Windows forerunner, in brief / FRI 11-8-24 / Spoken-word performer Scott-Heron / Pricey flight options / Turn upside down, as a Monopoly deed / Cinematic friend of Scuttle, Flounder and Sebastian / Co-star of Netflix's "The Umbrella Academy" / Sitcom that popularized the phrase "What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" / "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious ___": Arthur Conan Doyle

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: guitarrón (35D: Style of music with a vihuela and guitarrón = MARIACHI) —

The guitarrón mexicano (Spanish for "big Mexican guitar", the suffix -ón being a Spanish augmentative) or Mexican guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican six-string acoustic bass guitar played traditionally in Mariachi groups. Although similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña ("fingernail[-plucked] bass"). Because its great size gives it volume, it does not require electric amplification for performances in small venues. The guitarrón is fretless with heavy gauge strings, most commonly nylon for the high three and wound metal for the low three. [...] The guitarrón is used in Mexican Mariachi groups, which usually consist of at least two violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, a vihuela (a high-pitched, five-string guitar-type instrument), and the guitarrón. A strap is usually used to keep the instrument up and playable. The guitarrón is the principal rhythm instrument in the mariachi group, and it serves as the bass instrument, playing deep pitches. The rhythmic propulsion of the basslines played on it help to keep the other instruments together. It is unusual for a group to have more than one guitarrón player. (wikipedia)

• • •

There is nothing more deceptive than a fill-in-the-blank quotation clue, apparently. There are only two reasons why I rated this puzzle "Easy-Medium" as opposed to just "Easy," and one of them was right there waiting to greet me at the door: 1A: "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious ___": Arthur Conan Doyle. I took one look at that clue and thought, "I dunno ..." Then I got the "F" from FEED and thought, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious ... FAKE?" And then I tested the crosses and bam, the "A" was right, and I was like "yessss, nailed it." But then came the last two crosses. EURO and EDAM were undeniable, and their letters were making FAKE impossible. Could not get 3D: Pricey flight options, perhaps from KRAF- and couldn't come close to 4D: Doofuses from EOMF-. In fact, I couldn't come close to 4D: Doofuses even without the "E" there. -OMF- was just ??? All I could think was this was some form of "dummkopfs?" Is that how you spell it? But without the -KE from FAKE, I couldn't think of anything that worked. I mean, I just couldn't see FACT. I had DRAFT BEERS in there for a bit and thought, "those ... aren't particularly 'pricey,' are they?" I really should've seen FACT, but also, TOMFOOLS is a truly awful answer. TOMFOOLERY is an absolutely acceptable term that I have heard and seen in the wild. But TOMFOOLS is some awful junk no one says. Pointing at the dictionary and saying "see!" isn't gonna help you hear, counselor. TOMFOOLS is junk. Not as disqualifying as IRES, which makes TOMFOOLS look commonplace, but pretty bad nonetheless. Mad at myself for not getting the -CT in FACT, but mad at the puzzle for the "only in crosswords" garbage that is TOMFOOLS and IRES. I don't know how constructors tolerate this stuff. TOMFOOL me once, shame on Tom; TOMFOOL me twice ... also shame on Tom, what is his problem?

The other trouble spot for me was the front end of *everything* down below—the long Acrosses, anyway. I came at that section from the back end, so I was staring at -ATTACHÉ and -CAKE and -ATIES like "???" Some kind of ATTACHÉ. Some kind of CAKE. Some word ending -ATIES. Making matters worse was 37D: Examines closely (PERUSES), which I had as ZOOMS IN or ZEROS IN because I had the ["Lord of the Flies" boy] as ZIGGY (haven't read LOTF since high school). Short downs in the SW weren't helping much either. Wanted "AS IF" for (the now dreadfully common and always ambiguous) "UH, NO" (the hesitancy of "UH" kind of contradicts the exclamation point of "Dream on!" there, though I guess you can say "UH, NO" with all kinds of different inflections, including semi-sarcastically, with an implied "!" on the end). CCED was unclear (44D: Kept up to speed, in a way). DOS ... I know only from MS/DOS, so I couldn't get that either (55A: Windows forerunner, in brief). Of course now, looking over my finished puzzle, obviously it's PIGGY and CULTURAL ATTACHÉ and CHEESECAKE. And I probably didn't spend that much time working all this out. But compared to the rest of the puzzle, this section (along with the TOMFOOLS section, ugh) was a significant slow patch.

