Intentionally cause drama / TUES 3-3-26 / Genre for wannabe sleuths / Garam ___ (South Asian spice blend) / "Come to our rescue!" / Leaves shocked

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare here for the first Tuesday of March — surprise! Hope everyone is staying warm and hasn’t been too affected by the crazy winter. DC didn’t get hit too badly in the recent storm, and the snow thankfully melted pretty quickly (so I was able to bike again). Then it got warm enough last Saturday for a picnic — and now it’s supposed to be almost 80 this weekend. Wild. I’ve been missing having the Olympics to watch, but I’ve been rooting on my Liverpool (which is doing a bit better lately), watching the Unrivaled playoffs and cheering on the Penguins (minus Sidney Crosby because of the evil Czech player who hurt him). 

Anywho, on to the puzzle…

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: On the easy side for a Tuesday

THEME: FIRST THINGS FIRST — In order, things you supposedly do first thing in the morning after waking up

Theme answers:

• STIR THE POT (18A: Intentionally cause drama) 
• GET UP TO SPEED (26A: Learn all the latest info) 
• STRETCH LIMOS (47A: Promgoers' luxurious rides) 
• SHOWER GIFT (60A: Present for an expectant mom or bride-to-be)

Word of the Day: SHERA (17A: He-Man's superheroine twin sister) —

Adora, known by her alter ego She-Ra, is a superheroine in the Masters of the Universe franchise. She is introduced as the protagonist of the 1985 Filmation series She-Ra: Princess of Power, which reveals her to be the long lost twin sister of He-Man. She-Ra again appears in the 2018 reboot She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.A series of toys under her name was produced by Mattel in 1984. She has also appeared in a number of Masters of the Universe comic books, most notably in DC Comics' 2012–2018 MOTU comic series, a roughly 1,000 page single story arc, collected in the 2019 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Omnibus hardcover release… She-Ra is known for her incredible feats and charisma. She has been shown multiple times to be able to lift not only full-grown men and robots, but also mountain-like rocks and buildings. She is depicted as being extremely fast and acrobatic. Her speed allows her to easily deflect multiple incoming energy blasts with her sword. (Wiki)

• • •

So, that puzzle is… fine? I’m really tired so I liked that it was a bit easier than Tuesdays often are, but it felt bland to the point that I don’t really know how to describe it. FIRST THINGS FIRST, I didn’t love the theme. The revealer says to look at the starts of the theme answers, so after finishing the puzzle I looked at STIR (18A), then tried to make it mesh with GET (26A). Hmm… STIR and GET, related to FIRST THINGS FIRST? It took me a bit to recognize GET UP as the “start” of the second theme answer. To be fair, the revealer only says it’s hinting to the “starts” of the answers. But to have three of them be one word and the fourth be two feels wrong. 

Besides, the actions in the theme answers aren’t what I would guess the average person does once they first wake up (or maybe people are better than me and actually do stretch or do yoga or something like I’ve been saying I’ll try to do for years). I realize that any such list of actions wouldn’t fit everybody, but this list didn’t quite sit right with me. I did, though, like the phrases for the first two answers — STIR THE POT (18A) and GET UP TO SPEED (26A). 

Other than that, the puzzle just felt full of short-ish, common words. I thought the most interesting and fun answers were MUTATING (9D: Changing genetically) and CHIRP (11D: Cricket's call) and TWEETS (68A: Sounds from baby robins). HUSHES UP (39D: Keeps from being publicly known) was also decent. LIESL (33D: Eldest von Trapp daughter in "The Sound of Music") is a great and uncommon name for a puzzle. And the clue for LOO (8D: Where to go in the U.K.?) is decently cute. But, EST (35D: Winter setting in D.C.) next to ETS (36D: Sci-fi space travelers)? AIRS (4D: Broadcasts)? RETIE (12D: Knot again)? OREO (58A: Black bits in cookies and cream)? MOW (52D: Cut the grass)? ELECT (50D: Vote into office)? Where were the interesting, long downs? The clever clues even if the answers were routine? 

It also felt like the constructor was trying a bit to be ~hip~ and ~with the times~ with words and phrases like SLAPS (31A: Is awesome, in slang), NORMIE (65A: Person with mainstream likes, pejoratively), AMIRITE (23A: "Don't you agree with me?," informally), and SPITS BARS (3D: Raps freestyle, in slang). Those are fine, and I personally like when the puzzle sometimes skews younger. But it mostly feels like this meme to me:

The puzzle may have been on the easy side because there were only around eight proper nouns, which feels like less than normal, and they certainly weren’t hard, with the possible exception of SHE-RA (17A).  

