Handled vessel in a museum / SUN 3-15-26 / "Refreshing" web shortcut / Rejuvenate digitally / The "U" of UX / Alternative to X / Psychologist Solomon / Start of a pirate-y pillaging song / Some savanna groups / Las Vegas football player / Stile coins that have gone out of style / Olden honeyed drink / Expressions of appreciation, in texts / One of two elected magistrates to the ancient cursus honorum

Constructor: Miranda Kany

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium 

THEME: "History Course" — an "IDES" of March theme + a salad theme, all brought together by CAESAR (126A: This puzzle's subject, in two very different ways) (CAESAR is a salad type and "BEWARE THE IDES" was said to Caesar (in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) as a warning about his impending death (69A: Infamous warning for 126-Across ... and for solvers, when filling in seven squares in this puzzle?))

The "IDE"s:

• AIDED / IDÉE FIXE (1D: Provided assistance / 19A: Notion that's difficult to dispel)
• DIVIDEND / SPIDER (24A: Stockholder's portion / 9D: Certain silk spinner)
• HIDEOUT / NO IDEA (42A: Lair / 32D: "Haven't a clue")
• BEWARE THE IDES / GUIDE (69A see above / 59D: Tour leader)
• ASIDE / RAIDER (75A: Digressive remark / 64D: Las Vegas football player)
• PRIDES / STRIDE (110A: Some savanna groups / 92D: Big step)
• DERIDED / SNIDE (130A: Contemptuously laughed at / 123D: Slyly disparaging)

The CAESAR salad recipe:

• DIJON MUSTARD (4D: 3/4 teaspoon, Grey Poupon preferred)
• OLIVE OIL (7D: 1/2 cup, slowly drizzled and whisked to form an emulsion)
• LEMON JUICE (35A: 2 tbsp., for acidity)
• ROMAINE (22A: One large head, shredded, with the outer leaves discarded)
• GARLIC (51A: One clove, crushed)
• PEPPER (86A: Ground, black, to taste)
• BREAD CUBES (107A: One cup, seasoned and lightly toasted until crispy)
• ANCHOVY PASTE (67D: 2 tbsp., for a briny flavor)
• EGG YOLK (125A: One, coddled or raw, add an extra for a richer flavor)
• PARMESAN (89D: 1/2 cup, freshly grated)

Extra theme answer:

• MIDDLEMARCH (40D: George Eliot masterpiece ... or a punny hint to seven squares in this puzzle) (because the IDEs of March are in the "middle" of the month (i.e. the 15th, today))

Word of the Day: UX (37D: The "U" of UX = USER) —

User experience (UX) is how a user interacts with and experiences a product, system, or service. It includes a person's perceptions of utility, ease of use, and efficiency. Improving user experience is important to most companies, designers, and creators when creating and refining products because negative user experience can diminish the use of the product and, therefore, any desired positive impacts. Conversely, designing toward profitability as a main objective often conflicts with ethical user experience objectives and even causes harm. User experience is subjective. However, the attributes that make up the user experience are objective.

• • •

Well the theme density here is genuinely impressive. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. This is basically two complete themes in one. I mean, if just one of these themes had been the theme, that would've seemed ... maybe not totally sufficient, conceptually, but certainly sufficient by volume. I mean, there are ten ingredients in the damned CAESAR salad alone, and then seven "IDE"s, which means fourteen additional theme answers, plus CAESAR, plus MIDDLEMARCH, which (if my math is correct) means there are twenty-six (26!) theme answers total in today's puzzle. Absolutely bonkers. And the salad ingredients are all symmetrical!?! Truly, in terms of density and architectural complexity, this puzzle is spectacular. I just wish it had been more fun to solve. Finding a bunch of "IDE"s was kind of fun, I suppose, in that way that any rebus is fun because you have to hunt down the relevant squares, but ingredients of a CAESAR salad!?!?! Ten of them? Pretty boring. I kinda wish the puzzle had just stuck to the Julius CAESAR / hidden "IDE"s / MIDDLEMARCH of it all and ditched the CAESAR salad stuff entirely, in favor of making a much (much) more colorful and (esp.) cleaner grid. I'm much more impressed by cleverness than I am by sheer density, more drawn in by a theme that is conceptually tight and genuinely playful than I am by a theme that seems to be trying to cram in as much as possible. I was also distracted by two things that feel conspicuously missing from the puzzle. One such omission is the word SALAD, and the other, much more glaring omission is "OF MARCH." The quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is "BEWARE THE IDES of March"! The clue should say "Partial infamous warning," because that's what "BEWARE THE IDES" is. I suppose MIDDLEMARCH running through the middle of "BEWARE THE IDES..." is supposed to somehow make up for, or make me forget about, the missing "OF MARCH," but honestly that bit just feels sloppy. I can see that architecturally, the puzzle is quite meticulously planned, but as I was solving, it felt confused and messy. The idea seems to have been that two just-OK themes smushed together would add up to something more than just OK. But for me, that just did not happen. 

