Hectic time for JFK / FRI 6-26-26 / Like many films in teaser trailers / Symbol in the Kentucky Derby logo / Current affairs? / Pulitzer-winning poet Aiken / Self-driving car company started by Google

Constructor: Spencer Leach

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: None

Word of the Day: SANSEI (22D: Third-generation Japanese American) —

Sansei (三世, "third generation") is a Japanese and North American English term^[1] used in parts of the world (mainly in South America and North America) to refer to the children of children born to ethnically Japanese emigrants (Issei) in a new country of residence, outside of Japan. The nisei are considered the second generation, while grandchildren of the Japanese-born emigrants are called Sansei. The fourth generation is referred to as yonsei.^[2] The children of at least one nisei parent are called Sansei; they are usually the first generation of whom a high percentage are mixed-race, given that their parents were (usually), themselves, born and raised in America.^[3]

• • •

Hi, friends! It's Rafa here, and I'll be covering for Rex for a few days so strap in for a weekend of crossword commentary and good vibes! The crosswords that I have published in the NYT are almost always challenging late-week puzzles, so it's extra fun to blog those puzzles because I usually have More Things To Say about them. (I continue to try sending early-week puzzles to the editing team, but they are always rejected! But maybe you can can help me manifest for my luck to turn soon.)

WAYMOs are everywhere in San Francisco

Onto this puzzle! Single-word answers are often seen as less desirable in themeless puzzles, as they can be less lively than their multi-word counterparts. It was cool to see this puzzle lean into solid one-word entries like ELECTRODYNAMICS and MIXOLOGIST and ASTRONOMER. In fact, my favorite part of the entire puzzle was the very clever clue echo in [Expert on cosmos?] (think the Cosmopolitan cocktail) and [Expert on the cosmos]. Oh, look, PANOPTICON is a single word, too. I usually see that word used metaphorically and was surprised to not see a cluing angle that reflects that common usage. But I can't really complain ... it's an accurate definitional clue.

Two TRAMs

Outside of the clue echo highlight, the grid felt a bit too ... claustrophobic? ... I'm not sure what word to use to describe it. It's not an inherent issue with a grid, but for a themeless puzzle it's nice when there are at least a few slightly chunkier areas of white space to tackle, and this puzzle didn't really have any of those. Entries like TEETERED and TAILOR TO felt quite bland for a puzzle without wide-open-space constraints. And while I'm in a nitpicky mood ... EXTRA LARGE PIZZA feels like the kind of entry that gets included only because of its high scrabble value. Again, not inherently a bad thing, idk, just a thought. And the [Biggest restaurant size that nevertheless is often topped?] clue felt a bit too tortured to me.

LEGOS in the form of the Sagrada Família. Lego's biggest ever set, and it's coming out later this year!

HOUSE OF PAIN and ROYAL FORK were both new to me, but were pretty inferable and cool to learn about. EDGE CASES and HARD CAP are both things I heard (and said) a lot in my software engineering career, so it was also cool to see those entries. And some lovely clues too. I enjoyed [Bar of note?] for FRET and [Copy cat?] for MEW and [Goals for those in a rush, informally] for FRAT. Though, I thought that could have used a ? as I don't think I'd use rushing a frat as a countable noun as in "a rush" ... but I did not rush any FRATs in college so maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Ok, I think those are my thoughts! Hope everyone is doing great, and I'll be back tomorrow.



Bullets:

• VIET (40D: ___ Nam) — I'd never seen the country's name written out separately, but the official name is "Socialist Republic of Viet Nam."
• SANSEI (22D: Third-generation Japanese American) — This term applies throughout the Americas. I grew up in Brazil, which has the largest Japanese population in the world outside of Japan, so I enjoyed seeing this answer.
• BRAD (11D: Two-pronged fastener) — I have never heard of a BRAD as a fastener. But Google assures me that it is, indeed, a thing. Is this something everyone has heard of except me?
• TRIVIAL (39A: Mickey Mouse) — Again, I have never heard the idiom Mickey Mouse to mean trivial, but I got this answer entirely from crosses so I didn't really notice that during the solve.

Signed, Rafa

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