There were moments I loved in this puzzle, like spelling DIFF'RENT STROKES correctly on the first try (19A: Sitcom that popularized the phrase "What'choo talkin' 'bout , Willis?"). I know there was an elision in there somewhere, and that first "E" seemed most likely, so I went for it, and nailed it! Right in my childhood TV-watching wheelhouse. DIFF'RENT STROKES was also the very first thing I saw on French television when I arrived there for the first time. Well, that and advertisements for shampoo where you could see women's naked breasts. Or did my 17yo brain fever-dream that? Well, the DIFF'RENT STROKES part was real, at any rate. The culture shock of being overseas for the first time was fun. Riding the Metro. Discovering how lousy my straight-A French was. Eating pain au everything—all the pain. Really wish I were back watching DIFF'RENT STROKES in a French hotel room right now ... good times (which is an entirely different sitcom; not sure if the French got that one). Anyway, "Il faut de tout pour faire un monde..." still lives in my brain.

["De quoi tu parles, Willis?"]

I also loved TRES LECHES (27D: Dairy-heavy dessert popular throughout Latin America), primarily because I actually love TRES LECHES, especially as prepared by my chef friend Ely. She does pop-up sales of Mexican food from time to time, out of her home (this was especially welcome during COVID shutdown times), and, well, good Mexican food is hard to get around here, so I ate a Lot of her food, including the TRES LECHES. TRES LECHES next to MARIACHI is especially nice. Culturally coherent. Complementary. I don't like ZEALOTRY irl but I love it in the grid. It ZINGS. All in all, a hit-and-miss kind of day. If I could kill one crosswordese word, it would be IRES. Never, no one, no-how, no. Not said. Drive a stake through its miserable little heart. Only TOMFOOLS use IRES. Down with IRES, up with CHEESECAKE, that's my motto.

Notes and explainers:

• 23A: Big brothers? (ABBOTS) — "brothers" being members of a fraternal order (monks), ABBOTS being the leaders (the "big" members) of said orders—the heads of abbeys, which are types of monasteries.
• 56A: Lowdown (SKINNY) — tough one, particularly if you are a non-native speaker of English. "Lowdown" looks like it means "cruel, mean, base, rotten," etc. But here it means "news, gossip, intel, inside info, dope." Extra-confusingly, SKINNY (which typically means "thin") also means "news, gossip, intel, inside info, dope." "What's the SKINNY?" or "to get the SKINNY" is some old-tymey idiom. "SKINNY: Information or gossip from a reliable source" (Collins Dictionary). Not sure why I know it. But there it is. English is weird, man.
• 3D: Pricey flight options, perhaps (CRAFT BEERS) — so ... not DRAFT BEERS. A "flight" is a kind of sampler that you might order at a bar with fancy beer (or wine, or bourbon, or cheese, or whatever). 
• 9D: Turn upside down, as a Monopoly deed card (MORTGAGE) — haven't played this boring game since about the last time I read Lord of the Flies, but the answer wasn't hard to infer.
• 16D: ___ Banchero, 2023 N.B.A. Rookie of the Year (PAOLO) — no idea, but got it off the "-AO-" What other name has that vowel combo?

• 49D: It comes down hard (HAIL) — a very old clue pun. Not "it comes down with great force" but "it comes down in solid, as opposed to liquid, form."
• 50D: "Sommes" and "serai" are forms of it (ÊTRE) — First we get French bread (EURO), then we get French ... non-bread. French irregular verb. Seven years of French really coming in handy today. Also, ÊTRE gives us the rarely seen double diacritical square! We get É in the Across (CULTURAL ATTACHÉ) and Ê in the Down (ÊTRE). 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

***

Important Note:

As of Monday, 11/4/24, the NYT Tech Guild is on strike. 

From The Guardian:

The Guild is asking that readers honor their picket line by boycotting the Times’ selection of games, including Wordle and the daily digital crossword, and to avoid other digital extensions such as the Cooking app.

Annie Shields, a campaign lead for the News Guild of New York, encouraged people to sacrifice their streaks in the wildly popular Wordle and Connections games in order to support the strike.

You can read more about the strike here (nyguild.org).

There were some anti-union talking points being credulously repeated in the comments recently, so just to be clear (per Vanity Fair): "The union said Tech Guild workers' main concerns that remain unresolved are: remote/hybrid work protections; “just cause” job protections, which “the newsroom union has had for decades”; limits on subcontracting; and pay equity/fair pay." 

Since the picket line is "digital," it would appear to apply only to Games solved in the NYT digital environment—basically anything you solve on your phone or on the NYT website per se. If you get the puzzle in an actual dead-tree newspaper, or if you solve it outside the NYT's proprietary environment (via a third-party app, as I do), then technically you're not crossing the picket line by solving. You can honor the digital picket line by not using the Games app (or the Cooking app) at all until the strike is resolved. No Spelling Bee, no Connections ... none of it. My morning Wordle ritual is was very important to me, but ... I'll survive, I assume.  

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Historical period from 1918 to 1933 / SAT 7-6-2024 / Had a burning desire / Ancient city near Jerusalem / Bug-catching period / Something that fades into the background

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Medium



THEME: None

Word of the Day: ANI (57D: Glossy black cuckoo) —

The anis are the three species of birds in the genus Crotophaga of the cuckoo family. They are essentially tropical New World birds, although the range of two species just reaches the United States.^[1][2]

Unlike some cuckoos, the anis are not brood parasites, but nest communally, the cup nest being built by several pairs from 2–6 m high in a tree. A number of females lay their eggs in the nest and then share incubation and feeding.

• • •

Hi friends! It's Rafa again as promised yesterday. Hope the last 24 hours treated you well. I went up to Marin County today and had a beautiful and peaceful beach day. Gorgeous county, that one. Highly recommend a visit if you've never been.

Another fun themeless today. Not quite as easy and whooshy as yesterday, but I enjoyed the balance of vocabulary in this one. ARE WE OKAY is a fun in-the-language expression, DEPRAVITY is a cool word (with a non-cool meaning), WEIMAR ERA brings some history, DON DRAPER brings some pop culture. There's something for everyone!

Dolly PARTON's Dollywood

I love how as a society we have decided that we will continue to call it Twitter. I've never seen someone unironically refer to that website as "X" and I love that the clue for RETWEETED doesn't have some weird ", formerly" descriptor. I guess they are technically called "reposts" now but ... we don't care! They will always be retweets in my heart.

Then there's COW TIPPER. Is cow tipping a thing that actually happens. The Google AI overview when searching "cow tipping" says "Some say it could take up to six people to overcome the force of a cow's standing position" ... who is "some"? Why did cow tipping become some sort of urban legend? Did nobody question this? I don't think I could tip over a cow if my life depended on it. They are large and sturdy! It's a fine answer to have in a crossword since it is a real urban legend, but I had never really thought much about it until 5 minutes ago.

Some tipped (and fake-looking?) cows

What else? I got semi-Naticked by the FRANZEN / ZETAS crossing. I had a B instead of a Z at first. The down could plausibly be BETAS, and the name was new to me, so I had to come back and try the Z. Generally I'm a fan of the silly "apt name for ..." type clues for names (unpopular opinion, I think!) but this one for ERIN didn't quite land for me. I had no idea ANI was a bird, but ANI DiFranco is probably tired of appearing in crosswords so why not change it up.

This is an ANI apparently

Similar to yesterday, the grid felt a bit more on the closed-off side. It's hard to keep things connected with the five stacked answers in the middle, but I was pretty stuck in the top right for a while until PAYWALL (great answer!) came to me and unlocked the corner.

Bullets:

• UTAHANS [Pioneer Day celebrants] — Pioneer Day was new to me. Also, apparently Utahn is more common / preferred over UTAHAN, but maybe someone from Utah in the comments can let me know!
• GRANTED ["I will admit ..."] — Fun way to elevate a potentially-boring one-word answer by cluing it as an expression
• RILEY [N.B.A. coach Pat who trademarked the term "three-peat"] — I just watched Inside Out 2 this weekend and it would have been incredible timing if the clue for RILEY referenced the character in that movie
• EASY FIXES  [Simple solutions] — I like this entry a lot!

Signed, Rafa

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Pandora releases / FRI 3-25-22 / Adage first attributed to Virgil's "Eclogue X" / Alternative to an autocamp / Maude's widower on The Simpsons / Canadian band with the 1999 top 10 hit "Steal My Sunshine"

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Easy 

THEME: none 


Word of the Day: Pandora (1D: Pandora releases (SINS)) —

In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: Πανδώρα, derived from πᾶν, pān, i.e. "all" and δῶρον, dōron, i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground kylix in the British Museum—is Anesidora (Ancient Greek: Ἀνησιδώρα), "she who sends up gifts" (up implying "from below" within the earth).

The Pandora myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world, according to which, Pandora opened a jar (pithos) (commonly referred to as "Pandora's box") releasing all the evils of humanity. It has been argued that Hesiod's interpretation of Pandora's story went on to influence both Jewish and Christian theology and so perpetuated her bad reputation into the Renaissance. Later poets, dramatists, painters and sculptors made her their subject. (wikipedia)

• • •

Once again, a puzzle has a problem so bad that it's the only thing I can think about upon completion. It's sad, too, because I don't think the puzzle is bad at all. It started out very rough—so rough that I took a screenshot to mark the moment when I had my first "ugh this is going nowhere" feeling:

At this point I was substantially into the grid and had only boring stuff + Biblical crosswordese + legal Latin (ugh) to amuse me. And ZODIAC. That's a pretty good answer, but the rest was heralding Bad Times Ahead. But then ... zip zip whoosh, things picked up considerably:

Three long and strong answers went into the grid in quick succession, bam bam bam. This is the rush I live for on Fridays—colorful, puzzle-opening answers slashing across the grid. The puzzle peaked with this flurry, but the rest of it was not a chore to fill in. It was fine. I remember enjoying it reasonably well. But then I was done. And yet ... I was not getting the "You're Done!" sign. The "Congratulations, you have solved this puzzle correctly" message, or whatever the message says, I forget. Anyway, I get a little message, and today the message didn't show. So I figure I have a typo, and I scan. And I scan. All the answers. And I am 100% certain there are no errors. And you want to know why I'm certain: because There Are No Errors. Every Answer I Have In The Grid Works Just Fine. Every Square Works In Both Directions. So I go to his "Reveal -> Entire Puzzle" so I can see what the problem is, and I find that UHS / HOTEL is apparently "wrong"—that I was supposed to write in UMS / MOTEL. But a HOTEL is *absolutely* an [Alternative to an autocamp] and UHS are *absolutely* [Speakers' hesitations] so ... no, I not only completely reject this puzzle's rejection of my answer, I can't believe (sincerely, even at this late date in the evolution of my cynicism, Can Not Believe) that the editor let *this* cross go out with *these* clues. This should've been a giant RED FLAG to a good editor, or a good test-solver. 

It is possible to clue MOTEL in a much more specifically MOTEL (as opposed to HOTEL) way, and with UMS / UHS both working perfectly in the cross, you *have* to clue MOTEL in a much more specifically MOTEL way. I see, in retrospect, how the "autocamp" part of the MOTEL clue was trying to steer solvers toward cars, and thus MOTEL ("motor + hotel") is a slightly better fit than HOTEL for this clue. But HOTEL is simply not wrong. It's a perfectly reasonable answer. And if you've got a perfectly reasonable answer that is "wrong," then at least one of the crosses should tell you so—and none of them did. The End. What a massive editing fail. I am happy to pin the blame for my various failures on my own ignorance / bad judgment when that is what's called for, as anyone who has read this blog for any length of time is well aware. But I will admit no "fault" today. The editing (specifically the clue-writing) is the problem. 

The USA Today crossword got a (great) new editor a few years ago (Erik Agard). The L.A. Times crossword just got a (great) new editor (Patti Varol! The only woman editor of a major daily! Her puzzles start appearing in April!). Why am I mentioning this? Who can say? I hope you enjoyed your stay in The UMS MOTEL. I ... did not. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S.

[27D: Speakers' hesitations]
from xwordinfo

P.P.S.

HOW DID I KNOW!?

:/#Friday #NYTXW pic.twitter.com/H1ZgwxLso8

— Rex Parker 🐈🐾☕️🐾🐈 (@rexparker) March 25, 2022

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Portmanteau for a dumpster-diving anti-consumerist eater / FRI 12-17-21 / Popular Korean rice dish / Ancient land that includes parts of modern Iraq and Turkey / Mammal with four toes on the front feet and three on the back / Sophia Loren title role of 1953 / Fifth-century invaders

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: BIBIMBAP (1A: Popular Korean rice dish) —

Bibimbap (/ˈbiːbɪmbæp/ BEE-bim-bap, from Korean 비빔밥 [pi.bim.p͈ap̚], literally "mixed rice"), sometimes romanized as bi bim bap or bi bim bop, is a Korean rice dish. The term "bibim" means mixing rice (burned rice at the bottom of the dish and cooked rice), while the "bap" noun refers to rice. Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) or kimchi (traditional fermented vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste), soy sauce, or doenjang (a fermented soybean paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The hot dish is stirred together thoroughly just before eating.

In South Korea, Jeonju, Jinju, and Tongyeong are especially famous for their versions of bibimbap. In 2011, the dish was listed at number 40 on the World's 50 most delicious foods readers' poll compiled by CNN Travel.

• • •

***HELLO, READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION (if you're solving in January, that's' you)*** . Happy Newish Year! 2022! I hope you are holding up during these cold, dark days. It's early January, which means it's time for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask regular readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. 

2021 was an important year for me, as my blog (this blog, the one you are reading right now) turned 15 years old! [noisemaker sounds!!!!]. That's a lot of years old. For a blog, anyway. 15 is also a pretty important crossword-related anniversary—maybe the only important crossword-related anniversary. The standard US crossword grid is 15x15, and now Rex Parker is also 15! Rex Parker, spanning the grid to give you the constant variety of crossword commentary: the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat (dum dum dum DUM!) The human drama of ... OK now I'm just channeling Jim McKay from the '70s-era introduction to "Wide World of Sports," but I do hope this blog has provided some insight, some entertainment, some commiseration, some solace, some sense of regularity during what are obviously pretty tumultuous and often lonely times. I hope it has enhanced your solving pleasure, giving you something to look forward to even (especially?) when the puzzle lets you down, and someone to celebrate with when the puzzle is wonderful. If it's also given you someone to shout at in disagreement, that's OK too.

A lot of labor goes into producing this blog every day (Every. Day.) and the hours are, let's say, less than ideal (I'm either solving and writing at night, after 10pm, or in the morning, before 6am). Most days, I really do love the writing, but it is work, and once a year (right now!) I acknowledge that fact. As I've said before, I have no interest in "monetizing" the blog beyond a simple, direct contribution request once a year. No ads, no gimmicks. Just here for you, every day, rain or shine, whether you like it or, perhaps, on occasion, not :) It's just me and my laptop and some free blogging software and, you know, a lot of rage, but hopefully there's illumination and levity along the way. I do genuinely love this gig, and whether you're an everyday reader or a Sunday-only reader or a flat-out hatereader, I appreciate you more than you'll ever know.

How much should you give? Whatever you think the blog is worth to you on a yearly basis. Whatever that amount is is fantastic. Some people refuse to pay for what they can get for free. Others just don't have money to spare. All are welcome to read the blog—the site will always be open and free. But if you are able to express your appreciation monetarily, here are two options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar):

Second, a mailing address (checks should be made out to "Rex Parker"):

Rex Parker c/o Michael Sharp
54 Matthews St
Binghamton, NY 13905

I'll throw my Venmo handle in here too, just in case that's your preferred way of moving money around; it's @MichaelDavidSharp (the last four digits of my phone are 4878, in case Venmo asks you, which I guess it does sometimes, when it's not trying to push crypto on you, what the hell?!)

All Paypal contributions will be gratefully acknowledged by email. All snail mail contributions will be gratefully acknowledged with hand-written postcards. I. Love. Snail Mail. I love seeing your gorgeous handwriting and then sending you my awful handwriting. It's all so wonderful. Last year's thank-you postcards featured various portraits of my cat, Alfie, designed by artist Ella Egan, a.k.a. my daughter. They were such a hit that I asked Ella to design this year's thank-you postcard as well, this time featuring both my cats. And this is the result. Behold this year's thank-you card: "Alfie and Olive: Exploring the Grid":

We went back and forth on whether she should add more black squares to make the grid look more plausibly fillable (that's a Lot of white space), but in the end we decided not to crowd the jumping (or hanging?) Olive with more black squares, and instead just to leave the card as is, with the idea that the cats are exploring a grid that is ... under construction. Anyway, this card is personally meaningful to me, and also, I believe, objectively lovely. I can't wait to share it with snail-mailers (and oh, what the hell, if you are a PayPal / Venmo donor and you want one too, just say so in the message). Please note: I don't keep a "mailing list" and don't share my contributor info with anyone. And if you give by snail mail and (for some reason) don't want a thank-you card, just indicate "NO CARD."  Again, as ever, I'm so grateful for your readership and support. Now on to today's puzzle...

• • •

"Am I ... MONSTER?"

This felt like a Saturday. It wasn't terribly hard—maybe a little harder than usual for a Friday—but it just had that more plodding, leaden feel that I tend to associate with Saturdays (vis-a-vis Fridays). The grid shape was highly segmented, with largish blocks of white squares, so that feeling of flow that I love to experience in a Zingy Friday puzzle just didn't happen. You toil in one room, you move to the next, etc. The middle of the grid was by far the nicest part because you've got those longer answers streaking Across the grid, 1 2 3, and there's an alliterative quality to them, with all those "H"s (HOT ... HITS ... HOLY SMOKES!). But most of the rest of it felt workmanlike. Solid but not particularly splashy. Definitely felt like an older puzzle. Even the colloquialisms feel slightly quaint. FREEGAN is the one answer that really places this grid in somewhat recent times. Otherwise, it's a little heavy on trivia, with a cultural center of gravity that's more AGEE than ICE-T (who himself is now old, but at least alive). Whole puzzle kinda feels like VISIGOTHS invading ASSYRIA—that is, like something that might've happened a long time ago. 

