Constructor: Billy Bratton
Relative difficulty: Easy (oversized at 16x, so solving times may not be faster than avg.)
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THEME:"HOLD IT!" (39A: "Stop right there!" ... or a hint to the first words of 17-, 23-, 47- and 59-Across) — first words of theme answers are things you might "hold":
Theme answers:
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A puzzle that would've been right at home on Monday any other week, but the Wednesday-type puzzle took the Monday slot (April Fools!), so the Monday type gets bounced to Tuesday and lord knows what we're getting tomorrow. The theme type (the "first words do X" type) is very Monday/Tuesday, and while this played like a Monday for me, it was oversized, so my time was probably more like a Tuesday. The theme itself is completely ordinary—just fine, totally familiar and normal, not showing you anything new, not horrifying you with bizarre thematic overreach or tin-eared clunkery. As many ups and downs, and none of them taking you very far off the midline. The definition of a placeholder. I didn't really process the theme until I was done, and then ... well, there's not that much to process. You do indeed hold the door (for someone), hold the line (love isn't always on time!), hold the floor (when speaking at a meeting) and hold the mayo (why? Mayo rules. Maybe you have an egg allergy). All the themers are familiar. I thought DOOR BUSTER was a relatively recent coinage, but according to the OED... 1893!
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I will confess to slight hesitation when trying to think of the second word in both FLOOR ROUTINE and MAYO CLINIC; "exercise" and "center," respectively, were lodged in my brain and needed a second or two, or a cross or two, to come loose, but otherwise, the theme part of this was a cinch, the answers themselves all perfectly appropriate to the theme and solid as a rock.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
Relative difficulty: Easy (oversized at 16x, so solving times may not be faster than avg.)
Theme answers:
- DOORBUSTERS (17A: Black Friday offer, e.g.)
- LINE OF CREDIT (23A: Something extended to a borrower)
- FLOOR ROUTINE (47A: Gymnastics sequence involving tumbling)
- MAYO CLINIC (59A: Expansive medical center headquartered in Rochester, Minn.)
"Fuck You" (stylized as "Fuck You!" or "F**k You!"), known as "Forget You" or "FU" for the clean versions, is a song by American recording artist CeeLo Green. It was written as a collaboration among Green, Bruno Mars, his production team the Smeezingtons, and Brody Brown. It was released on August 19, 2010, as the first single from Green's third solo studio album, The Lady Killer (2010). "Fuck You" received acclaim from music critics, and was an international commercial success, making the top-10 in thirteen countries, including topping charts in the United Kingdom, and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. // In an interview with NME, Green said that, in addition to being about a heartbreak, the song was also about the music industry itself. [...] Several versions of "Fuck You" have been released: the original recording, censored copies of it, and newer versions that include other performers or significant changes to the lyrics. // The original has twice been edited to remove swearing: the first of these, which is broadcast in the music video on UK television stations and played on US radio, is called "Forget You"; the second, for UK radio use, is entitled "FU". These two are essentially identical to the original except in their treatment of profanity; "Forget You" replaces the profanity with sound effects (other than "fuck you", which is changed to "forget you" per the title), and "FU" censors words by simply silencing them except replacing "fuck you" with "eff you" - also as its title suggests.
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Pitchfork thought "Jesus, ETC." was the 64th best song of the '00s, if that helps? If you don't know what Pitchfork is, then you definitely aren't the right demographic for this clue. Wilco was a major band and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a major album, but this clue still felt kind of self-indulgent to me. Not everybody knows every song in your favorite band's catalogue. "Jesus ETC." is no "God Only Knows" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice," is what I'm saying (57A: "God Only Knows," vis-à-vis "Wouldn't It Be Nice" => SIDE B). Popular songs used to be in the air. You couldn't avoid hearing them. I was never a Beach Boys *fan* and I was born after their heyday, but I know so many of their songs just because I was breathing air in the '70s and '80s and every decade thereafter, when those songs were on the radio, in movies, ads, etc. Whereas I have never heard a Wilco song in the wild. Pop culture continues to get increasingly ensiloed, so that if you're not actively into something, you can't even see it. There's no real public square, no shared space in which to encounter it. Too many outlets, too many choices, too many places to hide from each other and nurse our identities and fandoms. Algorithms have funneled everyone into valleys, so things that are massively popular in one valley aren't even discernible in another. This is why pop culture answers of all times can feel (increasingly) exclusionary. Now, it's Tuesday, no one's going to dislocate their solving bone wrestling with "Jesus, ETC." But "MR. ROBOT," maybe. I watched the first two seasons of that show and still struggled with the answer at first. Totally forgot it existed / what it was about. I only remember Rami Malek was the star. Had the "-BOT" and thought "whot?" I had a way easier time, pop culture-wise, with RADIO EDIT ... but then "F**k You" ("Forget You") was a legitimate (#2 Billboard) hit. Anyway, this puzzle did nothing wrong in terms of how it handled the pop culture answers, but it reminded me that puzzlemakers have to be Careful with proper nouns, esp. those of a pop cultural variety, if they don't want to lock out solvers from the "wrong" demographics.
Loved the energy in the clue for OKIE DOKIE (11D: Goofy assent that precedes "artichokie") but that's giving away way too much "okie"—but the "artichokie" bit is probably the only way you can justify that alt-spelling of "OKEY DOKEY!" (the industry standard) (11 appearances in the NYTXW, vs. just two now for OKIE DOKIE, both in the last two years ... is this gonna be like "woah" where kids have no idea how to spell but it doesn't matter and eventually the wrong spelling becomes the norm? I want to say "I hope not," but I also don't really care—although "woah" definitely looks idiotic to me 100% of the time). There are no [Choices in a sleepover game]; or, rather, there are, but those choices are Truth or Dare. "Dare" is one choice. It's not Truths or Dares. Forced cluing like this jars my ears in unpleasant ways.
[Warning: this is not the RADIO EDIT]
As for difficulty, there wasn't much, although the ORAL EXAM"?" clue held me up (as it was likely designed to) (55A: In which you might talk through your problems?), as did my lack of German—I can never remember the EINS/EINE distinction, so briefly entertained EINS / SEES before EINE / EYES (56D: A, in German / 66A: Checks out). Had SWEET before SWELL (43D: Peachy keen) and SEINE before MARNE (gotta read the whole clue!, he yelled to his earlier self) (10D: French river where two W.W. I battles took place). But otherwise this went down fast and left no real impression. See you next time.