Big name in carving knives / TUE 1-13-26 / Birth name of Marvel Comics Black Panther / Angle symbol, in geometry / Segments of earth's lithosphere

Constructor: Nate Hall

Relative difficulty: very very easy

THEME: "WE WILL ROCK YOU" (53A: Iconic 1977 Queen hit ... or a hint to 19-, 31- and 42-Across) — things that rock (you?) (as in "cause (you?) to sway")

Theme answers:

• NEONATAL NURSE (19A: Hospital worker tending to newborns)
• MECHANICAL BULL (31A: Bar attraction with a saddle and horns)
• TECTONIC PLATES (42A: Segments of Earth's lithosphere)

Word of the Day: CUTCO (33D: Big name in carving knives) —

Cutco Corporation, known prior to 2009 as Alcas Corporation, is an American company that sells cutlery, predominantly through multi-level marketing. It is the parent company of CUTCO Cutlery Corp., Vector Marketing, Ka-Bar Knives, and Schilling Forge. The company was founded in 1949 by Alcoa and Case Cutlery (hence "Al-cas") to manufacture stainless steel knives for Alcoa's WearEver Cookware division. Alcoa purchased Case's share in the company in 1972, and Alcas became a separate private company in 1982 after a management buyout. In 1985, the company acquired Vector Marketing Corporation.

The company has been the subject of criticism and lawsuits for its business practices, and has been accused of being a multi-level marketing company. The Los Angeles Times claims that Vector meets the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) definition of a multi-level marketing company which is "businesses that involve selling products to family and friends and recruiting other people to do the same" because they sell their product through person-to-person sales. Salespeople are generally young and recruited from high school or college. Students are hired to sell Cutco products (mainly kitchen knives) to customers, starting with their friends and family. Vector's recruitment tactics have been described as deceptive, and they have faced numerous lawsuits over their pay structure and treatment of its salespeople, who are mostly independent contractors instead of employees. Vector claims they are a single-level direct selling marketing company, not a multi-level marketing company or a pyramid scheme as its detractors claim.

• • •

Look at that skinny-ass grid! Yesterday, we got a chonky 16-wide, and today, Jack Sprat. Funny. The funniest part of this puzzle, for me, though, was CUTCO. The answer itself isn't particularly funny, but my reaction ("What the hell is that?") ended up being funny, because I went back to see if CUTCO had been in the puzzle before, and it had, twice, and both times my reaction was ... "What the hell is that?" Apparently no amount of the NYTXW trying to force me to believe that CUTCO is a "big name" in knives is going to get my brain to accept that CUTCO is, in fact, a "big name" in knives. Was elated to discover today that CUTCO is (or really really looks like) a multi-level marketing scheme, LOL (see "Word of the Day," above). No wonder I've never seen or heard of them. CUTCO also has one of the worst, least imaginative product names of all time. CUTCO is the name you go with when the only other options your name guy could come up with were KNIVES 'R' US and THE SLICE BOYS. "Uh ... we'll go with CUTCO, I guess." Anyway, CUTCO stood out like a BEAR CUB on an OIL RIG today, because it's the only answer that made me hesitate for even half a second. OK, THETA made me hesitate for half a second, but only just (4A: Angle symbol, in geometry). Everything else went in as fast as I could read the clues and type the answers. I can see how T'CHALLA might be a name that slows some people down today (4D: Birth name of Marvel Comics Black Panther), and I admit I thought the Pompeo actress was an ELENA rather than an ELLEN (32D: Actress Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy"). But otherwise, I was a flame and this puzzle was dry grass. Whoosh gone. Didn't even have to read the clue for MECHANICAL BULL. I had fun seeing how fast I could go (if I'd been timing, I gotta believe I'd've come in well under 3), but otherwise, fun was somewhat limited. 

Do these things "rock you?" Well, not me personally, but they rock ... one. I don't think of a NEONATAL NURSE's primary job as being "rocking," but I guess holding the babies and soothing them in some way is probably part of the job, sure. "Rocking," though, seems very specific. Are they rocking the cradles? Do neo-natal wards have rockable cradles? NEW MOTHERS or the equivalent might have made more sense here, but I can't say NEONATALNURSES wasn't an eye-catching answer. I wrote it in thinking "huh, a triple 'N' theme, this should be interesting!" As for the other themers, yes, bulls and earthquakes will indeed cause you to sway, if not fall, if not hurt yourself. Those answers work just fine. And I enjoyed remembering the anthemic Queen song. The rest of the fill was largely filler. TIM WALZ is an interesting full name to squeeze in there, though at the moment all it does is remind me of the Siege of Minneapolis (ongoing). Would be nice if Walz and other elected officials had any kind of answer for the violence being perpetrated by the federal government. Give a bunch of weak, poorly-trained, sadistic CLODS (37A: Buffoons) automatic weapons and body armor, set them loose to terrorize ethnic Somalis and other non-white immigrants (so—virtually any non-white person), and let them know in no uncertain terms that they are above the law ... and presto, you've got yourself your very own Gestapo. That is what ICE is at this point. Bizarre to pretend otherwise. Buncha dudes too incompetent and cowardly for actual war, doing their little war cosplay games in American cities with live ammunition, gleefully, boastfully hurting people. You're either into it or you're not, but ... Gestapo is the correct analogy. As for me: look, I don't even like ICE in my water (12D: Bartender's supply). F*** ICE. Abolish ICE. 

On to more pleasant things now.

Bullets:

• 36A: 1985 mystery film with three different endings (CLUE) — this movie is very silly and very enjoyable. I don't think I saw it when it initially came out, but I did watch it just last month as part of my "What Would I Have Seen 40 Years Ago?" movie-watching project. Just to give some structure to my (prodigious) movie-watching habit, I decided that once a week I'd just look at the movie listings for 40 years ago and then watch whatever movie I'd see if those were my options. In the first two weeks of this year, I've watched Ran and Brazil. Which is to say there were some *really* good movies in theaters 40 years ago. As for CLUE, it's no Ran, but it is entertaining. It's got Martin Mull *and* Madeline Kahn (something Ran cannot claim—though why they never remade Ran with Martin Mull and Madeline Kahn, I do not know—I'd've seen that sixteen times)

• 9D: Yogi, once (BEAR CUB) — this is a hilariously tortured example of successive clue rhyming. You've got 8D: Yogi's pose (ASANA) and then ... this clue, immediately after. If you had to write a hundred BEAR CUB clues, you'd never use Yogi. Only the proximity of this yoga clue is going to suggest to you "hey, what if Yogi was ... little? I know we never ever see him as a BEAR CUB, but ... I mean, he must have been one, right? Cartoons don't have actual lives, but ... still ... it's implied. Let's do it!"
• 52D: Many men on dating shows (HUNKS) — is this true? Also, do people still say "HUNKS?' Unironically? I was honestly looking for a more modern word. HIMBOS? HIMBI? 

• 44D: Pet sitters? (LAP CATS) — they are pets who sit (on your lap). I think you are the sitter, technically. Cats rarely sit in laps. They lie. Or flop. I had LAP here and had to wait for crosses, as LAP DOGS is not only a possible answer, but probably the more common phrase (LAP DOGS define a certain kind of small dog, different from most other, larger dogs, whereas LAP CATS ... any cat might be a lap cat. Most cats I know have, at some time or other, been LAP CATS. It's almost redundant).

[Pet sitters?]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Leaf on a sushi tray / MON 1-12-26 / Source of motivation, in modern lingo / Acronym of affection in ASL / Chocolate treat designed to look like a mountaintop / Rhyming advice to a renter of VHS tapes / Rhyming advice to a spitting talker / Rhyming advice to a gym rat

Constructor: Carolyn Davies Lynch and Christina Iverson

Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)

THEME: "Rhyming advice" — familiar expressions where the first half rhymes with the second half:

Theme answers:

• "SAY IT, DON'T SPRAY IT" (18A: Rhyming advice to a spitting talker)
• "NO PAIN, NO GAIN" (31A: Rhyming advice to a gym rat)
• "BE KIND, REWIND" (47A: Rhyming advice to a renter of VHS tapes)
• "YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE" (64A: Rhyming advice to a procrastinator)

Word of the Day: SHISO (69A: Leaf on a sushi tray) —

Perilla frutescens var. crispa, also known by its Japanese name shiso (紫蘇) from Chinese zisu, is a cultigen of Perilla frutescens, a herb in the mint family Lamiaceae. It is native to the mountainous regions of China and India, but is now found worldwide. The plant occurs in several forms, as defined by the characteristics of their leaves, including red, green, bicolor, and ruffled. Shiso is perennial and may be cultivated as an annual in temperate climates. Different parts of the plant are used in East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine. [...] 

• • •

This is a cute theme idea, but the cluing is all off. None of these expressions really qualify as "advice." SAY IT, DON'T SPRAY IT isn't "advice," it's mockery, used to demean or humiliate someone who is speaking loudly or forcefully enough to project saliva. I guess BE KIND, REWIND is "advice" of a sort, but it's more of a politely worded command from your friendly neighborhood video store (of yore). "NO PAIN, NO GAIN" is just an expression, a (stupid, foolhardy) bit of encouragement, often to oneself, mostly said as a kind of general truism, not as earnest "advice." The least advice-y of all of these is "YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE," which is a straight-up taunt to someone who was too slow to get whatever it is they wanted, usually uttered by the person who did, in fact, get that thing. Say, the last cookie or the front seat. Clearly, I'm imagining a kid saying it. Whatever, it's a taunt not "advice." And "procrastination" is rarely if ever the issue. Being merely too slow on the uptake does not mean that one "procrastinated" (a longer-term proposition). I understand the desire to solidify and tighten the theme with repetitive cluing, but I think the rhyminess of the expressions is self-evidently a unifying principle. No need to awkwardly force the cluing into line. The one bit of "rhyming advice" I can think of that's missing from this list is "USE IT OR LOSE IT"—which is, more than all the others, proper "advice." Still, I had fun figuring out these theme phrases. Sometimes not reading the Across clues helps with overall enjoyment.

Lots of short fill kind of weighs the grid down a little. 3-4-5s abound, and that always makes things a little leaden. But I will say that SCARY GOOD is scary good, a real high point among the non-theme answers. DELI CASES is adequate but not exciting, and nothing else really gets off the ground. The only scary (bad) moment I had while solving came in the SE, where all the Downs looked correct, but I ended up with an unrecognizable "word" in the crosses: SHISO. Took one look at SHISO and thought, "Oh crud, what did I do wrong?" Checked those Downs. Rechecked those Downs. Cannot see an error. Cannot fathom an error. Eventually I just left it in and hoped that it was, I dunno, some kind of pepper (like a shishito, maybe?). And I was close. Ballpark. SHISO is Japanese, and it is culinary, but it's not a pepper. It's a highly serrated green leaf used primarily for (sushi) garnish in east Asian cuisine. As I started to look up SHISO, I had this uneasy feeling that I had done this before (missed SHISO, looked it up). And I was right. SHISO has appeared before. Once. Back in May of last year. Here's what I had to say about it then:

As for SHISO, even looking it up didn't help much. A lot of its use in Japanese cuisine appears to be as a garnish, or a coloring agent. But it is common, so I have no complaints about its crossworthiness. Happy to learn a new culinary term (even if I'm doomed to forget it fairly quickly, probably).

Good to see that I know myself so well. I did indeed forget SHISO fairly quickly. Haven't seen or heard the word since that NYTXW appearance last year. With those (common) letters, you'd expect the term to proliferate. Maybe its appearance here—on a Monday (?)—is evidence that that is in fact what's about to happen. It's easily the least Monday thing in the grid, but maybe next time I won't feel that way. Third time's the charm! (how's that for non-rhyming non-advice?).

Bullets:

• 27A: Acronym of affection in ASL (ILY) — as in "I love you." It's also an "acronym of affection" in texting. ILY will always look (to me) like an adverbial suffix pretending to be something else. This is only the third appearance of ILY all time, all of those appearances coming since 2023. All of them abbrevs. for "I love you." 
• 28A: E.M.T. process often administered to the beat of "Stayin' Alive" (CPR) — I've heard this before, and it's meaningful to me because I was the right age to be engulfed overwhelmed and swallowed alive by the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. A musical juggernaut if there ever was one. But does the "Stayin' Alive" reference mean anything to younger people? I assume that song has a cultural afterlife, but how big, I don't know. Maybe CPR classes are single-handedly keeping that song alive for future generations.

• 6D: Chocolate treat designed to look like a mountaintop (SNO CAP) — one of the tougher downs, as I never see SNO CAPs anywhere but the candy counter at the movie theater, and I never, ever get them. I think I had them once as a kid and they must've made a bad impression on me because I love chocolate and I love mountaintops, but SNO CAPs, not so much. Not a "treat." Maybe I'll give them another try? I was imagining so many "chocolate treats." Sundaes, s'mores. If you want a candy, say "candy." "Treat" = bah!

• 37D: Where meats and cheeses are often displayed (DELI CASES) — briefly confounding, as nothing about the clue indicates a plural. "Where" tends to suggest a single specific place or a general term for a place, not multiple places. "Meats" and "cheeses" are plural, yes, but those plurals can typically be found in single DELI CASE. It's not like there's a DELI CASE out there that features just one meat and just one cheese. So I tried to think of a synonym for "case" for a little bit, before finally giving in and just attempting the plural. Which was correct.
• 66D: Initialism on a Navy carrier (U.S.S.) — first thought: "H.M.S." Then I remembered "H.M.S." stands for "Her Majesty's Ship" and thus unlikely to appear on an American seacraft. I guess the clue didn't specify American Navy, but I inferred it. So I pivoted to U.S.S. (United States Ship). But then SHISO happened, and I started wondering whether there was some other naval "initialism" I didn't know about. In the end, I stuck with U.S.S. The Correct Move.
• 46D: Source of motivation, in modern lingo (INSPO) — like "Insta," INSPO is with us to stay, apparently. Short for "inspiration," this is INSPO's sixth NYTXW appearance. As with ILY, all those appearances have been in the last three years (since 2023). 
• 55D: "Get outta my hair!," in a text (MYOB) — "mind your own business." Yet another slangy, internet-inspired shortening. This puzzle is rather heavy on shortenings in general. RELO. AMNIO. It can get a little wearing.
• 40A: Garage jobs involving grease guns (LUBES) — saw LUBES in the Acrosses and thought, "Whoa, I wonder if today is the day that LUBES finally gets a sex clue." But no. Not today. Some day (I assume). But not today. We did get [Slippery stuff] back in 2023, but that's not exactly sex-specific. I'm not saying I *want* a sex clue, exactly, I'm just saying ... it's coming. While the "garage" meaning of LUBE(S) is obviously valid, I think the other meaning of LUBE is more top-of-the-brain for most people these days. I went to Merriam-Webster dot com to look at their "Recent Examples on the Web" feature for LUBE, and ... well, there are no garages in sight:

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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Division signs, more formally / SUN 1-11-26 / Modern social media craze / Compound that ripens bananas / Bygone carrier that had a fleet of "Clippers" / Two-time capital of the Mughal Empire / Game on some kids' menus / Prank of doorbell ringing and running / Debaters who use deceptive arguments / Identifies digitally? / Mushroom often added to cream sauces / Classical Greek precinct with a noted oracle / Beast domesticated by the Incas

Constructor: Dylan Schiff

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "It's All Greek" — a "PHI" (ϕ) rebus where the letters "PHI" work in one direction and in the other direction, both the letter "I" and letter "O" are required to make sense of the answer—the "PHI"-containing word must be read twice, first with an "I" and then with an "O" (because the Greek letter PHI (ϕ) looks like "an 'I' atop an 'O'") (107D: Greek letter that resembles an "I" atop an "O" = PHI).

Theme answers:

• PING-[PONG] PADDLE / AMPHIBIA (22A: Article of sports equipment that typically has two rubber sheets of different colors / 2D: Class with frogs)
• CRISS-[CROSS] PUZZLE / DELPHI (32A: Game on some kids' menus / 20D: Classical Greek precinct with a noted oracle)
• DING-[DONG] DITCH / SAPPHIRE (38D: Prank of doorbell ringing and running / 46A: Birthstone before opal)
• TIP-[TOP] SHAPE / SOPHIA (50D: Perfect condition / 56A: Oscar-winning actress Loren)
• TIK-[TOK] DANCE / APHID (41D: Modern social media craze / 51A: Ladybug's prey)
• SING-[SONG] VOICE / SOPHISTS (43D: Melodic way of speaking / 53A: Debaters who use deceptive arguments)
• FLIP-[FLOP] SANDALS / PHILBIN (97A: Beachy footwear / 99D: Longtime TV personality Regis)
• HIP-[HOP] ARTISTS / DOLPHIN (111A: Tupac and Eminem, for two / 92D: Intelligent sea mammal)

Word of the Day: OBELI (26A: Division signs, more formally) —

An obelus (plural: obeluses or obeli) is a historical annotation mark in codicology that has come to have three distinct modern forms, meanings and typographical uses:

• Division sign ÷
• Dagger †
• Commercial minus sign ⁒ (limited geographical area of use)

The word "obelus" comes from ὀβελός (obelós), the Ancient Greek word for a sharpened stick, spit, or pointed pillar. This is the same root as that of the word 'obelisk'. In codicology, a (usually horizontal) obelus in the form of a dagger was used to indicate erroneous or dubious content. The third symbol is an obsolescent mark used in some European countries

In mathematics, the ÷ symbol is mainly used in Anglophone countries to represent the mathematical operation of division (but has other meanings elsewhere) and is called an obelus in older textbooks. In modern typography, the second symbol, called a dagger mark † is used as a reference mark or footnote indicator. It also has other uses in a variety of specialist contexts. (wikipedia)

• • •

***THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU*** Today is the last day of my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. This week has been delightful, if a bit overwhelming. I'm frankly at a bit of a loss for words. I've written and torn out these first few sentences over and over, trying to find a way to express how much I appreciate your support. I have been doing this—writing this blog—for twenty (20!) years as of this September. It is so tightly woven into the fabric of my life that I rarely think about what I'm doing, or why. I just do it. It's ... what I do. As regular a part of my day as brushing my teeth. But it takes a lot more time than brushing my teeth. I would not get up at 4am every day just to brush my teeth. But I do get up at 4am to write this blog, no matter what, rain/shine (or, where, I live, more like gray/grayer). Which brings me back to this question of "Why?" I know that part of it is pure obsession, genuine enthusiasm, a love for crosswords and (I hope you can tell) a love for writing. But a big part of it is you. I have a sense of obligation to a large and loyal audience who expect the blog to be there for them every morning, or every Sunday, or every time they get stuck. The obligation isn't onerous. Frankly, it's a privilege. I feel like I conjured you all out of thin air by some miraculous stroke of luck and every year I half expect that you'll just ... poof, disappear, gone as quickly as you arrived. This week, however—there you are, all at once, many of you offering messages of support and encouragement, or sharing your crossword-solving lives with me and telling me how much the blog is part of your routine.  

Look at that! I'm outranked only by "take pills"! Seems reasonable! This is the week when I really feel the broader blog-reading community most strongly, and if I had to give one reason why I keep writing every day—beyond habit, inertia, mania, etc.—it's community. You all make me feel like I'm part of something special. And as I begin to contemplate both retirement (from my day job) and relocation (not now, but not long from now either), your annual financial support of the work I do here means more and more to me. I can only say what I've said many times by now: thank you.

The first of the thank-you cards are already in the mail (they arrived from the printer earlier this week looking perfect):

[illustration by Katie Kosma]

If you were able to contribute this year, that is thrilling to me, but if you weren't able, that's also OK. Money is tight for many and you can only manage what you can manage. This blog is free to anyone who wants it or needs it, whether you are a financial backer or not. I just want you to keep solving and keep reading. Thanks for taking the time to pay attention to any of this. One last time, here are the various ways you can contribute (now, or at any time during the year). 

There's Paypal:

There's Venmo: @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which it apparently does sometimes)

And if you want one of the film noir-inspired postcards, there's the actual mail (you can make checks payable to either "Michael Sharp” or “Rex Parker"): 

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp

54 Matthews St.

Binghamton, NY 13905 

All this contact information lives full-time in the sidebar of my website and at the bottom of every post, in case you feel inclined to contribute months from now :) 

OK. That's it. To all my readers (and my hate-readers)—welcome to another year of this here blog. I'm so grateful for your company. Now buckle up. Let's go.

• • •

Truth be told, I found this one a little boring. My feelings about it were three-star, but the commitment to the PHI bit was so total, so wall-to-wall, so ornate, that I had to give it a grudging little bump. I don't much care for picture-based puzzles, since they add nothing to to the solving experience, but the architecture of today's grid—with its depiction of a giant black-square PHI / ϕ actually makes the grid kind of interesting to navigate. Creates these weird little pockets in the center of the grid, one just to each side. I liked those. I also liked the attempt to make the theme execution somewhat orderly, with the ϕ  (I/O) being part of the Across themers at the top and bottom of the grid, but part of the Down themers in the middle. Something about the way those four Down themers line up in a row like that, one in each of the four chunks of white space in the middle of the grid, seemed very neat, tidy, orderly. Also, the idea that you have to repeat the word to make sense of the answer (once with the "I," once with the "O") is a bit of genius. Architecturally, it is impressive. Solving it was a bit monotonous (all ϕ, all day long), but the execution was nonetheless impressive.

Do you think this puzzle needed a revealer? It struck me as completely anticlimactic and unnecessary, but I guess it does go some ways toward explaining the theme concept, which might have been unclear. Or maybe people found the revealer first and the clue helped them decipher the theme concept. I don't know. All I know is I'd been writing "PHI" into squares over and over and then got to a revealer that had nothing to say to me but "PHI"! Yeah, PHI, I know, PHI, I've been writing PHI, I see the big PHI symbol depicted in the grid, stop saying "PHI!" Is it PHI Day? Oh, wait ... is PHI a secret wink to crossword tournament-goers, a subtle celebration of the fact that the American Crossword Tournament (ACPT) is moving to PHI-ladelphia in 2027? Tragically, my wife and I did not register for this year's tournament right away and registration is already closed (!?). Guess we won't get to defend our Pairs title. Oh well, we'll just have to wait for 2027, when we can be the first PHI-ladelphia champions.

Figuring out the theme gimmick today was probably the hardest part of today's puzzle, and for me it wasn't that hard. Had the gist of it before I ever got out of the NW, though weirdly didn't get the rationale for the "I"/"O" thing until several themers later. Hilarious to look at the grid and (eventually) see a giant PHI (ϕ) staring at me. Like "hey, dummy, it's me, ϕ, the key to understanding the puzzle, hiding in plain sight!" But not fully understanding the ϕ part at first didn't impede my actually solving. I flailed around the NW a bit trying to grasp that first theme square, which was slippery as a bar of soap thanks to the weird-word team of AMPHIBIA and OBELI. But after I made it out of there, very few answers gave me trouble. I have no idea what songs Flo Rida ever sang. I thought maybe he tried "just a little." But no, apparently he cries (77A: Flo Rida title sung before the words "just a little" = "I CRY"). I have no idea what ETHENE is (84A: Compound that ripens bananas). I definitely had ETHANE in there for a while. In that same section, I thought maybe 48D: Identifies digitally? was pointing TO rather than pointing AT somebody (POINTS AT). I never see the word CONTES unless it's on the cover of a book of French short stories, so that answer was a little tough, as clued (95D: Short adventure tales). But I've got hardly any green ink on my puzzle print-out, which means genuine trouble spots were almost non-existent.

Bullets:

• 16A: Bygone carrier that had a fleet of "Clippers" (PAN AM) — these were apparently flying boats (!?). Did regular passengers actually fly on these? Looks like, yes, they were some sort of luxury option (??).

The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design from the earlier XB-15 bomber prototype. Twelve Clippers were built, nine of which served with Pan Am. It was the first aircraft to carry a sitting American president, when in 1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt flew from Miami to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco, via Trinidad, Brazil, and The Gambia. (wikipedia)

• 53A: Debaters who use deceptive arguments (SOPHISTS) — one of the things that made the grid interesting today was all the "PHI"-containing words. SOPHISTS and SAPPHIREs and DOLPHINs etc. The "I"/"O" answers are flashier, of course, but I'm surprised how solid and (relatively) colorful all the "PHI" words are. 
• 70A: Two-time capital of the Mughal Empire (DELHI) — my brain short-circuited here and instead of selecting a "Mughal"-appropriate place, it just started cycling in familiar five-letter cities. My first thought was CAIRO (!?). I think I also considered DUBAI at one point. Bizarre.
• 91A: Bit of entertainment for a morning commute, maybe (PODCAST) — true enough, I suppose, but this was a little hard for me, as I don't have a much of a "morning commute," don't usually listen to PODCASTs in the mornings, and don't really think of PODCASTs as "entertainment." Of course they are, but my brain has categorized them as "informational" more than "entertaining."
• 13D: Mushroom often added to cream sauces (MOREL) — crossword mushroom protip: it's MOREL or ENOKI. If you've got a five-letter mushroom on your hands, it's a MOREL or an ENOKI. And since "cream sauces" seem more French than Japanese ... MOREL.
• 103A: "I'm fine, but thanks anyway!" ("OH, THAT'S OK!") — really stretching the "OH" limits here. Are we just adding "OH" to the beginning of any expression? OH HI, OH YES, OH SURE, OH GIVE ME A BREAK, OH YOU MUST BE KIDDING, where does it end!? I'm not actually that mad at this answer, since I can definitely hear someone (me?) saying this phrase. I just want to raise "OH" proliferation as a matter of potential public concern. I'm raising awareness here. Let's all just keep an eye on it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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German cathedral city, to locals / SAT 1-10-26 / Mars comes third in it / Poles can be found next to them / Gay man, per historical slang inspired by Judy Garland / Loyal to a drastic extent / The kelpie of Celtic mythology / Andrew ___, banking tycoon who served as Treasury secretary from 1921 to 1932 / Kauai keepsake / Art form featuring performers in kishin (demon) and okina (old man) masks / Gemstone with gold-yellow bands

Constructor: Kameron Austin Collins

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Ludwig Mies van der ROHE (36D: Architect Ludwig Mies van der ___) —

[Farnsworth House, Plano, IL]

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (/miːs ... roʊ/ MEESS-...-ROH; German: [ˈluːtvɪç ˈmiːs fan deːɐ̯ ˈʁoːə]; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German and American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

In the 1930s, Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus, a ground-breaking school of modernist art, design and architecture in Germany. After Nazism's rise to power, due to its strong opposition to modernism, he emigrated to the United States in 1937 or 1938. He accepted the position to head the architecture school at what is today the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

Mies sought to establish his own particular architectural style that could represent modern times. His buildings made use of modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to define interior spaces. He is often associated with his fondness for the aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details".

• • •

***ATTENTION: READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS*** : It's early January, which means it's time once again for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. 2026 is a big year for me, as Rex Parker Solves the NYT Crossword will celebrate its 20th birthday in September. Two decades. The big 2-0. A score of years. One score and no years ago, I brought forth on this Internet a new blog, conceived in ... I think I'll stop there, but you get the idea. I've been at this a long time, and while it has been my privilege and joy, it has also been (and continues to be) a lot of work. Very early mornings, no days off—well, no days off for the blog. I do have two very able regular subs (Mali and Clare) who write for me once a month, as well as a handful of other folks who stand in for me when I go on vacation. But otherwise, it's just me, every dang day, up by 4am, solving and writing. I've never been this disciplined about anything in my life. Ask anyone. "Is he disciplined about anything else?" "No, he is not. Just this one thing. It's weird." And it's because I have a responsibility to an audience (that's you). Even after nearly 20 years, I'm still genuinely stunned and exceedingly grateful that so many of you have made the blog a part of your daily routine. Ideally, it adds a little value to the solving experience. Teaches you something you didn't know, or helps you look at crosswords in a new way, or makes you laugh (my highest goal, frankly). Or maybe the blog simply offers a feeling of commiseration—a familiar voice confirming that yes, that clue was terrible, or yes, that themer set should have been tighter, or wow, yes, that answer was indeed beautiful. Whether you find it informative or comforting or entertaining or infuriating—or all of the above—if you're reading me on a fairly regular basis, there's something valuable you're getting out of the blog. And I couldn't be happier about that.

["That's upside-down, sweetheart"]

Hopefully by now you can tell that for better or worse, what you get from me is my honest, unvarnished feelings about a puzzle. There's an explanatory element too, sure, but this blog is basically one person's solving diary. Idiosyncratic. Personal. Human. I'm not interested in trying to guess consensus opinion. I'll leave that to A.I. All I can do, all I want to do, is tell you exactly what it was like for me to solve the puzzle—what I thought, what I felt. Because while solving may seem like mere box-filling to outsiders, crossword enthusiasts know that the puzzle actually makes us feel things—joy, anguish, confusion (confusion's a feeling, right?). Our feelings might not always be rational, but dammit, they're ours, and they're worth having. And sharing. I love that crosswords engage the messy, human side of you, as well as the objective, solution-oriented side. If I just wanted to fill in boxes, without any of the messy human stuff, I'd solve sudoku (no shade, sudoku fans, they're just not for me!).

[conferring w/ my editor]

Over the years, I have received all kinds of advice about "monetizing" the blog, invitations to turn it into a subscription-type deal à la Substack or Patreon. And maybe I'd make more money that way, I don't know, but that sort of thing has never felt right for me. And honestly, does anyone really need yet another subscription to manage? As I've said in years past, I like being out here on this super old-school blogging platform, just giving it away for free and relying on conscientious addicts like yourselves to pay me what you think the blog's worth. It's just nicer that way. How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are three options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar on the homepage, as well as at the bottom of every write-up):

Second, a mailing address (checks can be made out to "Michael Sharp" or "Rex Parker") (be sure to date them with the new year, 2026!):

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905

The third, increasingly popular option is Venmo; if that's your preferred way of moving money around, my handle is @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)

All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All Venmo contributions will get a little heart emoji, at a minimum :) All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I know snail mail is a hassle for most people, but I love it. I love seeing your (mostly) gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my (completely) awful handwriting. The human touch—it's nice. In recent years, my daughter has designed my annual postcards, but this year, grad school and NYC theater work are keeping her otherwise occupied, so I had to seek design help elsewhere. Enter Katie Kosma, who is not only a professional illustrator/designer, but (crucially!) a crossword enthusiast. She listened patiently to my long and disorganized list of ideas and in very short order was able to arrive at this year's design, inspired by film noir title cards. 

I'm very happy with how it turned out. The teeny boxes inside the letters, the copyright credit ("Natick Pictures, Inc."), and especially that pencil lamppost—mwah! I know most people solve online now, and many paper solvers prefer pen, but the pencil just feels iconic, and appropriate for the card's throwback vibe. That lamppost was entirely Katie's creation. She was a dream to work with. Can't say enough good things about her.

Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD." 

Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership. Please know that your support means a lot to me and my family. Now on to today's puzzle... 

• • •

Very excited to see KAC's name on the byline because I know he can turn the heat up. It's Saturday, I need the heat turned up. As you know, the overall softening of the NYTXW difficulty level, across the board, has been a source of ongoing annoyance to me. Hurray for general accessibility, but in the late-week puzzles can you please tighten the screws a little! Saturdays are for suffering! Anyway, I have some familiarity with Kam's work (both here and at the New Yorker), and I know he can throw hard, so I was excited. And it turns out, my excitement was warranted. The puzzle really wasn't that tough, but it had enough fight to make it interesting, and more than enough ZIP, which is ultimately the point. I've done grueling puzzles that had zero ZIP. None. ZIPless. But this thing ... this thing goes places. All over the map. To the Czech Republic, for instance, for one of the better clues of the day (41D: Poles can be found next to them). And to Japan, for the full NOH THEATER (we usually just see NOH—not as exciting) (55A: Art form featuring performers in kishin (demon) and okina (old man) masks). We go to Germany for that city I know but couldn't confidently spell (KÖLN—we spell it "Cologne"). But the most important trip this puzzle took went straight to Oz. The way my face and heart lit up when I plunked down FRIEND OF DOROTHY! (8D: Gay man, per historical slang inspired by Judy Garland). I believe the words "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!" came out of my mouth as I went to take this screenshot:

[The second "garland" of the puzzle (see also LEI) (4D: Kauai keepsake)]

Increased acceptance of LGBTQ+ people has largely eradicated the need for euphemisms and code words, so I wonder if younger solver will ever have heard this expression, but I was so happy to be reminded of this "historical slang" (and happy to have lived long enough to see the "slang" become "historical"). Not sure where I learned the term FRIEND OF DOROTHY. I want to say Golden Girls, but that's just because Bea Arthur's character was named "Dorothy," I think (Bea Arthur—another gay icon). However I heard it, I heard it, and of all the things one might've called a gay man when I was younger, FRIEND OF DOROTHY (FOD!) was certainly among the nicest and most colorful. And it's a perfect grid-spanning 15 letters; I'm honestly surprised it hasn't been used before. But nope. It's a debut. Not All Debuts Are Good!™—but some sure as hell are. YOU LOOK FAB, FRIEND OF DOROTHY! 

["YOU LOOK FAB!!" + ATTACK MODE = "Fab Attack!"]

The only time this puzzle lost its ZIP was when it occasionally drifted into old-time crosswordese (RHEE, ROHE ... "Rhee-Rohe, Raggy!")

And then there's the "OH" doubling, which did make me say "Oh ... no." OH, CRUD, we've got another "OH" expression. In its defense, "OH, CRUD!" does make a nice yin to "OH, SNAP"s yang. And the two of them together pave the way for the NOH that's to come. OH, OH, NOH. Speaking of saying "OH!" ... ORGASMS! Not just one, a whole bunch. And with a cool literary clue (5D: Phenomena once known as "les petites morts" ("little deaths")). If you read (or teach!) literature, esp. pre-modern literature, then you are apt to run into this concept (the death / orgasm connection can be found all over the place). There is definitely stuff in this puzzle to frustrate or even annoy you, I suppose, but from where I was sitting, there was a lot more to love. I laughed out loud at my entree to the SW corner:

VITAL SIGNS and NOSE HAIR—two things I'm increasingly concerned about as I age (young men, I know you're probably worried about hair loss, but trust me, hair loss is fine: what you should be worried about is hair gain — in all the places you do not need or want it). NOSE HAIR—the battle is real! See also EAR HAIR (which no one talks about, but yikes). 

Bullets:

• 15A: The kelpie of Celtic mythology (WATER HORSE) — I think I'd like KELPIE in the grid a lot more than I like WATER HORSE. Are there other water horses? Is a WATER HORSE a phenomenon? Apparently. I guess the Loch Ness Monster (NESSIE!) is sometimes referred to as a WATER HORSE. I've never heard the term. When I got to TIGER EYE (which I'd also never heard of) (14D: Gemstone with gold-yellow bands), I thought/worried there might be some kind of animal theme going on.

• 18A: Sound made by a toaster? (TING!) — the "toaster" in this case is one making a toast (say, at a wedding). You know, you signal to the room that you're about to make a toast by striking your wine glass with ... silverware, probably. Although it's also possible that your kitchen toaster makes a TING! sound when the toast is done. Doesn't matter how you got to TING, only that you got there.
• 38A: Andrew ___, banking tycoon who served as Treasury secretary from 1921 to 1932 (MELLON) — I would like to take this moment to formally apologize to the MELLON Foundation for squandering my MELLON Dissertation Fellowship. I spent most of that year at the movie theater, or in used bookstores, amassing a rather large collection of vintage paperbacks, rather than in the library or at my desk. I mean, I'm not that sorry, I have an amazing paperback collection that gives me joy, and I saw a lot of cool movies. But I am a little sorry. Hey, I did finish my dissertation. Eventually.
• 46A: Volume units (SONES) — one of the few initial errors I made today. I went with TOMES at first. Then I had "AM TOO" (instead of "IS TOO") for the "playground retort" (still the lowest form of fill), which gave me MONES. I eventually remembered that SONES were a thing, but I know the term solely from crosswords (mostly crosswords of yore).
• 28D: Loyal to a drastic extent (RIDE-OR-DIE) — another wonderful, colorful colloquial entry. 

• 20A: Mars comes third in it (ANNÉE) — "Mars" = "March" in French, just as ANNÉE = "year." I thought I saw through this one when I wrote in ANNUM (Latin for "year"). While Mars is a Roman god, Mensis Martius is (apparently!) the Latin term for the month of March. It means "month of Mars." So I was close. Ish.

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. today's constructor, Kameron Austin Collins, was interviewed at length on Daniel Grinberg's crossword construction podcast "Crosstalk" (Episode 4). You can listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.  

P.P.S. because it's my annual fundraising week, mail has begun to come in, and some of the notes are really lovely. You all have been so encouraging and supportive, which has been especially important in these bleak times (esp. during this very bleak week—shout out, Minneapolis). Thank you thank you thank you.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration opens January 8!)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...