Desert whose soil has been compared to that of Mars / SUN 3-6-22 / Pink pad on a paw in slang / Syrian city with historic citadel / Organic energy molecule for short / Rowing machine informally / Harry Styles tune about a woman who lives in daydreams / Ross Perot founded it in 1995 / Rococo painter of Allegory of the Planets and Continents / La Corse par exemple / Nickel found in a pocket say

Word of the Day: PACHINKO (see ... well, the puzzle) —

Pachinko (パチンコ) is a type of mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as a form of recreational arcade game, and much more frequently as a gamblingdevice, filling a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling, as a form of low-stakes, low-strategy gambling.

Pachinko parlors are widespread in Japan, and usually also feature a number of slot machines (called pachislo or pachislots) so these venues look and operate similarly to casinos. Modern pachinko machines have both mechanical and digital components. // A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but is different from Western pinball in several ways. It uses small (11 mm diameter) steel balls, which the owner rents to the player (usually a "pachinko parlor," featuring many individual games in rows), while pinball games use a larger, captive ball. 

The player loads one or more balls into the machine, then presses and releases a spring-loaded handle, which is attached to a padded hammer inside the machine, launching the ball into a metal track. The track guides the ball over the top of the playing field; then when it loses momentum, it falls into the playing field. Some pachinko machines have a bumper to bounce the ball as it reaches the top, while others allow it to travel all the way around the field, to fall the second time it reaches the top. 

The playing field is populated by numerous brass pins, several small cups into which the player hopes the ball will fall (each catcher is barely the width of the ball), and a hole at the bottom into which the ball falls if it does not enter a catcher. The ball bounces from pin to pin, both slowing its descent and deflecting it laterally across the field. A ball that enters a catcher triggers a payout, in which a number of balls are dropped into a tray at the front of the machine. (wikipedia)

I haven't seen a PACHINKO machine since ... well, it's a weird story involving a very hazy memory I have of going to the house of this woman my dad was dating between his first marriage (to my mom) and his second marriage (to my stepmom). Anyway, I remember being left in this woman's living room for a period of time, possibly with the woman's son, possibly with my sister, definitely with a PACHINKO machine that the woman had in her house For Some Reason. It was mesmerizing. I was nine years old. Lord knows what my dad and this lady were doing during this time. I have not seen a PACHINKO machine since, or thought about one much either. And then ... time passed. And here we are. You kinda have to be familiar with the look and function of the things for this grid to be at all meaningful. I guess the letters to PACHINKO are in the places of what are called "catchers" (see Word of the Day description, above)—if your ball falls in one, you get a payout of some kind. As architectural feats go, this one seems pretty good. Again, it all doesn't mean a lot to me, and the "bouncing ball" is pretty anemic, but the part where the grid looks like a PACHINKO machine and the letters spelling out PACHINKO are inside the "catchers," that is interesting. The turning of familiar phrases to thematic purposes is clever as well. The theme isn't really for me, but it's got ... something. It's creative and original. 

I was sad to finish things off, in the NE corner, with an absolute textbook Natick. I couldn't have been Naticked any harder if I'd tried. No idea. I just couldn't remember the name of the desert in question at 22A: Desert whose soil has been compared to that of Mars (ATACAMA), and that wouldn't have been so bad—I frequently don't know, or half know, or kinda sorta half-know but mostly forget, proper nouns like ATACAMA all the time. But this time one of the crosses was an initialism whose initials meant absolutely nothing to me (ATP is short for adenosine triphosphate). I had A-P at 14D: Organic energy compound, for short (ATP), and ... nothing. Zip. Couldn't even conceive what the "A" or the "P" stand for. So, A-ACAMA crossing A-P, the end. That's all, folks. If I'm alone in eating it at that crossing, well that's on me. I know I've seen both ATACAMA and ATP before. But even now I can't tell you where ATACAMA is*. And I've seen ATP only once, and only in a (recent-ish) puzzle. Sigh. I wish I knew more of everything. Usually crosswords are constructed where my blindspots are overcomeable through crosses. I get well and truly Naticked maybe once or twice a year? These moments almost always involve proper nouns, initialisms, or both. Today, both. Anyway, today was one of those days. (Note: the term "Natick" itself came from the crossing of proper nouns and initials, with Natick crossing N.C. Wyeth at the "N")

Don't remember much else about this grid besides the PACHINKO-ness and my Natick. Lots of political proper nouns (SHALALA, HAALAND, REFORM PARTY). Found the SE corner the hardest because, again, as with ATP, a familiar three-letter answer was clued in a way I didn't know (rowing machine = ERG) (I probably should've mentioned earlier that the ATP is the Association of Tennis Professionals, which is main org. of men's pro tennis ... if only that had been the clue today ...). Along with ERG, I wasn't really familiar with GOOBER used precisely this way (94D: Foolish sort), and I had MINCED for FINELY (111A: Into really small pieces) and then, later, HUGELY before HIGHLY (88D: Super). But nothing else really troubled me. KEELEY seems very very hard unless you are a huge Ted Lasso fan (I am such a fan, and even I still had to think about it) (109A: P.R. consultant on "Ted Lasso"). DEVILED also bedeviled me a little (81D: Cooked with hot seasoning). Didn't know TRACY (38A: ___ K. Smith, poet who won a Pulitzer for "Life on Mars"). But I flew through most of the rest of it. Quite enjoyed "THAT'S A BIG IF" and, especially, TOE BEAN (44D: Pink pad on a paw, in slang)—when we first got our cat Alfie, as a kitten, I used to call him "TOE BEAN Maguire" because he had (and still has) one lone pink TOE BEAN.

[One Pink TOE BEAN To Rule Them All!]

One announcement today: Veteran constructor Jeff Chen has a new book of puzzles out this Tuesday. It's called The Best Puzzle Books for Adults, which sounds sexy, but is probably not "for adults" in exactly that way. Still, it sounds great. It's got a range of puzzle types and difficulty levels, and sounds like the perfect thing to have lying around the house, if your house is full of puzzle people. It's already the #1 Crossword Puzzle book on Amazon and it's only in the Pre-Order stage. Here's the blurb!

I have TWO copies of the book to give away, so if you want one, just email me at rexparker at icloud dot com with the worst blunder you made while solving crosswords this week, and I'll choose two random blunderers as book recipients by the end of the day (I'll probably also publish some of the blunders next week—anonymously, of course :)

See you tomorrow, or whatever I see you. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

*ATACAMA is west of the Andes along the Pacific coast of central South America

the yellow bits on this map

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