Ferruginous pigment / FRI 2-13-26 / Tiny nation claiming over 1,700 years of self-governance / Polite, friendly stereotype from the Midwest / A red plastic one might be worn on Halloween / Poke accompaniment, at times / Goddess often depicted with peacocks / Provincetown catch / 1976 Fleetwood Mac hit said to be inspired by a Welsh witch / Cold drinks often topped with evaporated milk / Canyon with a much-hiked section called the Narrows

Constructor: Evan Mulvihill

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

[46A: "Andor" actor ___ Luna]

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: SAN MARINO (6D: Tiny nation claiming over 1,700 years of self-governance) —

 

San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (RSM), is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two microstates within Italy, the other being Vatican City. San Marino is the fifth-smallest country in the world, with a land area of just over 61 km² (23.5 mi²) and a population of 34,042 as of 2025. Its capital, the City of San Marino, sits atop Monte Titano, while its largest settlement is Dogana, in the municipality of Serravalle.

San Marino claims to have been founded in AD 301 and to be the oldest extant sovereign state and the oldest constitutional republic. It is named after Saint Marinus, a stonemason from the Roman island of Rab (in present-day Croatia), who is supposed in mythic accounts to have established a monastic community on Monte Titano. The country has a rare constitutional structure: the Grand and General Council, a democratically elected legislature, selects two heads of state, the Captains Regent, every six months. They are chosen from opposing political parties, and serve concurrently with equal powers and preside over several institutions of state, including the Grand and General Council. Only the Federal Council of Switzerland also follows that structure, except with seven heads of state, and different responsibilities and functions.

San Marino is a member of the Council of Europe and uses the euro as its official currency, but is not part of the European Union. The official language is Italian. Its economy is based on finance, industry, services, retail, and tourism, and it ranks among the wealthiest countries in the world by GDP (PPP) per capita. San Marino was also the first existing state to abolish the death penalty, and in 2025 was ranked 29th on the Human Development Index. (wikipedia)

• • •

[delicious]

Wow, real rollercoaster, this one. Dizzying highs, unfortunate lows. The good news is there were more of the former than the latter. The meat of this puzzle—the long answers cascading through the center of the grid—are very good. The corners ... less so. I definitely got my Friday "whoosh whoosh" feeling coming out of the (mediocre) NW corner and falling down down down, SAN MARINO to THAI ICED TEAS to FLAT-EARTHERS—normally I'm not thrilled about seeing manifestly ignorant people in my grid, but FLAT-EARTHERS is just a great term, and the phenomenon, for me, falls in the "so stupid it's funny" category. When I bounced back up to the middle of the grid and crossed all those long Downs with MINNESOTA NICE, I was on a Friday high of rare proportions (34A: Polite, friendly stereotype from the Midwest). Usually the puzzle's gotta have a Robyn Weintraub byline to make me feel that exhilarated (shout-out to all my MINNESOTAN friends / f*** I.C.E.). But there was nowhere to go but down from there. How far down ... let's just say I was Not prepared for the jolt that was IN ARABIC (33D: How the Quran is written). Very easy to get, but ... what? What are we doing? IN ARABIC? Can we just do IN [any language] now. IN SWEDISH, you like that? (not slagging on Sweden per se—congrats on the Mixed Doubles Curling Gold Medal, Sweden, as well as your total dominance in women's Cross Country—fun to watch). An eight-letter answer given over to an IN [any language] phrase seems awful. INDUTCH? INFARSI? Come on, you see how this is bad. You gotta get a better partner for DIVE BARS down there (You know things are bad when you're not fit company for DIVE BARS). 

