Like the ending of a typical rom-com / FRI 2-7-25 / Oil, slangily / "Parasite" actor ___ Woo-shik / Tree with red berrylike fruit / Popular mode of transport in Dhaka / Some sources of typhus? / Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice / First English football club to win the European Cup, informally

• • •

[PREDICTABLE!]

Played like a Saturday, especially at first, when I made a sweep of the entire top part of the grid and came up with ... virtually nothing. A chemical suffix? Ugh. ENE? ANE? (turns out it's INE—note, this is *not* the kind of "work" that makes solving crosswords fun). RINDS, DEER, TVCOPS, BLUE ... all of these could easily have been other things. Maya LIN was the only certainty in the grid after my first pass at the Downs. And then I had to remember an actor name, which I couldn't (CHOI). Finally, I got the very easy CPR, then RINSE, PRAWN, POWDER, and off I went, though not quickly. Never with that Friday Whoosh I'm always looking for. There was sporadic whooshing, but never of the truly exhilarating type. The cluing was really holding back my enjoyment today, in a big way. Let's start with the worst clue, from my perspective as a broad-minded movie lover: 1A: Like the ending of a typical rom-com (PREDICTABLE). I would never have expected the puzzle to have such a sneering attitude toward rom-coms. Slightly surprised to see a woman's name on the byline, as honestly that kind of sneering, dismissive *&$% is far, far more indicative of a man who pointedly proudly and smugly doesn't watch rom-coms (or calls them "chick flicks") (maybe the clue was an editorial decision, who knows?). It's such a weird, weak, judgmental, ignorant, and (because rom-coms are primarily aimed at women) sexist take, and it's not even true. Or ... at least it's hard to either prove or falsify. Are rom-com endings PREDICTABLE? Are they any more PREDICTABLE than the "typical" endings of literally any other genre?? Most movies are bad and boring and FORMULAIC. Reflexive denigration of the rom-com specifically is some Awful Movie Guy stuff, so I'm very surprised to see it here (in a puzzle not made by a guy). 

And, like, did a very embittered editor write this puzzle? Rom-coms are PREDICTABLE, other plots are unoriginal or FORMULAIC. And then ... [Murder she wrote?], question mark? As if the clue's not sure. Like, really? She calls herself a CRIME NOVELIST? (rolls eyes, exclaims "posh!"). The "?" makes the voice sound dubious. That clue was awfully confusing (12A: Murder she wrote?), since it seems like the answer should refer to "Murder" (i.e. the CRIME) not the "she" (i.e. the NOVELIST) who "wrote" the "murder." (Note: that clue/answer was actually one of the highlights of the solve, but it's still a little wobbly/messy—I just like remembering Angela Lansbury). 

The middle and bottom parts weren't nearly as tough for me, probably because the top gave me good momentum that I never really lost, but there were still tougher-than-usual moments. 22D: Some sources of typhus?Some sources of typhus? How many are there? How much of my day do you think I spend going "hey, what are the sources of typhus? I wonder if I can name all the sources of typhus? Or  maybe just a quick half dozen." It's like the world's worst party game: name the typhus sources. I barely know what typhus is, and can name literally zero sources. So LICE was a complete surprise. I'm sure it's correct, but "Some sources," LOL, like I have a vast store to pick from. I Have No Store. Make your clue more LICE-like, more LICE-specific, please. Had to reach back for a Spice Girl EMMA (35A: ___ Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice), why, there are so many EMMAs! PERK could easily have been PLUS (23D: Benefit). And oof, RESULTS, why was that so hard? (34D: They may be guaranteed ... "or your money back") Probably because I had REBATES and REFUNDS in there (the latter of which really killed me since it had the "U," which was "confirmed" by MAN. U. (i.e. Manchester United) (45A: First English football club to win the European Cup, informally). REFUNDS also had me staring down "Wild -EFT" (38A: Wild ___). Brain tried really hard to justify "Wild LEFT," and then gave up. Ended up with an error because BURSAR is spelled so ridiculously (I had BURSOR, which still looks right, and anyway, I've been on campuses for decades and never once though of the BURSAR). The bottom of this grid was flowier than the top. ON A REGULAR BASIS is nice, and I like FREEHAND as well, but otherwise, this grid didn't have enough highs, enough real marquee answers, for a late-week themeless. It was also locked up with Saturday cluing that was also kind of boring cluing. I don't mind the challenge (puzzles have been running way too easy, of late), but I wish the cluing had been more on point, and the overall experience had been more exciting.

Bullets:

• 21A: Site where a previously unidentified species of sea urchin was discovered in 2004 (EBAY) — this paragraph-long clue made my eyes glaze over. Why waste so much real estate on this when there are so many other dull short clues you could be punching up? It's a long way to go for [yet more crosswordese].
• 13D: Oil, slangily (TEXAS TEA) — sigh, "slangily" is trying to convince you that the phrase TEXAS TEA was ever uttered by anyone anywhere (since the early '60s) outside the context of the theme song from The Beverly Hillbillies.

• 51A: Sets off mayhem (CAUSES A RIOT) — we're in borderline EAT A SANDWICH territory here, but I like this phrase, mainly because it reminds me of Book VII of the Aeneid, which I taught earlier in the week. See, in Book VII, after Virgil turns once again to the Muses to give him assistance with his work, which has now entered its second half (Nunc age, qui reges, ERATO [...]") (40D: Muse with a lyre)., we watch as Aeneas tries to offer himself as groom for King Latinus's daughter, Lavinia, which Latinus assents to, but then Juno, who hates Aeneas and wants him to fail at everything, decides to blow **** up, and so sends the Fury Allecto down to ensure that both Amata (Lavinia's mom, the queen) and Turnus (Lavinia's would-be husband) are sufficiently furious at this "foreigner" Aeneas trying to sneak in here and take their girl (Lavinia). Long story short, Allecto shoots a snake into the breast of Amata, which makes her blaze with passionate anger, which she takes out into the streets ... her anguished public protest effectively CAUSES A RIOT, as all the mothers of Latium come out to join her in a Bacchic frenzy of "Hell no! Down with Trojans! No foreigners for our daughters!" Not very welcoming of outsiders, these Latins. Anyway, ERATO x/w CAUSES A RIOT was a real highlight for me, specifically, and perhaps exclusively.
• 43D: Campus figs. (SRS)— ugh, three "Campus figure(s)" clues, all in one tiny section of the grid. Awful, unpleasant. This one was the worst: SRS are a quarter of the damned campus, they hardly rise to the status of "figures."
• 9D: Down (BLUE)— did you know GLUM fits there too? Very well, actually. :(
• 34A: Popular mode of transport in Dhaka (RICKSHAW)— Never been to Dhaka, so I wouldn't know, but hard to think of any other "mode of transport" that ends in -SHAW (which is what I had in place before I ever saw the clue).

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