Constructor: Ari Richter
Relative difficulty: Mediumish? (cluing seemed to be trying really (too) hard to be tricksy, but puzzle was still pretty pliable)
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: MOONQUAKE (3D: Phenomenon discovered by Apollo astronauts) —
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I liked this grid pretty well, but the cluing ... for the first 1/4 of the solve, I found it incredibly irritating, with clue after clue just trying oh so hard to confuse you by using words in unexpected ways, which, yes, is what crossword clues do on the hard days, but it's a matter of degree. There were three clues all bunched up that were doing awkward things with "it" or "something." [Can you believe it?] = TENET? Yuck. That "?" clue needs a "?" clue, so tenuous is the connection here. Why are you asking me? What TENET? There is no context for this. A TENET is something you believe, great, but the interrogative here is a nightmare. Then, "it" again: [It requires some assembly] = QUORUM. At least that one isn't ridiculous, but still. You try to make me think of some furniture or something but it's not, yes, ha ha, good one. Then "something": [Something about which you might say "It's good!"] = EXTRA POINT. This is the best of the three, but I still felt like I was in a child's book of riddles with this one. Speaking of child, POTTY HUMOR, ew, what? My "ew" is for the infantilizing use of "potty"—if the clue doesn't indicate that you are specifically talking to a child, then the clue is off-putting ... like adults who use the word "potty" with anyone other than children. Also, I'm trying to see how you get from "crack" to POTTY. Is this supposed to be about butt cracks, aka plumber's cracks, i.e. the cleft in the upper buttocks? There's nothing POTTY about the mere fact of a butt crack. If this is some other "crack," then I don't know. Can't be drugs, that is even less POTTY. See, this is what happens when you want so bad to be the king of wordplay that you have lost all perspective.
Relative difficulty: Mediumish? (cluing seemed to be trying really (too) hard to be tricksy, but puzzle was still pretty pliable)
Word of the Day: MOONQUAKE (3D: Phenomenon discovered by Apollo astronauts) —
: a seismic event on the moon (merriam-webster.com)
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Struggled with DAMP (1A: Still on the line) (again, clue designed to look like it's about the phone, or maybe fishing, but no ... drying clothes ... which, honestly, there is no necessary connection between being DAMP and being "still on the line"; dry clothes are often (always?) "still on the line"). Struggled with WOOT (the clue desperately needs the word "online" somewhere) (17A: Informal cheer). Another pat-myself-on-the-back-for-my-cleverness clue on STAY (9D: Command that one shouldn't follow). Ah you thought "that" was a relative pronoun well what an idiot you are. It's a conjunction, sucker. So fun :(
Had CITY at the bottom of 21D: Penguin's home and struggled mightily to remember the nickname for Pittsburgh. Charm City ... nope, Baltimore. Rip City ... Portland. Gah. But then the Penguin wasn't a hockey player from Pittsburgh—he was a Batman villain. I never think of Gotham as anything but Gotham, but technically GOTHAM CITY is correct. Weirdly, I later encountered a very similar-sounding clue, 35A: A home?, that was, in fact, about a member of a sports team (MLB's A's play in OAKLAND). No idea who the HONORÉ person was (43D: French printmaker ___ Daumier). Just inferred a French name after I got some crosses. Had IN A SECOND and IN A MOMENT before IN A MINUTE because of course I did, that's exactly how that is always going to go (31D: Shortly). LEMONADES before LEMON ICES (32D: Cool summer treats).
Really loved DON'T GET ANY IDEAS (always good to stick the landing with those marquee answers), as well as PET TURTLE (no idea why I like this, but I do). INONEGO (38A: Without stopping) and STJAMES (40D: Name on an orange Monopoly property) have funny letter combinations if you aren't parsing them right, so I like them too. The grid is very clean and polished, which I appreciate. Its (cluing) voice was not at all to my taste, but it still seems like a very respectable Friday effort.