Kentucky's northernmost county / FRI 3-2-18 / Journalist's tool since '67 / Quarry of cartoondom's Gargamel / Footwear brand since 1978 / 1965 Michael Caine spy thriller / Car model originally called Sunny in Japan / Pope when Elizabeth I took throne

Constructor: Rachel Maddow and Joe DiPietro

Relative difficulty: Very Challenging (should've been a Saturday, for sure)

THEME: Officially none, I think, though it's pretty dang Maddowy

Word of the Day: COUGH BUTTON (18A: What might help a hacker go undetected?) —

cough button (plural cough buttons)

1. (broadcasting) A button that temporarily stops the recording and transmission of a radio show. (So called because the radio presenter might push the button when having to cough.) (google)

Whoever was in charge of SLOTTING this puzzle messed up, badly. It's quite obvious that they wanted it to run when it ran (specifically, on weekday) for promotional purposes. On weekdays, Maddow's show ends at 10pm Eastern, which is precisely when the puzzle comes out online. On Saturdays, bye bye programming synergy. Commercial considerations > normal puzzle considerations when it comes to this new celebrity-constructor kick the NYT crossword has gotten on to. This is understandable from a business POV, if annoying from a "2x my normal Friday time" POV. Fans of Maddow will love that it's such a self-involved puzzle—that is, that the answers are about the field of TV news, politics, and commentary. She is a cocktail aficionado, so SAZERAC is nice little wink to the audience, as isTV HOSTS (37A: Sean Hannity and Chris Hayes), the clue for which namechecks the anchor of her lead-in show (this was the site of my favorite wrong answer—I briefly forgot who Chris Hayes was and instead of TV HOSTS I wrote in ... COHOSTS; I can't bear cable news channels anymore, but if "Hannity & Hayes" were a show, I think I would have to watch) (and apologies to Chris Hayes for apparently confusing him with Alan Colmes ... whom I just confused with Alan Keyes, I swear to god, my brain ...). Long answers up top (COUGH BUTTON) and down below (FOIA REQUEST) contribute further to the Maddowing of the grid. I did not know what a COUGH BUTTON was and I am being serious when I say I had COUGH BUTT- and wrote in COUGH BUTTER (thinking maybe COUGH BUTTER was some kind of cough suppressant I'd never heard of ...?). Despite the fact that Friday was the wrong place for this (from a regular difficulty level standpoint), the grid itself is pretty strong, and the cluing often clever (though sometimes too clever for its own good, and frequently brutal).


I had hardly anything written in the grid after a full 2 minutes, and much of what I'd entered was wrong. CCS for 1A: Hosp. units. SOY for 14A: Kind of flour (!?). UNO for 17A: ___ grano salis (that is a terrible wrong answer and yes I am ashamed, thanks for asking). The only gimmes in this grid, for me, were AKIN, ABCS, MANN, SCUBAS, FETA, SMURF, and AHA. Seven may seem like a lot, but they're all short and spaced out, and in a difficult puzzle like this, they were not much help. Clue on 1D: Those who've seen both Europe and Asia, say (ROCK FANS) was clever, though how many people can actually claim this prestigious distinction? How many white Gen-X arena rock fanatics are there out there? Show yourselves! The bands Europe and Asia haven't had a hit between them since 1987, though both are (improbably and impressively) still making music, it looks like.


Brutality:

• 15A: 1965 Michael Caine spy thriller, with "The" ("IPCRESS FILE") — now that I see it, I've definitely heard of it, but when I couldn't see it ... yikes. I have watched a lot of Michael Caine movies (including, just last week, "California Suite" (1978), which also stars Alan ALDA, which was the only name popping into my head for 28A: Actor with seven Primetime Emmys, sigh))
• 43A: Pope when Elizabeth I took the throne (PAUL IV)— LOL I teach Renaissance literature all the time, so Elizabeth I is pretty familiar to me, but NOPE. No way. Like, no way. This is the first I'm hearing about this guy. He was pope for four years. Four. Once again, uh uh. The randomest of random pope names.
• 13D: Car model originally called the Sunny in Japan (SENTRA)— there have been so many Japanese car models that I just had to wait for crosses to give me some clue here. Also, I think I thought SENTRA was bygone. Like the Celica or the Supra or you see what I mean with these names, right?
• 21A: Kentucky's northernmost county (BOONE)— sure, if you insist, why not? I mean, thousands of other possibly interesting BOONE clues out there, but let's go with a Kentucky county (?), why not?
• 20D: Rosina Almaviva, in "Le Nozze di Figaro" (CONTESSA) — if you say so. After ARIA and AIDA, I'm still pretty much at the puzzle's mercy when it comes to opera stuff.
• 31A: Tennis player, to sportswriters (NETTER) — dear lord, is this true? In the olden days I was forced to accept that "cager" was a basketball player (when's the last time you saw that in a puzzle?), but NETTER? I've played / watched a lot of tennis ... maybe haven't read enough writing about it? NETTER? I went with NETMAN at first. NETTER? I want NETTER to go sit in the penalty box with ALER and NLER and NBAER.
• 11D: "Kiss my grits!" ("BITE ME!") — I love Flo from "Alice" (the sole figure in the history of humanity associated with "kiss my grits!"), but "BITE ME!" is not a phrase I can imagine her saying. It becomes popular much later. So seeing this clue and answer as equivalent took my brain a long time. 
• 58A: Journalist's tool since '67 (FOIA REQUEST)— Freedom of Information Act. Great answer. Hard answer for many, I'm guessing. You really gotta know what that abbr. stands for. I had REQUEST but "Journalist's tool" was not nearly specific enough to point me to FOIA, so that SW corner was Dicey for me, for a bit. I can't believe I'm saying this, but ... I'd like to thank AL GORE for helping me out down there. I'd've been toast without you, buddy.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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