McEvoy of cosmetics / SUN 12-29-24 / Graphics that show trends / Language from which "curry" comes / Green with bowdlerized hit "Forget You" / They might make you jump / Jamie who pitched on eight major-league teams over his 25-year career / Emmy-winning drama series set in the midwest / Bill, folk hero who is said to have ridden a tornado like a bucking bronco / Early phase of software development

Constructor: Harry Zheng

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Multi-Hyphenates" — in familiar phrases, "LINE" is replaced by dashes, which form a literal DASHED LINE (112A: Indication of where to cut ... or something written five times in this puzzle?). In the Down crosses, those "dashes" magically turn into "hyphens"

Theme answers:

• [LINE] WORKER (22A: Electrician who might put in overtime after a bad storm)
• hyphenated crosses: UH-UH / NO-NO / TO-DO / OP-ED
• [LINE] CHARTS (28A: Graphics that show trends)
• hyphenated crosses: LIP-READ / AGE-OLD / GET-GO / RE-UP
• [LINE] DRIVES (59A: Hard hits off the bat)
• hyphenated crosses: TA-DA / KAL-EL / EMO-POP / TIN-POT
• [LINE] DANCES (72A: The Macarena and Cha Cha Slide, for two)
• hyphenated crosses: TV-MA / PRE-OP / CHIN-UPS / MUST-READ
• [LINE]BACKER (109A: Defensive position)
• hyphenated crosses: DO-RAG / MID-AIR / ORE-IDA / YES-MEN

Word of the Day: Jamie MOYER (83A: Jamie who pitched on eight major-league teams over his 25-year career) —

Jamie Moyer (born November 18, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Over his 25-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), Moyer pitched for the Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, and Colorado Rockies.

At the time of his final game, he was the oldest player in the major leagues and had the most wins, losses, and strikeouts of any active MLB pitcher. He was likened to Phil Niekro due to his long career and relatively old age upon retirement. On April 17, 2012, Moyer became the oldest pitcher in MLB history to win a game. On May 16, 2012, he broke his own winning-pitcher record and also set the record for the oldest MLB player to record a run batted in (RBI). He also holds the major league record for most home runs allowed with 522.

Moyer made the All-Star team in 2003, while with the Mariners. (wikipedia)

• • •

***ATTENTION: READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION (if you're reading this in January, that's you!)*** : It's January, which means it's time once again for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. Writing this blog is a joy, but it is also a job—an everyday, up-by-4am job. My morning schedule is regular as hell. So regular that my cats know my routine and will start walking all over me if I even *stir* after 3am. You ever lie there in the early morning, dying to simply roll over or stretch, but knowing that the second you do, the second you so much as budge, the cats will take it as a signal that you're through with sleep and ready to serve them? So you just lie perfectly still, trying to get every ounce of bedrest you can before the cats ruin it all? That's me, every morning. I guess you could say they "help" get me up on time to write, but come on, I have an alarm for that. The cats are adorable, but frankly they're no help at all. After I feed them, I go upstairs to write, and what do they do? They go straight back to sleep. Here I'll show you. This was two days ago, when I came downstairs after writing:

And this was yesterday, same time:

Those pictures are from two different days, I swear. And I'm guessing when I go downstairs this morning, I'll find much the same thing. They are beautiful creatures, but they cannot solve or type or bring me warm beverages. When it comes to blogging, I'm on my own. And look, I'm not asking for pity. The truth is, I love my life (and my cats), but the truth *also* is that writing this blog involves a lot of work. I get up and I solve and I write, hoping each day to give you all some idea of what that experience was like for me, as well as some insight into the puzzle's finer (or less fine) qualities—the intricacies of its design, the trickiness of its clues, etc. The real value of the blog, though, is that it offers a sort of commiseration. While I like to think my writing is (at its best) entertaining, I know that sometimes all people need is someone who shares their joy or feels their pain. If you hate a clue, or get stuck and struggle, or otherwise want to throw the puzzle across the room, you know I'm here for you, and that even if my experience is not identical to yours, I Understand! I understand that even though "it's just a puzzle," it's also a friend and a constant companion and a ritual and sometimes a Betrayer! I don't give you objective commentary—I give you my sincere (if occasionally hyperbolic) feelings about the puzzle, what it felt like to solve it. I can dress those feelings up in analytical clothes, sure, but still, ultimately, I'm just one human being out here feeling my puzzle feelings. And hopefully that makes you feel something too—ideally, something good, but hey I'm not picky. Whatever keeps you coming back! Hate-readers are readers too!

Whatever kind of reader you are, you're a reader, and I would appreciate your support. This blog has covered the NYTXW every day, without fail, for over eighteen (18!?) years, and except for two days a month (when my regular stand-ins Mali and Clare write for me), and an occasional vacation or sick day (when I hire substitutes to write for me), it's me who's doing the writing. Over the years, I have received all kinds of advice about "monetizing" the blog, invitations to turn it into a subscription-type deal à la Substack or Patreon. And maybe I'd make more money that way, I don't know, but that sort of thing has never felt right for me. And honestly, does anyone really need yet another subscription to manage? As I've said in years past, I like being out here on Main, on this super old-school blogging platform, just giving it away for free and relying on conscientious addicts like yourselves to pay me what you think the blog's worth. It's just nicer that way. 

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 three options. First, a Paypal button (which you can also find in the blog sidebar on the homepage):

Second, a mailing address (checks can be made out to "Michael Sharp" or "Rex Parker"):

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

The third, increasingly popular option is Venmo; if that's your preferred way of moving money around, my handle is @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 Venmo contributions will get a little heart emoji, at a minimum :) 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. My daughter (Ella Egan) has once again designed my annual thank-you card, and once again the card features (wait for it) cats! 

Ida & Alfie, my little yin/yang sleepers! (They're slowly becoming friends, but don't tell them that—it makes them mad and they will deny it). 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. Please know that your support means a lot to me and my family. Now on to today's puzzle... 

• • •

True confession: the first time I ever heard the term DASHED LINE was ... today. Just now. Total news to me, this term. I know the term "dotted line," of course. You sign on it, famously. The thing is—and I never thought of this before today—"dotted line" is kind of a misnomer, because most of the so-called "dotted lines" I've seen in my life have, in fact, been composed of *dashes.* I just found out that if you look up the term, "dotted line," you will see many dictionaries acknowledging that even though we're saying "dot," we mean "dash." A dotted line is "a line of dots or dashes on a form or document" per Collins Dictionary, for example. And even though the clue refers to a line that indicates where you're supposed to cut (with scissors), not where you're supposed to sign, I don't know that I would've called that line anything else but a "dotted line." I certainly wouldn't have called it a "DASHED LINE," for reasons established in the first sentence of this paragraph. So the basic terminology in this one—the core concept, the revealer itself—was alien to me today. So that was weird. Also weird: calling your "dash" puzzle "Multi-Hyphenates," as hyphens ... are not ... the same ... as dashes. Yes, a hyphen looks kind of like an en dash, but "dash" and "hyphen" are not equivalent and there are any number of sites on the internet that are more than happy to explain the difference to you. 

So terminological issues are distracting me today, making it hard to appreciate what the puzzle's trying to do. The puzzle needs the line to be DASHED and not DOTTED today, because the whole point of the theme (wordplay-wise) is that the word "LINE" is "DASHED," i.e. turned into dashes, so that those (en) dashes can then function as "hyphens" in the crosses. The fact that the "dash" becomes a "hyphen" in the crosses is actually really nifty. I totally missed this aspect of the theme until I started describing the theme in this write-up. I thought those Downs that ran through "LINE" were just skipping over a missing "LINE"—I didn't see that the "LINE" needed to be made of "-"s, that all the Down answers *featured* "-"s as part of their make-up. I've spent a solving lifetime studiously ignoring hyphens. I've entered OPED in the grid a million times over the years, but OP [hyphen] ED? Never, that I can recall. The fact that the puzzle got *all* the words crossing "LINE"s to be hyphenated answers—that's pretty impressive. It didn't make the solve itself very exciting, but it definitely made me respect the intricacy of the construction. 

The fact that LINE was in every theme answer helped make this puzzle very easy. It also meant that the theme answer set was repetitive and somewhat bland. Further, there just wasn't a lot of other marquee fill to liven things up. Only a small handful of answers outside the theme are seven letters or longer, and most of those are pretty ordinary. Perfectly solid, but not exactly scintillating. So I wish there'd been more oomph and sparkle in the grid overall. Still, there were a couple of moments that really made me light up. The first was running into the book I Know a RHINO (102D: "I Know a ___" (rhyming children's book)). We read this to / with our daughter All The Time when she was little. It was a bedtime story that was actually fun to read. The kind you hope they'll ask for ("oh god please don't let her pick [long boring story, title redacted]!"). The illustrations are lovely and incongruous and silly in that way that little kids love. In short, good memories, especially as earlier today, that same daughter (now 24) was sending me selfies from in front of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower (stuck in Paris on her way to Venice for work, but making the most of it). Anyway, the puzzle gave me fond memories of the girl, and I'm grateful for that. I literally exclaimed "Aw..." mid-solve. 

[FUGE (4)]

The other moment that made me smile was when Jamie MOYER showed up (. I thought "Oh, lots of people are not going to know him. I don't think he's been in the grid since ... since ... wait a minute ..." And sure enough, this is just the second appearance of MOYER—the first since I debuted him in one of my NYTXW puzzles back in 2012. 

I'm not saying his name is good fill, exactly—despite his many accomplishments, Jamie MOYER is a pretty obscure name, especially to casual (or non-) baseball fans. But I took a weird baseball-fan pride in giving the old guy his due back in 2012, and I was weirdly happy to see his name again today. "Good for him!" Kinda weird to have MOYER *and* MAYER in the same grid, but ... they *are* different names, so ... judges say: no foul!

No struggles today. Only one write-over, but it was a doozy. I had the ANT- at 37A: Lion's prey and without much hesitation wrote in ... ANTEATER. Which fit! I did think "huh, never saw that on Wild Kingdom," but I also thought "sure, why not, I can see a lion eating one of those." But no, yeah, ANTELOPE, way more iconic. And I've learned (in about two minutes of cursory online searching) that ANTEATERs are not actually a part of the average lion diet.

Further notes:

• 18A: Emmy-winning drama series set in the midwest (FARGO) — still not totally on board with calling North Dakota "the midwest"—all those northern and central states just to the west of the Mississippi are "Plains States" (part of the Great Plains), and should be classified separately from the "midwest," imho—but the Census Bureau says NDAK is in the "midwest," so I guess it just is.

[The Census Bureau's idea of the "midwest"]

• 47A: Language from which "curry" comes (TAMIL) — hesitated at TAM-L between "I" and "A." I blame "tamale."
• 55A: Dien Bien ___, 1954 battle site in Vietnam (PHU) — thank you, Billy Joel

["Dien Bien PHU falls / Rock around the clock"]

• 61A: McEvoy of cosmetics (TRISH) — no idea. You wanna stump me, give me "cosmetics" names. Anything beyond ESTEE Lauder or OPI nail polish (or ULTA Beauty, or L'OREAL) and I'm done for.
• 76A: "The Simpsons" character who says "I've done everything the Bible says! Even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!" (NED) — Flanders! 

• 90A: They might make you jump (UP ARROWS) — I know I said I had no sticking points today, but I forgot about this answer, which I could Not parse for the longest time (that is, some small amount of time). I had the whole front end (UPARR-) and still: no idea. I was trying to make it be one word. Rookie mistake. UP ARROWS make you jump ... up ... one row ... in whatever text you are working on. (Sorry, I’m being told this is about video games. [Shrug].)
• 91D: ___ Bill, folk hero who is said to have ridden a tornado like a bucking bronco (PECOS) — it's weird, I know the name PECOS Bill, but I could not have told you one thing about him. 

Pecos Bill (/ˈpeɪkəs/ PAY-kəs) is a fictional cowboy and folk hero in stories set during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. These narratives were invented as short stories in a book by Tex O'Reilly in the early 20th century and are an example of American "fakelore". Pecos Bill was a late addition to the larger-than-life characters, such as Paul Bunyan or John Henry. (wikipedia)

"Fakelore"! What a great term. Someone should cover Taylor Swift's Folklore in its entirety and call it Fakelore. Weird Al? No, that would probably be Folklore (Weird Al's Version). Would listen.

We're nearing the end of Holiday Pet Pics, as the "Holiday" season winds down. I know I said "no more submissions," but I might have room for a few more on New Year's Day, so if you wanna send me Fido in a Santa suit or Fluffy sleeping under the increasingly brittle Christmas tree or Dino eating a dreidel dog treat, go ahead. 

This is Miss Frida Flirt Hyman-Taylor, who (in typical Schnauzer fashion) likes to celebrate the holidays by being imperious and territorial. Also cute.

[Thanks, Steve]

Here we see Queso as he tries and fails to string the lights on the tree. "Why do these get so tangled?! Why don't I have opposable thumbs?!" Also pictured: Wolfy, who is absolutely no help.

[Thanks, Robert]

Penny and Merle like to solve together. Here, Penny throws down her pencil in disgust: "ASTA ... TOTO ... ODIE ... this dog bias is bull***." Merle doesn't notice or care. He's still working on 8-Down: "PURR! Is it PURR! Write in PURR! No, MEOW! MEW! No, TUNA! Write in TUNA!" Penny: "It's eight letters, dummy." Merle: "TUUUUUNA!"

[Thanks, Barak]

For the first time in three years, Qwerty came out of hiding when guests came over to the house (true story). It's a Chanukah miracle!

[Thanks, Deborah]

And lastly today, here's Felix and Chester, the Siberian Forest Cats, looking dubious about their Christmas gift. "Is that ... a book? That looks like a book. You ... shouldn't have. No, seriously."

[Thanks, Liam]

See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Kids' chasing game with head taps / MON 1-1-24 / Off Broadway musical made into a 2021 film directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda / Tokarczuk who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature

Constructor: Harry Zheng

Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)

THEME: XXY — three-part phrases where the first two parts are identical:

Theme answers:

• DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE (20A: Kids' chasing game with head taps)
• TICK, TICK, BOOM! (27A: Off Broadway musical made into a 2021 film directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda)
• HIP, HIP, HOORAY! (43A: Reply to "Three cheers!")
• THERE, THERE, NOW (51A: Soothing words)

Word of the Day: "TICK, TICK, BOOM" (27A) — 

Tick, Tick... Boom! (also stylized as tick, tick... BOOM!) is a 2021 American biographical comedy musical film directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his feature directorial debut. Written by Steven Levenson, who also serves as an executive producer, it is based on the stage musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson, a semi-autobiographical story about Larson writing a musical to enter into the theater industry. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Larson, alongside Robin de Jesús, Alexandra Shipp, Joshua Henry, Judith Light, and Vanessa Hudgens.

Tick, Tick... Boom! had its world premiere at the AFI Fest on November 10, 2021, and began a limited theatrical release two days later, before streaming on Netflix on November 19. The film received acclaim for Garfield's performance, the editing, and Miranda's direction. It was named one of the best films of 2021 by the American Film Institute, and was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, and Best Picture at the 27th Critics' Choice Awards. For his performance, Garfield earned numerous awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. (wikipedia)

• • •

Hello and happy actual new year! Gonna have to be a short one tonight because as I am writing this it is still, in fact, night—New Year's Eve, to be exact, and since we've already been out to a special dinner and I've already had a *little* to drink, I am a *little* not up to my usual laser-focused and erudite writing self, as you can probably tell by this sentence that I am currently writing. In short, I am already a bit tired, and want to spend what's left of the year just hanging out in my pajamas with my wife and cats. Maybe you can relate, Maybe you can't. It matters not. Here's a photo of my wife getting a tarot reading at the fancy dinner we went to earlier:

I didn't get a reading tonight because I had one done last New Year's Eve (same establishment, different reader) and the next day I got COVID, which I took as a clear message not to mess with the Dark Arts. But my wife can do whatever the hell she wants. Seems like she got a hopeful and positive reading, which does not surprise me, you're not exactly gonna tell someone they're gonna get gout and their hair's gonna fall out this year. Not before dessert, anyway. Here's the menu for the evening, which includes an in-the-wild sighting of NYE (3):

And here's me, the goer-outer, after having gone out (also pictured: Alfie, sullenly waiting to be fed):

And now, the first puzzle of the year ... sure, sure, fine. A little word waltz, one-two-three, one-two-three ... or one-one-three, I guess. Would've been nice if the set had been tighter. DUCK and TICK start out a nice -CK pattern, but then that fades. TICK, TICK, BOOM! and HIP, HIP, HOORAY! are both Exclamation Point-worthy ... and maybe DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE! is as well, but "THERE, THERE, NOW" is not. What's the opposite of an exclamation point, because that is what "THERE, THERE, NOW" should have. Also, the phrase is just "THERE, THERE," or else it's "THERE, NOW"—"THERE, THERE, NOW" feels like an odd mash-up of the more common, shorter soothing phrases. All the other opening pairs need their third element to make sense, whereas "THERE, THERE" absolutely does not. So it's an outlier, and kind of a big one. As I say, the set could be tighter. But it's totally inoffensive, so shrug, whatever, I'm not mad.

Solving Downs-only was a piece of cake today. I weirdly, bizarrely forgot what a [Bacon slice] was called ("... slab? ... rasher?") but got it easily once the crosses got inferrable. The biggest sticking point today was TRA-la-la!" for "OOH-la-la!" (38D: "___-la-la!") Luckily I got "COPY THAT" without much trouble, and since CTATS is not (as yet) a thing, it was out with TRA and (eventually) in with OOH. CTATS became COATS. And that was pretty much that. Why would you go and ruin your puzzle by putting ELON in there? Serious unforced error. I'd rather see HODA Kotb in my puzzle any day (I'm sure an ELON-free grid can be done better than this, but I'm just spitballin' here)

Or here, just go with the abbr. on ELEM, no one will care!

Or you could just clue ELON as the North Carolina university. That's all. Here are some more Holiday Pet Pics to start your new year off right:

["Yes ... yes, all for me ... this all going according to pl— No! Higher, higher, you stupid human, I need a challenge!" (thanks, Eric)]

[Elvira is hiding until this holiday business is over, thank you very much (thanks, Louise)]

[Maggie May will fit in your stocking if you let her (thanks Craig!)]

[Exactly how you'd expect a cat to look when it realizes the present is from a dog (it's true!) (thanks, Rebecca)]

[Theo joins a long line of Cats Under Christmas Trees! (thanks, Shannon)

See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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