REX Soft, warm, tingly feeling, in brief / MON 6-15-26 / Certain group of hip-hop performers / Cash crop of northern Bra
Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2026 12:30 pm
Constructor: Eric Rolfing
Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)
THEME: "SOMEBODY'S CRANKY" (59A: Response to a series of complaints ... that also jokingly applies to 17-, 27- and 47-Across) — things that you crank:
Theme answers:
An autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation and pleasant form of paresthesia, that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. ASMR has been compared with synesthesia and may overlap with frisson. ASMR is a subjective experience of "low-grade euphoria" characterized by "a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin". It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory and visual stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control. The term can also refer to media (usually audiovisual) meant to evoke this phenomenon, with the sensation itself being informally referred to as "tingles". (wikipedia)• • • 
If you say "SOMEBODY'S CRANKY" to someone, you deserve to get smacked (I'm very anti-violence, so no smacking, but it is what you deserve). You can say it about a fussy baby, maybe, but only if the baby is truly a baby and can't understand you, because otherwise it's a condescending thing to say, even to a child. It's worse because it's something you presumably say to another person, as if the person you're complaining about is not there. Grow up, be direct, tell the person to stop complaining or whatever, but please shove your faux-cutesy passive-aggressive "SOMEBODY'S CRANKY." As for the pun of it all, I guess it's OK. You do "crank" the items in question, although the salad spinner we use (OXO?) works by a button-depression mechanism; you sorta press up and down repeatedly on this large button on top of the spinner and it ... well, spins it. No cranking involved. But I think the "normal" mechanism is a crank, so the answer fits the theme just fine. The theme is trying real hard to be jolly, with wacky "?" clues on every theme answer, despite the fact that the wackiness has absolutely nothing to do with the theme. Usually, when all the themers get "?" clues, there's some cohesive reason. Similar wordplay happening in every case, something like that. Today... the "?" clues seem to have been added because frankly everything else is pretty dull. The fill is pretty musty across the board, from old standards like ABET and ACAI (and ICEE and EON and ADO and OKRA and NYET and EDAM and ALOHA and LAILA and ANA and ELOPE) to a circus troupe's worth of abbrevs. (ASMR ADHD TMI AKA LSAT RTE ASSN). There are five 7+-letter non-theme answers, and they're fine, though MAIN MENUS feels like a waste of space. There just wasn't much spark here. The revealer pun is decent, but the puzzle doesn't have much else to recommend it.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mkuB6C3g7 ... dmlZ7NbCuS
The Downs-only solve was a bear for me today, or a partial bear, I guess, but only because I made stupid mistakes and assumptions. The mistake was LAP CAT for PET CAT (something about the "pet" even now seems oddly redundant, though I recognize that PET CAT is a real phrase) (49D: Companion that might fall asleep on your keyboard). Something about the "keyboard" bit made me think that the cat had been on your lap and then ... crawled up on your computer? I don't know. Maybe I envisioned this because I'm currently sitting at a desk in front of a computer ... though my cats are nowhere to be seen right now (although Ida is wandering around crying for some reason, or no reason). LAP CAT was a horrible mistake to make because both the "A" and the "P" from LAP checked out (giving me ADAM and GAPE, respectively, instead of the ultimately correct EDAM and GATE). Because the "A" and "P" checked out, I didn't doubt the "L" ... and somehow convinced myself that a SALAD SLINGER was a thing. This put a "G" right in the middle of the one Down answer I was really having trouble with: 34D: Navigational aids for website users (MAIN MENUS). I figured out the MENUS bit eventually, but the incorrect "G" had me guessing BLOG MENUS at one point, and then when that didn't work ... I was stuck. Somehow, I don't know how—possibly by just taking the "G" out—I was able to conjure up MAIN. Then realized SLINNER wasn't a word. Then noticed it should be SPINNER. And PET CAT. Sigh. Dug a hole, stayed in it a while, climbed out. I had some trouble earlier with DANCE CREW (3D: Certain group of hip-hop performers), but that just took some persistence with the crosses. Never got well and truly stuck. Oh, I did have some trouble with SPLEEN (5D: White blood cell producer said to be shaped like a coffee bean). Turns out I had no idea what the SPLEEN did! "White blood cell producer," you say? "Shaped like a coffee bean," it's said? News to me, and also news to me.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/tutTrmBWc ... S0GZb7tL-O
Bullets:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9QFWA5_- ... FjjE3oJaU9
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
Support this blog :
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Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)
THEME: "SOMEBODY'S CRANKY" (59A: Response to a series of complaints ... that also jokingly applies to 17-, 27- and 47-Across) — things that you crank:Theme answers:
- PENCIL SHARPENER (17A: Device that helps you make a point in class?)
- JACK-IN-THE-BOX (27A: Toy likely to be found at a pop-up store?)
- SALAD SPINNER (47A: Revolutionary kitchen gadget?)
An autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation and pleasant form of paresthesia, that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. ASMR has been compared with synesthesia and may overlap with frisson. ASMR is a subjective experience of "low-grade euphoria" characterized by "a combination of positive feelings and a distinct static-like tingling sensation on the skin". It is most commonly triggered by specific auditory and visual stimuli, and less commonly by intentional attention control. The term can also refer to media (usually audiovisual) meant to evoke this phenomenon, with the sensation itself being informally referred to as "tingles". (wikipedia)• • • 
If you say "SOMEBODY'S CRANKY" to someone, you deserve to get smacked (I'm very anti-violence, so no smacking, but it is what you deserve). You can say it about a fussy baby, maybe, but only if the baby is truly a baby and can't understand you, because otherwise it's a condescending thing to say, even to a child. It's worse because it's something you presumably say to another person, as if the person you're complaining about is not there. Grow up, be direct, tell the person to stop complaining or whatever, but please shove your faux-cutesy passive-aggressive "SOMEBODY'S CRANKY." As for the pun of it all, I guess it's OK. You do "crank" the items in question, although the salad spinner we use (OXO?) works by a button-depression mechanism; you sorta press up and down repeatedly on this large button on top of the spinner and it ... well, spins it. No cranking involved. But I think the "normal" mechanism is a crank, so the answer fits the theme just fine. The theme is trying real hard to be jolly, with wacky "?" clues on every theme answer, despite the fact that the wackiness has absolutely nothing to do with the theme. Usually, when all the themers get "?" clues, there's some cohesive reason. Similar wordplay happening in every case, something like that. Today... the "?" clues seem to have been added because frankly everything else is pretty dull. The fill is pretty musty across the board, from old standards like ABET and ACAI (and ICEE and EON and ADO and OKRA and NYET and EDAM and ALOHA and LAILA and ANA and ELOPE) to a circus troupe's worth of abbrevs. (ASMR ADHD TMI AKA LSAT RTE ASSN). There are five 7+-letter non-theme answers, and they're fine, though MAIN MENUS feels like a waste of space. There just wasn't much spark here. The revealer pun is decent, but the puzzle doesn't have much else to recommend it. https://www.youtube.com/embed/mkuB6C3g7 ... dmlZ7NbCuS
The Downs-only solve was a bear for me today, or a partial bear, I guess, but only because I made stupid mistakes and assumptions. The mistake was LAP CAT for PET CAT (something about the "pet" even now seems oddly redundant, though I recognize that PET CAT is a real phrase) (49D: Companion that might fall asleep on your keyboard). Something about the "keyboard" bit made me think that the cat had been on your lap and then ... crawled up on your computer? I don't know. Maybe I envisioned this because I'm currently sitting at a desk in front of a computer ... though my cats are nowhere to be seen right now (although Ida is wandering around crying for some reason, or no reason). LAP CAT was a horrible mistake to make because both the "A" and the "P" from LAP checked out (giving me ADAM and GAPE, respectively, instead of the ultimately correct EDAM and GATE). Because the "A" and "P" checked out, I didn't doubt the "L" ... and somehow convinced myself that a SALAD SLINGER was a thing. This put a "G" right in the middle of the one Down answer I was really having trouble with: 34D: Navigational aids for website users (MAIN MENUS). I figured out the MENUS bit eventually, but the incorrect "G" had me guessing BLOG MENUS at one point, and then when that didn't work ... I was stuck. Somehow, I don't know how—possibly by just taking the "G" out—I was able to conjure up MAIN. Then realized SLINNER wasn't a word. Then noticed it should be SPINNER. And PET CAT. Sigh. Dug a hole, stayed in it a while, climbed out. I had some trouble earlier with DANCE CREW (3D: Certain group of hip-hop performers), but that just took some persistence with the crosses. Never got well and truly stuck. Oh, I did have some trouble with SPLEEN (5D: White blood cell producer said to be shaped like a coffee bean). Turns out I had no idea what the SPLEEN did! "White blood cell producer," you say? "Shaped like a coffee bean," it's said? News to me, and also news to me.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/tutTrmBWc ... S0GZb7tL-O
Bullets:
- 45A: Former boxer Ali who voiced herself in a "Scooby Doo" series (LAILA) — everything after "Ali" in this clue feels unnecessary. Is this how people know LAILA Ali? Is this a definitive accomplishment? Also, how many "Scooby Doo" series are there??? If you aren't willing to be specific, then why are you adding this useless bit of trivia at all?
- 52A: Semihard cheese of North Holland (EDAM) — speaking of Holland, that NED-JAP World Cup match was great. Netherlands tried semihard to win, but Japan scored an amazing equalizer late to tie 'em (I really wanted to say "b-EDAM," but Japan didn't win so I couldn't, alas).
https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9QFWA5_- ... FjjE3oJaU9
- 10D: False reason given for doing something (PRETEXT) — what's the difference between "pretense" and PRETEXT? It looks like, in this case, they're basically synonyms ("Pretense" def. 2: "A professed but feigned reason or excuse; a pretext.")
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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