French protesters beginning in 2018 / FRI 9-13-19 / Teen drama set in SoCal / Artist who created chance collages / Substance whose primary use earned its discoverer 1948 Nobel Prize in Physiology but is now banned

Constructor: Anne and Daniel Larsen

Relative difficulty: Medium (6:06) (others seem to be finding it Easy, though, so who knows?)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: EREBUS (6D: Darkness personified) —

In Greek mythology, Erebus /ˈɛrɪbəs/, also Erebos (Ancient Greek: Ἔρεβος, Érebos, "deep darkness, shadow" or "covered"), was often conceived as a primordial deity, representing the personification of darkness; for instance, Hesiod's Theogony identifies him as one of the first five beings in existence, born of Chaos. (wikipedia)

I could tell from the shape of this grid that it would be disappointing. It would be very hard, even for seasoned constructors, to do anything very interesting with this grid—those 6x8 corners aren't gonna help you do anything good. The best you're gonna get is passable, and the worst ... well, I don't like to think about that. These corners end up being mostly passable, though BAD ART is dumb and THE POOR is creepy and patronizing—do people still speak that way? AGASP is awful and "THEOC" again?! But again, overall, things come out less bad than they could have. But that's the point. Why give yourself a grid that's pretty much bound to be Just OK at best. Why not give yourself more of an opportunity to unleash fresh, interesting fill. YELLOWVESTS is the only reason for this grid to exist (51A: French protesters beginning in 2018). Its symmetrical pal FRAPPUCCINO isn't bad either (23A: Hybrid Starbucks product). But there's literally nothing else interesting here. I guess you could argue that some of the clues are clever, but that can always be true. The Friday bar is high—you have so much leeway, you should really be able to make something breezy and contemporary and delightful. This was oddly stuck in the past (ON TAPE? GOOOOBERS?? AGASP!?) but mostly just dull.


Also, it just wasn't on my wavelength at all. All the names were clued in ways that were meaningless to me. This includes EREBUS, which ... I mean, I vaguely know, but it's not like he's a top tier figure in mythology. I know EREBUS mainly as a volcano. Now CEREBUS, that dude / those dudes I know. AMANDA, LOL my knowing Spock's mom. EMILIO someone. ANDRE someone. No clue. Is HER HONOR a title. People say "your honor," and judges are referred to as "the honorable so and so." I had no trouble there, but "title" feels odd. I resent the clue on BAY AREA, as I usually do, as the clue implies a specific place, but ... no. REFS is super bad as clued (just go with the football REFS). No one says "Chuckleheads" *or* GOOBERS, so blecch. Not sure what a trolley car has to do with a (single?) POLE (35D: Trolley car feature). Is it that you hold one while you ride? Is there just the one? It's such a weird clue. I think that DOT is the [Equivalent of "x"] in mathematical notation, i.e. both can signify multiplication. But again, yuck to that clue. Soooo many ways to go. Why be tedious and pedantic? I really should've gotten RANDALL much faster. That one stumped me for too long. Wrote in MOM before DAD (5D: #1 ___ (mug inscription)). Is a DAD mug more iconic? Anyway, this one's over. Mediocre Fridays are super depressing to me, because it's my favorite puzzle day of the week. The puzzle has been worse than usual of late. It's distressing. I can't all this bad, but it's really not as entertaining as the alleged best puzzle should be.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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