The SW corner is ... in need of deletion. CTRLR? (108D: "Refreshing" web shortcut). Uh, yes, that's a debut, but I don't think you should be proud of it [repeatedly slaps "Not All Debuts Are Good" sign]. RIS? It hurts. The Grafton answers always hurt. Any letter of the alphabet + IS, bah! RIS used to be clued as a Parisian's laugh or as the culinary RIS de veau, but in the Modern Era, it's usually "R IS for [something]," and it's always ugly. But the worst answer down there has to be TYS (118D: Expressions of appreciation, in texts). Time was, if you had to use TYS, you clued it as "multiple guys named Ty." So, [Cobb and others], e.g. Then in 2023 someone got the idea that it could be the plural form of a texting abbr. that is never (ever ever ever) pluralized. Ever. By anyone. Ever. And now here's TYS again with the same damned preposterous clue. "TY" is indeed an abbr. for "thank you." But I swear to you that it is unpluralizable. It would be like if I saw PLSS or THXS or BRBS or CYAS in a grid. Like, what? What are you doing? 

Most of the "IDE"s are tucked into short answers, so we don't even get the benefit of very many inventive hiding places. I really liked IDÉE FIXE, but then NO IDEA came along and basically doubled up "idea" (Fr. "idea" + English "idea"), which is a no-no, or should be. Further YOHO cannot stand alone, no matter what past crosswords have told you (58D: Start of a pirate-y pillaging song). Also, "5/8" is V-E Day, not V-DAY!!!! Again, I'm baffled by the cluing there (57A: 5/8 or 2/14). In short, I think this puzzle is a true architectural marvel. It just bored me (when it wasn't outright bugging me). 

Bullets:

• 41A: Psychologist Solomon (ASCH) — never heard of him. Apparently really important in the psychology of conformity. ASCH crossing USER (37D: The "U" of UX) was probably the toughest part of the puzzle for me (I'd never heard of "UX" and assumed that the "U" stood for UBER) (UBER X is a thing, after all—six NYTXW appearances since 2021).
• 25A: Handled vessel in a museum (AMPHORA) — very pleased that this technical term came to me rather quickly. I don't think I've ever seen an AMPHORA outside of a museum or heard one referred to outside of (art) history books.
• 39A: ___ Jones, bobsledder and hurdler who has competed in both Winter and Summer Olympics (LOLO) — I kinda sorta remember her, but it's been a while since she was in the spotlight (late '00s, early '10s). I get that it's a big deal to have been an Olympian in two completely different sports (hurdler in '08 and '12, bobsledder in '14), but ... if you don't win a medal, your name just isn't gonna have legs (even if it's as crossword-friendly as LOLO). I'm surprised that it took this long to get her in the puzzle. LOLO has made two other appearances in the Modern Era, both times as Obama's stepfather, LOLO Soetoro.

• 73A: Creature to take a gander at on Haleakala? (NENE) — cutesy clue for crosswordese. A NENE is a Hawaiian goose (hence the "gander" pun).
• 94D: Alternative to X (BLUE SKY) — social media app. The only one I use with any regularity. It's like Twitter before it got captured by a billionaire white supremacist. Unlike X, it doesn't push its users rightward without their even noticing. 
• 129A: Stile coins that have gone out of style (TOKENS) — I don't think "style" has anything to do with it. Are rotary phones out of style? Or were they just rendered obsolete by newer and more efficient technology? I guess the "stile" / "style" pun was too tempting.
• 113D: Open before December 25? (PEEK) — "peeking" is not "opening." These are not synonyms. 
• 15D: Curmudgeon's exclamation (BAH!) — yes! True! This curmudgeon says BAH! An accurate clue!
• 116D: Olden honeyed drink (MEAD) — it's true that this drink is associated with "olden" (specifically Anglo-Saxon) times, but it's still around.

