Crossword Clue for Facing Reality Again Literally

Waltz onomatopoeia / FRI 12-31-21 / Kitchen brand whose name is an ambigram / Colorful custardy batter / Agatha Christie novel named later Expiry's mount in Revelation / Component of three of the v French "mother sauces" / Does laundry or pays bills in modern lingo / Double or triple drink / Melancholiac'due south list / Group portrayed in Slacker and Reality Bites familiarly

Constructor: Meghan Morris

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: none

Word of the Solar day: ambigram(19A: Kitchen brand whose name is an ambigram) —

: something (such every bit an image of a written discussion or phrase) that is intended or able to exist oriented in either of two ways for viewing or reading // Notation:  The word was obviously introduced by the author and cognitive scientist Douglas R. Hofstadter (born 1945) in chapter thirteen of the book Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Design  (New York, 1985). (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

Started and finished in the NW, which is past far the hardest and the weakest part of this puzzle, and so allow'southward come back to that later and start by maxim that this is basically a solid Friday puzzle. Didn't take quite the flow or zing that I like on Fridays, due in large role to those very, very cut-off NE and SW corners, which played like entirely separate mini-puzzles and so were well-nigh no help at all getting into the meat of the puzzle (speaking of MEAT, side annotation: that was my kickoff [Ren Faire concession] (MEAD)). The cluing also felt harder than normal throughout, causing it to feel more similar a Sabbatum fight than a Fri fling. Still, the anchor answers (those crossing 15s) are very strong and one time you go into them and bring them down, they give y'all a framework to get into every part of the filigree (except the same iso-corners) and piece of work things out. I for one definitely needed the LETS from LETS THINGS SLIDE as well as the RATTLE from RATTLESNAKE Seize with teeth to fifty-fifty begin to make serious headway in that NW section. Every bit with yesterday, I found the "modern lingo" a little off-putting, first because there is no bit of "modernistic lingo" I find more than off-putting than "adulting"—it's not cosplay, it's just paying your bills, information technology'due south fine, yous don't need to continue to infantilize yourself well into your 30s, come on. So while ADULTS (equally a verb) was easy enough to get, it was not a joy to become (11D: Does laundry or pays bills, in mod lingo) (laundry!?! that's "adulting"? yeesh, that is a low bar). SLAYS  (61A: Crushes it) was less dull, and off-putting only in the sense that it is however some other instance of white mainstream culture appropriating a term from a subculture (in this case, Black / queer). I love the slang equally slang, but as with "woke" yesterday, I just remember the inkling should give credit where credit is due—mention queer ball culture, or "Paris is Called-for," or fifty-fifty Beyoncé. You can spare the ink.

Now near the NW corner. Maybe I'll kickoff with - THS . I but ... I ... so ... this is ... *xx-7 years*! That's how long it's been since - THS has been in the puzzle. It's so, and then bad, and much worse than other bad answers because there'southward no easy way to clue it, so what we get is the Worst answer in the puzzle doubling every bit ane of the toughest answers in the puzzle. Most weak fill you can just accident past. But this i, this one you take to sit with. You are forced to linger. And the thing is, you recollect the trouble is *y'all*. "Why can't I figure this out?" you wonder, "What is wrong with me?" And *and so* you lot get it, and it's ... - THS . And so at present you're (rightly) mad at the puzzle, non yourself. - THS . Just say it out loud a bunch of times. I'thousand begging constructors—erase information technology from your wordlists. It's bad plenty that we are going to have a wordlist-inspired " UM, NO " epidemic for the next 100 years; don't allow - THS sneak into the modern crossword ecosystem similar some Maleskan-era* invasive species. Stand firm! Ugh, not happy when I take to spend fourth dimension on what should be an inconsequential 3-letter of the alphabet answer, only -THS is a three-alarmer, so I gotta do what I gotta do. The other issues upward hither are APAT crossing APLAY —they are bad individually, but together they are a cringe tornado. I too wonder about " THE Stake Horse ," an answer I want to similar, but ... that is a pretty obscure Christie title. I tin can rattle off a dozen or so Christie titles, but that is not one of them (it was manifestly made into an BBC mini-series in 2020, but like and so much of 2020, I don't remember that). The inkling helps a petty, but the THE remained recalcitrant for a bit (I had ON A...). I don't recall that particular Christie title really rises to the level of crossworthiness, merely so I also call back "eh, it'southward gettable and it'due south kind of colorful, and then it'south OK." If it hadn't been gummed up in this already icky corner, I probably would've minded its relative obscurity much less. I had no idea who TAMARA was (5D: Actress Taylor of Goggle box'due south "Bones"), or that there was custard in FRUIT TART (1A: Colorful custardy confection), simply those are more *me* problems.

STEPSON before STEPDAD messed me up a chip (48A: Relative by marriage), as did the fact that I couldn't call back ELWOOD's name and only wanted ELROY, which wouldn't fit (43A: 1 of the Blues Brothers). " LAWD !" was very tough, but I like it (38D: "Heavens!"). Wanted VENUTO before VENETO  (57A: Street featured in Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" (that'due south also 50-Across)) (50A = IN ROME ), and PLAYA before PLATA (49D: South America's Rio de la ___). The one answer that baffled me the near was probably GASPS (10A: Sudden inspirations). The misdirection on "inspirations" absolutely froze me. Was non expecting "literal intakes of breath" to exist the pregnant there. Clever, if ruthless. So this one wobbled a bit, simply ultimately held up, I thought. Tough simply fair, and pleasingly wide-ranging in its subject affair. A nice way to circular out the year. See you lot in 2022, anybody.

