Org. with the sculpture "Kryptos" outside its headquarters / THU 12-04-2024 / Rapper who founded Aftermath Entertainment / Flower that gets its name from the Greek word for "rainbow"

Theme answers:

• [Past issues to settle] is the clue for COLD SORES because you are supposed to read the inside first (OLDS) followed by the outside (C and then ORES) giving OLD SCORES
• [Places in the pecking order] for US STATES
• STAT + US + ES = STATUSES
• [Big bash] for DISHING
• SHIN + DI + G = SHINDIG
• [Breaking down grammatically] for SPARING
• PAR + S + ING = PARSING
• Like much movie theater popcorn] for REBUTTED
• BUTTE + RE + D = BUTTERED

Word of the Day: ALAMO (___ Drafthouse (movie theater chain))—

Alamo Drafthouse is famous for enforcing a strict policy on behavior while in the theater. Children under the age of two are not allowed, except for showings on specific days designated "Alamo For All." Unaccompanied minors are not allowed in showings, except for members of the Alamo Drafthouse's Victory Vanguard rewards program, which allows 15–17 year-olds to attend showings unattended after their application to the rewards program has been submitted and reviewed. The application involves demonstrating an understanding of the theater's policies around talking, texting, arriving late, and basic tipping etiquette.

The cinema also prohibits talking and texting during the film. Anyone who violates this policy is subject to warning and potential removal from the premises. Alamo made national headlines in 2011 when the rantings of one angry customer who was ejected for texting were included in its "Don't Talk or Text" PSA shown before films. "When we adopted our strict no-talking policy back in 1997, we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons," Tim League posted on the cinema's website. "That was the plan. If you can't change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don't want you at our venue."[wiki]

Hey pals! Taking my Malaika MWednesday a day late, because my company had a holiday party last night. I love any reason to wear a sparkly dress. Today I'm listening to a playlist I made that has a bunch of covers of songs that are very stylistically different from the original version. Let me know if any of your favorites are missing!

I like this type of theme-- I think it activates something in my Programmer Brain. It's.... for lack of a better word, nifty! It reminds me of tried-and-true concepts like Kangaroo Words or letterbanks. I think the downside is their isn't any zippy or witty wordplay. I did appreciate the revealer, which was very appropriate and gave a reason to the puzzle. Also, it reminded me of the movie Inside Out, which I really enjoyed. 

Also I might be the only person in the world who thought Inside Out 2 was better than Inside Out

I've posed this as a complaint before, but my Gold Star Perfect Themed Puzzle has theme answers that are interesting and fun and lively-- entries that would be welcome in a themeless puzzle. When themes have really restrictive letter-based rules like this, you end up with some pretty boring words. Two of them even ended with -ING which felt a little repetitive. I feel like the puzzle started off strong with COLD SORES and things dropped off from there.

Luckily, the constructor had some great long entries that were unrelated to the theme. KIDS TABLE, COUNT OLAF, and MICRODOSE were all welcome additions. I wish there had been some more pun clues, though. It felt like this puzzle was missing a bit of pizzazz.

Bullets:

• ["A Series of Unfortunate Events" villain] for COUNT OLAF — I re-read a lot of YA lit that I grew up with and ASoUE holds up really well. The allusions are so fun to "get" now that I'm not, like, six years old, and the themes are really strong. (The Hunger Games also holds up excellently.)
• [Like many romance novels] for ESCAPIST — I love to read contemporary romance! If you're looking for a recommendation, I keep a list here.
• [First (and last) two words of "Green Eggs and Ham"] for I AM — Thought this was a cute way to clue an entry I've seen a zillion times
• Huh, all Book Content in the bullet points today

xoxo Malaika

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