[Ornamental chalice not required]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I'm pleased to announce that These Puzzles Fund Abortion is back for a sixth installment. These benefit puzzle collections have raised nearly $400,000 (!?!?!) for abortion funds since 2021. The puzzles are made by some of the best in the business, and having worked on the test-solving and editing end of things in past years, I can attest to how much effort goes into maintaining high puzzle standards. This year's collection includes

• 15 full-size American-style crosswords

• 3 cryptic crosswords

• 1 variety cryptic crossword

• 1 “rows garden” variety puzzle

• 1 acrostic

The constructor / editor list is absolutely stacked. All you gotta do is donate $25 and you get all 21 puzzles. Donate $50 or more and you get every TPFA puzzle ever published—that's 123 puzzles in all. You will receive your puzzles as a zip file, with the puzzles coming in both .puz format (for solving on computer using solving software Across Lite or Black Ink) and as PDFs (if printing puzzles out and solving them on paper is more your thing). Click here to read more about the puzzle collection, and here to donate.

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Cunning, like Mr. Tod or Swiper / TUES 1-27-26 / Wrangler on the road / Britishly precious / Trickster figure in Native American folklore

Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday of January. Hope you’re all staying warm and not slipping and sliding in the snow. We got about seven inches of snow here in D.C., though a lot of that was sleet. Some friends and I went on a walk with my pup, and she had a wonderful time; almost no cars were on the road, so we had the streets mostly to ourselves. Then we made lasagna soup while watching football, and one of the two games went my way (boo, Patriots; go, Seahawks!). Otherwise, I’ve been staying busy watching a lot of the Australian Open (go, Coco!), and reading lots — while finding any reason not to step foot outside (other than for my puppy, of course). 

ANYHOO, on to the puzzle…

Constructors: Miranda Kany and Tracy Bennett

Relative difficulty: Easier than a usual Tuesday

THEME: EMPTY NESTER (54A: Metaphor for a parent whose youngest has "launched" ... like the little bird whose progress is suggested by 21-, 33- and 41-Across) — Each of the theme answers describes baby birds in sequential order as they learn to fly and leave the nest

Theme answers:

• IN THE STICKS (21A: Far from any urban center, colloquially) 
• OUT ON A LIMB (33A: Potentially at risk, metaphorically) 
• FLYING HIGH (41A: In a soaring mood, so to speak)

Word of the Day: ERIVO (2D: "Wicked" co-star Cynthia __) —

Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Amarachukwu Owezuke Echimino Erivo (born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work on both stage and screen, she is the recipient of several accolades and one of a few individuals nominated for an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (EGOT), winning all but the Oscar… Erivo's work for “The Color Purple” won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, as well as a Daytime Emmy Award. (Wiki)

• • •

That was a nice puzzle with a cute theme. It was so nice and so unobjectionable that I’m struggling to even find much to say about it. I liked the way the theme answers progressed as a little bird does. And each of the phrases, while clued in colloquial terms, describes birds nicely. I did think the clue for the theme answer could have been a little tighter, as the “youngest” isn’t always the last to leave the metaphorical nest in a household. But that’s a nit. 

There seemed to be a lot of duplicate clue/answer combos in the puzzle, which was clever. Like obviously MAMA (10A: Cry from a crib, perhaps) and PAPA (56D: Cry from a crib, perhaps). PETAL (1A: Potpourri piece) sits on top of A / ROSE (14A: Came up) if you look at it that way. ALOHA (7D: Hi in HI) is directly above LEI (34D: Floral ring). OPRY (37A: Nashville has a "grand ole" one) and REO (38A: ___ Speed Wagon (old vehicle)) are tangentially related, as the Grand Ole OPRY is a country music venue, and REO, though clued differently, was an American rock band. Both FOXY (41D: Cunning, like Mr. Tod or Swiper) and COYOTE (24A: Trickster figure in Native American folklore) were in the puzzle. And LOUNGED (42D: Chillaxed, say) and IDLED (52D: Did diddly-squat) are another duplication of sorts. Both IVS (20A: Hosp. hookups) and a DOSE (67A: Medical measure) are given in hospitals. The one place this didn’t work is how both LOTS (18A: Heaps) and LOT (32D: Area to build on) are in the puzzle, which seems like an oversight. Initially, I thought it was clever having LOTS cross SITES (8D: Loci), but not with another LOT in the puzzle. I didn’t like that… a LOT. 

There weren’t many proper nouns or, more specifically, people in the puzzle, which might’ve made it easier for me. The only people are ALEC Guinness (11D), Rita ORA (37D), Issa RAE (62D), and Cynthia ERIVO (2D) — all of whom are either common in crosswords or are well-known. I did puzzle over NOAH (59A: "Captain" on Mount Ararat) for a bit before realizing it meant NOAH of NOAH’s ark. “Captain” seems like an odd way to describe him. 

