Big letters in home security / MON 9-21-26 / Leader of an 1831 revolt against slavery / Album for which Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize / Hardwood whose bark is sometimes used as paper / Simple two-player card game / Sometimes-floral organic compound / People of SW Britain

Constructor: Alexander Liebeskind

Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: FORTIES (39A: Decade of W.W. II ... or a homophonic hint to 17-, 23-, 50- and 57-Across) — four-word phrases where each word starts with "T"

Theme answers:

• TOO TIRED TO THINK (17A: Mentally pooped)
• TEACH TO THE TEST (23A: Deliberately give instruction in a way that targets an exam)
• TO TELL THE TRUTH (50A: "If I'm being honest ...")
• TAKES TWO TO TANGO (57A: "A fight requires more than one person")

Word of the Day: DAMN. (14A: Album for which Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize) —

Damn (stylized as DAMN.) is the fourth studio album by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar, released on April 14, 2017, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, and Interscope Records. Lamar assembled numerous artists and producers to create the album, including executive producer and Top Dawg Entertainment label head Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, Sounwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It, and Ricci Riera, as well as further production contributions from James Blake, Steve Lacy, BadBadNotGood, Greg Kurstin, the Alchemist, and 9th Wonder, among others. It features guest appearances from Rihanna, Zacari, and U2.

The album has been categorized as conscious hip-hop, but also incorporates elements of trap, contemporary R&B, and pop. Prior to the album's release, Lamar released a promotional single, "The Heart Part 4". In the months that followed, Lamar released three singles from the album; "Humble" was released in March 2017, "Loyalty" in June 2017, and "Love" in October 2017, the first of which became Lamar's first number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist.

Damn received widespread acclaim from critics, with many naming the album one of the best albums of 2017 and the decade. The album topped the US Billboard 200 with 603,000 album-equivalent units earned in its first week and topped the chart of Canada while reaching number two in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in May 2018 and was the Billboard Year-End number one album of 2017. The album earned Lamar the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first time an artist outside of the classical and jazz genres received the honor. It also earned the Best Rap Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards. In 2020, Damn was ranked 175th on Rolling Stone's updated list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". (wikipedia)

• • •

I know what the puzzle means by FORTIES ("four tees")—each phrase has four words and each word in that phrase starts with "T"—but the fact that two of these theme answers actually have five "T"s really puts this puzzle in the D.O.A. category for me. Your revealer clue says that it's a "homophonic hint" to the theme answers, but it is literally inaccurate. I guess "hint" is supposed to give the puzzle some latitude, but "four tees" is what the puzzle is telling me and "four tees" is just wrong. Factually wrong. So there's that. There's a lot of word repetition in the theme (four "TO"s, two "THE"s), but that's probably to be expected with commonish phrases. I don't think TAKES TWO TO TANGO works (well) without the "IT" at the beginning; the clue is a complete sentence, so the answer should be also. But this is a lesser problem than the five-"T" problem. The theme answers are all solid phrases, and the revealer has the requisite simple-punniness that is usually all a Monday puzzle requires. But the execution, as I say, feels fumbled. Even the clue on the revealer feels phoned-in. First of all, if you're referring to the decade, it's The FORTIES. And second ... that's all you've got for (The) FORTIES—that WWII happened then? Yes, it's the defining event of the (first half of the) decade, but [Decade of W.W. II] still feels unimaginative (also, WAR is already in the grid). And then there's the fill, which is pretty rough throughout. I love NAT TURNER as an answer (35D: Leader of an 1831 revolt against slavery), but that's offset (for me) by "I'M ON A DIET"—I find the whole idea of not eating because you're "on a diet" depressing. Actually, it's the whole diet industry that is so off-putting to me. Predatory. Plus, "going on a diet" doesn't really work. So ... with the long answers canceling each other out, quality-wise, there's just the short fill, which is full of stuff it seems like you'd try Very Hard to keep out of any puzzle, esp. an easy early-week grid: ADT, GAIUS, EIRE, SES, OAKEN, O'ER, NENES, ETAT. Not a big fan of DEE, ESTER, XES, NAM, or RADIO AD, either, and without a Bill Withers clue, "USE ME" is also suboptimal.

The Downs-only solve was thorny only in a couple of spots. First, ADT, which are letters I know from seeing them on signs in front of some houses, but they aren't letters I can remember (clearly) (1D: Big letters in home security). That coupled with the difficulty of parsing "I'M ON A DIET" made the NW a little tricky. Had a little more trouble in the middle, where all I wanted for [N.Y.C. subway letters] was IRT or BQE [update—BQE has zero to do with the subway, just three letter related to NYC transportation]. MTA applies to more than the subway, so it didn't occur to me. And right next door, BIRCH was not a wood I could come up with easily, not with that clue (33D: Hardwood whose bark is sometimes used as paper). And right next door to that, there was EIRE, which I had as ERIN because of course I did, classic kealoa*. The last trouble spot was where I finished up, in the SW. Specifically, EXTREME was hard for me to see from its clue (43D: Like skydiving or cliff-diving). EXTREME compared to what? As an adjective modifying "sport," it might be apt, but just calling those activities "EXTREME" seems really vague. So I needed all the surrounding answers before I was finally able to see it. But I was never really in danger of getting stuck-stuck today. 

Bullets:

• 14A: Album for which Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer Prize (DAMN.)  — damn, that's a pretty advanced clue for a Monday. I never saw it, of course, but I love it ... I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that for many regular solvers, that answer was probably not a gimme.
• 11D: First name of Julius Caesar (GAIUS) — another name that was probably not a gimme for many. This one I knew, but I should know it. I mean, I just (literally just) taught the end of Inferno, the bottom of hell, where Satan is eternally chewing not only on Judas, but also on Brutus and Cassius—two of the leaders in the plot to assassinate ... Julius Caesar (Cassius's first name: also GAIUS). I don't think Dante uses the name GAIUS, but I had enough classical Latin during grad school that somehow GAIUS stuck. It's not a name I'd use in a puzzle unless I really needed it.
• 5D: Simple two-player card game (WAR) — UNO flickered across my mind, but only because it's a three-letter card game. WAR is much more definitively "two-player."

• 66A: Spanish babies (NENES) — also, Hawaiian gooses. Sorry, geeses.
• 37D: People of SW Britain (WELSH) — first thought: CORNISH. Didn't fit. Here, in red, is Cornwall, which, as you can see, is even souther and wester than Wales.

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Happy Earth, Wind & Fire Day, which also means: Happy Birthday to my best friend, Shaun. We met in the first weeks of grad school and ... yeah, changed my life. Instant lifelong friend. Thirty-five years now. Such a weird, rare thing. Can't wait to see Stevie Wonder with her (and our spouses) in December, in Detroit, at The Fox, where we saw him on New Year's Eve thirty-two years ago. But for today, we'll stick with Earth, Wind & Fire 🔥

["Do you remember...?"]

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] => ATON or ALOT, ["Git!"] => "SHOO" or "SCAT," etc. 

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Fortified wine from Spain / SUN 9-20-26 / Island containing Kiribati's capital / Move fast, as a cloud / Burnable bog stuff / Violinmaker of Cremona / Sitcom character from Melmac / Old-timey teacher / Main squeeze, in newer slang / Online forum qualifiers such as /j ("joking") and /s ("sarcastic")

Constructor: Tracy Gray

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME:"Rise to the Power" — numbers in familiar phrases are expressed exponentially—that is, there's a smaller number in the phrase itself, and then the appropriate EXPONENT (as its own answer) in the usual place for an exponent (i.e. up and to the right) (120A: Number written above and to the right of another number ... as seen five times in this puzzle?): 

Theme answers:

• SWEET TWO^FOUR  (Sweet Sixteen) (25A: With 23-Across, March Madness tournament round)
• WHOLE THREE^TWO YARDS (Whole nine yards) (37A: With 34-Across, full extent of something)
• "WHEN I'M FOUR^THREE" ("When I'm Sixty-Four") (64A: With 62-Across, Beatles classic with the lyric "Will you still need me / Will you still feed me")
• "THANKS A TEN^SIX" (Thanks a million) (78A: With 75-Across, "So very appreciated!")
• NINE^ZERO-ARMED BANDIT (One-armed bandit) (101A: With 97-Across, Vegas casino machine)

Word of the Day: MANZANILLA (77D: Fortified wine from Spain) —

Manzanilla is a fortified wine similar to fino sherry made in the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia (Spain), and is produced under the Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (DOP) of Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda DOP. In Spanish, a chamomile infusion is called "manzanilla"—this wine gets its name because the wine's aroma is said to be reminiscent of such an infusion.

Manzanilla is manufactured using the same methods as a fino sherry and results in a very pale, dry wine. It is often described as having a savoury and salty flavour, believed to develop from the chalky soil near the sea estuary of the Guadalquivir river. Sanlúcar de Barrameda's cool temperatures and high humidity contribute to a higher yield of flor yeast than in Jerez or El Puerto de Santa María. The thicker cap of flor better protects the wine from contact with the air, resulting in a fresher, more delicate flavour than a fino from Jerez. It is typically aged for three to five years in a solera, but some types may be aged longer. (wikipedia)

• • •

[101A]

Some of you are not troubled by arbitrariness in themes, but I clearly am. Why these exponents? Why this order? Why NINE (and not literally any other number) to the zeroeth power to express "one"? The theme answers themselves start off with a kind of pattern: first one has TWO in it, the next THREE, the next FOUR ... and then TEN and NINE. For some reason. Is there a reason? I always worry I'm missing some key feature that's tying everything together, some unifying ... something. This puzzle could really use a unifying something. It's like ... there's this (structurally) interesting idea here, i.e. the writing out of the exponents above and to the right of their respective BASEs (124A: Number with a 120-Across, mathematically). But ... that's it. It's just that. The revealer is totally unnecessary, in that it's obvious what's going on if you just solve the puzzle, but even though EXPONENT didn't reveal anything I didn't already know, it's at least a little cute that EXPONENT is itself in an exponential position, relative to BASE. I'll give the puzzle some cleverness credit for that. But beyond that, the core idea just didn't get an interesting enough execution. There should've been some extra oomph here, something to make the actual numbers involved seem like part of a meaningful whole, or progression. Also, seeing TWO (and FOUR and THREE) in the puzzle twice was ... less than entertaining. Again, if you're going to subject us to that kind of repetition, there should be a big-picture payoff, and I just don't see it. I also don't really understand what the title of the puzzle is supposed to evoke, what kind of wordplay is going on there. You can rise to power, of course, but the "the" kind of screws up that meaning. You can rise to the occasion. You can fight the power, or speak truth to power ... but "Rise to the Power" just seems like a literal description of what a BASE does. Whatever wordplay is supposed to be there is lost on me.

Only one thing in the grid I really didn't know today, and it made me make a face. I may still be making the face. The answer in question is TONE TAGS (4D: Online forum qualifiers such as /j ("joking") and /s ("sarcastic")). I did not know those had a name, and also ... I assumed the forward slash functioned the same way it does in HTML, where it basically closes or ends whatever function had been going on. Like, you bold text with <b> the text you want bolded </b>. The "</b>" is a closing tag. I've frequently seen "/sarcasm" in posts. I assumed the "/" functioned like "end." (so "/sarcasm" would be "end sarcasm"). I have never seen these hyper-abbreviated "/s" or "/j" examples, but then again, I am in "online forums" (fora) virtually never. I had TONE TA- and honestly thought the answer was TONE TALK. In a grid that is otherwise laden with pretty old names and fill, TONE TAGS stands out as a real anomaly. Something software would suggest. I don't dispute that TONE TAGS are real things. I just contend that the phrase is ugly, and today, wildly outlierish in its contemporariness. 

What old names, you ask? LAGASSE, ASSANTE, LAHTI, AMATI. Also, that particular LOLA (116D: Singer/dancer/actress Falana). You've also got musty stuff like MARM and SCUD as well as olde-timey oddities (AERONAUT) and geographical obscurities (TARAWA). Then there's ASPERSES, which is a real word, but not one that you would ever use. See also UNAWED, the real wordness of which I'm actually less sure of (really looks like a typo for "unwed"). I would love IT'S FOR THE BIRDS if that "IT'S" would just go away (awkward). Also, the clue on it is not quite right (15D: "Don't pay any mind to this"). "For the birds" suggests something far more negative than "ignore this" implies. If it's "for the birds," it's worthless. It's usually a blanket statement about some kind of behavior or activity. "Don't pay any mind to this" just doesn't have any of the slangy derisive energy of "for the birds." I did like TOP-FLIGHT and PLENTY MORE and TAKE A RAIN CHECK, all very colorful and colloquial.

