Weapon in "Ivanhoe" / THU 10-22-26 / Region that produces Riesling wine / Island capital that's an anagram for a word meaning "steamy baths" / Small grouse / Some supermarkets, in brief / Her breast milk created the Milky Way, in Greek myth / Instrument heard at Rosh Hashana services /

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "NO CHANCE!" (60A: "FORGET IT!" ... or phonetic hint to aligning seven answers in this puzzle with their starred clues) — in order for theme answers to make sense, you must take chants (that is, the "OM"s) out of them; so: "No Chants!":

Theme answers:

• TOM HANKS (17A: *It may precede or follow "a million") (thanks)
• AXIOMS (19A: *Line used in plotting points) (axis)
• ALAMO DOME (30A: *Trendy) (à la mode)
• LANCOME (34A: *Weapon in "Ivanhoe") (lance)
• POMPOMS (38A: *Second letter addendum, for short) (P.P.S.)
• HOMEROOMS (45A: *Subs) (heros)
• SALOME (57A: *Inventory clearance option) (sale)

Word of the Day: Peter MAX (9D: Late psychedelic artist Peter) —

 

Peter Max Finkelstein (October 19, 1937 – September 14, 2026), known professionally as Peter Max, was a German-American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. He was noted for his artwork that ranged from posters of Day-Glo flowers, butterflies, rainbows, stars, and planets, which, according to The New York Times, "expressed the blissed-out exuberance of the countercultural 1960s". His work was often described as symbolic of the 1960s counterculture movement. // Max died from complications of dementia at a hospital in New York, on September 14, 2026, at the age of 88. (wikipedia)

• • •

Got the "OM" gimmick pretty early. Right here:

At this point, I hadn't even looked at the clue for the first themer (TOM HANKS). I tend to work like a termite, just munching away at whatever is in front of me or near me and not really thinking about longer answers until I've chewed up a lot of smaller ones. I also just tend to follow my success, wherever that leads me. Always Be Working Crosses. Better (for me) to keep mowing down short answers, or longer answers where I have a lot of letters in place, then to take a chance on a clue for a longer answer where I don't have so much in place. (I actually had a lot of that first themer in place—half in fact—but I had my head down, as it were, and didn't really think to look at it). I ended up with the LANC- part of LANCOME and the rest just sort of filled itself in; then I looked at it for a few seconds, saw the weapon ("lance") plus the added bit ("OM") and had it. Or had something. At that point I took a trip back up to TOMH- there at 17A: *It may precede or follow "a million" and since I knew the "OM" bit was probably added, I took it out (mentally), and "Thanks" was a cinch (though I don't think I've ever heard someone say "a million thanks"—in my experience, it's exclusively "thanks a million"). And since now it seemed that adding (or subtracting) "OM"s was the only trick to the puzzle, future starred clues presented very few problems.

It's a simple theme but it has its delightful moments. I love that the theme snowballs a bit as it goes along, with the "OM"s doubling up in POMPOMS and HOMEROOMS. POMPOMS is more "OM"s than answer! I also like the revealer a lot. I didn't get it at first. "How does 'OM' represent chance?" I wondered. If there's "NO CHANCE" in those answers, then sure the "OM" must represent "chance" somehow. But no. The key word in the revealer clue is "phonetic." So I started repeating the revealer to myself (like a chant!). "No chance no chance ... chance chance chance ... chants? Oh, chants! No chants!" A silly but funny revealer to brighten an otherwise ordinary "add-a-letter (or two, or four)" theme concept.

The hardest part of the puzzle for me, by far, was the NE. I think HUSTLE was at the heart of the problem, since I kept expecting the answer to 13D: Step on it to be something you step on (stair, scale, etc.) We had this whole discussion recently about whether that type of clue, where the answer is the "it" rather than something synonymous with the entire clue phrase, should get a "!" or not. Historically, yes, but sometimes now. As with "?" clues, the rules seem not to be fixed. Anyway, today, despite the absence of the "!" I went looking for a thing that one steps on. No luck. IS ONTO is such a terrible awkward standalone phrase that I couldn't see it (11D: Understands, despite efforts at concealment). I probably could've gotten NASSAU if I'd taken the time to think about and unlock the clue ("saunas" => NASSAU), but I was working off just "Island capital" and that wasn't enough (16A: Island capital that's an anagram for a word meaning "steamy baths"). [Fraternity letter] is like the least helpful clue imaginable. Every three-letter Greek letter? I dunno. I forgot Peter MAX's name. And oof, INAS. INAS!?!?! That's so bad it makes me want to apologize to IS ONTO, which looks terribly respectable, dapper even, next to slovenly INAS. Who let him in!? So no fun up there. But mostly fun elsewhere.

Bullets:

• 1A: Her breast milk created the Milky Way, in Greek myth (HERA) — I did not know this. Eating the Milky Way minis out of the Halloween candy this year is gonna feel a little different this year.
• 14A: Some supermarkets, in brief (IGAS)— the crosswordesiest supermarket is bad enough (not all parts of the country have them), but in the plural, yeesh. Aside from the SAAR SLRS train wreck at the bottom of the grid, I thought the fill in this one held up OK. But IGAS, not my fav.
• 23A: Small grouse (NIT) — really wanted a bird here. A birdlet. Apparently a baby grouse is just a "chick."
• 64A: Region that produces Riesling wine (SAAR) — why is "wine" in this clue? What else could "Riesling" be? TACOS? 
• 42A: "Oz the Great and Powerful" director, 2013 (RAIMI) — I laughed at this one because I have no idea what this movie is. I already had RAI- in place so the answer was transparent, but wow, that movie—did it happen? Nearly half a billion box office says yes, but do people remember it? Talk about it. It starred James Franco??? 2013 was weird, man. I feel like the Wicked movies are the Oz movies of the century and everything else is an afterthought. But also, the 00's and most of the '10s were admittedly the least movie-goingest time of my life, so my being ignorant of a hit movie from this time period is not terribly surprising. 

• 62A: Like Alban Berg's opera "Lulu" (ATONAL) — another one I got easily despite having zero familiarity with the work in question. The title makes this opera sound fun. ATONAL ... I dunno. But maybe I'll give it a try. Cuing Lulu music ... now.

[whoa, no one told me it was a film noir, I'm in]

• 5D: World capital known as the "City for Peace" (HANOI) — had the "AN" and went with SANA'A (!?). World capital kealoa!*

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

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] => ATON or ALOT, ["Git!"] => "SHOO" or "SCAT," etc.   

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