lamarr

Word of the Day: ODAWA (35D: Indigenous people of the Great Lakes) —

[Odawa group areas]

The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa /oʊˈdɑːwə/) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long preceded the creation of the current border between the two countries in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Their peoples are federally recognized as Native American tribes in the United States and have numerous recognized First Nations bands in Canada. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe and Potawatomi peoples.

After migrating from the East Coast in ancient times, they settled on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, and the Bruce Peninsula in the present-day province of Ontario, Canada. They considered this their original homeland. After the 17th century, they also settled along the Ottawa River, and in what became the present-day states of Michigan and Wisconsin. They also occupied other areas of the Midwest south of the Great Lakes in what became the United States. In the 21st century, there are a total of approximately 15,000 Odawa living in Ontario, Canada, and in Michigan and Oklahoma (former Indian Territory, United States). (wikipedia)

• • •

There's an admirable ambition here (can't say I've ever seen twenty-two abutting names in a grid before), and it's always nice when the commemorative puzzle comes out on the actual day that it's commemorating. I just really, really wish it were ... better. That it had any kind of real concept (beyond a slew of truly random names). That the fill were generally strong. I wish I wish I wish. But I didn't enjoy this at all and to pretend otherwise ... I can't. The theme is ... a lot of women's names (?). That's it, that's all. That is the theme. Worse—honestly, much worse; puzzle-killing, tbh—is the fact that not only are there twenty-two (22!) women's names crossing the revealer (more names than any sane person would care to see on any day), but then there are ... more women's names (??). Non-thematically. Just ... scattered here and there. Like ... the theme already seemed weak because all it is is a list of (except for gender) unrelated names, the least you could do is have that set be tight, sealed, closed-off, exclusive, i.e. have no other women's names in the grid. But then ... there's THERESA May wandering around for some reason ... and DOTTIE ... and NORA Ephron. Just thrown in there, making a mockery of the already thin concept. If you're gonna rest your whole theme on 22 Women's Names (!) then there should be no other women's names except those 22. If the puzzle had kept it to just those 22 names, I still wouldn't have thought much of the concept, but I would've respected the attention to detail, at least. As is ... it just seems inelegant. Conceptually inelegant. I deeply respected the puzzle's "No Men" policy, but there again, the puzzle didn't quite go the distance. ELMO's pronouns are he/him, and MR. ROBOTO is obviously a mister (as is Monet, although I guess in the plural (MONETS) you're talking about the paintings, not the dude himself). The puzzle doesn't seem fully committed to the bit, is what I'm saying, and it's disappointing.

I am glad that there was a rationale for all the names, because as I moved down the west side of the puzzle, I was like "yikes, that is a Lot of crosswordy names" (SADE ORA NIN ISSA). I did enjoy (or at least appreciate) learning some new names today, at least one of which (LILIUOKALANI) nearly took my head off. When I say I needed every single cross, I mean Every Single Cross. That "U," yipes, it still looks so wrong. But I figured the Taylor Swift song was probably not "OAR Song" (48A: "___ Song" (Taylor Swift hit)), so "U" it was. I'd also never heard of Anna Howard SHAW, and I only barely know who NORMA Talmadge is (that is, I think I've heard the name, but I couldn't tell you a thing about her). Everyone else I know, including ICE Spice, who I know is gonna be new to lots of you. I really needed her today, because I honestly wasn't sure if it was INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY or INTERNATIONAL WOMAN'S DAY. The one other proper noun I had absolutely no clue about was also the very last answer I completed: ODAWA. That "D" was my last letter. Number of ODAWA appearances in NYTXW history: before today, zero. Now, one. If you give me O-AWA, I will immediately tell you the answer has to be OZAWA. Seiji OZAWA, the conductor. No other letter makes sense. Or so I thought. I did not connect ODAWA to "Ottawa" (obviously), but that makes sense (see "Word of the Day," above). Lots of checking and rechecking crosses today.

Fillwise, the puzzle really lost me in the SW with ONE TO GO (?) (121A: "Nearly done!") and MEN ON (as clued) (111D: Baseball announcer's update) and "G'DAY, MATES" (the MATES part not being clued at all) (83D: Aussie greeting). With ATO and ANDSO and RERIGS down there as well, that corner is a real mess. Elsewhere there's extremely awkward stuff like SAY TO (?) and HALF TWO (arbitrary British times of day, huzzah!) and IDENT (oof) and PRIE (at least four (4!) Fr. answers today, five if you count NOIR) and multiple (multiple?) ALDIS. Then there was the lesser ugliness of stuff like AANDM (A & M) and CD-R and ANI (AN "I") and NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission). I was struggling to find things to admire. I know I said I didn't like the theme concept, but the theme did yield some of the more interesting answers of the day, like TONI MORRISON and FRIDA KAHLO. I really wanted to be able to say "I LIKE IT" to this one, but no such luck. 

