Item in a husk / FRI 8-5-22 / Some cowboy wear / One might offer a sweet message / Sleep aid said to reduce anxiety / Ending with play or plate / Frequently flooded area

THEME: none

Word of the Day: BALAYAGE (9D: Hair highlighting technique) —

Balayage (from the French, meaning 'scanning, sweeping') is a technique of free-form painting on clean, styled hair. The results are subtle, and thus more natural-looking than foiling or chunking.^[1] Balayage in its many variations is currently^[when?] trending in Hollywood.

Hello! Rafael Musa (Rafa) here, first-time Rexword blogger, and a byline you may recognize from USA Today (edited by one of today's constructors!), AVCX (co-edited by another of today's constructors!), and Universal. Excited to fill in today for a puzzle by two greats, both of whom I've had the privilege of working with!

First, a note on symmetry. Mirror symmetry is rare for themeless puzzles and allows for unusual geometries like the stack of 10s in the middle of the grid -- it's a fun shake-up for more seasoned solvers. Though it does come with a set of tradeoffs, as it's hard to avoid corners heavy with 4s and 5s that can feel less exciting to crack.

Onto the puzzle itself! I found this quite challenging for a Friday and had a solve time solidly in Saturday territory. This was mostly due to some devilish (in a good way!) cluing. Things like [Eats outside, perhaps] for STREET FOOD ("eats" being used a noun) and [Make a lead balloon?] for RACE AHEAD (think not lead the material, but having a lead -- pronounced "leed" -- in a race) really elevated the solve, but did slow me down a bit. The latter clue is particularly wonderful because both "lead" and "balloon" change meanings in the wordplay, and the surface sense is rock-solid -- absolutely stellar!

The only real problem area for me was the left-middle. Tough clues (to me) on HARES, PEN, ACES, CHAPS (which was new to me in that context), as well as vague clue on PIES (there are so many holidays in so many different cultures and places! And so many foods are round!) had me floundering for a while but eventually I got there. I desperately wanted HEN for the swan, and "leporids" didn't mean anything to me. Perhaps this puzzle would have been better to run on a Saturday? Or with a more straightforward clue for one of those entries?

I did wish there was a tad more zing in the long fill, and that there were more longer slots. Here the mirror symmetry is hard to work with, as it can be harder to pack in more longer slots with its constraints. But still, stuff like BALAYAGE, HASHTAGS, STREETFOOD, WEIGHTEDBLANKET, STILETTOS, POWERYOGA, REDTAPEare all delightful. All the short fill is also great -- not a piece of crosswordese in sight.

I've also noticed a move toward including mini-themes and motifs in themeless puzzles at the NYT. Though there's of course no "correct" take on this, I'm personally not a huge fan of this shift! We have 5 days a week of themed puzzles already, don't mess with my sacred themeless weekend!! Me being a themeless purist aside, I didn't think the juice was quite worth the squeeze in the paired answers here. WEIGHTED BLANKET is outstanding, but I had never heard of HEAVY SECURITY as a standalone phrase, and it doesn't Google super well. But it's possible HEAVY SECURITY is more of a thing than I'm making it out to be!

All in all, a fun (and challenging!) Friday puzzle that stood out for its great fresh clues.

 

Bullets:

• THEY SAY [Word is...] — At first I couldn't decide whether I liked this or it felt partially, but looking back at it I'm a big fan of its conversational vibe
• GNATS [Cloud often seen in the summer] — Another fun clue -- nice way to elevate a familiar entry
• ETTA [Blues guitarist Baker] — I loved seeing a new (to me) ETTA in this clue for another familiar entry
• CRAIG [Name that anagrams to something you might smoke] — I feel like there's a lot of controversy about these name clues that don't reference a specific person. I personally love them! And in this tricky corner, I appreciated the easier angle.

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