Get a move on, slangily / MON 5-15-23 / Flatbread made with atta flour / Bovine animals that are raced in Tibet / Kind of oil derived from marijuana, for short / German skin care brand

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California, United States. In addition to its flagship Lionsgate Films division, the company contains other divisions such as Lionsgate Television and Lionsgate Interactive. It owns a variety of subsidiaries such as Summit Entertainment, Debmar-Mercury, and Starz Inc.

Well this was definitely a day when solving Downs-only was a blessing. I could see, as the puzzle was coming together, that the theme answers all had "small" synonyms as first words, but I couldn't see the clues ... thank god, because this gimmick is insipid. You just shrink the font? Yeesh. I feel like lots of solvers won't even notice the smallness; in the app and online, the "small" clues are also superscript, so you can't help but notice them, but in the newspaper (or at least in the "Newspaper version" as it is offered online), they're just smaller, but not by sooooo much that you'd necessarily notice. Bizarre that they resorted to superscript—that is, it makes sense, you definitely need to make sure people *see* those words, but still, why do the answers relate only to smallness and not superscriptness, then? It's all so ill-conceived. But I missed all that, and guess what? I had a really good time. I didn't need to know *why* the theme answers started with "small" synonyms. I just figured out that they did, and that eventually helped me work my way through an entertainingly challenging Downs-only solving experience. 

This puzzle actually works pretty well if you look at it as a themeless. I struggled a bunch in the NW and N, but finally managed to get something going after putting down UDON and BED, and then changing PHOTOG (!) to CAMERA (10D: Picture snapper). This made CLUB and AIDE clear, and bam, down went LIONSGATE (a very flashy and original answer). Right after that, another showy answer, SKYLINES (38D: Urban photography subjects), and then my favorite part of the solve—the way HAUL ASS came slowly into view (48A: Get a move on, slangily). I filled in the Downs methodically in the SE, and then thought, "damn, something's wrong, there's no word I can make out of -AULASS." And I was right—there's no *one* word I can make out of -AULASS, but there's a two-word phrase I can make just fine, woo hoo, HAUL ASS!. Then I got a little Elton John thrown into the mix right after that (my first full themer), and then the great movie PARASITE (I just gave it my own movie clue in my head, that's what I do sometimes). Just one nice bit after another. I never managed to HAUL ASS during this solve, but the struggle to put it all together was very satisfying, very rewarding. Discovering the nature of the theme, much much less so.

This is only the second appearance of CBD in the grid. It's so ubiquitous in modern life (and products), I figured I'd be seeing it a lot more by now. Telling that it's appearing on a Monday—the puzzle thinks, rightly, that it's not exactly obscure, so sure, Monday, why not? I like that CBD appears kind of kitty-korner to POT (37A: Bonsai tree holder) (again, I just reclued this in my head, this time to be marijuana-related). I had a bit of trouble getting SNACKFOOD to come into view (33D: Crackers, chips and other between-meal bites). That clue definitely says SNACKS, but how I was going to get "SNACKS" into a 9-letter phrase, I didn't know. SNACKTIME! SNACKFEST! No, it's SNACKFOOD, which seems reasonable enough. The NW and N remained tough for me til the end. I had ROGUE for KNAVE (3D: Scoundrel) and no idea what ADMIN could be (2D: Online community moderator, for short). In my experience, the "Online community moderator, for short" is the MOD, so I was like {shrug}. I had SAW and AGRA and END but still couldn't make sense of the longer Downs up there, or put together SMALL WORLD. As you can see (in the posted grid), the last thing I put in was COLD FEET—which is actually a dramatic and entertaining way to end. Nice to finish by taking down a big answer, rather than just filling in some tired old 3- 4- or 5-letter thing. Hope those of you I've converted to Downs-only solving had success today. And I hope the rest of you had a decent time too, despite the puniness of the theme. 

I also hope you all had an enjoyable Mother's Day, if that's the kind of thing you enjoy enjoying. We had a beautiful day in Beacon, NY with our daughter, who came up from the city to see us. Perfect weather, decent lunch, plus I got to go to a cute little stationery store I like and stuff my fists with fancy pencils and pens. Then we had ice cream, and *then* I bought chocolate and records. All in the company of my favorite people. Just a perfect day. Excited for my daughter to move to NYC at the end of the summer because it means I will see her (and the city) more often. 



See you tomorrow. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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