Brother on TV's "Bonanza" / MON 10-26-26 / Sergeant's superior, slangily / Bit of derring-do / Band with the 1999 triple-platinum hit "All Star" / Ends a relationship with by suddenly cutting off communication

Constructor: Kevin Christian and Andrea Carla Michaels

Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: SCATTERSHOT (61A: All over the place ... or a hint to the circled letters in 16-, 25-, 39- and 48-Across) — letters "S" "H" "O" and "T" are "scattered" (non-consecutively) inside longer answers (in circled squares):

Theme answers:

• SQUASH COURT (16A: Walled area for a racket sport)
• SMASHMOUTH (25A: Band with the 1999 triple-platinum hit "All Star")
• "JUST THIS ONE TIME" (39A: "Pretty please? I won't ask again")
• PSYCHED OUT (48A: Played mind games with)

Word of the Day: SMASH MOUTH (25A) —

Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994 and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). Harwell's departure in 2021 left De Lisle as the sole remaining original member. They are known for their songs "Walkin' on the Sun" (1997), "All Star" (1999), and "Then the Morning Comes" (1999), as well as a cover of the Monkees' "I'm a Believer" (2001).

The band adopted retro styles covering several decades of popular music. They have also performed numerous covers of popular songs, including War's "Why Can't We Be Friends?", Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)", ? & the Mysterians' "Can't Get Enough of You Baby", the Beatles' "Getting Better", Queen's "Under Pressure", House of Pain's "Jump Around", and "I Wan'na Be Like You" from The Jungle Book. They also composed two songs for the South Korean animated film Pororo, The Racing Adventure: "Beside Myself" and "Everything Just Crazy".

The group's debut album Fush Yu Mang has been certified platinum twice by the RIAA and their second album Astro Lounge has since been certified platinum thrice. Their song "All Star" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2001. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was pretty listless, as these types of themes go. The whole endeavor felt very dated, very old. Like, self-consciously old. Almost like the puzzle was doing a bit. I haven't seen a puzzle with this kind of non-consecutive letter theme for a while. They were more prevalent decades ago, but unless the concept is smashing, they generally seem kind of musty and passé these days. I don't think SCATTERSHOT is fresh enough or interesting enough to make the theme seem worth it. I guessed the revealer well before I even got there. The staleness extended beyond the theme, though. The fill ... I either winced or exclaimed "What!?" or laughed when I got to 17D: Brother on TV's "Bonanza" (HOSS). I knew it, but only from having done a million crosswords in the late 20th century and early '00s. "We're still doing HOSS?" is probably what I said, now that I think of it (this is the 106th NYTXW appearance of HOSS, but the first in five years and the first Bonanza-related clue in six). And HOSS came on the tail of a rather unpromising string of Downs (INURE, NSA, GEST). 

Going back at least 50 years, we've also got RHODA (love her! but today, with so much other old stuff in the grid, she just makes the grid seem older). Also the E.R.A. (as clued). And TALIA Shire in the Godfather movies. Also Superman (in the "IT'S" clue) (65A: Word before "a bird," "a plane" and "Superman!"). And L'IL Abner (so many LILs out there, why this one when the puzzle already leans so ostentatiously into the far past?). And an Elvis song for SHOOK. And NAT King Cole. Even [Sergeant's superior, slangily] felt like a thing people would've been much more familiar with a half century+ ago than now. Almost all these things are before *my* time, and I am ... less and less young. Even the thing that is from Exactly my time is, I have to admit, quite old (19A: "___ Lips Are Sealed" (1981 Go-Go's hit) ("OUR")). First album I bought with my own money, that Go-Go's album—Beauty and the Beat— at the Wherehouse Records in the Fashion Fair Mall, Fresno, CA. I think I picked up Billy Squier's Don't Say No as well. Good times. This puzzle, in both theme concept and fill, was less of a good time. It's fine to wax nostalgic, but this is taking it all a little far. The crusty, overfamiliar fill (EIEIO ONEK OSE REFI NSA INURE GEST LOOIE) only makes the datedness more apparent. I do think the theme answers have some charm all on their own, though "JUST THIS ONE TIME" really really would rather be "JUST THIS ONCE" (in that it seems much more like what one would actually say). The clue on GHOSTS stands out for its relative currency (46D: Ends a relationship with by suddenly cutting off communication). I also like LITHUANIA. Challenged my geographical knowledge (totally forgot the capital was Vilnius). This is the sixth LITHUANIA appearance in NYTXW history. There was once a 56-year gap between LITHUANIA appearances (1953-2009). Not a fun fact, exactly, but a weird one.

No real challenge today for the Downs-only solver (i.e. me). Took a few inferred crosses for me to pick up LITHUANIA, as I say. I idiotically wanted "FIRED" and "RILED" before having a massive "Duh" + D'oh!" moment with "SHOOK" (26D: "All ___ Up" (Elvis #1 hit)). [Bogeymen] seem like something other, something more specific than MONSTERS, so that also took some crossing. Otherwise, no issues. Saw right through the "trick" clue at 1D: Firing offense? (ARSON), and mostly cruised the rest of the way.

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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