Constructor: Ahmed Bayoumi
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: Carrie MAE Weems (20A: Contemporary artist Carrie ___ Weems) —
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Aging Gen-X music fans of the world, rejoice, for YO LA TENGO hath arrived in the crossword puzzle. New Jersey strong! I actually *own* This Stupid World (2023), so when I saw that record title in the clue (39A: Rock band with the 2023 album "This Stupid World"), I had this eerie "waaaaaait a minute..." feeling, and kinda looked at the puzzle sideways, like "have you been in my record collection?"YO LA TENGO have been around for decades, but they aren't exactly hit-makers, so I'm (very) surprised to see them here. I have it on pretty good authority that the band's guitarist and singer Ira Kaplan is a crossword fan. I mean, he co-constructed this American Values Club puzzle from ten years ago (with Ben Tausig), so I'd say that's pretty good evidence right there. Anyway, usually I complain about niche pop culture answers because they are not in my niche, but today, holy cow, the puzzle went straight to my niche, for once. Feels like I was due. If you felt like YO LA TENGO was obscure and totally unfair, I hear you, and I understand. Still gonna keep doing my little happy dance here at my desk, but I do understand.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium
Word of the Day: Carrie MAE Weems (20A: Contemporary artist Carrie ___ Weems) —
Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project The Kitchen Table Series. Her photographs, films and videos focus on serious issues facing African Americans today, including racism, sexism, politics and personal identity.She once said, "Let me say that my primary concern in art, as in politics, is with the status and place of Afro-Americans in the country." More recently, however, she expressed the view that "Black experience is not really the main point; rather, complex, dimensional, human experience and social inclusion ... is the real point." She continues to produce art that provides social commentary on the experiences of people of color, especially black women, in America.
Her talents have been recognized by Harvard University and Wellesley College, with fellowships, artist-in-residence and visiting professor positions. She taught photography at Hampshire College in the late 1980s and shot the "Kitchen Table" series in her home in Western Massachusetts. Weems is one of six artist-curators who made selections for Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2019/20. She is Artist in residence at Syracuse University. (wikipedia)
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Overall, though, this puzzle fell somewhat flat for me, largely because the fill really creaked and groaned in places. AFLOW? ANOTE? OCOME? MII? URE? CRESC? ETO? SEEST? To say nothing of the rather gruesome SEA dupe at the bottom of the grid (AIRSEA + ASEA) (41D: Kind of rescue search + 53D: In the Red, say). I also didn't think the marquee answers were terribly marquee. I really thought the puzzle was trying to pull off some kind of theme with those first three long answers. Something about the legacy of slavery in America? I turned to the calendar at one point to see if there was some holiday I was unaware of. But then the next long answer was MARINE BIOLOGIST, and I thought, "oh ... guess there's no theme after all." The main issue is nothing feels particularly sparkly. And the shape of the grid means that while there are a decent number of longer answers, there are A Lot of short ones too. So many 3-4-5's. Kinda takes the life out of the grid a little. I should also say that I truly madly deeply hate the term NEPOBABY (15D: Modern coinage for someone turned successful through their celebrity parents). I hate the prefix NEPO-, I hate the infantilizing BABY (since no one's ever talking about an actual baby). It just reeks, the whole (relatively recent) concept. The only good thing to come of the whole NEPOBABY discourse is Megan Amram's "Shouts & Murmurs" column in this week's New Yorker. It's about the ultimate NEPOBABY: Jesus. I laughed so much that I actually stopped midway through so I would have more to laugh at later. And it's not even that long. I only read three paragraphs, is what I'm saying. Don't tell me how it ends!
I'm sitting here trying to understand how an APHID produces a honeydew (44D: Honeydew producer). Is it like how someone "produces" a movie, i.e. no one really knows? No! Turns out that in addition to being the name of a melon (which is what I was picturing), honeydew is also "a sweet, sticky substance excreted by aphids and often deposited on leaves and stems." Just what the crossword needs—excrement! Nobody wants to hear your music at the beach, throw your WIRELESS SPEAKER into the sea (sea ... sea ...) (58A: What you might use to play music on a beach).
What else? "Gram" is a name one might call one's grandma. Ditto "Nana" (12D: Grams = NANAS). An ALIBI is a story you might tell a detective, I suppose (24A: Detective story?). DRAKE is a very famous rapper (I had no idea about the Aubrey Graham business) (3D: Rapper Aubrey Graham, who's known professionally by his middle name). SPUMONI is a molded gelato, usually with three flavors arranged in layers (7A: Dessert with layers). CADDIEs carry golf bags (1A: One who's left holding the bag?)A WIN is a [Good thing to have on the record] because, well, you (probably?) want more wins than losses in your win/loss record. That should do it.I'm gonna go read and/or harass my fluffy white cat now. Happy last day of September! See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld