1935 Hitchcock thriller, with "The" / THU 8-31-23 / 2009 fantasy rom-com starring Zac Efron / 2008 rom-com starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden / Popular store chain with a green, red and orange logo / Ewe got this! / Juvenile stage of a newt

Theme answers:

• [17] AGAIN (17A: 2009 fantasy rom-com starring Zac Efron)
• [7]-ELEVEN (7D: Popular store chain with a green, red and orange logo) 
• [8] MILE (8D: 2002 film that earned Eminem two MTV Movie Awards)
• [27] DRESSES (27D: 2008 rom-com starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden)
• "[30] ROCK" (30D: NBC comedy series starring Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin) 
• [39] STEPS (39D: 1935 Hitchcock thriller, with "The") 
• [50] CENT (50D: Rapper Curtis Jackson, more familiarly) 

Word of the Day: [50] CENT (50D) — 

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, television producer, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced Power of the Dollar for Columbia Records; however, days before the planned release, he was shot, and the album was never released. In 2002, after 50 Cent released the mixtape Guess Who's Back? he was discovered by Eminem and signed to Shady Records, under the aegis of Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

His first major-label album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003), was a huge commercial success. The album spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles "In da Club" and "21 Questions" (featuring Nate Dogg), and was certified 9× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That same year, he founded G-Unit Records, signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo; prior to becoming the de facto leader of the East Coast hip hop group G-Unit. 50 Cent had similar commercial and critical success with his second album, The Massacre (2005), which contained the single "Candy Shop" (featuring Olivia). He underwent musical changes by his fifth album, Animal Ambition (2014), and is currently working on his sixth studio album. He executive-produced and starred in the television series Power (2014–2020) and is slated to produce its spin-offs.

50 Cent has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and won several awards, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, thirteen Billboard Music Awards, six World Music Awards, three American Music Awards and four BET Awards. As an actor, Jackson appeared in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), the war film Home of the Brave (2006), and the crime thriller film Righteous Kill (2008). Billboard ranked 50 Cent as the 17th best rapper of all time on their '50 Greatest rappers' list (2023); and named him the sixth top artist of the 2000s decade. Rolling Stone ranked Get Rich or Die Tryin' and "In da Club" in its lists of the "100 Best Albums of the 2000s" and "100 Best Songs of the 2000s" at numbers 37 and 13, respectively. (wikipedia)

Piece of cake, and pretty fun, though the number answers themselves were an odd set, oddly dispersed. Four movies! Out of only seven themers total? Seems like you're *this* close to figuring out how to make this a movie theme as well as a number theme. I actually thought the theme was going to be strictly movie-related early on, right after I got [27] DRESSES ... but then I remembered I'd already gotten [7]-ELEVEN, which is not a movie (yet — if you're a brand, I assume you'll eventually have a movie, those appear to be the rules now. Look for [7]-ELEVEN, starring a middle-aged Zac Efron, in IMAX, summer 2030!) (Hmmm ... there's definitely a script here and if this movie ever gets made remember it's my idea mine pay me). Four movies is a lot of movies for a non-movie theme. The themers were also weirdly placed, by which I mean, obviously the answers had to go where the numbers were, but only one of those answers was Across, whereas six (!) were Down. This isn't a flaw, just a wacky feature. The theme draws heavily (almost exclusively) from pop culture, which may have left some people in the dark at times, as pop culture-heavy themes often do. I was lucky enough to know all these titles, even if I couldn't have told you a thing about [17] AGAIN or [27] DRESSES (really missed that '00s rom-com phenom, I guess) (not "FEE-nom" but "fuh-NOM," it has to rhyme, please play along). In a perfect world, this grid probably wouldn't have actual written-out numbers in it (see TEN-FOUR)—kinda clashes with the "missing number" vibe; but the world is imperfect and I don't think the obtrusive numbers are that obtrusive. There was very little difficulty in this puzzle, and the theme's trickiness was not very tricky, so I was feeling that lack of Thursday thorniness and trickiness. Felt a little flat for what is supposed to be the Trickiest Day of the Week. But conceptually, the gimmick is definitely Thursday-worthy, and I enjoyed the overall solving experience. 

There were a couple of cute clue pairings in this puzzle. Cute because not cross-referenced (i.e. no [See 14-Across] or whatever), but just ... playful. First, there's the obvious one, the JAM / JAR cross in the NE (10A: Preserves, maybe / 10D: Preserves preserver). It's a nice little decoration. Brightens up an otherwise potentially drab corner. Then there's the long-range "O" echo, where the puzzle starts (in the NW) with an "O" clue (1A: Follower of November = OSCAR, the "O" in the NATO phonetic alphabet), and then ends (or nearly ends, in the SE) with another "O", also an Across, also in five letters (68A: The first "O" of O/O = OWNER, as in "owner-operator," an abbr. most closely associated with the trucking industry). Less appealing were things like RANDR (That's "R & R" i.e. "rest and relaxation") (5D: Vacation time, informally). The puzzle has dramatically reduced its reliance on ampersandwiches over the years; feels like it, anyway—you used to see them all the time: RANDB, BANDB, SANDL ... CANDW, even (one appearance, 2007)). I almost like RANDR as a kind of retro-chic answer, but ... no, I think it's still not great. Now it just looks like the name of an app—an app for meeting randos? Why would you want that?

This puzzle made me remember Dennis RODMAN, so that's a demerit, for sure. Also, SAND CAT? (56A: Desert feline). Are you making that up? That was the one answer where I just inferred it and hoped for the best. "Sure, the desert ... has sand ... so why not? SAND CAT." [Peeps] are FAM because all the small marshmallow chicks are part of one big happy FAMily (actually, your "peeps" are your "people," i.e. your FAMily). I'm off to make the coffee. See you tomorrow, FAM. Hmm, no ... "FAM" sounds wrong in my mouth. Not my slang at all. How about, "See you tomorrow, SAND CATs!" Yes, yes, that's better. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld  

P.S. Update: SAND CATs are real and omg so cute. Kitty!!

P.P.S. found another clue pairing that I like. The revealer, NO CLUE, neatly parallels NO HOPE (6D: Zero chance of a good result). Seems like the puzzle is taunting or trash-talking the solver, but I don't mind.

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