"Simply sharp" brand / THU 1-4-24 / Tech giant in New Taipei City / Something broken after regulation, say / Longtime watch brand for James Bond / Big name in family singers / Moving target in a heist film / Bird depicted on a rare penny / 36:1, for snake eyes

• • •

I don't like the NYT interface and I don't like that they get my solving data and I generally don't solve on the site because I cannot print out a COMPLETED puzzle, which I need to do for blogging purposes. I can print out a puzzle to solve, but I cannot print out a solved one. Since I print out the finished grid and mark it up by hand before blogging, the printing issue is ... an issue. And that is why I don't solve there normally. Anyway, doesn't matter. Today, I just switched over and solved there and the theme clues were laid out properly and the theme was instantly apparent (I had already hacked my way to MOM AND POP, and seeing [CAROL BRADY] laid out correctly made it all make sense). But getting the theme did not make the puzzle easy. Well, the bottom half was easy ... once I finally got there. But up top, yeesh, two big issues ... no, three ... kept me from taking off quickly after I figured out the theme. The first was that clue on SEMIFINAL (3D: Next-to-last). I swear to you that I finished the puzzle and still had no idea how that could be a word. The word is "penultimate." That is what "next-to-last" means. I have "WTF?!" written next to this answer on my grid. And then I realized that it's a sports clue, a tournament clue. And SEMIFINAL is just a round in a tournament—the next-to-last one. Without "tournament" mentioned or suggested, at all, anywhere in the clue, I was lost (obviously). I also had DEA before ATF (24A: Antitrafficking org.) and "OH, IS IT!?" before "OR IS IT?" (29A: "Are you sure about that?"), so the whole length of SEMIFINAL was a bog for me. 

The other two big issues were even bigger issues, in that they crossed each other. I had ROCK AND ROLL for that second themer, before realizing it made no sense for the clue ([MOOSE ANTLERS]). Then I got the RACK part but (again, I swear to you) I had RACK AND ... and no idea where I could go if the next word was not PINION (and it wasn't). RACK AND ... RUIN!? I guess I've heard that phrase. Why do I want the "Rack" in that case to be "Wrack"!?? To make matters worse, I had no idea what the heist film answer was (ARMORED CAR): me, a person who has watched scores of heist films, who (re-)watched one Just Last Night: Drive, starring Ryan Gosling (2011). Well, I'm not sure Drive is a "heist film" per se, since it doesn't focus on the details of the robberies and Ryan Gosling's character does not participate in the jobs except as the driver, but anyway, the point is, heist films are my wheelhouse. I kind of resent the clue here, which is what threw me off (10D: Moving target in a heist film). You see, no one targets a *moving* ARMORED CAR. Yes, the ARMORED CAR *is capable* of movement, but as a "target," it is (almost always) sitting, not moving. You wait for them to open the back, or stop at a diner, or something, and then you jump them (the guards, that is). "Moving target" had me lost. It's a defensible clue, but having -ED CAR and no idea was maddening. Seeing Drive last night probably interfered with my reasoning. I kept thinking BOOSTED CAR? Also, most heist films I know don't target cars, armored or otherwise; they target jewelers or payroll offices or horse tracks. Definitely a case of knowing too much here. Ironically, ruinous.

So the NE corner was almost impossible to get into. Wanted SALT Accords before OSLO Accords (23A: ___ Accords (1993 and 1995 pacts)). I did want PAGES (9A: They're connected to the spine) and GINSU (11D: "Simply sharp" brand), but didn't trust them. Anyway, ERICA Jong to the rescue. Thanks, ERICA (16A: Writer Jong). She was a certainty, and gave me an anchor answer to build on in that corner. I had to hack my way through the middle of the grid (no idea about TEAS (33A: They might be blended), and ADE and SPA had tough clues), but PART AND PARCEL went in pretty easily, and then the rest of the puzzle just blew by. Got both PROS AND CONS and CUT AND RUN without even looking at the clues. Once you know it's "___ & ___," you have a considerable advantage (unless, of course, you can't remember RACK AND RUIN, ugh). 

I liked the theme concept, even if it was a little fussy and a little forced. The fill, I did not like so much. Too much EBOOK ECOLI IBEAM ATTN STAT IMO ACER SOBE SEPTA short stuff. I'm pretty sure a nonzero number of people are going to wipe out on that SOBE / SEPTA cross. SOBE is not exactly universally known, and I think the NYTXW overestimates the extent to which Philly's public transport system is familiar to non-northeasterners (stands for Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, in case you're wondering). Not putting some kind of South Asian reference in the clue for ATTA is a bit like not putting in a sports reference for SEMIFINAL, i.e. cruel ("Atta is a type of wheat flour, originated from the Indian subcontinent, used to make local flatbreads") (wikipedia). Either they spiced up the difficulty of the clues today because the themer were (generally) so easy to get, or I just ran into my own personal hells a few times. At any rate, top half hard, bottom half easy, overall medium, have a nice day.

We're coming to the last of the Holiday Pet Pics now ... it's possible I won't get to everyone's so if I don't, please don't take it personally and remember that I'll do it again next year! Or maybe for Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day or the Fourth of July, who knows. 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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