Riding free as an employee, in airline lingo / SAT 9-26-26 / Prepares, as shumai / A bit corrupt, perhaps? / Signature QB move included as a feature in 2012's Madden NFL 13 video game / Early giant in punch-card tabulating systems / Desserts that may feature frangipane / Broadcaster with a onetime coat-of-arms logo, informally / Actress Price of the 2000s sitcom "Grounded for Life" / Evergreen whose cones bear edible seeds

Constructor: Brian Callahan

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: shumai (1A: Prepares, as shumai = STEAMS) —

Shumai (simplified Chinese: 烧卖; traditional Chinese: 燒賣; pinyin: shāomài; Cantonese Yale: sīu-máai; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sio-māi; Wugniu: sau¹ ma⁶) is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling meat made of ground pork. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack, and is served with an additional serving of soy sauce. In addition to accompanying the Chinese diaspora, variations of shumai can be found in Japan, Southeast Asia, and South America. Variations include the Hawaiian pork hash and the Indonesian siomay. In Australia, it developed into dim sim. (wikipedia)

• • •

Not often that I get even one answer that has a direct connection to Binghamton, NY (where I live), and today I got two. One of IBM's four predecessor companies was the Bundy Manufacturing Company, "the first time-recording company in the world to produce time clocks" (wikipedia), which was headquartered in Binghamton, NY (28A: Early giant in punch-card tabulating systems). That company eventually merged with three others and moved down the street to Endicott, NY, where IBM maintained a research lab and offices until they began to pull out in the '90s (they only just ended their lease in Endicott three years ago, despite having no presence here to speak of for a quarter century). The business school at Binghamton University is named after Thomas J. Watson, the chairman and CEO of IBM who oversaw its rise to a global concern in the first half of the 20th century. Here's some more fun facts about Thomas J. Watson:

Watson authorized providing Nazi Germany with data processing solutions and involved IBM in cooperation throughout the 1930s and until the end of World War II, profiting from both the German and American war efforts. A leading self-made industrialist, he was one of the richest men of his time when he died in 1956. (wikipedia)

Amoral profiteering and the punch clock! A real testament to the healing balm of capitalism. So next time you think of the dehumanizing effects of modern industrialization on the labor force, think Binghamton! The other connection this puzzle has to Binghamton is more tenuous, but I was there for it, front and center—and that is, the TEBOWING of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (the Mets AA affiliate). In his home debut, he hit a home run on the First Pitch He Saw. I know because I was standing about 30 feet away from him when he did it:

["Are you kidding me!? ... There's no way that just happened!"—that's me]

Having witnessed that "historic" moment did not help me at all with TEBOWING, though (30D: Signature QB move included as a feature in 2012's Madden NFL 13 video game) … or not much. I mean, at least I knew the guy's name, so that helped. But I don't really know what TEBOWING is, and the idea that I'd know what was happening in Madden fourteen years ago is hilarious. Oh, no wait, I looked it up and I absolutely know what TEBOWING is, or knew. I just forgot. It's his little one-kneed "thinker" / prayer pose. It became a meme. A fad. It had its moment. That moment is gone, along with Tebow's professional sports career.

"Tebowing" is a neologism for the act of kneeling on one knee in prayer specifically with one's head bowed and an arm resting on the one bent knee, a form of genuflecting. It is derived from Tebow's propensity for kneeling and praying. The origin of the phrase is credited to fan Jared Kleinstein, who posted a picture with friends on Facebook, in which they mimicked a pose of Tebow following the Broncos' comeback overtime victory over the Dolphins on October 23, 2011. The popularity of the picture led Kleinstein to set up a website showing pictures submitted by people depicting various interpretations of "Tebowing" all over the world. After two-and-a-half months, the site received 20,000 photograph submissions and 20 million page views from 2 million unique visitors. The New York Times wrote "it can be hard to tell whether [people Tebowing] are celebrating or mocking [Tebow] for his virtuous ways." (wikipedia)

The non-Binghamton parts of this puzzle were ... fine. The middle felt kind of flat to me. It's always impressive when constructors are able to cross so many long answers like that at the center of the grid, but TEEHEEHEE crossing HAHAS really put a damper on things, and TRADE DEAL and PEAR TARTS are just a lot of common letters. I think the most interesting thing in that heap of answers is SIDE BANGS (26A: Part of an asymmetrical hairstyle). The worst, of course, is WEBISODES, a portman-no if I've ever saw one (surpassed in its ugliness only by its cousin, WEBINARS) (35A: Online show pieces). The puzzle is solid enough, just not very exciting. Since I don't really care about Madden or Survivor and don't know much "airline lingo" and am not really the target audience for STEM-based puns (32D: A bit corrupt, perhaps? = DATA ROT), this puzzle mostly just wasn't for me. I can see it's sturdily made, but solving it was something of a shrug.

Really uneven difficulty today, with the NW filling itself in pretty quickly (the opposite of yesterday), but the center being hard for me to get at. I basically had to circle the middle, coming at it from three corners, before it started to fall. First break was guessing TEE HEE HEE off the last HEE, then taking that "T" down with TRAIN, then over with TALON, then down to the far SW corner with ... TIKIS (37D: Highly prized rewards on "Survivor" = TARPS) (it's been ages since I watched Survivor, a show I associate with opening the floodgates of reality TV, which has generally, by and large, with few exceptions, been a scourge on American society). 

Between not knowing TARPS and having AVER for AVOW (kealoa!), (40A: Assert) and having both WAVE TO and WAVE AT before WAVE HI (yuck), that corner was probably the hardest of the corners, but the other corners were pretty easy, so it all evened out.

Bullets:

• 31A: Desserts that may feature frangipane (PEAR TARTS) — I know "frangipane" had something to do with almonds, but that did not help me get to PEAR ...
• 5D: Actress Price of the 2000s sitcom "Grounded for Life" (MEGYN) — "2000s" = 2001-2005. I have zero memory of this show's existence, and wouldn't have known this name anyway (she has gone on to roles in more recent shows that I also didn't watch: Rules of Engagement (2007-13), The Ranch (2016-20)).

[I do recognize some of these actors, including Kevin Corrigan, who is perfect in the perfect movie Walking & Talking (1996)]

• 14D: Critical response concerning a piece of fiction? ("YOU LIED TO ME") — I know you need "Critical" for your little "fiction" misdirection, but "YOU LIED TO ME" is just a "response concerning a piece of fiction," a statement of fact. Nothing inherently "critical" about it ... though I guess it is hard to imagine someone saying "YOU LIED TO ME" in an approving fashion.
• 36D: Pudding typically served with "neeps and tatties" (HAGGIS) — that's parsnips and potatoes. I think. Hang on ... nope, turnips and potatoes (specifically mashed potatoes). I studied in Scotland for a semester and the only HAGGIS I had was from a takeaway shop (not ... good).

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the "happy 20th anniversary" wishes in the comments yesterday. Very sweet of you to take the time.  

[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)