Shortly after IN ARABIC, I RAN A LIGHT, which ... again, this felt desperate. Did you EAT A SANDWICH while driving, is that why you didn't see the light? Seems likely. I guess people do say "he RAN A LIGHT" when they mean "he ran (through) a red light." Still, not a fan of the behavior, not a fan of the answer. I finished in the NE, which was the one part of the puzzle I just couldn't access at first. Got A-ROD and LASTS easy, but FIFE and esp. LIVED (!?!) were keeping me stuck, and neither of the 7-letter Acrosses up there made any sense to me at first glance. FIRE HAT? (15A: A red plastic one might be worn on Halloween). Why am I wearing that ... on Halloween? Do real firemen not wear them ever? It's not a great answer to begin with, and then the clue ... the Halloween bit meant nothing to me. As for "I VOTE NO," meh, just couldn't see it. It's fine, it's just not something I hear very often—way more formal than the slangy clue suggests (18A: "Thumbs-down from me"). So I had to come at that NE corner from below, and much later, at the very end. Would rather end with whoosh than clank, but your path through the grid is often chaotic and unpredictable. I would add that having YEP and "HELL YEAH!" in the same little corner was a disappointment. You've already got one good assent up there ("HELL YEAH!") why would you go and undermine it with redundancy, shoving in yet another, smaller, lesser assent ("YEP"). But overall, far more good than bad here. And it's got a Stevie Nicks soundtrack. I approve.

[1976 Fleetwood Mac hit said to be inspired by a Welsh witch]

Aside from the NE corner, the only other part of the puzzle where I struggled was ... well, one answer, really: TIVOS (24D: Saves for later, in a way) Before I got those long Acrosses in the middle of the grid, I had no idea what was going on with TIVOS. I had the "I" from CIRCA and wrote in HIDES. And that "H" "worked" "great"—HAILED seemed like a perfectly plausible answer for 24A: Went after (TAILED). He went after a cab, he HAILED a cab. I buy it! Or, I bought it, anyway. After I got MOVIE TRAILER, rather than changing HIDES to TIVOS, I changed it to ... HIVES. I thought "oh, new slang I don't know about! I guess if you save something for later, you ... hive it? Take it back to your hive? Interesting...." Also, not true. Thank god for DIAMOND EARRING, an answer whose clue I never even read—I had so many letters in place that I was able to infer it. DIAMOND gave me the "O," which gave me HIVOS, which was obviously wrong ... and there we go: TIVOS. I've never known anyone with a TiVo and so without any television context in that clue: yikes and yipes. But in the overall scheme of things, the puzzle was not difficult at all.

["The band's name was inspired by the Bryant Lake Bowl, a frequent hang out in the band's early years, located on Lake Street in Minneapolis." (wikipedia)]

Bullets:

• 4A: Poke accompaniment, at times (PSST) — got this easily, but am now wondering if the clue wasn't trying to make me think of "Poke" as a culinary thing (like a "poke bowl"). Poke = raw fish salad. "Accompaniment" makes me think the clue was trying to get me to think of food. But I didn't. Maybe some will. Did you? 
• 22A: It's what you should take, in brief (RDA) — Recommended Daily Allowance (for instance, the RDA of ZINC is 11mg for adult men and 8mg for adult women)
• 23A: Lundi ___, festive Monday observance in New Orleans (GRAS) — back-to-back GRAS days. Weird. Also weird—Fat Monday? Couldn't you get a different adjective for Monday?
• 40A: Goddess often depicted with peacocks (HERA) — should've been a gimme, but I had the "A" in place and briefly considered RHEA ... possibly because a RHEA is a bird, and a peacock is a bird. Sometimes making a lot of quick associations among words does not, in fact, help you. Fun fact: RHEA is actually HERA's mom. So I was ... close. Ish. 
• 46A: "Andor" actor ___ Luna (DIEGO) — for some reason, the name DIEGO Luna comes trippingly off the tongue. It's a mellifluous name that I know well. Weirdly, I have no idea why I know it and absolutely could not pick DIEGO Luna out of a line-up. Also, I'm now just realizing: we're back to Zero Days without a Star Wars reference. [pardon me while I go put the sign back up]

• 11D: Poem so beloved by Abraham Lincoln that he carried it in his pocket and memorized it ("THE RAVEN") — the guy did have a good ear for the poetic quality of the English language. Did you know there was a 2012 movie based on "THE RAVEN" starring John Cusack (!?!?!). I think that when it comes to "Raven" adaptations, I'll stick to the classics.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. hey, you wanna see a cursed search engine result? (my god I hate the modern internet experience)

 

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Lightweight fabric for a handkerchief / THU 2-12-26 / Heavy metal band whose name is a big cat in Spanish / 7-Eleven competitor on the East Coast / Michael nominated for Oscars in five decades / Sapa ___ ("The only emperor" in Quechua) / Dennis's sister on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" / Northeastern prep school or its town

