Constructor: Chase Dittrich and Christina Iverson

Relative problem: Straightforward

THEME: Lacking letters — theme solutions are acquainted phrases that, when parsed in a different way, clarify why there are some letters lacking from the clues: 

Theme solutions:

• 17A: “Beg your pardo_” (NON-APOLOGY) (i.e. NO-“N” APOLOGY (the apology “Beg your pardon” is lacking its “N”))
• 28A: Badly dilapida_ed (NOT TOO SHABBY (i.e. NO-“T” TOO SHABBY (the phrase that means “too shabby” is lacking its “T”)
• 38A: _ _ cretary (NOSE JOB) (i.e. NO-“SE” JOB) (the job of “secretary” is lacking the letters “S” and “E”)
• 46A: Pe _ _ _ cellphone (NORSE GODDESS) (i.e. NO-“RSE” GODDESS) (the goddess Persephone is lacking the letter string “RSE”)
• 61A: Championship _ _ _ t (NOBEL PRIZE) (i.e. NO-“BEL” PRIZE) (“Championship belt” is a type of “prize” and is lacking the letter string “BEL”) 

Phrase of the Day: John CENA (11D: John of wrestling fame) —

John Felix Anthony Cena ( SEE-nə; born April 23, 1977) is an American skilled wrestler, actor, and former rapper at present signed to WWE. With essentially the most world championship reigns in WWE historical past, Cena is broadly thought to be one of many biggest skilled wrestlers of all time. […] A joint-record 16-time world champion, Cena is a report 13-time WWE Champion and three-time World Heavyweight Champion. He’s additionally a five-time WWE United States Champion, a two-time WWE Tag Workforce Champion, a two-time World Tag Workforce Champion, a two-time Royal Rumble winner, and a one-time Cash within the Financial institution winner. He has additionally headlined a number of main WWE pay-per-view occasions, together with its flagship occasion, WrestleMania, 5 occasions. His skilled wrestling profession has been met with combined essential and viewers reception, with reward for his character work and promotional abilities, however criticism for his perceived over-representation and on-screen dominance relative to different wrestlers. // Cena first starred in The Marine (2006), and gained reward for his performances in Trainwreck (2015), Ferdinand (2017), Blockers, and Bumblebee (each 2018). He starred in F9 (2021) as Jakob Toretto, reprising his position in Quick X (2023), and portrayed Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad (2021) and the eponymous tv collection (2022–current). He launched a studio album, You Cannot See Me, in 2005. Outdoors his work in leisure, Cena is thought for his involvement in quite a few charitable causes, particularly with the Make-A-Want Basis, the place he has granted essentially the most needs, at over 650. (wikipedia)

• • •

[13A: Non-Muppet owner of Hooper’s Store on “Sesame Street” = ALAN]

Effectively, this idea was lots simpler to know than it was to elucidate in writing, I am going to inform you that. What you have acquired is basically a clue/reply reversal form of deal, the place the reply within the grid offers you the clue that you must perceive why there are letters lacking out of your precise clues. Although the primary one in all these themers is the least elaborate, it felt essentially the most good. I am certain it had the advantage of being the primary themer I acquired, i.e. the “aha” themer, however there’s one thing easy, neat, and unforced in regards to the no-“N” apology. Among the many relaxation, solely NORSE GODDESS felt as elegant. The correspondence between “badly” and “TOO” felt off to me in 28A: Badly dilapida_ed (NO-“T” TOO SHABBY). The opposite two are nice, however “secretary” is very arbitrary for instance of JOB, and there was one thing barely fiddly about “Championship belt.” I imply, I feel these final two work simply nice, they simply did not land the way in which NO-“N” APOLOGY and NO-“RSE” GODDESS did. And please, no mail or feedback about how truly Persephone is a Greek goddess, not a NORSE GODDESS—we all know. On this explicit thematic state of affairs, it is irrelevant.

This puzzle performed extra like a Tuesday than a Thursday for me. The non-thematic parts particularly had been surprisingly easy, even rudimentary, and the clues did not appear to be attempting very onerous to make this a correctly thorny Thursday. A whole lot of the fill was straight out of central casting—i.e. very acquainted: NAGANO ARIAL ALOHA AGORA OBOE UTILE NEATO and so forth. They tried to make ALEC a non-Baldwin (and succeeded!) however an ALEC is an ALEC is an ALEC, and now you understand some extra ALECs (66A: Baseball’s Marsh or Bohm). The clue on PALO is bizarre, in that … it is nonetheless only a correct noun partial, identical as at all times—nonetheless not nice fill—however as an alternative of getting the anticipated clue in regards to the California metropolis (dwelling of Stanford), we get this tree trivia, which makes you (i.e. me) assume that the reply is definitely not going to be PALO (18D: El ___ Alto, California redwood that is greater than 1,000 years previous). However then it is PALO. It was all unusually anticlimactic. PHOTOBOMB is straightforward to love (10D: Damage an image of, in a means), however the remainder of the fill runs somewhat to the boring aspect, for certain.

I imagined there was a DNA BASE on the market someplace (4D: Priceless useful resource for the Human Genome Undertaking). I feel I meant “BANK,” however I wrote BASE. In order that wanted fixing. GAINS was means too imprecise as [Investment goals] go, in order that took some work. Bumped into that LOLLS / LAZES kealoa* fairly onerous (53D: Kicks again). I needed DIME (!?) after which TIME (!) earlier than SEMI (64A: Quarter follower). I feel that in match conditions, I am used to listening to each phrases pluralized (“We made it to the SEMIs!” “He acquired knocked out within the quarters”), so I simply did not make the connection, and as an alternative went flailing wildly into the realms of numismatics and music (although I do not assume “quarter time” is an precise factor in music; it simply sounds music-y, like, I dunno, “quarter be aware,” I assume). By no means deliberately paid consideration to professional wrestling, however evidently I’ve encountered John CENA sufficient that he is now a gimme. He occupies the identical a part of my mind as Michael CERA, which is not less than barely bizarre, as they appear nothing alike. I’ve recognized the time period EDDA(S) endlessly (they train it to you at crossword boot camp), however I had no concept there have been simply two (!?). They didn’t train that to me at medievalist boot camp. Or I used to be napping. Doable.