Happy-sounding advocacy grp. / WED 8-26-26 / Enhancing "blemish" (3x) / Teach, playfully (3x) / Nut in Sausalito cookies / Word that can precede cry or baby / Instrument associated with beans and salsa? / Capital city known as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans" / Modern lead-in to quit or bait / Pinocchio's tell

Constructor: John Kugelman and Lance Enfinger

Relative difficulty: Easy

[39A: Sci-fi pilot ___ Solo]

THEME: "SOME PEOPLE!" (57A: "Unbelievable!" ... or what 17-, 25-, 35- and 46-Across are made from, letterwise?) — theme answers comprise people's names:

Theme answers:

• BEAUTY MARK (17A: Enhancing "blemish" (3x)) (Beau, Ty, Mark)
• EDUMACATE (25A: Teach, playfully (3x)) (Ed, Uma, Cate)
• SALTED CARAMEL (35A: Sweet popcorn coating (4x)) (Sal, Ted, Cara, Mel)
• MACADAMIA (46A: Nut in Sausalito cookies (3x)) (Mac, Ada, Mia)

Word of the Day: BEAUTY MARK (17A) —

A beauty mark or beauty spot is a euphemism for a type of dark facial mark so named because such birthmarks are sometimes considered an attractive feature. Medically, such "beauty marks" are generally melanocytic nevus, more specifically the compound variant. Moles of this type may also be located elsewhere on the body, and may also be considered beauty marks if located on the face, shoulder, neck or breast. Artificial beauty marks have been fashionable in some periods.

• • •

This was weird, and today, weird is good. The theme answers were all very easy to get, but by no. 3 I started wondering what those little parenthetical bits at the end of the clues meant, so I stared at them and thought "... 3x what? ... 4x what?" And that's when I saw them, the names—well before the revealer. Actually, in the first set of names I saw, MEL appeared twice because I had the middle themer as MELTED CARAMEL. I was like "Two Mels, huh, interesting? Is that legal? Oh well, it's at least plausible, I guess. You get four people together, two of them might be named MEL. Not probable, but plausible." Eventually that answer came around to the much better SALTED CARAMEL, and I was back on track, but I had no idea how they were gonna land this thing. What kind of revealer could you possibly have for just a series of name strings? And the revealer we get—perfect. You can read it with the shocked and offended tone that the clue asks for, but you can also read it as the most literal and (to my mind, hilariously) lazy description of the theme. "What are those answers made up of?" "I dunno, just SOME PEOPLE." "Famous people?" "... not really." Obviously there are famous people who have these names (though I don't think I know anyone actually named MAC ... nope, I lied: MAC Davis. He was a country singer. Even had his own TV show. Here he is performing a gospel medley with ... special guests:

So I'D SAY the revealer was perfect. Really sold the whole thing. I don't know that I believe people actually say EDUMACATE. Maybe Homer Simpson said it once. It sounds like a Homerism. I know he said "Saxamaphone," so why not EDUMACATE?

And yet it didn't take long for EDUMACATE to come to me, though that turn from the upper middle into the NE was probably the hardest bit for me, as I wasn't sure about EDUMACATE, blanked on the South American capital, didn't know that a [Housemother] was a MATRON (I thought those were just for prisons), and, as usual, could not come up with the "word that can precede" answer at 22D: Word that can precede cry or baby. Is a "WAR baby" one conceived during wartime? Or just a very bellicose baby? Anyway, I wanted FAR for a second, but couldn't rationalize "far baby." "What's a far baby?" "That baby over yonder!" Otherwise, the only other answer I tripped on in his puzzle was, ironically, related to my own teaching. [Units of verse]? Starting with "F"? I had STEAM instead of SWEAT at 51D: Result of a hot pursuit? at first, which meant my [Units of verse] ended -EM and so I was like "that's gotta be POEM ... doesn't it?" But that "F" would not budge. When I finally saw that STEAM was in fact SWEAT, I got FEET and had quite a "D'oh!" moment (speaking of Homerisms). I literally taught the meaning of poetic FEET on Monday, and will revisit the topic today. Sigh. SOME PEOPLE would forget their own head if it weren't attached to their body.

["Do I EVER Cross Your Mind?]
Bullets:

• 47D: da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, for example (IAMBS) — unstressed/stressed, that is an iamb. IAMBS are metrical FEET. I tend to use actual words as examples ("today" "again" "above" "below"), but ominous da-DUMs will also do the trick
• 28D: What cards with circles, stars, plauses, squares and wavy lines test for, in brief (ESP) — these are called Zener cards. Spoiler alert: no one has ESP.

• 10D: Instrument associated with beans and salsa? (MARACA) — I wrote this in without much trouble but a few seconds afterwards, as I was like "wait, what? I know there might be dry beans inside a MARACA, but there can't be salsa in there. Salsa's ... wet. The beans won't rattle right!" You'll be glad to know it didn't take me too long to realize that the salsa in question was a dance style, not a condiment.
• 42A: Fred Flintstone's boss at the rock quarry (MRS. LATE) — she was always late. Drove Fred crazy, as he had to punch in and got in trouble if he wasn't on time.

[prehistoric surveillance culture]

• 7D: Happy-sounding advocacy grp. (GLAAD) — The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Here's GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis, yesterday: “[Dolly Parton's] support for LGBTQ people spans decades, from the 1990s with her track ‘Family,’ where she expressed that all should be welcome regardless of religion or sexual orientation; to the powerful ballad ‘Travelin’ Thru,’ which Parton penned for the film TransAmerica and earned her an Oscar nomination; to her early support of marriage equality in 2009, well before its legalization. [...] Parton‘s warm spirit, kindheartedness and joie de vivre deeply resonated with the LGBTQ community, cementing her as a global queer icon whose art always held space for outsiders, no matter the risk. Parton‘s entire career was built on love and respect for all, and her unwavering allyship is a legacy that will last forever."

That's all for today. I'll leave you with Dolly ... at the OPRY (54D: Grand Ole ___) ... 1969 ... the year I was born ... just leaving people slack-jawed. R.I.P. to an irreplaceable force of goodness in the world

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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