• “IT’S MY TREAT” (17A: 59-Across from somebody who’s paying?)
• “ANSWER THE PHONE!” (30A: 59-Across from an anxious caller?)
• “CLEAN YOUR ROOM!” (35A: 59-Across from a pissed off mum or dad?)
• “DO YOU NEED A RIDE?” (43A: 59-Across from a carpooler?)

Word of the Day: THE G.O.A.T. (23A: Acronymic title for a legendary athlete) —

Not many individuals can declare to be the G.O.A.T., however those that can are the Greatest Of All Time of their subject. Most typically, the acronym G.O.A.T. praises distinctive athletes but in addition musicians and different public figures.

On social media, it’s frequent to see the goat 🐐 emoji in punning relation to the acronym. (dictionary.com)

• • •

This is a kind of puzzles the place the themer clues are principally begging you to go down and begin on the backside, with the revealer, so that is what I did. Solving a bunch of longer solutions utterly by way of crosses, with no thought why they’re what they’re, is not significantly enjoyable, so I went down and labored my strategy to PICK-UP LINE, after which the themers I acquired after that weren’t simply befuddling unclued (or … preclued) phrases. The revealer payoff wasn’t dramatic, nevertheless it labored properly sufficient. Take a well-known phrase (PICK-UP LINE) and reorient it in a bunch of various methods–a line about choosing up the tab, a line about choosing up the telephone, and so forth. It’s textbook stuff, actually. Not thrilling, a little bit bit corny, however clean and neatly executed, and no cornier than most pun-driven themes. None of the theme phrases really feel pressured (the way in which they generally can if you’re making an attempt to make them come out as a symmetrical set). In quick, the theme is simply fantastic. The puzzle performed tougher than regular (for me) partly due to the theme (i.e. the clues are all cross-referenced, so that you needed to piece them along with a part of the clue lacking), and partly due to trivia, particularly names, particularly two names I did not know, particularly two names I did not know that come from The Exact Same Field—two Olympic athletes. Names are a fantastic and mandatory a part of puzzles, however … it is all the time good when the clues trouble to broaden the vary of these names. Two names from a really slender space … not nice modifying. I’m simply getting hammered currently by LEE clues. Didn’t know LEE Shubert the opposite day, did not know Suni LEE right now. I’m pretty positive I’ve really seen ELAINE Thompson-Herah within the puzzle earlier than. I’ve a imprecise reminiscence of creating her my Word of the Day. But that did not assist right now. So … theme, names, after which a whole lot of “may very well be a bunch of issues”-type clues made this one sluggish(er) going for me. But not tough. Just sluggish.

Got EBB/ELIOT rapidly, proper off the bat, and thought I used to be going to start out flying, however then LEE acquired concerned and wow BE SEEN was not my pal (3D: Appear in public). Needed each cross. Had BESEEM in some unspecified time in the future and thought “properly that is … quaint.” Clue on MAGS was a tricky one (esp. since I solely ever see the abbr. MAGS in crosswords) (18D: They have points, in short). My college students TURN IN assignments on a regular basis, and more and more they do that electronically, which can be why I went with TURN IN and never HAND IN. We even have software program known as “Turnitin”—it is semi-evil surveillance software program that identifies all of the elements of a scholar’s paper which can be taken from different sources. It’s a strategy to catch plagiarizers (the plagiarism arms race, do not get me began … I didn’t get into this subject so I may very well be a cop; at this level, I simply go over correct quotation strategies, clarify the zero tolerance dishonest coverage, after which flip the policing over to the machines. I additionally craft bizarre assignments that make plagiarism a close to impossibility, although with the brand new AI, who the **** is aware of…). So I tripped over HAND IN, then tripped over “UM, NO” (had “UH, NO”). Then actually tripped over I.T. PRO (had I.T. GUY … which made it appear like I used to be going to get GIPSY (!?!!?) at 22D: Certain itinerant musician (PIPER), which had me going “oh … no no no do not be that.” And it wasn’t!).  

The solely reply I actually hated right now was NO SPIN—that was the slogan of a ONETIME right-wing speak present host, so … barf. Actually, I feel technically it was the title of a phase (possibly?) on his present: the “NO SPIN Zone.” Or possibly that is simply what he known as his present (I’m not bothering to look it up). The very declare “NO SPIN!” reeks of fraud, like … it is the factor you’d declare if you happen to have been really the spinniest spinner who ever spun. “NO SPIN!” “Oh, shut up, spinner.” NO SPIN was additionally simply exhausting to parse, and exhausting + repugnant is just about the worst combo you may encounter as a solver. That FROND clue is fairly terrible, however in that semi-charming means that dangerous puns are terrible, so maintain the FROND clue, ditch NO SPIN totally, I say. I had LOYALIST earlier than LOYAL (area) FAN (36D: Die-hard follower), so there was one more means that my progress was measurably impeded. We acquired the uncommon ONO/ENO Daily Double right now. That means you have to drink! (it is time for ONO/ENO, the world’s slowest ingesting recreation!). I like (love!) that ALI comes instantly after THE GOAT within the Acrosses, since one of many first instances I ever encountered the G.O.A.T. acronym was in a Taschen bookstore the place they’d an enormous e-book on show, all about Muhammad ALI. Its title: GOAT! I believed, “what a bizarre factor to name him.” Now I get it.

See you tomorrow.