And that's about all I can think to say…

Misc.:

• The puzzle was clearly wrong about morning routines, because doesn’t everyone wake up to their puppy stealing their pillow at 6 AM, then almost falling off the bed and hitting their head on the bedside table? Or is that just me? But she’s so cute and just wants to cuddle, so I can’t stay mad for long. Until tomorrow, when she maybe successfully shoves me off the bed. 
• D.C. got a callout in 35D with EST. But I can’t wait until we’re in EDT in just a week! Losing an hour of sleep is so, so worth its being lighter later. That means more time for another picnic this weekend! 
• You’re really going to clue IAN (22A) McKellen as Magneto and not Gandalf?! That feels sacrilegious. I mean, I enjoyed some of the X-Men movies, but Lord of the Rings is the best of all time. 
• I remembered the name LIESL (33D) because of the iconic “Sixteen Going On Seventeen” song in “The Sound of Music.” I watched that movie a lot growing up. Just earlier today I was thinking of “snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes” from the song “My Favorite Things,” as the pretty snowflakes were coming down. 
• This may be a reach, but OGRE (​​58D: Shrek, e.g.) obviously makes me think of one line from this promo sketch that SNL did for Connor Storrie hosting this past Saturday. Everyone must watch. I’ve been rather obsessed with “Heated Rivalry” (and the stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams) ever since it aired, so I watched SNL all the way through for the first time in many years. 
• February was another good reading month for me. I’ve moved on a bit from my literary fiction horror phase and have now entered my romance phase. Though I’m currently in the middle of the audiobook for “Carl's Doomsday Scenario,” the second in a series. The narrator is absolutely fantastic and does so many incredible voices. It makes biking in the snow and being cold a little less miserable (yes, I did that today; and, yes, I still feel cold hours later).

And with that, I hope everyone has a great month of March!

Signed, Clare Carroll, last thing last

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

=============================
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• Boswords Spring Themeless League (online) (starts Mon., Mar. 2, 2026)
• American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration closed!)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...

Famed art patron Henry / WED 3-13-24 / Listing near a museum door, perhaps / N.B.A. great nicknamed "Diesel" / "O" in W.W. II radio lingo / Jeff Bridges's "Big Lebowski" stoner role, familiarly / Overhead features on sports cars / Literary character who cries "You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed!" / Manhattan hoops venue, in brief

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: FINAL FOUR (61A: March Madness component that's a phonetic hint to 18-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across) — four answers end with the sound of "-FOR" (spelled four different ways):

Theme answers:

• SEMAPHORE (18A: Flag-waver's specialty)
• MIXED METAPHOR (23A: "When the going gets tough, the early bird gets the worm?," e.g.)
• CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (38A: Best Actor nominee for "12 Years a Slave")
• AS NEVER BEFORE (50A: In an unprecedented manner)

Word of the Day: CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (38A: Best Actor nominee for "12 Years a Slave") —

Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor [...] (born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award, with nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.

After enrolling at the National Youth Theatre in 1995 and attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, at age 19 and three months into his course, Ejiofor was cast by Steven Spielberg to play a supporting role in the film Amistad (1997) as James Covey. [...] 

For 12 Years a Slave, Ejiofor received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor. He was nominated for a 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance on Dancing on the Edge. In 2022, he played the lead role in the Showtime science fiction television series The Man Who Fell to Earth. (wikipedia)

• • •

Checked out of this one early. Very early. Right about here.

And then AGAPE in that same small corner? Nah. I don't have patience for a simple grid that is not filled more cleanly than that. Archaic song title partial + oldschool crosswordese + archaic quaint adjective ... you gotta try harder. A lot harder. This feels almost autofilled. The theme concept is fine, but it's Monday-level and ultimately kind of dull. I guess it's timely, in that March Madness starts later this month, but March Madness is frequently exciting and this ... was never that. The most "exciting" part was probably the (for me) never-not-an-adventure experience of trying to spell CHIWETEL EJIOFOR correctly. In fact, that's probably the one answer that definitively turns this would-be Monday puzzle into a Wednesday. I still think the cluing should've been eased up a little and this should've run on a Tuesday, at the latest, but shrug, it is what it is, and what it is is mainly a shrug. Disappointingly flat, for sure.

