Its famous holes are formed by propionibacteria / SUN 11-1-26 / Repeated words in the chorus of "Sweet Child o' Mine" / Titular fictional heroine from the Alps / Pitch raisers for guitarists / Condition that may be treated with C.B.T. / Beethoven work originally titled "Bonaparte" / Symbol for a stop on a subway map / Roald Dahl title character who subsists on "snozzcumbers," with "the" / Payment inits. found in "debt-free" / Member of the largest contiguous empire in history

Constructor: Kevin Curry and Zhou Zhang

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "Be Amazed" — the grid ends up being a visual representation of a LABRAT maze, with "CHEESE" (in a single square) at the end of the maze route. Shaded squares in theme answers form hidden (i.e. unclued) obstacles that the rat has to maneuver around on its way to the cheese. Also on the way to the cheese—circled letters spelling out the title of a "1998 book": WHO MOVED MY [Cheese]?

There are puzzle notes:

Theme answers:

• OBSTACLE COURSE (30A: Appetizers, entree or dessert)
• ROOM DIVIDER (15D: Unit in the game Clue)
• STONEWALL (69A: Slingshot ammo)
• BARRIER REEF (67D: Many a shipwreck site)
• INVISIBLE FENCE (99A: Out of sight)

Word of the Day: Who Moved My Cheese?  —

Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life is a 1998 motivational business fable by Spencer Johnson about change in work and life. The book is written as a parable about two mice and two "Littlepeople" during their hunt for cheese. A New York Times business bestseller upon release, Who Moved My Cheese? remained on the list for almost five years and spent over 200 weeks on Publishers Weekly's hardcover nonfiction list. As of 2018, it has sold almost 30 million copies worldwide in 37 languages and remains one of the best-selling business books. In November 2018, it was followed by a sequel called Out of the Maze. [...] In the corporate environment, management has been known to distribute this book to employees during times of "structural reorganization", or during cost-cutting measures, in an attempt to portray unfavorable or unfair changes in an optimistic or opportunistic way. This has been characterized by Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America as an attempt by organizational management to make employees quickly and unconditionally assimilate management ideals, even if they may prove detrimental to them professionally. Ehrenreich called the book "the classic of downsizing propaganda" and summarizes its message as "the dangerous human tendencies to 'overanalyze' and complain must be overcome for a more rodentlike approach to life. When you lose a job, just shut up and scamper along to the next one."

• • •

Hello from Halloween central—it's currently prime trick-or-treating hours (Saturday night, 10-31-26), and I'm up here trying to get the first part of blogging done so I can then go back downstairs and hand out candy to kiddies and finish watching Psycho (an annual tradition). Speaking of Psycho—I laughed out loud when I hit EROICA (which may be the only time that has ever happened or is ever likely to happen) (113A: Beethoven work originally titled "Bonaparte"), since that is the record that Marion's sister Lila finds on Norman Bates's turntable when she's wandering the Bates mansion looking for evidence of what happened to her sister—before Norman catches on that she's in there, runs up there from the motel, quickly changes into "Mother's" clothes, and then tries to kill Lila in the fruit cellar (I've seen this movie a Lot):

Unlike Psycho, or having your house beset by literally hundreds of trick-or-treaters because it's a beautiful Saturday night and you live in a very walkable and trick-or-treatable neighborhood, this puzzle wasn't very scary. I finished it with almost no trouble, despite the fact that I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be seeing, and I certainly have never read the book Who Moved My Cheese? So disappointed to read the puzzle notes and see that the puzzle was based on a "1998 book," only to have that book be some business book (?). I remember it being Very popular, but it seemed like some kind of businessy self-help something-or-other, so all I really know about it is the title. Really wanted the "1998 book" to be some kind of kid's book or some fantasy novel about a LAB RAT ... but no. Business book. Maybe if I'd read the book, the puzzle would've been more fun to solve. I guess the idea of hunting for cheese in a maze is key to the "ideas" of the book? Shrug. I admire the architecture of this one, and I really like the way the various obstacles were handled—formally unclued, but visually clued just fine, i.e. the clue for OBSTACLE COURSE points only to "COURSE" (30A: Appetizers, entree or dessert), but since you know you're dealing with a lab rat, the idea that those shaded squares represent barriers of some kind makes sense, especially after you piece together the first one or two. The whole maze conceit didn't gel for me visually at all, though, until the app did the work for me at the end, showing me the rat, drawing the rat's course through the grid, etc. So the "Aha" moment felt forced—like, I said "Aha," but only as the result of a post-solve visual representation, not as a result of figuring anything out myself. Disappointing in that regard. Clearly this puzzle literally wasn't for me (as I know nothing about this book), but I could still appreciate what the constructors were trying to do.