This one started out very promising with a delicious order of BIBIMBAP and BOBA, but nothing that exciting came along afterward. It's a little disappointing to see long answers wasted on stuff like ITTY-BITTY and (especially) ESTATE TAX—that is a long and boring way to go for an "X." And ITTY-BITTY is not only cloying baby talk made out of crosswordese parts (I'm looking at you, ITTY), but it's also a giant kealoa*, in that you don't know if it's ITSY-BITSY (better) or ITTY-BITTY until you get two very specific crosses. So yeah the longer Downs could've packed more punch. Fill-wise, again, it's fine. Your overcommon short stuff appears only rare, and in unremarkable places. It was unfortunate that I *finished* on the worst answer of the puzzle (APRS, plural, yuck), but these things happen. Would've been cooler to end on GALAXIES, say, but your path is your path and it is what it is. 

The only real difficulty I had was more frustration than difficulty. I came out of that NW area really itching to round that corner with some momentum. Screeching tires and everything. But instead my tires screeched because I had to come to an abrupt stop. You'd think getting the front ends of those long Acrosses would give me some rocket propulsion, but no. I end up staring at a THAT, which could be followed by anything, and a HOLY, which, surprisingly, could be followed by a lot of things. I wrote HOLY TOLEDO in there at one point, I think. COW, MOL(E)Y, MOSES ... there are probably more HOLY exclamations. Anyway, the point is, momentum stalled, buzz killed. I got going again pretty quickly, but no zoom zoom today. Thankfully, both the THAT and the HOLY answers ended up being strong. I was just itching to streak hotly, but despite the advertised HOT STREAKS, that did not happen. More chug chug than zoom zoom. Dutifully, I finished the crossword.

Some more stuff:

• 16A: Offline activity? (IMPROV) — hmm, as I understand it, in IMPROV, you don't have lines at all, so ... you're not really "off" lines, unless you're using "off" like in the sense of dietary restrictions, like "I'm off caffeine this month" or something like that. I liked this clue about as much as I like (most) IMPROV.

• 1A: Popular Korean rice dish (BIBIMBAP) — sorry, forgot to mention above that one of today's revelations was that in my mind I was spelling this popular Korean rice dish as three words, and also I was misspelling it BOP, like it was some kind of music or dance: "Do the BI BIM BOP!" (seriously, do it, it's delicious)
• 5D: Northern New Jersey county (MORRIS) — why would you deliberately make your clue this boring? What do I know from NJ counties? I had MONROE in here for a bit. "Family Circus" creator BIL Keane saved me, what a guy.
• 26D: Fast finish? (MEAL) — when you are done fasting, you eat ... maybe you eat a MEAL
• 46D: Some smears (LIBEL) — argh, fake plural! One of my many mortal enemies! Plural-looking in the clue, singular in the answer. By a logic which you can probably figure out if you think about it for a little (hint: bagels are involved), I (begrudgingly, angrily) had LOXES in here for a while.
• 30A: Tears (HOT STREAKS) — I assume they mean "tears" in the sense of being "on a tear," not in the sense of HOT STREAKS that run down your face when you cry.
• 40A: Pleasantly flavorful (SAPID) — who keeps inviting this word to the party!? You never (never) hear anyone use it in the wild, but every month or so (it seems), SAPID just struts into the room like "hey guys, how we doin'?" and you're like "ugh, SEE ME, did you invite this dude?" and SEE ME's like "wasn't me, man ..." and then SAPID gestures toward his date and goes "You all know IRES, right?" and you valiantly suppress an eyeroll while muttering "yeah, hey, how's it going?" and then you go stand alone by the food table eating GENOA salami wondering why you didn't just stay home and read POE.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Vegetable whose name is Japanese big root / SAT 4-10-21 / Figure to left of Clinton in famous 1993 photo-op handshake / Classic ballad set to the tune of Londonderry Air / Cook's handle maybe / Harry and Lloyd's road trip destination in Dumb and Dumber

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: DINKS (28D: Little shots) —

noun

plural noun: dinks

1. a partner in a well-off working couple with no children. (google) [acronym: Dual Income, No Kids]

n. Sports

A drop shot.