The puzzle appears to be "toughened" up, made Wednesday-worthy, but some truly awkward and occasionally inscrutable cluing. The DUO clue was bizarre (26A: What's needed for a "Who's on First?" routine), in that I just assume that the people doing the routine need something, not that ... the people themselves are needed. Also, I think one person could probably do both sides of that routine if they really wanted to, in which case you wouldn't really need a DUO at all. I also did not get the DONOR clue at all (33A: Listing near a museum door, perhaps), since "listing" made me think of a list (of multiple names?), and "museum door" evoked absolutely nothing for me. Like ... the front door? The door to a specific exhibit? The bathroom door? "Near a museum door" couldn't be more No Place if it tried. The whole museum feels like it's theoretically "near a museum door." The clue on SEA also doesn't work (44A: Whatever floats your boat!). It's trying for cute wordplay, but the clue says "Whatever" floats my boat, and the SEA is not "Whatever." It's a specific thing. Other bodies of water float boats, so the clue is invalid on its face. "Whatever," my eye. I didn't love [Web attachments?] for INSECTS, either—seemed a grim way to be wacky—but at least that one works on its surface (INSECTS do become "attached" to spiders' "webs"). ["Why are you in such a rush?"] completely fails to capture the tone and tenor of "SO SOON?" first by being a complete sentence (when "SO SOON?" is not), and then by being so painfully literal-minded and prying. There's no demand for an explanation in "SO SOON?" Also, "What are you in such a rush?" has no conversational bounce to it. Sounds like the interrogator is annoyed. Also, just because someone has to leave doesn't mean they're in a "rush." There's a reason "SO SOON?" (19 Shortz-Era appearances!) is overwhelmingly clued as ["Already?"] or ["Leaving already?"]. Those are spot-on. This clue, in trying to be "original" (I guess), just gums things up.

RARED? (53D: Stood on hind legs, with "up") RARED!? I refer you back to the first sentences of this write-up. I just can't believe the fill is so weak throughout. And isn't "RARED" just a folksy term for "reared"? Here's me searching [define rared]

I don't know what I mean, Google. I'm sorry. As clued, RARED is definitely a form of "reared," which gives you a pretty significant dupe down there at the bottom of the grid, with REARS just a few columns over (55D: Derrières). ACH ADE ODE ETH ESTEE ENSLER ONEAL OLE INRE ETUDE SERTA ... this one was really struggling to keep its head above the crosswordese water, all grid long. For a theme this simple, you need a much more polished and lively grid than what you've got here. 

Despite some sloggy cluing, there weren't any significant trouble spots today. Wrote in MIXED MESSAGES for that first themer (23A: "When the going gets tough, the early bird gets the worm?," e.g.) (a terrible example of MIXED METAPHOR, btw—the metaphor is supposed to be merely "mixed," not "intentionally and implausibly butchered for extremely low-level comedic effect"). I had some trouble getting G-FORCE (49D: Sensation on a roller coaster). Had the "G" and wanted a word that started with "G," as one might. Never considered the "G" might be a standalone letter. But none of these struggles were true struggles. Merely snags that I hit (32D), and then got past relatively quickly. Really hoping for a saucy Thursday puzzle tomorrow. Something with a little life in it, even if it ends up driving me nuts. Fingers crossed. See you then.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

Additional notes:

MSG = Madison Square Garden

Henry TATE = sugar magnate and eponym of a network of four London museums (including the TATE Modern) 

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Fictional band fronted by David St. Hubbins / SUN 12-24-23 / Highly prized collectibles, in lingo / Dude, in modern slang / Kim's ex, in tabloids / Locale in the final scene in "Vertigo" / Name of Lincoln's favorite dog / Ancient landmark whose name translates to "high city" / Aphrodite's frequent companion / Lover of Hero in Greek myth

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Wrap Stars" — an "ELF" rebus—five "ELF" squares, whom the puzzle calls SANTA'S LITTLE HELPERS (get it, 'cause they're helpers and they're little, i.e. smushed into single squares) (100A: Workers seen in five squares in this puzzle?):

Theme answers:

• SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER / CRUEL FATE (26A: One who's not afraid to brag / 9D: What awaits a tragic hero)
• FEEL FOR / CARAMEL FLAN (34A: Sympathize with / 3D: Sweet custardy concoction)
• BARRELFUL / ANGEL FOOD CAKE (54A: Quantity of beer ... or monkeys? / 39D: Spongy dessert)
• HEEL FLIPS / PERSONNEL FILE (72A: Skateboard tricks started by kicking with the back foot / 36D: Record kept on an employee)
• BELFRY / OFF THE SHELF (117A: Locale of the final scene in "Vertigo" / 75D: Not custom, as merchandise)

Word of the Day: MING-NA Wen (97A: Actress Wen of "The Mandalorian") —

Ming-Na Wen (Chinese: 溫明娜; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Melinda May / The Cavalry in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020). Wen made her breakthrough in The Joy Luck Club (1993) as June Woo. She also voiced the eponymous character in the animated film Mulan, its sequel, and reprised the role as Mulan in the video game. Additionally, Wen made a cameo appearance in the live-action remake of Mulan (2020).

