Kodama, in Japanese mythology / THU 2-18-21 / "Giant Brain" unveiled in 1946 / Winner of nine Grand Slam titles / Michigan congresswoman Slotkin

Theme answers:

• INTENTIONS / INVENTIONS (17A: Designs)
• HOTELS / HOVELS (3D: Some accommodations)
• REMOTE / REMOVE (34A: Separate from all the others, say)
• RATE / RAVE (27D: Give five stars, say)
• CARTER / CARVER (41A: Famous peanut grower)
• TARNISH / VARNISH (42D: Certain outer coating)
• ANTI-TAX / ANTI-VAX (56A: Like some libertarians)
• LATISH / LAVISH (48D: Like an Oscars afterparty)

Word of the Day: ELISSA (Michigan congresswoman Slotkin) —

Elissa Blair Slotkin (born July 10, 1976) is an American politician and former CIA analyst serving as the U.S. Representative for Michigan's 8th congressional district since 2019.^[1] A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and Department of Defense official. Her district is based in part of south and southeast Michigan and includes some of Detroit's outer northern and western suburbs and most of the state capital, Lansing.

Hi everyone, Rachel Fabi in for Rex today, just in time to solve and write up this clever Schrödinger puzzle for you all! My feelings about this puzzle evolved throughout the solve and in the time I've spent thinking about the puzzle since finishing it, so I'll try to trace that emotional journey in this post (spoiler alert: it culminates with me thinking this puzzle is awesome). 

Starting out, I was confused by this puzzle. As can sometimes be the case with Schrödinger grids, I straight-up didn't notice that there was anything going on with the circled squares until I got to the very last theme entry. I think it's entirely possible that some solvers will finish this puzzle without detecting the theme at all, even with the revealer! And when I finally did notice the theme, I felt pretty lukewarm about it. "Oh, it's one of *those* puzzles," I thought, crankily deciding to use the T for ANTI-TAX instead of having the delusional ANTI-VAXshow up on my screen. And then I looked at the crossing clue [48D: Like an Oscars afterparty]. And, almost against my will, I chuckled. Oscars parties ARE (presumably, though I have never been to one to confirm) LAVISH. And they're on after the Oscars so... they must be LATISH too. And then I became slightly cranky again, because I doubt that -ISH qualifier is necessary; a party after the Oscars is straight-up LATE! But the cleverness of the gimmick had begun to sink in. I revisited the first circled square I had confidently stuck REMOTE into and realized, aha! If you parse "Separate" as a verb in [34A: Separate from all the others, say], then REMOVE works here too! 

And so, much against my will, I began to love this puzzle. I think TARNISH/VARNISH is probably the weakest pair, just because they are so closely related, and yet received such an underwhelming clue [42D: Certain outer coating]. But CARTER/CARVER! The sheer cleverness! President Jimmy CARTER, who sold his peanut farm to avoid the possibility of maybe someday appearing to be in violation of the emoluments clause, and George Washington CARVER, the scientist and inventor known for his work with peanuts, are both [41A: Famous peanut grower]s. If I had to bet, I'd say this was probably the starting point of the theme for the constructor, who may have noticed the similarities in their names and occupations and built this theme around it (I'm going to read constructor notes after I write this post, so I'll hopefully know whether I'm right soon enough). Another impressive thing about this theme is that the themers *aren't* symmetrical, which I think some people might count against this grid, but I actually think this adds an extra layer of complexity to placing the black squares. Anyways, this is a long paragraph to say that this theme grew on me immensely over the last hour or so. 

Another positive aspect of this puzzle is the long fill, which is generally quite solid. EATS CROW and TREE GODSare especially fun, and I like CARTOONIST, SKI SUITS, and ON HIATUS quite a bit as well. On the downside, some of the short fill holding this clever theme together is pretty rough. I personally could live without UIE (which the NYT can't seem to decide how to spell), GTI, ITO, ALEE (which the NYT Spelling Bee still doesn't accept, last time I checked!), RCS, and, especially, the nonsense syllable KOO. Clearly these things were not dealbreakers for the editors or for me, as I still on balance love this puzzle, but I wish they could have been avoided. 

A few more things:

Bullets:

• Favorite clues:
• [60A: One drawing lots?] for CARTOONIST— this is super clever and I love it.
• [37D: Kodama, in Japanese mythology] for TREE GODS. I've never heard this before, but it's a beautiful word and now I know about kodama! Pictured to the right as depicted in "Princess Mononoke"
• Least favorite clue:
• [31D: Man's name that sounds like two letters of the alphabet] for ARTIE — can we stop with these? Just find a human named ARTIE! Or refill that section!
• We got a double dose of SNL women with Tina FEY and perennial crossword favorite Cheri O'TERI
• The crossing of SELES/ELISSA may be natick territory for some solvers (SELES was a big pull for me that I'm glad to have gotten! I don't tennis, although I understand a very important tennis match (game?) is tennising as I write this?)
• Missed opportunity for a Macy Gray clue at [19A: I try]:

Overall, I enjoyed this puzzle significantly more after the solve than I did during the solve, which is really just an indication that the theme is extremely clever. 

And now, if I may use this platform for a brief moment of self-promotion, I'd like to encourage you to sign up for the Boswords Spring Themeless League, to which I will be contributing a puzzle, if you have not yet done so already! The tournament consists of one themeless puzzle, at a choose-your-own difficulty level, every Monday night through March and April, with a pre-season event next Monday (although you can compete without ever attending the events live). I've competed in the past several online Boswords events, and I can say that the feeling of community and shared love of crossword puzzles at these events make them some of those rare, wonderful times of true connection and togetherness in this weird pandemic world. I hope to see you all there!

Signed, Rachel Fabi, Queen-for-a-Day of CrossWorld

[Follow Rachel on Twitter]

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]