Weasel with a black-tipped tail / SUN 2-22-26 / Literary fairy queen / Noted art deco designer / Mathematician Paul / Wielder of a red lightsaber / Like Constantinople, in 1930 / Hopeless from the start, for short / New Yorkie, say / Setting for a landscape / 2006 mockumentary about a Kazakh journalist

Constructor: Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp

Relative difficulty: (way too) Easy

[54D: Wielder of a red lightsaber]

THEME: "Books of the Bible" — famous figures / places / events from the Bible are used as punny clues for famous books:

Theme answers:

• DEATH ON THE NILE (24A: The Ten Plagues)
• A TALE OF TWO CITIES (31A: Sodom and Gomorrah)
• DANGEROUS LIAISONS (49A: Samson and Delilah)
• WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (66A: Noah's Ark)
• THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (85A: Garden of Eden)
• THE PRINCE OF TIDES (103A: Moses Parting the Red Sea)
• THE GREAT ESCAPE (114A: Jonah and the Whale)

Word of the Day: Paul ERDOS (36D: Mathematician Paul) —

Paul Erdős (Hungarian: Erdős Pál [ˈɛrdøːʃ ˈpaːl]; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. Erdős pursued and proposed problems in discrete mathematics, graph theory, number theory, mathematical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory. Much of his work centered on discrete mathematics, cracking many previously unsolved problems in the field. He championed and contributed to Ramsey theory, which studies the conditions in which order necessarily appears. Overall, his work leaned towards solving previously open problems, rather than developing or exploring new areas of mathematics. Erdős published around 1,500 mathematical papers during his lifetime, a figure that remains unsurpassed.

He was known both for his social practice of mathematics, working with more than 500 collaborators, and for his eccentric lifestyle; Time magazine called him "The Oddball's Oddball". He firmly believed mathematics to be a social activity, living an itinerant lifestyle with the sole purpose of writing mathematical papers with other mathematicians. He devoted his waking hours to mathematics, even into his later years; he died at a mathematics conference in Warsaw in 1996.

Erdős's prolific output with co-authors prompted the creation of the Erdős number, the number of steps in the shortest path between a mathematician and Erdős in terms of co-authorships. (wikipedia)

• • •

There's a quirky humor to this theme that's mildly charming, but a couple of the answers don't quite work, and overall the puzzle is way, way too easy. I suppose if you haven't heard of some of these book titles, then the puzzle might have provided more of a challenge for you. The last two titles (THE PRINCE OF TIDES and especially THE GREAT ESCAPE) don't have quite the same enduring fame of the others, but only THE GREAT ESCAPE gave me any pause, and then only because I had no idea it was a book. All the other titles are obviously books, definitively books, famously books, even if movie adaptations made some of the titles more generally famous than they'd otherwise be (looking at you, DANGEROUS LIAISONS). But THE GREAT ESCAPE? Yes, as I found out just now when I looked it up, it is a book, but would anyone now know about it if it weren't for the (exceedingly) famous movie? I love that movie. I own that movie. I've seen that movie half a dozen times. Somehow the fact that it was based on a book was entirely unknown to me. When I see the other titles, I think books. When I see THE GREAT ESCAPE, I think Steve McQueen and James Garner. Actually, DANGEROUS LIAISONS makes me think John Malkovich, but in that case, I was at least aware of the novel it was based on (by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (number of NYTXW appearances for LACLOS? Zero)). Two movie adaptations of that book came out within like a year of each other (yep, Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Valmont (1989)), which may be why I knew it was a book in the first place. Or else I read part of it in French class one year, I forget. Anyway, DANGEROUS LIAISONS is perfectly booky, but I didn't like its being plural. I would've said Samson and Delilah made up a single liaison, although ... she does visit him repeatedly to try to learn the source of this strength, so I guess the "liaisons" were multiple, though only the last one seems to have been truly "dangerous" (to Samson, anyway). 

["... Samson & Delilah ..."]