The fill must've been fine because I don't recall cringing much. Maybe I was just going too fast to notice. Crossing REHEAR with REDEALT is maybe not the most elegant moment. But aside from a smattering of crosswordese, the fill by and large seems fine. I didn't get hung up anywhere except the Taylor Swift song—I can hear the quoted lyric in my head, with the right cadence and notes and everything, but it's like a snippet that exists out of context (14D: Taylor Swift hit with the lyric" You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye"). I kept trying to follow it to some kind of recognizable chorus, but: no dice. If you'd given me a list of one-word title options, I doubt I could've told you the title was "STYLE." In fact, I know I couldn't have. Maybe if it was a multiple-choice test and the options were A. "Fun" B. "Run" C. "Jump" D. "Style" E. "Power" ... maybe. 


Bullets:

• 12A: Repeated words in the chorus of "Sweet Child o' Mine" (OHS) — one of my favorite moments of the solve, as I kept singing the song to myself, trying to figure out exactly what the "chorus" was, looking for a sequence of "words" that was repeated ... only to discover it's just the one "word," "OH," said over and over again. I think that besides "Sweet child o' mine" and a smattering of "ooh"s and "yeah"s, the "OHS" are the *only* words in the chorus. Let's find out.

• 26A: Roald Dahl title character who subsists on "snozzcumbers," with "the" (BFG) — I never read this, so all I ever remember about the title is that it's three (to me) random letters that are something like "B.F.D." (big f***ing deal). Is the title character a gnome? Does BFG stand for big F***ing Gnome? ... [checks] ... I mean, close: Big Friendly Giant.

• 59A: Payment inits. found in "debt-free" (EBT) — also found in ... "debt." Weird clue. Is the idea that when you use EBT you do not incur debt (because it's a government benefits program)? Still a weird clue.
• 73A: Greek goddess whose chariot is pulled by Firebright and Daybright (EOS) — three letters, ends in "S," Greek goddess—I don't really need to read the rest of the clue, although I am surprised to find that a Greek goddess has horses with names that make them sound like Care Bears or My Little Ponies (the latter is probably more apt).
• 12D: Condition that may be treated with C.B.T. (OCD) — am I supposed to just know what "C.B.T." is? Oh wait, is it Cognitive Behavioral Therapy!? Ha ha, bingo! EBT! CBT! BFG! OCD!

• 18D: Symbol for a stop on a subway map (DOT) — one of the hardest clues for me. "Symbol" had me thinking something much more ... symbolic. But it's just a DOT. Which is, technically, a "symbol," I guess. But it's not like a dog or an owl or a little house or even a star ... something more picturesque, which is what *I* was picturing.
• 31D: "___ your heart!" ("BLESS") — first guess, before I'd properly assessed the length of the answer or anything:

• 93D: ___ Arbor (ANN) — outside of the general NYC area, the crosswordingest cities in the U.S., judging by my correspondence / supporters, are Minneapolis/St. Paul and ANN Arbor. Pound for pound, it might be ANN Arbor. It's possible other cities have a lot of solvers and they're just solving other crosswords. Or people in those cities just don't care for me, who can say?