Signed, Male monarch Parker, King of CrossWorld

*to be fair, even Maleska only used - THS one time; - THS is much more of a Farrar-era thing, appearing twelve times between 1950 and 1968 before disappearing and and then returning only spectrally, once every generation or and then ...

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Popular bumper sticker of the 2000s / THU 12-thirty-21 / Sunfish with colorful gill covers / Virulent negativity in modernistic parlance / Goddess ofttimes depicted with wings / Classic verse form set in dour Dec / Evansville baseball team or Erie hockey team

Constructor: John Ewbank

Relative difficulty: Like shooting fish in a barrel

THEME: XXX (38A: Symbol for the starts of eighteen-, 27-, 46- and 58-Across) — just what it says: "Xxx" tin stand for the kickoff word of all the themers:

Theme answers:

• ADULT TEETH (18A: They stay and bite)
• "THIRTY ROCK" (27A: Emmy-winning comedy series of 2007, 2008 and 2009)
• KISSES BUTT (46A: Gians favor using abject flattery, informally)
• BOOZEHOUND (58A: Souse)

Discussion of the Day: RED EAR(6D: Sunfish with colorful gill covers) —

: a common sunfish ( Lepomis microlophus ) of the southern and eastern U.S. that resembles the bluegill but has the back part of the operculum bright orange red and that feeds especially on snails — chosen also shellcracker (merriam-webster.com)

• • •

At that place'southward "current" and so there's "drastic to seem electric current," and I think this puzzle falls more into the latter category. I winced rather than rejoiced at its 2 "hey expect at me being electric current!" answers—at HATERADE for being not "modern parlance" at all (that's a '90s term—meet also "ALL THAT AND A BAG OF Chips") (12D: Virulent negativity, in modern parlance), and at STAY WOKE for invoking "woke" discourse in a flip and uncontextualized kind of way ("catchphrase?") (37D: Social justice catchphrase). "Woke" is a discussion that came out of Black political activism and and so got appropriated by white people (surprise) in all kinds of ironic and / or openly hostile ways to the point where now all I hear when I hear the word is a kind of mockery, a cheapening and debasing of everything "social justice" is supposed to represent; I specially feel this fashion when the word is being wielded by white people. Context matters (here'due south a good overview of the history of "woke" from merriam-webster.com). In short: clue information technology equally "Blackness" or don't use it, thank you. Other bad vibes: the NRA  (over again, your FDR clue doesn't fool me) and especially DR. OZ , an reply that, when I finally got information technology, elicited a "oh F*** you!" so loud I feared I might wake my married woman. That asshole is not merely a dangerous purveyor of snake oil and medical disinformation of all kinds, he'due south now running for Congress. As a Republican (duh). I do similar the timbre of the word BOOZEHOUND , simply over again, the puzzle'due south long-standing habit of mocking alcoholics makes me sorry. Not making me sad today: Developed TEETH and PEEPHOLE and " THE RAVEN " and, oddly, COEXIST (don't get me incorrect, I detect bumper-sticker (and backyard-sign) sloganeering ... well, let's just say, information technology's not my aesthetic, but this was the ane answer where I got a 18-carat "Aha!" today, the phrase "Popular bumper sticker" meaning nothing to me ... until it did).

I should probably mention the theme. It'due south a Thursday, so the theme is supposed to be The Thing. Not Stan Lee's The Thing or John Carpenter's The Thing (though that would be absurd), merely, yous know, similar, the centerpiece, the raison d'etre, etc. Just this theme wasn't anywhere most Thursday-worthy. Felt Tuesday, maybe Midweek, simply there'southward admittedly nothing tricky or hard almost it. First two themers were merely ... answers. Straightforward. I wondered how they were related, but I didn't wonder much. Then I hitting Xxx , which I got in no fourth dimension ... and that was that. The next two themers, like the first two, had straightforward clues. Game over. I would've enjoyed this more as a Tuesday or a Wednesday theme. Not the puzzle's fault that it got slotted on a Thursday. It's just that when yous come to a Thursday, you wait a curveball—the wildest thing the puzzle has to offer for the week. But no curves here. 80mph fastball right over the plate.

You lot used upward your one "OH" on " OH, YEAH ," no you lot may not accept some other to make " OH, WOW ." Petition denied. KISSES Ass is the phrase, KISSES Barrel feels euphemistic / x-yr-oldish, though I can't dispute the realness of the phrase. " THIRTY ROCK " doesn't quite piece of work for me since the number in the title is always written out numerically ("30 Rock"). Never heard of Cerise EAR , but that'due south the only answer that caused any difficulty today. GAY ICON is nice, merely I've seen it a few times now (first advent in the NYTXW was back in 2008!), so it doesn't have the wow factor information technology once did. To be clear, it's still a good term; put information technology in your crosswords all y'all want! But information technology'south a wordlist word now (i.eastward. it's in every constructor'southward wordlist—the behemothic database that fuels near constructing software), so don't overestimate its originality. And give the NYTXW some credit for really normalizing GAY ICONs and lots of other LGBTQ-related terms in contempo years.

