Ancient inhabitants of Crete / TUE 8-23-22 / Production company behind Hunger Games and Saw films / Where to find edible ants / Secluded narrow valley / Card game with a spinoff game called Dos / Commotion informally

• VAPOR TRAIL (18A: What follows a plane going from Richmond to Chicago?) (Virginia to Illinois)
• LANDING GEAR (26A: 26A: Part of a plane traveling from New Orleans to Little Rock?) (Louisiana to Arkansas)
• CONTINENTAL (45A: Former airline from Denver to Birmingham?) (Colorado to Alabama)
• FLYING TIME (56A: Duration of air travel from Miami to Bangor?) (Florida to Maine)

Enos Strate is a fictional character in the American television series The Dukes of Hazzard. The character of Enos was on from 1979-1980 and then after short break was on 1982-1985. Enos was played by Sonny Shroyer. (dukesofhazzard.fandom.com) // Enos is a short-lived American action-comedy television series and a spin-off of The Dukes of Hazzard. It originally aired on CBS from November 12, 1980, to May 20, 1981. The series focused on the adventures of Enos Strate, a former deputy in rural Hazzard County, after he moved to Los Angeles to join the LAPD. Actor Sonny Shroyer played the character of Enos on both shows. The scene was set for Enos leaving Hazzard to become a Los Angeles lawman in the third season Dukes of Hazzard episode "Enos Strate To The Top". // Each episode of "Enos" featured the title character fighting crime alongside partner Turk Adams. Episodes usually began and ended with Enos writing a letter to "Dukes of Hazzard" character Daisy Duke in which he told her of his adventures in L.A. In an attempt to boost ratings, a number of characters from The Dukes of Hazzard (Daisy, Uncle Jesse and Rosco) were brought in as guest stars, but "Enos" still failed to catch on. It was canceled after one 18-episode season. (wikipedia)

[first story in MAD Magazine #1]

Also very entertaining: the basic idea of this puzzle. It's trying to do something clever, and I think it mostly gets there. Air travel-related answers that "travel" from one state to another. Yes. The most I think about it, the more I like it. Doesn't matter whether Continental actually flew Denver to Birmingham—the air routes are fanciful, hence the "?"s on the ends of the theme clues (which alert you to the puzzle's secondary thematic content, i.e. the state codes). As far as this theme goes, I have no complaints. Good Tuesday stuff. The fill, however, has some issues. The biggest issue for me is ONALOG, which is a horribly awkward standalone phrase (long prepositional phrases always seem so strange and naked and bereft). It's also easily avoidable. Just change it to ANALOG (a real thing!) and then change GOT UP to GAS UP (also real) and TAP to SAP (really real!). Badda-bing, voilà, no more ants ON A LOG (for those of you somehow not familiar with this foodstuff, the log is celery and the ants are raisins and I think peanut butter is the adhesive, but maybe cream cheese works too? I don't know, never ate it, even as a child).

[cringe]

NEOLOGIC is also strange, for different reasons (36D: Like a recently coined word or phrase). It's not bad so much as esoteric. That is, I know what a "neologism" is, but I've never seen anyone use the term for the inherent quality of a neologism (and it turns out NEOLOGIC is actually the "less common" adjectival form of the word; see "neological,"here). I actually thought of "neologism" immediately but couldn't bring myself to write in NEOLOGIC because it didn't seem like a thing. Anyway, it's a very odd word to see hanging around a Tuesday grid. This is only its third appearance of the century, and both the other appearances came on Saturdays. The short fill is OK but a little on the limp and stale side—lots and lots of old friends like OLIO and ITO and ENOS and ESSO ... speaking of ESSO, I was surprised to see that Canada is considered "overseas" now (54D: Exxon, overseas).

A few more things:

• 10A: Woman's name hidden inside "assumed name" (EDNA) — still not understanding why the NYTXW has (of late) steered so hard toward this way of cluing short names. It's oddly childish and patronizing. Makes me want to repost the Bernie meme (courtesy of Christopher Adams, who filled in for me on Sunday):

• 26D: "___ at 'em!" ("LEMME") — I had "LET ME" at first. But of course that would be the more formal "LET ME at them, please."
• 34D: Production company behind "The Hunger Games" and the "Saw" films (LIONSGATE) — bold, original fill. As someone who once put VILLAGE ROADSHOW in a puzzle (because it contained "LAGER"), I approve.

I think this is Trey Mendez's NYTXW debut, so congrats to him.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. EMS make "clay clammy" (44A) because EMS = plural of the letter "M"

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