I loved some of the words and phrases in the puzzle. TOPSY TURVY (3D: Downside-up) is my absolute favorite. It’s just so fun to say and invokes such a fun idea. I also think ROUGH HOUSE (30D: Engage in boisterous activity) is a good expression. URCHIN (51A: Ragamuffin) is a great word, supported by another great word, “ragamuffin,” in its clue. I love a SLUSH fund (47A). (We’ll certainly be getting a lot of SLUSH here in D.C. after the snow eventually starts to melt, if it’s ever no longer 12 degrees every day.) And I love a MOJITO (10D: Cuban rum cocktail), though my go-to cocktail is usually a margarita or possibly now a Cosmopolitan. I also love the word MOOT (55D: Debatable), though my first thought was for the definition of something having no relevance, rather than something debatable. TWEE (57D: Britishly precious) is another fun word. 

Amusingly, the place I got the most stuck was with ANYHOO (45A: "Moving right along ..."). I use that word in every one of my write-ups, and I’ve declared (potentially incorrectly, but oh, well) that I will always spell it “anywho,” so it was hard to wrap my head around a different spelling. It didn’t help that HETHEY (46D: Possible pronoun pairing) originally looked strange to me before I parsed it out as HE / THEY. But knowing that FOXY (41D) had to be the answer helped me figure out it was ANYHOO. And the crosses for HE / THEY (46D) were pretty straightforward. 

I didn’t love NIP AT (17A: Give friendly bites, as a puppy might) or TAG ON (27A: Add as an afterthought) as they’re those types of clues that feel like they could be any number of different, blah answers. I RULE (61A: "Yay me!") feels childish. I don’t think of a DISC (3D: Chip shape) as the shape of a chip. If we’re talking computer chips, those are fabricated on discs, sure, but they’re cut into rectangles before they wind up in your electronics. And it took me longer than it really should have to get OATY (25D: Like some cookies and milk) because I thought that the clue was describing them together, rather than what each one of them could be. 

But overall, this was a cute and quick puzzle to snuggle up with on a cold winter night.

Misc.:

• With FOXY (41D: Cunning, like Mr. Tod or Swiper), all I could think about is Dora the Explorer (and me, when you were supposed to chant along with her) saying “Swiper, no swiping.” What a cunning little fox. 
• I got STAY (66A: Corset component) quite easily thanks to the multitude of historical romances I’ve read! 
• One of the most remarkable performances I’ve seen was from Cynthia ERIVO (2D) at the Tony Awards in 2016, where she sang “I’m Here” from “The Color Purple” and won the award for Best Actress in a Musical. I get chills every single time. She’s the reason the Hamilton cast didn’t sweep the musical acting awards that year, and I’m OK with that. She’s incredible. 
• Here’s a pic of Red enjoying the snow, and here’s a pic of me carrying her when she got cold — 
• 
• 
• I ended my last write-up in 2025 with my list of favorite books, so I thought I’d keep that trend going. My favorite book of 2026 so far is the very first book I read in it — “My Friends” by Fredrik Backman. It had me crying and laughing at the same time, in equal measures. 
• Finally, a PSA: The Olympics start on Feb. 6! By the time I’m back for a write-up, the Olympics will be over. So everyone needs to make sure to watch the Alpine skiing for Mikaela Shiffrin (and all the sports, of course)!

That’s all from me! Stay warm, and I’ll see ya in February.

Signed, Clare Carroll, mother of a soon-to-be SLUSH puppy

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Bit of pork, but not in a congressional bill / WED 10-11-23 / Garlic in Guadalajara / People of northern Scandinavia / Alternative to mushrooms / Fitting way to invest in Campbell's / Nut once used as an ingedient in Coke

Constructor: Miranda Kany

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: CAJUN (29D: Cuisine with [circled letters], whose ingredients are the answers to the italicized clues) — theme answers are ingredients to JAMBALAYA (which is spelled out in circled squares scattered across the top and bottom rows):

Theme answers:

• ONION (16A: Real tear-jerker?)
• ANDOUILLE (17A: Bit of pork, but not in a congressional bill)
• PEPPER (26A: Stuff it!)
• CAYENNE (29A: Something that's red-hot in the kitchen?)
• CHICKEN (48A: Scaredy-cat)
• CELERY (50A: Stick in a salad?)
• WHITE RICE (64A: What pales in comparison to other carbs?)
• STOCK (66A: Fitting way to invest in Campbell's)

Word of the Day: LUCAS Sinclair (62A: "Stranger Things" kid) —

Lucas Sinclair is one of the four central protagonists (alongside Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Will Byers) of the Stranger Things franchise. 

He is one of the four original protagonists. He also serves as the main protagonist of the novel, Lucas on The Line. 

He is the older brother to Erica Sinclair, the best friend of Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Eleven, as well as the boyfriend of Max Mayfield. 

He is portrayed by Caleb McLaughlin, who also voiced Gary Goodspeed as a child in Final Space. (hero.fandom.com)

• • •

We've definitely had one of these "here are the ingredients to some food or beverage"-type themes before, and I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. I just don't get it. It's just a list. It's a list of ingredients. So what? Where's the "puzzle"? The cleverness, the wordplay, the anything? I see that the puzzle is desperately *trying* to make it seem like there are "puzzle"-like elements here ... the nonconsecutive squares spelling out "JAMBALAYA" strewn across the top and bottom of the grid ... the italicized clues, with their frequently strained attempts at wordplay. But non-consecutively spelling things is a giant shrug, and the cutesy "?" clues are just the ordinary type of clues one might see in any grid. And the thing is, those aren't even written with any kind of playful consistency, something that would give the theme clues some kind of coherence. They're just ... italicized. And then wacky ... but only sometimes? And the clues are about the food items themselves ... except when they're not? (i.e. the ONION and ANDOUILLE etc. are clued as what they are (foodstuffs), whereas CHICKEN ... is clued as [Scaredy-cat]). The theme clues should have something in common besides the fact that they're italicized. A common cluing approach or tone or ... something. But they're all over the map. Worse, the majority seem to want to do one thing (wackiness), but then a few just sit there and refuse to go along, so it looks not like a bunch of random clues but like a theme attempt that just went wrong or didn't quite work out. Further, PEPPER on its own seemed odd. Is it a GREEN PEPPER? A BELL PEPPER? I assume so, because the *other* kind of PEPPER, the hot one, is ... right next to it, so you get this awkward PEPPER CAYENNE sequence (which is like how the French or maybe Yoda would say CAYENNE PEPPER), with the adjectival part following the noun. The "funny" is bizarrely forced in some of the clues, especially ANDOUILLE (17A: Bit of pork, but not in a congressional bill). Why would I suspect pork meant congressional bill, as my first guess for what pork might be? It's like the clue is telling me what the misdirection *would have been*, if this had been a misdirection clue, which it isn't. The whole puzzle feels like a rough draft. Like it needed more time to cook.

Is the AJO in the JAMBALAYA? Do you put AJO in JAMBALAYA? Pretty sure you do, only here it's just sitting there, outside the theme, and in Spanish. A stray would-be themer. "Hey guys, what about me?" Sorry, AJO, I know you're in a central position, but you're not part of the action today. You just sit there and look fresh (it's been 28 years since AJO was in the grid!). I enjoyed learning AJO—the puzzle was so easy and the theme so straightforward that AJO felt like a real point of interest today. Had a nice false-theme moment when I thought ROCK MUSIC was going to be ROCK [&] ROLL at 14A: Output of the Rolling Stones, appropriately. An ampersand rebus!, I thought. But then no. Just a recipe. I like ANDOUILLE as an answer, and thought that since it was italicized and had a wacky-clue, maybe there was some wordplay going on in the answer ... stared at ANDOUILLE for a bit trying to imagine what that could be, then moved on, eventually discovering that no ... it's just a recipe. So the first two long Acrosses each gave me hopeful theme vibes, which made my eventual discovery of the actual theme that much more disappointing. The fill is pretty disappointing today too. A parade of STALES: ELWES, EENY, ACER, ICEE, RIRI, ENT, AEON, MUSÉE, ALOE, etc. None of it gruesome, but too much of it ho-hum. I enjoyed seeing ITHACA. I try to get up there several times a month to see a movie at Cinemapolis and maybe grab something to eat (this past weekend, it was Ethiopian food at Hawi). Here's a picture of me a few weeks ago in ITHACA with crossword constructors Robyn Weintraub (a Cornell alum, and Cornell mom, and Cornell booster) and Rachel Fabi (who teaches bioethics at Upstate Medical University in nearby Syracuse):

[I'm the tall one]

