Constructor: Ada Nicolle
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: NEOpronoun (23A: Prefix with pronoun) —
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I found it! By "it" I mean "the Friday puzzle," of course. I don't think I've ever seen the Friday / Saturday sequencing get botched so bad as it was this week. It's hard to imagine test-solvers editors *and* test-solvers thinking "Friday" of yesterday's puzzle, and it's equally hard to imagine someone solving today's puzzle and thinking "Saturday." They are nearly perfect examples of their respective (ideal) days, and yet they got switched. Oh well. Thankfully, they're both wonderful puzzles. With today's, I want to start with the things I didn't like because there are so few of them—and they were both really jarring. So, WOKEST (43A: Most alert to social justice issues) ... that's a big thumbs-down from me. The very word evokes the Cult*re W*rs which are the very worst part of being alive today, and while I am all for the inclusion of any and all social justice-related issues or terminology you want to put in the grid, this term ... it's burnt, for me. I can't but hear it in a mocking voice, the voice of The Worst White People You Know. The superlative (i.e. -EST) form only heightens the appearance of jokiness and mockery. The -EST makes it very nearly a nonsense word. So if you don't think "social justice issues" are nonsense, maybe steer clear of this word. It's been taken over by ghouls. It's a tell—the people saying it the most believe in it the least. I feel about it like I feel about its older cousin, "PC." Hard Pass.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: NEOpronoun (23A: Prefix with pronoun) —
Neopronouns are a category of neologistic English third-person personal pronouns beyond 'he', 'she', 'they', 'one', and 'it'. Neopronouns are preferred by some non-binary individuals who feel that neopronouns provide options to reflect their gender identity more accurately than conventional pronouns.
Neopronouns may be words created to serve as pronouns such as 'ze/hir' or 'noun-self' pronouns where existing words are turned into personal pronouns such as 'fae/faer' Some neopronouns allude to they/them, such as 'ey/em', a form of Spivak pronoun.
A survey by The Trevor Project in 2020 found that 4% of LGBT+ youth used neopronouns. The 2021 Gender Census of non-binary people reported that the most popular neopronoun was xe/xem, used by 8.5% of those who took the survey. (wikipedia)
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[this has nothing to do with the puzzle—just treat yourself]
I also balked at SPACE WESTERN, not because it's wrong, exactly, but because it feels weird and redundant. The term I know is SPACE OPERA, which has always included indebtedness to the American Western. In fact, if you look up lists of SPACE OPERAs, you will find "Cowboy Bebop" listed under anime examples. Anyway, SPACE OPERA is the more established concept, and SPACE WESTERN feels like an unnecessary subdivision. But I guess Gene Roddenberry referred to "Star Trek"—a paradigmatic SPACE OPERA—as a SPACE WESTERN at least once, so ... OK, maybe the WESTERN is just a subdivision of the OPERA. I think I am too close to the material. I've read and watched a lot of SPACE OPERA and enjoyed the genre's kinship with westerns (aka "oaters," or "horse operas," which I have also enjoyed). I have a huge collection of vintage paperbacks, many of them in the SPACE OPERA genre. I have a "Star Wars" poster hanging over my television—"Star Wars" is definitely SPACE OPERA, and "The Mandalorian" is in the Star Wars universe so ... you can see why OPERA felt like the right direction. I've watched (the original) "Cowboy Bebop"—I even have the soundtrack around here somewhere—and that too has been classified as SPACE OPERA. So the WESTERN subdivision feels like fiddly fine-slicing to my ear. But I'm quibbling with genre distinctions ... this isn't really the puzzle's problem. SPACE WESTERN exists even if I don't particularly have any use for it.
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
As for the rest of the puzzle, it's close to perfection. "IT IS WHAT IT IS" is one of those non-statements that I love despite (because of?) the fact that it's cliché and annoys the hell out of many people (25A: Tautological words of resignation). Sometimes it just perfectly encapsulates the idea that something just unavoidably is and there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it. I like the weary resignation it implies. Same with "WE'RE DONE HERE," though that's less weary and more exasperated (44A: "Let's move on"). Both of these are wonderful, vibrant colloquialisms. See also "SORRY I ASKED!" Just a great slangy vibe to this whole puzzle. I had EL PASO in one of the cryptics I solved last night, and for some reason it made me think "isn't there a salsa brand called OLD EL PASO?" And once again, bam, the universe manifests itself! (still not sure what I mean here, but it feels right). I wasn't sure where things were going when I started this puzzle, as it was suspiciously easy to get started (ASSAY YALL AWL SCHWA TROLL all in a row, no stopping). I thought, "Wow, I hope this puzzle at least has some pop in it?" And then the puzzle definitely popped:
This is what I mean when I talk about the zoom zoom whoosh whoosh flooooow that, for me, is Peak Friday Experience. Long answers just shooting off like fireworks. INFINITY POOL! SILLY STRING! I was absolutely sold on the puzzle at this point. You had me at HALLOWS (I was gonna say "You had me at INFINITY POOL," but if you're evoking "Jerry Maguire" it's hard to lay off HALLOWS there) (8D: Makes sacred). Great (evocative, accurate) clue on HOME GYM (36A: Room where a Peloton may double as a clothing rack). The only slow parts for me were (duh) names. No idea who Wilson GOODE is (I assume it's not GOODE Wilson ... nope, Wilson GOODE). I see he was that city's first Black mayor (1984-92). Good(e) to know! I've probably seen Phillipa SOO before, but forgot her (47A: Broadway star Phillipa). Crosses took care of both these names pretty easily. I think I thought a SHOAL was like a sandbar or some other kind of shoreline ... entity. And it turns out I'm right. It just also means ... a bunch of fish. Why do we need this word when we have the perfectly good word "school?" I'm Glad You (I) Asked!:
In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. About one quarter of fish species shoal all their lives, and about one half shoal for part of their lives. (wikipedia)
Tasty clue on TOM (56D: ___ yum (hot-and-sour Thai soup)). Wife is away for the weekend so the cats and I are sad. Might cheer myself up by ordering some TOM yum tonight (and then not sharing with the cats, who will then be ultra-sad). I have a weird urge to shout "EL AL, Y'ALL!" so I should probably stop writing and get coffee. Wonderful puzzle. Good day.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld