Actress Marsay of Game of Thrones / FRI 10-4-19 / Aspirations for group of friends / Warsaw Pact member west of Poland / Legislative landmark of '10 / Director Irwin famous for disaster films / Unoriginal as comedian / Hangout for Fonz

Constructor: Matthew Sewell

Relative difficulty: Medium to Medium-Challenging? (felt crunchy, but I solved untimed on paper, so not sure)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: Irwin ALLEN (25D: Director Irwin famous for disaster films) —

Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. His most successful productions were The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). He also created and produced the popular 1960s science fiction television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. (wikipedia)

Lots of good stuff in here, but let's start with beefs. It's OUTDOOR CAT, it really is, it just is, google it (in quot. marks). It's soooo much OUTDOOR CAT that when I was entering all the answers into the software so I could post the above grid (having already completed the puzzle on paper), just doing all the Acrosses in order, I casually and confidently wrote in OUTDOOR CAT. Again, I had solved the puzzle and entered the "correct"OUTSIDE CAT, but when transferring the answers to e- form, my brain would not let me write OUTSIDE CAT, because my brain knows better. I am overstating my objection here, but only slightly. Exact phrase >>>> defensible phrase, every time. Le(s) mot(s) juste(s)! Next beef: "Game of Thrones" actors. Please stop assuming that literally every name attached to this show, characters and cast, is fair game for crosswords. "Game of Thrones" is the new "Ally McBeal" in that when I started blogging in the mid-late '00s, the crossword was still asking me to know a ridiculous amount about this show and its cast even though it had been off the air since '02. Actually, that's a good comparison only in terms of how annoying I found the clues. In terms of volume, "GOT" clues outnumber mid/late-'00s "Ally McBeal" clues by far. I don't like this attempt to bring alleged freshness to a puzzle by just inserting "name of actor on some currentish TV show." I don't even know the names of actors on the TV shows I *do* watch. Oooh, by the way, the star of the new show "Stumptown" on ABC is named COBIE (Smulders), and since we all know that now, I think her name is cool, so you can go ahead and put it in your puzzles, thanks (and she plays a character named DEX! Seriously, have at it!).


1A: Aspirations for a group of friends (SQUAD GOALS) already feels dated to me. Very 2017. I'm sure it still has a currency, but I wonder if any other extremely online people got a slight retro vibe off this answer. Like maybe the puzzle has been sitting for a while? (Here's a "What Does SQUAD GOALS Mean?" article from 2015). Anyway, SQUAD GOALS was a gimme, and usually 1A gimmes portend fast solves, but not so much today. The number of writeovers I had was impressive. The very first thing I wrote in after SQUAD GOALS was, in fact, wrong (SLOE for SODA at 1D: Gin fizz ingredient). Had the GR- at 32D: Mill fill (GRAIN) and wrote in GRIST. Had the P- at 26D: Inflation fig. (PSI) and wrote in PCT. Had the P- at 47D: What an out-of-shape person might do while exercising (PUFF) and wrote in PANT (of course I wrote in PANT, yeesh ... stoners PUFF). Hey, I got news for you: *in*-shape people PUFF when they exercise. That's How You Know You're Exercising! What the hell? Leave the "out-of-shape" out of this. Anyway, as I say, wrong answers Everywhere. HELLCAT instead of HELLION (20A: Wild troublemaker), perhaps because this book is literally sitting within view as I type this:

I RUE THE DAY felt off, as "rue the day" seems very much like something *you'll* do, or *he'll* do, or *she'll* do, or *they'll* do. That is, it seems part of a prediction/threat. Yes, you could say, in some exceedingly quaint way, "I RUE THE DAY I met you" or whatever, but I had IRUE- at the front of that answer and my only thought was "well I've got an error, I guess" (27D: Expression of regret). The ITEM in LOST ITEM was verrrrry anti-climactic, in that I had LOST and thought "LOST what?! what will it be!? what is the lost item!?" And it was just ... item (21D: Something that might be turned in to security). The Spanish don't have their own constellations, (the stars belong to all of us!) so the cluing there on OSA was very weird (reminder: don't get cute with your worst fill, please) (55D: ___ Mayor (Spanish constellation)). There is very little that is irksome about the grid, per se. The long answers are all solid, if not exciting, and the short stuff is in no way offensively HACKY. I didn't love this, but it was a worthy effort, for sure, and I enjoyed the struggle, mostly. Today I learned that Sirius is a binary star! Have a nice day!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. ACA is the Affordable Care Act, in case that wasn't clear (8D: Legislative landmark of '10)
P.P.S. it's GO space AT (50D: Charge). GO AT. Not GOAT.

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