Western settlement area led by Brigham Young / SUN 2-26-23 / Ceramic stewpot / Screenwriter/actress Michaela / Flagella relatives / Adjust the spacing between in typography / Pancake served with sambar / Simple graphics editor informally / Onetime Yves Saint Laurent employer / Condiment drizzled on a taco / Yiddish for pancake

Constructor: Will Nediger

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME:"Double-Doubles" — wacky phrases made by doubling two different letters in a familiar phrase:

Theme answers:

• CHRISTMAS CAR ROLL (23A: Slow-driving holiday parade in December?) (from "Christmas carol")
• ADD MITT'S DEFEAT (37A: Update Wikipedia after the 2012 election?) (from "admits defeat")
• BEE ATTITUDES (52A: Subject of study for an insect psychologist?) (from "Beatitudes")
• "WE'LL COME, MATT" (76A: Promise from actor Damon's friends regarding his movie premiere?) (from "welcome mat")
• "FOR THEE, ASS KING!" (88A: Words accompanying an offering to the ruler of the donkeys?) (from "for the asking")
• MISS INN FORMATION (104A: Arrive too late to see a hotel being built?) (from "misinformation")

Word of the Day: ETRURIA (10D: Ancient Italian region) —

Etruria (/əˈtrʊəriə/) was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. [...] Rome was influenced strongly by the Etruscans even though it was separated from the early boundary of Etruria by the Silva Ciminia, the Ciminian Forest. A series of Etruscan kings ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was removed from power and the Roman Republic was established. The Etruscans are credited with influencing Roman architecture and ritual practice; it was under the Etruscan kings that important structures such as the Capitolium, Cloaca Maxima, and Via Sacra were realized. // The Etruscan civilization was responsible for much of the Greek culture imported into early Republican Rome, including the twelve Olympian deities, the growing of olives and grapes, the Latin alphabet (adapted from the Greek alphabet), architecture (such as the arch), and engineering elements such as sewers and drainage systems.

Gonna make this a fairly short write-up today, partly because I've got teaching work to get to, but mostly because this puzzle was depressing. It felt phoned-in. MEH doesn't even begin to cover it. It was almost CYNICal. The core concept is so listless, and yields such mediocre results, that I don't fully understand why it was accepted. You add two letters ... for wackiness ... but why though? I mean, this concept is so basic that the themers really Really need to sizzle, and they barely flicker. MISS INN FORMATION? Where is the chuckle? I see you are doing things with letters, but if that's the end result, what is the point? I will give you "FOR THEE, ASS KING!" (a nice imaginary toast), and there's a kind of cleverness to ADD MITT'S DEFEAT that I kind of like, but CHRISTMAS CAR ROLL ... CAR ROLL? Really? What is that? That's not even a thing. Is it? I mean, even among wacky things, it's barely imaginable. "Hop in, we're going to a CAR ROLL!" Woof. The theme is just ... limp. Anemic. Startlingly anemic, if that's even possible. I guess those triple 9-stacks on the sides are supposed to provide some kind of distraction, some interesting non-thematic entertainment, but ... well, they're not bad, but they don't do nearly enough to make up for this non-theme. I'm gonna play STEELY DAN now, in an effort to revive my spirits.

[Hasn't been used yet!]