Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: Owen Bergstein

Constructor: Owen Bergstein

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: United States v. Windsor (32A: Subject of United States v. Windsor (2013)) —

United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. 744 (2013), is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages, was a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, a same-sex couple residing in New York, had their marriage recognized by the state of New York in 2008; Spyer died in 2009, leaving her entire estate to Windsor. Windsor sought to claim the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses, but was barred from doing so by Section 3 of DOMA. Seeking a refund, Windsor sued the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. [...] District Judge Barbara S. Jones ruled that Section 3 of DOMA was unconstitutional, and her ruling was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari in December 2012 and handed down its judgment on June 26, 2013. In the majority opinion, which was joined by four other justices, Justice Anthony Kennedy declared Section 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional "as a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment". He further wrote: "The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity." Four justices filed dissenting opinions, including Justice Antonin Scalia, who argued that the Court had "no power under the Constitution to invalidate this democratically adopted legislation". [...]
Two years later, in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage, ruling that marriage is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. (wikipedia)

• • •

***ATTENTION: READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS IN SYNDICATION (if you're reading this in January, that's you!)*** : 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. Writing this blog is a joy, but it is also a job—an everyday, up-by-4am job. My morning schedule is regular as hell. So regular that my cats know my routine and will start walking all over me if I even *stir* after 3am. You ever lie there in the early morning, dying to simply roll over or stretch, but knowing that the second you do, the second you so much as budge, the cats will take it as a signal that you're through with sleep and ready to serve them? So you just lie perfectly still, trying to get every ounce of bedrest you can before the cats ruin it all? That's me, every morning. I guess you could say they "help" get me up on time to write, but come on, I have an alarm for that. The cats are adorable, but frankly they're no help at all. After I feed them, I go upstairs to write, and what do they do? They go straight back to sleep. Here I'll show you. This was two days ago, when I came downstairs after writing:

And this was yesterday, same time:

Those pictures are from two different days, I swear. And I'm guessing when I go downstairs this morning, I'll find much the same thing. They are beautiful creatures, but they cannot solve or type or bring me warm beverages. When it comes to blogging, I'm on my own. And look, I'm not asking for pity. The truth is, I love my life (and my cats), but the truth *also* is that writing this blog involves a lot of work. I get up and I solve and I write, hoping each day to give you all some idea of what that experience was like for me, as well as some insight into the puzzle's finer (or less fine) qualities—the intricacies of its design, the trickiness of its clues, etc. The real value of the blog, though, is that it offers a sort of commiseration. While I like to think my writing is (at its best) entertaining, I know that sometimes all people need is someone who shares their joy or feels their pain. If you hate a clue, or get stuck and struggle, or otherwise want to throw the puzzle across the room, you know I'm here for you, and that even if my experience is not identical to yours, I Understand! I understand that even though "it's just a puzzle," it's also a friend and a constant companion and a ritual and sometimes a Betrayer! I don't give you objective commentary—I give you my sincere (if occasionally hyperbolic) feelings about the puzzle, what it felt like to solve it. I can dress those feelings up in analytical clothes, sure, but still, ultimately, I'm just one human being out here feeling my puzzle feelings. And hopefully that makes you feel something too—ideally, something good, but hey I'm not picky. Whatever keeps you coming back! Hate-readers are readers too!

Whatever kind of reader you are, you're a reader, and I would appreciate your support. This blog has covered the NYTXW every day, without fail, for over eighteen (18!?) 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. 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. And maybe I'd make more money that way, I don't know, but that sort of thing has never felt right for me. And honestly, does anyone really need yet another subscription to manage? As I've said in years past, 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 card, and once again the card features (wait for it) cats!

Ida & Alfie, my little yin/yang sleepers! (They're slowly becoming friends, but don't tell them that—it makes them mad and they will deny 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. Please know that your support means a lot to me and my family. Now on to today's puzzle...

• • •

This one was trying real, Real hard to be current, contemporary, now, "original," and sometimes it works, but LOL I'm supposed to know Doja Cat's real name?? Isn't it enough that I know Doja Cat at all? AMALA is never going to be good fill no matter how you clue it, no matter who it's attached to (7D: Doja Cat's given first name, for which her debut album is named). As with yesterday, I feel like all I'm doing these days is tapping the sign ("Not All Debuts Are Good") (actually, technically not a debut—though a modern debut, for sure; AMALA last appeared in the grid 60 years ago, clued as [Law court official, in India]). The pop culture runs very up-to-date, with (yet another) ERAs Tour reference, and a Killing EVE reference (22A: Titular TV role for Sandra Oh), and a BTS reference, and a Stranger Things reference (though that was a "letteral" clue, so knowledge about the show itself was not required). Two electric car references. Marijuana slang. And then COTTAGECORE, a real 2010s social media phenomenon (33A: Fashion aesthetic with flower crowns and rustic dresses). Anyway, sometimes you get a puzzle for the kids (for me, anyone under 40), and that's OK. Didn't thrill me, but it was very doable for a Saturday, even a little on the easy side. Most of the longer answers are lovely, or at least marquee-worthy, with only EZ PASS TAGS hitting my ears with a clank (I got EZ PASS fine, but when LANES didn't fit, I just shrugged and waited for crosses) (6D: They really take a toll nowadays). I know the TAGS are real things, but meh, not a great answer imho (esp. as clued, with the "really" doing absolutely nothing and "take a toll" being forced phrasing for what the tags actually do). I get that you find stray DRYER SHEETs in the laundry room sometimes, but "leftover" doesn't make much sense to me (51A: Laundry room leftover). That implies that you had too many, which ... why? Left behind? Maybe. But "leftover" I don't get. Anyway, there was a slightly desperate vibe to this one's bid for now-ness, and certain clues meant to be "trick" felt strained. But overall it felt pretty solid. Nothing too eye-rollingly bad. EXCUSEZ-MOI was a nice, fun, sassy opening long answer (13A: Cutesy expression borrowed from French), and there were lots of other things to love along the way.

