Urban area associated with gaming / THU 3-20-25 / Sites for saltwater soaks / Green-skinned Marvel hero / Covered with a green growth / Restaurant chain acronym / Former world capital that's an anagram of its country's current capital

Constructor: Daniel Grinberg

Relative difficulty: Very easy to solve (somewhat less easy to understand, at a thematic level)

THEME: ___ OR ___ — four four-letter answers following a "_OR_" pattern must be read as a three-part phrase offering a choice (i.e. [one letter] OR [the other letter]), in order to understand the role of the circled square in the adjacent answer (that circled square can contain either [one letter] or [the other letter] and still be correct): 

Theme answers:

• HORA (i.e. "H" or "A") / JOHN (or JOAN) CUSACK (16A: Jewish wedding staple ... and a clue to the circled square in this row / 17A: Actor in "Say Anything ..." and "High Fidelity")
• SORT (i.e. "S" or "T") /  SHE- (or THE) HULK (27A: Word processing function ... and a clue to the circled square in this row / 24A: Green-skinned Marvel hero)
• MORN (i.e. "M" or "N") / SIM (or SIN) CITY (44A: Poetic time of day ... and a clue to the circled square in this row / 45A: Urban area associated with gaming)
• PORE (i.e. "P" or "E") / PLASTICITY (or ELASTICITY) (57A: Skin feature ... and a clue to the circled square in this row / 55A: Capability of being pulled and stretched)

The theme-affected Downs:

• AHH (or AHA) (6D: "Yes, that's it!")
• TAKE (or SAKE) (24D: Hot ___)
• MET (or NET) (46D: New York pro athlete)
• SPAS (or SEAS) (50D: Sites for saltwater soaks)

Word of the Day: SHE-HULK (27A) —

She-Hulk (Jennifer Susan Walters) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Savage She-Hulk #1 (November 1979). Walters is a lawyer who, after an assassination attempt, received an emergency blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner, and acquired a milder version of his Hulk condition. As such, Walters becomes a large, powerful, green-hued version of herself. Unlike Banner in his Hulk form, Walters largely retains her normal personality in her She-Hulk form, in particular the majority of her intelligence and emotional control. Furthermore, though she's much taller in her She-Hulk form, Walters's body mass is just as dense as that of her normal human self. In any case, like Hulk, She-Hulk is still susceptible to outbursts of anger and becomes much stronger when enraged. In later series, her transformation is permanent, and she often breaks the fourth wall for humorous effect and running gags, as the first major Marvel character to do so frequently, ahead of the more famous fourth wall breaker Deadpool. (wikipedia)

• • •

From a pure solving perspective, this was like an anti-Thursday, in that there is absolutely nothing tricky about the solve itself. Zero. You don't need to understand the theme at all in order to solve it. But if you do happen to pick up the theme along the way, then the puzzle gets even easier, as you now have two different ways to come at the circle-containing long answers—plug one of the relevant letters in ("___ OR ___") or, if that isn't working, plug the other one in. I didn't time myself, but at speed this would probably have been about a 3 or 4-minute puzzle, so ... like a Tuesday. It was slower than that a. because I wasn't speeding and b. I actually tried to figure out what the hell was going on with the theme as I was solving, which took me an embarrassingly long time. I first thought that the circled letter was a kind of hologram / now-you-see-it / now-you-don't sort of thing, in that I knew JOAN CUSACK was in Say Anything, which starred her brother, so I thought "well, if I remove the 'A' then I get JON CUSACK ... weird, I didn't know he spelled his name like that." Turns out, he doesn't. Later, I got THE HULK and thought "ok if I take the 'T' away then ... who the hell is HE-HULK!? I thought THE HULK already was a HE-HULK!? I know there's a SHE-HULK, but ... oh, wait ... [looks at adjacent SORT ... 'S' OR 'T' ...] ... ohhhhhhhhhh." That was the AHA moment that allowed me to see that AHA could also be AHH ... and I'm only actually noticing just now (literally, right now) that the Downs all work with either letter in place, because of course they do, if they didn't, that would be awful. [I'm weirdly writing the body of this blog post before doing any of the preliminary stuff up top like the theme explanation and Word of the Day—this is not normal]. Genuine AHA, cute gimmick. I've seen puzzles that have this gimmick before—a revealer word that requires you to reparse it as multiple words in order to understand the theme (FISH becomes "F" IS "H" or ATOM becomes "A" TO "M" or something like that), but this one is like an intensified 4x version of that, with a new "revealer" on each themer line. Conceptually enjoyable, if (as I say) waaaay too easy.

