Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle

Constructor: Sam Trabucco

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (with probably wide variation based on your knowledge of movie trivia) (5:09)

THEME: CHARACTER ACTOR (54A: 15-, 26-, 33- or 39-Across, punnily?) — themers are actors who played characters that were literally "characters" (i.e. letters of the alphabet):

Theme answers:

PATRICK STEWART (15A: Player of X in "X-Men")
JUDI DENCH (26A: Player of M in "GoldenEye")
HUGO WEAVING (33A: Player of V in "V for Vendetta")
WILL SMITH (39A: Player of J in "Men in Black")

Word of the Day: THE BEAN (37A: Chicago landmark nicknamed for its resemblance to a legume) —

Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of AT&T Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture and AT&T Plaza are located on top of Park Grill, between the Chase Promenade and McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed The Bean because of its shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It measures 33 by 66 by 42 feet (10 by 20 by 13 m), and weighs 110 short tons (100 t; 98 long tons). (wikipedia)

• • •

I think the theme idea is pretty good. There's one major problem, though, and that's the clue for PATRICK STEWART (15A: Player of X in "X-Men"). He's "Professor X." He is never not "Professor X." Malcolm X is more "X" than Professor X is "X."

And speaking of ANAL ... why? Why!? It's totally unnecessary. Easily replaceable with totally acceptable fill. Tiny alterations to fill down there would totally obviate the need for ANAL, which is a word you should use only when you have to (I used it once, and still regret it). I'm gonna say that ANAL is the result of Scrabble-f***ing (i.e. he wanted the "J" for some reason ... probably the "X" too, which adds absolutely nothing and probably helps make that whole little area much worse than it could be otherwise). But back to X: no. Your puzzle is kinda D.O.A. after that. Again, fine idea, but he's not X. Also, this is a little trivia-heavy, not just in the theme, but in the preponderance of proper nouns like HOWE, ESTER-C (!?), THE BEAN, ERNEST whoever, etc. I liked PENSIEVE because I like the HP books, but that's yet another bit of trivia. Your theme is already *entirely* trivia-based, maybe tone down that stuff in the rest of the grid. Also eliminate ODIC. And while you're at it, the odious TECHBRO and ... whatever DUDETTE is. Yuck and yuck.

Five things:

5A: "A Farewell to Arms" subj. (WWI)— really, really flailed here because of the crosses. The (good) clue on WICKS was hard (5D: Ones going down in flames?) and the (less good) clue on WAKE was also hard (6D: Shake, maybe).
35D: Online handle for an Xbox player (GAMERTAG) — if you say so. Gaming terminology is never gonna be my thing, just as gratuitous "Game of Thrones" clues are never (ever) gonna be my things. So many JONs in the world ... yet another reason to turn ANAL to ARAL and JON to, say, FOR.
59A: Try to get a good look (PEER) — I had LEER
57A: Answer to the old riddle ... (A TREE) — honestly, the clue completely lost me at "old riddle"; I just checked out and waited for crosses to tell me what the answer was (it wasn't, uh, great)
61A: A really long time (AGES)— got fooled by this one (singular clue, plural answer). Had the "A" and wrote in AEON. Sidenote: ERAS are not necessarily [Really long times]. "Really long" in relation to what? The Obama Era was eight years, right? That's not a "really long time."

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor: Daniel Nierenberg

Relative difficulty: Medium (?) (easy for me until I hit the NE, and then I just stared at blank for something well over a minute) (6:20)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Shirley Temple (11D: Temple, for one => CHILD STAR) —

Shirley Temple Black (April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, businesswoman, and diplomat who was Hollywood's number one box-office draw as a child actress from 1935 to 1938. As an adult, she was named United States ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States. (wikipedia)

• • •

Pretty tepid stuff for a Friday. Feels like someone's idea of a snazzy puzzle twenty years ago. The things that (I think) are supposed to feel hip and current feel slightly stale (BAHAMA MAMA and BEER PONG, for instance), and the overall grid is pretty bland, with some clunkers here and there (DEFLEA! DEFLEA! he said, pointing at de flea). My colossal solving failure in the NE didn't exactly help improve my feelings about this puzzle. With the exception of the PLIÉ section, where none of the crosses were any help, I thought the puzzle was actually pretty easy. Everything on the west side and the fat middle of the grid went in without much problem. BAIT (1D: Chum, e.g.) and ALDA (2D: "Manhattan Murder Mystery" actor, 1993) were the first answers I wanted, and BAHAMA MAMA went in shortly thereafter. I even someone got the execrable EOSIN in the SW without too much trouble (thank you, crosses!) (46D: Dye used in some ballpoint ink). Sidenote: EOSIN is crosswordese and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. How do I know the title "RED DRAGON"? Dunno, just do. So I was in good shape.

Then came the PLIÉ disaster (see first three bullets in "Five Things," below). Then came the NE, where a 4x5 section of the grid just sat empty for what felt like ever. Everything north of STAR and SUGAR. Everything east of BEER PONG. The fact that the long Downs both broke at the same place, right between words in a two-word phrase, giving me no ability to infer my way up the grid, ugh that was annoying. But I'm more annoyed at myself. Even though I'm not a million years old, I should've seen right through that Temple clue. But first I thought Temple University, then ... nothing. Temple Grandin and Temple Bledsoe (whose actual name is Tempest, ugh), were the only Temples I could think of. And I should've gotten PEDDLE from the PE- (24A: Hawk) (I wanted a verb meaning "sell," to, I just ... couldn't get past "sell") and I should've gotten BLEED from the "B" (21A: Run). I finally *did* get STEEL from (finally!) remembering what "Bessemer" was related to (13D: Bessemer process output). I had SMELT in there at one point, so ... ballpark? Ugh. Anyway, overall, very lukewarm grid, very amateurish (on my part) solve. Puzzle disappointing, Rex disappointing.

Five things:

50D: Derby car material (PINE) — I honestly don't know what any of this means. Is this a "soap box derby"???? What year is it?! Is there a Shirley Temple movie playing?

51D: River to the Arctic Ocean (LENA) — I should've just ignored the clue and gone quickly through my 4-letter river Rolodex. LENA is common enough. But I was somehow imagining the Arctic Ocean on the other side of the globe (Antarctic) and thought the river would be some obscure nonsense I'd barely heard of. Early-morning solves can be pretty hit-or-miss, man.
43D: Boot covering (GAITER)— answer one: GALOSH (OH YES, GALOSH); answer two: GARTER. Sigh.
60A: Goal of meditation (INNER PEACE)— As someone who meditates regularly, allow me to say, no. I acknowledge that this is how it is sold, but ... the very word "goal" ruins everything, and there's no such thing as INNER PEACE. This clue is some gift-shop / techbro version of meditation, and you can have it back.
41A: In spite of (FOR ALL) — feels both off and mildly archaic. I keep trying to substitute "in spite of" for FOR ALL in common phrases, and it keeps coming out sounding wrong or meaning something different. Anyway, it's just not good fill. I prefer FOREARM. "One FOREARM and arm FOR ALL!"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor: Sam Ezersky

Relative difficulty: Easy (5:08 — faster than Thursday, faster than Friday)

THEME: answers that start with initialisms ... or so I thought, until I realized, no, that's just in the NW, and it's really just a themeless

Word of the Day: BAY TREES (39A: Evergreens whose leaves are used culinarily)—

Laurus nobilis is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous (smooth and hairless) leaves, in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking. Its common names include bay tree (esp. United Kingdom), bay laurel, sweet bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, or simply laurel. Laurus nobilis figures prominently in classical Greco-Roman culture. (wikipedia)

• • •

Here's how it went: Immediately wanted TMZ NEWS, which was wrong, but not entirely. Then I got LIL (4D: Wee wee?) and VENI (6D: Start of an old boast) easy, and so went in with TMZ LIVE (correct!). Got ZIKAVIRUS off the "Z" and whoosh, off and running. Knowing that ZIKAVIRUS and LIL were indisputable made coming up with WWIIVET much much easier than it probably would have been otherwise. Those "I"s! Had to sort of sound out MWAHAHAHA. Once I got AARPCARD I really did think that there was some weird Saturday theme going on (TMZ ... WWII ... AARP), but then there were no more initial initialisms, and the whole thing just settled into a solid (if very easy) themeless. Fewer sparks and explosions outside the NW, but still a well-made and entertaining puzzle overall. I feel like having known Sam for years helped me a bit with this puzzle, in that I was much more certain about the ultra-current answers like TMZLIVE and the adventurous answers like WWIIVET, and I was also much more confident that whatever answers turned up would be non-junk. When you know you are doing a puzzle by someone who is Very Good, you know you might struggle, but you also know you are highly unlikely to struggle and then find out that you were struggling with crap. Today, turns out I didn't struggle much at all. Very much on Sam's wavelength. Which makes me feel so young! Or else ... Sam, maybe you've gone full middle-aged white guy before your time. Not sure. Either way, good puzzle, I say.

["TWO A.M." ... also, this video features a rebus puzzle (see 47A)]

I did struggle in one place. One weird, tiny place. Basically ... here:

This continues a pattern of my getting stuck on two-word answers where I have the second word and cannot for the life of me get the first (yesterday, had STAR but not CHILD; had SUGAR, but not ADDED, which I'm still mad about ... "ADDED" is not a kind of sugar and its calories are no more "empty" than any other sugar's dagnabbit!!!). So today, I wanted FIR TREES for 39A: Evergreens whose leaves are used culinarily. Yeah yeah, "culinary uses," but what do I know? People might use pine needles in cuisine. I've seen some of these Scandinavian fancy restaurants on "Chef's Table" or whatever, you never know what local flora people will stick on a plate or in your fish. So: FIR TREES, but I knew FIR was wrong. It's just -URL did nothing for me (39D: Bump on a log). I honestly thought "... NURL...?" for a half-second. Is KNURL a thing!? YES IT IS AND IT MEANS "A SMALL PROJECTING KNOB OR RIDGE," DAGNABBIT! Please change the "B" to "KN" ... yes, there are KNAY TREES now, I don't care—KNURL is the official right answer in my kingdom now. Speaking of "sticking out"—SALIENT? Means that? Er ... huh. Because I did not believe that, I had no idea about Uncle SAM, which in retrospect seems so easy (37D: Uncle's name). You don't wanna know the Uncle I was considering. Also three letters. Also ends in "M." Yeah. Seemed like something the NYT might think was a good idea, and later regret. But it's SAM. Ha ha I just got that that's the constructor's name. My own (real) (last) name is in the grid, too. Yes, that's right, my real name is Clarence SEXTAPE. It's MALTAn.

Five things:

17A: Mob rule? (RIOTACT) — RIOTACT: for when you're in Brazil on a sensitive diplomatic mission!
19A: Best-selling compact S.U.V. introduced in 2007 (NISSAN ROGUE) — I got this so fast but it didn't make me feel good; made me feel like "yeah, of course you know the name of the car for older people who want to feel like they're still driving a sporty-ish car but really just want a sensible, reliable vehicle that will allow for easy transport of kids, pets, and groceries. Congrats, buddy."
5D: Man's name that spells a fictional people backward (IVAN) — this answer reminded me that there will be about seventy-four new "Avatar" movies coming out between now and the probable end of my life, so I did not like this answer.
47A: Conjunction in a rebus puzzle (OAR) — you may be surprised to know that *outside* of CrossWorld, "rebus" means a picture puzzle, where addition and subtraction signs are used in conjunction (!) with pictures to lead you to an answer, which you sound out as you go along. OAR = "or."
48A: New contacts, informally (ADDS)— as in, people you "add" to your contacts list. I really thought this was a clue about contact lenses. I still want it to be.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld (Twitter @rexparker / #NYTXW)

P.S. here is my favorite Twitter exchange of all time. Enjoy:

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor: Erik Agard

Relative difficulty: Easy (8:42)

THEME:"Everything Evens Out In The End"— two-word phrases where second word is just the "odd" letters (e.g. 1st, 3rd, 5th...) of the first word; whole thing is tied together with the revealer, "WHAT ARE THE ODDS!?" (121A: "How lucky was that?" ... or a hint to the answers to the starred clues)

Theme answers:

SMALL-TOWN SALON (21A: *Likely inexpensive place to get one's hair done)
REINDEER RIDE (40A: *Tourist activity in northern Scandinavia)
THE FARM TEAM (59A: *Source of call-ups, in baseball lingo)
SWINGING SIGN (64A: *Posting that blows in the wind)
IS NOT TOO INTO (72A: *Has little excitement for)
PROTEST POET (84A: *Allen Ginsberg, e.g.)
FOOTNOTE FONT (99A: *Bottom-of-page design choice)

Word of the Day: AWKWAFINA (132A: "Crazy Rich Asians" actress whose stage name puns on a bottled water brand) —

Nora Lum (June 2, 1988), known by the stage name Awkwafina, is an American rapper and actress. She appeared in the films Ocean's 8 and Crazy Rich Asians. She has released two studio albums, Yellow Ranger and In Fina We Trust. Awkwafina first gained popularity for her song "My Vag", a response to Mickey Avalon's "My Dick". The music video garnered over three million views on YouTube. Notable television appearances include Girl Code, Future Man, and Saturday Night Live. (wikipedia)

• • •

What a weird solve. I had no clear idea what was going on with the themers, except that there was clearly some kind of anagram or repeat-some-letters thing going on inside the answers. The themers themselves seemed ... contrived, at least slightly. THE FARM TEAM? SMALL-TOWN SALON? Seemed a little iffy. But I was just rolling with it, hoping / praying that there was gonna be a bangin' revealer to make it all worthwhile, and Sure Enough! Erik's last puzzle was the one with the revealer "SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN," which was, frankly, the best and most memorable revealer of the year to that point (see here), and today's is just as good. The revealer should snap—it should crackle and pop, too. It needs to make perfect sense of the themers, and it needs to be a great phrase in its own right. Or, maybe not "needs to," but "should." Perfect revealers should make you go "Oh ... wow." And this one did. I still think the themers are weird and contrived, but they had to be for this (very restrictive) theme to work. As you know, and as the data makes clear, Sunday has recently been my least favorite day of the puzzle week, so this puzzle is especially welcome.

There were little hiccups along the way, but I basically crushed this puzzle—until, that is, the SE corner, where I floundered (but, thankfully, did not founder). I just couldn't get a hold on the revealer. Had to work and work and work at it, and the crosses were really rough (for me) toward the middle and end. YEOW is a sound, TSK is a sound, PRECHEW is ew, what the hell is PRECHEW, dear lord ... and then I misread 125D: Iniquity site (DEN) as [Inquiry site], so that didn't help. Then I misspelled WOOLF ever which way imaginable, and some unimaginable (if you include multiple typos), before getting it right. Then there's the fact that I didn't really know / remember AWKWAFINA and didn't read the whole clue, which, you know, might've been a good idea. Might've jogged my memory a bit. So the area east of DARLA was snarled mess. I might've been very close to a Sunday personal best if I had been able to maintain my pace through the SE. Still, even with the ridiculous pratfall conclusion, a very fast solve.

Five things:

10A: Multidecker sandwich (CLUB) — wanted BLT(S). I actually wrote in BLAT (which is a multidecker sandwich, I think ... well, it's got bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato on it; I count each of those things as a deck(er).
42D: Dreadfully slow (DRAGGY) — had trouble with this, but when I got it, I loved it—and that's the best possible outcome for a crossword struggle: "What the ... why can't I ... oh! Oh yeah, gotta give it up for that answer, that is good..."
49A: Chinese dynasty ended by Kublai Khan (SONG) — that has to be the world's toughest clue for SONG ... but it's not like it slowed me down much.
29A: En ___ (chess move) (PASSANT)— ha ha, OK, sure, if you say so. Luckily I have some familiarity with French, so I was able to make a French phrase out of the few letters that I had, and it ended up being right.
5D: Tree resin used in fragrances (BALSAM) — well I know BALSA wood, and I know the actor Martin BALSAM ... but this "resin" was not familiar to me. And crossing PASSANT ... that was potentially lethal. But tra la la, I managed to skip right through there without harm.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor: Peter Gordon

Relative difficulty: Medium (3:06)

THEME: TRIATHLON (66A: Race suggested by 19-, 39- and 59-Across?) — themers contain SWIMMING, CYCLING, and RUNNING, respectively:

Theme answers:

GOING SWIMMINGLY (19A: Proceeding well)
RECYCLING CENTER (39A: Place to bring aluminum cans)
OUT OF THE RUNNING (59A: No longer in contention)

Word of the Day: LONI Love (3D: Comedian Love who co-hosts "The Real") —

Loni Love (born July 12, 1971) is an Emmy Award-winning, American comedian, television host, actress and author. While working as an electrical engineer in 2003, Love began to pursue a career in music engineering. She was the runner-up on Star Search 2003 and was named among the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both Variety and Comedy Central in 2009. She is currently one of the hosts of The Real talk show along with Jeannie Mai, Tamera Mowry, and Adrienne Bailon, which premiered on July 15, 2013. (wikipedia)

• • •

This theme doesn't work for me, for a few reasons. The TRIATHLON segments are weirdly embedded. CYCLING is only part of the word RECYCLING, which has nothing to do with bicycling, which would be fine, but then RUNNING is a stand-alone word and kind of has Everything to do with, uh, running, even if OUT OF THE RUNNING is, largely, metaphorical now. I have no idea what the origins of GOING SWIMMINGLY are, but I imagine they have more to do with swimming than recycling has to do with cycling. It's all just uneven and strange and thin. The fill is OK but not great—just this side of "clean enough" but not-at-all interesting. Feels like something Peter Gordon just tossed off and threw away. Something he could make in his sleep. I tend to like Mondays best, of all the themed days of the week, but this one missed me. Didn't miss bad. It just missed. Another thing that missed: my fingers, in that they couldn't hit the right keys to save their lives. I guess I have had a drink, and it was kind of strong, but it was just the one, and I'm 6'3" 185 so honestly it should not have affected my fingers the way it did. I think if I'd had a way to record "number of typos and rewrites" I would've been able to declare that today, I set a record. Just a horrendous job of filling in squares and moving the cursor around properly. For all I know, this puzzle is actually wickedly easy, even in comparison to Mondays. But my fat drunk fingers did what they did, and we all have to live with the consequences.

