Form of algae also known as rockweed / SUN 12-31-23 / Crispy Japanese cutlet / Condo-organizing Kondo / Reality star Theresa of "Long Island Medium"

Constructor: Matt Linzer and Rafael Musa

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "It's Going Down" — the BALL DROP (seen in TIMES SQUARE on NEW YEAR'S EVE) is depicted, literally, five times in this puzzle; that is, five Across clues have both "Before midnight" and "After midnight" clues, with the "Before midnight" clue leading to a regular old Across answer, but the "After midnight" clue making sense only if you follow the BALL DROP (i.e. the word "BALL" going Down), and then continue on with the Across letters that stem from the end of "BALL"...

Theme answers:

• BALL DROP (86D: End-of-December tradition depicted five times in this puzzle)
• NEW YEAR'S EVE (29A: When to see the 86-Down)
• TIMES SQUARE (119A: Where to see the 86-Down)

Theme answers ("Before Midnight"):

• HERBIVORE (23A: Before midnight: Sloth, e.g.)
• POWER BROKER (25A: Before midnight: One with major influence)
• WATER BILLS (68A: Before midnight: Some household expenses)
• FOOT BATHS (62A: Before midnight: Devices with warm water and massaging rollers)
• GO BEYOND (87A: Before midnight: Surpass)

Theme answers ("After Midnight"):

• HERBAL LOTIONS (36A: After midnight: Ointments infused with cottonwood or calendula, e.g.)
• POWER BALLADS (40A: After midnight: Journey's "Open Arms" and Guns N' Roses' "November Rain," e.g.)
• WATER BALLET (85: After midnight: Synchronized swimming)
• FOOTBALL GAME (77A: After midnight: Event for Cowboys or Broncos)
• GO BALLISTIC (109A: After midnight: Totally lose it)

Word of the Day: KATSU (124A: Japanese crispy cutlet) —

(n.) resuscitation of an unconscious judoka (merriam-webster.com)

JUDOKA (n.) — : one who participates in judo (merriam-webster.com)

Katsu (Chinese: 喝; Pinyin: hè, Wade-Giles: ho; Cantonese: hot3^ⓘ, rōmaji: katsu) is a shout that is described in Chan and Zen Buddhism encounter-stories, to expose the enlightened state (Japanese: satori) of the Zen-master, and/or to induce initial enlightenment experience in a student.^[1][2] The shout is also sometimes used in the East Asian martial arts for a variety of purposes; in this context, katsu is very similar to the shout kiai. (wikipedia)

Tonkatsu (豚カツ, とんかつ or トンカツ, pronounced [toŋkatsɯ]; "pork cutlet") is a Japanese dish that consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. It involves coating slices of pork with panko (bread crumbs), and then frying them in oil. The two main types are fillet and loin. Tonkatsu is also the basis of other dishes such as katsukarē and katsudon. // The word tonkatsu is a combination of the Sino-Japanese word ton (豚) meaning "pig", and katsu (カツ), which is a shortened form of katsuretsu (カツレツ), an old transliteration of the English word "cutlet", which was in turn adopted from the French word côtelette. (wikipedia)

• • •

***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... 

• • •

This one felt pretty anticlimactic. Yesterday's lackluster confetti puzzle really did this puzzle a disservice. This is the much more substantial holiday theme. Yesterday, there were just 8 unchecked squares that spelled out CONFETTI, and then a weak revealer (PARTY) and then a bunch of individual black squares that "turned into" confetti when you finished the puzzle (assuming you solved in the app an not on paper). That puzzle was clearly New Year's Eve-themed, or trying to be, and CONFETTI was spelled out in giant circle or "ball" shape, that I speculated might (?) be an attempt to depict the ball that drops on NEW YEAR'S EVE in TIMES SQUARE. And now here we are, on the Actual Holiday, and you've got an Actual BALL DROP theme, but it all feels kind of belated. And no confetti. This one deserves confetti much Much more than yesterday's puzzle did. At least this one had an actual *theme* related to the ball dropping, and not just a post-solve pictorial element. Even so, even if you ignore the fact that yesterday's puzzle took some of the wind out of today's puzzle's sails, this one had some issues that kept it from landing perfectly. The main one was the theme cluing—seems like both "Before midnight" and "After midnight" clues should've originated from the same number, since both answers originate from the same place. Very weird / awkward to have the "After midnight" clue attached to the Across entry that is just the tail end of the "After midnight" answer, since the actual answer begins much earlier, before the BALL drops. So, yeah, weird to have the "After midnight" clues linked to "entries" like LISTIC and LGAME. Also, only one of these theme answer sets is truly perfect, in my mind: WATER BILLS / WATER BALLET—that is the only set where a. BALL is hidden inside the longer answer (that is, where it doesn't mean "ball," as it does in "Power Ball" or "Football") [UPDATE: oof, my mistake here, “Power Ball”is not part of either answer, just a trick my eye played on me] and b. the second Across part actually looks like a standalone (albeit unclued) word unrelated to the longer answer it's a part of (LOTIONS can stand alone, obviously, but it's the actual word in the "After midnight" answer, whereas the LET at the end of WATER BALLET looks like a standalone word but is totally unrelated to the longer answer of which it is a part). Nice, elegant execution of the theme on WATER BILLS / WATER BALLET. All the others just get by.

