Vertical jumping ability, in basketball lingo / MON 8-10-26 / Attracted to people of any gender, for short / How to tackle big writing projects, per a seminal Anne Lamott book / Title of a 1990s ABC sitcom and a 1990s New Kids on the Block hit / "___ to Go!," 2024 Chappell Roan hit sometimes compared to the Village People's "Y.M.C.A."

Constructor: Nate Cardin

Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: FOUR-BY-FOUR (55A: *Many an off-road vehicle ... or a literal description of the answer to each asterisked clue (including this one!)) — blank-BY-blank phrases where each "blank" is "four" letters long:

Theme answers:

• STEP BY STEP (18A: *Title of a 1990s ABC sitcom and a 1990s New Kids on the Block hit)
• PLAY BY PLAY (28A: *Detailed, real-time description of events)
• BIRD BY BIRD (44A: *How to tackle big writing projects, per a seminal Anne Lamott book)
• SIDE BY SIDE (4D: *Next to each other, like many washers and dryers)
• CASE BY CASE (33D: *Considered individually)

Word of the Day: LAGUNA Beach: The Real Orange County (29D: "___ Beach: The Real Orange County" (MTV reality show of the mid-aughts)) —

Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County (or simply Laguna Beach) is an American reality television series that originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004, until November 15, 2006. The series aired for three seasons and was primarily focused on the personal lives of several students attending Laguna Beach High School. Its premise was originated with Liz Gateley, while Tony DiSanto served as the executive producer. [...] Created by Liz Gateley in 2004, Laguna Beach was originally planned to document the on-campus lives of a group of students as they completed their secondary education at Laguna Beach High School. However, after an incident during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII briefly exposed the breast of performer Janet Jackson, the school board questioned if the same network that produced the halftime show held the care necessary to operate in an academic setting. Subsequently, their contract was ended, effectively jeopardizing the feasibility of the series' concept. [...] A 2010 study^[10] published in the journal Economics Letters demonstrated that Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County caused an increase in crime in the Laguna Beach area. While Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau president Charles Ahlers argued that the show had boosted the local economy and made Laguna Beach a desirable travel destination, several residents of Laguna Beach were opposed to the show, claiming it was more focused on teen drama and hedonistic behavior than the art and culture of the town. During filming days, traffic jams and tourists swarming local stores for a glimpse of the cast were frequent occasions. // Laguna Beach was often criticized for appearing to fabricate much of its storyline. In one instance, Cavallari claimed that producers exploited Colletti and Conrad's friendship to exaggerate the love triangle highlighted during the first season. She also alleged that she was treated poorly by producers, which "forced [her] to be a bitch", but stated that her distaste for Conrad was not fabricated. (wikipedia)

• • •

Blank x blank x 6 ... kind of a snooze, conceptually, but there's a lot of it, so if portion size is your thing, today's your day! The one thing I did appreciate about the puzzle was how clean the fill was, for the most part. While the theme is out there going blah by blah by blah by blah by blah etc., the fill is offering some pretty colorful and sassy flourishes with stuff like SASHAY, PLUCKY, BUOYED, HAZARD, SUBTLY, BLURTS, PHOBIA, etc. Lots of solid six-letter stuff to keep things interesting while the Blah By Blah Bus drones along. And I'm not being entirely fair to the Bus. There are a few answers on that bus that are fairly strong in their own right. I think the real winner of the day is BIRD BY BIRD, a book I've never read, but one whose title I know well (as does anyone who has ever even entertained the idea of reading a book about how to write a book—it's been a standard for three decades+ now). The puzzle is trying really Really hard to exude a pop culture sophistication, which I half appreciate, though ... it's a lot. I could've done without the shitty reality show from a million years ago. The most nothing ephemera imaginable, surpassed completely in both its Realityness and its Orange County-ness by The Real Housewives of Orange County (and the whole Real Housewives franchise). Other forays into hyperpop include the clues on STEP BY STEP, HOT, RENEE, SASHAY, RYAN, ARGO, and DAME. The theme didn't do anything for me, but the solving experience wasn't dreary, at least, which I appreciate.

