Constructor: Ryan McCarty and Yacob Yonas
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
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THEME: none
Word of the Day:"Jules et Jim" (49A: Catherine, e.g., in "Jules et Jim") —
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Well that was a proper Saturday. That, or my specific brain just gunked up at particularly bad moments, causing difficulty to pile up where others would not have encountered it. There were definitely a couple of choke points, specific answers that eluded me, and whose elusiveness then had a cascading effect. I thought I was really flying at first, dropping ALIT SAT AREOLA COMMAS REDDIT and OREO COOKIE with no trouble at all. But then, a hitch. I don't know why POSIT didn't come immediately to mind for 4D: Put forward. It should have. But my brain just kept saying "why doesn't ASSERT fit" and so I looked at 19A: Chic, and with MOD- in place I wrote in MODERN. . . a brutal error. I had also stared at 5D: Isn't oneself? a little earlier and couldn't make it do what I wanted it to do, namely, be a first-person version of the verb "isn't" (AM NOT? AMN'T?). You know, like the verb "isn't" but ... for "oneself" (i.e. me). This is what is called, in the vernacular, overthinking it. Anyway, never read "Motorcycle Diaries" so couldn't parse MED STUDENT, and the Rolls (Royce!) clue, wow, just a crusher (1A: Rolls dough, perhaps? = CAR PAYMENT). So basically I dashed out of the gate and then face-planted. FUN!
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The other "DV" answer that tripped me was the simple DVR (57D: Save for later, in a way). Not expected the verb use of that initialism, so I was briefly blocked from seeing most of those long Acrosses at the bottom, although the worst mistake I made down there was writing in OPERA COATS (?) instead of OPERA CAPES (29D: Luxury attire for white-tie events). As bad a flow-killer as my MODERN-for-MODISH mistake earlier in the solve. Once I broke through the DVR part, the rest of the SE corner was easy. In fact, there were several patches of the puzzle that fell without much effort at all. The NE, for example. And, after I finally remembered the seems-forever-ago werewolf / vampire book series name ("Twilight"), and thus remembered TWIHARDS (33D: Devotees of Team Edward and Team Jacob, in fandom slang), the SW wasn't too much trouble either—swooshed right back up in the center of the grid where BAI had been giving me so much trouble. I enjoyed this puzzle, but mostly in the way you enjoy surviving a harrowing ordeal. There's that rush of "I made it!" but you wouldn't *exactly* say you'd want the lion chasing you again. The fill in this one is solid but doesn't offer much in the way of surprise or sparkle, so the pleasure is definitely in the fight itself. Maybe TWIHARDS didn't wow me because I'd seen it before (and like 'ROID rage, it feels dated to me now). And don't GOOD VIBEs usually come in groups? And don't ventriloquist's usually carry "dummies"? "Ventriloquist's HAND PUPPET" is not a phrase I've ever heard (55A: Ventriloquist's prop, maybe). Still, the answers were generally solid, and the cluing was often clever, and it's nice to get a proper Saturday every now and again. Keeps you on your toes. Good luck with the (absolutely brutal, out-of-season, apocalyptic) heat today, if you live anywhere [points to huge section of the eastern part of the country] in this area. See you tomorrow.
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging
Word of the Day:"Jules et Jim" (49A: Catherine, e.g., in "Jules et Jim") —
Jules and Jim (French: Jules et Jim [ʒyl e dʒim]) is a 1962 French New Wave romantic drama film, directed, produced and written by François Truffaut. Set around the time of World War I, it describes a tragic love triangle involving French BohemianJim (Henri Serre), his shy Austrian friend Jules (Oskar Werner), and Jules's girlfriend and later wife Catherine (Jeanne Moreau).The film is based on Henri-Pierre Roché's 1953 semi-autobiographical novel describing his relationship with young writer Franz Hessel and Helen Grund, whom Hessel married. Truffaut came across the book in the mid-1950s while browsing through some secondhand books at a shop along the Seine in Paris. He later befriended the elderly Roché, who had published his first novel at the age of 74. The author approved of the young director's interest in adapting his work to another medium.
The film won the 1962 Grand Prix of French film prizes, the Étoile de Cristal, and Jeanne Moreau won that year's prize for best actress. The film ranked 46 in Empire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010. The soundtrack by Georges Delerue was named as one of the "10 best soundtracks" by Time magazine in its "All Time 100 Movies" list. (wikipedia)
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Was proud to see through the NINJA TURTLE clue pretty quickly (9D: Michelangelo, e.g.), but then wow did I slip on that BATH TOY. Could Not Parse It To Save My Life. If I could've remembered the brand-name BAI, I would've been in much better shape, but as for antioxidant drink brands in three letters, I've got POM and then I'm out. Sigh. Wasn't sure about Selena's "Baila ESTA Cumbia" either, but eventually ESTA seemed the only option. I put MUSTARD on my barbecue meat. I'm sorry, but the M--T--- pattern seemed to demand it. In my defense, the MEAT part of this answer feels a bit redundant. You could easily use this same coating for just RUB. Anyway, MUSTARD barbecue, anyone! It's not so far-fetched, actually. Carolina mustard BBQ sauce is definitely a thing.
Two more grid hazards awaited me, and both of them had the letter combo "DV" in them, weirdly. I tried to make UNISOM fit at 50A: NyQuil shelfmate (ADVILPM), and when that didn't work, I gave up and let the crosses take care of it ... only I needed a Lot of them to see that final lump of -LPM at the end. Had ROAD rage before 'ROID rage, which continues to sound very dated and '90s and "Avoid the Noid"-era, to my ears (was the Noid on 'ROIDs? ... it kinda seemed that way at times). Maybe 'ROID was a hotter abbr. when there weren't more widely known technical names for the banned substances that athletes were taking (it's all just PEDs, or "performance-enhancing drugs," now), and as for the phenomenon of 'ROID rage, it feels historical / mythical today. Or maybe we just don't talk about it. I don't know. Road rage, on the other hand, is more with-us than ever.