[Omitted from the JOHN and JOAN CUSACK clue: Sixteen Candles]

It would be cool if the circled spelled something, so there could be some kind of meta element to this puzzle, but given that each circled square is actually two letters, that seems a rather tall order, if not downright impossible. Some things I liked about this puzzle included the avian juxtaposition of HOOT AT and CROWING, the phrase LATIN ROOT, and the "Here, KITTY KITTY"-ness of the KITTY clue (42D: Word somethings repeated after "Here ..."). My own KITTY (Ida) was mewing loudly just now so of course I had to go check to see what the problem was—usually if she's crying, she either has a toy mouse in her mouth (no idea why this makes her cry) or she is going to barf. I went downstairs and there she was, sitting next to ... her mouse. Phew. Anyway, I call her (and Alfie) "KITTY" (as well as a thousand other silly things) a lot, so talking to cats—always a welcome puzzle element.

[40A: Singer Ric of the Cars]

Less welcome was the 2005 Crosswordese Class Reunion, what the hell!?  When JET LI showed up with Queen NOOR I was like "wow, haven't seen those two in a while, I guess they still hang out..." but then Monica SELES showed up and I was like "OK now this is an official gathering." A gathering that's probably destined to end at the IHOP (where all the crossword kids hung out 20 years ago). Anyway, starting with NTHS (😕), the fill felt a little stale there for a bit. On the whole, though, the short fill was probably no worse than average, as short fill goes. And we get the debut of future crosswordese name Travis KELCE. Three Super Bowl rings, 10 Pro Bowl selections, and, as far as I know, he's still seeing Taylor Swift, so ... pretty sure this won't be the last time you see his name in the grid.

More:

• 12D: Group that once included the members Babe Ruth and Harry Houdini (ELKS) — the plural of ELK is ELK unless you are dealing with the B.P.O.E., where the "E" definitively stands for ELKS. 

• 25D: When doubled, comment made with a wink ("HINT") — cute way to come at this, though if I've ever said "HINT HINT" I've certainly never winked (!). Surely your tone of voice and the repetition itself is enough to convey that you're trying to get someone to take the HINT. Because of Monty Python, I can't see "HINT HINT" without thinking of "NUDGE NUDGE" ("WINK WINK"):

• 37A: Something that may be drawn at night (DRAPE) — you draw the DRAPES, plural. No one draws a single DRAPE at night. Predictive text confirms:

• 44D: Covered with a green growth (MOSSED) — really? Like MORN, moreso than MORN, this sounds "poetic" Or a good term for what happens to opposing teams when wide receiver Randy scores on them—"You got MOSSED!"

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I expressed mock indignation yesterday that I was not featured on the wikipedia page of "People from Fresno" and of course one of you hilarious people immediately fixed that. Thanks?!

P.P.S. today's constructor has a podcast about crossword construction called "Crosstalk," and it is very much worth your attention if you are a constructor, aspiring constructor, or just a curious dork. There are two episodes out so far, both of them featuring interviews with people I (and possibly you) know: Rachel Fabi, a prolific constructor and a former writer for the NYT's "Wordplay" blog; and Rafael Musa, whom you may know from his frequent turns writing this here blog for me when I'm away. Check it out.

P.P.P.S. Happy first day of spring!

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Coiffure parts that are sometimes braided / SUN 2-23-25 / Aetna alternative / "Lohengrin" soprano / Collectors of signatures? / Nickname for Milwaukee's baseball team / Marriage equality activist Windsor / Love interest in a Hallmark movie, maybe / Queendom in the Bible / Home of the Sugarloaf Cable Car, informally / Reality competition show with quickfire challenges

Constructor: Daniel Grinberg and Rafael Musa

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "In the Rearview" — phrases involving reversal, which are then used to indicate reversed words in subsequent phrases:

Theme answers:

• QUICK TURNAROUND (23A: What a tight deadline might require ... or what's found in 30-Across?)
• "WHERE DID I PARK?" (contains "RAPID" (i.e. "quick") turned around) (30A: Question when leaving a grocery store, perhaps)
• LOOK THE OTHER WAY (46A: Tolerate misbehavior ... or what's found in 56-Across?)
• FEDERAL GRANT (contains "GLARE" (i.e. a "look") facing the other way) (56A: Source of some public funding)
• ASSBACKWARDS (67A: Totally the wrong way ... or what's found in 79-Across?)
• "I'M HAPPY TO OBLIGE" (contains "BOOTY" (i.e. "ass") backwards) (79A: "It'd be my pleasure")
• REVERSE COURSE (91A: Completely change one's position ... or what's found in 104-Across?) 
• SCOTCH TAPE ROLLS (contains "PATH" (i.e. "course") reversed) (Gift-wrapping supplies)

Word of the Day: KATE BUSH (77D: Singer whose 1985 song "Running Up That Hill" became a top 10 hit in 2022 after being featured on "Stranger Things") —

Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK singles chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a fully self-written song. Her debut studio album, The Kick Inside (1978), peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart.

Bush has released 25 UK Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hits "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" (1978), "Babooshka" (1980), "Running Up That Hill" (1985), "Don't Give Up" (a 1986 duet with Peter Gabriel), and "King of the Mountain" (2005). All nine of her studio albums reached the UK Top 10, with all but one reaching the top five, including the number one albums Never for Ever (1980), Hounds of Love (1985) and the greatest hits compilation The Whole Story (1986). Since The Dreaming (1982), she has produced all of her studio albums. [...] 

Bush has received numerous accolades and honours, including 14 Brit Awards nominations and a win for British Female Solo Artist in 1987, as well as seven nominations for Grammy Awards. In 2002, she received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to music. She became a Fellow of the Ivors Academy in the UK in 2020, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. (wikipedia)

• • •

There's nothing very original or inventive about this theme, but it's diverting and well-executed and in no way off-putting, which puts it well ahead of most Sundays. The theme was transparent and nothing about it was challenging—which is something of a disappointment on any day, and especially on a Sunday—but it does what it does and it does it consistently and cleanly. The only issues I had were little contrivances in a couple of the theme answers, which were probably a result of needing the theme answers to come out symmetrically. For instance, the phrase is "HAPPY TO OBLIGE"—the "I'M" part, while grammatically reasonable, feels overly formal and tacked on. And the ROLLS in SCOTCH TAPE ROLLS feels superfluous in multiple ways. It's just hanging out there, redundantly, at the end of the phrase, not involved in the backwards "PATH" or anything. Further, I know the phrase as "Bass-Ackward." Did I just make that up? Somehow, I doubt it ... Nope, it's a real phrase, alright. But I guess ASS-BACKWARD must've come first, so that's not really a problem—just another part of the themer set that struck my ears as slightly off. As contrived phrases go, I actually kinda like "WHERE DID I PARK?" Nothing about it seems particularly forced or awkward, and I can imagine asking this very question, though usually not coming out of a grocery store (???). I've never once wondered where I parked after coming out of somewhere so basic, somewhere I visited for only a short time. But if I'm coming home from a plane trip, or if the parking area is truly vast (as with certain malls) and/or multi-tiered, OK, then sure. Anyway, this theme tells you what it's going to do (left half) and then does it (right half), so if nothing else, it's straight-shooting. And totally non-tricky. I know some of you really like non-tricky. Well, here you go.

I got QUICK TURNAROUND and instantly knew that the first set of circled squares were going to contain a word meaning "quick" but turned around. First thing I thought of (in five letters) was RAPID, and sure enough, sure enough. With the rest of the themers, I didn't even have time or inclination to wonder about how the circled squares would be filled; they were all so easy to get, that I never had to put my knowledge of the theme to use. In fact, I can't see any place in the grid that could've caused any major trouble for regular solvers. I had one brief "yikes" section, and that was the CIGNA / CASTS cross. I don't really know CIGNA well, and while I could hear it in my head, I thought it was SIGNA (49D: Aetna alternative). And CASTS ... well, that has one of the trickier clues in the whole puzzle (49A: Collectors of signatures?) (conventionally, esp. if you're a kid, if you have a cast—for a broken arm or leg, say—you get people to sign it). I've never heard anyone use ELEVENTY, even facetiously, but someone somewhere must've, and it wasn't hard to infer. Thought it was weird to refer to King Midas as GREEKY for a couple seconds—surely he's just GREEK—but actually he's not Greek at all (he's from Phrygia, which was in central Anatolia, i.e. modern Turkey), and anyway, the answer has nothing to do with nationality. He wanted everything he touched to turn to gold, and (tragically) got his wish (the gift was a curse, who'd've thunk!?). I guess that makes him GREEDY, sure.

