Pharynx setting / WED 9-16-26 / Mononymous Irish singer / Dip target, maybe / Pho soup garnishes / Gas brand seen in Edward Hopper's "Portrait of Orleans" / Fruits named after a mythical drink / "A form of madness," it's said / Small hound that doesn't bark

Constructor: Peter Gorman

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (more fussy than hard, though)

THEME: [UT]AH (68A: State whose outline can be made by connecting seven particular squares in this puzzle) — those seven squares have the state code for Utah (UT) inside them:

Theme answers:

• SH[UT] / A[UT]OPSY (14A: Close / 3D: Post-mortem)
• SPRO[UT]S / L[UT]E (15A: Pho soup garnishes / 8D: Guitar relative)
• ASTRONA[UT] / [UT]URN (24A: The remotest of remote jobs? / 26D: Remedy for a missed exit)
• YO[UT]H / EXEC[UT]ION (27A: Kid / 11D: Concern for a gymnastics judge)
• PL[UT]O / ANY MIN[UT]E (66A: Noted cartoon dog / 39D: Very soon)
• YO[UT]UBE / CREWC[UT]S (67A: Its first video, "Me at the zoo," has over 400 million views / 45D: Military hairstyles)
• [UT]AH /PEAN[UT]S" (68A [see above] / 51D: Classic comic strip that's the source for nine Emmys and two Tonys)

Word of the Day: "Portrait of Orleans" (9D: Gas brand seen in Edward Hopper's "Portrait of Orleans" = ESSO) —

 

1950 // View looking across an intersection in a rural town, with an Esso gas station on the right, and a row of shops across the street. The streets are deserted except for a woman looking in a store window, and two cars parked along a tree-lined street in the distance. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco M. H. de Young Memorial Museum Golden Gate Park San Francisco California 94118 Accession Number: 1991.32) [Smithsonian]

• • •

If you're a Utah enthusiast, I guess today's your lucky day, because this ... is definitely the outline of Utah. Yep, that it is. You cannot deny the resemblance. And those squares are all Utah (UT) squares. And so ... there you are. Well, not me, I'm in the Southern Tier of NY, but figuratively, there you are. Unless you're a Utah(a)n, in which case, literally and figuratively, there you are. I wish I had anything to say about this puzzle. Utah. Welcome to Utah. There is nothing specifically "Utah" about this puzzle beyond the state code and shape. No Utah content. Just a picture of Utah formed by connecting [UT] squares. No OGDEN, no MOAB, no MORMONS. Just a blocky state outline. There are words, of course, but nothing particularly interesting. The answers come, the answers go. Nothing notably weak, nothing notably strong. I can't tell if this puzzle is a fan of Utah or is trying to tell us Utah is singularly unremarkable. 

Your job is to track down "UT' squares. It's a good old-fashioned "UT" hunt. Like they have in Utah. I assume. So there's at least some challenge. I mean, your brain has something to do besides simply answer fairly straightforward clues. But the (mild) challenge of the "UT" hunt was the only thing that kept me awake. It's an easy puzzle, but the "UT-iness" (or "U"-"T"-ness) (rhymes with "fruitiness") keeps you on your toes. Still, once you get that first "UT" (for me, the one at SH[UT] / A[UT]OPSY), and you know what you're looking for, even the challenge of the "UT" hunt isn't that challenging. I guess I learned a few things. Like the fact that Coco Gauff's name is CORI. "Coco" is no shorter than CORI, but I suppose it's more fun to say. I also learned that TANGERINES has the same number of letters as NECTARINES (63A: Fruits named after a mythical drink). Really glad NECTARINES ended up being the answer 'cause I was really struggling to believe that "Tang" was a "mythical drink." Lastly, I learned that the first video on YOUTUBE was called "Me at the zoo." Sounds boring, but ... let's find out.

Wow. Somehow even more boring than I'd imagined. Amazing. Real trouble spots today were few. Getting that initial "UT" took a bit of struggle, a bit of thinking. I thought the [Guitar relative] (L[UT]E) was a UKE and so screwed up the second "UT" square, though in my defense, at that point I didn't know I was hunting "UT"s specifically. It seemed possible that any state code might pop out at me. What else? I started writing in BASSETT before fully reading the clue, backing up, and writing in BASENJI (one of the cooler dog breed names) (36D: Small hound that doesn't bark). My most consequential screw-up was certain writing in PET for 44A: Dip target, maybe (PEC). Isn't a "flea dip" a thing that PETs get? Yes, it is. A kind of medicated bath to eliminate flea infestations. But sadly (for me) the "dip" in question is the kind I actually (occasionally) do at the gym. This kind:

[Yes, that is me pictured, I am young and very muscular and transparent]

Bullets:

• 2D: Pharynx setting (THROAT) — "Pharynx" is one of those words ... seems familiar, but ... I keep staring at it thinking "I know I know that word ... why does it look like it's missing a letter? ... wait, am I thinking of 'larynx,' I might be thinking of 'larynx'..." It doesn't help that "Sphinx" is also in this puzzle (49D: The Sphinx, for one). Does the Sphinx have a pharynx? We'll never know...
• 59A: "A form of madness," it's said (WAR) — by whom? When? I need names. I had -AR and thought "EAR ... Van Gogh cut off his EAR, was he 'mad'? Or CAR? Our dependence on CARs is a form of madness, but ..."

• 12D: Certain pickleball shot (FOREHAND) — not everything has to be pickleball. There should be some spaces where pickleball isn't. The U.S. Open just concluded, you've got Coco Gauff in here, come on, just give us regular old tennis why don't you?
• 15A: Pho soup garnishes (SPRO[UT]S) — isn't pho "soup" by definition? Is there a non-soup pho? "Pho soup" seems like a ridiculous redundancy.
• 7D: Grab-and-go breakfast option (POP TART) — did Andy Warhol ever paint POP TARTs. Did Lichtenstein? It seems like the perfect subject. Bright. Commercial. One letter off from Pop Art. About this clue, though—don't like "option" here when OPT is in the grid (two answers over => 5D: Decide one will (OPT TO)).

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[all proceeds go to WFMU, the best listener-supported radio in the whole dang world]

 

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

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️Upcoming Crossword Events✏️:

• NEW! Words Are For Crossing—a WFMU Crossword Meet-Up (a WFMU fundraiser) (Jersey City, NJ, Thur., Sep. 17, 2026)
• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago, IL, Sat., Oct. 3, 2026)

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

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)