2015 chart-topping hit for the Weeknd / SUN 12-21-25 / 51 to the hour / Blue colorant obtained from the indigo plant / Grammy winner Erykah / Prickly denizen of coral reefs / 1950s hangout with a jukebox / Great Dane of cartoons, informally / Kind of cipher in which A becomes B, B becomes C, e.g. / Eponymous British financier James / Duke Ellington classic with the lyric "That was my heart serenading you"

Constructor: David Kwong

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Present Time" — "Presents" (circled squares) can be found UNDER THE TREE (69D: Where to find six "presents" in this puzzle?)—that is, each circled square can be found directly under a square that contains the name of a tree. Puzzle notes read: "Once the puzzle is complete, the circled letters, when read from left to right, will spell a punny two-word phrase." That phrase: "FIR YEW" (two tree names that together kinda sound like the phrase "For You," which ... is a "present"-related phrase, I suppose). 

Tree answers:

• SUPINE / PORCUPINE FISH (103A: Lying faceup / 78D: Prickly denizen of coral reefs)
• I'M SOAKED / PRELUDE TO A KISS (54A: Comment from someone caught in the rain / 4D: Duke Ellington classic with the lyric "That was my heart serenading you")
• DANCED AROUND / CLARENCE DARROW (112A: Evaded, as a sensitive issue / 80D: Famed lawyer in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial)
• ST. ELMO / "CAN'T FEEL MY FACE" (71A: Sailor's patron / 39D: 2015 chart-topping hit for the Weeknd)
• PALM OFF AS / ARNOLD PALMERS (46A: Fraudulently make seem like / 13D: Iced-tea-and-lemonade refreshments)
• SODA SHOP / ASH WEDNESDAY (14A: 1950s hangout with a jukebox / 17D: Fast start?)

Word of the Day: Erykah BADU (10D: Grammy winner Erykah) —

Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Influenced by R&B, soul, and hip-hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut studio album Baduizm (1997), placed her at the forefront of the neo soul movement, earning her the nickname "Queen of Neo Soul" by music critics. [...] Badu's voice has been compared to jazz singer Billie Holiday.^[8][9][10] Early in her career, Badu was recognizable for her style, which often included wearing very large and colorful headwraps. She was a core member of the Soulquarians. As an actress, she has played a number of supporting roles in movies including Blues Brothers 2000, The Cider House Rules and House of D.  [...] Badu has won five awards from twenty nominations. (wikipedia)

• • •

The word that comes to mind is "shaggy" (and not just 'cause SCOOB is in the puzzle). I mean "shaggy" in the sense of "confused or unclear in conception or thinking" (m-w). But also in the sense of "lovable," the way a shaggy dog is lovable. Who's a good puzzle!? You are! Yes you are! Neither of my dogs were "shaggy," but they were adorable and I loved them both, even when they hopped the back wall and went on neighborhood adventures or ate entire dish towels (RIP Dutchess and Gabby, respectively). With the puzzle, I kept thinking "what the hell is this puzzle doing!?" but more in amused disbelief than in anger. smh like, "you crazy puzzle!" I think I started feeling this way at just about [checks watch] NINE PAST. Yes, it was 9:09PM when I first realized that NINE PAST was going to be an actual answer in an actual crossword (7D: 51 to the hour). Do we have a recording of my response? We do? OK, roll it: "[laughter] [more laughter] [ongoing laughter] ... I'm sorry, that's the dumbest answer I've ever seen in my f***ing life!" I might have been literally shaking my head (smh). NINE PAST is so outlandish, so absurd, so desperate, so MacGyverishly improvised that it's almost brilliant. You gotta have massive confidence and/or a screw loose to throw down NINE PAST. I mean, NINE PAST ... if the mission was to distract me from TETROMINO (!?!?), well, Mission Bleeping Accomplished. Slow clap. I can't say I like it, but I can say it didn't make me any IRATER—unlike IRATER, which was, as comparative adjectives go, is infuriating). Although ... might make a good name for my inevitable memoir: I, RATER. Move over, I, CLAUDIUS! Take that, I, TINA!

