Romanian philosopher Cioran / FRI 10-27-23 / Actress George of "Animal Kingdom" / It was called Big Meadows on the California Trail / Cooperative hunter with the coral grouper / Admonishment from Austin Powers / Barossa Valley export / Bibimbap and tamago kake gohan for two / Casual Friday gaffe

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"IT'S NOT EASY" was what I was thinking about this puzzle at various points this morning. Real sluggish, but I think the main sluggish thing is me, not the puzzle. For various dumb reasons, I did not sleep well this week. I got my first full night's sleep in days last night, but somehow that has not resulted in solving superpowers, but rather an early-morning brain torpor that caused me to forget, among other things, that not only do I *know* an H- bird in five letters, I see said bird practically every day and have recent pictures of said bird on my phone (HERON!). That kind of brain torpor. But also: this puzzle was just out of my wheelhouse in many ways. One of those ways was Romanian philosophers (!??!!!??!). Like, I know we're not supposed to call answers "obscure" because who's to say what anyone's knowledge base is one man's obscure is another man's how dare you etc. but EMIL Cioran seems pretty dang obscure to me. I can only imagine that the constructor is a fan and at one point had tried to crossreference EMIL with NIHILIST (34D: One who might say "Nothing is real"), since, as the "Word of the Day" entry explains (above), EMIL Cioran "engaged with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism." Would be a big coincidence to have that guy *and* NIHILIST in the same grid were it not planned. Anyway, EMIL was just one of many things that made me shrug. Like, who is this LEILA actress and also what is "Animal Kingdom"? (30D: Actress George of "Animal Kingdom"). I know "Wild Kingdom," but that was a documentary show about animals from the '70s hosted by Marlin Perkins and sponsored by Mutual of Omaha ("Mutual of Omaha is people / You can't count on when the going's rough"). Hang on, looking up "Animal Kingdom" ... huh, it's an American version of an Australian crime show that ran 2016-2022 (on TNT) and starred Ellen Barkin. Well, I like her, and I like crime, but nope, there are a jillion crime shows and a jillion networks and I can't keep them straight, and since LEILA George's film/TV-ography is tiny, I dunno, man. I wouldn't be surprised if even people who watched that show didn't know that actress's name. I know CrossWorld needs LEILAs, but come on ... and to put that name *right* at that tiny tiny one-square-wide chokepoint, interrupting all possible flow from one section of the grid to the next, argh. On a Friday, you wanna *maximize* flow, not minimize it. Or maybe the whole world is full of "Animal Kingdom" fans. I don't know. I just know the whoosh was Not there for me today. But since much of this feels like a Me Problem, I've set the difficulty level to "Medium." Argue about it if you must.

I thought you got SLIMEd on some actual Nickelodeon show. I didn't know it was part of an *Awards* show as well, so I was basically out of step with this one from 1-Across (people have been getting SLIMEd on Nickelodeon for years, most notably on "You Can't Do That on Television" and then "Double Dare"). Had CORE and GIST before MEAT (4D: Heart). Had SCABS before SCARS (14D: Results of cuts, maybe). This led to both BAJA and BEND before RENO (20A: It was called Big Meadows on the California Trail). And I think the more common / snappier phrase is "IT'S NOT THAT EASY.""IT'S NOT EASY" alone sounds a little flaccid to my ears. Anyway, all these things meant that I came limping rather than whooshing out of the NW. The SW was somewhat easier (EMIL notwithstanding), though parsing "SADLY, YES," again, a bear. I had "SAD TO SAY..." (56A: "Alas, it is so"). Lost continuity flow at Point LEILA and so had to restart cold in the SE with MRS. Davis (a recent TV show I've actually watched! It's loony! Good loony, imho). But as in the NW, I had to struggle to get out of the SE. Clues on SLATE and RIPENS just didn't click (I mean RINSES ... RIPENS was the wrong answer I wanted at first, and now it's haunting my write-up) (55A: Gets ready to dry, say) (you have to ripen the fruit before you dry it, I reasoned!). Couldn't parse "CAN I SEE?" The clue on NIHILIST didn't seem nihilistic at all (lacked the downbeat pessimistic tone I associate with the concept). No idea what the Barossa Valley is, so no idea about its "export") (47A: Barossa Valley export => WINE) and I could barely read the clue on THAT—did not see that apostrophe in there after the first quotation mark around the "s" (43A: Word before and after "'s") so I was trying to think of ___ S or S ___ phrases where "S" was a completely separate letter. That was ... fun. In the end, that SE corner was easier than the NW, but still, no flow to be found in this one until the very end (for me, the NE, where THE LORAX and CELESTE NG teamed up to finally give me a jolt of that Fast Friday Feeling I'd been craving). 

There's nothing wrong with this grid. It's well built. It doesn't have the number of marquee answers I'd like to see on a Friday—in fact, it doesn't have more than a small handful that rise to that level. Only "I DON'T WANNA!" and maybe LIVE WIRE have that marquee energy. I liked RICE BOWLS as well, and if the thought of Austin Powers didn't make me cringe, I'd like "OH, BEHAVE!" as well (15A: Admonishment from Austin Powers). But the grid is more solid than sparkly. Oh, I kind of like "BE SEATED" as well; you wouldn't say it sparkled, but something about it feels fresh. So there are high points, for sure. It just wasn't in my wheelhouse, over and over. Even the answer that was an alleged translation from the French made no sense to me. I thought "I know French," but then ... nope, no way I could get from "five winning numbers" to KENO ... "cinq [something] nombres" ... gets you to KENO ... no. According to wikipedia, “The word “keno” has French or Latin roots (Fr. quine, “five winning numbers”, L. quini “five each”).” So there's just ... a single word (quine) meaning "five winning numbers"? I remain lost. So much TRIVIA today (39D: Pub ___). Just not my thing. Wouldn't go to pub TRIVIA if you paid me. Well, maybe if you bought me a drink. Maybe. But I can't think of a worse way to spend my time in a pub than playing TRIVIA. I'll just take my book (or crossword puzzle) to the end of the bar and drink alone. You guys have fun. See you tomorrow.