I do think the theme is both more ambitious and just generally better than yesterday's theme, and I think the "Before / After midnight" concept is pretty ingenious. The execution just felt a little clunky. And again, the Saturday premature NYE puzzle didn't do this puzzle any favors. Today's theme took me a little while to pick up because of the confusing way the thematic clues were numbered, as well as because SIN was sitting right underneath the theme answer whose clue was [Sloth, e.g.], and I was certain, *certain*, it was thematic—that somehow [Sloth, e.g.] with SIN right underneath it was part of the whole "It's Going Down" theme. Like ... if you look Down (one row), you can see a different meaning for the theme clue (!?). SIN would certainly make perfect sense for [Sloth, e.g.]. Anyway, red herring, and one that probably only I could see.

Seems like NIGHT (60A: "What hath ___ to do with sleep?": Milton) is a bad answer to have in a grid where your theme clues all have "night" in them. That was probably the hardest answer for me to get in the whole grid (and I teach Milton regularly—is that Paradise Lost quote*** famous? If so, it somehow eluded me).  Never heard of a BUG OUT BAG (39D: Evacuation survival pack). That reeks of overstuffed wordlist. The term is GO BAG. I'm not saying BUG OUT BAG doesn't exist, just that it seems far less common. I've heard GO BAG a lot. BUG OUT BAG, as I say, never. SEA OAK also seems like something you'd never know existed unless your wordlist told you (94D: Form of algae also known as rockweed). Impossible to imagine voluntarily watching even one second of something called "Long Island Medium," so CAPUTO!? (32A: Reality star Theresa of "Long Island Medium"). CAPU-no! No way on god's green earth. All crosses. Most of the rest of the fill seems fine. A little heavy on the preposition-ending phrases (EYEING UP, RANTS AT, NEW TO). Pretty sure the term is SAW LOGS, not SAW WOOD (10D: Snore, idiomatically). 

I don't think there are any particularly dangerous crosses today. HEPA / PIPET seems like a possible tough spot. Maybe SEA OAK / KATSU (anyone go with SEA OAT / TATSU? Probably not, but it's fun to imagine). Anything need explaining? ESS is the first letter (i.e. "kickoff") of "soccer" (8A: Soccer kickoff?). No idea what a SHAKA is (didn't know that "hand sign" had a name), but I've seen it in crosswords before, so it came to me eventually (18A: "Hang loose" hand sign). I assume the "three-ingredient sandwich" in question at 84A: Fourth ingredient in a classic three-ingredient sandwich (MAYO) is a BLT. My first thought was PB&J, but then I remembered that the P and B are just one ingredient, and also that MAYO on a PB&J sandwich would probably induce vomiting. OK, well ... that's all for this year! My favorite puzzle of the year was this Andy Kravis puzzle from The New Yorker ("A Freudian Puzzle") (July 14, 2023). The execution is flawless, and it's legit funny. Truly amazing. Did you have any favorite puzzles or clues this year? Share them in the comments; maybe I'll mention some tomorrow. 

Time now for the last Holiday Pet Pics of the year (don't worry, I have enough to last many days into the new year (again, please, no more submissions this year). What do we got today? Puppies under trees!

[Bella and Cody are dreaming of Christmas cookies, I'm told. I don't know how Martha knows that, but it seems plausible (thanks, Martha)]

Another Hanukkitty!

[CJ looks ready to battle the flames. Again, I don't know how Hanukkities aren't constantly on fire (thanks, Mara)]

Another cat in tree... or ... wait ... is Clementine *in* the tree? If so, she is ornament-sized:

[This one makes me laugh every time because I just cannot see the cat until ... I see it ... quietly plotting my death (thanks, Richard)]

Here's Henry, trying to act casual:

["Yeah, I know, Charred Skeleton Elf and Elf-on-the-Shelf, right behind me. Just be cool, man. Ignore them, maybe they'll go away..." (thanks, Mary)]

Some cross-species siblings today, Moose and Lucy! 

["I am overwhelmed, please come get me"]

[I am good elf, please give me assorted foodstuffs to wrap, I won't eat them this time I promise" (thanks, Spencer)]

And finally, because it's appropriate, my first (and so far only) New Year's Pet Pic! This is photo-shopped, but I don't care. A cat in a monocle is a cat in a monocle, and it's gonna win me over every time

[Thanks, Suzanne]

Happy New Year, everyone.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

***The Milton quotation is from Comus, not Paradise Lost. I lazily trusted Google, which returns the following as the top response (from Quora) when you Google the quotation:

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