She is also known for playing Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian (2019–2020), Star Wars: The Bad Batch(2021), and The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022) and for playing Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen in the medical drama series ER (1995–2004). Her other works include Kingdom Hearts II (2005), Sofia the First (2014), and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018); the roles of Chun-Li in Street Fighter (1994), Detective Ellen Yin in The Batman (2004–2005); and Camile Wray in Stargate Universe (2009–2011). She was honored as a Disney Legend in 2019. (wikipedia)

• • •

It's Saturday night and my daughter just got into town so I am not going to spend too much time with you all tonight. Priorities! This puzzle was fine. Five small ELFs, OK. The only "Santa's Little Helper" I recognize is Bart Simpson's dog, but if that's what these guys wanna call themselves today, fine by me. The theme itself is pretty light (one-note concept, with only five relevant squares—I've seen as many if not more rebus squares in a 15x15 grid before), but the "ELF"-containing answers are frequently good—the best thing about the grid by far. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER is a real winner, and the others are pretty good too, or at least OK. The worst of them was OFF THE SHELF, which is bad mainly because of its clue (75D: Not custom, as merchandise). The term is "off-the-rack." It means specifically "ready-made, rather than made to order," and is used specifically of clothing. OFF THE SHELF is how things fly during big sales. Maybe. Still, "ELF" answers are mostly good, and the grid is mostly solid, and I've had far less enjoyable Sunday experiences, for sure. So let's just call this a win.

I just watched The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) today (part of the Criterion Channel's current Hitchcock collection, and one of the few post-1940 Hitchcock movies I hadn't seen). It's not one of his best, though it is compelling for a number of reasons, one of which is Doris Day looks amazing and sings "Que Sera Sera" a whole bunch. The other is that you can see Hitchcock working out things he ends up using in other movies, like big taxidermy scenes (see Psycho), and, to my astonishment, a Jimmy-Stewart-in-a-bell-tower scene (see Vertigo)! At least, I would've called it a "bell tower." Apparently that is what BELFRY means. I have never heard the term BELFRY used without bats being somewhere very nearby. Which is to say I've never heard it used any way but metaphorically. But since I knew I was dealing with an "ELF" rebus, BELFRY wasn't that hard to turn up. 

I had BRUV before BRUH (99A: Dude, in modern slang). Apparently BRUV is exclusively British? Hmm. I've heard it a bunch, but maybe I just ... watch a lot of British things / listen to a lot of British hip-hop? I have no idea. I forgot about MING-NA Wen. I don't know her from all her "Star Wars" / Marvel baloney, but I definitely remember her from her many years on "ER" (97A: Actress Wen of "The Mandalorian") If there's any proper noun trouble to be had today, it will probably involve her name and the area round her name, which includes KANYE (who I thought was just YE now) (92A: Kim's ex, in tabloids). SPINAL TAP runs through that area too, but that was a gimme for me, and probably a lot of people. The most famous mockumentary of all time (73D: Fictional band fronted by David St. Hubbins).

I've complained about the awful RARES before, and recently, so this sudden reappearance is dismaying, please stop (64A: Highly prized collectibles, in lingo). I had BASS SOLOS before BASSLINES (8D: Iconic features of "Under Pressure" and "Come Together"), and would never have put the word RUSES in the same universe as surprise parties (53A: Surprise birthday parties often involve them), so that area was a teeny bit tough. That area also had LOUD TIE, which I eventually and weirdly wanted to be LOUD TEE (???) (42D: Article of clothing that might be decorated with candy canes). So yes, minor confusion all through there. But then that area also had the "Ithaca is GORGES" pun, which is iconic around these parts (Central NY), so that helped me clear things up. The only SILENT- answer I really like, or can tolerate, is SILENT E, as that is a thing you learn when you are first learning the basic rules of pronunciation as a child. SILENT N ... is not such a thing (61A: End of autumn?). Nor is SILENT B ("thumb"). Or SILENT M ("mnemonic"). Or SILENT L ("colonel"). Or SILENT T (which could've at least been made relevant today ([Christmas feature?])). But wordlists have every possible SILENT- permutation in them now (probably), so here we are. Any letter can be SILENT if you want it to be (well, F, G, J, Q, V, Y, and Z have not appeared after SILENT ... yet). OK, I said I was gonna keep this short, so ... finished!

