Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: wonderbra

Constructor: Jeff Chen

Relative difficulty: Easium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Nyala (Antelope with lyre-shaped horns) —

The nyala (Nyala angasii or Tragelaphus angasii), also called inyala,^[2] is a South African spiral-horned antelope. It is a species of the family Bovidae and genus Nyala. It is also considered to be in the subgenus Tragelaphus. It was first described in 1849 by George French Angas. The body length is 135–195 cm (53–77 in), and it weighs 55–140 kg (120–310 lb). It is the most sexually dimorphic among the spiral-horned antelopes.^[3]

[from wiki]

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Hello, Rexworld. Rex is away a little longer. This is treedweller, relieved to finish today's puzzle so I can get the completed grid up for all you cheaters. I finished, which means it can't be that hard (for a Friday), but I had some slow going for awhile, so I think it tends toward medium difficulty. I will be back tomorrow, so the chances are good you will get a grid that I had to steal from someone else. Two complete weekend puzzles in a row is a rarity for me.

And now, a musical interlude from the great 40A Anita of song (O'Day):

False starts in several areas made early progress slow and sporadic, I had "dresses" for (38A Prepares) GETS SET. I had "earnED" for (7D Brought home) NETTED. I had lAtESHOW for (37D One may follow the news) GAMESHOW. I had "Dem" for (32A Letters after Sen. Charles Schumer's name) D-NY. This last was particularly vexing to me because I knew I needed to get AS YET in there for 25D Hitherto but could not figure out how to get that 'Y' to work (despite having seen this type of clue many times before). I also assumed the 9D [Like much] flatware was going to be ____ed, thus the dresses. Eventually, a few old standbys (SNERD, TATE, AESOP, TERESA) and a few lucky guesses on long answers got me each corner in succession.

I ended up staring a long time at 34A What a horse kicks with, for which I had HIND_EL. Having been burned many times by obscure (to me) horse-racing jargon, I was almost ready to believe there was a hindsel back there somewhere, but couldn't figure out how "RES" would satisfy 27D Kind of denom. (REL). Finally, I gave up on my invention, "bipase," in favor of another standby, LIPASE, which got me LIMES instead of BITES, put me on the early evening newscast instead of the late one, and HINDLEG was my last entry --- leaving me to wonder how REL would satisfy 27D Kind of denom. I'm guessing maybe "religion", though I would think that should be the other way round. I also considered "relativistic," "relational," and "relocated."

And now, intermission. Please enjoy this CARTOON (12D They often include balloons) by the great Chuck Jones:

I liked the snappy fill in this one, such as:

Bullets:

1A Tomfoolery / HIGHJINKS — I dismissed HIJINKS and HIJINX early on, but this more erudite spelling eluded me until I was almost done.
34D Barely-there bottoms / HOT PANTS — we're deep in shorts season here in Texas.
Acouterment for Fred of "Scooby-Doo" / ASCOT — Always a good choice with HOT PANTS. I never saw it spelled any way other than "accoutrement," though google tells me both are acceptable. To me, this spelling looks like dialect from a "Mayberry RFD" script.
65A Special elevator? / WONDERBRA— completing my outfit for 19A Mardi Gras, for one: Abbr. (TUE).