Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Akshay Seetharam

Constructor: Aidan Deshong and Akshay Seetharam

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: WALUIGI (13A: Purple-hatted Nintendo character) —

Waluigi [...] is a character in the Mario franchise. He plays the role of Luigi's arch-rival and accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main Mario series, often for the sake of causing mischief. He was created by Camelot employee Fumihide Aoki and was voiced from 2000 to 2022 by Charles Martinet, who described Waluigi as someone with a lot of self-pity. Waluigi's design is characterised by his tall stature, thin and lanky frame, and his purple and black outfit with a purple hat, which displays an inverted yellow "L".
He was designed as Wario's tennis partner and sidekick, debuting in the 2000 Nintendo 64 game Mario Tennis. He has featured in over 50 video games, appearing in at least one game every year since his debut until 2022. He is a playable character in Mario sports games, most Mario Party games, and also in the Mario Kart series. He has also made cameo appearances in other video games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series.
Since his debut, Waluigi has received a polarised reception from the media, often being accused of having few defining characteristics and minimal backstory. He has attained a cult following, especially helped through his use as an Internet meme. Although he has never appeared in his own video game or any mainline Mario game, critics have described him as one of Nintendo's mascots and a cult hero.

• • •

I remain jetlagged from my CA vacation, which means I'm wide awake at 10pm when the puzzle comes out, so ... may as well do the puzzle! Look at me, solving at night, just like I did before I officially became an old man—eating my dinner at 6pm (which allegedly Gen Z is also doing?), heading to bed by 9pm (which I'm fairly certain Gen Z is not doing), and then waking at 4am (which no one but me and professional bakers are doing) so I can solve and write. Weird to be up late writing. My cats are confused. I actually had to bounce Ida from my desk chair (which is apparently where she sleeps at night). I think most of my readers still solve on the morning of, but the hard-core puzzlers and night owls (as well as west-coasters) often jump on the puzzle right when it comes out (10PM Eastern). I solve better (i.e. faster) at night, but I write more easily in the morning ... which maybe is beginning to show. Annnnyway, the puzzle! Bit of a shrug, really. The marquee stuff just doesn't sing, and there's not that much original stuff to begin with. "JUST BECAUSE" and EASTER CANDY are both original, and they're good answers, but not good enough to build a whole damn puzzle around, and the rest of it has been done before and/or leans toward ho-hum. IPHONECASES and SANDCASTLES are technically debuts, but only as plurals, and slapping an "S" on the end of something doesn't really deserve originality credit. I think the one thing that is apt to delight some segment of the solving population is WALUIGI, who makes his debut today. I don't give a damn about the characters of the Marioverse, but some people really love them, so ... there he is! I guess he gets memed a lot? If that's your idea of entertaining, awesome. I'm more a CAROLE Lombard guy, myself.

Both the "W" in WALUIGI / "AW, C'MON!" and the "B" in BEHAR / BETTE seem like potential sticking points, though "AH, C'MON" seems unlikely and Joy BEHAR is pretty dang famous, even if Balzac's Cousin BETTE isn't, particularly. JAMAIS VU gave me some trouble, initially. It also gave me a case of déjà vu, and sure enough, I've seen it in the puzzle before. It literally means "never seen," and I don't really understand the phenomenon at all. Sounds like a dementia symptom, honestly (31D: Phenomenon of experiencing something as strangely new even though one has experienced it before), though I guess the hallmark of JAMAIS VU is that the person feeling it knows that they've experienced whatever they're experiencing before. It just feels eerily, unaccountably new. In the end, WALUIGI was the only answer that held me up for any length of time. Cousin BETTE, Carole LOMBARD, Herman HESSE and Joy BEHAR are all old friends. I'll always be grateful to Joy BEHAR for being the only reason my name has ever graced the pages of US Weekly (see no. 4 on this list of "25 Things You Didn't Know About Me"). Today is her 17th NYTXW appearance. One more and she can vote (for what, I don't know).

[Florence Pugh sneaks a very dubious "Martini" demo into this CROSTINI demo]

What else?:

25A: Windjammer, e.g. (SHIP) — I had SAIL. Then I had SHOE.
32A: Rabbit food? (EASTER CANDY) — the EASTER Rabbit (aka "Bunny") brings CANDY (which is, technically, "food") to good children, just like in the bible.
33D: Series of mental blocks? (TETRIS) — how are the blocks "mental?" I got this answer very easily, but ... I guess the idea is that you have to use your "mental" powers to arrange the blocks strategically.
49A: "The Ultimate Trivia Destination," per its website (SPORCLE) — are SPORCLE quizzes still a big deal? Seems like they had a moment and then I stopped hearing about them. Big overlap between crossword and trivia enthusiasts. I am not part of that overlap. I'll do a SPORCLE quiz if it's put in front of me, but I'm not "enthusiastic" about it. I just identified 20/20 "Popular People in 1987," though it did involve an absolute guess in putting the names with the faces of the last two. Never heard of Nelson Piquet or Ruud Gullit. Ruud!? RUUD?! Where has that name been all my life? If he were truly famous, you'd think he'd've made an appearance or two in the NYTXW by now.

[OK so he's widely considered one of the greatest football players of all time. Pardon my ignorance. You can put him in the puzzle now. I'm ready]

5D: Villainous group of science fiction (SITH) — first thought: BORG ("Resistance is futile"). Second thought: AXIS (that's a "villainous group" of non-fiction). KAOS? That's spy fiction. Eventually SITH just sort of filled itself in.
11D: #1 on BBC's list of greatest 21st-century TV series (THE WIRE) — the "BBC" part really threw me. Is it the Baltimore Broadcasting Corporation now?
42D: American in Paris? (YANK) — since it's an English word, I think of it being more of an American in London or American in Sydney situation. But then those aren't movie titles, are they? No funny misdirection there.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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