Constructor: David DistenfeldRelative difficulty: Easy
THEME: none Word of the Day: Earring Magic KEN (
12D: Earring Magic ___ (1990s doll that developed a cult following)) —
Earring Magic Ken is a model of the Ken doll introduced by Mattel in 1993 as a companion to its Earring Magic Barbie figure, one of six dolls in the Earring Magic Barbie line. This generation of the Ken doll featured an updated look, including blonde highlights in his traditionally brown hair, outfits including lavender mesh shirt, purple pleather vest, a necklace with a circular charm and, as the name indicates, an earring in his left ear.The doll is notable for supposedly being the highest-selling Ken doll in history and for the controversy that ensued upon its debut. [...] Mattel had conducted a survey of girls asking if Ken should be retained as Barbie's boyfriend or whether a new doll should be introduced in that role. Survey results indicated that girls wanted Ken kept but wanted him to look "cooler". The redesigned Ken was the result. Observers quickly noted the resemblance of Earring Magic Ken to a stereotypical gay man, from the pastel-colored clothes to the earring to the necklace, which was described as a "chrome cock ring". Kitsch-minded gay men bought the doll in record numbers, making Earring Magic Ken the best-selling Ken model in Mattel's history.
The doll received news-media press, even making it to the cover of The New York Times Arts and Leisure section. The clothing choices led to speculation that Mattel toy designers had unknowingly taken inspiration for the doll from gay raves in LA or NY. The doll debuted in stores for around $11 (equivalent to $20.63 in 2021) and had completely sold out by the Christmas season, largely due to gay men buying the doll in droves.
Despite the commercial success of the doll, a public exposé on the secret meaning of the "circular charm" as a gay sex toy from gay-community commentator Dan Savage in the Seattle, Washington, alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger led Mattel to discontinue Earring Magic Ken and recall the doll from stores. (wikipedia)
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SHABBAT SHALOM running on the actual Sabbath—nice touch. That was just about the only struggle-struggle-Breakthrough! moment (i.e. proper Saturday moment) I had while solving this one, so I liked it quite a bit. The rest of the puzzle (everything outside that center stack) was a piece of cake—well made, but much more Friday than Saturday. I think the vast majority of yesterday's puzzle was easier, but I finished this one more quickly for sure (no YUVAL NOAH HARARI to contend with!). I like that the toughest knot to untangle is right in the center, and that the payoff with those answers is fairly strong. Befuddled on
29A: End-of-week greeting at first, since I had -HAB- and then wanted
BENT which got me -HABB- and still I could not make anything comprehensible out of it. After "TGIF!" I'm pretty much out of "end-of-week greetings" ... and "TGIF!" isn't really a "greeting" anyway. I thought was looking at ... honestly, I don't know what. Some kind of "YABBA DABBA DOO!" variant!? And then for whatever reason my brain just toggled over to Hebrew. Maybe YUVAL NOAH HARARI had primed me for that toggling. If so, I thank him, because having
SHABBAT SHALOM come to me was definitely the peak "aha" moment of the day. Second peak came with
PEOPLE-WATCHES, the clue for which was befuddling me primarily because of the hyphen in it (
32A: Tourist-spots, maybe?). The hyphen was annoying me. But then when I (finally) got the answer, I saw that the clue was actually trying to help me—
PEOPLE-WATCHES is hyphenated, and the hyphen in the clue was trying to tell me "psst, it's a verb, not a noun, dummy." And I was slow to catch on. But not that slow, since, as I say, the puzzle was very easy overall and even these "tough" ones in the center weren't too much of a trial. More of a light, pleasant challenge. I'm grateful that I got my full Friday experience for the week, even if it did come a day late.
This puzzle features a sizable contingent of Crosswordese Greatest Hits (AGRA, APSE, OLES, NAS, SRI, SSN, MSN, ABIT, etc.), and yet you don't notice so much because they're spread out and dramatically overshadowed by the longer marquee fill. When your long stuff is strong, the short stuff can be just so-so and it's fine. INDEX FUND is the kind of finance-related answer that does nothing for me, but it's got that "X," which is kind of kicky and fun, and anyway its neighbor TINSELTOWN is a winner, so I was in a pretty good mood before I'd even left the NW ... and then whoosh-whoosh, the two long Downs out of that section exploded across the grid (HALF-SIBLING! EXTRA POINT!) and the puzzle was well and truly underway. I really do wish there had been a few more speed bumps today. AGRA was a gimme at 1A: Major Indian tourist site, as was ATTIC at 1D: Top story and then CDS at 21A: Their sales rose in 2021 and 2022, after two decades of decline; without the "C," I might've written LPS in here, though I think their comeback started earlier in the century—I had no idea CDS were making a comeback (anywhere but my own house, where, like Fred, Wilma, and the other citizens of Bedrock, I prefer physical media).
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It was very easy to move around the grid. I had SETH before even seeing the SETH ROGEN clue, so who else was it going to be. I had BEST OF- at 23D: Playoff format, and while THREE fit, USE gave me the "S" that made SEVEN obvious, and that helped annihilate the SE corner. I didn't know LIU but that hardly mattered (28A: Simu ___, star of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"). I had NATIVE LAND before NATIVE SOIL, but that hardly mattered either. Speaking of "hard(ly) matter(ing")—we get HAILS *and* ICE PELLET, which I thought was a nice (if accidental) combo (5A: Comes down hard / 10D: Part of a cold shower, maybe). I also liked WITH CHEESE, as it reminded me of the opening of "Pulp Fiction."
I also like (i.e. love) the clue on KEN (see "Word of the Day," above), though ... "cult following" doesn't *quite* get at the particular nature of the following. Maybe "gay following" or "following among gay men" was deemed too controversial, but "cult following" feels too vague. Anyway, one of the great moments in toy history, for sure. See you tomorrow (with some ... "personal news," as they say ... it's good news ... it's four-legged news ...)
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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