Antidiabetes drug taken by many for weight loss / WED 11-19-25 / Netflix crime drama set in rural Missouri / Fancy spirals in calligraphy / Spanish island with a lively club scene / Food item placed in Egyptian tombs, as its layers symbolized eternity / Holland in Hollywood / Potty, to Potter / The Syracuse Mets vis-à-vis the New York Mets / Flatbread eaten during Passover

Constructor: Jeremy Newton

Relative difficulty: Very easy

THEME: NO-SPIN / TURN ON (36A: Straight-shooting ... or a punny title for this puzzle / 38A: Sexually excite ... or another punny title for this puzzle?)— "ON" "turns" in a series of shaded-pairs that encircle the grid, turning 90 degrees at each iteration, so that those shaded squares read like "ON" "OZ" "NO" and "ZO," in thrice-repeated succession:

Theme answers:

• there's twelve answers with shaded squares in them, I don't think I need to write them all out

  Word of the Day: OZEMPIC (7D: Antidiabetes drug taken by many for weight loss) —

Semaglutide is an anti-diabetic medication used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and an anti-obesity medication used for long-term weight management and to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. It is a peptide similar to the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), modified with a side chain. It can be administered by subcutaneous injection or taken orally. It is sold by Novo Nordisk under the brand names Ozempic and Rybelsus for diabetes, and under the brand name Wegovy for weight management, weight loss, and the treatment of metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis). [...]

It was approved for medical use in the US in 2017. In 2023, it was the nineteenth most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 25 million prescriptions. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. (wikipedia)

• • •

Did Novo-Nordisk write this puzzle? I know that OZEMPIC is an important newish medicine and I know that the appearance of brand names has nothing to do (probably, I'm pretty sure, at this point) with paid sponsorship, and there's not doubt that OZEMPIC is original and, considering its unusual letter combination, colorful, but there's some (biggish) part of me that doesn't wanna see any of the legion of ridiculous Big Pharma brand names in my grid ever. Ever. Maybe because they're never-ending, ubiquitous—forming the bulk of the advertising bombardment I'm likely to be exposed to on any given day. And the names are always risible and the people in the ads are all generically, blandly happy as horrific side effects are read quickly over shots of them gardening or playing frisbee or whatever. Somehow pharmaceutical brand names feel like more of an Ad Speak Encroachment than, say, all the OREO and Apple products whose names I'm forced to write out nearly every day. Next you're going to put WEGOVY in my grid, and then what one of the thousands of psoriasis medications they keep inventing every day. I mean, I get that OTEZLA might tempt you with its Scrabbly charms (it's an anagram of ZEALOT!), but ... there are limits to how many of these made-up names anyone should have to know. I got OZEMPIC easy, so it's not the difficulty level that's the issue. It's ... the creep. The adspeak creep. Into all facets of life. I know there's nothing to be done about it. But something should be done.

So the marquee answer today is also the answer that (slightly) rubbed me the wrong way. But that's not a puzzle quality issue, and in general, I think this puzzle is of reasonably high quality. I love the basic concept, mostly because it's weird—visually striking in a way that ultimately makes sense, and results in some ... fanciful fill. Lots of "Z"s, that's always going to liven up a grid (or overstrain it, but I think the "Z"s are largely well handled today). I laughed at DUNZO because it is such a stupid word that the last time I remember seeing it, a long time ago (I forget in what puzzle), my friend Lena and I mocked it mercilessly and then started using it, in conjunction with the word that it appeared near or above in the grid: THUD. "DUNZO THUD" came to express a kind of extreme finality: not just "finished" but "finished to the point of exhaustion and collapse" (THUD being the sound of your body hitting the ground). Lena even made me a "DUNZO THUD" t-shirt, but the letters eventually started coming off in the wash—a fitting end for a "DUNZO" t-shirt. Anyway, dumb "word," good memories.

I like this grid's shape, mostly because it includes some serious white space—prominent long-answer banks through the vertical middle of the grid. Six 7s just drilling right through the puzzle's center with a pair of 7/9-stacks crossing them. And despite my gripes about the commercialism of OZEMPIC, all of that fill holds up remarkably well. I mean, YELPERS can walk into the ocean if it wants (more silly brand name-iness) (23A: Some loud dogs ... or food critics), but the rest, great. Wish you didn't need an UZI to hold it all together, but "Z" density is baked into the theme, I'll keep my gun objections muted. The double revealer is a nice idea, although frankly I've never seen the phrase "NO-SPIN" outside of the context of a certain right-wing dickhead's Fox News show from days of yore—that show had a segment (I believe) with the hilariously inapt title, the "NO-SPIN Zone." If I type [no spin] into the search bar, that guy's name comes up as a suggestion almost immediately. So—remembering awful old white guys, less fun than enduring a pharmaceutical-name onslaught. Still, NO-SPIN does work perfectly, both in terms of what this puzzle does and in terms of perfect symmetrical balance with the other revealer, TURN ON (which is equally apt). I like aptness.

One thing I don't like, though—the one truly, distractingly awful about this puzzle—is MINOR TEAM. (61A: The Syracuse Mets vis-à-vis the New York Mets). What in the world? I've been a baseball fan for ... [checks calendar, notices 56th birthday is exactly one week away] ... a long time. I cannot remember ever hearing a MINOR-league TEAM called simply a "MINOR TEAM." A MINOR TEAM is a team that never does anything noteworthy. Just as a MAJOR TEAM would be a powerhouse (The Mets were not a MAJOR TEAM this year, sadly). But if you are talking about levels of professional baseball, then there are the Majors and the Minors, there are Major League Teams and Minor League Teams, but there are not MINOR TEAMs? FARM TEAMS, sure. But MINOR TEAMs ... this phrase is unrecognizable to me. I tried to search ["minor teams"] and my search engine was like "wtf are you doing?"

It's "minor league teams." That's the phrase

Bullets:

• 29D: Potty, to Potter (LOO) — maybe the worst clue ever written, in terms of sheer density of "nope." The cringy toddler-speak of "Potty," the completely gratuitous reference to the work of the hideous J.K. Rowling. Just a Top Ten Trash Clue.
• 21A: Spanish island with a lively club scene (IBIZA) — for some reason, every time I see IBIZA I think of this song and this song only. I have no idea how my brain ever made the connection. I must've heard it on some collection that had IBIZA in the title. It appeared on a UK compilation called "Now That's What I Call IBIZA"; I certainly never owned that, but it does indicate that the song has some connection to the "lively club scene" on that island. 

• 22A: Holland in Hollywood (TOM) — I always forget which TOM he is. I might get him confused with TOM Ford (is that somebody?) and TOM Hiddleston. LOL looks like TOM Holland played Spider-Man in MCU films six times. That tells you how much I've paid attention to the MCU in the last decade (not at all). For clarification's sake, TOM Hiddleston ... good lord, he's somehow also a fixture of the MCU (Loki). I recognize his face.  TOM Ford, on the other hand, is a designer/filmmaker (I enjoyed A Single Man). TOM Cruise and TOM Hanks presumably don't need introductions.
• 60A: "That makes two of us" ("SO DO I") — dreadful fill (SODOI / SOAMI is the lowest kealoa*). I would rewrite this clue to get rid of the "us" (which appears in the grid in the answer, NOT US (15A: "We're innocent of wrongdoing")). Maybe ["You and me both!"] would do.
• 63A: Food item placed in Egyptian tombs, as its layers symbolized eternity (ONION) — in a very easy puzzle, this was probably the hardest answer for me. The word "layers" had me thinking only of cakes and lasagnas.

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*kealoa = a pair of words (normally short, common answers) that can be clued identically and that share at least one letter in common (in the same position). These are answers you can't just fill in quickly because two or more answers are viable, Even With One or More Letters In Place. From the classic [Mauna ___] KEA/LOA conundrum. See also, e.g. [Heaps] => ATON or ALOT, ["Git!"] => "SHOO" or "SCAT," etc.   

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Take down a notch / SUN 8-3-2025 / Looks inside? / Warp-driven device / Florida beach town, informally / Tough spot / Hands-on professional? / Sneakily exploits / Something clicked to add an attachment / Brother of DIsney's Louie and Dewey Duck

Constructor: Jeremy Newton

Relative difficulty: Hard



THEME: Star Trek — There's a lot going on here! It's a Star Trek tribute puzzle. There's THE ENTERPRISE up top and MISTER SCOTT right below up. And a bunch of different characters are being beamed up ("BEAM ME UP!"), as they are featured backwards in circled letters in phrases they might say. We also have USS as a little bonus.

Word of the Day: SITH (10D: Enemy of the Jedi) —

The Sith are the main antagonists in the fictional universe of the Star Wars franchise.^[2] They are the antithesis and ancient enemies of the Jedi. The Sith Order is depicted as an ancient cult of warriors who draw strength from the dark side of the Force and use it to seize power by any means necessary, including terrorism and mass murder with the goal to destroy the Jedi and rule the galaxy.

• • •

Theme answers:

• THE ENTERPRISE (4A: Iconic sci-fi setting spelled out in this puzzle's shaded squares)
• MISTER SCOTT (22A: Member of this puzzle's shaded squares who might say "I cannot change the laws of physics, Captain!")
• STAR TREK (83D: This puzzle's theme)
• BEAM ME UP (84D: "I want to go back to the ship," as everyone circled in this puzzle seems to have said to 22-Across)
• WE HAVE TO MAKE THIS QUICK (CHEKOV) (3D: "Our window is closing for escape velocity!," as [circled letters] might say)
• KEEP COMPOSURE (SPOCK) (36D: "Logic dictates that you control your emotions," as [circled letters] might say)
• I TOOK A RISK (KIRK) (45D: "To protect my crew, the gamble was necessary," as [circled letters] might say)
• ARE YOU HURT (UHURA) (48D: "We received a distress signal.  Any injuries?," as [circled letters] might say)
• FULL THRUSTERS (SULU) (40D: "Stepping on the gas, Captain!," as [circled letters] might say)
• YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON ME (MCCOY) (12D: "Any time! I'm a doctor, not a do-nothing!," as [circled letters] might say)
• USS (90A: Inits. for this puzzle's shaded squares)

Hi friends! It's Rafa here writing about this Star Trek Sunday puzzle. Sincerest apologies this post is late! I hope this hasn't derailed your solving-and-reading-the-blog morning routine! But better late than never is something they say, and here we are.

There is a lot going on in this puzzle! There's THE ENTERPRISE and the name of the franchise and a bunch of characters (backwards) in a bunch of things they might plausibly say. It's a very intricate construction and it's a puzzle that I'm sure someone else really really enjoyed. Unfortunately, that someone is not me because I'm not at all a Star Trek fan. Nothing against Star Trek ... just ... never been my thing! My level of Star Trek knowledge is knowing UHURA since he (she? they? it? no idea!) always comes up in crosswords. And, I guess SPOCK is iconic. But ... CHEKOV? Never met him. MISTER SCOTT? Totally new to me! (Since the post was late this morning, you all get a pass to go in the comments and make fun of me for not knowing anything about Star Trek)

Torii in KYOTO

It felt like a really slow solve, and I wanted to blame it on the fact that I not a Star Trek guy, but a lot of the theme material isn't really related to Star Trek. So I think it was just a slightly harder-than-usual puzzle. One thing I admired is that it still was a very theme-dense tribute puzzle, but the exclamations all exist outside of Star Trek, so it make the puzzle enjoyable (or, doable, really) by non-fans.

It's RIO

It's really an incredible construction, IMO. I'm kind of amazed there exist things each character could plausibly say with the characters name in it backwards ... while also fulfilling the length symmetry requirement. And the fill didn't really suffer too much in spite of everything going on! You get stuff like A NET, sure, but overall I felt slow because the clues were kinda hard and not because of any iffy fill.

It's AMSTERDAM

I wish I had more to say about this puzzle! These kinds of tribute puzzles are always a bit hit-or-miss, depending on how much the solver knows / cares about the thing being tributed. Oh, this puzzle is also a pangram, which means that every letter is in it at least once. It feels less noticeable in a Sunday-size grid, but that's another cool thing. Usually, the scrabbly letters feel forced, but here I didn't feel like they led to any big compromises.

Alright, apologies again if this is being posted after you usually consume your morning blog! I hope you are all well and staying cool (unless you live in the Bay Area, in which case I hope you are staying warm) and having a lovely weekend.

Bullets:

• CRYPTOS (31A: Digital investment choice, informally) — I don't know if "cryptos" are a thing
• GAB (114D: Chinwag) — Sometimes when solving a crossword, I'll see a clue like this which is a word I've definitely ... seen ... before but absolutely cannot say what it means. And that does make it quite hard to get to the answer!
• ESTE (11D: By Juan's early light?) — Never been a fan of these clues using names to indicate another language. Surely not everyone in the world named Juan speaks Spanish?
• REAL ID (44A: D.M.V.-issued card authenticated by airport security) — I feel like they've been about to start enforcing Real IDs for so many years. Are they doing it now? Every time it's getting close it seems like they just push it back another year. I'm flying next week so I guess I'll find out.

Signed, Rafa

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Storybook baddie / TUE 7-22-25 / Utah ski resort / Hollywood icon Hayworth / Company whose business is picking up? / "Come again??," casually / Purple smoothie berry / Planetary body, to poets / Informal hangout at which attendees may jam or gossip

Constructor: Jeremy Newton

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: triple scoop — shaded squares depict a triple-scoop ice cream cone in each stage of its construction (just the cone = "V"; one scoop = "O" on top of "V"; etc. There are two punny revealers: TALL ORDER (16A: Big ask ... or a hint to this puzzle's shaded squares?); and SCOOPED UP (59A: Eagerly obtained ... or a hint to the contents of this puzzle's shaded squares?):

The ice-cream answers (I'm not gonna type these out vertically—just consult the grid, above, for the full visual effect):

• VAT (1D: Big winery fixture)
• "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH" (13D: Words that express a deep-felt affection)
• GROOVED (24D: Shook it to the beat)
• GOES CUCKOO OVER (8D: Enjoys immensely)

Word of the Day: RITA Hayworth (65A: Hollywood icon Hayworth) —

Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films in total over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth, after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II.

Hayworth is widely known for her performance in the 1946 film noir Gilda, opposite Glenn Ford, in which she played the femme fatale in her first major dramatic role. She is also known for her performances in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Blood and Sand (1941), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Pal Joey (1957), and Separate Tables (1958). Fred Astaire, with whom she made two films, You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942), once called her his favorite dance partner. She also starred in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. She is listed as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Hayworth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street in 1960.

In 1980, Hayworth was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which contributed to her death in 1987 at age 68. The public disclosure and discussion of her illness drew attention to Alzheimer's, and helped to increase public and private funding for research into the disease. (wikipedia)

• • •

And the summer doldrums continue. Another very easy, very dull puzzle. I appreciate the seasonal visual gag. This puzzle is trying to do something original, so, you know, points for trying. But none of the themers except the last one take any real thought or imagination; that is, it's not hard to find a word starting with "V" ... or containing "OV" ... or "OOV." It's only the "OOOV" word that is at all surprising or extraordinary-seeming, and unfortunately that one struck me as slightly off. That is, I tend to go cuckoo *for* things, not cuckoo *over* them. The phrase exists, sure, but it googles about 1/10 as well as "go cuckoo for," and that's *after* I take "Cocoa Puffs" out of the search equation. As for the twin revealers ... I guess they're fine. They both come at the concept in a semi-punny way: a triple scoop is, in fact a TALL ORDER, and the scoops do go ... up? Sure. I don't hate this theme, I just think that despite its visual interest, it's a little, let's say, vanilla. The real problem with the puzzle, though, is that it played like a themeless (no need to have any idea what's going on with the theme to solve it), and as a themeless, it's deathly boring. Leaving the two long Downs aside, this grid is bleakly boring, CHOCK full o' fill that is stale and olden. Once again, the grid has not been built with an eye toward interesting fill, in that it's almost all 3-4-5s, with nothing (outside the themers) over 7, and only two of those, neither particularly noteworthy. In fact one of those 7s ("'SCUSE ME") felt really awkward to my eye/ear—not my favorite made-up spelling. But nevermind that; if the grid had been colorful and varied and interesting, I wouldn't have blinked at "'SCUSE ME." It's just that today "'SCUSE ME" has to do a lot of lifting, because the rest of the grid is just lying there, and "'SCUSE ME" really isn't up to it. ALTA ALAS ACAI ASIF ICAN EATME EWES EPEE SESH (ugh) IPAS crossing CPA, plus another dreaded "playground retort" ("DO TOO!"). I've seen worse fill, for sure, but I've seen better.