Signed, Male monarch Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Thick liquidy clump / Midweek 12-29-21 / Van Gogh's art dealer brother / 1980s fad items advertised as the gift that grows / Stereotypical lumberjack feature / Lettered awards show host / Lettered dwelling on the range when no one's abode

Constructor: Simon Marotte and Victor Fleming

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "Lettered" answers — themers, when you lot say them out loud, audio like a bunch of

letters

... I am pretty sure that is all there is to it—if there'southward some meta puzzle where the 17 messages can be arranged to spell something, well, that's more than effort than I'thou willing to expend correct now:

Theme answers:

• EMMY EMCEE (17A: Lettered awards show host?) (Thousand, E, G, C)
• CAGEY ENEMY (30A: Lettered antagonist in a boxing of wits?) (Yard, 1000, North, One thousand, E)
• EMPTY TEPEE (49A: Lettered home on the range when no one'southward home?) (M, T, T, P)
• EASY ESSAY (65A: Lettered school newspaper that's a snap to write?) (Eastward, Z, Southward, A)

Give-and-take of the Day:  "Lohengrin"(11D: Lohengrin'southward dear = ELSA ) —

Lohengrin , WWV 75, is a Romantic opera in 3 acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, showtime performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably theParzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and its sequelLohengrin, itself inspired past the ballsy ofGarin le Loherain. Information technology is part of the Knight of the Swan legend.

The opera has inspired other works of art. Rex Ludwig II of Bavaria named his castle Neuschwanstein Castle after the Swan Knight. It was King Ludwig'south patronage that later gave Wagner the means and opportunity to complete, build a theatre for, and stage his ballsy cycleDer Band des Nibelungen. He had discontinued composing it at the terminate of Human action II ofSiegfried, the tertiary of theBand tetralogy, to create his radical chromatic masterpiece of the late 1850s,Tristan und Isolde, and his lyrical comic opera of the mid-1860s,Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

The virtually popular and recognizable part of the opera is the Bridal Chorus, colloquially known every bit "Here Comes the Bride," ordinarily played every bit a processional at weddings. The orchestral preludes to Acts I and 3 are besides often performed separately as concert pieces. (wikipedia)

• • •

Jarringly dated and not upwards to contemporary standards at all. Both theme and make full feel like they're from some other era, some other century, and non in some cute nostalgic way, but in a way that makes y'all appreciate how far even average puzzles accept come up in the past couple of decades. First, I don't even know what the joke is supposed to exist with this theme. That is, how is "lettered" being ... used? Punned on? Am I supposed to imagine that all the "lettered" things earned a "alphabetic character" in sports? In high school? Or is the idea that they take all been formally educated? Even the TEPEE? What? The use of "lettered" here is a painfully awkward and confusing way to signal the theme. The clues aren't even wacky—they're only straight clues with "lettered" fastened to the beginning. There'southward nothing wordplay-ish most whatever of information technology, so why, why is this happening at all? If you lot can't get a good revealer to make all these answers make sense, to tie them all upwards in a slap-up package, then you need to non be doing this theme at all. Even if the cluing (or hypothetical revealer) had been letter (!) perfect, the premise is still of dubious merit, and the theme respond set up does not exactly sparkle. How is anyone gonna get excited well-nigh an answer like EASYESSAY ? What part of it, clue or answer, produces joy, or even a hint of a grin? These are imagined phrases that just lie there—this puzzle doesn't even take the decency to throw some genuine wackiness my manner. It's a load of earnest Blah from start to cease. Too, that is an awkward spelling of TEPEE. Also, EMPTY has that "p" sound, which kind of undermines the theme'south cardinal premise. Too, ELLIE conspicuously fulfills the theme concept without being function of the actual theme—ideally y'all'd get rid of all such non-theme answers. In that location's actually nothing to like well-nigh this theme. IT'Due south not OK .

I'm trying to retrieve the last time I saw [Lohengrin's honey] as a clue. Turns out information technology'south only been almost iv years or so, but y'all used to come across it all the time earlier "Frozen" came out and absolutely took over ELSA cluing duties. [Lohengrin'southward dearest] simply adds to the conspicuous foretime feel of this puzzle. This puzzle coulda run when LOU Bega was dominating the charts or even when Miss ELLIE was all over the TV airwaves. AMY ADAMS and SWOLE are almost the only things connecting this matter to the 21st century. The fill is plain and banal and overfamiliar. I'm looking for highlights and not finding any. The but thing that stood out to me most this puzzle, likewise its thematic inadequacy, is that western department, which for some reason was 10x more than difficult than the rest of the puzzle (very easy). Most of the clues in in that location just didn't add upwardly. I had LAY AN EGG , but even those "Thou"southward didn't assist. The SHOE clue was baffling (27A: Information technology's a fiddling longer than a foot), and I was imagining the "flake" in 36A: Fleck of bar nutrient as something much smaller than a WING . 1 Upward is disruptive when yous make golf game the context, since being ahead actually ways having a stroke count *under* the other person'due south. Any other sports context would've worked fine for that clue, only ugh, golf, certain. I took "Shout-out" equally something ORAL and so " Hello MOM " didn't occur to me for 28D: Shout-out from the stands (since it usually comes in sign and hot "shouted" form). And of course the one answer I knew in that section ( LOU ) led me straight into a sinkhole—having the "L" in place at 27D: Muscled, slangily (SWOLE), I wrote in BUILT. But my express speed failings aren't the existent problem hither. The weak theme and tepid fill, that'due south the problem. GLOOP —that but about sums it up. Hoping for amend results tomorrow. Run across you and then.

