Big name in electric toothbrushes / TUE 5-16-23 / Tech site since 1994 / Biblical patriarch who had "ha" added to his name when he was 99 years old / Result of complete sound cancellation / Actress Fisher of Eighth Grade / Tex-Mex snack named after their inventor Ignacio Anaya / Zen garden tools

• • •

As with yesterday, I was enjoying this one pretty well until the theme showed up. The problem with the "words that don't mean things" in the themers is they aren't really words at all (Merriam-Webster: "There is no word chalant in English"). Sort of disingenuous to say a word "doesn't mean" something when in fact it doesn't mean *anything* (as a standalone answer). Actually, "CHALANCE" derives from Old French chaloir, "to concern," so the NON- prefix isn't inappropriate at all to NONCHALANCE's meaning. It's just that the thing being negated is not an English word on its own. Is that the joke? I guess it's supposed to be cute or clever that the clues refer to those "words" as separate "Across" answers even though they are not, in fact, Across answers—just "words" that start at the number that appears mid-answer (the number that belongs to a Down clue, actually). So ... not "words," not Across answers, but clued as such anyway. That is the little song and dance being performed here. Silly, but harmless, I guess. The answers themselves (with prefixes attached) are ... fine. Well, DISCOMBOBULATED is actually good, so it's nice that it fits in the marquee, grid-spanning position. I could take or leave the others. But as I say, I was enjoying the grid before I ran into the theme, which means holy cow the NW was good? Good-ish? I enjoyed seeing the SENECA Falls Convention here, and I didn't mind hearing the grating BOO-YAH even though I wasn't really sure about spelling (terminal "H"? yes, that looks OK). Loved EYEROLL and SOCIALS and OPEN NET. Had no idea that AP NEWS had anything to do with "nonprofit" so that definitely slowed me down a bit, but overall, I was breezing along and enjoying myself. And then ... theme. I will say that at least the theme is *trying* to do something original / weird / out of the ordinary. Points for that.

The downgrid fill is not as good as the stuff up top. Love love love the "BE HONEST" / "I CAN'T LIE"juxtaposition, but the fill peaks there. UEY is always unwelcome and NONOISE seems quite forced and POSNER, yeesh, you stumped me there. I'd've definitely changed that to New Yorker food writer Helen ROSNER (mostly because she's a solver and I know it would please her, but also because the Duke fratboy-turned-rapper was a total mystery to me—ah well, not every puzzle proper noun is gonna resonate with my particular life experience, so ... I learned a name? That's theoretically a plus. I think). Anyway, you go from NO NOISE through POSNER to NO USE, which is ... a journey. The NOs! THA NOS. Come On, Feel THA NOS! That is my alternate name for this puzzle now. No kidding. (No, kidding)

My experience with CRUSHes for most of my young life was no no no they were not "prospective sweethearts" (39D: Prospective sweetheart, say). They were pains in the middle of my chest that wouldn't go away, yearnings, completely detached from the realm of possibility let alone actuality. Very happy for y'all who actually turned your CRUSHes into sweethearts on the regular. I guess I had CRUSHes on some of the people I dated before I started dating them. Yes ... OK, maybe the clue is more apt than it felt. I just associate CRUSH with youth and (relative) innocence. Also, unattainability. It's definitely a state of unrequited desire. Anyway, it's a word I associate with my pre-adult life, where there were CRUSHes galore but no "sweethearts" to be found. Adulthood was somewhat kinder to me. I'm sure there's more to say here, but I'll save the rest for my therapist. See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

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