Constructor: Taylor Johnson
Relative difficulty: Medium (i.e. normal Monday)
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THEME: PIZZA PARTY (62A: Social event hinted at by the ends of 18-, 28- and 48-Across) — theme answers end in CRUST, SAUCE, and CHEESE, respectively:
Theme answers:
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This felt a little WEAK SAUCE, a little thin ... crust, a little weak TEA. Let's stick with the "thin crust" metaphor for now ... actually, no, scrap that, thin crust can be delicious. The theme seemed thin. Just three answers. And not all of them really hid / repurposed the pizza ingredients adequately. UPPER CRUST did a great job (that "crust" has nothing to do with pizza), but WEAK SAUCE is a little ... weaker, in that sauce is sauce is sauce, and ditto the "cheese" in "SAY CHEESE!" I think BIG CHEESE or something more obviously metaphorical like that might've been better. But even if the theme answers had been perfect, the puzzle remains fairly thin—just a three-part, last-words-type puzzle. From a structural perspective, the grid feels very poorly built, in that TIME BOMBS and DON'T LEAVE are exactly as long as the theme answers they abut, so they really really look like / feel like / wanna be theme answers ... but aren't. Major distraction. Makes the theme look denser than it is. I actually thought DON'T LEAVE was a theme answer for a bit ... but then I realized I was thinking LEAF, as in BASIL leaf. Which leads me to the next problem: am I supposed to buy BASIL as some kind of bonus theme answer? It does sit dead center, and you do find BASIL on pizzas from time to time. So let's just say that I formally reject BASIL as theme-related. I also reject that an "Italian mojito" (!?!?!) is a thing (41A: Italian mojito). That is, I'm sure it's a thing to someone, somewhere, but what a completely ridiculous way to clue BASIL. Mojitos are Cuban. Conceptually and execution-wise, this one feels a bit of a mess, which seems very strange for a puzzle with a theme that is really very straightforward and basic. I don't even really get the "PARTY" angle. Is it a "PARTY" just because you've "invited" three ingredients into the grid?
Relative difficulty: Medium (i.e. normal Monday)
Theme answers:
- UPPER CRUST (18A: High-society, metaphorically)
- WEAK SAUCE (28A: Something unimpressive, slangily)
- "SAY CHEESE!" (48A: "Smi-i-i-i-le!")
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and performing with the Runaways, which recorded and released the hit song "Cherry Bomb". With The Blackhearts, Jett is known for her rendition of the song "I Love Rock 'n Roll" which was number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks in 1982. Jett's other notable songs include "Bad Reputation", "Light of Day", "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and her covers of "Crimson and Clover", "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and "Dirty Deeds". [...] Joan Jett & the Blackhearts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (wikipedia)
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As for the fill, it's fine, if you enjoy shooting SLO-MO TAE BO on your GOPRO. I kid, it's fine. Except for WHAP, what is that? This is like when the puzzle tried to convince me that OWLS say WHOO! Remember that? Of course you do, it was two days ago. I spell BLECH with two "C"s (at least), so that was weird (37D: "Disgusting!"). GEN Z'ER, ugh, no (47D: Many a TikTok user, informally). XERs have the "-ER" but ZER!? Oof, doesn't work. The wikipedia page for "Generation Z" begins, "Generation Z, colloquially known as zoomers..." So there you go. That is what they are called, if they are called anything. GENZER is just a desperate attempt to debut a new term [checks database ...] Yep, it's a debut. Not sure what else to say here. I wanted CLAROS for 26D: Some quality cigars. I knew that some fancy cigars came from Cuba, but I was looking for a cigar type, not a cigar place of origin, is the problem. I learned "claro" from crosswords. A "claro" is a "light-colored usually mild cigar" (merriam-webster.com). That's your cigar lesson for the day.
A STROBE light figured prominently in a (beautiful) movie I just saw in the theater today called "Aftersun" (d. Charlotte Wells, 2022). The STROBE appears to be part of some kind of dance party but that "party" seems also maybe to be the afterlife or else some point of emotional connection between the father and daughter in the story. You should see the movie and explain it all to me. I understood all the non-STROBE parts perfectly, and as I say: beautiful.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld