Classic novel set in rural Nebraska / SUN 6-2-24 / Did a great job on, in modern slang / Strong poker holding, informally / "Great" child detective / Sleeve style with slanted seams / Titular character in a Menotti opera / fritas Cuban french fries

Constructor: Luke K. Schreiber

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "Typecasting" — familiar phrases are clued via names of famous people that are "typed" in some funny / punny way:

Theme answers:

• QUOTATION MARKS (22A: "RUFFALO" and "TWAIN"?)
• CUT-OFF JEANS (33A: HARLO and SMAR?)
• JUMPING JACKS (46A: LORD and KEMP?)
• STARBUCKS (63A: *O'NEIL* and *ROGERS*?)
• LONGJOHNS (66A: CEEEEENA and LENNNNNON?)
• SPLICED GENES (85A: WILDERODDENBERRY?)
• DASHED HOPES (100A: S-O-L-O and L-A-N-G-E?)
• TWO-DOLLAR BILLS (112A: RU$$ELL and BLA$$?)

["Starring Jack LORD"]

Word of the Day: PAPAS fritas (72A: ___ fritas (Cuban French fries)) —

Papas Fritas (typically stylized as pApAs fritAs) were an American indie rock band that formed in 1992 and released three studio albums before breaking up in 2000. The band's name is Spanish for "fried potatoes" (specifically "French fries" in American English) but is also a pun on the phrase "Pop has freed us," which they used as both the name of their music publishing company and their 2003 career retrospective. (In 2006 a German band also named Papas Fritas released a single called "Stehpisser," which is erroneously listed as part of the American band's discography in several online music stores.) (wikipedia) // In Spain, fried potatoes are called patatas fritas or papas fritas. Another common form, involving larger irregular cuts, is patatas bravas. The potatoes are cut into big chunks, partially boiled and then fried. They are usually seasoned with a spicy tomato sauce. Fries are a common side dish in Latin American cuisine or part of larger preparations such as the salchipapas in Peru or chorrillana in Chile. (wikipedia)

• • •

[Prized possession]

If you're going to call it "Typecasting," then all the clues should involve actors. You're "casting," after all. I'm fine with the fact that the puns all involve the ways that the names are "typed" (out)—the "type" part works—but the "casting" part, come on, they should all be actors, especially since you've gone ahead and made many of them actors already. NICCCCCCHOLSON, not LENNNNNON. I guess finding two double-S (i.e. double-$) Bills who were both actors would've been a very tall order (impossible, actually). Still, it was annoying to have roughly half the names be actors (which seemed to fit the title) and then have the other names just be generally famous but non-acting people. Other than that, I guess the theme was fine. Cute, even. I know that the overall solving experience was grim, though. Too much crummy fill, too much weak cluing, not enough exciting or interesting answers. I was groaning and eye-rolling a lot today, with Peak Groan coming with TV TAPE, what on god's green earth is that supposed to be?! TV TAPE???! TV TAPE. I'm just going to keep saying it, hoping that through iteration, it will magically turn into something, something real, something someone has actually said before. Just gruesome. Embarrassing. How do you talk yourself into TV TAPE!? (21A: VCR medium). You gotta exercise discretion. You cannot let your wordlist push you around. There's so much of this going around—constructors who think that just because it's in their database, it's good. No experienced constructor is ever going to try to palm TV TAPE off on you. Criminal. Editorial malpractice. But since it's been used before, it's been used since—four times this century now. Precedent is not enough of a reason to include something. Certainly not something this unpleasant. (Every prior TVTAPE clue was [VCR insert]—I can't tell if this clue is better worse or same—probably same, in that I don't care, I just want the answer to go away)

I've heard of a HACKSAW, but not a BACKSAW (70A: Cutting tool with a reinforced spine), ugh. DCPOWER, another ugh (89D: What's generated by solar panels). Come on. Use real phrases, I'm begging you. I would accept DEAD HEAT as an answer (happily), but IN A DEAD HEAT is something like ON A SANDWICH, i.e. a phrase you might say, but that does not have enough standalone energy to stand alone. Never going to accept that MUCKER is a thing. One can muck stalls, but you would never (ever) call someone a MUCKER. Are READ-A-THONs real? Sounds made up. The tin-eared, no-respect-for-actual-usage quality of some of these answers is killing me. Such an annoying distraction. Why is MICA "glam rock?" (48D: Glam rock?). Is it ... shiny? Wikipedia says it's used in cosmetics and food (?) to add "shimmer" or "frost," OK. Did not know that. Also did not know ATE, which seems like absurd slang to me. Do people not have to ask you to repeat yourself? Why would you use ATE to mean "did a great job on" when ATE IT already means "did a terrible job on." I've seen James Harden and others (basketball players, that is) do this thing where they mime eating after they do something great—is that the context for this ATE? That clue was Trying way, way too hard to be ... what, youthful? I dunno. Rough. Oh, damn, just realized Harden's not eating—he's cooking! MY BAD. 

Never heard of CECIL the Looney Tunes turtle, which is weird, since I grew up on Looney Tunes cartoons. Maybe I have seen him but he's just so minor, so D-list as "LT" characters go, that I can't remember him. Come on, Joel—you could've clued him as [Pomona College sagehen mascot]. Real missed opportunity. Your alma mater is very disappointed. 

AU LAIT before BLACK (1A: One way to order coffee), OH I SEE before AH I SEE (110A: "Got it now"), TREYS before TRIPS (31D: Strong poker holding, informally), TAM before TAJ (57D: Cap worn by dervishes). Absolute prayer on the PAPAS / SALADIN crossing. Luckily I knew SALADIN enough (from being a medievalist) (55D: First sultan of both Syria and Egypt) to be able to best-guess the spelling, because PAPAS I was never gonna get (confidently) from that clue (72A: ___ fritas (Cuban French fries)). BEERAMID sounds like a quirky, original answer (36A: Drinker's structure made from stacked cans), but once it's been used (and it has, several times in the past few years now), its novelty wears off. Novelty terms like that are good once and then you really gotta leave them alone for ... well, a long time. See you in 2034, maybe, BEERAMID. Don't normally care about two-letter preposition dupes, but there sure are a lot of "IN"s today (WEAR IN, IN IT, I'M IN). Also "IT"s (Give IT A go, IT IS SO, IN IT (again)). Really didn't care for much about this puzzle outside the basic theme concept, which I think is solid, playful, entertaining. I just wish the fill had been stronger and the cluing much more ... much less ... well, different, anyhow. Apter. On the money-er. 

Peter Gordon's "A-to-Z Crosswords 2024 (Petite Pangram Puzzles)" is gearing up for a new season. 

Every day (including weekends) for 13 weeks you’ll get a 9×11 easy-to-medium crossword whose answer contains all 26 letters. They will be written by Peter Gordon and Frank Longo. The puzzles will be delivered to your email inbox in two forms: Across Lite, which can be solved on your computer, smartphone, or tablet; and pdf, which can be printed and solved on paper. All this for less than 17¢ a puzzle.

These are great fun, a welcome addition to my daily solving regimen (delivered right to my Inbox). At 9x11, it's not as much of a time commitment as a full 15x15 puzzle, but it's much more engaging than a typical Mini puzzle. I always learn a lot of words and names from Peter's puzzles, and since these puzzles always contain every letter of the alphabet, the fill is never dull. The Kickstarter ends today (Sunday, 6/2) at 10pm EDT, so sign up now. Right now. Totally worth it.

That's all. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Wampanoag chief of the 1600s also known as King Philip / MON 12-11-23 / Japanese bread crumbs / Partners of dits, in Morse code / Fish that are often prepared kabayaki-style / Gem whose name comes from "upala," the Sanskrit word for "precious stone"

Constructor: Luke K. Schreiber

Relative difficulty: Easy (Downs-Only, no sweat)

THEME: "IT'S ME AGAIN!" (62A: "I'm back!" ... or a hint to 17-, 24-, 38- and 51-Across) — theme answers both have "ME" in them twice, once at the beginning and then ... again, later:

Theme answers:

• MEGAMERGER (17A: Union of two major companies)
• METACOMET (24A: Wampanoag chief of the 1600s also known as King Philip) 
• MEAT THERMOMETER (38A: Temperature measurer for turkeys and roasts)
• METRONOME (51A: Ticking item that helps musicians keep time)

Word of the Day: METACOMET (24A) —

Metacom, (born c. 1638, Massachusetts—died August 12, 1676, Rhode Island), sachem (intertribal leader) of a confederation of indigenous peoples that included the Wampanoag and Narraganset. Metacom led one of the most costly wars of resistance in New England history, known as King Philip’s War (1675–76).

Metacom was the second son of Massasoit, a Wampanoag sachem who had managed to keep peace with the English colonizers of Massachusetts and Rhode Island for many decades. Upon Massasoit’s death (1661) and that of his eldest son, Wamsutta (English name Alexander), the following year, Metacom became sachem. He succeeded to the position during a period characterized by increasing exchanges of Indian land for English guns, ammunition, liquor, and blankets. He recognized that these sales threatened indigenous sovereignty and was further disconcerted by the humiliations to which he and his people were continually subjected by the colonizers. He was, for example, summoned to Taunton in 1671 and required to sign a new peace agreement that included the surrender of Indian guns.

Metacom’s dignity and steadfastness both impressed and frightened the settlers, who eventually demonized him as a menace that could not be controlled. For 13 years he kept the region’s towns and villages on edge with the fear of an Indian uprising. Finally, in June 1675, violence erupted when three Wampanoag warriors were executed by Plymouth authorities for the murder of John Sassamon, a tribal informer. Metacom’s coalition, comprising the Wampanoag, Narraganset, Abenaki, Nipmuc, and Mohawk, was at first victorious. However, after a year of savage fighting during which some 3,000 Indians and 600 colonists were killed, food became scarce, and the indigenous alliance began to disintegrate. Seeing that defeat was imminent, Metacom returned to his ancestral home at Mount Hope, where he was betrayed by an informer and killed in a final battle. He was beheaded and quartered and his head displayed on a pole for 25 years at Plymouth. (britannica.com) 

• • •

***ATTENTION: READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION (if it's currently mid-January, that's you!)*** : Hello from the first properly wintry week of the season in Central New York! 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. So ... 17 years ... not bad. At this time last year, I was recovering from COVID and still dealing with the very fresh grief brought on by the untimely death of my cat, Olive. I was very grateful for the blog at that point, since it grounded me in routine and gave me a place where I could lose myself in a pastime I love, and share that love with others. OK, yes, true, I don't always *love* crosswords. Sometimes it's more hate-love or love-hate or "Why are you being like this, you stupid puzzle!?" It ain't all positive vibes, as you know. But I realized last year that part of what makes this blog so fun for me, and what makes it a solace to many readers, is the sense of commiseration it provides. Sometimes the puzzle thrills you, and maybe I agree with you, and maybe I don't; and sometimes it infuriates you, and maybe I agree with you, and maybe I don't. But either way, the blog is here; it's *always* here. You get to have your feelings validated, or you get to shake your head at my errant judgment and often breathtaking ignorance, but either way, you get to share an experience that's an important part of your daily life, and maybe you learn something new. Above all, I hope you feel that there is a real person with a real life and real emotions and (very) real human flaws who's telling you what it was *really* like for him to solve the puzzle. I never wanted to be an expert, offering some kind of bloodless know-it-all advice and analysis. I wanted blood. Blood on the page. There will be blood! ... But also, music videos. And Words of the Day. And, if you hang around long enough, cat pictures. Like this one:

This is Ida (she put herself in the bin, I swear). Ida is the happy sequel to last year's grief. At the beginning of January, I was mourning. By the end of January, I was still mourning, but now I had a new companion (as did my other cat, Alfie, who *really* needed one). Why am I talking about my cats? Because they are constant, they give shape and rhythm to my day, and I love them even if they sometimes drive me crazy. Just like crossword puzzles! (See that! Segue! This is why you should pay me the big bucks!) 

However much I love writing this blog (and I do, a lot), it is, in fact, a job. This blog has covered the NYTXW every day, without fail, for 17 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. Every day. At very ... let's say, inconvenient hours (my alarm goes off most mornings at 3:45am). 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. But that sort of thing has never felt right for me. 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 cards, and once again those cards feature (wait for it) cats! My cats: Alfie & Ida. This year, an elegant set of five!

These really capture the combination of beauty and goofiness that I love in cats (and puzzles, frankly). I'd say "Collect All Five!" but every snail-mail contributor will get just one and (hopefully) like 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 and support. Please know that your support means a lot to me and my family. Now on to today's puzzle... 

• • •

Doesn't seem like a sufficiently restrictive concept. Theme answers start with "ME" ... and then "ME" appears "again," somewhere? You mean, like in MEDICINE MEN? MEANTIME? "MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS" (15!)*? There are probably a bunch more. This just doesn't seem like a very high bar, or even a very interesting lexical quirk. And it's not as if the themers are really giving you any sizzle. They're fine, but ... this seems pretty ... meager, as theme concepts go. Also, seems like the least you could do, if you're gonna make a big deal about the "ME"s in the themers, is not to have *any* other "ME"s in the grid, anywhere. But there's one in MESAS and there's another in MESSI and there's another in SMELT. It just doesn't seem like this puzzle is doing enough. Throw in the fact that the fill is something less than Just OK, with a couple of prime long Downs totally wasted on misfires, and you've got a rather listless Monday offering. It's a Meh from Me, I'm afraid. It took me a while to figure out what the basic premise was. I thought I saw a pattern developing with MEGA- then META- ... but MEAT- threw that all out of whack, and then METRONOME didn't even have two parts (at that point, I still thought METACOMET was a META-COMET ... you know, some kind of supercomet, or ... like, a comet that is commenting ironically on its own cometness, somehow—totally forgot it was a person). Figured out the double-ME thing just before the revealer. As for the revealer ... yeah, I guess people say that. Seems fine. But getting to that revealer was a pretty underwhelming experience. Easy puzzles don't have to be underwhelming, they truly don't. 

I know METACOMET has nothing to do with the prefix META- but it was still somehow distracting as hell to have META in the puzzle. Felt like a dupe. DEFROSTED and STALEMATE are solid entries, but MAGIC BEAN, oof and argh, that is rough in the singular. Jack has magic beans, plural. No one ever talks about a single MAGIC BEAN. Can't believe that the wordlist couldn't cough up something better than the singular MAGIC BEAN. Similarly disappointing: STAIR STEP. You mean ... a step? Or a stair? "Watch out for that last STAIR STEP!," shouted no one. Why are you bothering to distinguish a STAIR STEP from ... other steps. Steps on a ladder? Dance steps? It's not that STAIR STEP doesn't compute, it's just clunky and redundant-feeling. I actually had ATTIC STEP in there at first, as I was solving Downs-Only. ATTIC and STAIR share two letters in the same places, and two *more* of ATTIC's letters made sense in the crosses (AREA instead of ARES, SANTA instead of SANA'A). It's only because of the undeniability of METRONOME that I didn't trip on the ATTIC STEP. The "R" cross from that last themer forced me to see the reality of STAIR. Nothing else in the Downs-only solve caused any real trouble. I had HAM & Cheese before [MAC and cheese], but that's just a bad guess, and it was easily corrected. Getting every letter in METACOMET was probably the hardest task of the day, and that wasn't that hard.

This puzzle does have PANKO, which is tasty, and which I wouldn't mind seeing a lot more often. Five-letter words are so often Dullsville, and PANKO ... isn't. There's something fitting, if likely totally coincidental, about RAW appearing directly under MEAT THERMOMETER, and METRONOME crossing ON TIME, and (especially) DALI on LSD (while his paintings have certainly been likened to drug-induced hallucinations, he himself apparently didn't do drugs; his famous quote: "I don't do drugs, I am drugs!")

[Les Trois Sphinx de Bikini, 1947]

That's all, see you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*You couldn't actually do "MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS" as a theme answer today because you can't have "ME" appearing as "ME" ... but wow "MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS" is a great 15, someone should use that (again—it last appeared in 2006 ... in the 8th puzzle I ever wrote about!) (I didn't even post the finished grid back then!).

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