But the theme ... that's the thing. A Christmas theme for the Christmas season. That, I approve of unequivocally. The concept and execution here, though. Wow. So the circled squares—which more than a few solvers hate on principle, hate instinctively—are offered up as "gifts." "Here, I got you a gift! You like circled squares, right?!" Love the trolling, keep going, what else you got, puzzle? Well, the "gifts" are clearly marked, in that they are wrapped in circles. We can see them. There they are. They are the opposite of hidden. So you see circles and you figure, "OK, well, I guess that's where the action is going to be." And you're not wrong, but also you have no idea, because there's this whole other completely unmarked element of the theme—an entire minefield of trees! And not just hidden inside answers, but hidden inside single squares. Yes, it's a stealth rebus! David is a professional magician, and this puzzle feels very much like sleight of hand. Your eyes get distracted by one thing, the thing you think is important, but meanwhile there's a whole other layer to the trick that you absolutely do not see coming. I didn't, anyway. If I might botch a metaphor the way NINE PAST botches all rules of crossword decorum, I couldn't see the forest for the presents. Until I did. So some comedic, non-lethal version of me skiing directly into a tree, that's what I looked like when I hit my first tree. 

I hit that tree in the middle of a song I'd never heard of, "PRELUDE TO ... TO ... TO ...?" What, "PRELUDE TO I.S.S., the International Space Station"? I checked the cross: 54A: Comment from someone caught in the rain. "Uh ... I'M SO ... WET?" Nope, won't fit. It was at that point that I first thought "maybe there's a rebus?" But my first thought was that the rebus square contained "OW"! as in "I'M SO WET!" (also as in "OW, I just ran into a tree!"). But that would make the song "PRELUDE TO WISS!" and as I don't know who or what or where WISS is, I had to abandon that idea. And at that point I thought "'PRELUDE TO A KISS' sounds like a thing I've heard before..." And bam, there it was: the OAK hiding in adjacent dimension, the rebus Twilight Zone. Did I like it? Hell, I don't know. But I definitely felt it, and it's good to feel things on a Sunday. I didn't feel hopeful, exactly, but I felt legitimately curious and kind of excited to see what treasures/horrors awaited me. I think I decided "alright, this puzzle is on one ... let's see where it goes!" And where did it go? Well, one of the main places it went was smack into the Weeknd's "CAN'T FEEL MY FACE" (!!!!) (which, like OW, is also what you say after you run into a tree at full speed). 

Working "ELM" into this puzzle via "CAN'T FEEL MY FACE" was the thing that made me realize that whatever I was going to feel about this puzzle in the end, I wasn't going to be able to hate it. That is some baroque, ornate theming right there. The execution of the rebus squares may be the thing I liked the most, beyond the mere fact of them (which was a total surprise). Such great long answers enveloping those trees. So inventive. What the hell is a PORCUPINE FISH!? Don't tell me, I'll just imagine. I trust you puzzle, keep going! Make up animals if you have to, I'm all in!" "Holy cow, you mean CLARENCE DARROW contains CEDAR!!? Ha! YES, YES, tell me more!" The fill would occasionally make me want to hate this puzzle, but even the bad fill was hilarious to me. ANIL! RONI! ... I THE!? Go very bad or go home, I guess. But the theme was big enough, interesting enough, spectacular enough (in its beauty and its shagginess) to keep me from dwelling on the short fill for too long. And yes, only a couple of these trees are plausible Christmas trees (imagine having an elm in your living room?). And yes, "FIR YEW" (that is, "For You") doesn't really make sense as a message on a present. "Who's that one for, Betty?" "It's for 'You.'" "For me?" "No, for 'You.'" You see how that gets into Who's On First territory real quick. I guess the idea is that you might say the phrase as you hand the gift to its intended recipient. I don't know. I just know that this theme is ambitious and creative and if it doesn't quite stick all its landings, shrug, I'm good, wrap it up, I'll take it!

Bullets:

• 26A: Blue colorant obtained from the indigo plant (ANIL) — I always glitch on ANIL / ARIL, a crosswordese hazard if there ever was one.
• 28A: Brightly colored Mediterranean flowers (SUN ROSES) — I assume SUN ROSES are the natural habitat of the PORCUPINE FISH, as I've never heard of either of them. They sound very made-up. But I want to live in this world of random compound-phrase plants and animals. Hey, look, a BUTTER EEL! And a HAM TULIP! And ooh there's a KEYBOARD WEASEL! What a magical world we live in! I love nature!
• 79A: Eponymous British financier James ___ (BARCLAY) — me, after finally getting this: "Oh, the BARCLAYs Center guy. Huh, that's a guy? I always thought it was a vodka or a watch or something."
• 94A: Kind of cipher in which A becomes B, B becomes C, e.g. (CAESAR) — baffling. More baffling than PORCUPINE FISH. I'm sure I've come across this "cipher" type before—soaking in puzzleworld, I must have seen it somewhere—but I did not retain that information.
• 16D: Counterpart of a sub (DOM) — oh, that kind of sub. This puzzle is just full of amazing surprises.
• 66D: It has lots of secretaries (CABINET) — even after getting this answer, I was thinking "furniture." A "secretary" is a kind of desk, so I was like "why ... would you put desks in your cabinet?" But this puzzle can clearly do anything, so I just let it ride.
• 72D: Coolidge who sang the theme for "Octopussy" (RITA) — me: "What?" Also me: [starts trying to hum "Octopussy," ends up humming it to the tune of "Goldfinger"]. The song is not actually called "Octopussy," but "All Time High" (a song I do, actually, know).

• 29D: Great Dane of cartoons, informally (SCOOB) — "cartoons" made me think "comic strips," which had me wondering for a few seconds if Marmaduke's owners called him MARMA. You know, informally. 

Speaking of informal dogs, it's time for more 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 now. Note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE PET PICS, I'M ALL FULL UP FOR THIS YEAR, thank you.

Coco has murdered gingerbread Mr. Bill. Thank you for your service, Coco.

[Thanks, Cheryl!]

Lily basks by the fire, admiring her Christmas gift destruction. Good job, Lily. 

Meanwhile, Lily's housemate Jojo poses regally and judgmentally by the tree. Such Christmas gift destruction is beneath Jojo. How uncouth, Jojo thinks.

[Thanks, Jane!]

Find someone who looks at you like Maisie looks at this Christmas tree.

[Thanks, Caitlin!]

Finn came framed, and precaptioned

[Thanks, Jose!]

And finally, here's Tula Moose (actually, just Tula—I added the "Moose" part because that's what I would call her, Tula Moose!)

["But ... but I'm a reindeer"]
[Thanks, Pat and Lisa]

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. a couple very-last-minute Christmas gift suggestions. First, prolific Canadian constructors Desirée Pinner and Jeff Sinnock have a new geography-themed book of crosswords out called Where in the World: A Guess-The-Country Crossword Book. Jeff writes: "Where in the World? A Guess the Country Crossword Book takes the solver on a trip around the world. Each grid contains theme entries that hint to the culture, history, landmarks, and geography of a particular country. After (or during) solving, the solver guesses what the mystery country might be." I've enjoyed their movie- and music-themed crossword books in the past, so I'm sure this one will be equally doable and delightful.

Second, today's constructor, David Kwong, also has a new book out. I know because I own it (got it signed at ACPT earlier this year)! It's a magic book for kids called How to Fool Your Parents: 25 Brain-Breaking Magic Tricks. It's aimed at readers and aspiring magicians age 8-12. It's adorable but it's also the real deal. Actual magic theory and practical projects that any kid can do. Loaded with cartoons and illustrations. Get it here, or better yet, try an actual bookstore!

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Plunder, archaically / SUN 12-15-24 / Old-fashioned trinket shop vendors / ___ Clan, iconic hip-hop group of the 1990s / Fog and haze generated for a theatrical production / Opened or closed like an eye, in film lingo / Actress Creel of "Saved by the Bell" / "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" airer / Connecticut coastal town near Stamford / Popeye's witchy foe in early comics / Actress Creel of "Saved by the Bell" / Role for Jay Silverheels

Constructor: David Kwong

Relative difficulty: Medium (if it takes longer than usual, it's because the puzzle has so many moving parts to keep track of, not because it's particularly hard)

THEME: "Art Heist" — There are notes. Here they are:

Ten paintings (actually, artist names, which stand for the paintings) have been "stolen" from ten different answers, replaced in each case by a single letter (from the Down cross) (e.g. the Max ERNST in EASTERN STANDARD TIME has been removed and replaced by the single letter "I" from IS INTO). The missing artist names also appear as standalone answers in the grid, clued as [Painting stolen from [relevant clue]]—this helps you figure out what "stolen" artist names to look for. Once the grid is completed, the letters that have replaced the artist names in their respective answers spell out a message, presumably from the accused art thief: "I WAS FRAMED" (get it? it's an art pun) 

The paintings (i.e. artist names):

• Max ERNST (54A: Painting stolen from 21-Across)
• Francisco GOYA (92A: Painting stolen from 33-Across)
• John Singer SARGENT (13D: Painting stolen from 35-Across)
• Edgar DEGAS (63D: Painting stolen from 53-Across)
• Frida KAHLO (20A: Painting stolen from 64-Across)
• Claude MONET (8A: Painting stolen from 71-Across)
• Georgia O'KEEFFE (94D: Painting stolen from 77-Across)
• TITIAN (4D: Painting stolen from (101-Across)
• Joan MIRÓ (93A: Painting stolen from 105-Across)
• Salvador DALÍ (110D: Painting stolen from 116-Across)

The answers from which the paintings were stolen:

• EASTERN STANDARD TIME (21A: Winter setting in New England)
• "GO, YANKEES!" (33A: Bronx cheer)
• BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (35A: Capital on the Rio de la Plata)
• BODEGAS (53A: Neighborhood grocery stores)
• HOOKAH LOUNGE (64A: Bar with hashish pipes)
• FROM ONE TO TEN (71A: Common scale range)
• SMOKE EFFECTS (77A: Fog and haze generated for a theatrical production)
• REGISTERED DIETITIAN (101A: Health professional focused on nutrition)
• STEAM IRON (105A: Household appliance that makes a hissing sound)
• "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB" (118A: Classic nursery rhyme)

Word of the Day: John Singer SARGENT (13D) —

John Singer Sargent (/ˈsɑːrdʒənt/; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Capri, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida. [...] From the beginning, Sargent's work is characterized by remarkable technical facility, particularly in his ability to draw with a brush, which in later years inspired admiration as well as criticism for its supposed superficiality. His commissioned works were consistent with the grand manner of portraiture, while his informal studies and landscape paintings displayed a familiarity with Impressionism. In later life, Sargent expressed ambivalence about the restrictions of formal portrait work and devoted much of his energy to mural painting and working en plein air. Art historians generally ignored society artists such as Sargent until the late 20th century. [...] The exhibition in the 1980s of Sargent's previously hidden male nudes served to spark a reevaluation of his life and work, and its psychological complexity. In addition to the beauty, sensation and innovation of his oeuvre, his same-sex interests, unconventional friendships with women and engagement with race, gender nonconformity and emerging globalism are now viewed as socially and aesthetically progressive and radical.

• • •

Whatever this is, it isn't boring. I often grumble about "architectural marvel" grids because they (often!) sacrifice overall solving pleasure for grand visual schemes or other elaborate gimmicks. Put this here, connect these elements, read this hidden phrase backwards, fold your puzzle thrice and repeat an incantation, etc. Lots of instructions is almost always a sure sign of a slog—lots of (awkward, painful) work for a relatively superficial payoff. So, yeah, not super hopeful when I first opened the puzzle and got hit with a "message" notice. Software asked if I wanted to read the message. Sigh, sure, why not. I read the message and did Not understand the message, so I just dove in and figured "eh, whatever, I'll figure it out." And ... I did. And ... you know what? I (mostly) enjoyed my (very erratic) trip through this weird-ass grid museum. Finding the "missing" paintings was genuinely fun. If you're not a fan of paintings / artists / museums, I can see how this could've quickly grown tiresome, but I love art and museums so this was very much my jam. What I like most about the theme is how absolutely bonkers the answers are that contain the artist names. At first, I was like "OK, you hid ERNST in an answer, fine ... doesn't seem that hard, but fine." But by the time I got to O'KEEFFE I was like "dayyyyum, how the hell did you hide bleepin' O'KEEFFE, that is Not a name that wants to hide ... anywhere!" SMOKE EFFECTS, what a find. And some of the other "hidings" were equally creative. FROM ONE TO TEN!? BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA!?!? I am not normally a big fan of the "city, country" answer format (the "country" part always seems gratuitous—like, yes, Argentina, of course Argentina—are there other, non-Argentina BUENOS AIRESes?) but when you desperately need to hide a whole-ass SARGENT, you do what you gotta do. I admire the improvisation and creativity.

