‘Not Today, Satan!’ – The New York Times

SATURDAY PUZZLE — It has been a few years since we’ve seen this byline, but David Levinson Wilk was a regular constructor of daily crosswords for The New York Times in the late 1990s. His work includes a run of good Sunday grids — one of which is in my mental pantheon of funny schticks — as well as several Friday themeless puzzles and one prior Saturday.

Today’s crossword has some excellent wordplay and a great range of trivia, making it vibrant and a little bit chewy, especially because of how challenging clues are distributed. There are a lot of somewhat nasty crossings that led to a wide smattering of blank squares in my almost-solved grid that I had to pick through.

Tricky Clues

7A. [Get to know a little better, say] solves to BONE UP ON, a phrase that usually refers to studying. While this is a debut entry, it’s a common expression that has been in the vernacular for over a century. Because of that, I would have guessed it had originated from some Victorian medical reference, but the plausible theories that I found don’t mention anatomy lessons (or grave robbers, fortunately). One is that “bone” is actually a homonym for Henry George Bohn, the publisher of a tremendously popular 19th-century series of reasonably priced reference books called the “Bohn’s Libraries.” Another has to do with the use of bones to polish leather, and some people attribute the phrase to West Point academic slang.

27A. This is another entry that has never been in the Times Crossword, and its clue is both nice wordplay and a good misdirect. [It’s a lot for one person to take] sounds vaguely piteous and solves to GROUP SELFIE, which can be a tough job, what with the angles and instant feedback.

50A. [Determine the going price?] has to be the gotcha pun clue of the day: It solves to SET BAIL, the action taken by a judge so you can leave jail (if you can cough up the dough).

59A. The [Animated character with a signature quiff hairstyle] here is TINTIN, the Belgian boy reporter whose adventures first appeared in print in the 1920s. “Quiff” is a great term that sounds a bit French — “coif” — and a bit Dutch — “kuif,” which means tuft.

6D. Sometimes a clue takes me forever to figure out, as was the case here. [Gate] solves to RECEIPTS, as in attendance ticket sales at an event.

7D. This clue refers to one of New York City’s biggest cultural accomplishments. But for non-New Yorkers, it might be hard to deduce. [Hip-hop’s birthplace, colloquially”] solves to a Times debut: the BOOGIE DOWN BRONX, where early 1970s performers, rappers and D.J.s evolved a new style that changed popular music forever.

38D. This clue was a memory test for me, and I failed it. The [1980s chart-topping band with a semi-duplicative name] is MR. MISTER. The band was absolutely everywhere back then and scored a handful of new wave hits. Apparently, its members still get together on occasion (such as for a 2023 performance and recording to celebrate everyone’s birthdays).

Constructor Notes

Not at all surprised to see “Gets one’s shirt together?” — my submitted clue for 55-Across — changed by the editing team. Just mentioning it here for people’s amusement. Happy Saturday, everyone.