Co-starring actress on HBO's insecure / TUE 7-3-18 / Decent human being informally / Daughter on Fox's Bob's Burgers

Constructor: Christopher Adams

Relative difficulty: Easy (2:58!)

THEME: NATIONAL PASTIME (58A: Baseball, colloquially) — theme answers are baseball team names that contain the colors RED, WHITE, and BLUE, respectively:

Theme answers:

• BOSTON / RED SOX (19A: With 21-Across, A.L. team with a patriotic color)
• CHICAGO WHITE SOX (32A: A.L. team with a patriotic color)
• TORONTO BLUE JAYS (45A: A.L. team with a patriotic color) (uh.... so, yeah, about that, see ... Toronto is ... well ...)

Word of the Day: ISSA RAE (50A: Co-starring actress on HBO's "Insecure") —

Jo-Issa "Issa" Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985) is an American actress, writer, director, producer, and web series creator. She first attracted attention for her work on the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl. She subsequently gained further recognition for creating, co-writing, and starring in the HBO television series Insecure. For her performance in Insecure, she has received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, in 2017 and 2018.

Since 2011, Rae has continued to develop her YouTube channel, which features various short films, web series, and other content created by people of color. (wikipedia)

Oh, hey, it's a puzzle from Christopher Adams, who filled in for me here on the blog one of the days last week. I had no idea he had a puzzle coming up. I've solved his puzzles for a while now, so I was surprised when I entered his name in the "Labels" for this write-up and his name didn't come up. If I've used a label before, it comes up as soon as I start typing it. But his name ... wasn't there. So I asked and it's somehow his debut, which seems impossible, as he's had a solid, thriving indie crossword site for a while now. But sure, throw the NYT a bone once in a while, I guess, why not? So  the puzzle felt just a *little* off, in a number of ways. Let's start with the fact that it's a *little* bit off of July 4, which I assume is the holiday this puzzle is in some way meant to commemorate or nod to or otherwise in some way acknowledge. Run your holiday puzzles on the holidays they represent! This is puzzle publishing 102. I'm sorry, 101 (see how jarring 102 is; just one off, but ... yeah, you see). Second, what does "National" mean, again? And, follow-up, what is this "Toronto" of which you speak and in what nation is it located? How is the BLUE in BLUE JAYS "patriotic"? Patriotic to whom? Us? It can't be. It's Not A Team From Our Country. Is the Red Sea "patriotic" now? What is even happening? I like how the EXPOS are also hanging out in this puzzle going "man, our colors were red, white, *and* blue, why aren't we a theme answer?" And PEDRO's just there nodding his head (he played for the EXPOS *and* the BOSTON / RED SOX). Annnnnyway, "National"? "Patriotic"? "Toronto"? There's a MINOR problem here.

I thought the rest of the grid was pretty smooth, if highly segmented (40 black squares) and (thus) loaded w/ short (over-familiar) fill, to the exclusion of any non-themer longer than 7 letters. Had only a few little hiccups along the way to a very fast solve. Botched the math course right out of the gate—wanted GEOM? :( Misspelled O'NEAL (went the "I" route). Put in GOOD GUY instead of GOOD EGG (a phrase I know but have never understood or used) (13D: Decent human being, informally). Turned Shimon into a PEREZ. And lastly could not determine what verb tense was called for at 55D: ___ the bench (not get used in the game) and wrote in RODE. The one thing I want to point out is ISSA RAE, whose name parts (ISSA, RAE) and now full name I am seeing more and more regularly (for obv. crossword reasons). Store her name away in your brain right now if it's not already there; you are going to need it.


That's it. See y'all tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]