Constructor: Kareem Ayas

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (once you get the gimmick, very easy)

THEME: GIVE A HUG / STEAL A KISS (58A: Provide comfort, in a way ... or a hint to the answers to the four starred Across clues / 26D: Quickly smooch ... or a hint to the answers to the four starred Down clues) — you (the solver) have to (mentally) GIVE A HUG (i.e. add an "O") to four Across answers, and STEAL A KISS (i.e. remove on "X") from four Down answers in order to make sense of their clues:

Theme answers:

• D(O) WELL / LATEX (1A: *Succeed (DWELL + "O" = "do well") / 5D: *Behind in payment (LATEX minus "X" = "late") 
• SH(O)UT-OUTS / EXTERNALLY (18A: *Public messages of appreciation (SHUTOUTS + "O" = "shout-outs") / 11D: *Forevermore (EXTERNALLY minus "X" = "eternally")
• CLAM S(O)UP / AXMEN (37A: *New England-style chowder, for one (CLAMS UP + "O" = "clam soup") / 29D: *Word appearing 51 times in the New Testament (AXMEN minus "X" = "Amen")
• FLAMING(O) / MAXIM (54A: *Long-legged wader (FLAMING + "O" = "flamingo") / 52D: *Severely harm (MAXIM minus "X" = "maim")

Word of the Day: BATISTE (47A: Lightweight fabric for a handkerchief) —

[the only BATISTE I know]

A fine cloth made from cotton or linen; cambric. // From French batiste, a form of Baptiste, of disputed origin (“according to Littré and Scheler from the alleged original maker, Baptiste of Cambray; according to others, from its use in wiping the heads of children after baptism” – OED) (Wiktionary via Wordnik)

• • •

My appreciation for this puzzle went up as I started writing the explanation of the theme (above). During the solve, I got the drop-an-"O" / add-an-"X" thing pretty quickly—after that, I had an idea of what to look for, and the only mystery was what the revealer phrase was going to be. When the revealer phrase turned out to be plural—revealer phrases—I was slightly disappointed at first. It makes sense to pair hug and kiss, obviously, and crossing two revealer phrases is pretty impressive, architecturally, but somehow the specific phrases here, GIVE A HUG and STEAL A KISS, belong to such different universes, contextually, that the whole "reveal" moment felt like it clanked. I'm giving comfort ... but then also secretly / furtively / possibly non-consensually kissing someone? The latter has decidedly romantic implications, the former absolutely does not, so the pairing seemed odd. So I closed the puzzle feeling slightly disappointed. But then writing out the theme, and really looking at how it was executed, my appreciation for the craftsmanship involved here began to increase. You're pairing (crossing) X- and O-related answers, you're adding a letter in one direction but taking it away in the other, you end up with perfectly plausible-looking answers in the grid in every case ... that's a lot of balls to keep in the air. Throw in the two revealer phrases and you've got ten (10!) theme answers—do you have any idea how dense that is? How hard it is to fill a grid with this many themers running in both directions? That the grid worked out at all is remarkable. That it came out relatively clean and even vibrant in places (EVEN STEVEN! MOUSETRAPS!) is kind of amazing. I enjoyed discovering the missing "O"s and extra "X"s, and there were very few times along the way where I thought "oof" or "no," so ... yeah, I liked this one, and the more I look at it, the more I like it.

I started out by getting DWELL but not getting DWELL, and then seeing LATE but not understanding why there was an extra square at the end. When EXIT gave me LATEX I thought "OK, we're adding Xs ... what's going on with DWELL?" If you stare at DWELL hard enough, knowing the clue is [*Succeed], DO WELL just pops out. At least it did for me. I feel like my constant diet of cryptic crosswords probably helped, as I'm now very accustomed to mentally cutting up words and rearranging their parts. Lots of training in seeing what's not there and dropping what is. Anyway, the initial struggle to figure out the theme concept was the only real difficulty for me today. That and BATISTE, which ... ?????? My first and only thought there was "the original clue here must have been Jon BATISTE." BATISTE was bandleader and musical director of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for seven years (2015-22 and was a regular on-screen (and conversational) presence. He has won eight Grammys, including Album of the Year for 2021's We Are. This is all to say that he is more than crossworthy and I would've loved to see him as the clue here instead of this fabric I've never heard of (which is somehow the same as cambric but also not (?!) ... I fell down a bit of a BATISTE rabbit hole and it didn't leave me any fabric-smarter).

