Features of gathering clouds? / THU 10-1-26 / Sneaker brand whose logo features the "Formstrip" / Migratory fish with exceptionally sensitive hearing / Patriotic recitation since 1892 / Obsolescent credit card feature / Term of affection in the U.K.

Constructor: Jill Singer

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: STUMBLING BLOCKS (55A: Obstacles ... or a hint to three squares in this puzzle) — a rebus puzzle with three "stumbling blocks" (i.e. squares containing synonyms for "stumble"):

Theme answers:

• PLEDGE O[F ALL]EGIANCE (17A: Patriotic recitation since 1892) / BE[FALL] (7D: Happen to)
• PAY[S LIP] SERVICE (27A: Expresses support without meaning it) / [SLIP]-ONS (28D: Moccasins and loafers, e.g.)
• MAGNETIC S[TRIP]E (44A: Obsolescent credit card feature) / ACID [TRIP]S (32D: Hallucinatory experiences)

Word of the Day: PAIUTE (9D: Great Basin tribe) —

Paiute (/ˈpaɪjuːt/; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and they are no more closely related to each than they are to the Central Numic languages (Timbisha, Shoshoni, and Comanche) which are spoken between them.

The term "Paiute" does not refer to a single, unique, unified group of Great Basin tribes, but is a historical label comprising:

• Northern Paiute people of northeastern California, northwestern Nevada, eastern Oregon, and southern Idaho
• Southern Paiute people of northern Arizona, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah
• Mono people of east central California, divided into Owens Valley Paiute (Eastern Mono) and Western Mono (Monache) (wikipedia)

• • •

This was excellent. Too easy, for sure, but the theme is very clever and perfectly executed. It's almost too neat, too on-the-nose. STUMBLING BLOCKS ... blocks meaning "stumble" ... that's it, that's the theme! But its elegant simplicity is the key to its charm. It's just so nice to see someone hit on a good theme concept and then absolutely stick the landing. All three of the "stumbling blocks" are neatly tucked away inside totally solid, believable, even colorful phrases, and because there are just three of them, the grid has room to breathe. Yes, it's a little heavy on the 3-4-5s, which makes for a lot of common answers, but those answers never get really ugly or tiresome, and there are lots of vibrant 6s and 7s to keep things interesting (CHISEL STABBED ENIGMA MUMBAI ZAPATA DRUM KIT etc.). The whole thing is just so ... clean. "Crafted," I think, is the word I'm looking for. Or maybe "polished." Feels like someone took the time to make sure that theme and fill were both as smooth as possible. Yes, I personally would've preferred a harder puzzle, but I still really appreciate how well-built this puzzle is.

Moving through this one felt like a circuitous stroll through a park or garden. I could tell it was going to be on the easy side early on, so I decided to just ... meander, rather than rush to the finish. I went where the fill took me, which meant I got the top and the bottom before I had much of anything in between. Got the rebus trick pretty quickly...

... and then just kind of ... stumbled to the bottom of the grid. Like falling down a southwest-running staircase, though a little more controlled ... 

And then from there, the revealer came pretty quickly, which both allowed me to appreciate why "FALL" was in its own block up top (not a seasonal puzzle, it turns out!) and gave me some idea of what I needed to look for with the remaining two themers. I was so happy when the next rebus square that turned up was not also "FALL"—I was half-dreading I'd get three "FALL"s, which would've been ... less impressive. But no, I got a TRIP and a SLIP, making a perfect stumbling triumvirate. I was gonna say that I was glad the constructor didn't try to force in a fourth block, but I'm not sure what that block could plausibly be. "FALL" "SLIP" "TRIP" (in order) are the top three synonyms Merriam-Webster dot com gives for "stumble," and none of the other offerings on their list would work nearly as well. So, yet another thing in this puzzle's favor—it included all the plausible "blocks" and didn't try to force a clunker.

[synonyms for "stumble"]

No difficulty to speak of today. I had NIKE, of course, at 1A: Sneaker brand whose logo features the "Formstrip" (PUMA), even though I knew (or thought I knew) that their logo was the Swoosh. I considered PUMA, but in my head, all I could see, logo-wise, was the leaping PUMA. I forgot about the stripey thing on the shoes:

But the "N" from NIKE wasn't working with 1D: Doc seen for an annual checkup (PCP). I still can't quite get used to PCP as an abbrev. for "primary-care physician." You'll always be a drug to me, PCP. But once I got the "U" from URL (2D: Address letters), I gave into PUMA (and PCP), and then everything was much easier from there on out. The only green ink on my puzzle print-out is on the ACID part of ACID [TRIP]S—I wrote DRUG there at first. Easily fixed.

Bullets:

• 16A: Features of gathering clouds? (AEIOU) — those vowels appear, in order, in the phrase "gathering clouds" (with no repetitions); I like that this answer crosses the Old MacDonald answer (11D: Cry heard by Old MacDonald = OINK). You know, because "Old MacDonald had a farm / A-E-I-O-U..."
• 65A: The Black Knights of the N.C.A.A. (ARMY) — I never think about their mascot as they are not serious contenders in any of the major college sports. I saw "Black Knights" and my mind went to Vegas, why? Is that their ... hockey team? Ah, close—those are the Golden Knights. Ice hockey in Vegas still seems preposterous to me, but that's probably because when I was growing up, almost all the teams were in real cold-weather places. Los Angeles was the outlier. Here are the team locations for the 1980-81 season (when I'd've been in sixth grade):

[L.A. = only location here where it never snows]

• 31D: Writer Gay (TALESE) — fun fact: TALESE and ROXANE have the same number of letters

• 41D: French composer who refused the Legion of Honour in 1920 (RAVEL) — been listening to him a lot. Posted this just two days ago:

 

• 64A: Migratory fish with exceptionally sensitive hearing (SHAD) — lol the idea that I know anything about fish hearing. Did they give them hearing tests? That must've been fun. Do SHAD like RAVEL? Play this for the SHAD in your life and see!

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. gah, I almost forgot my best mistake, the one that (briefly) made me So Mad at this puzzle. I had the GRA- solidly in place at 19D: Words that might come before a meal, and, well ... this happened:

  

The indignation. "GRAB A!?!?!!? That's your fill!? That's the worst partial I've ever seen. 'GRAB A meal!?' The clue's not even worded correctly: if you put GRAB A before 'a meal' you've got 'GRAB A a meal,' which is nonsense. How in the world..." etc. In my defense, the clue did say "words," plural. And it said they "might come" before a meal, not that they were "said" (which would've got me to GRACE easily). Sigh. OK, I'm off to GRAB A coffee now. Bye.

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