Signed, Rex Parker, Rex of CrossWorld

P.South. there are much better CESARs than this puzzle'southward misguided and harmful "glory domestic dog trainer." Actor Romero, Labor leader Chavez, French moving picture award, etc. So many. Information technology's bad enough we hunt wolves nearly to extinction; to willfully misunderstand them in social club to promote systems of human say-so is really besides much, man (thanks to reader Thomas B. for this reference):

It concerns me that many mainstream trainers are nevertheless promoting ideas that have long been rejected past the very experts who study this topic nearly. Any training ideology that relies on your being a "pack leader" or an "alpha" instead of a loving parent to your dog is misguided. The fact that this myth has persisted for and then long in the face up of science that shows otherwise means that there is much work to do to enlighten the public. (Zak George, HuffPo, 2017)

[Follow Male monarch Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Raised to the third puzzle / TUES 12-28-21 / Capital letter of Latvia / Zoom or TikTok / Vulcan's telepathic link / Where Michelle Obama was born

Hullo, everyone, it's Clare dorsum for the final Tuesday of December. (How is it already the terminate of December?!) Hope everyone is having a happy holiday flavor. I've ever hated this weird in-between phase subsequently Christmas and before the New Year that makes me feel like all I want to do is sit down on the couch and watch sports and eat leftovers and just veg out. The stormy and dreary weather in California at the moment is likewise not giving me any inclination to get off the couch. Luckily, we have crosswords!

And now on to the puzzle!

Constructor: Kathy Wienberg

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Homemade MEALS (56A: Spreads using 20-, 28- and 48-Beyond?) — Each of the theme answers is an detail of nutrient whose proper noun begins with a blazon of dwelling

Theme answers:

• LOG Cabin SYRUP (20A: Food topping used at Abe Lincoln'south birthday)
• COTTAGE CHEESE (28A: Dairy product used at the Vii Dwarfs' dwelling?)
• RANCH DRESSING (48A: Turkey stuffing used at the Ewings' Southfork?)

Word of the Twenty-four hours: HABANERA (6D: Dance named after Cuba'due south capital) —

Habanera (also chosen Contradanza, contradanza criolla, danza, or danza criolla) is the Spanish and Castilian-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally pop style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of French republic. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that even so exist in United mexican states, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm blueprint and the first Cuban trip the light fantastic to proceeds international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a feature "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. (Wiki)

• • •

Later on solving the puzzle, I was left with a full general feeling of: Meh. The construction was pretty tight, simply I found the theme to exist just sort of in that location. I was so focused on solving that I didn't realize the beginnings were types of homes until I got to the revealer, and all the realization did was arm-twist a groan from me.

Looking back at the theme answers, i of these things is non like the others… LOG Motel SYRUP is the name of a brand — it'southward not a type of food. COTTAGE CHEESE and RANCH DRESSING are both types of food and not brands. I also didn't call up the revealer tied the theme together all that well — the foods are just so random (and ii of them are really toppings), and it all felt pretty banal to me. Even my post-Christmas leftovers feel more heady than ranch dressing, syrup, and cottage cheese.

The best function of this puzzle was the six 8-letter downs scattered around the puzzle ( STILETTO , HABANERA , CLUSTERS , MIND-MELD , CERAMIST , and TAILSPIN ). They were nicely spread across the puzzle and served as about support beams — similar iii columns with two rows of beams. I liked that construction a lot.

I did have trouble getting HABANERA (6D), as I'd never heard of this type of dance, and I messed myself up by putting a "v" in at that place instead of a "b" (because I tried to brand it "Havana") and by mistakenly putting "OSU" for 33A: Tulsa sch. instead of ORU . So I had some bug puzzling that 1 out. I as well haven't heard the word CERAMIST (38D: Pottery maker) used earlier, just that one at least wasn't tough to figure out. Lastly, I've gotta say that the clue irked me for TAILSPIN — 40D: Bad situation for an airplane — considering a TAILSPIN isn't just a "bad" situation for an airplane; information technology's a catastrophic situation from which there'south likely no coming back! The inkling had me thinking in the realm of a delayed takeoff, not a plane crashing. Anywho, that was just a fiddling nit.

There were a scattering of three-alphabetic character words and some four-letter words that were crosswordese, but, for the most function, I thought this puzzle was fresh and tight. The clue and answer combos felt adequately interesting, and it felt like I haven't seen a lot of these words used often in a puzzle.

The structure with the themers and long downs did create some oddity going across the puzzle. There were two rows of four three-letter of the alphabet words (starting at 23-Beyond: ALE, PAN, SOT, Ems and also starting at 51-Across: CHE , Twenty-four hours , APP , LAS ). I don't have much to note most that other than it looks a tad foreign and was weird to solve.

Misc:

• Growing up in Northern California, I went on a field trip in unproblematic school during which we tried to PAN (25A) for gold — sadly, it was fruitless, and I didn't become some multimillionaire from it. But it was withal fun.
• KALE (47A) is slang for coin?? I did not know! I call up I've heard of "cabbage" every bit a vegetable that'due south slang for money but never KALE .
• I know I ragged on the use of LOG CABIN SYRUP considering it's a brand name, just I do really love this syrup! For any weird reason, I've always preferred information technology to the existent maple syrup.
• Seeing HYDRAS (49D: Mythical Greek monsters) in the puzzle makes me think of the bad guys in the Captain America movies considering of their slogan of "Hail Hydra." Saying that is really simply an excuse to note that I saw "Spiderman: No Mode Abode" terminal weekend! Masked and vaxxed and boosted, I saw my beginning movie in a theater in years, and the movie was admittedly incredible.
• I go why a STILETTO (3D) is named after a dagger — those things are sharp and pointy (and hard to walk in).