[BATISTE being Stephen Colbert's bandleader *and* crossing "EVEN STEVEN" ... would've been good, I'm just saying...]

While I liked the puzzle overall, there were some moments that were less than pleasant. LISTEE hurt my ears and made my shoulders tense up (4D: Directory name). A "directory name" is a LISTING. Yes it is. You know it is. I'm sure LISTEE's lawyers have prepared a good case but overruled, contempt of court, this whole courtroom is out of order, case dismissed. Actually, looking over the grid, the only other part that made me holler "no!" (silently, in my head) was GRAS because they decided to go the force-fed geese route instead of the simple (and *timely*) Mardi GRAS route. Always choose the festive parade over the animal torture. I also will always hate TE-HEE, spelled thusly. I just can't accept the "TE"—the two parts rhyme, so the two parts should look the same. It's TEE + HEE. See also TEPEE. But otherwise, nothing UNHOLY about this grid at all. Again, given the theme density, it's remarkably solid.

Bullets:

• 20A: Heavy metal band whose name is a big cat in Spanish (PANTERA) — maybe the thinking behind the BATISTE clue was "well, we've already used one long musical name that's' not exactly universally famous, maybe we shouldn't do it twice." Both PANTERA and BATISTE have multiple Grammy nominations. But BATISTE can (apparently!) be clued in a non-musical way, whereas PANTERA cannot*, so PANTERA stays a musical act and BATISTE gets changed. Boo. Side note: PANTERA would be a great answer for anyone working on some kind of "add-a-T" theme. PANERA + "T" = PANTERA. [*update: there is an automotive PANTERA, it turns out]

• 2D: 7-Eleven competitor on the East Coast (WAWA) — I live in the NE but not on the "East Coast," so there are actually no WAWAs in my vicinity. But I am aware of their existence, and I'm very aware that WAWA was very recently in the puzzle (Jan. 20, 2026), so I dropped WAWA next to DROP no problem.
• 3D: Tree of knowledge locale (EDEN) — I always think of it as the "Tree of the knowledge of good and evil," because that's what it's called, but this is good enough I guess. Sh(o)ut-outs to all the Paradise Lost fans out there.
• 29A: *Word appearing 51 times in the New Testament (AXMEN) — this is my favorite theme answer. Not the base answer ("Amen") but the actual "X"-added answer. I just love the idea of the New Testament being really into guitar players. "And Jesus shreddeth for the masses, and it was good."

[skip to 3:30 if you want to see God's Own Axman at work]

• 33D: Lunch item usually eaten with two hands, in brief (BLT) — [citation needed]
• 41D: Michael nominated for Oscars in five decades (CAINE) — had the "C" and thought "ooh, it's Michael CERA + an 'X' ... somehow. So, what would that make? CERAX? CEXAR? Why can't I make a word? Wait a minute ... Michael CERA hasn't even been alive for five decades, what the hell? Oh, crap, this isn't even a themer. So ... right, Michael CAINE. Yes, that's much better."
• 58D: Unpleasant discovery under a desk (GUM) — first of all, if I left the GUM there for later, then my "discovery" is not "unpleasant" at all, thank you very much. Second, I had G-M here and for a split second definitely thought GAM. "Why would that be unpleasant? Who doesn't like GAMs!?" In my defense, you can definitely find GAMs "under a desk"—you might get hauled into HR for inappropriate workplace behavior if you actively go hunting for them, but trust me, they're there. Sometimes.

[gams, seen here not under a desk]

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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Andy's partner in an old radio sitcom / WED 2-11-26 / One-named singer with the 2017 platinum album "Melodrama" / Matchmaking site with a "synagogue attendance" filter / ___ pear (applelike fruit) / Hoped-for prognosis for an election incumbent / 1957 rock 'n' roll classic suggested by this puzzle's circled letters / "Then, window, let day in, and let ___ out": Juliet / Glasses sans glass

Constructor: Joseph Gangi

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE" (57A: 1957 rock 'n' roll classic suggested by this puzzle's circled letters) — circled four-square blocks form four "balls" of "F-I-R-E" (with each "ball" having the letters at a different stage of rotation): 

