Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: steak orders — final words of four theme answers describe various levels of meat doneness:Theme answers:
- RUBS RAW (21A: Chafes excessively)
- EXCEEDINGLY RARE (28A: Nearly unique)
- HAPPY MEDIUM (47A: Compromise that, ideally, leaves both parties satisfied)
- "THIS WON'T END WELL" (58A: Prediction of a negative outcome that is true of 21-, 28- and 47-Across)
Reece Lewis James (born 8 December 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Premier League club Chelsea, which he captains, and the England national team.James joined the Chelsea academy as a youth and turned professional in 2017, a season where he captained the under-18s to victory in the FA Youth Cup and was named Academy Player of the Season. A productive loan spell with Wigan Athletic of the Championship saw him promoted to the Chelsea first team upon his return in 2019. He won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup with the club in 2021, and was appointed captain in 2023. He led Chelsea to victory at the UEFA Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup in 2025.After representing England at various youth levels, James made his senior debut in 2020, and went on to appear at UEFA Euro 2020.• • • 
This theme is so straightforward I can't believe it hasn't been done before. Maybe it has. The one thing it has going for it is the somewhat cheeky clue on the last answer, which acts as both a completion of the series (RAW, RARE, MEDIUM, WELL) and a revealer—none of the other answers will "end well" because they end with words that describe different level of meat doneness. Also, the grid has mirror symmetry instead of the typical rotational symmetry, which makes the puzzle visually interesting, and makes room for some colorful long answers in the NW and NE. I don't really have anything to say about the theme. It seems fine. Plain, but fine. As a solver, I never noticed the theme til the very end. Seemed like an afterthought. The puzzle played like a very easy themeless, with "THIS WON'T END WELL" as the one true marquee answer (a wonderful standalone phrase that would look great in any puzzle). As for those longer answers in the NW and NE, it's slightly weird to get a single DNA STRAND, but I don't mind it. It's quirky, and very gettable, so no harm done. I had HAIR SALON before NAIL SALON, which I don't feel too bad about, as ... isn't "tips" a hair term too? (11D: Where employees work on tips and receive tips). Didn't people (mainly women) used to get "frosted tips?" I have no hair, so I am out of my depth, but I really feel like "tips" has some kind of HAIR SALON context. Ah, look, "frosted tips"—still a thing. Good, I feel less crazy. On the other side of the grid, I've been to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe (a treasure), so NEW MEXICO was a gimme. As for "I MEAN, C'MON!" (3D: "Sheesh, gimme a break!") ... it's weird, but "C'MON" feels like the spelling you'd use if that was all that you were saying, whereas opening with "I MEAN" really seems to call for the full "COME ON." There's something slightly drawn out and dramatic about the expression that the clipped "C'MON" doesn't capture. I think the phrase is OK as is, but my ear is balking a little.[at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, 2019]
The few tough spots I had could best be expressed through a two-category Venn diagram: "People with names that sound like 'Reese'" and "Soccer-related things," with REECE James in the overlap. The guy looks / sounds familiar, but I think you really have to follow Premier League to know him. In the "Reese" category with him is Dee REES, whose name is more familiar, but still, I don't know if her name would've come to me right away (actually, she wasn't an actual "tough spot" at all because I never saw her—puzzle was so easy that her name just kinda filled itself in) (21D: Dee who directed 2017's "Mudbound"). Over in the "Soccer-related things" part of the Venn diagram, in addition to REECE we've also got USWNT (50D: Squad captained by Lindsey Horan to win Olympic gold in '24, for short). I find both USWNT and USMNT confusing as neither abbreviation contains a letter that stands for the damned sport that they play! The letters stand for U.S. Women's National Team. So every time I see either abbreviation, I think "... tennis? is the 'T' tennis? Is the 'N' ... netball? oh, I remember now: United Soccer-Winning National Team! That's it."
Bullets:
- 20A: Sport in an octagon, for short (MMA) — this one's a little too timely. (don't click through if you'd rather not think about the US president today)
- 55A: Sonic boom generator? (SEGA) — SEGA is the company behind the popular Sonic the Hedgehog video game, which gave rise to movie franchise and a whole Sonic universe ("boom!")
- 33A: Assists, in basketball slang (DIMES) — this, I knew. Speaking of basketball. Looks like the Knicks lost last night. Too bad. Oh well, at least this happened (again, don't click through if you'd rather not think about the US president today)
- 61A: "We feel the same way" ("US TOO") — reflexively wrote in "ME TOO." "US TOO" doesn't flow off the tongue quite as readily.
- 62A: Airport raced through in "Home Alone," in brief (ORD) — so, Chicago's O'Hare
- 64A: Sound of a cartoon hit (BOINK) — if you watch cartoons or read comics, you know, this could've been anything. SPLAT! THWAP! WHACK! Even with the "K" in place, I wasn't sure.
- 6D: Carnivorous cinematic alien (BLOB) — That's The BLOB, to you. I don't think I knew that the BLOB was an "alien" (as in, from outer space?). I thought it was just ... a BLOB ... wreaking havoc on Steve McQueen ... somehow. BLOB is part of a really nicely filled little section at the top of the grid where (almost) all the answers seem vaguely related to each other. BLOB ... SPRAWL ... ABSURD! Maybe the government is trying to track it with SONAR, which BLEEPs periodically. And maybe at the end of the movie they case the BLOB back into the ABYSS whence it came (again, to be clear, I have never seen the movie and have no idea what happens besides ... a blob blobbing around town and Steve McQueen somewhere nearby):
https://www.youtube.com/embed/J-heIT3L9 ... XmiA-c-5Yi
That's all for today. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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