And that'due south it! Happy almost 2022, everyone.

Signed, Clare Carroll, currently part of my burrow

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3-time Emmy winner for Breaking Bad / Monday 12-27-21 / Technical detail for brusque / Creature whose name means world pig in Afrikaans / Tennessee Smokies Portland Bounding main Dogs / Cyberbanking giant that makes the Venture card

Constructor: Adam Aaronson

Relative difficulty: Piece of cake (2:38 without really trying)

THEME: DOUBLE-A TEAM (63A: Tennessee Smokies or Portland Bounding main Dogs ... or what the answers to the starred clues comprise?) — all themers starting time with two "A"south:

Theme answers:

• AA BATTERIES (17A: *TV remote inserts, oftentimes)
• AA Meeting (21A: *Sobriety support group session, informally)
• AARDVARK (30A: *Fauna whose name means "earth pig" in Afrikaans)
• A.A. MILNE (40A: *"Winnie-the-Pooh" writer)
• A AVERAGE (47A: *4.0 on a transcript)
• AARON PAUL (53A: *3-fourth dimension Emmy winner for "Breaking Bad")

Give-and-take of the 24-hour interval: AARON PAUL(53A) —

Aaron Paul Sturtevant (built-in August 27, 1979) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for portraying Jesse Pinkman in the AMC serialBreaking Bad (2008–2013), for which he won several awards, including the Critics' Choice Idiot box Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2014), Satellite Award for Best Supporting Role player – Serial, Miniseries, or Boob tube Movie (2013), and Primetime Emmy Honour for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Serial. This fabricated him one of only two actors to win the latter category 3 times (2010, 2012, 2014), since its separation into comedy and drama. He has also won the Saturn Award for All-time Supporting Actor on Television set iii times (2009, 2011, 2013), more than whatsoever other player in that category. He reprised the role of Jesse Pinkman six years later the finish of the series in the 2019 Netflix moving-picture showEl Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, earning farther critical acclaim.

Paul began his career with roles in several music videos, invitee roles in television, and minor roles in films. In 2007, he had a recurring role as Scott Quittman on the HBO serialLarge Dear (2006–2011). FollowingBreaking Bad, he starred in films such asNeed for Speed(2014),Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014),Eye in the Sky (2015), andCentral Intelligence (2016). He also voiced Todd Chavez in the Netflix animated seriesBoJack Horseman (2014–2020), on which he was too an executive producer, and portrayed Eddie Lane in the Hulu drama serialThe Path (2016–2018) and Caleb Nichols in the HBO science fiction drama seriesWestworld (2020). (wikipedia)

• • •

I judge this is a kind of vanity puzzle? Constructors initials ... or first two letters of his final proper noun ... ane of those, surely. Whatever, that'southward fine. Mine yourself for theme ideas, why not? The results aren't terribly inspiring, though, and something simply doesn't quite sit right about the theme set. Those answers all practice indeed start with "AA" then ... you can't debate with that. But there'south a consistency issue for me. Sometimes the "AA" stand lonely in the reply ( AA MEETING ), sometimes they're role of a larger word ( AARDVARK ). The answers aren't sufficiently different from 1 some other somehow. I mean, you say "A.A." with both Milne and the meeting, which is unfortunate, because otherwise you'd have different pronunciations for every answer. And you really call the batteries "Double-A batteries," which kind of takes the oomph out of your revealer, DOUBLE-A Team , since y'all've already mentally heard "Double-A" (even if you oasis't seen it written out) before y'all hit the revealer. The set just feels rough, canaille, not well curated. It feels like one of those puzzles where it's articulate the theme isn't that scintillating so the constructor tries to compensate by just putting in a lot of information technology. A lot of theme. Vii total theme answers on a Monday is a Lot. Merely equally I say, none of it is that exciting. It's but dense. I similar AARON PAUL because it's original, and because I'chiliad watching a lot of "BoJack Horseman" right now. Merely there'southward not much else that's very heady. The only wordplay is in the revealer, and it's pretty tepid. The grid isn't congenital to showcase the fill: it'due south all short stuff except the themers and and so the two long Downs, which are fine, only nothing to write home about. The grid is clean, but that's about as much every bit I tin can say about. No sparkle here today.

Not certain I'd apply whatever form of ALE (e.g. ALE KEG ) (27A: Pub barrel) if I already had IPA (or IPAS ) in my grid (1D: Many hoppy brews, in brief), since IPA stands for Bharat Pale ALE, and dupes like that should be avoided if at all possible. Are people going to complain? Well, I am, but people? Probably not. Merely you know information technology'south inelegant. You know. So set up it. Other than that, at that place's not much to say bad or good near this puzzle. Information technology's pretty straightforward, fairly plain. There are no challenging parts, no places to become stuck. Hardest matter was 1A: "Ain't that the truth!" ("I'LL SAY!") and that'south just because it was the beginning thing I looked at and so I had naught to continue and didn't get it at first glance. A few crosses later, I got it, and I never failed to go an answer at start glance over again after that. I'thousand betting lots of people ready personal speed records on this thing. I was about 10 seconds off my own record, and I am a *terrible* sprint-solver, mainly because my typing fingers are terribly impuissant. Every fifth keystroke or so seems to go awry, when I'm typing more often than not (similar at present) and when I'm solving. Then finishing clean in ii:38 without actually trying to speed, that tells me this thing was spectacularly easy, fifty-fifty for a Mon. I enjoyed the clues on COY  (11A: "You don't need to be ___, Roy" (rhyming Paul Simon lyric)) and SHEA (58A: Word with butter or Stadium), and enjoyed learning the etymology of AARDVARK . Simply on the whole, as a puzzle, this i didn't quite measure out upwardly.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Famous cryptid familiarly / SUN 12-26-21 / Demon of Japanese folklore / Baker's Joy alternative / Form of nepotism symbolically / Onetime collaborator with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre / Nickname for the French Alexandre / Devices with Nunchuks

Constructor: Christina Iverson

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME:  "Pest Command" — you accept to Piece of work OUT THE BUGS  (113A: Gradually fix something ... or what to do to understand this puzzle's italicized clues) (i.eastward. take the names of "bugs" out of the clues) in society to make sense of them:

Theme answers:

• HORSEBACK RIDER (22A: "I wearing chapstick, perchance")
• MOTHER (21A: "Malice, more formally")
• Northward POLE (32A: "Antarctic coordinate")
• PUBLIC Business firm (51A: "Blouse and broach, perhaps")
• TRUE/Fake Exam (65A: "It has many beet and beef options")
• SPEARHEADED (84A: "Tickled")
• SOFT Beverage (96A: "Pop fly")
• CHEESE (116A: "Briefly, e.g.)
• Get HITCHED (37D: "Antelope, say")
• GOOGLE MAPS (47D: "Approach for directions")

Discussion of the Day: Emily OSTER(56D: Economist/writer Emily) —

Emily Fair Oster (born February xiv, 1980) is an American economist and bestselling writer. After receiving a B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard in 2002 and 2006 respectively, Oster taught at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She afterwards moved to Chocolate-brown University, where she is Professor of Economic science. Her research interests bridge from development economic science and health economics to research design and experimental methodology. Her research has received exposure among non-economists throughThe Wall Street Journal, theSuperFreakonomics bestseller book, and her 2007 TED Talk, among other media sources.

She is the author of three books,Expecting Amend, The Family House ,andCribsheet, which discuss a information-driven arroyo to decision-making in pregnancy and parenting. (wikipedia)

• • •

I'one thousand writing this on Christmas evening. It'southward the 2nd blog post I've written today, and while I'm more than willing to stipulate that this might have something to do with my impatience with this puzzle, I think that fifty-fifty were this a non-holiday on which I had to write but ane blog postal service, the issues with this puzzle (and at that place are many) would still exist issues. I might be less aggrieved by them, but problems they would remain. Permit's start with what a dud the theme is from a solving perspective. Yes, you take that initial bit of confusion where you don't empathize why the theme answers don't seem to work with their clues, only if y'all think almost the championship even a little flake, it shouldn't take you lot long to grasp the gimmick—remove "pest," get regular clue. Emphasis here on "regular." Considering once you figure out  the pest elimination play tricks, the puzzle gets real tiresome and real straightforward real quick. The clues aren't clever or funny, they're just ... odd because they've had "pests" added to them, and when yous know to wait for "pests," then they are very (very) easy to find, and yous're just left with plainness. [App for directions] = GOOGLE MAPS . Yep, that is what that app does. Nothing much going on there. And since the remainder of the filigree is and so dense of short stuff, so void of any real interesting make full, once yous drain the theme of any interest, y'all've got naught left. You just trudge dutifully to the stop. There's so much 3,4, and v-alphabetic character make full, and the grid is sooo choppy and fussy, that there are no existent opportunities for interesting answers, and it's hard to get any existent feeling of flow either. The cluing is toughened upward some, perhaps to make upwardly for how like shooting fish in a barrel the theme is, only toughening upwards short fill never adds much pleasure to the solve, for me. You tin can meet how the make full actually deadens the experience. Just stare at a patch like, say, the i in the south, the 1 that's got IOWAN LOOIE NOONE EKES ONI NESSIE NOTA ANTENNA . Or side by side door with LSAT AGRA AMEN-RA . At that place's just all these little crannies filled with RLSTNE letters. The puzzle never really opens up, so it never really gets ... fun.