---

[From dink, sound of a weakly hit or dropped ball.] (thefreedictionary.com) 

• • •

First of all, DINK is a racial slur. It's one I hadn't heard of before, but when you look up definitions of words, you learn things, and some version of the following definition of DINK is in a bunch of online dictionaries:

So if you didn't know, as I didn't know, *now* you know. I think the other defs. of DINK are so much more in-the-language that it's probably OK to use ... and yet it's a rare enough word in general that I (now) wouldn't use it unless I absolutely had to. I bring it up largely because it is conspicuous today in its relative toughness, smack in the middle of the only touch section of the grid—the section that stretches, semi-predictably, from one proper noun (SANDRO) to another (TYRA). So, roughly the mideast. When a word is in the thick of a tough patch, people are gonna notice it more. The fact that it's clue [*Little* shots] as opposed to the clearer [Soft shots] makes it tougher than it might have been. Anyway, it's a word I know, but couldn't really get at, and wouldn't really miss if I never saw it again. 

So let's review the troublesome mideast. First: SANDRO (35D: Painter Botticelli). I know artists' last names, but often not their first, and such was the case here. Had -ANDRO and still wasn't confident. The cross was SOCKS, which had a "?" clue I wasn't sure about (35A: Matchmaking targets?). We've already covered the DINKS trouble. Took me a while to understand REBUS (in the sense of a picture puzzle) (26D: LE VEL, for one). In this case, the REBUS represents "split-level," a phrase that relates to the puzzle ... in no way. Bizarre. No idea about RABIN, or that the Clinton handshake was some kind of Elvis-meets-Nixon iconic photo op. Never heard of TYRA. Thought I didn't know the "Classic ballad" at 12D: Classic ballad set to the tune of "Londonderry Air" ("DANNY BOY") but that's because I had written in TARA for the actress and so had DAN NA-something. Spent half my time in this little section; the rest of the grid was *very* easy and largely unremarkable.

 

Five things:

• "MY GOD!" (25A: "Heavens to Murgatroyd!") — wow these are not equivalents, as one is a normal expression and the other is exclusively a Pink Panther expression. I had "BY GOD!" here for a short bit.

• AU JUS (27D: French menu phrase)— LOL I see now that it's the phrase that's French, not the menu, because the clue makes it sound like the phrase can be found on the menu of a fine dining establishment, whereas AU JUS can be found next to the roast beef sandwich on virtually any diner in America.
• CLOGS (44A: "Träskor" in Sweden and "geta" in Japan, to name two) — what a ridiculous, useless clue. You can write this kind of clue for any word. Any English word. And every such clue would be equally arbitrary and unmemorable. The foreign words aren't evocative of anything. There's no revelation or humor or insight. It's just two random languages. Why? Who knows!? Cluing!
• ADAGE (4D: "Opposites attract," for one) — PAULA ABDUL TRACK (15) wouldn't fit

• DECOCT (28A: Boil down) — just as I have an irrational hatred for the word SAPOR (see yesterday's write-up), so ... this word. It's ugly. I'd never use it. I see it only in crosswords. DECOCT is CONCOCT's useless cousin, coming around to borrow money and stink up the house with cigars again. I could do without him.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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1943 Churchill conference site / FRI 3-4-16 / Worker on London's Savile Row / Shoshone relatives / Harmless slitherer

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: ADANA (49D: 1943 Churchill conference site) —

Adana (pronounced [aˈda.na]) is a major city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan river, 35 km (22 mi) inland from the Mediterranean Sea, in south-central Anatolia. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province and has a population of 1.71 million, making it the fifth most populous city in Turkey. Adana-Mersin polycentric metropolitan area, with a population of 3 million, stretches over 70 km (43 mi) east-west and 25 km (16 mi) north-south; encompassing the cities of Mersin, Tarsus and Adana. (wikipedia)

• • •

At first I thought this might be one of those themed Fridays—something about the grid shape just didn't look right. But nope, it's a 72-word themeless. Nothing tricky about it. Played very easy for me. I thought the longer answers really held up, even as the 5-letter-and-under stuff got pretty wobbly in places. This solid without being too tasty. Like a big slab of nourishment paste. It will help me survive, and get me through to the next meal, but it's not particularly delicious. Asking me to know MARTA (23A: Atlanta train system) *and* SEPTA (!?) (35A: Philadelphia train system) seemed a bit much, and why you go to the "end of Hemingway titles" well that often, god only knows. Also, I pretty much guessed at the EDOM / ADANA crossing. I was 89% sure I was right, as EDOM was definitely an [Old Testament kingdom], but I figure there must be dozens of such kingdoms I'm not familiar with at all, and ADANA means nothing to me. Commander ADAMA from "Battlestar Galactaca," that means something to me. ADANA, not so much. I misremembered AKELA (13D: "The Jungle Book" wolf) as AKETA ... so I mixed the wolf from "Jungle Book" with the dog from Japan. Interesting crossbreeding.


Weirdly, the thing that slowed me down the most was writing in GIFS instead of PDFS at 28D: Some email pics. I think of PDFS as being more for documents, or at least multi-paged documents. People share pix in jpeg and gif form, largely, not PDF. The answer is valid, of course. I'm just trying to explain why "email pics" led me astray. Lastly, FYI, ACC. stands for "accusative." Screw the athletic conference, I guess.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Architectural crossbeam / SAT 10-11-14 / Benson actor Phillips / Tourist city on Yamuna / Biblical land in what is now Yemen / Force to walk with arms pinned behind / Country that includes islands of Gozo Comino / Best Director of 1947 1954 /

Constructor: Evans Clinchy

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day: TRAVE (2D: Architectural crossbeam) —

n.

1. [Architecture.]
2. A crossbeam.
3. A section, as of a ceiling, formed by crossbeams.

A wooden frame used to confine a horse being shod.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin trabs, trab-.]

Read more:  http://www.answers.com/topic/trave#ixzz3Fnaoycdq

• • •

Yes, this will do. Higher word count than yesterday, resulting in more interesting fill, with only a modicum more junk (the more 3- and 4-letter words, typically, the more junk). It's been a big week for Laotian currency—who would've guessed? (46A: Laotian money = KIP). But honestly, the only words that grated at all were YER, LII, ATME and ADP (!?!?!). Oh, and TRAVE, but that didn't "grate" so much as "expose my ignorance of a word." Rest of the grid felt quite clean, though the vibe is a bit … vanilla? Can a vibe be vanilla? I like the contemporary feel of stuff like "BREAKING BAD" and KEVIN DURANT and SMART PHONES but none of that felt particularly daring or inventive. I found myself more nodding in approval than cheering. Except with FROG MARCH. Pretty sure I cheered for FROG MARCH.


I also like GREASE THE WHEELS, but I don't really understand the clue? Or, rather, I don't know why the clue went all literal. I didn't know wheels were literally greased (to make them roll … more smoothly?). I know the term GREASE THE WHEELS only as an idiomatic expression, usually referring to bribery or other forms of possibly illicit coaxing. Puzzle made me wonder whether that was right, or whether I had just imagined it because "greasing palms" is a bribery expression. But no, I didn't imagine it, GREASE THE WHEELS does have a meaning that skews in that direction. My point is I've never heard the expression used literally. Why you go literal over idiomatic, esp. w/ a "?" clue, I don't get. But I also don't think this is a big deal. Just a matter of taste. I still like the answer, and the puzzle as a whole. For a debut construction (… unless "Evans Clinchy" is a pseudonym, which it Really sounds like it is, but almost certainly isn't ...), this is fine work.

One thing, though: the puzzle was Way too easy. Your 1-Down is [Austen's "Northanger ___"]??? That's only one notch tougher than [The Beatles' "___ Road"]. If you'd wanted to stay literary, you could've gone with Wordsworth's "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern ABBEY." Or, I don't know, some harder clue for ABBEY that relied on its actual definition. That 1D was a total gimme, and when you Gim Me the first letters of all those long Acrosses, right off the bat, that's giving me a lot. Even the dreaded TRAVE / YER crossing couldn't keep me from blowing right through that NW section. Nothing much after that slowed me down either. SOC.—that, I didn't get. I'm guessing now that it refers to the SOCialist Party? I wouldn't call it a [Third party label: Abbr.]. It's way down the list of parties. 6th party, maybe. I went with AMIR at first for 31D: Eastern leader (AGHA). Thank god that was wrong. Jimmy BAIO is pretty damned obscure, but crosses were easy and BAIO is certainly a showbiz name, so that didn't slow me down either. ADP = super-icky and also unknown to me, but I didn't even see it, so easy was that SE section. Had TEAKS and TANDEM and DIVA and EMIR in place, so got all the long Acrosses easily and never had to look at those little Downs. Finished a shade over 6, without speeding at all—that's a helluva Easy Saturday.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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