Theme answers:

"GOODNESS GRACIOUS" (18A: "Oh, for heaven's sake!") [this is the line that immediately precedes "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE" in the chorus of the song]

DEFIES 

GRIND 

(34A: Openly resists)

(38A: Arduous routine)

DOGBREED 

   LIFE 

(29A: Newfoundland or Labrador retriever)

(36A: "Then, window, let day in, and let ___ out": Juliet)

 MIRE

SAFESEAT

(42A: Swampy land)

(45A: Hoped-for prognosis for an election incumbent)

 SOFIA

CATERS

(40A: "Priscilla" director Coppola)

(43A: Does the dishes?)

Word of the Day: "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE" (57A) —

"Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 popular song recorded by American rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie Jamboree. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 recording was ranked as the 96th-greatest song ever by Rolling Stone. It is written in AABA form. It sold one million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United States, making it one of the best-selling singles at that time.

• • •

Well, those are balls of "FIRE," but I'm not sure they're "great." Actually, I'm not even sure they're "balls." They're only "balls" because you've drawn circles around the relevant letters. So really they're GREAT SQUARES OF 'FIRE' ... or squares of 'FIRE'—again, the "greatness" is lost on me. The craftsmanship is impeccable here as far as the theme goes—the "balls" are arranged symmetrically toward the center of the grid, and each ball has the letters "F-I-R-E" in a different stage of rotation, so that every possible arrangement of the letters (read in clockwise order) is represented. Amazing find and great luck that "GOODNESS GRACIOUS" and "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE" have precisely the same number of letters. So you've got a kind of "great balls" sandwich, with the lyrics as the bread (on top, down below). It's all very neat. Structurally neat. But it was also a little lifeless, as a puzzle, and I still don't really believe those "balls" are "great," or even (really) "balls." 

I wonder how well younger solvers know this song. It's a classic, but I don't know if "classics" from the '50s still factor into younger people's store of songs. The song is well before my time (came out 12 years before I was born), but I know it very well—rock music simply hadn't been around *that* long when I was a kid, and so the store of "oldies" seemed finite and you could still hear them all over the place.  Also, Jerry Lee Lewis was a ... let's say, colorful figure. Frequently in the news (and, after the '50s, usually not for music—he had many wives, many personal tragedies, many tax problems). "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE" came out in November of 1957, the month before he married his 13-year-old cousin (who eventually left him, stating that she had been "subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable" (wikipedia)). He lost two children very young in separate accidents (car, pool), At least two of his wives died young (drugs, pool). But as an artist, he is best known for his wild, energetic playing style. Here's Elton John from a 2013 interview:

"[Until 'GREAT BALLS OF FIRE'], the piano playing that I had heard had been more sedate. My dad collected George Shearing records, but this was the first time I heard someone beat the shit out of a piano. When I saw Little Richard at the Harrow Granada, he played it standing up, but Jerry Lee Lewis actually jumped on the piano! This was astonishing to me, that people could do that. Those records had such a huge effect on me, and they were just so great. I learned to play like that." (wikipedia)

The overall grid was easy and a bit dull. Lots of 3-4-5s, esp. through the middle—gotta really divide and control that physical space in order to make all the "balls" work out right. But the "balls" themselves aren't interesting from a solving perspective (since they aren't directly connected to clues at all), and the fill drags a little as a result. You do get a few nice longer answers around the edges. I'm thinking about "YOU LOST ME" and BEST OF ALL, and even SAT IN FOR, but the other longer answers are a little on the meh side, and the short gunk gets a little gunkier than it should, probably (EEN EEO EINS EERIE ELS ELA ESS ERAT ... that's just the "E"s). I admire the architecture of this puzzle more than I enjoyed solving it.

Bullets:

• 1A: Lewis Carroll's "The ___ and the Carpenter" ("WALRUS") — I got this easily enough, but only because, if you solve crosswords long enough, you'll learn a weird lot about Alice in Wonderland, whether you want to or not. Think of it like the Star Wars of the olden days—a seemingly endless well of trivia for the crossword to draw from. I don't know that I've ever read Alice in Wonderland (or Through the Looking Glass) all the way through. Maybe I saw the cartoon? Anyway, I don't actually remember the WALRUS, but I think I've seen that WALRUS in at least one other (maybe cryptic?) puzzle just this week. Anyway, you'll see the cake message "EAT ME" or stray words from "Jabberwocky" and a lot of other Carroll-related stuff if you solve long enough.