The toughest thing for me today, besides that "L" in AMALA, was parsing some of the longer answers. In addition to the EZPASS--- problem, I had real trouble piecing together "IT'S SERIOUS" (at least from the first two letters), and NON-GMO CROP—not many (any?) answers start with NONG (48A: What might come up organically). When your answer starts NONG, that's when you start thinking "aw jeez, what do I have wrong here?" Even after I got NON-GMO, I wasn't immediately certain what word was supposed to follow. Parsing BISMARCK, ND was no picnic either, not least because I don't think of North Dakota as the "midwest" (24D: Midwest city named in an attempt to attract German settlers). If you're not touching a Great Lake, I have trouble taking your alleged "midwesternness" seriously. Parsing BISMARCKND was also tough because of the totally arbitrary state abbr. at the end. Awful business, that state abbr. affixation. Imagine seeing PIERRESD in your puzzle? Who wants that? FRESNOCA? smh. Come on.

I also had a ton of trouble with CAST PARTIES, not because I didn't understand the clue (30A: Post-run celebrations)—I had the CAST part and so was thinking of "run" as in "run of the show" quite early—but because I had ERE instead of PRE at 31D: Before. This is another example of the cluing trying too hard. This one is actually cheap. PRE is a prefix meaning before, not a standalone word meaning "before," and since clue and answer are supposed to *match* (see, for instance, all 387 PRE clues before this one), PRE never occurred to me. And PRE obviously shares two letters with ERE (a crossword staple), so ... well, boo. That clue knew what it was doing, but broke the "prefix-indication" rules to do it. Saturday is for toughness, but not violating your pact with the solver that your clues will follow certain well-established rules. Boo, I say.

I had a weird trip through this grid, solving the NW easily enough but then (because of the EZ PASS thing) not being able to plunge down into the center with any ease. EZ PASS to DIS to DAYTONA was promising, but then ... pfft. Stuck. Except ... the single "Y" from DAYTONA made me think "huh, is United States v. Windsor something GAY? Like GAY MARRIAGE? But Obergefell is GAY MARRIAGE ... well, just try the GAY part and see." And GAY got me GOSSIPER (!) and boom, down I go and down goes the SW corner, lickety-split.

From here, I felt like I had a good grip on the grid. Trouble still awaited me, but the tide had definitely turned to my advantage. All thanks to GAY! GAY => liberation (from stuckness).

More things:

20A: Like the biggest stars (A-LIST) — crossing AMALA, this one was weirdly hard. I was thinking of how stars (in the sky) are classified by letters (O B A F G K M) and actually entertained A-TIER here for a bit.
24A: Grp. whose first letter is now outdated (BSA) — Boy Scouts of America: admitting girls since 2017.
43A: Arabic for "greater" (AKBAR) — no hope at this one until the "K" from BISMARCK slid in there. The only AKBAR I really know is Jeff's partner in Matt Groening's "Life In Hell" strip.

["failed attempts to draw Charlie Brown," LOL]

1D: A little bit of everything? (SESAME) — a SESAME seed is a "little bit" of an "everything" bagel.

3D: Soft drink since 1905 (RC COLA) — this was almost a reflex answer. OREOs have been around since 1912, just for future reference. Crosswords really teach you things (about early 20c snack brands).
47D: Lead character in "Stranger Things"? (ESS) — as I said earlier, a "letteral" clue (i.e. points to a letter in the clue itself—here, the "S" in "Stranger"; see also 42A: Something taken from waiters to get waters? (AN "I").

That's all. Now, more Holiday Pet Pics (this feature is bizarrely popular—my Inbox!)

This is Oxy. I'm just gonna assume her owners went to Occidental. Anyway, here's Oxy looking both patriotic and Christmasy.

[Thanks, "D"]

Here's Bella. Sleeping. I'm told she's "dreaming of Christmas." I guess that's supposed to make the photo a "Holiday" photo. You people are stretching the meaning of "Holiday"! But I can't turn away Bella. Or any dog. Honestly, if you sent me a random picture of a squirrel, I'd be like "Christmas buddy!" and put it on the blog.

[Thanks, Martha]

This is Edward, because if ever a dog gave "Edward," it's this sweet proper gruff-faced baby. He's a CAIRN Terrier mix (a proper crossword breed). I want to scritch him and give him treats. I want him for my very own. I have dognapping tendencies (i.e. I enjoy napping with dogs)

[Thanks, Jonathan]

Look at this floppy tube of dog meat named Peanut! This ... this is how you do Christmas.

[Thanks, John & Jennifer]

Lastly today we have Penny, who, I'm told, is "actually having a good time." Weird claim to make, David. Suspicious, even. Why would you say that, David? Don't blink at all if you're OK, Penny! .... phew, she's fine. Merry Christmas, Penny (my cat has that bed—small creatures Love that bed)