[LOUD TEE]

Two crossword news announcements. First, there's an article by Natan Last in the most recent New Yorker called "Can Crosswords Be More Inclusive?" (it's titled "Rearrangements" in the print edition, for some reason). I think it's an excerpt from his forthcoming book on crosswords. Very much worth reading. Also, there's a big profile of the entire NYT Games department over at Vanity Fair ("Inside the New York Times' Big Bet on Games"). It's interesting and revealing ... and I get quoted a bunch, which is fun (for me, anyway). Oh, and I made a custom crossword for a design agency's annual holiday card, and that card then got written up in an ad agency industry magazine. Very unexpected. I haven't received the actual card in the mail yet, but the pics make it look nice:

And now, more Holiday Pet Pics! Not dividing by species today, just diving in!

[Babette is nine years old and/or it is Hanukkah; Babette doesn't care as long as there are treats (thanks, Michael)]

[This is Chloe. They call her "Rat," but a rat could not pull off that sweater. Probably. (thanks, Mak)]

[Theo here is noble, whereas Georgie ... well, see the next photo]

[Georgie's been baking in the sun, you're gonna have to give him a minute (thanks, Anne)]

[Lily, Priss, Baby (tail only) and Greta fight for Christmas tree supremacy (thanks, Frank)]

[Pearl waits patiently for a Christmas miracle, aka treats (thanks, Barbara)]

[Spartacus also waits. It's a little more intimidating when Spartacus does it (thanks, Deborah!)]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Technological breakthrough first seen on "Jeopardy!" in 2011 / THU 7-20-23 / Online tabloid based in L.A. / Grammy-winning jazz singer/pianist Krall / Young person with uncommon wisdom / Fictional swinger / Truss who was Britain's prime minister for 49 days / Classic 1934 novel written in the form of an autobiography / Snowbird or Steamboat

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: SLEEPING CAR (59A: Accommodation for a long train trip ... or a hint to entering a certain letter 14 times in this puzzle) — theme answers contain letter strings that are also makes of car; those car names are replaced in each answer with "Z"s, so it's as if the "car" is "sleeping" (snoring, really, but you get the idea):

Theme answers:

• IZZZATSON (i.e. IBM Watson) (3D: Technological breakthrough first seen on "Jeopardy!" in 2011)
• UPZZZZEBATE (i.e. up for debate) (17A: Worth discussing, as an issue)
• SZZZREA (i.e. ski area) (37A: Snowbird or Steamboat)
• "ICLZZZZUS" (i.e. "I, Claudius") (34D: Classic 1934 novel written in the form of an autobiography)

Word of the Day: IBM WATSON (3D) —

IBM Watson is a question-answering computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language, developed in IBM's DeepQA project by a research team led by principal investigator David Ferrucci. Watson was named after IBM's founder and first CEO, industrialist Thomas J. Watson.

The computer system was initially developed to answer questions on the quiz show Jeopardy! and in 2011, the Watson computer system competed on Jeopardy! against champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, winning the first place prize of 1 million USD.

In February 2013, IBM announced that Watson's first commercial application would be for utilization management decisions in lung cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, in conjunction with WellPoint (now Elevance Health). (wikipedia)

• • •

Well first of all it's "sleeper car" (or just "sleeper"). That's the phrase I know from old movies, that's the phrase Amtrak actually literally currently uses, that's the phrase. It's true that the phrase "SLEEPING CAR" exists (that is top billing at wikipedia), but SLEEPING CAR sounds old-fashioned, mildly confusing, and wrong to my ears. But it wasn't really a problem, since I knew what was up by the time I got down there, and when SLEEPER CAR wouldn't fit, it wasn't too hard to figure out what would. Second of all ... well, this is a solid theme concept, I think, but the grid got a little ugly for me in a couple of places because trying to see an answer with how sections just blocked out with "Z"s can be particularly hard. For me, the problem was worst by far with IZZZATSON. Unlike apparently every other crossword solver, I don't give a damn about "Jeopardy!" and haven't watched since the '80s. Trivia contests bore me. Shrug. But my non-viewership wasn't the problem today. The problem was parsing the damn answer, which ... I knew "Watson" existed, but forgot it had anything to do with "Jeopardy!" Also, IBM WATSON is such an odd phrase, in that it's not possessive. That is, I think I assumed it was "IBM apostrophe 's' WATSON." Made by IBM, belonging to IBM ... IBM'S. I had an answer in that slot and could not parse it to save my life. I just thought "well, I guess when I'm done I'll just look up car makes and go back and see which one fits?" But when I finished, I did not get the happy completion music! The puzzle just stared at me. Because I had an error. An error in the "Jeopardy!" answer. Sigh. This is what made this puzzle kind of annoying. Here, and with SZZZREA, there was confusingly clued short fill that made things fussy and icky. In the case of the "Jeopardy!" answer, it was CEO that was my problem (36A: Chart topper, for short?). Stupid crosswordese that they decided to get cute with in the cluing. If you give me [Chart topper?] and three letters and the first two letters are CE-, the only thing I'm thinking is CEE. That is, the "topper" (or first letter) of "Chart" is CEE. Done and done. Only here ... ugh it's a dumb org chart (is that what they're called?). And it's the CEO at the top of said "chart." I changed "E" to "O," immediately saw IBM WATSON underneath all the "Z" gunk, and bam, happy completion music.

