Spice related to nutmeg / TUES 7-25-23 / Setting for a bicycle race? / Rock band with a slash in its name / Happy or sleep, e.g.

Theme answers:

• TOSSES AND TURNS (20A: Two things associated with a game of horseshoes?) 
• ROCK AND ROLLER (33A: Two things associated with the tale of Sisyphus?) 
• KISS AND MAKE UP (40A: Two things associated with Gene Simmons?) 
• TOWN AND COUNTRY (53A: Two things associated with the Vatican?)

Word of the Day: SAGUARO (8D: Treelike cactus) —

The saguaro is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea that can grow to be over 40 feet tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains and Imperial County areas of California. The saguaro blossom is the state wildflower of Arizona. Saguaros have a relatively long lifespan, often exceeding 150 years. They may grow their first side arm around 75–100 years of age, but some never grow any arms. Arms are developed to increase the plant's reproductive capacity, as more apices lead to more flowers and fruit. (Wiki)

The theme for this puzzle was fun and original — a bit kitschy and a bit clever without being too much. My favorite theme answer was definitely KISS AND MAKE UP (40A), which was an absolutely perfect clue and answer. (The answer even crossed AC/DC (34D), another hard rock band.) The rest of the theme answers didn’t quite reach that height, but I didn’t really care because I was too in love with KISS AND MAKE UP. ROCK AND ROLLER (33A) was also clever, given that Sisyphus had to keep rolling a rock up a hill in hell for all of eternity. Ha. 

I don’t have a ton else to say about the puzzle (and that’s truly not because of the margaritas!). The fill was mostly good. As is often the case with Tuesday puzzles, I liked some of the long downs, mainly CRISS CROSS (3D: What streets do on an urban map), CLIP ON TIES (30D: Articles of neckwear that are a snap to use?) and CAR SICK (4D: Nauseated while on the road). AMENITY (41D: Wi-Fi or room safe, at a hotel) and KIMONOS (43D: Japanese wraps) were decent answers that I haven’t seen in a while. There also weren’t too many proper names in the puzzle, which I appreciated. 

Amusingly, I tried to make NERO the answer in several different places in the puzzle. With a couple of letters in place, I wanted NERO instead of NERD (7D: Person who might do the Vulcan salute). And then I wanted NERO instead of REMO (63A: San ___, Italy). When I finally filled in NERO at 62A: Detective Wolfe, I barely even realized I’d finally gotten my wish. 

To find things I didn’t love, I really have to work for it. The one clue/answer that stands out to me was 47A: “Strangely…” as IT’S ODD. I think my distaste goes back to the fact that I strongly dislike clues that are so open-ended; there could have been a ton of answers to that clue. There was some blatant crosswordese like ETTU or HEN or STY or SKY, but I didn’t find that really overwhelmed the rest of the puzzle.

Misc.:

• Of course, the only thing I can think of for EDNA (28D) Mode is “No capes!” EDNA Mode is an icon. 
• 27D: Wee ‘uns as TOTS reminded me about my very young cousins (technically my first cousins once removed — their parents are my cousins) on our beach trip. We hung out with them a lot, and I got to bring out my inner child and dig a large hole that my three cousins loved playing in. One of my cousins was obsessed with the TV show DO, RE & MI (48D: String before fa-sol-la) and, for basically the whole vacation, talked about having watched it in the car ride to the shore. (Her mom wasn’t so amused.) 
• Also on our beach trip, there were tons of people out on the sand with metal detectors, presumably looking for COINs (4A) or other valuables. 
• Chicken Little being hit by an ACORN (51D) really takes me back to my Game Boy– and Nintendo DS–playing days. Man, that was the life. 
• My dad, sister, and I are seeing Barbie today — we called ourselves “Two Barbies and Ken” at trivia. (We finished second among 16 teams. Who knew that Baltimore had one of the biggest aquariums in the world?) We’re prepared to dress in all pink and to cry a lot, because the movie is apparently very emotional. (Yes, that includes our dad.) 
• Lastly, because it wouldn’t be a Clare write-up without mentioning BTS, here’s a song from Jungkook (a member of BTS) that just reached No. 1 on Billboard and set a ton of records in the meantime. Enjoy:)

Signed, Clare Margarita Carroll (yes, my middle initial is actually M)

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]