[I've posted this song before but its mid-'80s R&B'ness is so pure, I can't resist]

Another little struggle happened when I had the [Supply at the Hershey Company] as COCOA and then the [Delta hub: Abbr.] as ORL (!?!), which proved awkward when the "R" cross of ORLand really seemed like (and in fact was) some version of "ORLando" (specifically O-TOWN). Took a little backtracking and untangling to get CACAO / ATL / O-TOWN all sorted out. But that was just your ordinary everyday kind of struggle, not at all unexpected on a Sunday. As I say, this one doesn't bring any heat at all, difficulty-wise. Maybe if you don't know the BREW CREW, the SW might get a little hard, with a reality show (TOP CHEF) (99A: Reality competition show with quickfire challenges) and a ["Lohengrin" soprano] down there. But still, that's more likely to be a slow patch than a knee-buckler.

[82D: Nickname for Milwaukee's baseball team]

Comments and explanations:

• 5D: Receive severe criticism (TAKE HEAT) — I took FLAK there for a little bit
• 74A: It may be on the chopping block (LOIN) — that is, a piece of meat. Pork LOIN, beef LOIN. I don't like the word LOIN. Don't like the way it sounds, don't like its proximity (aurally and physically) to GROIN. I especially don't like it without its specific meat qualifier. I knew the clue was a tricksy / wordplay clue, but I was hoping for ... a different word (I'm never hoping for LOIN).
• 47D: Horse's behind (HAUNCH) — speaking of LOIN (specifically the "LOIN and leg of a four-footed animal") ... I often complain about awkward plurals (see, for instance, ATONERS, or IRONIES (side by side!)) but here I'm going to complain about an awkward singular. It's not that singular HAUNCH isn't real, it's just that I hear HAUNCHES way more often, esp. in reference to living creatures (and not meat). In fact, I'm not too sure about the distinction between HAUNCH and HAUNCHES where a horse is concerned. I mean, look at this definition from vocabulary dot com—it doesn't seem to know the singular / plural distinction either:

A haunch is the back end of an animal — its rump and rear leg. When you walk behind a horse, it's important to stay far enough away from its haunches that you won't get kicked. (vocabulary.com) [if HAUNCH is the "back end" in its entirety, how in the world does any one "horse" have more than one "back end"??]

• 32D: Marriage equality activist Windsor (EDIE) — here's what I wrote about her on Jun. 4, 2022:

EDIE Windsor (1929-2017) was the lead plaintiff in United States v. Windsor (2013), which was a landmark Supreme Court case concerning same-sex marriage, one that paved the way for the legalization of said marriages in this country following Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). It's Pride Month, so though she seems a worthy answer in general, it's especially nice to see her acknowledged this month.

• 24D: Scarlett Johansson, Rami Malek or Vin Diesel (did you know?) (TWIN) — I didn't know, but ... please don't ask me "did you know?" when I'm solving a crossword. You could tack that question on to literally any crossword clue. All of them. "Did you know?" Shh, I'm solving. I know and don't know lots of things.

• 10D: Forget to finish writing a clue, mayb (ERR) — I guess this is supposed to be cute, but the thing is, what you have here is not someone "forgetting to finish" the clue. No one leaves the "e" off "maybe" because they "forgot" it. It's a typo / mistake. "Forgetting" has nothing to do with it (except maybe that you "forgot" to proofread, that I'd buy)
• 16D: Coiffure parts that are sometimes braided (RATTAILS) — lol, the tonal distance, the ... fanciness distance between "coiffure" and RATTAILS cannot be measured. Light years won't cut it. The distance is infinite. In the history of the world, no one has ever put RATTAILS and "coiffure" in the same sentence. Until now. Me. I did it. Call the OED or whoever keeps records about these things.
• 60D: Love interest in a Hallmark movie, maybe (NICE GUY) — are they always "nice"? To start with? Or even to end with? I watched a bunch at peak COVID (i.e. peak shut-in, peak stave-off-gloom), and I feel like there's often something ... dickish about those guys until the woman, like, makes them come around somehow. Like, they're part of some consortium that's going to tear down the old mill until the plucky local woman gets them to see the meaning of Christmas or some such crap. But admittedly I'm no longer an aficionado, so maybe the lead guys are all just nice and ... not sure where the tension is if that's true, but OK.
• 84D: Ocean in "Ocean's Eleven" (TESS) — had the "TE-," wrote in TEAM. I saw the original Ocean's Eleven once. I love Soderbergh to death, but somehow can't bring myself to see the Clooney / Roberts ones. I get real cynical when that much "Aren't we beautiful movie stars?" power is aimed at me. I should probably just suck it up and watch. Soderbergh has rarely let me down.

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Swing-era bandleader ___ Cates / FRI 3-15-24 / Dom maker / Region of Italy that lends its name to a pepper / Words from a paper pusher? / Bill originating in Texas / Vegetable whose name comes from Igbo / Bacteriologist Walter who conducted Yellow Fever research / Fish named for a weapon / Opposite of rubicund

Constructor: Daniel Grinberg

Relative difficulty: Medium if you knew PHILLIS WHEATLEY, Challenging if (like me) you didn't

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: PHILLIS WHEATLEY (17A: "On Being Brought From Africa to America" writer, 1768) —

Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly (c. 1753 – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was kidnapped and subsequently sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America, where she was bought by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.

On a 1773 trip to London with the Wheatleys' son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became her patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Prominent figures, such as George Washington, praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own. (wikipedia)

• • •

[Where my brain went when asked
for an Italian pepper]

This is a solid grid, but the editing felt off. The biggest issue for me (in fact the only answer I really remember now) was the way the puzzle handled PHILLIS WHEATLEY. She's a worthy answer, but when you have a name that a lot of people are simply not going to know, you have to be careful how you cross it. My main gripe with crossword editors, across the board, is that they aren't careful enough with their proper nouns. No matter what sphere or time period they come from, names that are not universally famous can be dangerous—they're gimmes for some and total blanks for others, and so already have the potential to create a very divided solving experience. So it's crucial that the less famous, and the more unconventionally spelled, the name is, the more you have to ensure that every cross is fair. To be clear, I think it's great to put names in puzzles that have never been there before, names that maybe aren't household, but that are of clear historical and artistic significance, which definitely applies to PHILLIS WHEATLEY. And I have no way of knowing exactly how many people know her name, but if I, who have spent my whole life around teachers of poetry, have only a dim recollection of her name, then it seems reasonable to think that some significant number of solvers won't know her at all, and so ... crossing her with a "Swing-era bandleader" who's even *more* obscure than she is? I do not understand that decision (5D: Swing-era bandleader ___ Cates). I also don't understand putting PHILLIS WHEATLEY right next to the answer describing what she is, but giving us nothing but a crossreference clue for help (15A: 17-Across, for one). If I don't know PHILLIS WHEATLEY, then I sure as hell don't know she's a POET (I can tell she's a writer from her clue, but POET, no). Her name also crosses a region of Italy / pepper I've barely heard of (11D: Region of Italy that lends its name to a pepper), an absolutely brutal clue for AT HOME (8D: Familiar (with)), and a flat-out incorrect clue for ESP (19D: Unlikely gift)—that "gift" is not "unlikely," it's nonexistent, please stop cluing ESP like it's real. There's also the OLE / RAH dilemma up there (12D: Scream for a team), and then a clue on ROSTRA (ugly word) that had me writing in RISERS (21A: Campaign platforms, perhaps). That whole area from OPIE to CALABRIA was a Saturday+-level hornet's nest. The rest of the puzzle was pretty standard, difficulty-wise.  So you can add "unevenness" to the problems created by not handling PHILLIS WHEATLEY crosses skillfully. 