It's approaching peak leaf season, so it's a good time to get up that part of the country, or any part of the NE with deciduous trees. My maples are about a week or so from peaking. They're mostly shedding, much to the dismay of my constantly leaf-battling neighbor. We just let the leaves sit so kids can play in them and people can take pictures. One lady even asked if she could take a leaf home with her once, because she missed autumn and didn't have turning leaves wherever she lived now. I was like "uh, it's a leaf ... there are thousands ... so yes, please, help yourself!" Anyway, enjoy whatever fall beauty you've got. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Panegyric poet / WED 3-8-23 / Fabulous fabulist / Marine fish that's also the name of a hairstyle / Saskatchewan's second-largest city, after Saskatoon / Former Wyoming representative Liz / Reverse a thumbs-up for, on Facebook

Constructor: Miranda Kany

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Guacamole" — theme answers are ingredients for guacamole, clued as recipe instructions. The word "Guacamole" is spelled out by shaded (here, circled) squares that you are supposed to read clockwise starting from the top:

Theme answers:

• ONION (3D: "One small red minced, for crunch and tang")
• GARLIC (4D: "Three cloves minced, for depth and aroma")
• SALT (11D: "One teaspoon, pink or black, for emphasis")
• CILANTRO (22A: "1/2 cup coarsely chopped, for bright (or soapy) flavor")
• AVOCADO (40A: "About two cups cubed, after peeling and pitting")
• JALAPEÑO (55A: "One seeded and minced, for heat")
• CUMIN (53D: "1/2 teaspoon, for a little extra flavor ... really, try it!")
• TOMATO (49D: "One vine-ripe chopped, for texture and color")
• LIME (57D: "One small juiced, for citrus notes, and to preserve color")

Word of the Day: TINO Martinez (13D: Baseball's Martinez) —

Constantino "Tino" Martinez (born December 7, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1990 through 2005. He also served as a hitting coach for the Miami Marlins in 2013. He is known as "Tino", a shortened version of his first name, but was also nicknamed "The Bam-tino" after his home run in game 1 of the 1998 World Series. Formerly a third baseman, Martinez was the first round draft pick for the Seattle Mariners in 1988 out of the University of Tampa, where he starred during his time on campus. During his 16-year MLB career, he scored 1,009 runs, drove in 1,271 runs, and hit 339 home runs. He had 100 or more RBI in six different seasons and was twice named to the All-Star team. (wikipedia)

• • •

The real [Baseball's Martinez] 

Well I love guacamole, but this puzzle ... I don't know. I don't think I get it. That is, it's just a list of ingredients. That is all that it is. It seems to try to make up for this with some shaded (circled) squares that spell the "revealer" ("Guacamole"), but those squares are ... what are they doing? Are they supposed to form the outline of an AVOCADO? I can almost imagine that, if I squint and also am very generous. But if random squares that you read "clockwise" are still random squares. It is not going to be hard to find any of these letters in any given grid, and in a very choppy, high word-count grid like this, you can probably make a very vague "clockwise" scheme come out pretty easily. It's possible that the large amount of theme content (*Nine* ingredients!), made filling the grid more of a challenge than filling a similarly-shaped grid would've been under less demanding circumstances, but still, the "clockwise" revealer is kind of a dud, and it's a dud that's trying to make up for an insubstantial theme. This puzzle is just missing some essential *crossword* element. It doesn't seem playful or gamelike. It's a list. And the addition of CUMIN ... trust me, I do not want to get into the Guacamole Culture Wars ("Peas! How dare you!"), and I have no doubt that CUMIN is, as the clue suggests, quite good in guacamole, but its presence here is so painfully, obviously about making the ingredient list come out symmetrical that it had me going "really? come on." It is the notable outlier, as far as standard guacamole recipes go, and it knows it (the clue wouldn't be trying so hard to convince you it was valid if it was in fact valid) ("... really, try it!"). Overall, it's hard to be excited about this one, except insofar as I am always in some small way excited about guacamole. But I'll try the CUMIN. I promise.

The fill isn't great. I nearly took a screenshot early on because I got that NW corner feeling again today—the feeling when I'm only a few answers in and I can tell already that things aren't going to go well. ECO EON EELS ... OK, but then LUI on top of that? Yeesh. The rest of the grid had similar problems with stale repeaters. ODIST!? That's twice this week I think for that one—a word only a crossword could love. The only part of the fill I really like is the REGINA MULLET SPEEDO stack. Getting quite the picture—of a pasty Canadian dude with a bad haircut in tight swimwear. In my head, he's drinking Labatt's. He's got a MACAW on one shoulder and a MYNA on the other. He is a heroic figure of freedom. He should be on coins. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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