November 9, 2025

Title: WHAT A LETDOWN

Constructor: Amie Walker

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• IT'S A WHOLE THING (4D: "Too complicated to get into")
• GOOGLE TRANSLATE (6D: Helpful online tool for learning a new language)
• SETTLE THE SCORE (14D: Get revenge)

WHAT A LETDOWN: The word LET is found going DOWN in each vertical theme answer: IT'S A WHOLE THING, GOOGLE TRANSLATE, and SETTLE THE SCORE.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• TPS (9A: ___ report ("Office Space" task now used to connote pointless paperwork)) Office Space is a 1999 satirical movie about working in an office at a typical software company. Ron Livingston portrays Peter Gibbons, a disgruntled programmer at Initech. In the movie, Peter omits a cover sheet to send in with his TPS reports, and is asked about it by multiple managers and coworkers. After the movie came out, "TPS report" began to be associated with pointless paperwork. A TPS report is an actual document used in software engineering, where TPS stands for "test procedure specification."
• AMEN BREAK (55A: Heavily sampled 1969 percussion loop) The AMEN BREAK is a seven-second drum BREAK in the 1969 song, "AMEN, Brother," recorded by the Winstons. The four-bar drum solo was performed by Gregory Coleman. The AMEN BREAK has been sampled by musicians from multiple music genres, and it may be the most heavily sampled drum BREAK ever.
• CARA (34D: Performer Alessia) Alessia CARA is a Canadian singer and songwriter who gained popularity after she began posting acoustic covers of songs to YouTube when she was 13 years old. Her debut studio, Know-It-All was released in 2015. In 2018, she wan a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Alessia CARA's fourth album, Love & Hyperbole was released in February of this year.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• EMOTE (12A: Show some feeling!) The exclamation point here alerts solvers to interpret the clue literally. To EMOTE is to show some feeling.
• NORSE (15A: Like Frigg and Odin) In NORSE mythology, Frigg and Odin are a married couple. Frigg is a goddess associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance, and motherhood. The god Odin is regarded as a god of war, wisdom, and death. He is often portrayed as one-eyed, having sacrificed his other eye for wisdom.
• ATOM (20A: Bohr-ing subject?) The question mark in the clue alert solvers that there is some trickiness to this clue. The spelling of "Bohr-ing" is the indication that the clue is referencing Niels Bohr (1885-1962), a theoretical physicist whose work was foundational in understanding the structure of the ATOM. Niels Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.
• RACHEL (24A: "Superman" star Brosnahan) In the 2025 movie Superman, RACHEL Brosnahan portrays Lois Lane.
• PURRS (37A: Sounds from happy cats) My cat, Willow, PURRS with delight in response to this clue.

• THAI (38A: Like pad woon sen) Pad woon sen, also known as THAI glass noodle stir-fry, is a variation of pad THAI that uses glass noodles (transparent noodles also known as cellophane noodles).
• Amie has treated us to a trio of Taylor Swift-related clues:
• STAKE (40A: "Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know what's at ___ here") "Ain't no way I'm gonna screw up now that I know what's at STAKE here," is a line from Taylor Swift's 2024 song, "Fresh Out the Slammer," from the album, The Tortured Poets Department.
• ARENAS (44A: The Eras Tour venues) Taylor Swift's Eras Tour lasted from March 2023 to December 2024. During that time, Taylor Swift performed 149 shows in 51 cities across 21 countries. That's a lot of ARENAS! Fun fact: During the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift wore more than 60 outfits and more than 250 custom pairs of shoes (designed by Christian Louboutin).
• WHO'S (46A: "___ Afraid of Little Old Me?") Here's another Taylor Swift song from The Tortured Poets Department, "WHO'S Afraid of Little Old Me?"
• SONG (58A: "She Paints Me Blue" or "Dark Blue") Blue is my favorite color, so I approve of the "blue" connection between these two SONG examples. "She Paints Me Blue" is a SONG from Something Corporate's 2003 album, North. "Dark Blue" is a 2006 SONG by Jack's Mannequin, from their album, Everything in Transit. 
• ARTS (59A: The "A: of STEAM) In education, STEAM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, ARTS, and math.
• NEMO (7D: "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, ___!" ("Finding ___" quote)) In the 2003 animated movie, Finding NEMO, Marlin, who is NEMO's dad, tells him, "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, NEMO!" If you've seen the movie, you know this protective parenting moment doesn't end well.
• DALI (17D: Surrealist Salvador) Salvador DALI (1904-1989) was a Spanish artist known for his surrealist paintings. Salvador DALI was also a problematic character.
• BAR SEAT (23D: High chair?) The question mark at the end of the clue alerts solvers this is not a high chair used for babies, but rather a BAR SEAT, a high chair at a BAR.
• RENT (24D: "Take Me or Leave Me" musical) On October 21, we saw RENT clued as ["I'll Cover You" musical]. On October 23, we saw RENT clued as ["One Song Glory" musical]. Today we're continuing our journey through the 42 songs of Jonathan Larson's musical RENT with the song "Take Me or Leave Me." In the original Broadway production of RENT in 1996, "Take Me or Leave Me" was performed by Idina Menzel and Fredi Walker, who played the roles of Maureen and Joanne. I'm here for this journey, by the way. What song will we next see in a RENT clue?
• WREN (46D: Cactus ___ (Arizona birds)) The cactus WREN is the state bird of Arizona. The cactus WREN is named for its habit of building nests, roosting, and seeking protection from predators in saguaro and cholla cactus.
• PERU (50D: Where Carmen Sandiego was when she "stole the beans from Lima") This clue makes me happy! Carmen Sandiego is the fictional criminal mastermind of the Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? franchise. In the video games, movies, and TV series that bear her name, Carmen Sandiego and her fellow crooks steal a number of famous artifacts and cultural items such as "the beans from Lima" in the capital of PERU.
• SHE'S (54D: First word in a "Barbie" tagline) The tagline of the 2023 movie Barbie is "SHE'S everything. He's just Ken."

 Contrary to its title, this puzzle was not a LETDOWN. I was able to guess today's theme from the title, and that always makes me feel smart. The theme answers are all great as well. I like imagining that IT'S A WHOLE THING and SETTLE THE SCORE could be interconnected. Thank you, Amie, for this enjoyable puzzle.