Rhyming toys with colored pegs / SUN 12-22-24 / Online initialism of excitement / Head-to-toe Islamic garment / Hybrid dog breed with curly hair / Cocktail made from peach nectar and Prosecco / Solidify, as a jiggly dessert / Frozen yogurt chain with a fruity name / Jazz standard with the lyric "I'm so tired of paying my dues" / Reality show about the perils of crabbing in the Bering Sea / Medicare section that cover ambulance services / Drink brand with lizards in its logo

Málaga (/ˈmæləɡə/; Spanish: [ˈmalaɣa]) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia and the sixth most populous in the country. It lies in Southern Iberia on the Costa del Sol ("Coast of the Sun") of the Mediterranean, primarily in the left bank of the Guadalhorce. The urban core originally developed in the space between the Gibralfaro Hill and the Guadalmedina. (wikipedia)

[they still make these?]

As you know if you've been reading me for a while, these are not my favorite, these themeless Sundays. Beyond the structural limitations of a 15x15 grid, a themeless puzzle seems ... pointless. I guess this is a low word-count puzzle, but I wouldn't know. I know that 15x15 themelesses max out at 72 words—the word count is a meaningful limitation. Here, shrug, I don't know. Sure, stack 16s over 15s over 14s, who's stopping you? But also, who cares? Are the answers good? Yes, I guess, many of them. But in this ocean-sized grid, the accomplishment is somehow diminished. The answers can't shine. There are people who love these themeless Sundays, but I don't get it at all. Especially after yesterday's rather accomplished tough offering, this themeless seems tepid. It's just ... big. It's good, as Sunday themelesses go, but my point is that Sunday themelesses can't go much of anywhere. I flew through this, without much of any feeling or opinion (except that LITE BRITE should never, ever be in the plural, oof, what the hell?) (43A: Rhyming toys with colored pegs). With the exception of PERISH THE THOUGHT, there was nothing that really sizzled. I think the longer answers are all solid, and EQUATORIAL GUINEA is certainly ... long (91A: Only African nation where Spanish is an official language). Splashy, as country names go. I like PORE STRIP just fine (it's original, at any rate—this is its debut). But I would've liked to see more life, more pizzazz, less BRO CODE, less DOLLAR TREE (both of which are depressing, in different ways). The good thing for me, today, is I don't really have to spend a lot of time talking about it. If you liked it, great, if not, great. There's just not much to say about it.

JELL will always look wrong to me (42A: Solidify, as a jiggly dessert). Like it should be three letters, or have an "-O" after it, or something. Actually, GEL is the only spelling of that word that doesn't look insane to me. Doesn't GEL also mean solidify??? Yes! It means to "set," and in fact is listed at merriam webster dot com as an alternative to JELL. I would say it's the preferred spelling. Speaking of that "J,"JOG TROT? (42D: Relaxed gait). That feels redundant. How many trots are there (besides fox and turkey)? JOG TROT feels like something an overstuffed wordlist coughed up. Beyond that (and whatever else I've whined about already), I don't have any significant complaints about the fill today. It's very solid, for the most part. Well, SCHNOODLE feels ridiculous, but most hybrid dog breed names feel at least a little ridiculous (never heard of a SCHNOODLE, but with the SCHN- in place, the -OODLE was really not hard to infer) (8D: Hybrid dog breed with curly hair). I had a number of tiny errors today. Had the drink as a BELLONI (?!) (33D: Cocktail made from peach nectar and Prosecco). I had trouble thinking of *any* European city that fit the pattern _ERL__, which in retrospect seems insane, but that's what happened. You can see in my finished grid that the very last letter I got was the "B" in PART B because how in the world do I know? I'm not on Medicare yet. I don't even know how many "parts" there are. And I wasn't sure at first if BURQA or NIQAB or HIJAB was the "head-to-toe" garment the clue was looking for (all five letters!) (76D: Head-to-toe Islamic garment). So I left that square blank and waited. Then time passed. Then the puzzle was over.


Anything else?:

• 1A: Reality show about the perils of crabbing in the Bering Sea (DEADLIEST CATCH) — like most reality shows—never seen it. But I've certainly heard of it. Has ICE-ROAD TRUCKERS been in a puzzle? [checks] Yes!? Nine years ago, on a Tuesday. Surprisingly, neither REALHOUSEWIVES nor THEREALHOUSEWIVES has ever appeared in the NYTXW (the latter is less surprising, as it would only fit in a Sunday-sized grid).
• 46A: Online initialism of excitement (FTW) — this one was a mini-adventure. Wanted OMG but the crosses wouldn't work, then had it down to -TW and thought, "BTW??? That's not exciting ... unless you're excited about the next thing you're going to say ... hmm ... maybe?" No. It's FTW, which I haven't seen much in recent years, but which used to be all over social media. It stands for "For the Win!" and it originated in video games (Half-Life and Dark Age of Camelot message boards get cited a lot) but before that, as an expression, "For the win..." was probably popularized by either Hollywood Squares or sports announcing.
• 55A: Frozen yogurt chain with a fruity name (PINKBERRY) — got the PINK but blanked on the BERRY. I don't understand frozen yogurt. I mean, it's edible, I've eaten it, but ... ice cream is so good. Can't imagine wanting froyo when I could have ice cream.
• 16D: Second-smallest U.S. state capital by population, after Montpelier (PIERRE) — also the only U.S. state capital to be named after a Maurice Sendak book (Where the Wild Things Are, Kansas lost its bid to Topeka)

• 69A: Travel-size makeup bag VANITY CASE — daughter is home for the holidays, and though she does not have a VANITY CASE (I don't think...), there is something in the bathroom now called "Vanicream." First thought was that it seemed weird to associate your product with "vanity," but then I realized the "Vani-" part probably stood for "vanishing." Do not take a vanishing case with you when you travel, you'll just lose it.
• 23D: Emotion picture? (TEARJERKER) — so ... a motion "picture" designed to stir your "emotions."
• 92D: Holiday in which bánh chung cakes are eaten (TET) — if it's a three-letter holiday, it's TET (unless it's EID, which I learned the hard way while solving a cryptic crossword recently)
• 79D: Jazz standard with the lyric "I'm so tired of paying my dues" ("MOANIN'") — whoa, a "jazz standard" that I've never heard of. At least I don't think I have. Let's listen and find out... OK, this is familiar.

[Thanks, Ron]

Here's Orion (seen here without his belt), helping make Christmas cookies. Who's a good quality control officer!? Yes, that's right, it's you, good boy!

[Thanks, Judith]

I'm told that Autumn (age 10) is kind of intimidated by the tree, so here's a rare pic of her doing a cautious walk-by. So brave. Stay strong, Autumn!

[Thanks, Robert]

Streak and Freckles are too young to really understand Christmas yet. "Is this tree? Am I present?" Yes, and yes.

[Thanks, Carole]

And finally ... look, I told Scruffy that he's already been featured once this year, and that's all the attention any holiday pupper can expect, but then he ran up and started yelling at me and honestly it's just easier to post more of his pics

["Hey, hey, hey ... REX, HEY! WAIT UP!"]

["Put me on again!""Buddy, I already...""PUT ME ON AGAIN! I'M ADORABLE, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE IT'S NOT LIKE YOU HAVE STANDARDS COME ON JUST DO IT DO IT DO-""Yeesh, OK, OK"] [Thanks (again), Donna]

That's all from pet land today. 

OK, now we're done. Take care. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]