That's all for today. See you next time. And happy November (the best month)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. the latest episode of "Crosstalk" (a crossword construction podcast hosted by Daniel Grinberg) features a charming and insightful interview with Zhou Zhang (half of today's husband/wife construction team). Highly recommended. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Slangy "mouth" / THU 9-3-26 / Many a "Bridgerton" lady / One might feature rivers and bluffs / Its motto is "Industry" / Luxuriates outdoors, in a way / Cause of a squeaky voice, maybe / Islamic "commander" / What choreologists study

Constructor: Zhou Zhang

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium

THEME: donut holes— I made up the "donut" part because "O"s are shaped like "donuts" but in this puzzle, on five occasions, they represent the word "hole"; these "holes" appear literally (in the grid, in the crossing answers) in the places you might find them irl: 

Theme answers:

• PIE [HOLE] / N[O]GGIN (2D: Slangy "mouth" found in a 20-Across) / 20A: Noodle)
• CUBBY [HOLE] / [HOLE] PUNCH / CLASSR[O]OM (11D: Place for storing belongings in a 32-Across / 33D: Tool found in a 32-Across / 32A: School unit)
• [HOLE] CARDS / P[O]KER GAME (50D: Pocket rockets, e.g., found in a 49-Across / 49A: One might feature rivers and bluffs)
• MAN[HOLE] / R[O]AD (61D: Underground entrance found in a 73-Across / 73A: It might be paved with good intentions)

Word of the Day: Polyhymnia (53D: Polyhymnia or Clio = MUSE) —

Polyhymnia (/pɒliˈhɪmniə/; Greek: Πολυύμνια, lit. 'the one of many hymns'), alternatively Polymnia (Πολύμνια), is, in Greek mythology, the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance and eloquence, as well as agriculture and pantomime. [...] Polyhymnia is depicted as serious, pensive and meditative, and often holding a finger to her mouth, dressed in a long cloak and veil and resting her elbow on a pillar. Polyhymnia is also sometimes credited as being the Muse of geometry and meditation. [...] As one of the Muses, Polyhymnia is the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne. She was also described as the mother of Triptolemus by Cheimarrhoos, son of Ares, and of the musician Orpheus by Oeagrus. (wikipedia)

• • •

I admire this theme, though I will say I found it a bit FUSSY to solve. Something about the theme density and all the cross-referencing, plus the preponderance of short answers, made the solve feel more like work than fun. For the first half of the solve, I didn't really grasp the meaning of all the cross-referencing (i.e. I didn't get that the "holes" were actually found in very specific and appropriate places. I thought it was just a "O" / "hole" rebus with no particular point, or with a point that would be made clear by a revealer. So I was just ignoring the cross-reference part of the "hole"-answer clues because ... I didn't seem to need it. I got PIE[HOLE], so I didn't feel the need to go looking to see where the PIE[HOLE] was "found." When I'm solving, I don't like to jump around in the grid if I don't have to, so cross-references are things I only follow if I absolutely have to for solving purposes. Sometimes they're actually helpful, but mostly they're a FUSSY nuisance, so if I can get the answer without having to hunt down a cross-reference, that's what I do, and then I just keep going. Once I saw that the "holes" were placed with purpose, I appreciated this theme a lot more. I also like (and I only just noticed this) that both the "O"s in CLASSROOM get turned into "holes." Still not over the idea of a CLASSROOM as a [School unit] ... though I guess, technically, that is what it is. You'd never call it that, but ... OK. Not my favorite clue, but again, love the double-"hole" thing.

I laughed (appropriately?) at HYENA CUB because it seemed so weirdly made-up and desperate. I mean, HYENA CUBs exist, but the idea that you would just go through your wordlist and add "CUB" to the ends of any animals that have CUBs seems absurd. The answer is somehow both original and ridiculous, which is good today, because the grid really needed some pepping up. The theme answers themselves are not very showy, and as I said, most of the rest of the grid is an assemblage of boring-ISH 3-4-5s. CAME DUE, PET NAME, DEBUNK and ENERGIZE all energize the grid a little. With the exception of some crosswordese here and there, the grid holds up pretty well, but never really shines. "AW HELL" is one of those annoying combo answers, [two-letter exclamation] + [mild oath or other expression of some kind], so even though it's kinda sassy and colloquial, I didn't love it. I had "AW HECK" since "HECK" seemed to go better with "AW" (AW GEE, AW SHUCKS, AW ... HELL? I guess). You could put "OH" in there and it's basically the same. This is like a longer version of the whole "OK" genre (e.g. "UH, OK," "UM, OK," "OH, OK" ... "ER, OK" someday, probably, etc.). Funny that HECK did eventually show up, though. Speaking of HECK, that SW corner was (outside the theme) the hardest part of the puzzle for me. The clues on UTAH (56A: Its motto is "Industry"), PATINA (49D: Surface of a well-used wok), HECK (57D: "Tarnation!"), END CUT (!?) (68A: Steak option), and NUM (extreme frowny face) (65D: ___ Lock (PC key)), all made me wonder if I didn't have an error down there somewhere. Oddly, I got the theme answer [HOLE] CARDS easy down there—the surrounding fill, not so much.

Oh, and I finished with an error. Stupid error, really, one I caught relatively quickly when I went back over the puzzle: I had written in HEIRESS for PEERESS (8D: Many a "Bridgerton" lady) and apparently didn't check the crosses thoroughly. No, wait: I remember looking at INABLE and thinking "that is not how you spell that ... oh, well, maybe it's some variation ... like ENSURE/INSURE ..." This means that I didn't check on HITCH, which makes no sense as the answer for 8A: Sales spiel (PITCH). Always check your crosses (he said, primarily to himself)! Surely some of those Bridgerton ladies are HEIRESSes, right? I tried to watch that show once and it didn't take. See also SEINFELD (jk, I've seen some Seinfeld, but like poker, it just wasn't ever really my thing) (though JLD is an idol to me for her post-Seinfeld work, specifically Veep). 

Bullets:

• 13A: She can speak more than 20 languages (SIRI) — stop personifying these stupid machines. They got you all used to thinking of bots as people with SIRI, but she was just laying the groundwork for the A.I. invasion. Put "She" in quotes. Not a human, not a she. I have owned an iPhone for something like 14 years but I have never once talked to that *****. I know my phone's spying on me regardless, but I'm not going to help it. 
• 59A: Luxuriates outdoors, in a way (GLAMPS) — glamorous camping = glamping. Camping for people who hate camping but vaguely like fresh air I guess. I've never done it.
• 73A: It might be paved with good intentions (ROAD) — minor complaint, but I don't like this clue here first because it's the "ROAD to hell" that's paved with good intentions, and second because this is a theme answer, which means the "O" in ROAD is a MAN[hole], and there are no MAN[hole]s on this explicitly metaphorical ROAD.

• 12D: Cause of a squeaky voice, maybe (HELIUM) — loved this one. Reminded me of being like 12 and blowing up balloons with my sister and stepsister for some party my parents were having, We were definitely sucked down some HELIUM and made our voices squeak, but I think my stepsister passed out at one point, so I really can't recommend this practice, despite the fun memories.
• 47D: 2, 4, 6 and 8, e.g. (AGES) — uh ... sure. I mean, you can't argue with that. People are those AGES. 
• 72A: Letters found near some bars (LTE) — the bars on your cellphone telling you how strong your signal is. 

I watched some US Open tennis last night just for fun. I used to play and be a fan, but that all fell away sometime around the turn of the century. Thinking of starting to follow tennis again and figured the US Open would be a good place to start. I quickly learned two things of crossword interest. First, the two-time defending US Open champion and #1 women's player in the world (for nearly two years straight now) is named ARYNA Sabalenka. I can see why SABALENKA hasn't appeared in a crossword yet, but ARYNA!?!? I do believe that Sabalenka is successful enough at this point for her first name to finally make a grid appearance. Stunned it hasn't yet. Also, there is apparently a young Filipino tennis phenom named Alexandra EALA who is *tremendously* popular despite not having won any major tournaments yet: "On August 24, 2026, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18, the highest ever for a Filipino and Southeast Asian in WTA Tour history. She is the first Filipino to break into the top 20, defeat top-10 opponents, reach the fourth round of a major, reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event, and win a WTA Tour title, clinching her breakthrough at the 2026 Washington Open" (wikipedia). She is a national hero in her native country, and apparently beloved by tennis fans worldwide. If her name ever gets loose in the grid, which seems likely, esp. if she ever wins a major, then look out. The age of EALA will be upon us.