The worst editorial decision was the absolute lie of a clue on CARELESS MISTAKE (32A: Forgetting to finish this clue, for examp). The attempted cuteness is absolutely murdered by the dishonesty. Nobody "Forgot" To Finish This Clue, It Is Unfinished By Design, There Is No Mistake At All, Let Alone A Careless One. Honestly, if you'd just changed "this" to "a," or went with something like [Forgetting to proofread a crossword clue, for exmpale?], you'd have something. But because you said "this" clue, boo, no. There are no CARELESS MISTAKEs in "this" clue. "This" clue knows exactly what it's doing, which makes the clue disingenuous, which makes it cutesy, as opposed to cute.

The grid itself has a lot of sparkle. Not big on three EXTRAs in a row (two is the gold standard, three seems excessive) (10D: Words from a paper pusher?), and ESPRESSO MARTINIs are an abomination, but REWRITES HISTORY, HALFTIME REPORTS, those have some pop. As usual, bizspeak and commercial stuff don't do for me what they apparently do for other people, so HITRATE (27A: Proportion of customers that make a purchase, in business-speak) and UBERED (36A: Got taken for a ride, in a way) were more EWW! than OLE! for me. The clue on TAX TIP has kind of grown on me, though, in the past half hour or however long it's been since I finished solving (47A: Bit of deductive reasoning?). And I'd totally forgotten about LIV TYLER's existence, so even though I think the "LOTR" franchise is a bloated self-important mess, I enjoyed seeing her name pop up (18D: "The Lord of the Rings" actress). 

Non-PHILLIS WHEATLEY-related trouble spots:

• 47D: Common additive to white rice (TALC) — wow, you got me there. I had SALT. Why is there TALC in the rice? To make it whiter? Hang on ... huh. I guess it was (and in some places still is) used in processing the rice, as a preservative, though a 1981 NYT article on the subject says that "While processors say that talc helps preserve rice, consumer groups argue that the coating is merely cosmetic" (TALC + glucose somehow makes the rice look shiny). Looks like TALC is no longer a "common" additive in US rice, but some imported rices still contain it. There were health concerns about TALC as a possible risk factor for stomach cancer, but studies don't seem to have borne that out.
• 56A: iPhone command (SYNC) — totally legit, but because of the TALC fiasco ... I wanted SEND, but then I had SALT instead of TALC, so I went with SENT (!?!), which is not a "command," so I just had holes down there for a while: S-N- for SYNC and -AL- for TALC.
• 49D: *grimaces, sticks out tongue* ("EWW!") — tried recreating this face as I was solving, in hopes that it would lead me to some kind of feeling, but it didn't help. Also, I had MELTS instead of WILTS (52A: Can't stand the heat, say), so my first thought for this "grimace" was OMG, which seemed (and WAS) wrong.
• 22A: Ground rule? (NO TV)—JEEZ, that is a stttrreettcchh, and absurdly hard to boot (I guess the idea is that when you are "grounded" you might be subject to the "rule" "NO TV!"). If you want to put a "?" clue on otherwise bad short fill, it's really gotta land.
• 29A: More trifling (MERER) — how would you even use this "word"? A comparative adjective? No. I got a bunch of crosses and then considered this "word" but then laughed at the idea because of how much of a non-word MERER is. Then it ended up being correct. MERER MERER on the wall, what's the dumbest answer of all? MERER ERSE is not a place I'd willingly revisit.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. from the OED’s June 2021 update:

Our earliest example of to do a person dirty, meaning to treat someone unfairly or badly, comes from evidence given in a court case heard in Texas in 1879, while to put the blast on someone (referring to criticism or reprimand) is first recorded in a story by Damon Runyon published in 1929, with the now more familiar to put someone on blast popularized by Eminem in his 2000 song The Real Slim Shady.

P.P.S. another editing issue

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Salamander named after an Aztec deity / SUN 2-4-24 / Qualifier for a date / North American fish with toxic roe / It's signed after a break / Shot in the arm, slangily / Anatomical stabilizer / One role in a classic interrogation trope

Constructor: Daniel Grinberg

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (12ish minutes (I printed out a new puzzle for my wife before I wrote down the exact time, but it was about two minutes over my average)) 

THEME: "Punch Lines" — hmm, I don't really understand the title. I guess the theme answers are supposed to be jokes (?). As for the theme: clues are all [___ line?] and then the answer is a "line" one might say that is vaguely related to the word in the blank space:

Theme answers:

• "GUILTY AS CHARGED" (23A: Fault line?) (said by one who is at fault)
• "CAN'T COMPLAIN" (31A: Fine line?) (said by one who is fine)
• "TELL ME I'M PRETTY" (47A: Fishing line?) (said by someone fishing for a compliment)
• "SIX-INCH OR FOOTLONG?" (63A: Subway line?) (said by an employee at a Subway sandwich shop) (!?)
• "PLEASE BE SEATED" (81A: Assembly line?) (said by the principal, perhaps, at a school assembly, I assume)
• "YOU'RE THE BOSS" (98A: Power line?) (said to one in a position of power)
• "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN" (110A: Subject line?) (said of the Queen by her subject)
• "SIR, YES, SIR!" (15D: Private line?) (said by a private in the Army)
• "MAKE A WISH" (75D: Party line?) (said at a birthday party)

Word of the Day: FEIST (3D: One-named indie singer with the 2007 hit "1234") —

Leslie Feist (born February 13, 1976), known mononymously as Feist, is a Canadian indie pop singer-songwriter and guitarist, performing both as a solo artist and as a member of the indie rock group Broken Social Scene.

Feist launched her solo music career in 1999 with the release of Monarch. Her subsequent studio albums, Let It Die, released in 2004, and The Reminder, released in 2007, were critically acclaimed and commercially successful, selling over 2.5 million copies. The Reminder earned Feist four Grammy nominations, including a nomination for Best New Artist. She has received 11 Juno Awards, including two Artist of the Year. Her fourth studio album, Metals, was released in 2011. In 2012, Feist collaborated on a split EP with metal group Mastodon, releasing an interactive music video in the process.

She has released six studio albums as of 2023, Feist received three Juno awards at the 2012 ceremony: Artist of the Year, Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Metals, and Music DVD of the Year for her documentary Look at What the Light Did Now., additionally she was nominated for four Grammy Awards including Best Pop Vocal Album for The Reminder and Best New Artist. (wikipedia)

• • •

Well, I *can* complain, but this puzzle has made me so weary and depressed that I don't think I have the energy to do so at length. The theme is weak ... but also so convoluted, with such arbitrary, random-seeming answers, that it played slow. So the experience was ... slow and painful, just like the best dentist appointments. Again, the idea seems to be that quantity will make up for quality. Is your theme kinda meh? Well, just add an extra heaping of themers, that should ... solve ... it. The whole "line" thing doesn't quite work. Is the line said by you ("TELL ME I'M PRETTY") or by me, about you ("YOU'RE THE BOSS")? I guess it's just ... any line, which anyone, in any context, might say? Is the question "SIX-INCH OR FOOTLONG?" really so iconic, so deeply established in sandwich lore, that it can stand alone, as the Central Answer in a Sunday puzzle? Is it even a standard "line" at Subway? (I don't know if I've been in one in the past two decades, ever since my then-young daughter convinced me that they "smell weird.") Over and over again, I could not get from the theme clues to the various "lines," even with lots of letters in place, so completely made up did they seem—or so tenuous did the answers' connection seem to the clue. You could do [___ line?] clues all day long. Chorus line? Hair line? Bee line? Offensive line? Defensive line? Date line? Border line? Tan line? Battle line? Telephone line? There's no end. And yet *these* are the best lines the puzzle can offer? There's something so contrived and pathetic about "TELL ME I'M PRETTY ([Fishing line?]).  And I had "YOU'RE THE BEST!" instead of "YOU'RE THE BOSS" for way too long ([Power line?]). Why? Because why not? Do you know how far it is from "Assembly" to "PLEASE BE SEATED"!?!?!? I think of "Assembly" as something kids have in grammar school. But "PLEASE BE SEATED"? That seems too formal. We would all file in and already be seated before anything began. Oof. 

The worst part of the puzzle for me had nothing to do with the theme; it was encountering a Textbook Example of why I hate the repeated clue gimmick. [49D: Volunteer's declaration] = "I CAN"—yes, that makes sense. That answer does, in fact, go with that clue. But "ON IT"? "ON IT"???? There is nothing necessarily "volunteer"-ish at all about "ON IT" (29D: Volunteer's declaration). If you say "ON IT," you are declaring that you are taking care of something, but perhaps That Is Your Damn Job, not something you're "volunteering" to do. Also, you aren't volunteering if you say "ON IT." You are just ... declaring that you are doing it. "I CAN" is a volunteer's statement. "ON IT"? Bah, throw your repeated clue gimmick in the ocean. Please. Getting that second answer to "work" for the same clue usually involves some kind of torture. 

So many of the clues just didn't compute. [Qualifier for a date] ... no idea (CIRCA). Figured the date was the potentially romantic kind. Your TOE is an [Anatomical stabilizer]? What the HELL? Is JOGGLE really a word? GO A-courtin'?!?!?!! ALLEGORIC should be ALLEGORICAL, first of all, and also [Rich with metaphor] doesn't even begin to get at what allegory is. Not nearly specific enough. That clue on COOPS (CO-OPS) was so hard. I think of CO-OPS as communally run businesses, not living arrangements (32D: Communal housing arrangements). So many errors today. DONUT before BAGEL (1D: There's a hole in one). EEKS (almost fatally) before EGAD (17D: "Crikey!"). ONE DOWN before ONE AWAY (115A: Two outs left, in baseball). So I had to wade through this unbearable and inscrutable theme, and then, in the non themers, also needed an AXE to hack my way through. Pleasureless from stem to stern, this one.

Notes and explanations:

• 18A: Nipple rings (AREOLAE) — one of my least favorite solving things—waiting to see if the plural will be regular English "-S" or Latin (today, Latin)
• 25A: Qualifier for a date (CIRCA) — when you're not sure of the exact date ... CIRCA is the "qualifier" you'd use
• 27A: Nickname that drops "An-" (DRE) — wanted ARI or ARY ... which is grim. I see (now) that the hyphen comes *after* the "An-"
• 36A: Preserves things? (JARS) — because preserves ... come ... in them?
• 46A: Not down, in a way (SIP) — so you don't down it (i.e. chug it), you SIP it
• 21D: Moved like a cat burglar (CREPT) — the worst wound of the puzzle was self-inflicted; that is, I wrote CREEP here, and this error (plus stupidly clued "ON IT") made the already tough "CAN'T COMPLAIN" nearly impossible

• 68A: Tittle (DOT) —wanted JOT, since that's the word that goes with tittle in the only tittle-containing phrase, "jot and tittle"
• 69A: 1970s-'80s Supreme Court justice ___ F. Powell Jr. (LEWIS) — well, that's from my lifetime, but I swear I've never heard of this guy before in my life.
• 97A: North American fish with toxic roe (GAR) — I mentioned recently that GAR (that crosswordesiest of fish) was mostly retired now. Apparently he still gets out.
• 106A: It's signed after a break (CAST) — again, superhard. Saturday level. Not even a question mark. CASTs are only sometimes signed. I don't know the stats, but ... not a given.
• 95D: Light-headed sorts? (MOTHS) — because they "head" toward light. Very good clue, but again, very hard.
• 6D: Sense of orientation (GAYDAR) — so, sexual orientation. 
• 111D: Shot in the arm, slangily (VAX) — wanted JAB
• 64D: Gives a hand? (CLAPS) — irritating "?" since [Gives a hand] is basically what CLAPS means, but the "?" makes it look like the answer's going to be card-related, something like DEALS
• 65D: Hot spot (HELL) — but no "?" here???? And HELL isn't even hot. Read Dante. It's a damn lake of ice down there!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. for the Sunday-only solvers. I feel bad that I don't like Sundays more than I do. I don't know why they seem the hardest day to do right. I have loved many puzzles this year. I loved yesterday's puzzle! I've even reinstated my Puzzles of the Month feature, which I posted on Jan. 31, but which I think I should post (or repost) on the first Sunday of the month, so that there's consistency, and so more people can see it (Sunday is the Big Traffic day). I have redacted the themes / marquee answers, so that the puzzles aren't spoiled for syndication solvers (no idea why syndicated Sunday is two weeks back while M-Sat is five weeks back, but that's the way it is): 

These were my January 2024 Puzzles of the Month:

Themed:

• Damon Gulczynksi (Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024)
• Jake Halperin (Monday, Jan. 22, 2024)

Themeless:

• Hoang-Kim Vu (Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024)

That's it. See you next time.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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