• 45A: Hoped-for prognosis for an election incumbent (SAFE SEAT) — something about the wording of this clue seems off. SAFE SEAT is not a "hoped-for" thing; it's usually a structural thing, built into the seat itself. A district that contains an overwhelmingly "blue" or "red" voting bloc is considered a SAFE SEAT (for D or R, respectively). An "incumbent" obviously "hopes for" re-election," so they hope their seat is "safe" in that sense, but that's not really what SAFE SEAT means.
• 9D: Taylor Swift's "___ Song" ("OUR") — OK, there's no need to go to Taylor Swift for the simple word "OUR." That's back-to-back Swift days. It's getting worse than Star Wars. Don't make me break out a Swift counter. The puzzle has got to me more imaginative than this. Returning to the Swift well over and over, even when you absolutely don't have to, is a little exhausting.
• 53D: Actress Fanning (ELLE) — would've loved to have seen some mention here of her recent Academy Award nomination for her performance in Sentimental Value (my favorite movie of last year). I don't think I ever paid much attention to Fanning's work before that, but she is perfect as the superstar American actress (mis-)cast in the comeback film of a highly regarded older director (played by Stellan Skarsgård). The director's own daughter (also an actress) turned the role down, and so ELLE Fanning gets cast instead and ends up in a kind of surrogate daughter relationship with the director, while the real daughter (who has a lot of justifiable anger toward her father) looks on from the outside. It's all very touching and remarkably funny, and my wife and I both marveled at Fanning, who has to play an actress who is *wrong* for the part—not broadly, obviously, over-the-top wrong. Just ... wrong. It's a subtle, beautiful performance.

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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Birkin bag maker / TUE 2-10-26 / John ___, longtime writer for The New Yorker / News website with a Latin name / Catholic university whose mascot is a lion, aptly / Viral dance of the 2010s / 20 ounce Starbucks size / Pool from a volcanic eruption / Program for expedited travel between the U.S. and Canada / Reputation or Lover, to a Swiftie / First Oscar winner to be born in the 21st century (for Best Original Song) / Margaret Mead's subject, informally

Constructor: Sarah Sinclair and Amie Walker

Relative difficulty: Medium, maybe a little tougher than that (***for a Tuesday***)

[43D: Kylo ___, "Star Wars" antagonist]

THEME: "GIVE ME A HAND" (59A: "I could use some help here" ... or a hint to 17-, 25-, 37- and 50-Across) — theme answers are all things you give hands to:

Theme answers:

• POKER PLAYER (17A: Certain casino regular)
• PALM READER (25A: Psychic who examines lifelines and heart lines)
• MRS. POTATO HEAD (37A: "Toy Story 2" character who says "I'm packing you an extra pair of shoes, and your angry eyes, just in case")
• CLAP-O-METER (50A: Device measuring audience approval)

Word of the Day: John MCPHEE (44D: John ___, longtime writer for The New Yorker) —

John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American author. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth occasion in 1999 for Annals of the Former World (a collection of five books, including two of his previous Pulitzer finalists).\ In 2008, he received the George Polk Career Award for his "indelible mark on American journalism during his nearly half-century career".^[2] Since 1974, McPhee has been the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. (wikipedia) // Coming into the Country is a 1976 book by John McPhee about Alaska and McPhee's travels through much of the state with bush pilots, prospectors, and settlers, as well as politicians and businesspeople who each interpret the state in different ways. // One of his most widely read books, Coming into the Country is divided into three sections, "At the Northern Tree Line: The Encircled River," "In Urban Alaska: What They Were Hunting For," and "In the Bush: Coming into the Country". // Like all of McPhee's books, Coming into the Country started out as an outline that he proceeded to fill in. It is McPhee's best-selling book. // After the publication of Coming into the Country, The New York Times called McPhee "the most versatile journalist in America". (wikipedia)

• • •

A pockmarked, choppy grid that felt fussy from the outset. Something about that NW (and SE) corner is so overly-carved out and ugly, IMO. Just too many black squares for my eye / sensibility. The weirdly offset longer Downs (GETS IN SHAPE / LADIES NIGHT) create this odd over-black-squared phenomenon, which should be innocuous, but somehow made the start of this solve really unpleasant. Starting with threes—and ambiguous 3s at that (I had ZIP for VIM (1A: Pep in one's step) and later PET for VIP (1D: One who gets special treatment, for short) and then, because of PET, EMOJI (!?) for IMAGE (12A: Picture it!)). The fill was pretty bad at the outset, in part because of this short-word glut (IMO ETAIL (ugh), CFOS, FLAM, NAE NAE), so the puzzle started in a hole with me. Things got better when the longer answers started cooking, but still, throughout, the short fill (esp. the very short fill, the 3s) felt relentless. All those 3s in the NE / SW ... and then EKE ANODE STLEO on one line. It was a lot to take. The puzzle was also replete with proper nouns, which ... you know, live/die by them, I guess. I loved seeing John MCPHEE (someone whose writing for the New Yorker I always admire and someone I keep meaning to read more). But then you've got your DAEs and your RAEs and your NAE NAEs and I'm less excited about those. Seriously, has any puzzle gone to the "AE" well more times than this one? Five times! DAE RAE NAE NAE and AERIE! This puzzle deserves a medal. A medael. I don't know for what, but it's Winter Olympics time, and I'm in the medal-giving spirit. Anyway, if you just see past the bullet-riddled grid and the unfortunate short fill, underneath it all is a pretty basic Monday/Tuesday-type theme. I like that the themers don't just involve hands but actually giving hands. It's as if each theme answer might actually say "GIVE ME A HAND" (to the extent that you can imagine a CLAP-O-METER "saying" anything).

[I have no idea what is happening here (I've never watched an episode of Coronation Street in my life) but someone asks "What's a CLAP-O-METER?" so it seemed appropriate]

[Never heard of CLAP-O-METER before—this is what I thought the device was called]

The fill had a decidedly feminine bias, which I noticed and appreciated. MAKEOVERs and MAMA and DARA Torres (40D: Swimmer Torres with 12 Olympic medals) and Margaret Mead (11D: Margaret Mead's subject, informally) and Taylor Swift (14D: Reputation or Lover, to a Swiftie = ERA) and Billie EILISH (21A: First Oscar winner to be born in the 21st century (for Best Original Song)) and MRS POTATO HEAD—a real LADIES NIGHT here at [checks clock] 5:03am. Does MRS. POTATO HEAD come with a Birkin bag? (48D: Birkin bag maker = HERMÉS). Think about it, Hasbro. You can have that idea for free [HASBRO ... haven't seen that in the puzzle in five years ... saw WHAM-O just last week ... sorry, toy company name digression, back to the puzzle]. Even though I don't love the grid choppiness or much of the short fill, I actually think the overall fill is somewhat more interesting than you typically get on a Tuesday. Longer Downs are plentiful and decent (MAKEOVER, GETS IN SHAPE, LAVA PIT, LADIES NIGHT, ABOVE ALL), and if the puzzle runs a little trivia-heavy, a little proper noun-heavy, it does have a lot of personality. 

Bullets:

• 44A: "Don't Tell ___" ("Cabaret" song) ("MAMA) — one of the answers that made this one tougher (than usual) for me. If you want to hide MAMA from me, put it in a song I've never heard of. You could've told me literally anything went in that four-letter space and I would've believed you. "Don't Tell A LIE," "Don't Tell ME NO," "Don't Tell FRED," sure, those all sound good. 
• 68A: Program for expedited travel between the U.S. and Canada (NEXUS) — glad I never saw this clue because yikes, what? I live not that far from Canada and I've never heard of this. Is this a widely known thing? NEXUS? I can tell you that NEXUS has appeared 49 times in NYTXW history (24 times in the Modern Era, 16 times since I started this blog), and this is the first time it's been clued this way. On a Tuesday? OK, like I said, I never saw the clue, so the "difficulty" was lost on me. Weirdly, I never saw the clue on the first three themers today either. Strange. There was just so much short stuff to work that every time I looked up, another themer was filled in enough for me to guess it.

["Canada, oh Canada"]

• 4D: Song suitable for a slow dance (BALLAD) — I wrote in BALLET. I kinda know why ("dance") but still, really bad reflex there.

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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