[ARYNA (5) Sabalenka]

[Alexandra EALA (4)]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. someone pointed out in the Comments that the theme “O”s are the only “O”s on the whole grid, which is an elegant touch from a thematic standpoint, although it’s probably the reason the fill is a bit tepid overall. Hard to fill a grid well when you deprive yourself of a common vowel.

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Monodrama that debuted in 1989 / FRI 8-14-26 / Average Joe, in modern slang / Couple's last coupling, perhaps / Shimmer colorfully / Purple drink ingredient at a boba tea shop / Mounted warrior skilled in martial arts / Costco competitor, informally / Issue in a modern remote work setting / Enthusiastic cry when one's favorite song comes on the radio

Constructor: Zhou Zhang

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: King Khufu (1A: ___ Plateau, home to the tomb of King Khufu) —

Khufu, or Cheops, was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, reigning during the 26th century BC in the early Old Kingdom period. Khufu succeeded his father, Sneferu, as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented. Khufu is also the main character noted in the Westcar Papyrus from the 13th dynasty.

The only completely preserved portrait of the king is a small ivory figurine found in a temple ruin of a later period at Abydos in 1903. All other reliefs and statues were found in fragments, and many buildings of Khufu are lost. Khufu has a conflicting legacy: while the king enjoyed a long-lasting cultural heritage preservation during the period of the Old Kingdom and the New Kingdom, the ancient historians Manetho, Diodorus and Herodotus hand down a very negative depiction of Khufu's character. As a result, an obscure and critical picture of Khufu's personality persists. (wikipedia)

• • •

This was delightful ... mostly. GO SPLAT really went splat, mostly because it doubles up the "GO" from GO LOCO—which also went splat, at least in my ear (really wanted "NUTS," which sounds more ... I dunno, right) (29A: Completely lose it). Not sure why the three "ON"s ("I MEAN, COME ON!," TRY ON, "I'M ON!") don't bother me nearly as much as the two "GO"s. I think it's because the "GO"s occupy the same place in their phrase structures, so the duplication really stands out ... but then the "ON"s all come at the end of their respective phrases, so maybe it's just being up front that makes the "GO"s stand out (badly). Anyway, the dupes were the one technical thing that seemed off today. Otherwise, I found the puzzle overwhelmingly enjoyable. There was something funny about the exasperation on display in the NW. "Another online meeting!? Seriously?! I MEAN, COME ON! I have ZOOM FATIGUE!" I haven't had ZOOM FATIGUE since I was teaching completely online during the pandemic. Nothing made me miss physically going to work like infinite Zoom. I appreciate the juxtaposition of long answers in that corner. ZOOM FATIGUE is real and it sucks, and the adjacent answer knows it. 

[Michigan's own Bob SEGER]

I'm always embarrassed when my first foothold in a puzzle is some piece of crosswordese that comes to me instinctively solely because I've been solving crosswords for a million years. As I've said before, feels like cheating. Today, it happened again, this time with CASCA (30D: "Julius Caesar" role). I've read Julius Caesar a few times, but if it weren't for crosswords, I don't think the name CASCA would've stuck, and now it's a reflex. TRU is another good example of ye olde fill that is often a reflex, but today it was hidden (to me) behind a word I don't really know: "Monodrama" (52D: Monodrama that debuted in 1989). Does this mean it has just one actor? A one-word title? One act? That it's one extended mono-logue? A monotonous drama? A drama about mononucleosis? [Consults dictionary] Ah, I see. My first guess was correct: "a drama acted or designed to be acted by a single person" (merriam-webster.com). TRU used to appear all the time in drama form. Now it's also a TV channel, or part of one (TRUTV). It's also a nickname for Truman Capote (whom the play TRU is about), and (apparently) a hotel chain. If the clue had mentioned Capote, I'd've gotten it instantly. As it was, I needed an assist from crosses. 

Always nice when you throw down a great long answer off of very little evidence and it ends up being right! Today, that answer was ...