I wrote in VILE for UGLY and thus began my wrong answer/rewrite tragedy (17D: Hideous ... yes, it was hideous). Wrote in STAGE for STAIR (5D: Step between two floors). Wrote in GUY for GUS (41D: Fellow .... I stopped reading at "Fellow," that was my problem). Had the -ATHLON part and immediately, without looking at the clue, wrote in DECATHLON. You can see how impressive I was today, right? Brilliant. Couldn't remember if she was TERRY or KERRY or TERRI or KERRI Strug (56D: Gymnast Strug). Thought maybe [Twilight time] was DAWN (!?). Assorted other things slowed me down, mostly notably my recalcitrant sot-digits. "MY EYE!" can kiss my eye, what is that?! Who says that!? What year is it!? What is "The Real"? Who is this non-Anderson LONI? (3D: Comedian Love who co-hosts "The Real"). Is "The Real" that "The View" look-alike I see on one of the TV screens at the gym sometimes? YES? OK. Well, LONI didn't hold me up too much, so I'm not mad at her. Crosses were easy. And now I know there's more than one LONI in the world. Cool.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Hi, everyone! It's Clare, and I'm back for another Tuesday. Feeling a bit tired from staying up late to watch the Oscars on Sunday night. Anyone watch?? Who loves Olivia Colman as much as I do? (P.S. She's an incredible actress, and everyone should know her name — go watch "Broadchurch" right now. Seriously.)

Constructor: Alex Vratsanos

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: JOINT (40A: What each set of shaded letters in this puzzle represents) — The shaded sections of the puzzle are all joints, which bend in the puzzle like they do in the body.

Theme answers:

ELBOW (as part of 1A and 3D)
ANKLE (as part of 5A and 8D)
HIP (as part of 9A and 13D)
KNUCKLE (as part of 35A and 31D)
SHOULDER (as part of 37A and 28D)
KNEE(as part of 60A and 62D)
WRIST (as part of 63A and 41D)
NECK (as part of 65A and 59D)

Word of the Day: KNUT (35A: Bronze coin in the Harry Potter books)

The Knut (pronounced ca-nut) is the least valued coin in wizarding currency in Harry Potter. There are 29 Knuts in one silver Sickle, and there are 493 Knuts in one golden Galleon. Around the edge of each coin is a series of numerals which represent a serial number belonging to the Goblin that cast the coin.Witches and wizards are not averse to laborious calculations, as they can do them magically, so they do not find it inconvenient to pay for goods in Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons. One Sickle is equal to about 2 U.S. cents. (Harry Potter Wiki)

• • •

As I was doing this puzzle on my phone, the app tried to make me quit four times. I should have taken it as a hint. I found the puzzle to be difficult — maybe the hardest since I've started this write-up on Tuesdays — and I just didn't like it. I never really got going, and I got stumped in a whole lot of places. The theme was clever and ambitious, both in the number of theme answers and in the way that they all bent, like joints do, and I appreciate the effort that went into crafting the theme of the puzzle. The theme also helped me with the solve, because, once I saw what one set of shaded boxes represented, it was pretty easy to extrapolate and get the others — helping me fill in a lot of squares. However, the theme might have been the only saving grace of the puzzle as the fill was just bleh and often nonsensical.

A lot of little things bugged me about the puzzle. Why is the clue for SHOULD at 37A, "Is obliged to"? If you're obliged to do something, it's not that you should do it; you have to do it. 36A Flight board posting felt more like it should be "etd" instead of ETA. It feels like it's more common to look at a flight board to see when your plane is leaving than when it's going to land. Also, saying MAKE ME as a response to a bully seems like a pretty good way to get your head bashed in or — at the very least — start a fight. That seems like something I'd say in a snide way to my sister, not to a bully. I asked my dad about KCAR (46A: Classic Chrysler), and he was upset about calling KCAR a classic anything. Yes, the platform made a lot of money for Chrysler, and the cars are decades old, but they went from zero to 60 in 13 to 14 seconds (I could run faster than that).

Then, there were just a whole bunch of words that felt out-of-place on a Tuesday, even weird. Like MEWS (huh?), RAITA (never heard of this before in my life, and I eat a lot of Indian food), SISAL (maybe not right for a Tuesday?), PTL Club (that was a thing?), ENSHEATHE (why isn't this just sheath?); and, UTNE, BOWE, and MINOLTA (words I've never seen on a Tuesday before, which isn't necessarily bad but did contribute to the puzzle feeling harder and the fill being more tedious).

Bullets:

I'm thinking about learning French just to be able to do crosswords better (for example, to help me on 32A: Deux + un to get TROIS and 42A: Entr' to get ACTE)
Harry Potter reference!! I'm pumped. It also blew my mind when I Googled "KNUT" and found out that it's pronounced ca-nut. I've been saying it wrong my whole life.
Thank you, law school, for helping me get WRIT and LIEN. I appreciate it.
I'm getting really sick of seeing the NRA in so many puzzles.

Rant over. Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

Signed, Clare Carroll, who has been watching Olivia Colman's acceptance speech at the Oscars on repeat since Sunday night.

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor: Will Nediger

Relative difficulty: Challenging (5:25) (a just-woke-up solve)

THEME: Pre- — pffffffff OK so theme answers are really pairs of words that sit on the same Across line, with the first word clued as [Pre- [the next clue]], and so the clue for the first word is the prefix "Pre-" added to the second word. So the first word is literally pre-the second word (i.e it comes first, reading left to right, as one does...) and it means the same thing as PRE- + [second word]:

Theme answers:

FOREWORD = pre- AMBLE (22A: Go for a stroll)
AUGURY = pre- DICTION (29A: Subject in acting school)
DICTATE = pre- SCRIBE (44A: Job in a monastery)
EARLY = pre- MATURELY (50A: How emotionall developed people handle things)

Word of the Day: SERTS (40A: Some Spanish murals) —

Josep Maria Sert i Badia (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛb məˈɾi.ə ˈsɛɾt]; Barcelona, 21 December 1874 – 27 November 1945, buried in the Vic Cathedral) was a Catalan muralist, the son of an affluent textile industry family, and friend of Salvador Dalí. He was particularly known for his grisaille style, often in gold and black. (wikipedia)

• • •

Found this fussy and dull. I'm not that big a fan of "you have to go somewhere else to figure out what the clue to this answer is"-type puzzles, so this one didn't have much of a chance with me, but it really did feel workmanlike and joyless. Executed fine, but ... shrug. And then the fill is just ... there's just so much of it. An avalanche of 4- and 5-letter words. Just short stuff everywhere you look, as far as the eye can see. This never augurs (!) well for fill quality, and sure enough, much of the shorter fill is tired or outright cringey (see SERTS in the plural, SOU, and OCULI, above all). Go into any corner and it's just ABEL or AGAR EGAD HAHA or OUZO or ASAP or RAGU ALOT or ORCA ARCO or etc. The yuckiest part is probably the double (!) plural names in the middle of the grid (BACHS, SERTS), but it's pretty tedious all over.

Not much else to say, so here are ...

Five things:

31D: Desert in southern Africa (NAMIB) — me: "desert ... that crosswordesey desert ... NEGEV ... no ... NEGEB ... still no ..."
3D: Anise-flavored liqueur (OUZO) — swear to god, I wrote in ANIS.
21D: Extremely, informally (WAY) — had the "A" ... wrote in MAD (which I still like better, much better)
30D: Eyelike openings (OCULI)— I resent this answer. There's no need for this junky crosswordese. There's no need to go with SCRIBE, thus forcing yourself into an O---I situation *and* a N---B situation. Bizarre.
12D: Ferrara who directed "King of New York" (ABEL) — I got this instantly. I have no idea who this is. Huh ... [looks him up] ... Oh, OK, I think I've seen a couple of these ... huh, looks like he directed a pornographic film in the '70s called "9 Lives of a Wet [REDACTED]" ... That, I have not seen.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor: Randolph Ross

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Similar two-word phrases? — Okay, so each theme answer features a clue punning on a specific letter like "honey bees" with the answer then featuring two words that start with said letter, in this case 'B'. So, the crossword answer is Badgers and Bears...like Wisconsin and Chicago, right? Oh, right, honey badgers and honey bears.

Theme answers:

JASMINE AND JEANS = (16A: Blue jays)
COMEDY AND CRIMES = (46A: High seas)
PEACE AND PEPPERS = (59A: Green peas)
ICE AND INK = (33A: Dry eyes)
BADGERS AND BEARS = (26A: Honey bees)

Word of the Day:EXACTA(47D: Tough-to-win horse racing bet —

a type of bet, especially on horse races, in which the bettor must select the first- and second-place finishers in exact order. - Dictionary.com

• • •

Hello, it's Megan and Tristan, the dynamic duo filling in for Rex today (for the second time). We are both almost done with undergraduate life, but found the time to do this crossword puzzle, even though we are not in the same state right now. Said puzzle was not that fun! It was reasonably difficult, very old-school, and a little confusing.

MEGAN: Old school, indeed. Honestly, the only redeeming thing about the puzzle to me is Tegan and SARA (56D), which is the only answer that locates the puzzle in this century. Well, I guess Blue Jasmine is also in the 21st century (16A: Blue jays), but I have never heard of or seen it. Wikipedia says it’s a Woody Allen film (why?!) about a wealthy socialite (Cate Blanchett) whose marriage collapses and who moves in with her sister in San Francisco. Not knowing Blue Jasmine really tripped us both up in the NW corner, which was our last to solve - for a while, we only had OBADIAH (2D: Shortest Old Testament book). While I’m talking about that corner how does the clue for RESANDS? (2D: Smooths over) imply sanding again? Why re-sands? Why is the clue not, “Smooths over, again”?

