Mythical hunter turned into stag / SUN 9-1-19 / Archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean / Oscar nominee for Gone Baby Gone 2007 / Program starting with the fifth year of college, informally / Bygone car model anagram GRANITE / Spanish phrase meaning enough is enough / Cleaning for military inspection / Foreign capital designed by two Americans

Constructor: Finn Vigeland

Relative difficulty: Challenging (at least as I solved it, i.e. NOT on paper) (11:33)

THEME:"That's a Tall Order" — four orders (to a dog) are "tall" in this one, i.e. they are composed of letters that are two boxes tall (you can't tell this from my grid because UGH my grid (from AcrossLite) can't deal with this particular feature—doesn't look like the app can handle it either???)

Theme answers:

• PLINY THE ELDER over COLOR WHEEELS (for HEEL)
• KEEPS IT REAL over POSITED (for SIT)
• BASTAYA (???!?!?!?!) over JAMES TAYLOR (for STAY)
• SEX COMEDIES over JALISCO, MEXICO (for COME)

Word of the Day: ¡ BASTA YA ! (73A: Spanish phrase meaning "Enough is enough!") —

¡Ya basta! is a phrase in Spanish roughly approximate to "Enough is enough!" or "Enough already!" in English. It has been adopted by several Latin American insurgent groups as an expression of affront towards issues that sparked the original dissent. Its adoption by the EZLN in Mexicoas the movement's motto is exemplary of its popularity and ability to rally diverse ideologies under a common goal. Grammatically, there's little difference between ¡Basta ya! and ¡Ya basta!, and both are correct. (wikipedia)

I went on to the NYTXW website, and there too, the whole "tall" thing (with single cells for answers on two different levels) was not replicated. It's a cute joke, but it sucks when your own tech can't deliver the product in a way where the joke has a chance to land.

[FETCH!]

Beyond the theme, there seemed to be a lot of (to me) pretty obscure stuff—both stuff I knew (the Acura INTEGRA—why in the world is "Acura" not in that clue!?!? (99A: Bygone car model that's an anagram of GRANITE); ACTAEON; ENJAMBMENT (45D: Flow of one line of a verse to the next without a pause) and stuff I did Not know (AMY RYAN—never heard of her, don't remember "Gone Baby Gone," whiffs all around (4D: Oscar nominee for "Gone Baby Gone," 2007); COMOROS—LOL literally no idea this was a place (34A: Archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean); GLUTENIN—if you say so ... (97A: Protein in Wheaties); and especially POSTBAC, which I'm told is a reasonably common program for picking up prereqs for a grad program you didn't get in undergrad, but I've somehow never heard the term before. Worse, the clue is a bleeping mess) (16D: Program starting with the fifth year of college, informally). Because of the technical issues with the theme, and all the longer mystery stuff, this played way harder than most Sundays have been playing for me lately. Oh, I think I like CATCAFE (111A: Establishment such as Crumbs and Whiskers or KitTea (both real!)). And I know I love dogs (and obedience!) so I should've had more fun solving this. I just didn't. I was irritated most of the time. ¡BASTA YA! (which, btw, is too long of a foreign phrase, imo) (and yet another answer I'd never heard of)


Not sure why, but the clue on HAE Min Lee is bugging me slightly (33A: ___ Min Lee, victim in the podcast "Serial"). "Victim" just seems a harsh way to sum up a life. I know that that is how anyone knows her, but still ... something about that clue feels vulturish, or at least callous. Further, "victim in the podcast 'Serial'" almost makes her sound fictional. I'm *not offended*—it's just not sitting well, that clue. The long themers are all solid to Very interesting. I particularly like JALISCO, MEXICO even though (uggggh) I wrote in TABASCO, MEXICO at first (Tabasco *is* a Mexican state, just not a [State bordering the Pacific]). The most irksome part of the grid was dead center and featured a bunch of three-letter answers that made no sense to me. WOO is a [Modern cousin of "Yay!"]?? Like, online? Like, how modern? Like ... that sound is ambiguous to me, esp. as written. I can definitely *hear* it, but seeing it is ... weird. Just didn't compute. WOW clue also didn't compute (57D: Stun). I get it now. But honestly even with -OW I was like "......... POW?" And then MOW, yeeesh (56A: Charge (through)). Those two verbs imply different outcomes to me, with MOW specifically meaning knocking down. If you charge through, maybe something/one gets knocked down, maybe not. So MOW to WOW to WOO were all tough, instead of what 3-letter answers tend to be, i.e. easy. GI'ING? Sigh. I'm sure it's in a dictionary somewhere, but (again) (for like the 6th time today) I've never heard of this. I like learning new things, generally. But this one too often felt like a steroided wordlist run amok. I did enjoy BARK, though (59A: Dog sound). Nice little added (theme) touch.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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