[You'll pardon me if I pass on the NKOTB song]

How many days has it been since a Star Wars reference? I couldn't tell you, as I haven't solved a NYTXW crossword puzzle in ten days. Ten blissful days of morning beach walks and evening beach walks and birds, birds, birds. Oh, and all the tacos and other Mexican food I could get my hands on. Oh, and family, right, family, very important. My parents have taken all (ALL) of us on an annual summer vacation nearly every year since 2004. This was probably the last one, as the kids' kids are all grown up and working, and therefore not reliable participants, and my dad and stepmom are slowing down. But it's been a really good run. They decided a long time ago to spend their money on making sure the family all got together for a week once a year and I tell you what, mission accomplished. I know my nieces and nephews a lot better as a result, and my daughter is closer to her cousins. It's nice. Anyway, I am jetlagged af rn, just trying hard to maintain what I *think* is my normal schedule in the hopes of getting fully back on east coast time by the time I start teaching again in ... oof, tick tock. Soon. Too soon.

Back to the puzzle. Difficulty ... not really. I had to wait a bit on PLUCKY and LAGUNA, just until I inferred the PLAY BY PLAY crossing, and I think I tried RICE CAKE at first when trying to infer 20A: Cereal often found with pretzels in a party snack mix (RICE CHEX). I can't really see where the puzzle could've presented any trouble for solves. I assume there are a lot of people out there who haven't heard of BIRD BY BIRD, but as I say, it's a very famous book in its field, and anyway, once you get one of the BIRDs from crosses, you know there's another BIRD coming. This makes all the themers extremely easy. Oh, and it's more than possible that many of you don't know the song "HOT To Go," despite its massiveness (24A: "___ to Go!," 2024 Chappell Roan hit sometimes compared to the Village People's "Y.M.C.A."). Weirdly, coincidentally, I was just having a conversation about this song, and Chappell Roan generally, with my nice Lexi last week while we waited (For An Eternity) for our entire family's food order to be prepared. Haggo's Organic Taco and Kitchen! It's good, but yikes, Thursdays in the summertime, apparently it gets slammed. Anyway, "HOT To Go" has a part where you spell out the title of the song with your arms, as has become tradition with "Y.M.C.A."— "H-O-T-T-Ooooo G-O! You can take me HOT to go!" 

Bullets:

• 58D: Above-water sign of a shark (FIN) — didn't see any shark FINs in Encinitas, but we definitely saw some dolphin FINs. Or else they were porpoises, I dunno, but there were like a half dozen of them out there one morning. They joined the more usual assortment of wildlife, including gulls, pelicans, and Hudsonian Whimbrels —they are *&$%ing Everywhere on the beaches of southern California in August, scurrying around the sand on their stick legs, eating mystery things from the sand and shorewater with their skinny curved beaks, occasionally shrieking and flying off.

• 25A: Attracted to people of any gender, for short (PAN) — I assume sandwich shops do PAN-INIs for Pride Month. If not, huge missed opportunity. What's on it? Anything, really.
• 34A: Rodeo rope (LASSO) — I am here to tell you that Ted LASSO is extremely popular in-flight viewing, if the flights I just experienced are any indication. I must've half-watched the pilot on someone else's screen like ... twice. Maybe three times. Felt like a lot. Also popular, at least on the way out: The Devil Wears Prada II. Many people watching that as well. Full disclosure: one of those people was me. When in Rome etc.
• 64A: Brooklyn basketballers ... and what they swish (NETS) — something about this clue feels like it was written by someone who has never watched a basketball game. "Let's go swish some nets, fellas!" I guess they "swish" NETS if they sink a shot without hitting the rim. So do their opponents. "Swish" is more sound than verb, is what I'm saying. You can swish a shot, but you don't really swish a net (at least not in parlance). 
• 35A: Foggy mental state (HAZE) — this is what I have been experiencing all day, so I'm gonna go take a quick evening walk and then head to bed now. 

[Dad, post haircut]

[me, Penelope, Ella]

[Ella, Penelope]

[Went back to my freshman-year dorm, which is now literally rubble]

[We bought novelty t-shirts at a flea market. Mine was "OREO." Hers ... well, you can see]

[Me, every morning, so happy]

It's nice to be back. Thanks to Rafa, Eli, Mali, and Christopher for filling in for me while I was gone. Special thanks to Eli (and his wife, Melissa), who made time to come out and see The Third Man (1949) on the big screen with us at Vidiots in Los Angeles last week. Always good to see my xword friends irl. OK, that's it. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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