TRISTAN: The usage of AHSO (30A: "I can see clearly now.") does not sit well with me. While the context in the puzzle makes vague sense, it’s also a derogatory version of a Japanese phrase for that often gets used to make fun of East Asian people. Not great! It’s not the most common derogatory term ever, but it’s the first result on Google searches. It’s also easily changeable. WBO could be World Boxing Organization, and OHSO could fit with any sentence you please. Otherwise, this puzzle felt clunky. I thought the idea behind the theme was clever from a wordplay standpoint, but it was poorly executed. Putting five themed answers, four using the whole grid, led to some crosswordese three-letter clues:ELY (a Nevada town pop. 4,255), PCT, ISS, DEI, PBA, NIP, DES, SOS, HAJ.

MEGAN: Yeah, once we got the theme, things really moved along. But it took wayyy too long to parse out what the theme wanted. I have had many an English teacher say that if you can’t think of a title for your paper, that probably means you don’t have much of an argument in your paper, and that’s kind of how I feel about the theme here. It’s vague and not very interesting. I can’t think of any concise or fun way to describe it or talk about it. It’s just there.

Bullets:

Megan:

48D: Certain intimate apparel sizes (DCUPS) — Whyyyy are there so many clues about bras?
39D: Unlikely source of a silk purse (SOW’S EAR) — Yup, had no idea what this was. Never heard that idiom so got it entirely from the crosses.

Tristan:

2D: Shortest Old Testament Book (OBADIAH) — As usual with biblical clues, we listed every single book of the Old Testament to find the one that made the most sense. Congrats to Obadiah's editing skills, as he wrote about the downfall of Edom in a succinct 440 words (in Hebrew).
5D: Albert Einstein, notably (EMIGRE) — Whenever I hear the words emigre, I only think of the French aristocrats who fled the French Revolution. Hearing it in the context of Albert Einstein threw me off slightly.

Signed, Megan and Tristan, Court Chroniclers of CrossWorld

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Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (6:54)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: HYACINTH (37A: Bloom with showy clusters) —

Hyacinthus is a small genus of bulbous, fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. These are commonly called hyacinths /ˈhaɪəsɪnθs/. The genus is native to the eastern Mediterranean (from the south of Turkey through to northern part of the region of Palestine).
Several species of Brodiea, Scilla, and other plants that were formerly classified in the lily family and have flower clusters borne along the stalk also have common names with the word "hyacinth" in them. Hyacinths should also not be confused with the genus Muscari, which are commonly known as grape hyacinths. (wikipedia)

• • •

Happy March! Nice to see C.C.'s name today—without her, the female constructor count would be truly abysmal (she's got three of the eight woman-constructed puzzles so far this year). I usually enjoy her work, but today's puzzle felt dull and sloggy. Fridays should glisten and sparkle, and while there are a couple of winners today (XI JIN PING and "YOU RULE!"), most of the rest of the grid felt like filler, and OLD, STALE filler at that (note: don't put [Hackneyed] as a clue in your puzzle *twice*—it gives people ideas). I could not have been less on this puzzle's wavelength if I'd tried, making wave after wave of mistakes because I just couldn't figure out what the clues were going for, or figure out what some of the phrases even were. FINAL SALE is probably my least favorite themeless 1-Across of all time. I had FINAL SA-E before I had any idea what it could be (1A: Point of no return?). Of course I thought tennis at first, but after that, after FINAL ... nothing. Even looking at it now, I don't see how this is a good term. What context do you even use it in? "All Sales Are Final" is a concept I know. But FINAL SALE, not so much. And it's over a single, sad, lonely (though presumably fresh-smelling) ODOR EATER. It's just sad up there. SAPOR is sad (I had TASTE) (6D: Flavor). ATILT is very sad (I had FALSE) (7D: Not true). LENDERS, boring (I had BANKERS) (8D: People of interest?). NO JEANS may be right but oof does that sound off. It's phrased like a posted warning sign, but presumably there are no such warning signs posted around your office. SITS IDLE, RESTS EASY ... this is soporific stuff. PINE OIL SEASIDE ... nothing to get excited about here. Like "HEY, JUDE," it just kept going when I wanted it to be over.

So in addition to the three consecutive Down mistakes I made in the NW, I also did TSK / JAKARTA instead of TUT / ANTIGUA (I know I know I know JAKARTA is not in the "West Indies," it was the "K" from TSK that got me, man, the "K," I'm only human) (48A: When doubled, "For shame!" / 39D: Island in the West Indies). Also GET BACK before HIT BACK (37D: Retaliate). Also I could not have picked a HYACINTH out of a line-up before today and needed the "Y" before I could see it. Also, How *you* DOIN'? :/

[54: "How you ___?"] (BEEN)

See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor: Peter A. Collins

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: LEO V (28A: Byzantine emperor known as "the Armenian") —

Leo V the Armenian (Greek: Λέων ὁ ἐξ Ἀρμενίας, Leōn ho ex Armenias; 775 – 24 December 820) was Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 813 to 820. A senior general, he forced his predecessor, Michael I Rangabe, to abdicate and assumed the throne. He ended the decade-long war with the Bulgars, and initiated the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm. He was assassinated by supporters of Michael the Amorian, one of his most trusted generals, who succeeded him on the throne. (wikipedia)

• • •

Woof. Not a pleasing weekend of themelesses, which is very disappointing, as Friday and Saturday are (statistically) my favorite days by far. This one had a few decent longer answers (e.g. RABBIT HOLE, PR NIGHTMARE), but most of the longer stuff was either fairly dull (DINNER PLATE, ONION ROLLS), or colloquially wobbly ("LET'S GET ON IT") (I had "TO IT"), or else extremely off-putting (CHLORINE GAS ... I mean, chemical weapons? geeeez louise, what's next, POGROMS?) (fun (?) fact: POGROM last appeared in the NYT crossword in 1981). Speaking of off-putting, the puzzle's really pushing Woody Allen this week, and while you may feel however you feel about him, it's pretty clear to anyone paying attention that he is a source of unpleasant feelings for a huge portion of the solving populartion. Maybe, I dunno, spread your references out? Maybe make sure the rest of the puzzle is somewhat more upbeat and bouncy and full of good feelings than CHLORINE GAS? Isn't someone supposed to be overseeing this kind of stuff?

Oh *THE* NHL, well la di dah! PRESSMAN feels archaic, like he and the town crier drink ales from STEINs when their shifts are over (34D: Certain newspaper employee). NEMEAN is crosswordese, and it somehow doesn't seem any less crosswordesey when it appears in long form with LION attached. As for LEOV ... let's LEOV that one alone. The grid shape today is really unbecoming; I don't mean that the black/white pattern itself is aesthetically unpleasing, I mean that from a solving standpoint, those NW / SE corners are terrible. Secluded and impossible to fill in any kind of interesting way. Just two chunks of 6x4 garbage. Sequestered dead weight. Shoving Z's in there isn't fooling anyone. There is not interest there, and there can't really be interest there, because the grid is not built in a way that would allow interest there. IMAGED? THENHL? ICER? I do like the word ERSATZ, but still, in a themeless, where the whole point is to sparkle, these dank corner holes where no light can shine are really a bummer.

My main screw-ups were in that NW corner, where I had STAIR (?) for 19A: End of a flight, say (ATTIC), and TAO for ZEN (27A: Discipline of some masters). Really bad solving on my part. Once I got out of there, the rest of the grid was pretty pliable. And once I got CHLORINE GAS (again, ugh), I got ATTIC and finished that NW corner up without any trouble. I hope Sunday comes through, but ... honestly, that so rarely happens, I'm not getting my hopes up. But you never know. See you tomorrow to find out!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I know some of you are wondering, "How is [Bore] STOOD?" Think "withstood."

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Constructor: Tony Orbach and Andrea Carla Michaels

Relative difficulty: Easy (9:07)

THEME:"D.J.'S SPINNIN'"— change-a-letter theme: J for D:

Theme answers:

HOOVER JAM (26A: Vacuum cleaner blockage?)
JUST BUNNIES (28A: Sign at a restricted area of the Playboy Mansion?)
ROLLING IN THE JEEP (42A: Driving through some off-road terrain, say?)
JOCK OF THE BAY (58A: San Francisco Giant, for example?)
GRAVE JIGGERS (72A: Overly serious Irish dancers?)
MAKE THE JEANS LIST (88A: Write an order to replenish inventory of Levi's?)
GARBAGE JUMP (105A: Throwaway vault at a gymnastics meet?)
JUNE BUGGY (109A: Shower gift for a Gemini baby?)

Word of the Day: ALAMEDA (90D: Tree-lined walk) —

An alameda is a street or path lined with trees (from Spanish álamo, meaning 'poplar'). (wikipedia)

• • •

As change-a-letter themes go, this one at least has a few somewhat funny answers (ROLLING IN THE JEEP, MAKE THE JEANS LIST), but the clues are somehow dull as ecru, and anyway, this is just too thin a concept (any more) for a NYT Sunday crossword. Super duper duper old-fashioned, and the fill didn't help any. Felt like a solid puzzle from 1999. You could get away with junk like REPAGE (!!!!!!!!!!?) in 1999. I'm not sure you could ever really "get away with"TATAS—a plural of goodbye. I mean, you can "say your goodbyes," plural, but do you say your TATAS? When in the dang world would you pluralize "tata"? Horrid. But back to the theme—it's just there. Workmanlike. Filling a Sunday-sized puzzle space in the Sunday magazine. The "Best Puzzle in the World" has to have more ambition than this, and be cleaner and crisper than this. REPAGE OATIER SNOODS. That is a stack in this puzzle, and also how I feel about this puzzle; interpret that as you will.

