Constructor: Nate Cardin
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: XOXO (70A: Affectionate sign-off ... or a pattern hinting at the starts to the six starred clues) — "X" here stands for a different letter in each of the first words of the theme answers:
Theme answers:
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Algebra! Fun! No, seriously, pretty fun. There was a time when just running a bunch of -O-O answers would've constituted a whole theme, and I thought that's what was going on here at first. Some of the -O-O answers were colorful, but rhyme alone seemed like not the most inspired idea for a theme. But then the little XOXO revealer tipped me from the "meh" into the "oh, cool" camp. Funny how the right revealer, in the right place, with the right rationale, even something as small and seemingly unremarkable as XOXO, can make all the difference. There are some conspicuous XOXO absentees, most notably anyone named COCO! Gauff and Chanel are so mad right now! There's also David Chang's popular restaurant(s) / culinary brand, MOMOFUKU, that would've been cool. I can think of other viable XOXO patterns (TOTO, HOHO ... BOBO?) but none that would work well as the first word of a theme answer. Anyway, this set is very well chosen, and there are so many that you can hardly complain there weren't enough. These are the answers that fit symmetrically, and this set constitutes the great majority of viable answers. Plus, intersecting themers are always impressive when you can pull them off while still keeping the themer set tight *and* keeping the surrounding fill clean. Mission accomplished on both counts.
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- GOGO DANCERS (20A: *Gyrating performers at a nightclub)
- JOJO RABBIT (30A: *2019 Taika Waititi film about a boy with an animal nickname)
- YOYO TRICKS (45A: *Walk the Dog and Around the World, e.g.)
- NO, NO, NANETTE (54A: *Hit 1925 musical that inspired the sequel "Yes, Yes, Yvette")
- DODO BIRDS (11D: *Extinct creatures of Mauritius)
- LOLO JONES (29D: *Olympian who competed as both a hurdler (2008 and 2012) and a bobsledder (2014))
A fansub (short for fan-subtitled) is a version of a foreign film or foreign television program, typically anime or dorama which has been translated by fans (as opposed to an officially licensed translation done by paid professionals) and subtitled into a language usually other than that of the original. (my emph.) (wikipedia)
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The puzzle felt Monday-easy to me. I guess some of the themers are proper nouns people may not have heard of, or may have forgotten, as I forgot the last name of LOLO JONES (hell of a last name to forget—the paradigmatic generic last name). It's a good thing the themers themselves sparkled, because the fill itself (while clean) was pretty rudimentary. The one answer that seemed like it was from outer space, especially compared to the utterly ordinary quality of the rest of the fill, was FANSUBS. I watch a lot of movies. I have watched ~300 movies / year ever since the start of the pandemic. So when I read this clue, I thought "What?" I couldn't even conceive of why FANSUBS would be needed (or why I would want "fans" subtitling my film!?). Then I looked it up, and had one of those "ohhhhhh, ok, that makes sense." I watch a gajillion films, but hardly any of them are "anime or dorama," which are the kinds of works that typically get FANSUBS (I didn't even know what "dorama" was—it's Japanese television drama). Seems like maybe it's actually most prevalent in the world of television than that of film. Anyway, adding context to the clue wouldn't have helped me get it any faster (it was pretty inferable as is), but it would've made me understand why I'd never heard of it a little better. Nothing else in the grid was unknown to me. Don't ask me why I'm so familiar with the title to a 1925 musical (NO, NO, NANETTE)—I just am. Actually, I'm quite sure I learned it from crosswords. Maybe as a clue for NANETTE. Seems likely. Yup, there it is:
Was thinking about LARS just yesterday (64A: "___ and the Real Girl" (2007 Ryan Gosling film))—not the title character (played by Ryan Gosling), but the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" character (played by no one!). You know, Phyllis's husband, the one she talks about alllll the time but that we never see. It got me thinking: is Vera (Norm's wife) from "Cheers" just a Boston LARS? That is, the spouse of a secondary character in a major sitcom who's mentioned a lot but never seen?! Maybe Vera was the most obvious homage in the world and it just never occurred to me until just now. Anyway, I like to imagine that LARS and Vera found each other late in life and are currently living happily together on a lake somewhere in northern Michigan. Look, if you don't show me the characters in your sitcom then I get to invent lives for them, those are the rules. See you tomorrow.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]