[Here's today's constructor, David Kwong, taunting me w/ a Nighthawks selfie; I forget precisely why he sent me this, but he knows I love Hopper and have never seen Nighthawks (a perfect painting) up close, so ... taunting me, as I say. Kinda surprised that a HOPPER was not among the stolen art today]

As flashy as the longer answers were, I also really admired the discreet three-letter hiding place for DEGAS. You usually go looking in the longer answers for theme elements, so it was a delightful surprise to find one hiding in such a small, seemingly out-of-the-way nook of the puzzle. It's also impressive how dense the theme gets in places. The missing DEGAS, KAHLO, O'KEEFFE and TITIAN squares are all clumped Really close to one another in the eastern part of the grid. The whole premise was KOOKy and zany enough to win me over. Yes, the grid was fussy, and yes, the fill gets a little strained in parts, but unlike most Sunday themes, this one never felt tedious, or thin, or like I just wanted it to be over already. Inventive and ambitious and kind of maniacal—it's so rare to get a theme worthy of Sunday's giant (I'm sorry) canvas. This puzzle reminded me of Liz Gorski's iconic Guggenheim puzzle, which is about as high a compliment as I can pay any Sunday puzzle. Was this my favorite Sunday of the year? The bar is low, it's true, but ... maybe. I'll have to check my spreadsheet, but maybe.  

[35D: Motel proprietor in "Psycho"]

I had no idea THE CW still existed, but then I haven't had cable in years now (12D: "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" airer). I also had no idea "Penn and Teller: Fool Us" was a thing, but the clue made me smile—David Kwong is himself an accomplished magician, so I could feel him kinda winking there. I also had no idea anyone named LEANNA existed (29D: Actress Creel of "Saved by the Bell"), or that REAVE was ever a word (76D: Plunder, archaically), or that there were ever such people as TOYMEN (?!) (79D: Old-fashioned trinket shop vendors), or that you could use FLAM without the corresponding FLIM (71D: Deception). I knew DARIEN and LEHAR, but only in that dim, hazy, maybe I met you once at a party ten years ago kind of way (109A: Connecticut coastal town near Stamford + 67D: Franz who composed "The Merry Widow"). So there were definitely some trouble spots today, but overall the grid came in pretty smooth, especially considering how thematically demanding it was. And the grid manages to squeeze a fresh longer answer in there as well with ALERT TEXT (22D: Certain emergency message). That almost makes up for GREAT LIE, which has no business passing itself off as a standalone answer. Long partials are somehow much worse than short ones. You can forgive a short one, like "A LIFE," because you figure the constructor's in a tight spot, they have no other options, whatever. But a big answer like GREAT LIE? That's harder to see past. It's like he thought "well, GREAT LIE will fit here ... I wonder if anyone ever said that?" and then bam, Ben Franklin to the rescue. It's a debut ... and once again, I tap the "Not All Debuts Are Good" sign. What is that, three days in a row? 

[59D: ___ Clan, iconic hip-hop group of the 1990s]

More things:

• 19A: Fertilizer compound (POTASH) — definitely a word that crosswords taught me. I remember getting it as an answer the first time and wondering what PO-tash was (it's POT-ash). This was back in 2008. At that time, I said that POTASH sounded like "some kind of Eastern European casserole," or else a contraction of the slur "poor white trash." But now I know better (I still don't really know what it is) (the clue back in 2008 said [White, granular powder], so I've at least got a visual)
• 50A: Role for Jay Silverheels (TONTO) — TONTO is also a giant synthesizer that played a really important role in music history. It's the instrument at the heart of Stevie Wonder's amazing string of solo albums in the '70s (credited with the amazing bass line on "Superstition"). Genuinely iconic. Also, literally massive. Still waiting on my synth clue for TONTO.

• 60A: Popeye's witchy foe in early comics (SEA HAG) — As with POTASH, I think I learned this from crosswords too. According to wikipedia, "because she is a woman, Popeye cannot physically attack her." Huh. OK. Can't really picture the SEA HAG. Hang on ... OK, here we go. Here she is, tormenting poor Wimpy:

[Alice is way scarier than her name sounds]

• 95A: Opened or closed like an eye, in film lingo (IRISED) — I know "iris in" and "iris out" but don't think I've seen IRISED before. Still, not hard if you know those other terms.

• 7D: Title for Manchin or Murkowski: Abbr. (SEN.) — you know you're going too fast when you've got a three-letter answer starting "S," you see the clue starts with "Title...," and you just reflexively write in "SIR." 
• 16D: Duffer's obstacle (POND) — so not TRAP, which was my first guess (a "duffer" is an inexperienced golfer)
• 18D: '60s campus activist grp. (SDS) — the farther we get from the '60s, the less likely these letters are to make immediate sense to solvers. If I google [SDS] now, I get something called a "Safety Data Sheet" for nearly all my hits (!?!). Students for a Democratic Society was a major political-activist student group that rose to national prominence in part for their organized opposition to the war in Vietnam.
• 24A: Like the Beatles' "Yesterday," key-wise (IN F) — that's "in the key of F," not "infinite," "information," or "infantry."

On now to Part II of the Holiday Gift Guide. Last week, I focused on physical gifts, such as Adam Aaronson's Crossword Calendar and Jeff Sinnock and Desirée Penner's crossword book, Name That Tune: A Year in Music—Crossword Puzzles for Music Lovers. This week, I just want to highlight some puzzle subscriptions for the puzzle-lover in your life (or yourself, why not?). These are all puzzles I subscribe to myself.

First is the AVCX (American Values Club Crossword), which has built itself into an indie puzzle juggernaut over the past few years, putting out six (6!) puzzles a week now, including two regular-sized crosswords, two smaller crosswords, a trivia puzzle, and (god bless them) a cryptic crossword, all while broadening and diversifying their editor and constructor roster and offering a tiered subscription pricing system, so that people without much disposable income can still afford to subscribe. These puzzles are consistently fresh and fun, and when people ask "what alternatives are there to the NYTXW?," this is always the first suggestion out of my mouth. Check out their sample puzzles here and subscribe here.

The Peter Gordon puzzle empire is also very much worth checking out. The weekly Fireball Crossword is especially great for those whose tastes run toward the more challenging puzzles. Imagine Thursday-level trickiness with Saturday-level difficulty. There are frequent meta-puzzles and puzzle contests as well. Fireball is a puzzle I've done consistently for ... yeesh, over a decade now? Very highly recommended for the experienced solver. 2025 subscriptions available now.

On the somewhat more accessible side (Tuesday/Wednesday level) is Peter's Newsflash Crossword—a remarkably up-to-date biweekly crossword focused on people in events in current headlines. These are a great way to brush up on or learn new names from the worlds of sports, politics, pop culture, etc., or (if you're like me) to find out what has been happening in the news since you stopped paying close attention in order to save your sanity. The Kickstarter for the 2025 Newsflash Crossword ends very soon, so subscribe today. Like, right now.

Lastly—I forgot last week to mention a really lovely puzzle store called Pavel's Puzzles, run by puzzle designer Pavel Curtis. This is more crossword adjacent than crossword specific—his store features puzzles of many different types—but they all look truly creative and beautifully crafted, and many of them run toward the kind of wordplay that I know you all love, so if you're looking for a unique and affordable gift for the puzzle-lover in your life, his site if very much worth checking out.

["Punana Split"—come on, you know you pun weirdos are gonna love this]

OK, that's all for gift suggestions. Let's do a few Holiday Pet Pics (you can still submit pics today, but after today, please, no more submissions—my Inbox is flooded!)

Again, I have to wonder what some of you all think I mean by Holiday Pet Pics. Navarre here is, what, possessed by the Christmas Demon?

[Thanks, Corinna]

I mean, the least you could do is slap a Post-It Note on your cat. Look—instant "Holiday" relevance (this is Cherry):

[Thanks, Jenny]

Or throw a hat on your dog... (this is Joy)

[Thanks, June]

Here we have some proper Holiday pics, of the mischievous cat variety. Nessa, no! The YETI (4) is not a toy!

[Thanks, Isabel]

Not sure what Leo got up to, but the damage appears to have been done, Merry Shredded Presents Day!

[Thanks, Brad]

Finally, here's Donut, furry companion of crossword constructor Trent Evans, watching ("watching") a classic Christmas movie. Yippee Ki-Yay, Donut.

[Thanks, Trent]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Thrice-remade movie / THU 4-18-24 / Saber-toothed tiger in the "Ice Age" movies / Bloomers worn around one's head? / Acre on the ocean floor / Ascent stage for a bird / First name in objectivism / Perfume name with an accent

Constructor: David Kwong

Relative difficulty: Medium

[sorry about all the blue eyes in the grid—I shut my puzzle before taking a screenshot so I refilled the grid with "Reveal All" rather than type it all in again]

THEME: A STAR IS BORN (A STAR IS "B" OR "N") (63A: Thrice-remade movie ... or, when parsed as six words, a hint to the theme clues in this puzzle) — theme clues all start with stars (asterisks), which you have to imagine as either "B"s or "N"s in order to make sense of the clues:

Theme answers:

• ELECTION DAY (17A: *Allot time) (Ballot)
• MOTHER OF PEARL (23A: *Acre on the ocean floor) (Nacre)
• RIVIERA (40A: *Ice is found on it) (Nice)
• THE CRETAN BULL (53A: *Ovid of Greek mythology) (Bovid)
• MCCARTNEY (10D: *Assist in a foursome) (Bassist)
• HATCHLING (32D: *Ascent stage for a bird) (Nascent)

Word of the Day: THE CRETAN BULL (53A) —

In Greek mythology, the Cretan Bull (Ancient Greek: Κρὴς ταῦρος, romanized: Krḕs taûros) was the bull Pasiphaë fell in love with, giving birth to the Minotaur. // Minos was king in Crete. In order to confirm his right to rule, rather than any of his brothers, he prayed Poseidon send him a snow-white bull as a sign. Poseidon sent Minos the bull, with the understanding that bull would be sacrificed to the god. Deciding that Poseidon's bull was too fine of a specimen to kill, Minos sent the bull to his herds and substituted another, inferior bull for sacrifice. Enraged, Poseidon had Aphrodite curse Pasiphaë, the wife of Minos, causing her to fall in love with the bull. She subsequently gave birth to the half-man, half-bull, Minotaur. Poseidon passed on his rage to the bull, causing him to lay waste to the land. (wikipedia)

• • •

Puzzle felt easy but that doesn't mean I wasn't several steps behind the theme at all times. Theme answers were discernible and (mostly) familiar things, and almost all non-theme fill in the puzzle was short and (therefore?) easy to get hold of, so I moved through the grid without much problem despite having no real idea why the starred answers were what they were (their clues appearing to make no sense). I was well into this puzzle (about half done) before I finally figured out the star trick, and then only because I was forced to—could not think of any answer ending in -RTNEY (was not thinking of names), and there was no way to get into that NE section without following that themer up there, so I had to jump into the void in the far NE and try to get that section with no help from crosses. Luckily I knew 12D: Anna May WONG, Hollywood's first Chinese American film celebrity, so I was able to hack my way through that section without much trouble, then had a "D'oh" moment when I pieced together MCCARTNEY. Only because that section forced me to pay attention to the themers did I stop to think about how "*Assist" could get you to MCCARTNEY and, well, it didn't take long. The * was a B! OK! Stars are letters! What do they spell!? Nope, they're all "B"s! Ballot! Bassist! Why are they "B"s!? Whoops, nope, Nacre, that's an "N" ... so they spell nothing and they're not all "B"s, what the ...? Best not think about it. And I didn't. When I finally got to the revealer (hard because the "N" in BORN was in SNIT and yikes, no idea (61D: Cross fit?)), I thought "Oh, the stars are "B" "O" "R" and "N" I guess" (clearly I hadn't been paying close attention). It was only after I'd finished and literally counted the words in "A STAR IS B, O, R, N" ("7!? But the clue says 6!") that I realized "OR" was one word, and that the stars were simply either a "B" OR an "N."

I think the theme's ingenious. I am less fond of the grid, which, first of all, is sooooo heavily segmented, with  the huge NE and SW sections accessible only by the tiniest of passageways (through the themers), and the very far NE and SW sections really truly sequestered away, and the puzzle in general being so chopped up that you're virtually overrun with 3-letter words—only a couple of non-theme answers (up top and below) are  longer than 5. Lots of hacking through less-than-lovely short stuff, with severely impeded flow due to the grid's segmenting. But the segmentation and preponderance of short gunk don't prevent the theme from shining through. I think it's all worth it, is what I'm saying—the theme is dense enough and weird enough to make the puzzle's infelicities tolerable. 

Hardest parts for me were the "?" clues, specifically that SNIT clue, and then the AIM clue (34D: Sightsee?), which I guess just has to do with putting the sights of your ... gun? ... on something? If your gun has a "sight" then you "see" through it in order to AIM it. As for the SNIT clue (61D: Cross fit?), my brain went all over hell and gone trying to make sense of that one. The craziest thing I thought was that the clue wanted me to tell them what Jesus was wearing on the cross ("fit" being slang for "outfit"). I was like "dang, that's kind of morbid ... wait, what *was* he wearing? Some cloth? Rags? RAGS? Nope, doesn't work." Other difficulty in this puzzle came from those far far NE and SW sections, which I couldn't get into easily, the first time because I didn't understand the theme (see above), the second time (SW), because I only know the word HATCHLING if you show it to me. That is, if you'd asked me to give you a word meaning "nascent stage for a bird," I'm not sure how long it wouldn't taken me (without help) to come up with HATCHLING. I had -CHLING and still couldn't come up with it (!?). Just a total brain meltdown. Lastly, difficultywise, there was THE CRETAN BULL. I've known the story of Pasiphaë and the birth of the Minotaur for decades, but I had no, none, zero, absolutely no idea that the damn bull had a name. I got THE CRETAN BULL and thought "wait wait ... do you mean THE MINOTAUR? It's called THE MINOTAUR! What the hell kind of moniker is THE CRETAN BULL?!" Turns out it's just the Minotaur's dad. Wow. Deep cut, mythologically speaking. Also, "Bovid," great word. I use it occasionally as a late guess in Quordle when I want to burn those back-of-the-line consonants

Bullet points:

• 19A: The False Good Samaritan, e.g. (CON) — no idea. I search it and get crossword sites. I guess this is a type of CON, i.e. scam.
• 29A: It'll all shake out (SALT) — Will it? All of it? Citation needed.
• 3D: Saber-toothed tiger in the "Ice Age" movies (DIEGO) — no idea. This is a very Hollywoody puzzle! Thrice-remade movies and movie tigers and Hollywood Walk of Fame markers and Anna May WONG. Also, RIAN Johnson (I happen to know the constructor and RIAN are friends, so that one actually made me smile)
• 5D: Bloomers worn around one's head? (LEI) — this is great, truly great, and I don't think it even needs a "?"
• 6D: Visitor from a faraway place (UFO) — not necessarily, no. The fact that it can't be ID'd doesn't mean it's from outer space. Could be some kind of kite or dirigible or maybe a pterodactyl escaped from Jurassic Park, you don't know!
• 35D: Name that's an anagram of BREAD (DEBRA) — ah, we're still doing this, I see. Truly the "I give up" of name-cluing. Somewhere, someone named DREAB is sad. "Finally, recognition! ... oh."

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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