Constructor: Greg Snitkin
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium (depending on how you navigated alllll the names)
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THEME: "WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT" (53A: The main takeaway ... or, when considered in three different senses, a description of 20-, 33- and 41-Across) — this phrase is an apt description of the three theme answers, but you have to understand (or punctuate) "IT" differently each time:
Theme answers:![]()
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Wow, I never realized how completely nonsensical that HOKEY POKEY song is before. What the hell is "It" ever referring to? All the left hand / right hand nonsense? But no, because you do the left hand right hand nonsense, and then you "do the HOKEY POKEY and you turn yourself around." But The Lyrics Never Describe That Part (i.e. exactly what "do the HOKEY POKEY" means), and also, how can "it" refer to HOKEY POKEY, when "you do the HOKEY POKEY and you turn yourself around / And that's what it's all about"? So ... the HOKEY POKEY is "about" the HOKEY POKEY? And we teach children this rhyme? No wonder my students have trouble with pronoun usage. Pronouns need clear antecedents / referents! The "it" in the HOKEY POKEY song has no idea what it (!) is pointing to. Thank you for attending my new segment, "Rex Parker Critiques Children's Rhymes," join me next time for a thorough take down of "E-I-E-I-O" ("No consonants!? Unlikely ...").
Notes:
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Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium (depending on how you navigated alllll the names)
Theme answers:
- COMPUTER SYSTEMS (20A: Things with hardware and software components) ("I.T.")
- SCARY CLOWN (33A: Someone terrorizing kids in a 1986 Stephen King novel) (IT)
- HOKEY POKEY (41A: Participation dance in which you "turn yourself around") (the "it" in the last line of the HOKEY POKEY verse (namely, "... and that's WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!")
The Hokey Cokey, as it is still known in the United Kingdom, Ireland, some parts of Australia, and the Caribbean, (now known as Hokey Pokey in the U.S and Canada), is a campfire song and participation dance with a distinctive accompanying tune and lyric structure. It is well-known in English-speaking countries. It originates in a British folk dance, with variants attested as early as 1826. The song and accompanying dance peaked in popularity as a music hall song and novelty dance in the mid-1940s in the UK. The song became a chart hit twice in the 1980s. The first UK hit was by the Snowmen, which peaked at UK No. 18 in 1981. (wikipedia)
• • •
[what in the...?]
This is one puzzle where the revealer really rescued the entire theme enterprise. The themers seemed listless (except SCARY CLOWN, which just seemed bizarre), and the overall fill ran weak (and heavily, drearily name-y; more on that below), and then TALKAHOLIC, ugh, I would've shut my computer right there if I weren't contractually obligated to go on. Just a ridiculous non-word. What's next, GUACAHOLIC?! (mmmm, guacaholism ...). Your acceptable punny -aholic prefixes are SHOP- and CHOC-. TALKAHOLIC is gratingly cutesy and not really used. Never seen it. Never heard it. If people don't use it, you don't use it, that's the rule. Thumbs down, goodbye. But then I worked out WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT and looked back at the themers, and suddenly the dull COMPUTER SYSTEMS could at least be appreciated as a repunctuated "IT," and I could now understand why "SCARY CLOWN" was clued without naming IT, and, most of all, I could understand what the hell HOKEY POKEY was doing here at all. The revealer instantly evoked that silly rhyme. A true "aha" moment (or at least an "ah" moment).
As for the rest of the puzzle, it was gunked up with names to an unusual, and possibly dangerous degree. From MITCH to LOLA to BREES to HANS AVILA ELSA LEON ELI and especially MARADONA (44A: Diego ___, one of two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award), who was indeed a very famous soccer player, but whose name crosses (at a vowel) a "Spanish sparkling wine" I've literally never heard of (CAVA) (34D: Spanish sparkling wine). There are any number of WAYS to fill that little section, I have absolutely no idea why someone would go with CAVA there, especially given that M-RADONA crossing. Vena CAVA is at least familiar to me from biology class. Irene CARA is familiar to me (as is the Italian adjective "CARA," as in the phrase "CARA mia!"). Maybe no one will trip on that cross. But it feels like a hazard that might imperil non-sports folks. My only name problems were LOLA (who? If you debut in Space Jam, are you even a real part of the BBU (Bugs Bunny Universe)?) and ELSA (!?!?!?!?!) (47A: Captain von Trapp's betrothed, in "The Sound of Music") and BREES (6D: 2020 N.F.L. retiree who leads all QBs with 123 regular-season games of 300+ passing yards) (a "Drew" in this clue would've really helped; stunning how little an impact his career has left on my sports brain—when FAVRE and BRADY wouldn't fit here, I was out of ideas ... sidenote: weird how many QB names are five letters ... FOUTS ... ELWAY ...). I get Drew BREES confused with ... sigh, OK, one played for the Saints and the other played for the Chargers ... oh *&%^ it's the same guy! BREES was a Charger ('01-'05), then a Saint '(06-'20). Phew, OK ... this is what happens when you decide, after decades of paying attention to sports, that the NFL is no longer for you—all your carefully amassed knowledge just ... melts into a lump.
Notes:
- 54D: Fabled slacker (HARE) — this is from the fable "The Tortoise and the HARE"; the puzzle is really leaning into kid's stuff today
- 42D: "We totally should!" ("YES, LET'S!") — also the term for very small "yeses"
- 52A: Knight's "trusty" companion (STEED) — imagining the poor STEED sitting over there wondering why you'd ironically quote-unquote his trustiness. "Hey, I see your air quotes, buddy! I'm gonna remember that the next time you're running away (yet again!) from a dragon, or a dwarf, or a garden snake, [mumbles] ungrateful simp..."
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