BREAK-UP SEX! (17A: Couple's last coupling, perhaps). Perfect. Fresh and, uh, vivid, and very much in-the-language. I wanna say "that answer did not GO SPLAT," but in order to avoid all potential sexual implications, I'm not going to. I love CONFABULATE even though ... I swear, if you'd asked me before I started this puzzle if CONFABULATE was a real word, I'd've said "um ... maybe?" (24D: Shoot the breeze). Sounds kinda made up. like FRABJOUS, which I just now learned is considered a real word, even though Lewis Carroll did, in fact, make it up. CONFABULATE gives some real colloquial zing to the puzzle, and then we get to end with some sweet tunes: "THAT'S MY JAM!" (52A: Enthusiastic cry when one's favorite song comes on the radio). My only objection to this answer is really an objection to the clue, which more strongly suggests the answer "THIS IS MY JAM!" If I imagine someone in the car or in the club hearing a song they love, I imagine them saying "This!" This here song, the one we are currently hearing. If you're talking about a song, then sure, "That." But this is a technicality. The point is, everyone loves to hear their jam. Let's hear a jam now.

Bullets:

• 37A: Mom-and-pop group (FAM) — so ... not PTA then? Got it.
• 60D: Of an indefinitely large number (UMPTEENTH) — like CONFABULATE, this seemingly improvised fantasy word adds an enjoyable fizz to the grid.
• 6D: 365th out of 365, in brief (NYE) — every fourth year would like a word! (that word is "leap")
• 12D: Purple drink ingredient at a boba tea shop (UBE) — I first encountered UBE in some fancy chocolates. Thought, "that would make a good crossword word." And here we are: UBE's sixth appearance (as a yam) since 2023. Actually, it's the seventh appearance overall. UBE appeared as a [Philippine yam] in 1954, but then for 36 years (after one attempt to pass it off as a "var." of the Latin UBI (!?)), it was solely a Japanese seaport. Then, for 32 years, it disappeared from the grid entirely. But with the popularization of Asian food ingredients in America, it's back! Purple as ever!

[in ice cream form!]

• 43D: Average Joe, in modern slang (NORMIE) — I love this word, though I hear it most often used adjectivally, usually of someone's opinions. Sometimes, of my own opinions. It's got a slight pejorative tinge to it, but I just think of it as a cozy, slangy way of referring to general ordinariness.
• 32D: Plot device? (HOSE) — the one answer that didn't really make sense to me. You HOSE down ... a "plot" of land? Only when I thought of the phrase "garden plot" did the clue suddenly make (a kind of) sense.
• 35A: Huddling, as teammates (IN CLOSE) — can't say as I've ever heard this in a sports context, but physically, it makes sense. Still, it makes much more sense as a name for a talk show hosted by Glenn Close. Forget Charlie Rose—it's time for In Close with Glenn Close! Think about it, Glenn!

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Question during a brainstorming session / THU 7-16-26 / Alcohol, slangily / Feline in a 2000s meme / Symbol of spiritual insight, in Hinduism / Common garnish in a chirashi bowl / Galápagos island that was home to Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his subspecies / Music genre with "walking" bass lines / Business whose rewards program gives "Stackholder Perks"

Constructor: Zhou Zhang and Mallory Montgomery

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: "DOES THIS HAVE LEGS?" (61A: Question during a brainstorming session ... or of the answers to the starred clues) — theme answers are all the "THIS" in the question "DOES THIS HAVE LEGS?"; questions are all imagined replies to the question:

Theme answers:

• IRONMAN TRIATHLON (18A: *Yes—three arduous ones)
• MILLIPEDE (29A: *Yes—sometimes more than 1,000)
• DIRECT FLIGHT (37A: *Yes—exactly one, in common usage)
• YARDSTICK (50A: *No—but it does have three feet)

Word of the Day: PINTA (16A: Galápagos island that was home to Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his subspecies) —

