Mammalian hematophage / SAT 7-18-20 / Do-or-die hockey situation / Actor Lane who voiced Mister Ed / Purchases at Ollivanders, in fantasy / Historic region of northern France / Predecessor of Outlook

Constructor: John Guzzetta and Michael Hawkins

Relative difficulty: Medium (8-ish?)

THEME: none

Word of the Day: PICARDY (42D: Historic region of northern France) —

A historical region of northern France [🙁] bordering on the English Channel. The name was first used in the 1200s for a number of small feudal holdings. Picardy was contested by France and England during the Hundred Years' War and became part of the French crown lands in 1477.

I psyched myself up before this one and really, actively tried to like it, and for a while, things were pretty OK, but then the eastern part of the puzzle happened and my good will got depleted fast. It annoys me no end when editorial cutesiness results in actually bad cluing. Like, you want to use [Kismet] twice ... why? What is cute or interesting about that? The only thing that leads to is a very misleading and totally inapt clue for LOTINLIFE, which is already super-dated-sounding and hard to parse. FATE, yes, great, I got that, but LOTINLIFE has a tonal quality that is so much more downbeat than the word "kismet" suggests. FATE can kinda swing either way, but "kismet" swings up and LOTINLIFE swings down. I can't imagine the former in a negative context on the latter in a positive one. That answer next to EVEN TENOR (ugh) was just brutal for me to put together. I had the EVEN and still no idea what was supposed to go after it. I blame ANT, which ... again, why are you so enamored of this "same clue for two answers" baloney. [Ones seeking table scraps, maybe] works great for PET DOGS, but for ANT, gah, stop, what are you doing? I mean, sure, ants will eat any food. You are being dishonest about the nature of the word "scrap" here with your stupid ANT clue.

Plié

DIP

A plié is a DIP since when? Those are drastically different dance terms. Yes, a plié involves bending the knees and thus, uh, lowering your torso, generally, but that ain't a DIP. I had PAS in there, which is at least a balletic term. DIP, shmip, my god. PICARDY I didn't know at all—"historic region" strikes me as pretty vague. Also pretty obscure. Hasn't been in the grid for *twenty-five years*. Speaking of stuff that hasn't been in the grid for over two decades: ODELET (36D: Short lyric poem) (last seen in 1998). Honestly, that answer is so dumb I couldn't believe it was real as I was writing it in. I have a Ph.D. in English and somehow missed the ODELET form entirely. It's so obscure and so phony that google refuses to believe I want information about it, insisting that I must have simply misspelled / typo'd the word "delete"; fitting, as I would like to "delete"ODELET from this grid (and all future grids)

I like the answer ELDERLAW because I like the show "Better Call Saul," and the main character, Jimmy McGill, works (memorably) in the field of ELDERLAW for a while (58A: Field with estate planning). Still, that was a hard answer for me to turn up. Same with WET. And CALF, ugh. FLOE and BERG fit there too (54A: Detached piece of ice). Wanted HAM-FISTED before HAM-HANDED (34D: All thumbs). Oh, really struggled with [Red cents?] for DEBT and [A, as in April?] for SCHEDULE. That [A, as in April?] clue is a bit of a thinker—SCHEDULE A is used for itemized deductions when you file your taxes, which are due in ... April. Man I wish I liked financial humor more. The puzzle played kinda old, with its watch FOBs and ODELETs and "ERI tu" and this ALLAN what's his name (49D: Actor Lane who voiced Mister Ed). This puzzle probably still uses HOTMAIL (11D: Predecessor of Outlook). There's some perfectly fine stuff in this grid, and YOU HAD TO BE THERE is a very nice centerpiece, but the offness of a few answers really interfered with the pleasurableness of the whole solve. I really expect the NYTXW themelesses to be better than just OK.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. Ollivanders is not "in fantasy" (50A: Purchases at Ollivanders, in fantasy)—it's specifically in the Harry Potter universe. Own your J.K. Rowling content! "In fantasy" is a dodge.

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