Animal in the Premier League logo / SUN 4-6-25 / Bit of curling equipment / ___ - Tiles (kids' building toy) / Language from which we get "cashmere"

Theme answers:

• SPIN CLASSES (69A: Intense cycling sessions ... or what you must do to complete the answers to this puzzle's starred clues.
• WHY DO I BOTHER (18A: *"Oh, what's the point?") / BIOPIC (5D: Genre of the 2024 film "Bob Marley: One Love")
• EMPTY SPACES (38A: *Voids) / AUTOPSY (12D: Post-mortem order)
• COMIC STRIP (31D: *Part of the funnies page) / SCIONS (53A: Descendants)
• ZAGAT RATED (51D: *Like restaurants in a famed dining guide) / IMPART (83A: Bestow, as a quality)
• QUINTILLION (99A: *Number with 18 zeros) / LITCHIS (91D: Chinese fruits with leathery rinds)
• BRIEF SUMMARY (122A: *Recap) / HUMMUS (102D: Pita dip made from chickpeas and tahini

Word of the Day: ERHU (101A: Chinese two-stringed fiddle)—

The erhu (Chinese: 二胡; pinyin: èrhú; [aɻ˥˩xu˧˥]) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the Chinese violin or a Chinese two-stringed fiddle. It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular of the huqin family of traditional bowed string instruments used by various ethnic groups of China. As a very versatile instrument, the erhu is used in both traditional and contemporary music arrangements, such as pop, rock and jazz.

Hey everyone, Eli back again for you on this Sunday. I may have to keep it a little shorter today because I did a Spartan Race this morning and I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment. And then typing out that theme description and all of those answers isn't making things better. Because oh boy, what a flashy theme!

There's so much going on here that it's almost hard to wrap my head around. And because the app did a fun little animation, I had to post two grid pictures! The app also has an intermediate diagonal for each of the wheels, but from what I can tell they don't spell anything in that direction. The theme answers all worked and all felt sparkly to me, especially ZAGAT RATED and WHY DO I BOTHER. I thought at first that the spinning letters were arbitrary, but when I realized they were common school course names, it really clicked. I mean, I'd say PSYCH more often than PSY, but that's splitting hairs. I also appreciated that all of the "stubs" of the unrotated answers would be valid grid entries (PIC, HUM, IMP, etc). It might have been nice if the partials of the starred clues were also standalone words, but I think that might be physically impossible. I'm still a bit in awe at how much went into this theme and how well it all worked.

Unfortunately, this amount of theme strained the rest of the grid. There's a lot of less than stellar fill that had to carry the weight. ABCS, AAHS, AWS, ERS, BTUS, DAIS, NILE, ILKS - just not a lot to get excited about. The longest non-theme answers are GARAGE SALES and STAY CURRENT, which don't quite pop the way I'd like. And speaking of staying current, this one really doesn't. I feel like the revealer might be the most modern thing in the grid, and while I'm an avid cyclist who appreciates SPIN CLASSES, I feel like we could move a little more into the current decade.

I think I can say I fall on the side of enjoying this puzzle. I've also had the app open while taking notes and the animation is a little hypnotic, so that's probably helping. I appreciate ambition, even if everything doesn't quite come together.

More thoughts:

• 42A: Break before college (GAP YEAR) — I always feel like this is an exclusively privileged kid thing. Must be nice to be afford to just take a year off. Maybe I'm being too harsh.
• 25A: Light, short-sleeved, collared garment (CAMP SHIRT) — A year ago, I might have thought this was a made up thing, but being a tiki enthusiast ends up having a pretty big crossover with fun camp shirts. They're kinda closer-fitting, more breathable aloha shirts. I don't have this exact Jurassic Park shirt, but I do have a Jurassic Park camp shirt.

• 50D: "Wayne's World" or "MacGruber," informally (SNL SKIT) — I know there are people in the comedy community who would riot over calling these "skits" instead of "sketches" (a skit is something you do at your school talent show, a sketch is what pros do, etc...). I think the clue threw "informally" on there to alleviate that. I was going to post a sketch of Christopher Walken as a drama teacher censoring "Greased Lightning," but I can't find an embeddable version. Look it up. Anyway, here's Jon Hamm on a toilet: 

• 93D: Tax-advantaged savings plan (ROTH IRA) - I get that retirement and savings are important, but everything finance related always feels gross and scammy to me. The past week has done nothing to dissuade me of that notion.
• 21D: Cloying sentimentality (TREACLE) — I think you know what's coming.

Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

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