Constructor: David Karp
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: BAHAIS (46D: Religious adherents governed by the Universal House of Justice) —
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I've seen this exact grid structure before, with the latticework 15s, and it works pretty well if you can fill it right. You get a bunch of marquee answers (at least six!), and 15s are actually very easy to work with when you're building a grid because they don't add to the black squares that you have to manage. The *one* black square that a 14 gets you (in a 15x15 grid) sets off a cavalcade of grid challenges involving the crosses adjacent to that black square ... I'd draw you a picture, but trust me, 12s 13s and esp 14s are harder to build a clean grid around than 15s. So this grid locks down its 15s and then it's mostly just got easy little sections to fill, 4x4s, 4x5s. You got a couple of stray 9s (in the Downs), a couple of stray 8s (in the Acrosses), but *if* you can make the lattice 15s happen, the rest of the grid should be a relative walk in the park to fill cleanly. And today, yeah, mission mostly accomplished. I definitely got that zoom-zoom whoosh-whoosh feeling coming out of the NW. Had to apply a little pressure to make sense of CLAM (1A: Zip it, with "up") and LIBEL (2D: Run down illegally) and especially PLACATED (23A: Happy, now) (do *not* love that clue), but IBEX alone got me ...
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: BAHAIS (46D: Religious adherents governed by the Universal House of Justice) —
The Baháʼí Faith is a relatively new religion teaching the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception. The religion is estimated to have 5–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís, spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories. [...] According to Baháʼí teachings, religion is revealed in an orderly and progressive way by a single God through Manifestations of God, who are the founders of major world religions throughout history; Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad are noted as the most recent of these before the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh. Baháʼís regard the world's major religions as fundamentally unified in purpose, though varied in social practices and interpretations. The Baháʼí Faith stresses the unity of all people, explicitly rejecting racism, sexism, and nationalism. At the heart of Baháʼí teachings is the goal of a unified world order that ensures the prosperity of all nations, races, creeds, and classes. (wikipedia)
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... and then CRISP + ALEXA got me ...
Such is the power of the "X"! And so very early on, I had answers running from coast to coast, and coast to coast again. After this, there weren't many trouble spots, which may explain why the clues were trying so so hard, torturously hard, to be cutesy and misdirective. "?" clues abounding. If those things miss, they're jarring, and a bunch of them just missed for me today. The worst section for me, by far, was the POKER part of HIGH STAKES POKER, which I couldn't get for a comparatively long time, even with the "P"! HIGH STAKES ... WAGER? That's an "activity," maybe. I wanted only HIGH STAKES GAME but "game" was in the clue and also that answer didn't fit. (Sidenote: gambling / casino clues, as always, of zero interest to me ... and we already had the horrid ACETEN, come on ...). That clue on HIGH STAKES POKER is so horribly convoluted (37A: Activity for some big game hunters?). Are high rollers known as "big game"? I've heard fat-pocketed gamblers called "whales." Are whales the "big game?" Is the poker game itself the "big game"? But ... POKER is the "activity," presumably. Never considered POKER, mostly because I was looking (as the clue told me to) for an "activity," and did not think that "activity" was a "game" because "game" was Also In The Clue, Presumably Referring To Something Else. And then that section ... OK, a CORSET *has* ties that bind, but it itself is not "the ties that bind,""?" or no "?" (42A: The ties that bind?). Woof. And OAKS don't "throw" shade, literally no one would say that (28D: They may throw shade). Trees cast shadows, but they do not throw shade, so put a "?" on that (yes, I'm begging for a "?") or find another clue. I thought it was Hold the LINE at 30D: Hold the ___, not Hold the FORT, and I "confirmed" LINE with AÇAI (only to have AÇAI appear later in the solve, up top!). Finally, turns out the number of five-letter "S"-words that are plausible answers for 27A: Show disdain, in a way are manifold. Legion. I had, let's see ... first SNEER, then SNORT, then SCOWL, and only after figuring out FREE did I finally get SCOFF. Just a horrible, clunky way to end an otherwise fine puzzle.
I've never closed a (browser) window with an ESCAPE KEY ever, so that was weird (35D: Tool for closing a window). The clue on NAPTIMES is the epitome of "trying too hard" (49A: Stretches for the rest of us?). It can't lay off the (admittedly) clever "rest of us" misdirection even though "us" makes nooooooo sense here. Why are "we" taking a tap? I don't even take naps. Also, NAPTIMES has a scheduled, kindergarteny vibe, so "us" (that is, we solvers, mostly not in kindergarten, I'm guessing) doesn't work well here at all. I see what you're doing (using "rest of us" to mean "our rest"), and it's definitely ingenious wordplay, but it just comes across as forced here, as a clue for this particular answer. But as I said early on, the fill here is mostly clean and enjoyable. You can take ACETEN and HEN'S TEETH and put them ... somewhere else, but the 15s all sing. Well, the non-poker ones, anyway. And all the small nooks and crannies of this grid appear to have been reasonably well polished, so even if I thought the cluing was in the weeds a bit today, I still think the grid itself is admirable. Happy last day of September. See you tomorrow.