Bullets:

• 14D: Island containing Kiribati's capital (TARAWA) — looks like this is an atoll that is (was?) famous because of a WWII battle (the Battle of TARAWA, surprisingly enough). It sounds ... gruesome.
• 45A: Defensive player who keeps an eye on the QB, in football lingo (SPY) — I had the "S" and tried to make SAF (safety?) happen.
• 131A: Move fast, as a cloud (SCUD) — I wrote in SCUT, another ugly word that means something totally different (either "the short, erect tail (as of a hare)" (merriam-webster.com) or "routine or tedious work" (thefreedictionary.com). Hard to imagine describing anything as "scudding" and being taken seriously. Then again, I guess the “Move fast” definition beats the only other definition of SCUD that I know (the missile definition, which anyone who was alive for the first Gulf War knows all too well).
• 17D: Feminine pronoun in Florence (ESSA) — Italian pronouns: not my specialty, apparently. I wanted ELLA here (that's a Spanish feminine pronoun, I believe). ELLA is also my daughter's name, but that's neither here nor there.
• 36D: With nary a chance (NO HOW) — making another quaintness-induced grimacey face. I should say that "nary" sounds quaint / twee, whereas NO HOW just sounds like standard slang. People who say "nary a" probably also say "methinks." There's a put-on-ness about it that sets my teeth on edge.
• 85D: Old-timey teacher (MARM) — MARMs probably say "nary a [whatever]"
• 82D: Main squeeze, in newer slang (BAE) — "newer"??? Well, that's a new(er) one. It's vague enough that it could mean virtually anything. Newer than what (besides "main squeeze," that is)?

• 109D: Kind of insurance for bridges (DENTAL) — this one fooled me for a while. I have had root canals and crowns, but I have yet to have a bridge installed in my mouth. Things to look forward to...

Dental bridges replace missing teeth. They can restore chewing function, enhance your appearance and improve your oral health. A dental bridge consists of crowns (that fit over your natural teeth on either side of the space) and artificial teeth (that “bridge the gap” in your smile). (The Cleveland Clinic)

That's all for today. Before I go, I just want to say a few words about the WFMU "Words Are For Crossing" crossword meet-up / fundraiser I got to be a part of this past Thursday. I've been listening to WFMU for about four years now—I discovered it by accident after Ronnie Spector died and a friend posted a link to a tribute show hosted by DJ Sheila B, and I got addicted to her show ("Sophisticated Boom Boom"), and then from there discovered other shows, including "The Evan 'Funk' Davies Show." Unbeknownst to me, while I was listening to Evan's show every week, Evan (a regular NYTXW solver) was reading my blog every day. Since WFMU hosts community / fund-raising events regularly in its space downstairs, Evan got it into his head to do a crossword meet-up. He knew me, and he knew longtime NYTXW constructor Gary Cee from when they worked at the NYU radio station in college, and so he pitched this meet-up idea where people would come and solve custom-made WFMU-related puzzles and just ... hang out. Solve the puzzles, talk about the puzzles, eat Oreos, listen to ENO ONO etc. Something smallish and very chill. It sounded fun, and I wanted to meet Evan and visit WFMU anyway, so I was in.

I think we were all unsure how it was going to turn out, who would come, etc. So when we ended up with a pretty full room full of enthusiastic solvers, I was thrilled. Overwhelmed, really. I've been to plenty of tournaments, but I don't think I've ever been at an event like this, where the vibe was relaxed and non-competitive and people were just having a good time doing the nerdy thing they like to do with other nerds. After each puzzle, whichever of us made it got to talk about it and take questions about it. People gave me a hard time about KEENED (solver: "How would you use 'KEENED' in a sentence?" Me: "uh ... 'I regret putting KEENED in my crossword puzzle'?") (it's a perfectly good word—just ask any banshee). 

But the real treat of the night was talking to other solvers. Veteran constructor (and language columnist) Ben Zimmer was there, so we got to catch up a little. I also got to meet Adam Vincent, who's had over half a dozen puzzles in the NYT since 2020. Adam, like every other person who introduced themselves to me that night, was warm and kind and said nice things about the blog. I just want to say to everyone who attended how grateful I am that you took the time to come to a random crossword thingie on a Thursday night in Jersey City. I'm grateful that you supported the station, of course, but also that you were all so nice to me. This was an idea that Evan just ... invented ... and it actually came off really nicely. Thanks for being part of that. I highly recommend the crossword meet-up as a format for doing something semi-organized with fellow solvers and constructors in your municipal area. Make a few locally-themed puzzles, get a few dozen local solvers to come out and solve them, maybe pass the hat for a local charity. No tournament stress, just good companionship and word-nerdiness. Do it, you'll enjoy it. 

So thank you David and Eve, and Jordan, and John, and George, and Warren, and regular blog commenter Hugh (who won one of the raffle drawings and got himself one of the WFMU shirts with the cool dog + cow logo). Thanks also to Rebekah and Beth for letting me sit at their table and eat their snacks—sorry your friend Allie couldn't be there; maybe next time. Above all, thanks to Evan, whose idea it was, and who ran the night so smoothly. I wouldn't normally go on at such length about a relatively small event, but the night really embodied everything I love about crosswords, and reminded me why I do what I do every day (20 years this Friday...). I hope I get to be a part of something like this again some day. It was a blast.

[Beth, me, Rebekah; not pictured, but there in spirit: Allie]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. speaking of crossword community (which I was), it's once again time for the Boswords Fall Themeless League. Here's the pitch from Boswords founder John Lieb:

Registration for the Boswords 2026 Fall Themeless League is open! This 10-week event starts with a Preseason puzzle on Monday, September 28 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.   

Like most people I've met in the world of crosswords, John is a very nice guy, and he runs a very well-loved tournament, so if you're a regular solver who's tournament-curious, give it a shot. This year's Fall constructor roster is *stacked*! Erik Agard, Ryan McCarty, Zhou Zhang, Rebecca Goldstein, Patti Varol, Rachel Fabi ... and many more. Honestly, top-tier. I can't wait to do these puzzles.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Rattled, humorously / SAT 9-19-26 / Following the leader too closely, say / Mell Lazarus comic strip that ran for 46 years / One might be cut off by an orchestra / It didn't come with a calculator until 2024 / Players who account for a disproportionate amount of a mobile game's revenue, in lingo / Ocean predator with external teeth

Constructor: Hannah Slovut-Einertson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: "MOMMA" (44D: Mell Lazarus comic strip that ran for 46 years) —

Momma is an American comic strip by Mell Lazarus that ran from October 26, 1970, to July 10, 2016. [...] The central character is Sonya Hobbs, an annoying, short, widowed, opinionated senior citizen mother with a controlling, nagging personality. Although Lazarus based the character on his own mother, when he showed it to her, she thought the character was based on his aunt, exclaiming, “You caught Aunt Helen to a tee!” [...] Momma was Lazarus' second strip; he had been publishing the syndicated strip Miss Peach since 1957. Debuting on October 26, 1970, Momma was initially distributed by the Publishers-Hall Syndicate, and later was handled by Creators Syndicate and published in more than 400 newspapers worldwide. // Creators Syndicate announced Momma's (and Mell Lazarus') death July 10, 2016, in a comic strip memorial that included other grieving comic strip characters. (wikipedia)

• • •

[omygod look at its stupid little smiley face! adorable! how is this not a popular cartoon character!?]

This one has some real high points, but also some features I either don't like or don't get. Why take beautiful animals like WHALES, with infinite cluing possibilities, and render them into some mobile gaming slang (??) with a paragraph-long explanatory clue? (15D: Players who account for a disproportionate amount of a mobile game's revenue, in lingo). I know everyone wants to be hip and now and current and with-it and "hello, fellow youths," but I don't get it. Just because you found a new clue for WHALES does not mean you found a good clue for WHALES. Let the WHALES swim free with the SAW SHARKs (34D: Ocean predator with external teeth). I have no idea what SAW SHARKs are, but at least I can both infer and picture it. Also, SAW SHARK reminds me of Watchmen, which I'm currently teaching in my comics class. Specifically, it reminds of this moment, when one of the detectives gets a phone tip on where they can find Rorschach (a wanted vigilante), only "Rorschach" is not what he hears ...

In the next panel, both detectives realize who the tip's about and go running out of the room. They do ultimately catch him and imprison, but that goes bad for pretty much everyone except Rorschach (he maims and kills a lot of his fellow prisoners and psychologically ruins his well-meaning psychiatrist before eventually escaping). Anyway ... SAW SHARK! Vivid. GUITALELE, though, shrug. Why does that obscure instrument need two names? Also, this is not the debut of GUITALELE. Yes, it's been five years, but that's the kind of word you gotta let rest for at least ten. It's not your word, it's a wordlist word, used mainly for that string of ultra-common letters on the end. If you want to put something cool in the puzzle, try UKITAR. That's a much better name, anyway, and it would be original! (UKITAR appearances in NYTXW to date: zero). 

Further, I think you get two "UP"s but you do not get three "UP"s, so this one exceeded the "UP" limit today (LIGHTEN UP, SHAPE UP, "I'LL SHUT UP"). The fact that all the "UP"s were terminal made the piling up of "UP"s much more noticeable (and irksome). Lastly, in the "boo!" department, VENEERED is a particularly ugly word, and I did not enjoy sitting and waiting and guessing what the last three letters of TEEHEE--- were going to be (29D: [Giggle]). TEEHEEING seemed possible. But no, we just get an extra, gratuitous titter part. TEEHEE is never good fill. Adding an extra HEE doesn't improve matters. 

OK, now I'LL SHUT UP (16A: End of a rant, perhaps) ... actually, no I'll continue, but in a much more positive vein. Because much of this puzzle is very fresh and fun and (importantly) far from dull. Those NE and SW corners (GUITARLELE excepted) are lovely, with the SW probably being the puzzle's best part. Real talky and voicey and sassy, and clean clean clean from top to bottom. I also loved the clues on OSCAR SPEECH (37A: One might be cut off by an orchestra) and EMPTY SUIT (31D: No-talent boss), and SHOOKETH, lol, that already feels dated, but it did make me laugh (the lag time on themeless publication, as I understand it from recent discussions with constructors, can be pretty long, so who knows when this puzzle was actually made—probably at least a year ago) (42A: Rattled, humorously). The slanginess continues with RETCON (a shortening of "retroactive continuity"), a common concept in various ongoing fictional universes (26D: Storytelling device that revises previously established facts, informally). There's a lot to like here, even if the ride gets a little bumpy in places.

Weird solve for me, as I came roaring out of the NW and then came to an awkward, abrupt stop. Wrench in the gears at the crossing of WHALES, BAD LOT, and VENEERED. Forward progress, completely thwarted. But then, also weird, instead of starting over with the short fill in some other section, I somehow looked at the clue for a long answer, 28A: Youngest congressional appointees ... and that was a gimme. Wrote in SENATE PAGES and couldn't believe it was right. So easy. From there, I was off and running again, down into the SE, then back up through the middle, eventually joining the SE and NW by settling all the WHALES / BAD LOT / VENEERED nonsense. That left the NE and SW corners, which were the best part, so I inadvertently saved the best for last—always nice to finish on a high note. Not much in the puzzle that I outright didn't know today. WHALES, obviously ... SAW SHARK, but that wasn't hard to guess ... OLUO is a name I've seen on bookshelves and thought "oh, so you want to be in crosswords, do you?" But I didn't remember it today. Otherwise, there's nothing particularly obscure about any of the grid content. Then again, I grew up with Rod CAREW on my baseball cards and "MOMMA" in my local newspaper, and Sidney LUMET's Dog Day Afternoon is one of my favorite movies, so it's possible the proper nouns were more me-friendly than they were you-friendly today.

Bullets:

• 12D: Following the leader too closely, say (CULTY) — a debut, and a good one! The context is ambiguous so when you finally stumble on the answer, it's a (to me, funny) surprise. 
• 20A: Runner's goal (HOME PLATE) — more ambiguity. First thought track & field "runner," then went way off-book and thought maybe we were dealing with a TV showrunner ... or a computer program, which runs, obviously ... in the end, it was just baseball—a baserunner.
• 19A: Siva ___ (traditional dance named for its country of origin) (SAMOA) — so, basically, [Five-letter country], got it? I was like "Siva SPAIN ... sounds wrong." Good instinct, me!
• 21A: Good-for-nothings (BAD LOT) — had the BAD and was so mad that I could not make a plural answer! BADDYS!? The two-word, non-"S"-ending group noun never occurred to me. Until it did.

That's all for today. I had a wonderful time at the WFMU crossword meet-up on Thursday night. I'll talk about it in greater detail in tomorrow's write-up, but for now, I'll just say that solving original puzzles with a roomful of your fellow nerds in a very relaxed, non-tournament setting, while eating OREOs and other less crosswordy snacks and listening to a carefully curated playlist of ONO, ENO, SADE, SIA, etc.—it was more fun that I could've imagined. The people who came out to solve and say hi were So Nice. There were even a couple of constructors there that I knew. We solved three puzzles (including one of my own) and after each one we'd put the solution up on a screen and (briefly) talk about it and take questions about it. All the puzzles were WFMU-themed (it was a WFMU benefit, after all). Anyway, people were disarmingly lovely to me. It was a fun night out. I hope we do it again next year. Thanks to Evan Davies, the WFMU DJ who arranged it all (and contributed a puzzle of his own—his first!) as well as Gary Cee, a longtime NYTXW constructor who contributed a puzzle as well. And thanks especially to the blog-readers who came out to solve and say hi. It meant a lot to me. (Also, if you were there and have pictures you’d be willing to email me, I’d really appreciate it)

[Gary, Evan, me]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Server's warning at a restaurant / FRI 9-18-29 / Figuratively speaking / Not everyone agrees on this / Some features of backyard landscaping / Ball girls / Act like yourself, perhaps? / Clicked with a partner?

Constructor: Ryan Mathiason

Relative difficulty: Hard

THEME: None

Word of the Day: PISCES (25D: Leap day baby, e.g.) —

Pisces (♓︎; /ˈpaɪsiːz/;^[2][3] Ancient Greek: Ἰχθύες Ikhthyes, Latin for "fishes") is the twelfth and final astrological sign in the zodiac. It is a mutable sign. It spans 330° to 360° of celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this area between about February 19 and March 20.^[4][a] In classical interpretations, the symbol of the fish is derived from the ichthyocentaurs, who aided Aphrodite when she was born from the sea.^[5]

• • •

It's a Rafa Rexplacement day! Very exciting times. I hope you all are well and enjoying the almost-fall. Is there a better way to welcome the almost-fall than solving and blogging a crossword puzzle? Probably, yes, there is. But this is what I'm choosing to do so please join me on my journey.

A nice GAZEBO

My first thought here is that this felt pretty hard. On a Friday, I'm used to getting a toehold very early. Usually within the first three clues. But here I was bouncing around for ages before I felt confident in any answer. I knew ARLO, and TAU, and DYSON came easy. But it was quite a while before anything meaningful coalesced up top. Eventually I got UNITED NATIONS [Country club?] from just the initial U (wow, look at me, I'm so smart), and things started to fall. The bottom half felt a little bit easier, but probably because I already had some letters to help me figure things out.

This is a JACK AND COKE. I know it looks like just coke, but you'll have to trust me

The thing this puzzle seems to be doing is highlighting fun, multi-word 6-letter answers. And I think it does that quite well! IT'S HOT, QR CODE, SEE RED, DARN IT, I GOT IN, MAD LIB, ONE SEC, etc. all feel really solid. We already saw QR CODE this week, but I still enjoyed it. Something about it just makes it feel like very juicy crossword fill. DARE ME felt like a partial to me (though I can see it reasonably work as a standalone exclamation), and CAN TOO is veering too closely to [Playground retort] to my liking, but overall this is a really impressive showing.

The more I look back at this grid, the more I'm admiring it. The long stuff is great, too. That UNITED NATIONS clue is a banger, and [Element of a dating profile?] for TREE RING is lovely too. SNIFF TEST is probably my favorite entry in the whole puzzle. GOAL LINE STAND doesn't do much for me but I'm Not A Sports Person, and I'm very happy for the Sports People to feel represented. KFCS / FAA felt maybe a little initialism-heavy in a small area, but that really is as much as I can complain about the fill.

KFC bucket

The grid overall was kinda heavy on black squares, but I don't think anyone really cares about that. I don't even know whether I care. But it is something I noticed, so here I am pointing it out. And ... yeah, I think those are my thoughts so I'll stop here and let you guys go carry on with your days. Until next time!

Bullets:

• 16A JUNE BUGS: Insects names for when they emerge — I have absolutely heard of JUNE BUGS before but I have no idea what they look like
• 44A DATA: Cookie contents — Clever clue! (It's a cookie as in the one in your browser.)
• 39D CRAZE: Fidget spinners or Angry Birds, once — It really was simpler times when Angry Birds was all the rage and we didn't have to worry about the AI bot apocalypse.
• 5D ODES: ___ of Solomon, literary collection written in the first or second century — At first I (incorrectly) put in SONS here, but then I also (correctly) put in SONS for 7-Down so I was sad because I wanted both to be right but knew it couldn't be.

Signed, Rafa

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️Upcoming Crossword Tournaments✏️:

• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago, IL, Sat., Oct. 3, 2026)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...