It's always weird to see FRESNO in a puzzle, as it is my hometown, though I haven't set foot in it in [counts ...] 23 years? It was over a Christmas holiday, and I was violently ill. So that's how FRESNO and I left things. I still have a couple high school friends there, but it's basically TERRA incognita to me now. Mom moved out in the late '90s, dad moved out shortly thereafter. Neither my sister nor my stepsiblings live there anymore. There's no reason for me to go back. I am weirdly curious, though. I missed my 30th high school reunion. Maybe the 40th will lure me back. Or maybe the effects of climate change will be so dire by then that average springtime highs are in the 110s and the place is totally uninhabitable, who knows?

What are CARR'S? (55D: Cracker brand since 1831). OK, I'm looking at the box now, and I've definitely had these, though (obviously) no way I could've told you their name was CARR'S. Since 1831, you say? Wow, how are you around for that long and still don't have a name as iconic as RITZ or even HI-HO? No one, literally no one, says "Gen Y'ERS." You can say "Gen X-ers"'cause no one's gonna wonder what you're saying, unlike "Gen Y'ERS," which sounds like wires that you stick in your gin For Some Reason. Wife just came down (I'm typing at the kitchen table) to inform me of her ire re: SCRUNCHY (14D: Ponytail holder). "That is not how you spell that." I didn't think so. And she's absolutely right, though wikipedia has the -Y spelling as an alternative. SCRUNCHIE is definitely how most people know it, and how most would spell it. I had PELT for COAT (82A: Fur). Wife had PELT for COAT *and* APEX for ACME (75D: Top). I also had ATRA for AFTA, which is really the saddest solver predicament. "Which crosswordese brand is it!? Nope, sorry, you're wrong! Wasn't that fun!?"

Recent puzzles helped me get LIII (football is dead to me, so I'm gonna struggle like crazy in the future re: football clues) and ARLENE (Me a few days ago, and my wife just now: "Garfield has a girlfriend?!"). AMISS is not bad, but ALOAD is pretty bad, and ACAR is worse. I don't understand why the Sunday NYT puzzle isn't great Every Single Week. I wish more people would do the Washington Post Sunday puzzle every week, so they could at least have some idea how routinely the NYT gets outpaced. Inertia and complacency keep people believing that the NYT really is the "Best Puzzle in the World." It absolutely is not. No one who solves lots of puzzles thinks that. It can be great, but it is too often far more mediocre than it should be.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor: Ellis Hay

Relative difficulty: Tuesday

THEME: Queen B— Every clue starts with B. Theme answers start with a word that's pronounced the same way you pronounce the letter B.

Theme answers:

B-MINOR MASS (20A: Bach masterpiece, informally)
BEA ARTHUR (32A: Betty White co-star on "The Golden Girls"
BEE STINGS (40A: Benadryl might treat them)
BE YOURSELF (52A: Bit of advice to the insecure)

Word of the Day: UGLI (36A: "Blemished" fruit) —

The Jamaican tangelo, also known by proprietary names ugli /ˈʌɡli/ fruit, uglifruit, or uniq fruit, is a Jamaican form of tangelo, a citrus fruit that arose through the natural hybridization of a tangerine or orange with a grapefruit (or pomelo).^[1]

Its hybrid species is usually represented as Citrus reticulata× Citrus paradisi.^[2]

This tangelo was a natural hybrid, having arisen spontaneously like the grapefruit,^[1] in Jamaica, where it is mainly grown today.^[3]'UGLI' is a registered trademark of Cabel Hall Citrus Limited, under which it markets the fruit,^[4] the name being a variation of the word "ugly", which refers to the fruit's unsightly appearance, with rough, wrinkled, greenish-yellow rind, wrapped loosely around the orange pulpy citrus inside.^[2]

^(Wikipedia)

• • •

Annabel Monday!!!!! Okay, this is so not a good omen. I'm fast approaching midterms and I get to a whole puzzle themed around the letter "B"? Can next week's Monday theme be "A+" or "Annabel passes all her midterms without having to stay up all night or even having to put that much work into them because she's just that good"? Anyway, I definitely scored worse than a B on puzzle time, to b honest. I got stuck on the left for ages, ditto with the bottom right quadrant because I couldn't figure out what PONE was, and there were just various unnecessarily hard words scattered throughout the puzzle. Didn't help that I'd misspelled RBG's last name as GINSBERG for a solid twenty minutes. And UGLI is my biggest Natick since actual Natick. But that's probably just because I've never personally eaten it. Difficulty aside, though, I had fun. Few obvious clues, no overused answers. I'd love to see more constructors try things like this! The clues were more interesting because they must have been more of a challenge to write.

That said, I had to go on the Wordplay blog to get the theme. I felt like a big buffoon when I realized absolutely all the clues had been B's. In my defense I did the puzzle on mobile so there wasn't an obvious wall of B-clues staring me right in the face, just one at a time, and I was more focused on cracking the code of whether UGLI was a typo or not. But like I said, it was cool. I like bees. I forget if I've talked about them before on this blog, but I find eusocial insects really neat.

Bullets:

MIFF (10A: Bother)— Makes me think of Miffy. She was a little bunny who had adventures that were actually pretty boring but that probably helped me sleep when I was a baby, so fair enough.

MATHLETE (10D: Braniac in a certain high school competition)— I'd love to hear from current or former Mathletes about your experiences! Also, did you call yourselves that? Like for real? Also, kudos to you, that's hard stuff. I used to be great at math until I reached calculus, at which point I suddenly discovered that I'd rather analyze literary themes and the social implications of literature for the rest of my academic life, which conveniently doesn't require you to take the integral of a function.
BEA ARTHUR (32A: Betty White co-star on "The Golden Girls") — Obligatory:
ALUM (2D: Bill Clinton vis-à-vis Georgetown and 54-Down)— oh god that's going to be me soon oh god. Nah, in all seriousness I'm pretty excited. I'm thinking of becoming a librarian.

Signed, Annabel Thompson, tired college student, and I swear to God I almost just typed "high school" instead of college, eep. I'm going to bed.

OH MY GOD I ALMOST FORGOT: It's my mom's birthday tomorrow! She's going to be--um, 39! Again! In all seriousness, happy birthday to her.

Look, they're Rex's BFFs. Also I forget which one is the older twin

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Constructor: Joe Deeney

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (4:11)

THEME: seeing spots — every theme clue relates to "spots" somehow:

Theme answers:

PARKING LOT (16A: It has spots)
LEOPARD PRINT (22A: It has spots)
COMMERCIAL BREAK (35A: It has spots)
DOGGY DAYCARE (48A: It has Spots)
TEASER VICE (57A: It has spots)

Word of the Day: DOLMA (7D: Stuffed grape leaves) —

noun
a dish consisting of ingredients such as meat and spiced rice wrapped in vine or cabbage leaves, popular in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the eastern Mediterranean. (google)

• • •

Didn't work for me on many levels. Humor is corny, both in the theme and in some of the "jokey" clues (see especially that IGLOO clue, oof) (44D: Home with a dome (in Nome?)). The cloying cutesiness of the DOGGY DAYCARE answer is made worse by the fact that it just makes no sense. My guess is that the average number of "Spots" at the average DOGGY DAYCARE on any given day is hovering right around zero. Closer to zero (by far) than one, for sure. Spot is with Rover and Fido in DOGGY HEAVEN, let's be honest. The very notion that dogs are still called "Spot" (outside of old Dick & Jane primers) helps give this puzzle a very musty feel, despite the desperate bid for youthiness represented by NOOB and (probably) DARTH. Cultural center of gravity is way back, when VCRs roamed the land and "LET IT BE" was a hit and you DIALed your friends on your rotary phone and said, "HI HO!," and if someone disrupted your TEA SERVICE, you shouted, "HEY, you BIG APE!" Speaking of TEA SERVICE, it's the weakest of the straightforward [It has spots] clues, for sure, and also I know I'm not the only one who, while solving it, was parsing it as TEASER ___ and ended up with TEASER VICE. Not the answer's fault; just another way this puzzle was annoying.

["VICE" TEASER]

The grid is weirdly choppy and conspicuously black-square heavy, with two cheater squares* in each of the weird giant "S"-shaped blocks of black. This results in an unpleasantly segmented grid, laden with short fill. IONE is crosswordese, and she crosses tilde-less ANO, which is also crosswordese. That cross is kind of an emblem for the grid. I mean, check the symmetrical cross: OKRA / EKE. See what I mean? Iconic crosswordese ... crossing. What is with that QURAN spelling? It's a valid spelling variant, but that is an astonishingly gratuitous "Q." Somewhere Roberto DURAN is shaking his head going "Come on!" There are so many different ways to go up there without having to resort to an alt-spelling of KORAN. And again, any time I see aspirational "Q"s and other Scrabbly letters mucking up a grid, I wonder about the constructor's priorities. I'm AT A LOSS. Also, all things "IQ" irritate me. Racist nonsense, that test. And don't get me started on the puzzle's love affair with *&$^ing MENSA. But I digress. I knew DOLMA but couldn't spell it (DALMA!) (like the DALMAtian ... which has spots!). Literally no idea who this LIAM guy is. I tried SEAN and SIAN and then just gave up (22D: Writer O'Flaherty). Is TYCO a toy company? Are they bygone? Yyyyyyup. Throw another answer on the ash heap of history. Sigh. (60A: Onetime maker of Matchbox cars)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*cheater squares = black squares that don't affect word count and are only there to make filling the grid easier. Here, the black squares above "25" and "15," as well as their symmetrical counterparts

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Constructor: Mary Lou Guizzo and Erik Agard

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (4:57 — oversized grid)

THEME: in like a LION, out like a LAMB — there's a word ladder (...) that goes from LION to LAMB, and then there are three themers, each of which starts with a relevant season-changing word:

Theme answers:

MARCH OF PROGRESS (???) (17A: History moving forward)
WINTER WONDERLAND (41A: Snowy expanse)
SPRING HAS SPRUNG (62A: Cry when warmer weather returns)

Word of the Day: Michael PEÑA (14A: Michael who played the title role in 2014's "Cesar Chavez") —

Michael Anthony Peña (/ˈpɛnjə/; Spanish: [ˈpeɲa]; born January 13, 1976) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in many films, such as Crash (2004), World Trade Center (2006), Shooter(2007), Observe and Report (2009), Tower Heist (2011), Battle: Los Angeles (2011), End of Watch(2012), Gangster Squad (2013), American Hustle (2013), Fury (2014), Frontera (2014), The Martian(2015), Collateral Beauty (2016), CHiPs (2017), My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), Ant-Man (2015) and its sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), and A Wrinkle in Time (2018). Peña also had the title role in Cesar Chavez (2014) and plays the co-lead role in the TV series Narcos: Mexico (2018). (wikipedia)

• • •

I honestly don't get this at all. Any part of it. It makes no sense. Well, the "in like a lion out like a lamb thing" I get. It's a saying, so why not try to make a puzzle around it, I guess, but why *this* puzzle? Why 16-wide? May see a weird place to start complaining, given how many other problems ther are, but seriously. To make the ladder a true ladder, with 4-letter "rungs" going right down the middle? Is that it? I can tell you that that does not make a word ladder any more appealing (the appeal of all word ladders being permanently set at "zero"). You could put WINTER SOLDIER in the middle, or WINTER [anything] that makes an odd number, and bring the damn grid back to 15 wide. Stagger the stupid "rungs," who cares? As is, you have this conspicuous (and ugly) black "L"s wrapping around the 15s in the NW and SE. Bizarre. Then there's the very fact of a word ladder—one of the least pleasurable crossword theme conceits of all time. Then there's the odd theme answer progression. MARCH answer not about MARCH, but WINTER and SPRING answers definitely about those seasons, and anyway, the adage refers to weather, not the literal seasons. And it's a dumb adage anyway, if you've experienced March in central New York (this last bit is not the puzzle's fault).

What else? The fill. It is inexplicably bad. My printed-out grid is filthy with red ink. Long Downs are fine (the only part of the puzzle I like), but who the hell is NOREEN? I had -OREEN and absolutely no idea, and with the first word in ladder unclued ... solving fun! OXX is to fill what word ladders are to crossword themes, i.e. the worst. ING NOVAE OMOO INRE (!) ALAI (!!) MINIMA ELNINO PAAR APSE TSAR ASADA XIII LALA LEI NAW ASTI SIB AVER ELSA ENID HRE. That there is an assault. A crosswordese / junk fill assault. Maybe change MARCH OF PROGRESS to something snappier—did you all know that was the name of this illustration??

I did not. Anyway, do a different MARCH. Make WINTER and SPRING answers be unrelated to the seasons. Refill the entire grid. I don't know. Do something. This is the longest streak of not liking the puzzle that I have ever been on. 9 days (I'm told—I don't actually keep track of these things). How is the "Best Puzzle in the World" routinely this mediocre? Puzzles should be fun to solve. Fun. And clean. Clean is fun. I CAN'T believe this prestigious puzzle org. can't get its dang act together. It's really, truly, genuinely frustrating and disappointing.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor: Brian Thomas

Relative difficulty: Easy (untimed on the clipboard, so I'm not sure, but I got the theme early and never struggled)

THEME: STICK 'EM UP (59A: "Hands in the air!" ... or a literal hint to 17-, 23-, 37- and 46-Across)— the "'EM" part of familiar phrases sticks ... up (i.e. the "M" hops above the "E" before the rest of the answer CONTINUES as normal...)

Theme answers:

HANG 'EM HIGH (17A: 1968 Clint Eastwood western with six nooses on its poster)
HOOK 'EM HORNS (23A: Cheer at a Texas football game)
ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROBOT (37A: Toy boxer in a classic two-player game)
KNOCK 'EM DEAD (46A: "Show the world what you've got!")

Word of the Day: MT. COOK (21A: Highest peak in N.Z.) —

Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height since 2014 is listed as 3,724 metres (12,218 feet), down from 3,764 m (12,349 ft) before December 1991, due to a rockslide and subsequent erosion. It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination,^[3] it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers. Aoraki / Mount Cook consists of three summits, from South to North the Low Peak (3,593 m or 11,788 ft), Middle Peak (3,717 m or 12,195 ft) and High Peak. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the southwest.
There was a large rock fall in 1991 that turned the summit into a knife-edge ridge and reduced the height of the mountain by an estimated 10 m or so at that time. Aoraki / Mount Cook was measured in 2013 to be 3724 m, which is 30 m down from its pre-1991 rock-fall measurement. (wikipedia)

• • •

Fell asleep very early and so woke up very early (2:30am!) and so decided I'd just print the puzzle out and solve it on the clipboard with a cup of hot water & lemon. (Actually I solved with a pencil, like a fairly normal person). Anyway, I finished before the kettle boiled. Or ... maybe it finished boiling, it turns itself off automatically, but my point is I finished quickly, without trying to go particularly fast. If there were trouble areas, I don't know where they are. Possibly the NE, where there's a cluster of proper nouns. That's the only place I got slowed down at all, and that was all due to CUTCO, a brand I am not familiar with at all (10D: Kitchen utensil brand). I was also uncertain about MT. COOK, which is slightly odd as I've actually seen it in person (it's mostly called AORAKI there now, which ... you know, put that in your grid and smoke it!). Briefly thought the "only nation named for a woman" was St. KITTS. Even so, that corner wasn't exactly hard, and it was the hardest thing I encountered. As for the theme ... it's an interesting attempt to make something out of that revealer phrase. But when you stick 'EM up, turns out not much happens on the page. The solving experience = "well, it's 'Hang 'Em High,' so is this a rebus? ... nope, the Down is definitely T-MEN, so ... ???" and then a little later you catch sight of the revealer clue and it all becomes clear. Once I knew I was going to be getting all "'EM" phrases, the puzzle got even easier. Having a singular ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROBOT in the grid was really sad. The robots are a pair. They go together. Fixed in an eternal cyberboxing match. There is never a singular robot. They were not sold separately. That answer really really needs to be plural.

The fill was fine, I thought, though I see people grousing online a bit. I could always do without the RRN (random Roman numerals) (see 34A: XCI) and short gunk like DAK and ACH, but nothing grated on me too much today. "WHAT A TOOL!" left me oddly cold. Usually colloquial exclamations are very much my thing, but that one felt harsh and borderline profane and just not ... tight enough to fly. Really wanted "WHAT A JERK!" Still do. I was disappointed in the clue for CHIN MUSIC, since that is a fantastic baseball term (for a high and inside fastball), but I have never heard it used to mean [Chitchat] (though the dictionary says that is indeed its primary meaning). CHIN-WAGGING, I am familiar with. But not CHIN MUSIC. Not in this context.

Three cheers for the non-leering BRA clue (30D: Clothing item with hooks); "HOOK" is actually in the grid, and you generally avoid using clue words that are also grid words, but today I didn't notice or care, and the "hooks" are so different that I don't mind. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor: David Steinberg

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (I think—again, untimed in the comfy chair, just waking up)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: NIIHAU (54A: Island WSW of Kauai) —

Niʻihau (/ˈniːhaʊ/; Hawaiian: [ˈniʔiˈhɐw]) is the westernmost and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaiʻi. It is 17.5 miles (28.2 km) southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is 69.5 square miles (180 km²).^[3] Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland habitats for the Hawaiian coot, the Hawaiian stilt, and the Hawaiian duck. The island is designated as critical habitat for Brighamia insignis, an endemic and endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid. The United States Census Bureau defines Niʻihau and the neighboring island and State Seabird Sanctuary of Lehua as Census Tract 410 of Kauai County, Hawaii. Its 2000 census population was 160; Its 2010 censuspopulation was 170. (wikipedia)

• • •

Hey there, it's early-morning solving time again for me. Printed this baby out and sat down with my cup of green tea (coffee is gone ... Lent ... don't ask ...) and my clipboard and went at it. Very civilized way to solve, I must say. I can see the virtue in not trying to race the timer, I really can. I mean, I'm not going to stop racing the timer, because it's mostly fun, but early in the morning, such speeding feels more and more like trying to do something physically demanding, like sprinting or playing basketball, first thing in the morning, i.e. dangerous and bad. Gotta warm up. I'm probably fitter than I've ever been in my life, but still, 20-year-old me, who subsisted on cigarettes, diet coke, fried burritos, and irony, could've bounced out of bed and leaped down stairs and played tennis from a cold start and been fine, whereas 49-year-old-me, with his (relatively) "healthy lifestyle," has to shuffle in the morning to keep from tripping and dying and needs at least an hour before he can even move like something that doesn't seem undead. I just imagine Now Me, trying to will himself into a standing position, shouting at Bad-Choices Young Me as he runs off to the dining hall to eat six bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, "Hey! ... Ya smug jerk! ... I can bench press ... more than you ... whipper ... snapper!" Anyway, where was I? Oh, this puzzle. The grid was great, I thought. Yeah, good stuff.

Alllll of my trouble was up top, and almost all of that was caused by the CULTURE part of RAVE CULTURE (17A: Phenomenon characterized by electronic dance music). You have a culture, now, do you? Well la-di-dah. What year is it? Are there still raves? That seems so sadly retro. Anyway, I had RAVE C- and quite confidently wrote in RAVE CONCERT, though even then I thought, "that seems pretty high-culture terminology for whatever raves are." The problem: I think of "phenomenon" as a discrete event, not some nebulous concept like a "culture." Defensible clue, sure, but ugh. And I'd read "The Shallows" by Nicholas CARR, and that worked with CONCERT, so yeah I got nice and stuck for a bit. But I was easily able to get going again in the NE, swung back around to the NW via VERA WANG, saw clearly I was dealing with some kind of "TV" at 7D: Product from Panasonic (HDTV), and figured it all out from there. After that, the only problem was having both JEWISH and JUDAIC before MOSAIC in MOSAIC LAW (27A: Source of rules for keeping kosher), and then not knowing NIIHAU at all. Given how ridiculously small it is (see Word of the Day, above), my ignorance here is not something I feel particularly bad about.

I had BUDS before PODS (1A: Things cotton pickers pick), something ending -ING before ON A DIET (2D: Slimming down), and nearly wrote in MEGALOPOLIS before deciding I should probably actually look at the clue for 51A: Condition whose first two letters are oddly appropriate (MEGALOMANIA). Speaking of not looking at clues, I feel like it happens more when I solve on paper. I think I can just see or feel the whole grid a bit better, so somehow my guesses are more confident. Never saw clues on SUSHI RICE or AFCNORTH, for instance. I feel about dead-tree solving the way I feel about dead-tree reading—I have a better sense of the whole and a greater sense of control and understanding when I'm dealing with paper than when I'm dealing with its digital counterpart. The screen limits my brain in a way, and I get disoriented, not having a tactile sense of a thing's parameters. It's much much more efficient for me to solve on screen, but it's not a superior experience.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. here is the greatest puzzle error of all time, or at least this year:

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Constructor: Sam Trabucco

Relative difficulty: Challenging (close to 10, maybe ... I paused to take my coat off (??) and I also had to hunt down a dumb typo)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: DRAWMEN (45A: Some workers who stretch plastic materials) —

a worker who draws precut plastic materials to desired shapes in a hand or power press (m-w)

• • •

Well WHIT and TANKINI and good night! I mean Good and Night. I have rarely had a pair of mutually "confirming" wrong answers wreck me like that, right from the get-go (1D: Little bit / 17A: Modest article of swimwear with a portmanteau name). And WHIT gave me the (correct) "I" for "I DECLARE," so I was horrifically locked into wrongness up there. Even after I'd given up on that corner and gone and eventually solved the rest of the grid, even after breaking back into that corner from the outside with ALRIGHTY THEN, even after taking out WHIT, I just couldn't break through. New problem after new problem after new problem. Changed WHIT to ... DRIP. Briefly wondered if perhaps there existed an article of swimwear as ultra-modest as the PARKINI ("The Parka You Wear In The Pool!"). And even after, finally, I got what piece of swimwear they were after, I went with BIRKINI ... because I had REDID for 2D: Brought back (REDUX), which I think is actually the hardest thing in the puzzle. Just brutal. Looks verbal, is adjectival? So, yeah, first "completed" grid had BIRKINI / REDID. Yeah, I know there are no [Sorority letters] called DIS (ugh, [Sorority letters], worst worst worst, i.e. most useless, Greek letter clue type). I am kind of resentful of DILI up there, which is some Maleska-era arcane geographical stuff. Yeah yeah, it's a capital blah blah blah. It's obscure. (5D: Capital and largest city of East Timor)

The SW was also tough, but nowhere near as touch as the NW for me. I had ZERO in place and so got INBOXZERO right away (common concept to me, not sure why). But DRAWMEN, ugh, oof, jeez, other exclamations. What in the world? You really gotta know when to say "No" to your wordlist. That answer is dire. More dire than FASTICE, which sounds like a hockey or maybe a speed-skating term to me (46A: Freeze that extends out from a coastline). But back to the SW: found the names easy (KNOWLES, ELLEN, TESS), but still had to hack hack hack at the [Classic British two-seater], because even after guessing MIL (28A: Significant investment, informally), and getting that the car was an MG, I still couldn't put MIDGET together, partly because of DRAWMEN (Ugh ... ugh REDUX!), but mostly because I went with PULLED at 50A: Took in (GULLED). I was thinking [Took in] in the sense of "earned" (financially). I had one other major mistake in the NE, where the "P" from PERU made me certain the answer to 9D: Alternatives to tablets (GELCAPS) was LAPTOPS. I even overrode the "E" in VENTI to make LAPTOPS happen. Blargh. But somehow that mistake was easier to pull myself out of than the PULLED mistake and especially alllll the mistakes I made in the NW, starting with WHIT / TANKINI. Good night.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. XMEN crossing DRAWMEN = too MEN-y MEN in one place

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Constructor: Adam Fromm

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (11:45)

THEME:"Math Hysteria" — equations somehow represent the answers

Theme answers:

22A: L x A (LOS ANGELES TIMES)
39A: x - y = x - y (SAME DIFFERENCE)
47A: (A- or B+)/7 (SEVENTH GRADE)
67A: The "x" in x^2 = 666 (ROOT OF ALL EVIL)
86A: $$$/X (CASH DIVIDEND)
95A: 3.BB (THREE-POINT SHOT)
116A: X^Esq (POWER OF ATTORNEY)

Word of the Day: NIKI Caro (80A: Director Caro) —

Nikola Jean "Niki" Caro MNZM (born 1967) is a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. Her 2002 film Whale Rider was critically praised and won a number of awards at international film festivals. She is the second female director hired by Disney to direct a film which is budgeted at over $100 million, when helming a live-action version of Disney's Mulan. (wikipedia)

• • •

Not into it at all. From the title to the themers to the fill (which is shockingly dated and weak), this one is so caught up in its own imagined cleverness that it never really becomes an enjoyable *puzzle*. L x A = LOS ANGELES TIMES? How? LOS TIMES ANGELES, maybe, but if you're gonna go all "math hysteria" on me, your equations better be on point, not merely adjacent to point. x - y = x - y = SAME DIFFERENCE? Anything = Anything = SAME ANYTHING. Why do I care? The "x" in x^2 = 666 is the *SQUARE* ROOT OF ALL EVIL, isn't it? Sorry if I'm not up on my mathematical annotation, which I haven't thought about in three decades. Gotta love a theme that requires explanation. And why is "hysteria" in the title, by the way? What is "hysterical" about this? "Hyster-" means "uterus," which is ironic given how much this is a boy puzzle for boys. POETESS??? And you don't even mark it as "dated" or "quaint" or "bygone" or "gendered" or anything? Sappho was a poet. Full stop. And "AH, SO"!?!?!? How is this answer not dead and buried for all eternity. It will never not evoke American parody of Japanese speech. Kill it. Now. Ditch it. It's also terrible fill, so ditch it for that reason alone.

And then ELA HIFIVE VARIG ... the fill in this one is too often stale and weak. When you're hitting the *erstwhile* Brazilian national airlines, you know you've got a problem. An addiction to archaic fill. Plural ELMOS? AT STORES? (not IN?). OPA? SCALER? ECOL? STATOR? DERALTE? URANIC??? OME!?! I'm at a loss. There's almost no good fill in this one. RAMMER? Come on. Why is PENH ... just why? Why is it? Why not PENT? Is "stop" somewhere else in the grid? How in the world do you decide to go with a foreign name *part* over a normal word? There are so so so many ways to ditch 1. plural name ALIS, and 2. crosswordese INGE, and 3. foreign name *part* PENH. Here's just one. Simple. Took me very little time:

Now I haven't checked to see if this version duplicates answers (or answer parts) somewhere else in the grid, but the point is that you can scare up another version, just as clean, with very little effort. Which leads to the question: Is anyone actually Editing these? For cleanness, I mean? I get that the Theme is the Thing, but the Rest of the Puzzle should not be a Drag.

