Athena's gift to Athens / SUN 8-11-24 / Europe's second-longest river / Mideast dignitaries: Var. / "____ is to place as eternity is to time": Joseph Joubert

Word of the Day: TELOS (65D: Final purpose, to Aristotle) —

Telos (/ˈtɛ.lɒs/; Greek: τέλος, translit. télos, lit. "end, 'purpose', or 'goal'")^[1] is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of human art. Telos is the root of the modern term teleology, the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. Teleology is central in Aristotle's work on plant and animal biology, and human ethics, through his theory of the four causes. Aristotle's notion that everything has a telos also gave rise to epistemology.^[2]

Hello one more time, Rexacateers, it's Eli! I believe this is the last day of Rexplacements for now since Rex is back from vacation tomorrow. His vacation is going great. How do I know? Because yesterday it included lunch with me and my wife followed by a screening of The Godfather: Part II at the New Beverly Cinema! We had a fantastic time, and I'd love to share pictures, but nobody took anyway. Oh well, plenty of memories. On to the puzzle!

Theme answers:

• EXCHANGE WEDDING VOWELS (23A: Say "O di" instead of "I do"?)
• PACK YOUR BAGELS AND GO (38A: Eviction notice sent to a New York deli owner?)
• PEELER REVIEW (50A: "This thing is SHARP! It handles potatoes and carrots with ease," e.g.)
• WHAT'S PASTEL IS PAST (69A: Interior decorator's assertion that bold colors are back in style?)
• NOEL FLY ZONES (87A: Santa's routes on Christmas Eve?)
• DON'T GET MAD, GET ELEVEN (96A: Advice after one's rival scores a perfect ten?)
• YOUR DELAYS ARE NUMBERED (117A: Airline's promise to improve its timeliness?)

I love Chicago and I love public transportation, so when I saw that the theme was "Take the El Train" I got excited. But, it turned out to be a simple "add a couple of letters" theme. Oh well, can't win 'em all. This also seems like a good excuse to plug the Midwest Crossword Tournament happening in Chicago on October 5 (https://www.mwxwt.com/). I can't make it, but you definitely should! It'll be a great time.

Despite the simplicity of the theme, I thought it worked pretty well. Both the original and modified phrases all worked well, and some of the cluing made me giggle. Don't Get Mad, Get Eleven sounds like Nigel Tufnel found a second career as a revenge coach.

The only holdup I had was determining where to put the "EL" in What's Pastel is Past. The phrase would have worked as well as "What's past is pastel." Not a complaint, just something that made me think twice. Other than that, once I figured out the theme it was off to the races.

The theme density didn't leave much room for sparkle in the fill. Looking over the grid, not much is standing out to me. I really don't like SNARL UPS (35D: Traffic jams). I mean, I hate cars and traffic more than most people, but in this case I mean I don't like the phrase. I can see it is a valid dictionary definition, but it doesn't sound like something I actually hear people say. And I live in LA; I've heard a LOT of traffic jam descriptors. I'm also a runner and cyclist who does a lot of metric races, and I have never seen kilometer abbreviated as KIL (26A: Le Mans race unit: Abbr.). I've seen "K" and "KM" which are too short to be crossword answers. If you needed a longer answer, I've heard people (military types, mostly) use "Click" or "Klik." But never KIL. There is a surprising lack of proper names in this one, but the one that really stands out is WELBY (24D: Dr. Marcus of old TV). The appearance of Marcus Welby, MD immediately makes the whole grid feel 20 years older. I knew it immediately because I know a lot of TV stuff, but I turn 42 this week and this show is an ancient reference to me.

So, I was going to do my normal highlights, but I realized there were a lot of examples of the kind of nerd I am (in addition to being a crossword nerd, naturally).

• ALE (1D: Stuff served in a horn at a Renaissance faire, perhaps) — Not only am I the kind of nerd who brews his own beer, I'm also the type to go to a Ren Faire and drink ale out of my horn.

Sorry ladies, I'm married

• SPEEDO (16D: Maker of tiny trunks)— I am a triathlon nerd and also a word nerd. So, while I typically wear TYR swimwear (named for the Norse god of war; also a mythology nerd), Speedo has become a proprietary eponym, like Band-Aid or Kleenex. I'll spare you a swimwear picture.
• SEGA (7D: Company whose name is derived from "Service Games") — I enjoyed learning this trivia, but I'm including it here because I'm a classic video game nerd. I don't think there's many gamers my age who can't hear this logo just from looking at the picture:

• DUNE (115D: Sea turtle nesting site) — I'm the kind of sci-fi/fantasy nerd who just read all 900 or so pages of the original book Dune. Not the kind who had read it as a kid, but I did read the Lord of the Rings trilogy in elementary school. I should probably read that again; I can't imagine I really got it at that age.
• PICK A CARD (3D: Magician's request) — Finally, I'm the kind of nerd who tried his hand at magic. I unfortunately lack any kind of manual dexterity, so I could never hack it. I still enjoy a good magician, though, especially close-up/slight of hand stuff.

Ok, I think that's all I've got for you today. I hope you've had as much fun solving and reading as I have blogging for you all. Enjoy your Sunday!
Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

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