Who? What? Where? (New York Times 12/4/2020)

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This is a puzzle that's either going to go down smooth or have you pulling out your hair. It all depends on how well you know the many people and places referenced in this puzzle. If you're a music buff, cinephile, or a mixture of both, you'll probably sail right through. If, like me, your knowledge of those categories is lacking, you're going to have to rely on crosses to fill in many of this puzzle's longer answers. It was doable, but admittedly difficult.

On the technical side, this was a fine puzzle. The clues ranged from good to excellent, and the answers were fitting. Being a Friday puzzle, there was a dearth of short answers and a plethora of long ones which forces solvers to either piece together the puzzle using knowledge of the subject matter or mining the few 'easy' answers for all they're worth. 

Here are all the people you should know in this puzzle:

• Donald FAGEN: lead singer of Steely Dan and answer to the clue at 11D

• Jim Croce: Singer and song writer whose song IGOTANAME is the answer to 12D

• NEAL Stephenson: American speculative fiction writer and the answer to 24A
  

• ANN (Patchett and Brashares): American authors, the latter of which is famous for the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series. They are references in the clue at 44A

• GRETAGERWIG: Academy Award-nominated director of Lady Bird and Little Women. Answer to 53A.

• Issa RAE: American actress, writer and producer known for Insecure which currently airs on HBO. She makes many appears in the New York Times Crossword.
  

• NATALIECOLE: Multiple Grammy Award-winning artist whose album Unforgettable... with Love is the backbone of the clue at 56A.

• MARCO Andretti: IndyCar racer and part of the Andretti family that has been a big name in racing for generations. 

Tackling the long answers in this puzzle ultimately boiled down to knowing many of the aforementioned people... or getting what you could from the crossings. Not all of the crossing clues were simple, but most of them were just the right shade of difficult to leave one satisfied, rather than flummoxed, at the answers. Of note were:

• 21D "Leaves home" ... TEAPOT
  

• 23D "It bears repeating" ... MANTRA

• 29D "Ending with love or snooze" ... FEST

• 38D "Sticky stuff" ... PINETAR

• 37A "6-9 months?" ... SUMMER

• 39A "File extensions" ... TABS

• 49A "Choppered in or out, say" ... AIRLIFTED

• 51A "Figure that goes through the roof in December?" ... SANTA

If I have any complaint, its the crossings of 11D, 12D and 24A. Two of the answers deal with musicians (one a name and the other the title of a song) while the last with an author. This can be tough normally, especially if you're not up-to-speed in those areas. But this crossing is especially tricky to navigate since the answer at 24A is only four letters; two of them hogged by trivia-esque answers and another by a tricky, but wonderful, pun clue. I can see this spot being a sticking point for many solvers and one that could have been avoided.

All in all, this was a solid puzzle and a great example of what Friday's with the Times are like. Difficult, hard-thinking, puns, wordplay and trivia. It all melds together beautifully and even if you have to resort to a little research to get it all done, you'll come away a better solver for what you've learned, rather than just feeling defeated by what you didn't.

Hopefully!

Whether you rocked this puzzle or you're just here for the answers, sound off in the comments and let me know what you thought. About the puzzle, or this review! And of course, the answers:

 

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