Pinta Island (Spanish: Isla Pinta) is one of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, west of South America. Pinta has an area of 60 km² (23 sq mi) and a maximum altitude of 777 meters (2,549 ft). // The Spanish name Pinta—an adjective meaning "spotted"—honors the Pinta, the nickname of one of the three ships of Christopher Columbus's first voyage. Santa Maria Island is similarly named for another one of his vessels and Pinzón Island is partially named for the Pinta's captain Martín Alonso Pinzón. [...] Pinta was the original home to Lonesome George, perhaps the most famous tortoise in the Galápagos Islands. He was the last known representative of the subspecies Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii. The most northern major island in the Galápagos, at one time Isla Pinta had a thriving tortoise population. The island's vegetation was devastated over several decades by introduced feral goats, thus diminishing food supplies for the native tortoises. A prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta was completed in 1990, and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state. (wikipedia)

• • •

I know the expression "to have legs," as in "to last," but I am not familiar with the brainstorming convention of asking the question "DOES THIS HAVE LEGS?" Perhaps I have not been in on a lot of brainstorming sessions. Almost certainly, yes, this is true. Is this a business-world thing? It's kind of redolent of businessspeak. Anyway, the revealer was kind of a let-down today, just because it meant very little to me as an expression. I do think there's something cute about the whole theme idea, especially the cluing premise. I was slower today than I should've been simply because I refused to jump down to the bottom and get the revealer first. I could tell it was gonna be one of those puzzles where starting at the end would make the rest of it much easier, but I decided to power through without breaking stride. I had to get all of IRONMAN TRIATHLON before I began to understand what the thing in question was, and it was only after I got MILLIPEDE that I knew that that thing was "leg." Sadly, I had written in GST instead of GMT at 24D: Clock-setting std. (Greenwich Mean Time), so I didn't have the "M" for MILLIPEDE, so the "leg"-ness of it all was slow in coming. I also had trouble understanding what the DIRECT FLIGHT clue was going for (37A: *Yes—exactly one, in common usage). The "in common usage" part really threw me. I had no idea what it was doing. I was looking for a common phrase in which someone spoke of one ... something. I still don't really understand why "in common usage" is necessary. Is DIRECT FLIGHT a slangy expression? Is there a different expression "in formal usage"? How is DIRECT FLIGHT a phrase that needs any kind of qualification?? The clue feels overwritten, which (for me) resulted in confusion. And not the good kind of confusion, either. Not the "whoa, you tricked me, good one" kind. The "this should've been clearer" kind. The puzzle gets some points off for using the same meaning of "leg" twice (with both IRONMAN TRIATHLON and DIRECT FLIGHT, the "leg" is a "segment"), but then it gets those points back for going with an inventive, unexpected "No" answer at YARDSTICK (50A: *No—but it does have three feet). The theme was creative, even if the revealer didn't really resonate with me.

The puzzle was on the easy side again, with only the themers providing any real resistance. If your time was a little slow, it's probably because of the oversized grid (16x15). I had one very real struggle point today, and it fittingly involved the one-word clue [Struggle] (8D). I wrote in STRIVE with total confidence and when almost every cross confirmed it, I kept it there. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't come up with a good "V"-containing answer for 26A: Spoil. I ended up with DEVILE and every time I checked the crosses of DEVILE ... nope, no problems, everything checks out! I just stared at DEVILE like ... "well, you look like a word. You kind of sound like a word. How have I lived over a half a century and never heard of you, DEVILE?" I think the ambiguity of [Spoil] made matters (much) worse. "Spoil" as in "dote on"? "Spoil" as in "go bad"? Actually, neither of those things. "Spoil" as in "ruin, mar, desecrate," i.e. DEFILE. And it's STRIFE ... [Struggle] is a noun, not a verb. I just finished reading the first two books of Colson Whitehead's Harlem Trilogy, and much of it is set in an area of Harlem known colloquially as "Striver's Row": 

The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row", is a historic district located on both sides of West 138th and West 139th Streets between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue), in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is both a national and a New York City historic district, and consists of row houses and associated buildings designed by three architectural firms and built in 1891–93 by developer David H. King Jr. These are collectively recognized as gems of New York City architecture, and "an outstanding example of late 19th-century urban design" [...] King sold very few houses and the development failed, with Equitable Life Assurance Society, which had financed the project, foreclosing on almost all the units in 1895, during an economic depression. By this time, Harlem was being abandoned by white New Yorkers, yet the company would not sell the King houses to blacks, and so they sat empty until 1919–20, when they were finally made available to African Americans for $8,000 each. Some of the units were turned into rooming houses, but generally they attracted both leaders of the black community and upwardly-mobile professionals, or "strivers", who gave the district its colloquial name.

Constant exposure to the name "Striver's Row" over the past couple weeks made the [Struggle] / STRIVE connection feel natural, obvious. So obvious that I'm going to go on pretending DEVILE is a word. It really wants to be a word. It's got an undeniable wordness about it. I think when you DEFILE something super duper bad, you DEVILE it. Yes, that will work.

What else? Oh, PINTA???? With that clue? LOL (Galápagos island that was home to Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his subspecies). I wrote in PALAU there at first and then thought "that ... wasn't a Galápagos island, was it? They let Survivor film in the Galápagos? That can't be right." Correct: that is not right. I guess you use this seemingly obscure clue to avoid mentioning Columbus? Except the island is named after Columbus's ship, so ... as far as avoiding colonizers, that doesn't really work. Maybe the puzzle was deemed too damn easy (not untrue) and so they put in this bit of interesting if depressing trivia about the last tortoise of his subspecies, who died all alone on a rock in the ocean because introduced feral goats destroyed his tortoise ecosystem. You can sneak in the odd bit of strange trivia here and there if all the crosses are fair, and these were. I don't see any other parts of the puzzle that gave me trouble, except for my initial and fairly trivial CHIC / CHI error (1A: Smart = POSH / 1D: Letter after upsilon = PHI).

Bullets:

• 31A: Patooties (BUTTS) — lol I really got turned around on this one, anatomically. Somehow I got the phrase "cutie patooties" and "tootsies" mashed up in my head and somehow convinced myself that "patooties" was a cutesy name for hands, i.e. MITTS. (I know “tootsies” are toes or feet, that was an important step on my associative journey to hands)
• 43A: Common garnish in a chirashi bowl (ROE) — yet another "bowl" I've never heard of. Throw it on the Bowl Pile with AÇAI and POKE and the rest. "Chirashi" means "scattered: "It’s a bed of sushi rice and ingredients “scattered” over the top in a decorative manner" (The Japanese Bar).

• 54A: Country that las islas Canarias are part of (ESPAÑA) — congrats to ESPAÑA on their World Cup semifinal victory over France. Also to Argentina on beating England yesterday. I missed the England / Argentina match because I was in Ithaca seeing The Invite (worth it—genuinely hilarious), but I saw the (beautiful) late goal by Argentina. Excited for the final. Sad the World Cup is winding down. I've grown used to having high-stakes soccer to watch every day, and to seeing colorfully dressed and extremely excited people cheering and crying. August is going to be boring. Am I going to have to get into Premier League? I swore I would not do this...
• 41D: Symbol of spiritual insight, in Hinduism (THIRD EYE) — I feel like Ed Norton's character in The Invite says something about opening his THIRD EYE. I know he talks about being "almost certified" at rolfing. There's something almost parodic about his character's New Agey / wellness / sexploration vibe, but he's so honest and earnest and open that he's hard to laugh at—he becomes something much more than a figure of derision. The movie steers in and around movie tropes very deftly. Mostly it just made me wheeze laughing at how accurate all the awkward "getting to know you / dinner party" dialogue was. And all the sex stuff. That, also, funny. 

• 9D: World's most populous Creole-speaking country (HAITI) — back-to-back HAITI days. I don't really have anything to say about this. Just noticed, is all.
• 12D: Feline in a 2000s meme (LOLCAT) — wikipedia tells me that an "Lolcat" is an "image macro of one or more cats." So it's not one "Feline" so much as an image of one or more felines, with "idiosyncratic and intentionally grammatically incorrect text [...] known as lolspeak" (wikipedia).

• 46D: Music genre with "walking" bass lines (SKA) — a walking bassline is: "A bassline composed of nonsyncopated notes of equal value, used in jazz and baroque music, for example." (wordnik)

That's all for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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