Hit 2018 film involving gay teenage romance / FRI 1-24-20 / Virtual animal on once-popular website / Term of address for drag queen / John who explored northern Canada / Musical set on Greek island / Finger-pointing activity colloquially / Does some backup dancing / One-named singer whose name sounds like goodbye

Constructor: Scott Earl

Relative difficulty: Easy (more Easy-Medium for me, but people I know seem to be killing it)

THEME: none

Word of the Day:"LOVE, SIMON" (15A: Hit 2018 film involving a gay teenage romance) —

Love, Simon is a 2018 American romantic teen comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, and based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. The film stars Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Garner. It centers on Simon Spier, a closeted gay high school boy who is forced to balance his friends, his family, and the blackmailer threatening to out him to the entire school, while simultaneously attempting to discover the identity of the anonymous classmate with whom he has fallen in love online.

Love, Simon premiered at the Mardi Gras Film Festival on February 27, 2018, and was released in the United States on March 16, 2018, by 20th Century Fox. Critics praised the film for its "big heart, diverse and talented cast, and revolutionary normalcy", describing it as "tender, sweet, and affecting" and a "hugely charming crowd-pleaser" that is "funny, warm-hearted and life-affirming", with reviews comparing it to the romantic comedy-drama films of John Hughes. Notable as the first film by a major Hollywood studio to focus on a gay teenage romance, it grossed $66 million worldwide. A television series of the same name set in the same universe as the film is currently in development and will be released on Disney+. [...] Love, Simon grossed $40.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $25.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $66.3 million, against a production budget of $10–17 million. It is the 15th highest-grossing teen romance film since 1980, and the third-highest by 20th Century Fox after The Fault in Our Stars and Romeo + Juliet.

Sorry for the short write-up today. I'm a little pressed for time. Or, rather, I don't *want* to be pressed for time, so I'm going to make this shorter than usual. I really hate rushing. Like, a lot. Annnnyhoo, this puzzle was pretty fun. I felt slightly too old for it, in that, since my daughter left for college in 2018, my osmotic absorption of teen stuff has fallen off considerably, and so "LOVE, SIMON" ... missed me. Which is to say, once I got some crosses, I could piece it together—it rang a bell, I'd heard the title, seen the ads, whatever. But it was not a stone-cold gimme in a way that would've knocked about a minute off my time. Couple that with the fact that I mysteriously wrote in CRIKEY at 1D: "My word!," in Britain (BLIMEY!), and you've got the recipe for a slow start. Slowish. But once I got out of there (the NW, that is), only two areas gave me any trouble at all: I dropped in NO PETS instead of NO DOGS at 30D: Restriction that some service animals are exempt from (are there places that allow NO DOGS but are cool with pigs and cats and rats and ferrets etc.?); and then I struggled a bit with both OVEN RACKS (64A: Things that get hot-wired?) and NASTINESS (66A: Armed conflict, euphemistically), which sit one atop the other in the SE. Cute clue on OVEN RACKS. Despise the clue on NASTINESS. Actually, despise anyone who would talk about "armed conflict" that way. Actually, actually, despise the euphemism, probably not the human who said it. It's a huge yuck and an unfortunate way to 'end' an otherwise enjoyable puzzle.


While I didn't get "LOVE, SIMON" quickly, I did get NEOPET, which is definitely something I knew about because of my daughter (23D: Virtual animal on a once-popular website), though I can't remember if she had one / them (she was more into Webkinz, for real, please feel free to put *that* in your grid).


Loved the clue on TWERKS (49D: Does some backup dancing?). The cluing this week, at its best, has been on point. The CHER / "MAMMA MIA!" cross-reference really added to the easiness of this thing. I got "MAMMA MIA!" off of CHER, and I got CHER off of the mere fact that the puzzle wanted a four-letter singer ending in "R"—that's a lot to pick up with no effort. But I guess it made up for my CRIKEY disaster. Aside from NASTINESS, the only thing I didn't really like was a. ENNEAD (I got it easily but prefer to think of the justices as a NONET) (9D: Supreme Court justices, e.g.) and YAH... all alt-spellings of "yes" and "no" are just horrid little three-square plots of muddy ground. Who the hell knows what's going to show up? YES YAS YEP YUP YAH YAW YEH NAH NAW NOT! See also my feelings about [Laugh syllable]. But it's just three squares. It's fine. I thought the grid overall was nice and smooth. Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and play the BLANKET HOG BLAME GAME with your partner!? CRIKEY, it's fun. See you tomorrow. (Hey, this write-up wasn't *that* short after all...)


Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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