Fictional country in "The Princess Diaries" / TUE 7-23-24 / Pickle, to a Brit / Freshwater fish named for its shoreline habitat / Cipher machine of W.W. II / Ken's Mojo Dojo ___ House (redundantly named dwelling in "Barbie" / Rock climber's notch

Constructor: Sarah Sinclair and Amie Walker

Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Tues.)

THEME: CHORAL GROUP (62A: What the ends of 17-, 31-, 37- and 48-Across are, collectively) — theme answers end with SOPRANO, ALTO, TENOR, and BASS, respectively:

Theme answers:

• TONY SOPRANO (17A: Role for which James Gandolfini won three Emmys)
• PALO ALTO (31A: Silicon Valley city whose name translates to "tall stick")
• EVEN TENOR (37A: Stable temperament)
• ROCK BASS (48A: Freshwater fish named for its shoreline habitat)

Word of the Day: THE Ohio State University (10A: Article that Ohio State University surprisingly managed to trademark in 2022) —

Ohio State University has received a trademark for one of the most common words in the English language, one that the school’s supporters often forcefully emphasize when uttering its name: “The.”

While athletes from other schools may simply say they went to Michigan or Penn State, a Buckeye rarely cuts corners: “The Ohio State University,” they’ll say, usually adding a dramatic pause after stressing the “the.” The school’s players, alumni and supporters often speak its name in that consistent cadence, as football fans who have watched N.F.L. starting lineups introduce themselves on Sundays or Monday nights have most likely heard

To Ohio State’s supporters, the tradition is cherished and sets the school apart from the rest. (To Ohio State’s rivals, it’s nauseatingly pompous. To each their own.)

The trademark, issued on Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, won’t unleash heavy-handed lawyers in search of anyone using the word “the” — its protections are limited to a narrow set of circumstances that people are unlikely to cross unless they are selling knockoff Ohio State merchandise. But it gives the university some protection against unlicensed sellers, and adds to the school’s efforts to link itself to the very common word. (NYT) (6/23/22)

Stopped to take a deep breath about five seconds into this one when not one but two of the long answers in the NW were pop culture trivia. And not exactly universally known pop culture trivia, either (in that I didn't know either one off the top of my head). You want to lean into a pop culture thing that you like here, or there, that's fine, that's normal, but two answers, right out of the box, both of them among the longer answers you have in the puzzle ... off-putting. Off-putting to clue MATTHEW that way (via Succession) when you've already got an HBO (now Max?) show as one of your themers—the very themer that is *crossing* MATTHEW. Crossing HBO answers ... feels like shilling. As for GENOVIA, I actually saw (and enjoyed) The Princess Diaries at some point, but shrug, the fake country name was not a bit of info that I retained. Both MATTHEW (1D: Actor Macfadyen of "Succession") and GENOVIA (3D: Fictional country in "The Princess Diaries") are easy enough to suss out from crosses, but cramming the opening section of a puzzle with your pet trivia feels slightly obnoxious. I know many of you are Succession fans, so your experience of the trivia here may be very different. I have never understood why anyone would want to watch a show about billionaires. I can't think of people I'm less interested in. I'm *quite* sure the writing and acting on that show is phenomenal, you don't have to convince me. But the subject matter is a hard pass. But this is beside the point, the point being: spread your pop culture trivia out. Please and thank you (I say this as a huge fan of The Sopranos, always happy to see James Gandolfini's name, go watch Nicole Holofcener's Enough Said (2013), with Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) (actually, maybe I'll do that today...).