With SZZZREA, quarters were so tight in there, so much of the answer was blocked by "Z"s, that I just ... didn't know. I think I knew "Snowbird" was a "ski area" but "Steamboat"!? News to me (looks like it's in Colorado). I see Steamboat, I think Willie. 

And I wasn't even sure "Snowbird" was a proper noun, i.e. was truly capitalized (since *all* words are capitalized at the beginnings of clues). So SZZZREA was an answer where knowing the theme (which I got from UPZZZZEBATE, above) really helped. Me: "Hmm, OK, what's a short car make? ... well, there's KIA and oh hey that's it." The short stuff in there ... again, themers getting gunked up by crosswordese clued in an ugly fashion. That clue on RTE, yeesh (38D: Inbound or outbound thing: Abbr.). Only "inbound" or "outbound" things I know are planes or maybe trains. And then yet another abbr. at ETAS, which is *also* clued in clunky fashion (44A: Plane figures?). Why no abbr. indicator here? You just gave one for RTE. You had "for short" in there for CEO. But randomly you just ... omit any such indication for ETAS? All this garbage in a tight, constricted little part of the grid. Unpleasant. 

But again, I do like the concept—cars under "Z"s. Just would've liked the more in-the-language reveal, and would've liked if the crosses on two of the themers hadn't been so obnoxiously unclear. Nothing more annoying than having fussy cluing for the most ordinary boring overfamiliar answers (CEO RTE ETAS). LST is old-school crosswordese and I would not be surprised if many younger solvers are seeing this answer for the first time (45A: D-Day vehicle: Abbr.). And again we've got troublesome short fill running through a themer! When the short fill isn't helping, the already potentially hard themers just get harder. That clue on MAID too, yikes. Just baffling (33A: Folder at work, perhaps). MAIDs do fold, it's true. But lack of wackiness indicator on the clue makes MAID very hard to see, even with letters in place. Funny to have OLD SOUL in the grid, when you also have "KIA" (sort of) in the grid. Because the Kia Soul exists, OLD SOUL suddenly seems like a used car. I could've (really really) done without the MAGA-speak "dad joke" at 55A: Q: "Did you hear about the cow that cried wolf?" A: "Fake ___!" (dad joke). "Fake News" is a Trumpism, no way around it, and making that guy's dumbass catchphrases—particularly the one attacking journalists—into cutesy crossword fodder, nah, nope, not for me. Not interested in hearing from this particular "dad" again on anything. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. the UNO African country where Spanish is the official language is Equatorial Guinea. Maybe that'll come in handy when you're watching "Jeopardy!," who knows?

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Classic Wilson Pickett cover / WED 10-12-22 / Top 10 funk hit from War with an iconic bass line / Friend of Telly and Zoe / Catfish airer / Rich, fashionable sorts

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: AUTOTUNE (60A: Modern music staple that's a punny description of 17-, 24-, 38- and 48-Across) — songs ("tunes") with cars ("autos") in their names:

Theme answers:

• "LOW RIDER" (17A: Top 10 funk hit from War with an iconic bass line (1975))
• "MUSTANG SALLY" (24A: Classic Wilson Pickett cover (1966))
• "FAST CAR" (38A: Tracy Chapman hit with the line "I had a feeling I could be someone" (1988))
• "MERCEDES BENZ" (48A: Janis Joplin's final recording, which had an anticonsumerism message (1970))

Word of the Day: "LOW RIDER" (17A) —

"Low Rider" is a song written by American funk band War and producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their album Why Can't We Be Friends?, released in 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B singles chart, peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 singles chart, and number six in Canada.

According to the AllMusic review of the song, "the lyric takes the cool, laidback image of the lowrider—the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot-rodding classic cars—and using innuendo, extends the image to a lifestyle". The song features a driving bass line by B. B. Dickerson, which is present almost throughout, and an alto saxophone riff by Charles Miller, who also provides lead vocals and a saxophone solo towards the end of the song that includes a siren-like noise. This song is the theme song for the TV series George Lopez, which ran from 2002 to 2007.

• • •

OK, that's good. And so seemingly obvious, so right-out-there-for-the-taking that I can't believe this theme hasn't been done before. Maybe it has, but if so, I missed it. AUTOTUNE ... tunes ... about autos. I mean, the puzzle practically writes itself. If I have any issues with the theme, it's the execution, specifically the themer set, which must have been heavily determined by symmetry potential. There's a type of car, a make of car (that is actually a person), a ... car (?), and then another make of car (that is actually a car). I guess my only real quibble here is with "FAST CAR," a song I love, and love seeing in the grid, but ... it seems really different from all the other answers, car-wise. The rest of the answers give you *types* of car, and "FAST CAR" just gives you .. car. Granted, it's not just any car. It's a FAST CAR. But still, pretty generic compared to the brand names and the specific car type that make up the rest of the themers. There must be tons of other "AUTOTUNE"s out there. Seems like the theme has good Sunday-sized grid potential. "LITTLE DEUCE COUPE" ... "PINK CADILLAC" ... "BIG YELLOW TAXI" ... If someone wants to redo this theme on a bigger scale, with totally different answers, I wouldn't mind. The core idea is good, and remembering songs is fun.

I got "MERCEDES BENZ" without looking at the clue because I had the BENZ part filled in from crosses, but I actually would've known the answer to that clue cold, with no help, thanks to WFMU (my fav station, hello New Jersey!). "What was Janis Joplin's final recording?" was a trivia question on "Wake 'N' Bake" (hosted by Clay Pigeon, weekdays 6-9am) just last week, or recently, anyway. After the listener got, and/or missed, the question, Clay played the song, so I've had it in my ears. It's pretty indelible (sung a cappella). I also learned this week that MCJOB was a term popularized by Douglas Coupland in his generation-naming novel "Generation X" (1991); I learned this from reading Chuck Klosterman's new book about the '90s entitled, enigmatically, "The Nineties," which is completely enthralling—way, way more than a catalog of kitsch. It's a lot about memory, especially collective memory—how it works, and how it changed, drastically, over the course of roughly one decade. But it's also a hilarious trip through music, politics, movies, etc. Just a joy to read. In retrospect, the decade comes off as way, way more momentous than I would've believed while I was living through it.

TMC is not a [Cable option for cinephiles]. I keep saying this, to no avail. TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is the [Cable option for cinephiles]. It's also the only TV channel I watch. TMC (The Movie Channel) ... I don't know who watches that, or why, but stop calling them "cinephiles." Also, stop hiding names inside words (36D: Name hidden in "paleontology"). It feels so condescending. "Can you find the man's name in 'paleontologist'? Good boy!" Child's placemat stuff. Boo. LEON Bridges would like a word. Here he is now (No idea if he has a song about a car, so this'll have to do):

Bullets:

• 5A: Undergrad conferrals, for short (BAS) — had -AS and wanted either TAS or RAS (because you "confer" with them? Maybe?). This kept BADASS hidden from me for a while ("a while" being, in actuality, probably like 5-10 seconds) (5D: Supercool individual).
• 9D: "___ más!" ("UNO") — huh ... I wanted "NO más!" (the Roberto Duran quotation), but it wouldn't fit so I wanted something like "A! NO más!" or "O! No más!" UNO was a surprise.
• 11D: Many messages in spam folders (EMAIL SCAMS) — dead stop after EMAIL. Just staring at the space, thinking "well, it can't be SPAM, so ..." I never go in my spam folder so how the hell do I know what's in there?
• 40A: What "XXX" might represent in comics (ALE) — more likely moonshine, right? Maybe not. I think of "XXX" as something harder than ALE. One "X" for each distilling? Something like that.
• 30A: Some damning evidence (TAPES) — I'm too old to believe this is true. People do and say horrible *&%^ on tapes all the time and somehow don't end up "damned" at all. Also, we're entering the age of Deep Fakes, which makes the future persuasive value of TAPES even more dubious. Have a nice day!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...

Sound at the start of gentle and giant / MON 6-27-22 / Animal relative an astonished person may claim to be / PC shortcut for copy / Pageant whose hosts have included Bob Barker, Dick Clark and Steve Harvey

Constructor: Drew Schmenner

Relative difficulty: Slightly harder than the usual Monday (still Easy, relax)

THEME: SETTING SUN (31D: What glows in the west at the day's end ... or a hint to this puzzle's sequence of shaded [i.e. circled] squares) — letter string "SUN" appears in long Downs, near the top of the grid in the EAST and then descending with each subsequent themer, if you read the themers backward (i.e. right to left, or EAST to west).

Theme answers:

• SUNNI ISLAM (11D: Predominant religion of Indonesia and Pakistan)
• MISS UNIVERSE (9D: Pageant whose hosts have included Bob Barker, Dick Clark and Steve Harvey)
• GPS UNIT (26D: Dashboard-mounted navigator)
• MONKEY'S UNCLE (21D: Animal "relative" an astonished person may claim to be)
• SETTING SUN 

Word of the Day: "Perry MASON" (9A: "Perry ___" (classic legal drama)) —

Perry Mason is an American legal drama series originally broadcast on CBS television from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. Many episodes are based on stories written by Gardner.

Perry Mason was Hollywood's first weekly one-hour series filmed for television, and remains one of the longest-running and most successful legal-themed television series. During its first season, it received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Series, and it became one of the five most popular shows on television. Burr received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Barbara Hale received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Seriesfor her portrayal of Mason's confidential secretary Della Street. Perry Mason and Burr were honored as Favorite Series and Favorite Male Performer in the first two TV GuideAward readers' polls. In 1960, the series received the first Silver Gavel Award presented for television drama by the American Bar Association. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was very much not for me, despite a couple of really lovely longer answers (SUNNI ISLAM, MONKEY'S UNCLE). I mentally checked out very quickly, after having a boatload of tired crosswordesey short stuff thrown at me right off the bat. I finished the NW (OLDE DDAY ALPO make it stop!) and by the time I hit SOFT G over NEAP I was like "oh I guess it's like this, then." Tired. I felt tired. Fast. Now, things definitely got better, or at least more interesting, from there, but the theme type is ancient (I swear I've seen this exact theme before), and despite the whole "accuracy" of the EAST to west movement of the SETTING SUN, the whole thing felt bassackwards. Yeah, the direction is OK, but somehow the visual here doesn't convey a *feeling* of accuracy. It doesn't exactly nail the look of a sunset, which means that what it does, mostly, is seem like a puzzle that's been built backwards. And while a few of the themers are sweet, most of the fill is not. And CTRLC made me want to shut everything down. You've got mainly tired fill, and the one bit of "new" short fill ends up being "new" in this wholly unlikeable way. Just a bleecccch of consonants. I don't use PCs, so the "shortcut" didn't register with me at all. CTRL-ALT-DELETE, that is a coherent thing. CTRL + random letter = arbitrary and weird. Plus, doesn't the "C" stand for "copy" ... which is in the clue ... I thought you weren't supposed to do that. Anyway, I fear people will think keyboard shortcuts are Great ideas for "new" short fill, and I'd really like to post- and preemptively register my disagreement with this premise. Also, MISS UNIVERSE, that really killed the vibe. "Which dated objectifying sexist bullshit pageant that no longer has any cultural relevance are we dealing with today!?" How are these shows still real? I would've thought their association with a certain sexual assailant / former president would've put them all safely in the Past Tense, but here we are. A real vibe-killer. I tried "MISS AMERICA" in there but it didn't fit. I do like that the puzzle is *trying* to do something original, though. It's more ambitious than most Mondays, and I'll take that over your typical 3/4-baked chuckle/groanfest. 

Dull. https://t.co/55VeFPC9tm

— TediousSunsets (@TediousSunsets) June 21, 2022

"ONEI" was awkward (33A: "That's ___ hadn't heard!"), as was the clue on OUTS (69A: On the ___ (unfriendly)). I guess "we're on the OUTS" = "we're unfriendly (toward one another)"!?!?! but it's not a great substitution. I think of the phrase being longer, i.e. "I'm on the outs with her" or something like that. As usual, I was unsure of ILSA v. ELSA. I was somehow able to teach myself AXLE v. AXEL long ago, but haven't been able to do the same with ILSA v. ELSA, probably because lots of different people (and movie animals) have those names. ELSA is the movie lion and ILSA is the movie love interest, but ILSA just sounds* more lion-y to my ears, so the distinction never takes. I wanted to RUB the lotion ON, not IN (27A: Apply, as lotion). And then the entryway to the SE corner (ELVIS) ended up being unclued, or, rather, ended up being the second part of a cross-reference (so essentially unclued: 52D: See 64-Across) (64A: "___ Las Vegas" (1964 film starring 52-Down) (VIVA)). All these little things, plus CTRLC, made the puzzle move somewhat slower than it usually does. What else? Oh, if MISS UNIVERSE didn't bum you out, then maybe not being able to pay your bills on time will (5D: Charge for an overdue payment = LATE FEE). Somehow it's worse when it's clued in relation to not paying your bills on time than it would be if it were just, like, library fines (which my local library actually did away with during the pandemic and, I assume, in perpetuity, god bless them). 

See you tomorrow.

P.S. please enjoy this crossword kitty photo from reader Jamie. I know I did.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Read more...