___ Bradham, inventor of Pepsi / WED 8-13-25 / Newbery Medal-winning 1989 novel for children by Lois Lowry / "Too ___" (2024 #1 Hozier hit) / Covid-19, in slang / 2006 romantic fantasy novel by Stephenie Meyer / Acclaimed 2004 science fiction work by David Mitchell made into a 2012 film

Constructor: Jared Cappel

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: SKY WRITING (56A: Message from a pilot ... or what 17-, 22-, 36- and 48-Across each is?) — book titles that contains things seen in the "sky":

Theme answers:

• CLOUD ATLAS (17A: Acclaimed 2004 science fiction work by David Mitchell made into a 2012 film)
• RAISIN IN THE SUN (22A: 1959 Broadway drama by Lorraine Hansberry, with "A")
• NEW MOON (36A: 2006 romantic fantasy novel by Stephenie Meyer)
• NUMBER THE STARS (48A: Newbery Medal-winning 1989 novel for children by Lois Lowry)

Word of the Day: NUMBER THE STARS (48A: Newbery Medal-winning 1989 novel for children by Lois Lowry) —

Number the Stars is a 1989 historical novel by the American author Lois Lowry about the escape of a family of Jews from Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II.

The story revolves around ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, who lives with her mother, father, and sister Kirsti in Copenhagen in 1943. Annemarie becomes a part of the events related to the rescue of the Danish Jews when thousands of Jews were to reach the neutral ground in Sweden to avoid being relocated to concentration camps. She risks her life to help her best friend, Ellen Rosen, by pretending that Ellen is Annemarie's late older sister, Lise, who was killed after she was hit by a car. However, her former fiancé, Peter, who is partially based on the Danish resistance member Kim Malthe-Bruun, continues to help them.

The story's title is taken from a reference to Psalm 147:4, in which the writer relates that God has numbered all the stars and named each of them. This coincides with the Star of David, which Ellen Rosen wears on her necklace and is a symbol of Judaism.

The novel was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1990 as the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." (wikipedia)

• • •

Gonna try to keep this brief, as I found this one extremely off-putting, right from the word 'go.' It didn't help that I read this article yesterday about the shooting up of the CDC (which included the killing of a cop) by a man convinced that the COVID vaccine had made him sick (it's a paywalled WaPo article that I read via AppleNews—not hard to find) (here's a related article at The Guardian) (and another at the NYT). That clue on CDC (1D: Org. encouraging flu shots) only reminded me that the current director of HHS, who oversees CDC, does precisely the opposite of “encouraging flu shots.” He is a singular malevolence, a narcissistic anti-science conspiracy theorist who is doing his level best to get millions of people killed by gutting mRNA vaccine research. God love all the actual scientists, the decent, qualified people at the CDC, but ... the NYTXW continues to insist that public health agencies like the CDC, EPA, etc. are still committed to things they aren't committed to, at least at the top. And then to throw the repulsive TULSI Gabbard at me just a few clues later—another Trumpist conspiracy theorist currently trying to distract attention from the president's involvement with pedophiles and sex traffickers by leveling treason accusations against Obama over "Russiagate" (how many lifetimes ago was "Russiagate"?). And then a cutesy Anne Frank pun on top of that (???) (14A: Frank account? = DIARY). It's like the puzzle was doing everything it could to be unlikeable before I'd really even gotten started. And then, ugh, the slangy term for the disease that killed millions of people ('RONA) (55A: Covid-19, in slang) ... none of this is my idea of a good time. As for the theme, the idea is cute, but all I can do is think of much better books that do the same thing as these. Goodnight, Moon; The Fault in Our Stars; The Sun Also Rises. Never heard of NUMBER THE STARS (perhaps because I was no longer a child in 1990, and did not have a child of my own until over a decade later). That title and the Pepsi guy (???) (1A: ___ Bradham, inventor of Pepsi) (CALEB), and the Hozier song (???????) (29D: "Too ___" (2024 #1 Hozier hit) (SWEET)) took this one into harder-than-usual territory for me. 

The longer non-theme answers come in very solid. I appreciate that. I didn't so much appreciate the false revealer at LIBRARY (41D: Spot to find 17-, 22-, 36- and 46-Across). I can see why you'd be tempted to turn this into a "bonus" themer, but it just ended up being confusing. "That's a terrible revealer," I thought, before finding out it wasn't the revealer at all. It also weirdly made the puzzle harder, in the sense that you had to have figured out the theme, or seen that the theme answers were all pieces of literature, before you could answer it. The short fill on this one felt a little weak. OLLAS? I know the word well, from crosswords of yore, but crossing ILSA, it felt like ... well, a crossword answer of yore. AHH crossing OOHS is not great. Cary ELWES continues to be fantastically overrepresented in the NYTXW, relative to his actual fame. Has he ever been clued via any movie besides The Princess Bride? Whoa, it turns out: yes! But not since 2016. And (bizarrely) the last five ELWES clues have been identical, word for word:

It's weird to think there was once a time where ELWES was more frequently clued via Twister than via The Princess Bride. Also, what the hell is The Cat's Meow (2001)!?!? I want to say "first I'm hearing of it," but I had a crossword blog when that clue was used (2009), so obviously that wouldn't be true. This is at least the "second I'm hearing of it." Didn't quite have the cultural impact of Princess Bride (or even Robin Hood: Men in Tights), I guess.

[I dunno ... I'd watch this ... I'm *gonna* watch this. If it's terrible, Don't Tell Me]

Bullets:

• 16A: "Casablanca" heroine (ILSA) — you'd think that after 30+ years of solving crosswords I'd've figured out the ELSA v. ILSA distinction. They used to both be film clues. ILSA was "Here's looking at you, kid," and ELSA was the lion from Born Free. Frozen has changed the primary cultural reference point for ELSA. I think if I can get my brain to think "Casablanca v. Frozen" instead of "Casablanca v. Born Free," I can lick this E/I confusion, because I know that Frozen girl is an ELSA ... which makes Ingrid Bergman an ILSA. (The fact that I know the movie ILSA, She Wolf of the SS exists isn't helping, frankly!) 

• 61A: Type of word banned in North American competitive Scrabble in 2020 (SLUR) — I mean, good for competitive Scrabble, but you could clue SLUR so many ways that didn't make me think about (racial) SLURs. It's like this puzzle is going out of its way to be a downer.
• 49D: Letter-shaped fastener (U-BOLT) — I wrote in T-BOLT, is that a thing? Oh, it is? OK, I don't feel so bad now.

That's all, see you next time. And hey, if you wanna watch The Cat's Meow (starring Cary ELWES) with me, let me know. You can follow me on Letterboxd. You can follow me either way, actually. I basically watch movies non-stop, though my knowledge of movies from this century (esp. the '00s) remains very spotty. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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Online publication of Vox Media / TUE 8-12-25 / Lorde who wrote "Sister Outsider" / 1990s-'00s sitcom starring Brandy / Tres o cuatro / What the Beyoncé title "6 Inch" refers to / Edible Christmas ornament / People living abroad for tax reasons / Like this: ESMCLDRBA

Constructor: Erik Agard

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: TOUCANS (63A: Birds phonetically suggested by a feature of 17-, 27- and 51-Across) — the letter string "CAN" appears two times in each theme answer ("two 'can's" = TOUCANS)

Theme answers:

• CAN'T HOLD A CANDLE (17A: Pales in comparison)
• CANDY CANE (27A: Edible Christmas ornament)
• MEXICAN-AMERICAN (51A: Chicana, for example)

Word of the Day: THE CUT (18D: Online publication of Vox Media) —

The Cut is an online publication that, as part of New York magazine, covers a wide range of topics, such as work, money, sex and relationships, fashion, mental health, pop culture, politics, and parenting, with a specific lens for women. // In 2015, The Cut published a New York Magazine cover feature by Noreen Malone that included interviews with 35 women who had accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault. The cover image and photo portfolio by Amanda Demme included portraits of all the women seated and an empty chair to symbolize those unable to come forward.

In 2018, The Cut published an essay by Moira Donegan in which she revealed herself as the creator of the "Shitty Media Men" list that contained rumors and allegations of sexual misconduct by men in the magazine world. Later that year, Lindsay Peoples's essay "Everywhere and Nowhere," about the challenges of being a Black voice in the fashion industry, came out, sending a "ripple of waves through the industry."

An excerpt from E. Jean Carroll's book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal ran in 2019 on The Cut and on the cover of New York's print magazine, in which she first shared her story of being sexually assaulted by then-President Donald Trump.

In 2022, The Cut ran a special package that highlighted resources for accessing an abortion nationwide following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The Cut is known for a number of columns, including Madame Clairevoyant's weekly horoscopes; as-told-tos in "Sex Diaries"; and the "How I Get It Done" series, highlighting the routines of influential women. The Cut has published widely read personal essays including Emily Gould on the "Lure of Divorce," Grazie Sophia Christie on "The Case for Marrying an Older Man," and Charlotte Cowles's "The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger".

• • •

This is just a beautifully crafted puzzle. A beautifully crafted easy puzzle. I love it because it shows that easy puzzles don't have to be boring. The theme is simple but cute, and kinda funny. Just three themers! (plus a short revealer). Back in the day, three themers was pretty normal, but some time in this century, a theme-answers arms race seemed to start where the standard went to four and often well north of that. This was enabled by the rise of constructing software, which allowed puzzle makers to more easily fill grids with a dense set of fixed answers (themers are always fixed in place first when you're building a theme puzzle). But more is not necessarily better (as you may be aware), and there's something to be said for a theme that leaves a little air, a little breathing room so that the rest of the grid can shine a bit. And today's grid does just that. First, it's clean as hell. Polished, vibrant, lovely. Plus it opts for mirror symmetry over the more customary rotational symmetry (a feature occasioned by the theme—how else to arrange this set of answers symmetrically?), and this gives us a grid with very deep corners in the SW and SE. Deep pockets! And it's here where the grid really goes to the next level—two banks of 9-letter answers, each of them 3 wide—so (if I may show off my math skills...) that's six 9-letters answers, all of them good to great, giving this puzzle a level of non-thematic pizzazz rarely seen in themed puzzles. Six 9s?! That don't compromise grid quality at all? In addition to a full theme!? Nuts. Bonkers. It won't feel bonkers, because it just plays like an easy early-week puzzle. The craftsmanship on this one isn't showy. But if you make puzzles yourself, you know how impressive the work is here. 

In addition to the six 9s, it's got five 7s (!), and even some of the shorter fill is original and interesting (THE CUT, BLIGHT, MOESHA). I just looked at the grid sitting here on my desk and said "man, this is just a good puzzle." Aspiring constructors should study this puzzle. It's not that there's no overfamiliar short stuff, it's that the repeaters (TSAR, UAE, DES, OLE) are doing work, holding together sections composed of much stronger stuff—they allow the shiny stuff to shine. Another thing that makes this puzzle remarkable is how much it foregrounds Black women. Again, there's nothing particularly showy with how Erik does this, but yeah, four Black women (more if you count the women in the clues —e.g. Beyoncé, Kerry Washington). And precisely no white men (unless maybe you want to count ARES (?) or the TSAR). Historically, the (in)visibility of people of color generally, and Black women specifically, has been an issue that many solvers have called attention to and that (fairly recently) some constructors have tried to address. This puzzle quietly gives Black women the kind of puzzle prominence that is absolutely routine for white people (men in particular). I say "quietly" because it does nothing to the overall solvability of this puzzle. MOESHA is a bit of a throwback (55A: 1990s-'00s sitcom starring Brandy), so if any proper noun gives trouble today (beyond THE CUT), it's probably that one, but the rest are right over the plate. AUDRE Lorde may not be as well known to solvers as ANITA HILL and HARRIET Tubman, but she's in the puzzle a lot (full name earlier this month), so if you don't know her, you should. Weird fact: LORDE first appeared in the NYTXW as the pop star of that name back in 2015. The first person to clue LORDE as the poet Audre LORDE was ... Melinda Gates!? (in a puzzle co-constructed with Joel Fagliano back in 2018). Bizarrely, AUDRE has appeared fewer times (2) than the full AUDRE LORDE (3). Sorry, I'm in the statistical weeds now. My point is, this puzzle centers Black women. That may not matter to you, but it's a deliberate move, and I think it's worth noticing. (11D: Lorde who wrote "Sister Outsider")

The only trouble I had with this one was THE CUT (I know of it, but the name didn't leap to mind) and ... I think that's it. I did write in CAIN before BRAN, which made me laugh (38D: Raisin ___). Nice when a mistake makes you laugh at yourself rather than gnash your teeth or say "d'oh!" or slam your head on the desk or whatever your reaction of choice to self-stupidity is. Again, this puzzle has very few lowlights, and the highlights are everywhere. I smiled at the clue on SCRAMBLED (30D: Like this: ESMCLDRBA), raised my eyebrows at the inventiveness of "ARE WE LIVE?" (31D: "Has our broadcast started?") and nodded appreciatively at the double-X of TAX EXILES (32D: People living abroad for financial reasons)—and that's just in the SW corner! That is one hell of a stack (still not sure what to call a "stack" that involves Downs rather than Acrosses). 


Bullets:

• 19D: Tres o cuatro (NUMERO) — me: "OK, so three and four is ... seven ... but ... that's SIETE! I don't ... wait, what does 'o' mean? ... oh ... right." "O" means "or," not "and," my bad.
• 40D: A dispiritingly large percentage of phone calls (SPAM) — I appreciate the commiserative tone of this clue. It's nice to have some acknowledgment of how badly polluted our lines of communication have become. We finally got rid of our landline because it was 90% garbage calls that we never answered. I don't get many SPAM calls on my cell, but email, texts ... it never ends.
• 50A: University in western Pennsylvania, familiarly (PITT) — in the near future, this answer will be clued as the (soon-to-be) Emmy-award-winning TV show, so keep your eye out for that.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, REX Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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