There are other issues. Structurally, I always find information technology awkward when there are non-themers that are as long or longer than theme answers, and hither this problem occurs in both directions, with SCHOOL TIES and Master THEMES (non-themers) beingness longer than Northward POLE and SOFT DRINK (themers) and then AL SHARPTON and HEDGES A BET (non-themers) beingness just every bit long every bit GET HITCHED and GOOGLE MAPS (themers). The shortness of MOTHER and CHEESE doesn't issues me. They don't create visual confusion. Information technology'due south the phantom themers, the ones that are as long or longer than the *long* themers, just aren't actually themers, they're the ones that issues me. They experience out of place. It's a minor inelegance, I suppose, but long themers shouldn't exist equalled or surpassed in length past non-themers; that is my opinion (one born of longstanding precedent) and I'm sticking to it. More annoying was the fact that in the SOFT Drinkable inkling, the "fly" was hiding in the word ... "fly"!?!? All the other "pests" are subconscious inside other words, merely "fly" is just ... sitting there, not hiding at all. Weird. Less weird and more outright incorrect was the fact that "bee" was the "issues" to be "worked out" in 65A: "Information technology has many beet and beef options" ( TRUE/FALSE Test ). The title of the puzzle is "Pest Control," merely a bee is non a pest. All the other "pests" are common household invaders, and while, yes, sometimes yous might find a giant beehive in your shower, more often than not bees are just pollinators that live outside and are pests to NO ONE . They don't belong in this puzzle. I don't call back MAIN THEMES is that swell a standalone answer, only I *know* HEDGES A BET is terrible. Information technology makes EATS A SANDWICH seem solid every bit a rock. You can hedge your bets. HEDGE ONE'Southward BETS is acceptable. I had HEDGES BETS, which is awkward, but even so seemed reasonable. But A BET? Deep sigh. It's such an awkward verbs-a-substantive phrase. I wish in that location were more adept news here, I really do. Merely in that location'due south just the theme concept, which is cute in theory, but in practice, it ends up being deadening. The wordplay never really arrives, the wackiness doesn't state. There are a Lot of theme answers, simply more than of "non not bad" is but "more than not bang-up."

Other things:

• 74A: Calling (NICHE) — "discover your calling," "detect your NICHE " ... I'thou not certain these are good every bit synonyms, simply horseshoes/hand grenades I guess. Y'all can swap them out and get reasonably similar phrases, so OK.
• 89A: They can be graphic (TEES) — as in "t-shirts." I wanted ARTS here.
• 15D: Geek Squad members, e.g. (I.T. PROS) — oof, so hard to parse, so unsatisfying to finally get. That'south a lot of abbreviation for an reply to take without there beingness *any* abbreviation indicators in the clue. To be fair, though, I don't retrieve there's any inkling that's going to get me happy about seeing I.T. PROS.
• 23D: Echo, perhaps (APE) — pfft, fifty-fifty subsequently I got this I didn't get it. They are both forms of imitation or copying or repeating. You "echo" someone, you ... "ape" them? These seem similar really, really different activities, simply again, you can probably lawyer your mode into establishing equivalence.
• 114D: Demon of Japanese folklore (ONI) — I learned this word from comics—in that location is a comics imprint called ONI . That ... is how I learned it. I see now that it'south not a very interesting story. But it is factual.

This is the last Dominicus puzzle of the year. Speaking of end-of-the-year puzzle-related matters, you lot should become your hands on the latest consequence of The New Yorker (dated Dec. 27, 2021). It's a special puzzle-themed issue with lots of truly inventive puzzles by a pocket-sized army of talented constructors, including an issue-wide meta-puzzle created by Patrick Drupe, the ultimate solution to which is a cartoon caption. There's an acrostic, a cryptic, an "Impossible Crossword" by Megan Amram and Paolo Pasco (with both a "Difficult" and an "Like shooting fish in a barrel" set of clues), and best of all, there's a beautiful personal essay by Anna Schechtman that opens the upshot. It explores the office of crosswords in her life, with detail attention to what it has meant to her to be a *adult female* making crosswords. Best of all, from my purely selfish standpoint, she mentions this blog and enshrines the term NATICK in the crossword lexicon forever:

Sincerely, all vanity aside, it's a really wonderful result. Do bank check it out.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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Linguist Okrand who created Klingon / Sat 12-25-21 / Model and body positivity activist Holliday / Something suddenly fashionable / Sarcastic response to an attempt at intimidation / Subject of some MK-Ultra experiments / Units equal to 10 micronewtons

Constructor: Johan Vass

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none

Discussion of the Twenty-four hours: 12D: Dulcé SLOAN(12D: Dulcé ___, correspondent for "The Daily Show" beginning in 2017) —

Dulcé Lazaria Sloan  (born July four, 1983) is an Americanstand-up comedian, extra and writer.  She is a correspondent for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah  onComedy Key. [...] In 2015, she was named a "New Face up of Comedy" at the Simply For Laughs one-act festival and won the 12th annual StandUp NBC comedy showcase. Her belatedly-nighttime comedy debut followed on Conan in February 2016. A few months after, she won the 2016 Big Sky Comedy Festival in Billings, Montana. Additional TV appearances followed on Comedy Knockout , The Steve Harvey Evidence ., @midnight with Chris Hardwick , and as a correspondent for Eastward! News Daily. Sloan joined The Daily Show as a contributor in September 2017. Her Comedy Primal Stand-Upwardly Presents episode aired in October 2019. // In vocalism work, Sloan is the vox of Honeybee in the Fox animated sitcom The Great Due north ^[ and has been a panelist on the radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! . (wikipedia)