Bullets:

• 13D: Show gratitude for service (LEAVE A TIP) — whenever I EAT A SANDWICH at a restaurant, I make sure to LEAVE A TIP.
• 113D: Spanish letter (CARTA) — brutal for me. Wanted a letter of the alphabet. But the "letter" here is a simple missive. Correspondence. That kind of letter. CARTA can also mean "card" or "menu" (which is what I would've guessed as its meaning, since CARTE means "menu" in French (as well as "map" and "card").
• 115D: Floor show? (C-SPAN) — the "floor" in question is the floor of the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, where official (and televised) business takes place.
• 38D: Sci-fi franchise that takes place in "the Grid" (TRON) — I have never seen a TRON. Not the original (1982), not TRON: Legacy (2010), not the animated TV show TRON: Uprising (2012-13). I was considering seeing TRON: Ares last fall, mainly because I saw that it featured Greta Lee (whom I love) as an action star, and that seemed interesting. But then the reviews were terrible and there were other movies playing and so I didn't see it after all. Kind of cute to give TRON a "Grid" clue. TRON is a crossword staple (111 grid appearances so far), but somehow no one has ever written a "Grid"-related clue before today (not in the NYTXW, anyway).

[72D: Singer and civil rights activist Simone]

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Throws spray, in surfer lingo / SAT 3-7-26 / Dry streambed / Makeup of a plot / You might dance on one / Like the crescendo in Ravel's "Boléro" / Controller of floods in the video game Pharaoh / Low notes, but not the lowest /

Constructor: Fritz Juhnke

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: wadi (which was somehow not the answer to 28D: Dry streambed (WASH)) —

the bed or valley of a stream in regions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa that is usually dry except during the rainy season and that often forms an oasis : GULLY, WASH (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

The fact that WADI and WASH (28D: Dry streambed) are essentially synonyms is just about the cruelest joke the English language ever played on this Saturday solver. I mean ... dry riverbed, Saturday puzzle, starts WA- ... I dropped WADI in there without hesitation. Not only has WADI been in the grid before (91 times, 14 in the Modern Era), you wanna know how it was clued the last time it appeared (2024)? That's right: [Dry streambed]. Same damn clue as today's clue for WASH. The fact that it's been in the grid before is the only way I know the meaning of WADI at all. Learned it from crosswords! I was so proud of WADI. Well, not proud, exactly, but I did think "thank god I solve a lot, that's kind of a tough word." WADI has been [Dry streambed] three times, whereas WASH (which, unlike WADI, has infinite other clue possibilities) has only been clued as a [Dry streambed] once before today. So I don't know what you all were struggling with today, but for me, the WADI / WASH thing was the pro-trap to beat all pro-traps. That "D" made "AM I NUTS?" impossible to see, even with several crosses in place. And an already hard (and bizarre) clue on WHIM (43A: You might dance on one) became impossible with the "I" from WADI in the second position. So while other parts of the puzzle were also challenging, that tiny WASH / WHIM / TWOS section seems, in retrospect, like the most treacherous. 

KRONA / LAND / NOPE wasn't great either. Never know which vowel ("E" or "A") is going to end KRON-, and then LAND ... yeesh, that vague clue (24A: Makeup of a plot). A plot of LAND, I get it, now, but I wanted, like ACRES or DIRT or, I don't know, something, anything more specific than just LAND. Even with "L" and "N" in place, I didn't know. Started thinking of other "plot"s (like, conspiracies). I wish the difficulty on this one hadn't come so much in the fussy short bits of the grid (or, as this crossword insists on calling them, the DOTTED bits). I much prefer to struggle with longer stuff and then have a moment of revelation where a (preferably great) answer bursts forth and really opens up the grid. I got that feeling—struggle, struggle, pow!—only once, really: when I hacked my way to ELM ST. (45A: Location of a notorious 33-Down: Abbr.) and then realized that the answer I couldn't get earlier—the long answer starting with "N" (33D: Cause of a cold sweat, perhaps) was NIGHTMARE! That was fun. About as much fun as I've ever had with cross-referenced clues. No other moment of the solve was so thrilling, though I do think the corners are generally very strong. Loved "SPIT IT OUT!" over "HOLY MOSES!" It's like one half of a dramatic conversation. "SPIT IT OUT!" "[unheard but obviously shocking statement]." "HOLY MOSES!" 

OMNIVERSE is a stupid word since "universe" already means "Totality of everything," but whatever, I got it easily from the "M." CARD SHARK (1A: One who makes a living from fish), is always tricky, esp. if you know that the term is actually CARD SHARP. Actually, both terms get used now, but SHARK is the mutation, I'm pretty sure. 

Phrasefinder puts "card sharp" (or "-sharper") as the slightly earlier usage, with an 1859 citation for "card-sharper" and "card-sharp" in both Britain and in the US, while "card-shark" is cited to 1893 in the US. (wikipedia)

As for the "fish" part of the clue, those are the marks. Was the "fish" bit supposed to clue me in to the fact that the answer was going to involve marine life? Perhaps. That never occurred to me while solving (I actually didn't struggle much with this one because I had the "K" from KRON- before I ever knew that 1A had anything to do with cards). 

[Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. 1594]

I had to think for a bit to understand how STAR POWER fit the clue (15A: Screen grab?). I guess the people on the "screen" who "grab" an audience are said to have STAR POWER. Yeah, that must be it. Saw a couple of movies with a lot of STAR POWER over the last two days: On Thursday, there was Crime 101 (Halle Berry, Mark Ruffalo, one of the Hemsworth brothers (please do not ask me to keep them straight), Nick Nolte, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and the great Barry Keoghan (best thing about the movie by far)), and then yesterday there was The Bride! (Bening! Bale! Buckley!—the three B's!—plus Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jake Gyllenhaal). Neither film has been particularly well reviewed but I enjoyed both and really liked The Bride! STAR POWER is actually an important component of that movie, as Frankie, the monster (Bale), has an obsession with a 1930s movie musical star (J. Gyllenhaal), whose movies he goes to see obsessively, living vicariously through the star as a way of combating his own profound loneliness. That's STAR POWER.

POCO A POCO is pretty tough, as musical terms go (17A: Like the crescendo in Ravel's "Boléro"). I can hear Boléro in my head very clearly right now, but I had to infer POCO A POCO from crosses. The phrase is at least vaguely familiar to me. "Little by little"—which is how Boléro builds, at least in volume. The term POCO A POCO does not appear at all on the wikipedia page for Boléro. Someone more musical than I will tell you whether the term is apt. "NO, I INSIST" as an intriguing "OII" string (don't see those too often). Weird lot of first-person business today ("NO, I INSIST," and then "AM I NUTS?" crossing "I'M AN IDIOT"), but I don't have a problem with it. The pun on "smoking" in the RIB JOINTS clue, though (13D: Establishments where smoking is allowed)—that seems kind of forced. Smoking is not "allowed" in RIB JOINTS, it's one of the primary activities of RIB JOINTS. It's essential to RIB JOINTS. Permission is not a relevant issue. Boo to that attempted misdirection, for sure. 

Bullets:

• 19A: What travellers typically have in America? (ONE "L") — a "letteral" clue! Did not see that one coming. I guess if you have to use ugly crosswordese like ONEL, you may as well go ahead and try to make it interesting. As long as "interesting" doesn't mean "awkward and unnecessarily difficult," I don't mind.
• 29A: Controller of floods in the video game Pharaoh (OSIRIS) — had the "O," saw "Pharaoh" in the clue, wrote in OSIRIS. No video game knowledge required.
• 37D: R&B's Braxton (TONI) — I really enjoyed her music in the '90s and early '00s. Listened to this one a lot. Real Anita Baker vibes (extremely complimentary):

• 40A: Sémillon rouge and Médoc noir (MERLOTS) — had the "M" and those seemed ... red ... so guessed MERLOTS. No sweat.
• 62A: Woman central to electioneering? (IONE) — never saw this clue! Weird how you can struggle in some places and absolutely blow through others. Anyway, this is a hidden-name clue: "electioneering."
• 10D: Throws spray, in surfer lingo (SHREDS) — I know this as guitar-playing slang, but I was able to infer it easily enough today (thanks, RABBI and EMOJI!).
• 63A: "Big Little Lies" author Moriarty (LIANE) — a five-letter version of Veronica ROTH, in that she's a popular author whose name I cannot for the life of me remember, ever. I had to leave the final vowel blank here and wait for the cross, as LIANA is also a name one might have.
• 39D: Low notes, but not the lowest (TWOS) — definitely had TENS in here at some point. Completely forgot TWOS existed. I have a bunch of them stashed in the house somewhere, courtesy of someone who decided to make their annual $$$ contribution to this blog in ... unusual fashion. I should just deposit them, but they’re such weird, crisp little curiosities that I feel strangely compelled to hold on to them.

That's all for today. See you next time (and a "Happy" Daylight Saving Time to all of you) (I hate "springing forward" so much, esp. when it happens in winter and not in *&$%ing spring like it's supposed to)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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