Urban casual fashion / MON 10-19-26 / Thai currency units / What everyone becomes at the touch of love, per Plato's "Symposium" / New York city, county or river / Pre-1917 Russian autocrat / "Rocky III" actor with a mohawk

Constructor: Michele Govier

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (solved Downs-only)

[8D: Darth Vader's childhood nickname = ANI]

THEME: SHADOWBOXES (57A: Punches the air ... or a hint to what 1-Across creates in this puzzle — the SUN (1A: Center of the solar system, with "the") in the NW corner must be imagined as shining over three elements of the grid that cast "shadows" (represented by shaded squares (or "boxes")) on the answers below them:

Theme answers:

• AWNING (13A: Cafe overhang) casts a "shadow" on FAWNING OVER (18A: Giving excessive praise and flattery)
• TREE (29A: Branch plant?) casts a "shadow" on STREETWEAR (35A: Urban casual fashion)
• HAT (37A: Sombrero or fedora) casts a "shadow" on "THAT'S RIGHT" (41A: "You are correct")

Word of the Day: OSWEGO (38D: New York city, county or river) —

Oswego (/ɒsˈwiːɡoʊ/ oss-WEE-goh, Onondaga: Deyoʼswé·geʼ ) is a city in and the county seat of Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is situated at the mouth of the Oswego River on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Syracuse and 74 miles (119 km) east-northeast of Rochester by road. The city promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York".

The first European settlement at Oswego was a British trading post established in 1722, and it was first incorporated as a village in 1828 before becoming a city in 1848. British forces briefly captured the city during the War of 1812, but were defeated nearby later that same month. The canalization of the Oswego River was a major boon to Oswego, attracting settlement and investment; this was later bolstered by its status as a rail hub for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, though this status had begun to decline by the 1940s. During World War II, Fort Ontario was the site of the only Jewish refugee camp in the United States. Today, the city's economy is primarily based around manufacturing and services. (wikipedia)

• • •

Whoa. I was prepared to give this two-and-a-half stars based on the fact that the revealer seemed slightly off (*anything* can cast a "shadow"—what AWNINGs, TREEs and HATs provide is shade) and the fill is quite poor. The latter remains true, but I have a lot greater tolerance for it now that I fully understand the theme. See, I absolutely did not notice, at first, that the "shadows" were created by identical words directly above and slightly to the left of them. I did the puzzle Downs-only, and I was caught up in the intricacies of that struggle, and so somehow never saw doubling. I just saw the "SHADOW BOXES," not what was (in the conceit of the puzzle) causing the shadows. Once I saw the AWNING above the shaded "AWNING" in FAWNING OVER—which was well after I'd finished the puzzle and was already marking up my print-out—I had a real "ohhhhhhhhhh" moment, and revised my rating of the puzzle upward, quite substantially. Now that I fully understand the theme, I see that it's *way* denser than I thought it was, with three themers, a revealer, three shade-casting answers (AWNING, TREE, HAT), and, of course, the SUN. That's 58 squares worth of theme material out of 184 total fillable (i.e. non-black) squares. That makes the grid nearly 1/3 theme. Dense. So the fill, yeah, it's less than great, for sure (IGA NNW ANI BAHTS ASAHI TSAR ARON CST NALA ORO XER OAKEN etc. plus the dreaded EAPOE, ugh), but the theme is Really imaginative and structurally demanding, so I think the puzzle is an overall winner nonetheless.

The Downs-only solve was mostly easy, though the NE gave me some trouble, as IRON LAW is not a phrase that rolls off the (my) tongue—I want it the law to be "iron-clad," and I want it to be a rule, not a law (I knew it wasn't "rule" because "rule" is in the clue, but the phrase really wants to be "iron-clad rule") (9D: Rule with no exceptions). I also imagined that Plato thought that everyone became a FOOL at the touch of love (11D: What everyone becomes at the touch of love, per Plato's "Symposium" => POET). Oh, and that MOVE was SWAP (10D: Change places). In the middle of the grid, I wanted STEAMED before SEETHED (26D: Was fuming mad). OSWEGO would've been hard for me, but a. I live in the state of NY, not *that* far from OSWEGO County, and b. I managed to infer the initial "O" from -AF (OAF). New York has a lot of Native American place names with "O"s. OSWEGO, ONEONTA ... my "local" baker is in OWEGO (about 20 minutes away). I went for a walk in OTSININGO Park this morning. I'm surprised anyone outside NY is expected to know where / what the hell OSWEGO is, especially on a Monday, but the crosses were all fair, right? I can see that answer flummoxing Downs-only solvers, but I lucked out, geographically. 

Bullets:

• 29D: Pre-1917 Russian autocrat (TSAR) — yes, it *could* be CZAR, but if it's a Russian ruler, *always* default to TSAR. Most of the time, if it's CZAR, it'll be in the context of some political appointment, like "Drug CZAR."
• 24D: Work likely to be shown at an independent cinema (ART FILM) — got this easily. I see a lot of ART FILMs, though I'm not sure I'd use that term. I'm watching the 1977 Japanese horror-fantasy film House right now, which feels like an ART FILM, but only in the context of 2026 USA. In 1977 Japan, it was a smash hit. Extremely mainstream, whereas ART FILM to me implies something with less obvious commercial appeal. Yes, the wikipedia entry says that an ART FILM is "not designed for mass appeal." House is the kind of movie that would play at an "art house theater," but I don't know if it's exactly an ART FILM. All the terminology here is, let's say, imprecise. But whatever House is, it's fascinating (and wild, and hilarious), and you should see it. 

• 51D: Winter hrs. in Wichita (CST) — didn't know if Wichita was Central or Mountain, so had to wait on that first letter. In the end, "CAN I GO?" was a lot more plausible than "MAN, I GO!," so I managed to enter the correct letter.

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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