I made some pretty predictable mistakes today, all easily fixable. I also typo'd ACHY as ACHE (fingers have a mind of their own sometimes) (35A: Sore, as joints) and had to search for my error at the end. Had the "U" at 45A: Company whose business is picking up? (UBER) and wrote in USPS (?). Right next door to that, I wrote in ROAMS before ROVES (of course) (42A: Wanders here and there). For 51D: Kept ___ on (monitored) (TABS), I (again, of course) had EYES. But that's really it for SCREW-ups, and those SCREW-ups were all very minor. The puzzle basically put up no resistance—not unusual for a Tuesday, I guess, but I wish the puzzle had had at least a little fight in it, or some surprise or cleverness beyond the theme. It really needed ... something more. No matter how clever your theme, the bulk of the solver's time will be spent filling in non-theme answers, so that part of the puzzle should really do a little something more than just sit there taking up space.

A few more things:

• 65A: Hollywood icon Hayworth (RITA) — making RITA Hayworth my Word of the Day really solidified for me the fact that I get RITA Hayworth and AVA Gardner hopelessly confused. They're basically the same person to me, despite the fact that one of them is in two of my favorite movies, and the other ... isn't. They're both brunette bombshells, Hollywood royalty of a certain era—the exact same era, in fact. Their careers were solidly mid-century. In fact, their lives are almost coterminous (Hayworth 1918-87, Gardner 1922-90). I thought RITA Hayworth was married to Mickey Rooney at one point, but that was AVA Gardner (who was also married to ARTIE Shaw (also of crossword fame) and Frank Sinatra). RITA Hayworth, on the other hand, was married to Orson Welles, as well as Prince Aly Khan (and a few other guys as well). RITA's career was, to my mind, the more enviable one, if only because she was in Gilda (1946) and Only Angels Have Wings (1939) (though that's really Jean Arthur's movie, as far as female stars go). Gardner got an Academy Award nomination for Supporting Actress Mogambo (recommended only for Grace Kelly completists like my '90s self), and she starred opposite Burt Lancaster in Robert Siodmak's great The Killers (1946), but still, gotta give the acting edge to RITA. Maybe I'll be able to keep them straight in my head now. More likely, not.

• 32D: Vampire bat feature (FANGS) — sticking with the movies for a minute ... and speaking of vampires ... I watched The Lost Boys (1987) yesterday for my weekly Movie Club, and it was So Much Worse than I remembered. The shallowest characterization you will ever see in any movie. No one has any motivation. It's basically an extended late '80s MTV music video, not nearly dark enough to be scary, and not nearly as funny as it thinks it is. If you are a big fan of the Cor(e)ys, if you found their on-screen antics hilarious, then boy is this the movie for you. If you want to see great actors (Dianne Wiest!) absolutely wasted, shoved into roles that are beneath them, this is the movie for you. Kiefer Sutherland and Corey Feldman had both been in the truly great Stand By Me just one year earlier. Talk about a come-down. Actually, if you just wanna do a memory lane thing to your teendom (my teendom) then, OK, I get it, this *is* the movie for you. It definitely is ... of a time. But as a movie, it is Ter-ri-ble (note: none of my Movie Club agreed, they all seemed to enjoy it; I just sat there silently watching them all talk, stunned that I had once respected these people and counted them among my friends ...). 

• 7D: Planet whose evening temperatures plunge to -200ºF (MARS) — wanted to write in earth, largely because I was freezing last night—the house is set up for summer sleeping, windows open, bedding down to just a sheet, but last night temps went way down and I had to get up in the middle of the night in search of something to make me warmer (a nearby hoodie did the trick). 
• 56D: Father of Thor in both myth and the Marvel Universe (ODIN) — why in the world does any part of this clue following "Thor" exist??? He's the father of Thor. That's it. Unless Marvel is paying you for product placement, there is absolutely no reason to mention their stupid universe. So weird how they choose *this* clue to be (unnecessarily, uninterestingly) longer, when there are so many other terse clues that could've used spicing up. There is limited cluing real estate. You gotta use it better than this.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Early Christian meals of love and fellowship / SUN 9-22-24 / Annual May race, familiarly / Texter's alternative to an eye roll emoji / Yeti's commercial rival / Rudder found in nature / Houdini's signature feat

Constructor: Jeremy Newton and Tracy Gray

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Breakout Performance" — a puzzle based on THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (3D: With 6-Down, prison drama released on September 23, 1994); the grid contains a visual depiction of the movie's climactic prison escape, which is represented by a series of tunnels (made out of shaded squares containing words meaning "tunnel") in which the main character's name (ANDY DUFRESNE) can be found (spelled out in circled squares)

Theme answers:

• 18D: Lead role in 3-Down/6-Down (ANDY DUFRESNE)
• 15D: Portrayer of 18-Down (TIM ROBBINS)
• 50A: Houdini's signature feat ... or a hit to the circled squares in this puzzle (ESCAPE ACT)
• 57A: "Bad luck, I guess ... it was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the ___" (quote from 18-Down) ("TORNADO")

"A series of tubes...":

• 114A: Stage a jailbreak à la 18-Down (TUNNEL OUT)
• 87D: Main blvd. through N.Y.C.'s Chinatown (CANAL ST.)
• 91A: What a police escort may offer (SAFE PASSAGE)
• 44D: Fall accessory? (PARACHUTE)
• 82A: Certain online video snippet (YOUTUBE CLIP)
• 46D: 4x100 relay (TEAM EVENT)
• 95A: Classic cover-ups for spies (TRENCH COATS)
• 116A: Held together in a makeshift way (DUCT TAPED)

Word of the Day: UPN (45D: Bygone channel that launched with the two-hour pilot of 'Star Trek: Voyager") —

The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television networkthat operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' subsidiary, United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which produced most of UPN's series) turned it into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in UPN, and subsequently purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000. On December 31, 2005, UPN was kept by CBS Corporation, which was the new name for Viacom when it split into two separate companies. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced that the companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year. UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following two days later. Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW, when it launched on September 18, 2006. [...] Most of UPN's programming through the years was produced by Paramount Television or a Viacom-owned sister company (Viacom Productions, Big Ticket Television, Spelling Television or CBS Productions). UPN's first official program was Star Trek: Voyager, with the first comedy shows to debut being two short-lived series: the Richard Jeni starring vehicle Platypus Man and Pig Sty. // Other notable UPN programs during the network's existence included The Sentinel, Moesha, Star Trek: Enterprise, WWE SmackDown, America's Next Top Model, Girlfriends, the Moesha spin-off The Parkers, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, and the animated adaptation of Dilbert. In Summer 2005, UPN aired R U the Girl, in which R&B group TLC (not with Left Eye) searched for a woman to join them on a new song. The network also produced some special programs, including 2001's Iron Chef USA. Much of UPN's comedy programming between 1996 and 2006 (particularly those that aired as part of the network's Monday evening lineup) was largely aimed at African American audiences, with minor exceptions in shows such as Clueless, Realitycheck and Head Over Heels.

• • •

If ever a puzzle was (extremely) not for me, this is it. I really don't like this movie. I don't like this movie as strongly as most dudes loooove this movie. It is a classic guy movie. A touchstone for men everywhere. But it was so full of clichés and tired tropes that I just ... couldn't. Love TIM ROBBINS, love Morgan Freeman, do not love THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. Speaking of Morgan Freeman ... where is he? The complete erasure of Morgan Freeman ("Red") from this puzzle is ... telling? Ironic? Fitting? I know Red's not the one who digs his way out of prison, but still. Still. A little nod, maybe? Something? This movie has been accused (on more than one occasion) of indulging in the "Magical Negro" stereotype, where the Black character exists primarily to impart wisdom to the white protagonist and help him on his journey. In this puzzle ... well, we get a white man's journey, and the Black guy ... he's not even in the picture. Not even on that beach or wherever Andy ends up meeting him at the end of the movie ... [looks it up] ... ZIHUATANEJO! Why isn't that in the puzzle!? And where's Red, man? What happened to Red? You can't spell REDEMPTION without "Red."

But let's leave movie quality aside. Just 'cause I don't like the movie doesn't mean the puzzle can't still be good. And,  yeah, if you're a superfan of this movie, I can see liking this, I guess. There are some execution problems, some things I didn't get, or that seemed clunky. The use of circled squares to spell out ANDY DUFRESNE in the "tunnels" was odd. Why is his first name all contiguous circles but his last name stretched absurdly throughout the series of "tunnels"? And the "Y"—Why "Y"? Why is that the letter that (visually) represents the breakout. And why is it given to us? Mine came pre-filled in, did yours? It's not an unchecked letter, given that the "Y" is in both INDY (115A: Annual May race, familiarly) and ANDY DUFRESNE's name, so that was ... weird. Visually weird. Also weird to have ANDY DUFRESNE as a regular entry in the grid ... why in two places?? Seems redundant. I already had tunnel-ANDY before I ever got to regular-answer ANDY, so that was extremely anticlimactic. I assume that the "tunnel" words are not an accurate reflection of the actual path Andy takes in the movie. I don't think they need to be. Just being passages that one might take when escaping prison is enough. But I don't know. I wonder about how much I have to know (or remember) about the movie in order to fully "get" the puzzle. And I feel bad for those solvers who never saw it (or worse, never heard of it). 

A couple smaller but still irksome problems: all the "tunnels" appear as standalone words (or word parts) in their respective answers, except VENT (which is buried in "EVENT"). Outliers like that always bug me. Make me tic / twitch / grimace a little. Also deeply ironic to clue make the PASSAGE answer SAFE PASSAGE and clue it in relation to help from the cops (91A: What a police escort may offer), considering what the puzzle is supposed to be representing. I think ESCAPE ACT is a decent revealer, or descriptor, but "TORNADO" is just arbitrary and awful (57A: "Bad luck, I guess ... it was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the ___" (quote from 18-Down)). Has no place here. It's a part of a quotation that has nothing to do with prison escape. Bizarre choice of thematic material. But in the end, the puzzle is easy, and it's about a beloved movie, and it's at least trying to do something visually interesting, so I expect people will like it. 

The fill is pretty decent except man FISH FIN made me want to throw my computer out the window. LOL, it's a debut! Not a welcome debut, but a debut nonetheless. A [Rudder found in nature] is a fin. It's just a fin. FISH FIN is ridiculous. True, not a '50s Cadillac fin. '50s Cadillacs are not found in nature. I had FIN and thought "well I know it's not FISH FIN." And then it was. The only other things in the grid that made me really wince was AS A BONUS (not standalone worthy) and MENSANS (because I think Mensa is corny and MENSANS is a godawful plural ... and another debut, what is happening?). Speaking of godawful plurals, AGAPES (LOL, yet another debut! yeesh, they're really debuting some clunkers today) (97D: Early Christian meals of love and fellowship). I know agape as a higher, unconditional, divine kind of love, a counterpart to eros (sexual love) or philia (brotherly love). These Christian potluck dealies ... no idea. Otherwise, I think the grid is actually admirably clean, especially given the thematic density. 

Bullets:

• 1A: One getting into some hot water? (BATHER) — my weird comment on this clue is that "some" should not be there. The idiom is "get into hot water." If you're going to play on the idiom (as the "?" indicates), then get the idiom just right. The "some" feels extraneous.
• 35A: Texter's alternative to an eye roll emoji (SMH) — every time SMH appears in a puzzle, commenters wonder what it means and say they've never seen it before. This is the fifth overall appearance of SMH in the NYTXW, but the fourth this year (it debuted in 2020). It stands for 'shaking my head' and indicates a kind of exasperated disbelief or disappointment at another's ignorance or stupidity. "Bemused incredulity" is a phrase that Merriam-Webster uses. I like that.
• 55D: Yeti's commercial rival (IGLOO) — they both make coolers.
• 7D: Instrument strummed in the Train song "Hey, Soul Sister" (UKULELE) — that second "U" gets me every time. Because of UKE (a crossword standard), I spell it UKELELE. Sigh. Anyway, I won't subject you to "Hey, Soul Sister." But I will subject you to "Drops of Jupiter" ... 

["She checks out Mozart while she does TAE BO (5)!"]

Book giveaway time! Stuart Gibbs's newest installment in his popular Spy School series—Spy School: Entrance Exam—is out this week (Sep. 24). Spy School is a humor/mystery novel series for young readers (ages 7 to 12), and this new book contains puzzles by none other than prolific NYTXW constructor Jeff Chen! If you've ever tried to get your young kids hooked on puzzles (come on, you know you have), then you know how hard it is to find good, age-appropriate puzzles. If you've got a young puzzler or young reader or young puzzler/reader in your home, you might give this book a try (read more about it here). You can always steal it from your kid and solve the puzzles yourself if you like, who's gonna stop you!? Anyway, Jeff has three (3) copies of Spy School: Entrance Exam to give away. If you want a shot at a free book, just send me an email (rexparker@icloud.com) with the subject line "SPY SCHOOL" by the end of tomorrow (Monday, Sep. 23, 2024). I'll pick three emails at random and then Jeff will send the winners their books. Or you could just buy the book! Whatever works.

See you next time. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. Happy 24th birthday to my daughter Ella, who has given up crosswords ... for now ... she'll be back ... 

[then]

[now]

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