Frequent topic for Pablo Neruda / FRI 1-17-20 / Caesar's army in popular film franchise / Actress who directed 2019's Booksmart / Classic novel narrated by the second Mrs. de Winter / David Lynchian say / Online pop culture media hub

Constructor: Ryan Patrick Smith

Relative difficulty: Easy, apparently (I solved it sleepily in the comfy chair, on my clipboard, so I have no idea)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: OLIVIA WILDE (17A: Actress who directed 2019's "Booksmart") —

Olivia Wilde (born Olivia Jane Cockburn; March 10, 1984) is an Irish and American actress, producer, director, and activist. She is known for her role as Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series House (2007–2012), and her roles in the films Conversations with Other Women (2005), Alpha Dog (2007), Tron: Legacy (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Butter (2011), Drinking Buddies (2013), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), Rush (2013), The Lazarus Effect (2015),  Love the Coopers (2015), and Meadowland (2015).^[3] In 2017, Wilde made her Broadway debut, playing the role of Julia in 1984. In 2019, she directed her first film, the comedy Booksmart to critical acclaim. (wikipedia)

I thought this was fine, but as far as the fill goes, only OLIVIA WILDE feels truly fresh—a proper marquee answer—and the cluing was almost obnoxiously pop-culture oriented (and I say this as someone who quite enjoys pop culture-y things in his grids). We had to have a movie clue to get MARINE. Another to get MOON. Another to get APES. Another to get EERIE. Individually, those clues are fine—good, even—but cumulatively, the clues created a voice that seemed very desperate to seem current—a very AV CLUB voice. Which, fantastic, I like the AV CLUB. And better current than musty and dated. But two things: Fridays and Saturdays should have a bunch of marquee answers, and they should draw from all over, from all kinds of knowledge bases and activities, and not just, say, extreme movie/TV-watching. Balance! But a solid grid overall, and a "Booksmart" answer in a position of prominence (along with lots of other women's names, hurray), make this one a decent effort.


I think I was too tired to really zoom through this thing, though once I finally worked out the NW, the cobwebs were sufficiently cleared from my head and I did tear through the rest of it without much trouble. I think I just stared at 1A: Online pop culture/media hub (AV CLUB) and tried to guess it with no crosses, which meant me sitting there like an idiot going "The ... Buzzfeed? The ... Jezebel? The ... Awl? The ..." No, I have not had coffee yet. Eventually I did the thing I should've done immediately, which is hit the crosses. AMOR MARINE LIVE MÁS got me moving, and then I got OLIVIA WILDE, which made me feel I like I finally had my feet underneath me. Found the whole solve fine but pretty unremarkable, until the very end when MAMAN (!?!?!) really slowed me down again. I don't remember "The Stranger," and certainly didn't expect to see so uncommon a French word in the puzzle ("uncommon" for U.S. crosswords, I should specify). Happily, the crosses were all very gettable, but yeah, MAMAN gave me a little scare. Is SEE'S"upscale"??? They seemed pretty ... scale ... to me, as someone who grew up in California, where they were common (I haven't seen SEE'S since I left in the early '90s, except maybe on vacation, at a mall or an airport, which, again, raises the question of their upscaleness). I guess if you can't get them in the checkout line at the supermarket, they're "upscale"? OK. I really need coffee now, so good day!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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