Whiskey portion of a boilermaker / TUE 4-14-26 / Cincinnati trio? / “Just so you know,” online / Chatted via Teams, say / Tail-less cat breed / Locale of a lab rat / Defense grp. since 1949 / Automaker with a six-star logo / Done with boozing / Lederhosen typically end above one / Board game set in a mansion / Count in the cereal aisle

• “WHAT’S NEW WITH YOU?” (16A: “Been a while! Any updates?”)
• HASHES IT OUT (26A: Talks through a sticking point, say)
• APPLE ICLOUD (44A: Online storage option since 2011)
• WATERING TROUGHS (57A: Ranch fixtures for livestock)

Word of the Day: boilermaker (43A: Whiskey portion of a boilermaker = SHOT) —

A boilermaker is either of two types of beer cocktail. In American terminology, the drink consists of a glass of beer mixed with a shot of whiskey. In England, the term boilermaker traditionally refers to a half pint of draught mild ale mixed with a half pint of bottled brown ale. // The American cocktail originated in Butte, Montana in the 1890s. It was originally called a Sean O’Farrell and was served only when miners ended their shifts. // When the beer is instead served separately as a chaser, that is often called simply a shot and a beer. In Scotland, the serving of a half pint of beer alongside a “wee hauf” glass of whisky (one-quarter gill, 36 ml) is called a half and a half. […] There are a number of ways to drink an American beer chaser:

Traditionally, the liquor is consumed in a single gulp and is then “chased” by the beer, which is sipped.

The liquor and beer may be mixed by pouring or dropping the shot into the beer. The mixture may be stirred. If the shot glass is dropped into the beer glass, the drink can also be known as a depth charge. (wikipedia)

• • •

I rarely say this, but I don’t understand how this puzzle got accepted. The theme is completely uninspired. I mean, you get a couple of nice-ish phrases out of it (the first two), but … AEIOU?! That’s it? That’s your revealer?? Just … the vowels themselves? ABSTEMIOUS has all the vowels appearing exactly once, in order, is that interesting? (A: no). TRADE DISCOUNT? MACRONUTRIENT? AMBIDEXTROUS? GATHERING CLOUDS? HALF-SERIOUS? (these were all actually used in previous NYTXW clues for AIEOU). I just don’t get it. Like, I don’t get how this “theme” was deemed special enough to run. I feel like I must be missing something, some hook that elevates this above what it appears to be, which is just … answers with the vowels in order. That’s it. End of story. It’s baffling. It’s not bad, it’s just not … enough. Not sophisticated enough, not clever enough. The fact that these answers have this one feature is, at best, a curiosity, a polite “huh, interesting.” As for the fill, it’s mostly stale, with little to offer in the way of genuine interest, and the cluing is plain and straightforward. SNATCHED UP and ON THE WAGON are perfectly solid long Downs, but the rest of it is really quite dull, and loaded with overfamiliar repeaters. AAHS AWW NTH IMED INHD and on and on, including the always hateful but somehow undying (if not UNDEAD) IRES (no one says this) (32A: Angers). I can’t think of when I’ve had less to say about a puzzle. It’s just not giving me … anything. Not even truly terrible stuff, or weird stuff, new stuff. It’s just bog-standard puzzle stuff that (with the exception of APPLE ICLOUD) feels like it was made decades ago. In fact, I thought, “surely this has been done before, in the olden days.” And in fact, yes. At least twice (in ’96 and ’03) puzzles have had theme answers where every vowel appears just once, but not in order (!?), and then one other time (’07) there was a puzzle (a Sunday-sized puzzle) with this exact theme. Identical. Even uses one of the same examples (“watering trough”). On the one hand, the theme hasn’t been done in almost 20 years, so who cares? On the other hand, yes: Who Cares? 

Bullets:

• 38A: Force of habit, for some, in brief (OCD) — Kind of a weird clue. I guess the idea is that you take the generic phrase “force of habit” (which is not in any way OCD) and imagine it literally? Like, OCD is a “force” behind certain (often debilitatingly) habitual behaviors? Don’t love it.
• 47D: Cincinnati trio? (ENS) — a “letteral” clue—the clue refers to the “N”s (ENS) in the name “Cincinnati.” 
• 51D: “Just so you know,” online (FWIW) — “for what it’s worth.”

That’s all for today. Sorry. I told you I didn’t have anything to say about this puzzle. It’s just not giving me anything to work with, or even be curious about. I do think it’s kinda funny (in a wry, ironic sort of way) that SHOT (43A: Whiskey portion of a boilermaker) and BREW (49A: Batch of ale) both cross ON THE WAGON. I’m also now amusing myself by imagining Count CHOCULA’s Tinder bio: “UNDEAD, UNWED.” But I think I’m done entertaining myself, though. Gonna try to go back to sleep. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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