Wining and dining, say / TUES 10-25-22 / Inner ear? / Borden Dairy cow / Snack item that might be twisted or dunked

Theme answers:

• SCRABBLE(ascending diagonally from the first letter of 42A) 
• RISK(ascending diagonally from the first letter of 62A) 
• CHESS(ascending diagonally from the fourth letter of 24A) 
• MONOPOLY(ascending diagonally from the second letter of 60A)

Word of the Day:INXS (64A: "Need You Tonight" band, 1987)  —

INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarist Tim Farriss, lead singer and main lyricist Michael Hutchence, and guitarist and saxophonist Kirk Pengilly. For 20 years, INXS was fronted by Hutchence, whose magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/pop style, the band later developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements… In September 1988, the band swept the MTV Video Music Awards with the video for "Need You Tonight/Mediate" winning in 5 categories. (Wiki)

This puzzle was kinda nice? The grid itself is visually appealing, with so few black squares in it. The construction of the grid is impressive, with how the creators worked two eight-letter board games into the theme. Using the board games in the puzzle worked well and tied tightly to the revealer. There were also other answers that sort of related to the gaming theme throughout the puzzle, with DISC(1A: It's black on one side and white on the other, in Othello), ANTE(14A: Casino buy-in), PURSE (15A: Holder of keys, phone and IDs) (though clued differently, a purse can be the prize for winning a game), PIECE (15D: Jigsaw item), and even MUD HEN (9D: Toledo minor-leaguer, named for a marsh bird) (a member of a team that plays a game; yes, I know I’m reaching here). 

The only piece of the theme that really irked me was the revealer: STEPS UP ONE’S GAME (7D). Does anybody talk that way? One needs to step up one’s game? People say, “step up your game” or “step up my game” but not that “one should step up one’s game.” I know I’m being a bit of a stickler, but that was a big piece of the puzzle to not be the common usage. Granted, I didn’t use the theme or the revealer at all in my solve, but I was annoyed when I looked back. 

Hello, Natick at 58D/64A with VMI (Keydets' sch.) and INXS ("Need You Tonight" band, 1987) crossing each other. I’ve never heard of VMI (and the name of the obscure mascot in the clue surely didn’t help). I didn’t know the name INXS, either (though I’ve definitely heard “Need You Tonight” before), so getting the “I” there was tough and was the last letter I put into the puzzle. I thought it might be a “U” for “university” or maybe a “C” for “college” or maybe… or maybe…. An “I” for “institute” was pretty much the last thing on my radar. I put “char” instead of SEAR for 50D: Scorch on a grill, which caused me some trouble in the southwest corner, too. 

The puzzle seemed to skew a tad older, which made some parts of the puzzle challenging for me. See: ELSIE (56A), the clue for POPO at 38D: The fuzz, INXS (64A), Lisa LOEB (16A), and SEE SPOT RUN (3D). My dad told me that the beginner books in first grade featured Dick, Jane, and Spot, but an interesting tidbit is that, when I was googling to figure out what SEE SPOT RUN was a reference to, I came across someone who said the line SEE SPOT RUN actually never appears in the books but is constantly referenced. It seems like one of those Berenstein vs. Berenstain bear paradoxes (see: the Mandela effect). Also, for whatever reason, I read the answer as “sees pot run,” which makes no sense and is quite funny to me looking back. 

I really disliked the double use of “tab” at 22A: Soda can opener with POP TAB and 31A: Key above Caps Lock as TAB. I know working around “Scrabble” must’ve been tough, but it’s pretty ugly to repeat like that. Those are both alongside TBAR (23D) and TERRA (34A), which makes that section have way too many T’s, B’s, A’s, and R’s. Then, in the opposite section around “monopoly,” you’ve got WOOING (49A), OOPSIE (45A), AFOOT (37D), and FOO (41A), which is a whole lot of double “oo”s. 

Overall, I enjoyed most of the clues used in the puzzle. My favorite clue/answer in a long time was 55A: Road gunk … or, when doubled, tooth gunk as TAR. I legitimately laughed out loud at that one. 4D: Inner ear? as COB is also pretty cute. Then, in other places, you’ve got words clued in kinda different ways, such as for TERRA (34A: Word before firma or incognita), EONS (54D: Periods longer than eras), and SAUCE (24A: Chimichurri or hollandaise). I always appreciate novelty.

Misc.:

• The crossword is apparently the debut for both constructors, so congrats to them! 
• I was just part of a DEPOSITION (28D: Testimony under oath) last week and will be in probably many more in my legal future. I just hope that I don’t become MOOT (61A: Not worth having, as an argument). 
• My uncle was once the national Scrabble champion. No one will play Monopoly with my dad again because he gets maaad at the game (and his angry eyebrows come out). I can’t play chess with my much younger cousin because she’s way too good. The only real memory I have of Risk is when I was given the game as a birthday present as a kid, and it was the “Lord of the Rings” version; we never actually played the game, but I took the ring that was part of the game and wore that around for a while. I should’ve kept that ring in my pocket for when the new “Rings of Power” premiered. 
• 44D: Belief system as CREED makes me think of the trailer that recently dropped for “Creed III,” which will be Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut and will also star Jonathan Majors. He’s in the new trailer that just dropped for Ant-Man 3, too, and appears poised to be the big bad in Marvel for the foreseeable future. He seems wonderful, and I’m very much here for him taking over Hollywood. 

And that’s it from me! Hope everyone has a great November.

Signed, Clare Carroll, possessor of the one ring to rule them all

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