Luxury fashion house based in Paris / SAT 9-5-26 / Cracker alternative to Ritz / Future manager's goal, for short / Toy popularized by Queen Victoria, familiarly / Apt name for a yoga instructor? / The sound that concludes "The Sound and the Fury" / What you might hear when you get someone's goat? / Tongue-in-cheek interjection akin to "Told ya..." / Stunning attraction at a winter festival, maybe

Constructor: Fritz Juhnke

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: CHLOÉ (2D: Luxury fashion house based in Paris) —

Chloé (French pronunciation: [klɔe]) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion. In 1953, Aghion joined forces with Jacques Lenoir, formally managing the business side of the brand, allowing Aghion to purely pursue the creative growth of Chloé. Its headquarters are located in Paris.

The house is owned by luxury brands holding company Richemont Group. Chloé has been worn by many celebrities, including Marion Cotillard, Sienna Miller, Madonna, January Jones, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kirsten Dunst, Cameron Diaz, Emma Stone, Clémence Poésy and Katie Holmes.

The brand is characterized by a youthful and bohemian aesthetic, and has produced several successful fragrances. As of October 2023, Chemena Kamali is its creative director. (wikipedia)

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EXCITING NEWS: Comments section functionality appears (fingers crossed) to have been restored, so please feel free to go back and say whatever you had to say about yesterday's puzzle on yesterday's post, and as for today's post, well, everything should be normal, so ... let's find out! 

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OH, ME, I hate the "expression" "OH, ME" (24D: "I can't catch a break!")—it's like "AH, ME"'s much uglier cousin. No one says that. You can bin that right away. "OH, ME" is a symptom of the worst aspect of this puzzle—the pockmarked middle. Or "holey," or "bullet-ridden," if you're more violently inclined. I'm talking about the swiss cheezification of the whole middle part of the grid—just black squares Everywhere, and therefore short answers Everywhere. Garbage middle, for sure. Had a horrible time just hacking through adequate-to-regrettable short stuff. The ring road, however—all the stuff around the perimeter and through the corners—that part was really nice. So it's a real Jekyll/Hyde puzzle today, but I come out pretty solidly on the Jekyll side (Hyde Side sounds better, but unfortunately Hyde is the baddie, so ... Jekyll side). I don't really know what an ICE PALACE is, so that did nothing for me, and nobody likes MASS EMAILs, but otherwise, the corner stacks and colonnades look really nice, and the grid-spanners that tie the whole thing together (the "ring road" I was talking about—yeah, it's square, whatever), those answers are largely lovely. I say "largely" because I'm not in love with the MOMENT part of HOLLYWOOD MOMENT (3D: Incident so dramatic it feels like a movie). I guess if you used that phrase to describe ... something, I don't know what ... I would probably understand what you're saying, but the actual phrase, the one people use, the truly in-the-language phrase is HOLLYWOOD ENDING—which fit! It's also the title of a forthcoming novel by John Green. And a 2002 Woody Allen movie, but you probably don't want to hear about that. Green's title has a comma in it, I see now. That wouldn't matter for crossword purposes. Anyway, HOLLYWOOD MOMENT was a meh surprise (forced upon me when I realized that Queen Victoria's "toy" was probably a POM(eranian) (46A: Toy popularized by Queen Victoria, familiarly)). But the rest of those long answers are very nice, particularly ALL THOSE AGAINST and "AREN'T YOU SPECIAL" (though that last one kinda needs a "Well" in front of it) 

I enjoyed moving from corner to corner by slinging those longer answers across the grid. Kinda sorta wanted to try "ALL THOSE ASSHOLES" at 17A: Nay sayers (ALL THOSE AGAINST), but it wouldn't fit. Also, the key to that clue is that "Nay" and "sayers" are separate words. Clue is referring to those who literally, formally say (vote) "Nay." Clever. I am trying not to think about the upcoming GENERAL ELECTIONs, but that doesn't mean that's not a solid phrase. SCHMOOZED over "WHOA THERE!" gives the NW a nice chatty energy, and STEAL HOME over SHAKE ON IT gives the puzzle a confident finality. Really puts an exclamation mark on the whole shebang. 

I had some lucky and unlucky moments today. Started great with KEY / SWANK as my opening 1-2 punch. Nice to get the opening letters of all those longer answers up top right off the bat. NOLTE was a gimme, and at that point I got so hopped up on early success that I ... well, I got over my skis a little. Off the final "T," I decided that an [Apt name for a yoga instructor?] would be ... BENT! In my (very reluctant) defense, BENGT is a Swedish man's name. I think that is possibly what I was thinking of. But as soon as I wrote it in, it looked ... bad. And almost immediately I realized "oh, no, it's probably just MATT." Other mistakes (besides BENT and HOLLYWOOD ENDING)—off the "L," I wrote in IDLY instead of TALL at 20A: One way to stand; off the "-AL-," I wrote in SALE instead of CALL at 53A: Stock market option; off the "-ON," I wrote in MOON instead of LION at 47A: ___ dance (Lunar New Year tradition); and finally, I tried to let someone IN to the elevator, not ON (61A: Held the elevator door for, say (LET ON)). Typical Saturday blunders.

Bullets:

• 52D: The sound that concludes "The Sound and the Fury" (LONG "E") — me: "There's a sound? Is it ... a furious sound? 'AARGH!'?" No, it is the sound of the "y" in "Fury." A letteral clue! Tricky.
• 41D: Like the 18th Amendment, nowadays (NULL) — uh, true, but also true that the 18th Amendment has been NULL since the 21st Amendment was ratified in 1933, which is not exactly "nowadays." Weirdish example of NULLness.
• 21A: Hang time, for short? (SESH) — SESH is always an ew from me, and it's particularly an ew when what is seemingly being referred to is the cringy phrase "hang SESH" (which just means a period of hanging out together / socializing" ... although apparently SESH can mean that all on its own ... can you all just please stop saying SESH, or saying it near me, anyway? Thanks. The cutesiness, the desperate attempt to sound "young" ... it burns ...

• 7D: Cracker alternative to Ritz (ZESTA) — Crosswords' favorite cracker! Which is to say, no one's favorite cracker. "They're out of Ritz." "Well, just get whatever then." "[pulls box off shelf] [squints] ZESTA?" "[Sigh], Sure." Hang on—ZESTAs are saltine crackers!? How are those an alternative to Ritz. That's like ... an entirely different species of cracker. Really gotta be desperate to accept ZESTA as an alternative to Ritz? Everyone knows the only Ritz alternative is Hi Ho (sadly discontinued sometime last decade). RIP Sunshine Biscuit, Hi Ho's parent company (which also, fittingly, owned Hydrox, the Oreo "alternative"). Keebler bought Sunshine in 1996. Our Cracker History Lesson has concluded for the day.

That's all, see you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. gonna go see a bunch of actual HOLLYWOOD MOMENTs today when I go see Double Indemnity (1944), which is somehow (!) screening at my local Regal cinema. They're also showing Dolly in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) on Monday, so we're going to that, too. Love the idea that my play-the-hits local multiplex is slowly morphing into a rep theater. It'll never get all the way there, but their retro screenings this weekend alone are kind of astonishing. Wrath of Khan! Steel Magnolias! Right alongside Coyote vs. Acme (which I will see, eventually). I'm into it.

["I wonder if you wonder"]

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