Constructor: Alina Abidi
Relative difficulty: Easy
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THEME: none
Word of the Day: ANTIPATTERN (10D: Common but often counterproductive response to a recurring problem) —
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Now this is a Friday puzzle! I know, it's Saturday, but still—this is what I was missing yesterday. The whoosh! The marquee answers! The snap crackle and pop (literally!) (ONOMATOPOEIA) (spelled it right on the first try, [high-fives self]!). The only downside was the crashing anticlimax of ANTI-PATTERN, which doesn't make sense to me on any level, ever after I read my own Word of the Day entry. It's a "common response" ... but it's *not* (ANTI-) a "PATTERN," what? I figured the term was from psychology, but when I saw it was from computer programming, I was like "ugh, yeah, that tracks." Anyway, if that's just a common term where you live, great, but it's nonsense to me and was not a pleasant place to land after what was otherwise a textbook themeless thrill-ride. I mean, you know it's not a great word when the clue writer is like "I'll just cut and paste this language from the first sentence of the wikipedia entry [see above] because I can't think of an ordinary way to clue it." Now, my (bewildered, negative) response to ANTI-PATTERN may have been your response to, say, NATHAN FOR YOU (21D: 2010s satirical reality series starring comedian Fielder). And I get it. When you don't know a TV show (or movie or actor or whatever), the name is likely to leave you cold. It can't resonate if you've never heard of it. But HOLY cow, NATHAN FOR YOU is good, and memorable, and I was so happy to see it here, as one of the many longer answers that took part in my whooshing across the grid. Look at all this whooshing! I mean, right from the jump, this thing was way easier than yesterday for me, because I was actually able to sink my teeth into the NW corner right away:
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ACHOO! was a Monday/Tuesday-level gimme (1A: What may precede a blessing)—not sure how you justify opening your Saturday puzzle with that one, but today, I am not complaining. And then I crossed every letter in ACHOO! with no hesitation, which gave me the front end of the long Acrosses, and while it took me a bit to come up with BALLOON HAT (!?) (I'm at a ... child's birthday party? A mime performance?), I didn't have to spend long up there before ... whoosh! Down one side of the grid...
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... and then whoosh! Up the other side!
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GIN MARTINIS paired with NATHAN FOR YOU, that is quite the date night. I'm in. (Although in my house, GIN MARTINIS is redundant—just as vodka is non-existent)
Bullets:![]()
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Relative difficulty: Easy
Word of the Day: ANTIPATTERN (10D: Common but often counterproductive response to a recurring problem) —
An anti-pattern in software engineering, project management, and business processes is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive. The term, coined in 1995 by computer programmer Andrew Koenig, was inspired by the book Design Patterns (which highlights a number of design patterns in software development that its authors considered to be highly reliable and effective) and first published in his article in the Journal of Object-Oriented Programming. A further paper in 1996 presented by Michael Ackroyd at the Object World West Conference also documented anti-patterns.It was, however, the 1998 book AntiPatterns that both popularized the idea and extended its scope beyond the field of software design to include software architecture and project management. Other authors have extended it further since to encompass environmental, organizational, and cultural anti-patterns. (wikipedia) (emph. mine)
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[Underrated deep cut]
CACAO NIBS! CHIPS AHOY!! CHERRY SODA! Throw on some ABBA, and you've got yourself a party. Could've done without the double "celebrity chefs of yore" thing. I remember PEPIN OK (40D: Chef Jacques ___, holder of 16 James Beard awards), but NOBU clean left my head (16A: Celebrity chef with a role in the 1995 film "Casino"). Plus, I'd already seen a famous chef, so ... give it a rest. Spread your love around! To other arenas! I'm feeling very exclamation pointy today, I'll see if I can tone it down! Other things that felt like repeats: NELLA Larson (wasn't she in a puzzle, like, two or three days ago?); and HAN (not HAN himself, but the use of Parasite as a frame of reference — really, the screenwriter I gotta know now?!?) (don't get me wrong, it's a Great movie, but ... I dunno, I feel like next you're going to be asking me who was Key Grip or Best Boy, and ???) (33A: ___ Jin-won, Oscar-winning screenwriter for "Parasite"). There were a few sticking points, but they were only a little sticky. I could see the (guitar) "capo" in my head, but couldn't come up with the category of thing that it was (CLAMP). In that same section, I had a bit of trouble parsing the beginning of NO ACCIDENT ("nothing begins 'NOAC' ... oh, wait"). I wanted CHERRY COLA because apparently my brain refused to deal with the fact that 7-Up was in the clue (49A: Niche product of Coca-Cola and 7Up) (I thought 7Up *was* a "product of Coca-Cola, but nope, that's Sprite) (I haven't drank soda since the 20th century) (just coffee, water, GIN MARTINIS). I hesitated for a bit trying to decide if it was EVERT or AVERT (39D: Turn away). EVERT is also a "turn," but more of a "turn inside-out." I had -R-- at 18A: Prune and went for CROP instead of TRIM. Between that and NOBU and the ANTI- part of ANTI-PATTERN, that is the one part of the grid where things could've gone sideways. But nope—other answers gettable, crisis everted.
Bullets:
- 19A: Sedaris of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" (AMY)— what a bizarre way to clue her. I completely forgot that Kimmy Schmidt existed or that AMY Sedaris was on it. Meanwhile, AMY Sedaris has received Emmy nominations for her show At Home With AMY Sedaris, which has her name in the damn title. She also had a major role in Bojack Horseman (Princess Caroline), and, I mean, not that I want any more damn Star Wars clues, but she was in The Mandalorian for god's sake (2019-23). She also wrote a best-selling guide to entertaining: I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. This is all to say that Kimmy Schmidt is not the AMY Sedaris touchstone for me, a person who has been a fan of hers since Strangers With Candy (1999-2000). Also, I never actually saw this clue because it got filled in automatically by those easy initial Downs.
- 21A: Gas-infused coffee order (NITRO) — I think I had one of these once. I forget why. Maybe it tasted ... creamier? Really seems like a marketing gimmick aimed at making fancy coffee more appealing to Men™
- 51A: Teacup (MINI) — pretty sure the context here is dogs
- 7D: "Days of Grace" memoirist, 1993 (ASHE) — pretty hard, as ASHE clues go. Nothing in that title is giving anything away.
- 9D: Term of ___ (ART) — LOL never heard of this. I wanted ENDEARMENT and then ... nothing. "Term of ART" is just a wordy way of saying "jargon" or "lingo" (a term known to specialists in a given field, but not outsiders so much).
- 25D: Title Toni Morrison character who lives in the Bottom (SULA) — Gimme! I feel like knowing Morrison's bibliography has come in handy a bunch of times lately. If it's four letters and Morrison, it's probably SULA. (Unless it's JAZZ!) (or LOVE!) (or HOME!)
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- 15D: Inexperienced gamers, in slang (NOOBS) — glad to see this spelled correctly. Really not a fan of that "newb" spelling.
- 24D: Abbott and Costello in the film "Arrival," informally (ETS) — laughed when I went back over this puzzle, because my brain initially misread this clue. Badly. I thought it was referring to an Abbott and Costello movie where maybe space travel was involved (?) and so *they* were the aliens (or ETS). But no. "Abbott & Costello" are just what AMY Adams calls the aliens she's trying to communicate with in the very famous 21st-century movie Arrival.
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