• • •

OWW is non a [Pained expression]. Information technology is astonishing to me that you can be so creative in your filigree pattern, so attentive to your au courant fill up, and and so accident it all on a three-letter atrocity. It's bad enough that I have to take EWW (eww!) as a crossword answer, with its wholly arbitrary double-Westward; just now, having forced me to reluctantly accept EWW, you lot go and write a inkling that suggests EWW, with an answer that ends in 2 "Due west"s, only that ... is not EWW? Instead, it's ... OWW . OWW . OWW ? Hey, you know how I know that OWW is absolutely not a thing at all at all (at all)? Judge how many times OWW has been in the puzzle. Judge. Go on, guess. Judge. OK, are y'all thinking of a number? Is that number nothing? Because cypher is correct. Zippo times earlier today. LOL, you debuted OWW !?!?! What is the opposite of "Congratulations"? Here nosotros have this big, open grid filled with often quite interesting answers, but because you all thought y'all were gonna make OWW happen, we are talking well-nigh nothing only OWW . Well, I'm talking about nothing just OWW . And y'all wanna know why? Come across, information technology's non just because it's awful, which it is. Atrocious on its own is just awful. A passing bane. You await at it, wince, and move on. But today, because of where OWW is placed, it creates some real solve-wrecking potential. If, similar me, you think the only acceptable -WW [Pained expression] is EWW (which, again, to be clear, earlier today, was 100% truthful), then y'all end up with PHO-East APPS at 1A: Things you might snap on, present. And if yous don't admittedly know that the [Model and torso positivity activist Holliday] is TESS (I did not admittedly know that), then the combination of your certainty well-nigh EWW and the consummate plausibility of PHONE APPS is going to carry the day. Nevermind that, in retrospect, TESS Holliday is a more plausible name than NESS Holliday (or Holliday NESS, I guess). We wouldn't be hither, I wouldn't be hither, if it weren't for OWW , which, once more, is a faux non-affair that is imitation. EWW is the only -WW [Pained expression] with precedent, PHONE APPS was plausible, so that was what won out. You lot tin't invent [Pained expression]s, and you have to be super duper ultra careful about the *names* you lot use in a puzzle, *especially* if you're using them around invented [Pained expression]s. I no longer care that you got your beautiful THE NEW Blackness in the puzzle, or that I love Donna Summer. All the skillful vibes are gone. All I can come across, all I can feel at the stop of this solve is OWW .

This puzzle is way also addicted of names, especially current names. The things about names of the past is the past is more or less accessible to all of u.s.a., whereas the nowadays, our nowadays, with its heavily segmented and ensiloed popular civilization, is a lot harder to get at if the proper nouns in question are not correct up your damn alley. So ELENA DELLE DONNE is famous, for sure (not to the lowest degree because Erik Agard was wearing her jersey when he won the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament a while back), but her name is from Mars if you don't follow the WNBA (which it'due south very easy not to do, equally information technology is with any sports league, and easier now than e'er, given, over again, the almost complete eradication of whatever "common" culture in the internet era ... you used to know things simply by being alive, because they were in the air, whether yous wanted to know them or non; that "in the air" quality is harder to guess now). Dulcé SLOAN is a cool new proper noun, just that's gonna stump lots of people, including people who take watched "The Daily Bear witness," tbh. Jason MOMOA is a star, but y'all tin see how the pop culture density is rising with each of these names. Then there'south the MARC inkling, which is only self-indulgent (23D: Linguist Okrand who created Klingon = MARC ) (?). No reason anyone should know that. Clue may also simply be [Human being's name]. KEITEL was very much up my aisle, and RAIMI , same, but again, you're really JAMPACKing names in today. Getting your difficulty primarily from know-em-or-you lot-don't trivia risks alienating solvers, and creating a less entertaining solving experience. You lot terminate upward simply knowing (or not knowing) things instead of *figuring things out*, which is the more fun aspect of solving.

Again, to be very clear—none of the names I've mentioned in this paragraph (except that Klingon guy, bah), including TESS (whom I've seen before, really), are in and of themselves a problem. Individually, they are all filigree-worthy.

The trouble is the devil-may-care spewing of and so many names, all from a fairly narrow slice of very gimmicky pop culture. It's a matter of rest, and conscientious handling.

" OOH, I'Chiliad SCARED " should really be "OOH, I'M Then SCARED!" if information technology wants to exist properly sarcastic, and then though I beloved the instinct there, the actual execution was a thud for me (31A: Sarcastic response to an endeavour at intimidation). See also OH EM GEE , which is horrendous. I go that you lot want to be cute with your exclamation turned text-clamation turned back into "words," but no i in history has written OH EM GEE anywhere until I wrote it just now. Yeesh. SLEEVELESS Wearing apparel made me LOL considering it's the most conspicuous agony fifteen, an answer that says "holy shit I'grand trying to stack 15s what exercise I do what do I exercise ooh I know, all one-point Scrabble tiles, yes perfect!" THE NEW Black and SHORTS WEATHER were nifty, though "spring" here in central NY is way Fashion too cold, generally for shorts (well, if y'all're onetime like me it is). JAMPACK and GODFORBID make another squeamish footling stack. The shape of the grid is very cool. Information technology reminds me of a rotary phone. I was briefly worried there was going to be an actual phone theme. Just no. Just the cool shape. And then there was a lot to similar here. Just again, to reiterate and sum up: OWW .

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Saturday!

Signed, King Parker, Male monarch of CrossWorld

P.S. didn't know what MK-Ultra was and then I looked it up simply now and, oof, it'south grim (28A: Subject field of some MK-Ultra experiments). Non sure "illegal human experimentation" is really the vibe you want to put out there on Christmas Day, but everyone celebrates in their own manner, I guess...

P.P.Southward. just snuck a look at my wife'due south completed puzzle, and guess what? Total. Vindication:

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Source: https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/

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