New puzzle alert! Well, not new, but newly available online: Matt Gaffney's New York magazine crossword puzzle is now available for your solving pleasure. Here's the promo copy: "The New York Crossword is finally online, appearing each Sunday night at nymag.com/crossword. Matt Gaffney’s current puzzle will alternate weeks with selections from the archives." Matt is a prolific and meticulous constructor, so this is very good news. Also, if you aren't a subscriber to Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest (a weekly meta-crossword of varying degrees of difficulty), you are very much missing out on the fun (and occasional self-loathing). Read about recent puzzles here / Subscribe here.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

Constructor: Trent H. Evans

Relative difficulty: Medium (2:54)

THEME: apparent oxymorons— two-word phrases where first word is antonym of second word:

Theme answers:

LIVING DEAD (17A: Zombies)
RECORDED LIVE (26A: Like a concert album)
FOUND MISSING (46A: Like a stolen object, when it's not where it's supposed to be)
OPEN SECRET (62A: Supposedly unknown but actually well-known fact)

Word of the Day:"The MONEY PIT" (39D: Interminably expensive project) —

The Money Pit is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin starring Tom Hanksand Shelley Long as a couple who attempt to renovate a recently purchased house. It was filmed in New York City and Lattingtown, New York, and was co-executive produced by Steven Spielberg.
In 2013, NBC announced they were developing a TV series based on the film, but the project was later put on hold. (wikipedia)

• • •

I never noticed the theme, honestly, because I was too distracted with how my fingers were not complying with my will. Puzzle felt very easy, but I somehow just kept stumbling around the grid, making typos left and right. I finished up in the NE, which ... what the hell? Who finishes a Monday puzzle north of the equator? Bizarre. Anyway, the fill is smooth as heck, praise the lord, and the theme is subtle and lovely, actually. I like the lack of revealer. Just let the answers be. We see it. We see you, theme. I don't have much to say about it except that the grid really seems polished. Clean. It's not that there's No crosswordese, it's that there's nothing glaringly junky. Constructor took pains to try to make the grid mostly real words and common names. PAVER is about the only thing that made me WINCE, just because it seems mildly contrived. There's nothing particularly scintillating here, but it's nice work, overall, I think.

I blanked on 1A: Cause of an infant's crying (COLIC), and when I went to the crosses, first it took me waaaaay too long (ok maybe five seconds, but that's a long time on a Monday) to remember that Indianapolis was the COLTs, and then I wrote in ERIE for 2D: Separator of Indiana and Pennsylvania (OHIO), which is, you know ... not *entirely* wrong. Lake ERIE is sorta kinda in between Indiana and Pennsylvania. I could definitely make a valiant legal defense of ERIE. But it was OHIO. This "error" cost me even more precious seconds. I also imagined that people buy toilet paper in REAMs, so that was fun (26D: Toilet paper unit = ROLL). FOUND MISSING is a slightly weird phrase, so I had some trouble parsing it. But otherwise, this was a pretty typical walk-in-the-park Monday. No groans. No curses. Fill may be slightly old-fashioned / plain, but it'll do just fine. I'm off now to watch "Crossword Mysteries: A Puzzle to Die For" on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel. I hear there's a cameo by the NYT crossword editor himself. CanNot wait. I'll report back on the whole experience tomorrow. Have a nice day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Constructor: Jules Markey

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:36)

THEME: BUTTON DOWN (30D: Very conventional ... or a hint to the starts of the answers to the four starred clues) — themers (which all run "down") all start with kinds of "buttons":

Theme answers:

SNOOZEFEST (3D: *Bo-o-o-ring event)
"LIKE YOU KNOW" (24D: *Scoffing remark to an ignoramus)
BELLY UP THE BAR (6D: *Go order a drink)
PANIC ATTACK (9D: *Flop sweat producer)

Word of the Day: PEWEE (65A: Bird in the flycatcher family) —

: any of various small largely gray or olive-colored American flycatchers (genus Contopus) (m-w)

• • •

Felt like I was flying on this one, but ended up with a time pretty close to average. I think the grid is so choppy and fussy that I spent more time on cursor management than I might have otherwise. So many 3- and 4-letter word, useless little NE / SW corners not connected to anything ... really don't like the way this grid is built. I do like the themers, and the theme, though a common ("first words...") type, is neatly executed. But again I wish the editor cared more about the overall solving experience, not just the theme. I wish he insisted on cleaner fill, and sent grids back for revision or did a little grid-fixing himself. EEKS is really rotten, esp. up there with ASA and OTOS (the second crosswordese tribe of the day) (see 35A). The SE has some issues too, with CPL ELEA and PEWEE kinda mucking things up. But the main problem, as I said up front, is the grid design—it just invites crosswordese, which, even when it's not bad (say, IRE), really does pile up after a bit. Still, if you tear this thing down to just the themers, you've got something.

A couple more things. First of all, UNGARBED? I am sure that the dictionary will tell you that that is, indeed, a word, but wow, why, why would you use that? Who says that? Is there a more contrived, more fake-ye-olde, less sexy way to say "Naked" in all of the English language? I might give you GARBED, if you were going for "ironically fusty," but UNGARBED I will not give you. Actually, the U--A-B-- letter pattern (necessitated by the grid design) is very unfavorable, and UNGARBED is probably the best thing that could go there, but this brings us back again (again again) to grid design. Maybe make a grid where you aren't trying to run an answer through *three* themers. That's brutal. Running answers through two themers is tricky enough. If you run one through three, then you have to basically *start* filling your grid there, and if you can't get a good answer to fit with a completely stripped-down, themers-only grid, then yeah, You Need To Rebuild Your Grid.

Lastly, whoever wrote the clue for PANIC ATTACK has clearly never had one (9D: *Flop swear producer). "Flop sweat"? Yeah, no. A person having an actually PANIC ATTACK *wishes* they were experiencing mere "flop sweat." Sigh. Just look up what a PANIC ATTACK is, maybe? They often come out of nowhere, in situations that do not look stressful at all. They are not about performance. They are about your body being out of control and you feeling like you are dying but you don't know why. Like someone turned your fight/flight response on and just ... left it on. With no threat in sight. Anyway, "flop sweat" is insulting. PANIC ATTACKs can be debilitating and have nothing to do with bombing on stage or whatever one-off situation "flop sweat" is supposed to imply. I had PANIC ATTACKs for a brief, terrible period in my early 20s; flop sweat shmop sweat.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Ph-neutral vitamin brand / THU 2-21-19 / Magical basic used to view one's memories in Harry Potter books / Chicago landmark named for its resemblance to legume / Player of V in V for Vendetta / Classic Camaro informally / Online handle for Xbox player

Derby car material / FRI 2-22-19 / Gimmers are young ones / Hawaii landmark featuring four seven-ton clocks / 1981 novel that introduced character Hannibal Lecter / Grand or demi ballet move / Bessemer process output / Ophidian menaces / Biblical cubit was based on its length

Evergreens whose leaves are used culinarily / SAT 2-23-19 / Web tv broadcast about celebrities / Dweller in eastern Himalayas

Popular Japanese manga series with schoolgirl heroine / SUN 2-24-19 / Scarecrow portrayer Ray / Nettie's sister in Color Purple / Sports rival of Union College / Baby beavers / Fashion model Marcille / HuffPo purchaser in 2011 / Crazy Rich Asians actress whose stage name puns on bottled water brand

Comedian Love who co-hosts The Real / MON 2-25-18 / Pittsburgh-based NYSE company / Hungarian composer Franz

Chess ending / TUES 2-26-18 / Say hello to / Cluster around an acorn / Formally end

Desert in southern Africa / WED 2-27-19 / Job in monastery / Prominent Gorbachev feature / Phishing scheme / Gay anthem of 1978 / With bow in music

Shortest Old Testament Book / THU 2-28-19 / Tough-to-win horse racing bet / Unlikely source of a silk purse / Albert Einstein, notably

Material for Book of Dead / FRI 3-1-19 / Second longest US #1 hit after American Pie / I.Q. test pioneer / World's most powerful person per 2018 Forbest list

Byzantine emperor known as Armenian / SAT 3-2-19 / Newport RI estate that's National Historic landmark / Beast slain by Hercules / Star in Summer Triangle / Metaphorical entryway into unknown

Tree-lined walk / SUN 3-3-19 / Japanese room divider / Cracker brand since 1831 / Harp-shaped constellation / Twelvesome in Gone with wind / Kind of stick for incense

Border mountain between Europe and Asia / MON 3-4-2019 / Bread in Southern cuisine / Badminton do-overs / Big workers' group

Onetime maker of Matchbox cars / TUE 3-5-19 / Where Johnny Cash shot a man in song / Yellow white meadow flower / Quite contrary girl of rhyme / Home with dome in Nome

Irish girl's name related to word honor / WED 3-6-19 / Style of yoga in heated room / Hindu's bindi traditionally / 1950s-60s TV emcee Jack

Eponymous hypnotist / THU 3-7-19 / Cheer at Texas football game / Toy boxer in classic two-player game / Counterfeiter trackers in old lingo / Exclamation usually made in high voice

Island WSW of Kauai / FRI 3-8-19 / 1912 Olympics locale / Song that hip hop rivalry might inspire / President until 2011 / W.W.E. legend John

Classic British two-seater / SAT 3-9-19 / Freeze that extends out from coastline / Goal of having no unread emails / Drink with espresso whipped cream / Pianist's finger-sliding / Some workers who stretch plastic materials / Oxymoronic skiing condition / Guys dolls composer lyricist

Indianapolis footballer / MON 3-11-19 / One-named Grammy winner for Soldier of Love

Scoffing remark to ignoramus / TUE 3-12-19 / Modern acronym for seize the day / Creator of logical razor / Bird in flycatcher family / Old Turkish title