Initials often seen next to THC / TUE 4-7-26 / Martial art whose name means "way of the sword" / Toy cipher ring / Famous figure known for off-the-cuff performances? / So-called "Land of a Million Elephants" / Resort with a signature piña colada, perhaps / Feints, in hockey

Constructor: Adryel W. Robles Ojeda

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: BALL AND CHAIN (58A: Old-time restraint for a prisoner ... or what can go after the respective halves of 18-, 26-, 35- and 49-Across) — two-word answers where the first word can precede "ball" in a familiar phrase and the second word can precede "chain":

Theme answers:

• EXERCISE BIKE (18A: It has wheels but doesn't go anywhere)
• FAST FOOD (26A: Combo meal, usually)
• BEACH HOTEL (35A: Resort with a signature piña colada, perhaps)
• BLACK KEY (49A: Sharp or flat location on a piano, usually)

Word of the Day: Marie CLAIRE (62A: Marie___, women's magazine) —

Marie Claire (French: [maʁi klɛːʁ]; stylised in all lowercase), is a French monthly women's fashion magazine. It has been published in France since 1937 and targets upper-income, educated women aged 25 to 49. Sister editions are published for children's fashion, DIY, food, interior design, runway collections, and wellness, alongside many foreign editions of the magazine. // Marie Claire is a French women's fashion magazine founded in 1937 by Jean Prouvost. [...] The U.S. edition of the magazine was started by the Hearst Corporation, based in New York City, in 1994. Hearst has branch offices in France, Italy (where the company also published Marie Claire Italia), and several locations in the United States including Detroit, the West Coast, New England, the Midwest, the Southwest, and the Southeast. The Esquire Network reality television series Running In Heels follows three interns working in the NYC office of the magazine. [...] Through its digital edition, Marie Claire reported a reach of up to 15 million visitors per month [in 2022]. (wikipedia)

• • •

A very old-fashioned theme type. With this type of puzzle, I always think "it must have been difficult to come up with a themer set that worked conceptually *and* fit symmetrically." But my reaction to the revealer is usually "oh ... ok." Like, it's an after-the-fact revelation that is kinda architecturally interesting, but the theme does nothing to make the solve itself very interesting, and the theme phrases, while appropriate for the theme, are usually not, themselves, very interesting. So what you get, at best, is something pretty workmanlike and bland. Since I've seen this theme type a bunch over the years, there's very little that feels fresh or original about the theme, beyond the specific revealer. For Its Type, I think this is a fine puzzle. This is just not a type of puzzle that I enjoy. There's just not enough playfulness or cleverness involved. And today's grid, while fine, had very little to offer in the way of high points outside (or even inside) the theme. In fact, BALL AND CHAIN seems like the most interesting answer in the grid by far. 

I also like UMBRAGE—it's just a great word, really sounds like what it is—and the KEVLAR / KENDO crossing is pretty nice as well. It's a real "K" huddle there, with KOALA and KEY (from BLACK KEY) also getting in on the akt. I also enjoyed the clue on HOUDINI (43D: Famous figure known for off-the-cuff performances?) (the "cuff' here = handcuff(s)). There were a few longer answers that I didn't really care for. Prepositional phrases always seem kind of awkward and lost in the grid, and the longer they get, the more they stand out, so BY A NOSE wasn't my favorite. As for RAN A TAB ... now that I think of it, it's much more standalone-worthy than EAT A SANDWICH, but it def gives off EAT A SANDWICH vibes. I think that answer is forgiven, but TAKE AN "L" really ... isn't. We see TAKE THE "L" with reasonable frequency (since 2020) because it's a real phrase that people use, whereas TAKE AN "L" ... sigh, I see that it's out there. Wiktionary's got it as a "variant" of TAKE THE "L." The phrase has appeared in the NYTXW exactly once before (Sep. 21, 2022) and I said all the same things about it then, so I must really mean them. The "AN" version just grates in my ear. Feels weak, lesser. But like I said, it's out there. Valid. Technically. But not pretty. [for the record TAKE (or TOOK, or TAKES) THE L has six NYTXW appearances to date] [TAKE THE "L" was debuted by Brendan Emmett Quigley, who made the puzzle the puzzle that prompted me to coin the term NATICK] [He's a talented, prolific, veteran constructor who releases crossword puzzles regularly at his website, always fun] 

Bullets:

• 1A: Red, white and blue land: Abbr. (AMER.) — odd clue and ugly abbr. Not a great way to kick off your puzzle.
• 11A: Initials often seen next to THC (CBD) — I can never remember what CBD stands for because it stand for "cannabidiol"—one word, not three, and a word I'm never ever going to use unless I'm writing about how I don't know what CBD stands for.
• 37D: 3 to 1 are good ones (ODDS) — this really seems context-dependent. "What are the ODDS this expired mayonnaise is OK to eat?" "3 to 1!" "Umm ... pass."
• 18A: It has wheels but doesn't go anywhere (EXERCISE BIKE) — this makes me think of Maus, a comic I teach regularly. In that book, Art's father Vladek recounts the events of his life in Poland in the run-up to WWII, hiding from and eventually being captured by the Nazis. Vlad tells much of the story while riding an EXERCISE BIKE. It becomes this kind of recurring visual metaphor—a stationary bike: lots of effort, getting nowhere. No escape. Sorry to be a downer, but it's a beautiful, important book, and I think about it a lot.

[Richieu is the the older brother Art never knew]

• 46A: Martial art whose name means "way of the sword" (KENDO) — KENDO will always remind me of Sam Fuller's The Crimson Kimono, which features a long and dramatic KENDO match between the protagonists, who are partners on the L.A. police force. I'm quite sure I've shown this clip before, but since it's relevant again, I'll play it again.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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