The big weakness of the puzzle, though, wasn't the theme concept per se, but the fact that the answers were so so so easy to crack, at every turn. In fact, I don't think I looked at a single theme clue after the first couple, because I didn't have to. The rest of the puzzle was childishly easy, Monday easy, so I just zipped through it and when I saw a book title take shape in the long Acrosses, I just filled it in. Again, only THE GREAT ESCAPE took any effort, and then only because I didn't know it was a book. I know it must get tiresome hearing me talk about how the puzzle has been radically defanged in recent years. They must have data somewhere that tells them exactly what difficulty level promotes "engagement." Maybe "today's audiences" are impatient and don't like to experience failure, so in the interest of promoting "engagement," the steepness of the weeklong difficulty ramp has been (drastically) reduced. I don't know. I just know it's a drag to walk through a Sunday-sized grid where there's absolutely no resistance. Today was particularly bad, as the puzzle wasn't just easy, it was boring, and filled with musty answers, many of which I had presumed dead. I physically recoiled at stuff like ONENO and INRI and ONEL and ERTE, stuff every old-timer knows instinctively, but that reeks of mothballs by now. IRED!? Ugh, my most hated of never-was-a-word "words." The crosswordese (OPAH ARLO EDIE ILSA ICEE ACELA AROD COSI etc.) just swamps this puzzle, and the stuff that's not crosswordese gets only the most boring and straightforward of clues. A puzzle has a right to be easy (on occasion); it has no right to be dull.

Here is all the "difficulty" I encountered: Blanked on ERDOS, Vice President of the Crossword Mathematician's Club (second-in-command to President EULER). Because I blanked on ERDOS, I faltered on D.O.A. (46A: Hopeless from the start, for short). Let's see, what else? I ... hmmm ... I wrote in EXALT before EXTOL, so there's that (19D: Glorify). Oh, I had a little trouble with HAT TREES, as I would never call them that (they're "hat racks") and (more importantly) I had no idea the answer would be in the plural (86D: Where boaters hang with bowlers). Yes, there are multiple hats in the clue, but multiple hats can hang on a single hat rack (or HAT TREE, if you insist), so there's no reason I should've been looking for the plural there. Shoes have trees, hats have racks, thank you for maintaining this distinction! Anyway, that's it. I don't see a single other area of the puzzle that gave me any trouble. Not a one. And on a Sunday-sized grid? Big ol' grid with absolutely zero fight in it. Extremely disappointing.

[Saw this (amazing) movie yesterday at Cinemapolis in Ithaca, after seeing Send Help (2026) at my local REGAL movie theater on Friday (102D: Big name in movie theaters)]

Bullets:

• 6A: Setting for a landscape (CANVAS) — one of the more clever, inventive, and interesting clues in the puzzle. The clue wording is ambiguous, so that you don't really know what you're looking at ... and then you realize you're looking at a painting. 
• 45D: New Yorkie, say (PUP) — again, more like this! More cuteness. A little play on words, a little dog, that's what I'm talking about.

• 76A: Like Constantinople, in 1930 (RENAMED) — this wasn't "hard," but it didn't come to me right away. I think I was looking for something more dramatic, like INVADED or RETAKEN or something. Why'd they change Constantinople to Istanbul? I can’t say. I guess people just liked it better that way.

• 93A: Get the ___ (finally become aware) (MEMO) — more clues like this! This actually made me have to think. And work the crosses. And then when I got it, I was satisfied, not annoyed. Extremely straightforward clues are an important part of any puzzle (people need toeholds), but this puzzle desperately needed more playful clues like this.
• 22D: ___ Stark, "Game of Thrones" patriarch (NED) — I am an inveterate GOT non-watcher. I tried, it didn't take, The End. But my student Carmelo insisted that the new GOT spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, was worth my attention, so I put it on yesterday and damned if I didn't enjoy it. Laughed a lot. No dragons or magic or rape or incest so far, just an adorable lunk of a man (Ser Dunk!) trying to prove to everyone that he's actually a "knight." And so far I haven't needed to know a damn thing about the original GOT to enjoy it. I'm only one episode in, but so far: recommended.

• 81D: One making an impression? (MIMIC) — really disappointed to find out this wasn't MONET. That "M" had me so sure ...

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. two new crossword tournament announcements landed in my inbox this weekend. 

• Registration for the Boswords 2026 Spring Themeless League (starting Mar. 2) is now open:

This 10-week event starts with a Preseason puzzle on Monday, March 2 and features weekly themeless puzzles -- clued at three levels of difficulty -- from an all-star roster of constructors and are edited by Brad Wilber. To register, to solve a practice puzzle, to view the constructor line-up, and to learn more, go to www.boswords.org.

 

• Registration for Westwords 2026 is also now open. This tournament is both in-person (Berkeley, CA, June 14, 2026) and online.

Westwords 2026 will feature six competition puzzles, four themed and two freestyle (themeless), ranging in difficulty from easy breezy 💐 to very challenging 😈. The final puzzle will be offered at two different difficulty levels. All six puzzles will contribute to solvers' overall score and placement — in other words, the last puzzle will not be scored separately. // The tournament, both in-person and online, will run from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific on Sunday, June 14. In-person solvers will be able to arrive at 10 to sign in and socialize. The day will include a 75-minute lunch break. 

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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