Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Jennifer Nebergall

Constructor: Jennifer Nebergall

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "You Do The Math" — familiar phrases are clued as if they had something to do with math:

Theme answers:

DIFFERENCE OF OPINIONS (27A: "That was great!" - "No, it stunk!") (anything minus anything else results in a "difference")
HIGHWAY MEDIAN (42A: Route 70 in {Route 10, Route 95, Route 101, Route 70, Route 25}) (if you sort the numbers in value order, 70 is in the middle, ergo it's the "median")
STOCK DIVIDEND (66A: Cattle in [cattle / pigs]) (with pigs being the stock divisor)
ANIMAL PRODUCT (95A: Bear x tiger) (anything times anything results in a "product")
MODE OF TRANSPORTATION (106A: Car in {plane, car, train, horse, car, car, train}) ("car" is the most frequently appearing term in the set, i.e. the "mode")

Word of the Day: "CATS" (6A: 2019 box-office flop described by one critic as "Les Meowsérables") —

Cats is a 2019 musical fantasy film based on the 1981 Tony Award-winning stage musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which in turn was based on the poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) by T. S. Eliot. The film is directed by Tom Hooper, in his second feature musical following Les Misérables (2012), from a screenplay by Lee Hall and Hooper. The film features an ensemble cast, including James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, and Francesca Hayward.
Cats was theatrically released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 20 December 2019, by Universal Pictures, and was panned by critics, who criticized the visual effects, editing, and performances. It is often considered one of the worst films ever made. The film was also a box-office bomb, grossing $75 million on a budget of $80-100 million, and is estimated to have lost Universal Pictures approximately $114 million. (wikipedia)

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It's the 23rd of the month, which means it's time once again for my Zoom solve with crossword blogger and friend of the show, Rachel Fabi (video below). We really struggled to find things to say about this puzzle, beyond a few very general observations. First, the theme is very light. Very very light for a Sunday. I've seen Mondays with more themers than this (the themers are longer here than they would be in a weekday puzzle, obviously, but still, five is light). In a theme this light, you might expect more of a wide-open grid, some fancy longer fill, perhaps; but you don't get anything like that. Not really. The NW and SE corners offer you a little flourish, a 10 alongside an 8 in both cases, but mostly what you get is a very choppy, very short fill-heavy grid, awash in 3-4-5s. It is true that the fill is largely clean, which is good—better to come in clean than to force some long answers into the grid at the expense of overall smoothness. But still, the end result is a little dull, a little lackluster. As for the theme, it's a nice set (no pun intended ... I don't think ... "set" is a math thing, right?). All of the themers feature ordinary words that have been repurposed into math contexts. Great. The clues were maybe not as tight or precise or colorful as they could be. The clue on MODE OF TRANSPORTATION is very tight: "car" is in fact the "mode" in that set (i.e. the most frequently appearing term). But the clue on DIFFERENCE OF OPINION ... those could've been any opinions, about anything. Plus, the clues on MODE OF TRANSPORTATION and HIGHWAY MEDIAN take almost exactly the same form, so there's less cluing pizzazz, i.e. less cluing variation, than there might have been. I dunno. It all just kinda ... sits there. Being vaguely math-y. The theme could've been tighter and more entertaining, and the grid could've been sparklier, for sure. Very few cringey parts, but equally few highs. Kind of a wash.

SELF-SOWN is both original and ridiculous. Doesn't the wind sow those seeds? Or gravity? It is probably the most original thing in the grid, but not exactly in a good way. There is good stuff, though. I really like VIGNETTE and CRY FOR HELP and TRADE WINDS and MEMPHIS and HOT SAUCE and maybe even SPARE ROOM. Both Rachel and I balked at WINOS, which continues this long-standing and ugly crossword tradition of trafficking heavily in slang for alcoholics. Even the clue seems to suggest "come on, solvers, dig deep into your vast reservoir of derogatory terms for addicts." There's got to be a way to get WINOS out of there. Rachel also objects to all forms of O.D. (today, OD'ED). I have to say I largely agree with her, even if it can be used in slangy, non-drug ways. If you don't want to get rid of ODED for its insensitivity to drug users, how about you just get rid of it because it's ugly fill that no one actually wants in their grid. Whatever gets you from A to B. Just chuck it.

We didn't struggle with much of anything in this puzzle. OVERLAP took some squinting and pondering. We (that is, I) had REDID (?) before REDUX before AMEXES came to the rescue. My first guess was SNIFF at 11D: Sound of disdain, but Rachel was right to suspect SCOFF. I think SCOFF is also a "sound." Neither of us really got the "?" humor of the clue on IMP (39A: Recurring pain?). Is the idea that you're supposed to think of bodily pain but instead it ends up being a metaphorical pain (in your metaphorical ass)? Whatever play on words was supposed to be happening there didn't really land solidly for either of us. OK, That'll do it for today. See you tomorrow.

Here's the video of me and Rachel co-solving today's puzzle via Zoom: