SATURDAY PUZZLE — This is David Distenfeld’s 4th regular grid for The New York Times. Like his different themeless Friday and Saturday puzzles, this 1 brings america bawdy, zeitgeisty debuts. (Did immoderate of today’s wordplay marque you accidental CAN WE NOT? OK, BOOMER.) There are galore surprises, but contiguous a flexible caput volition bash arsenic good arsenic 1 stuffed with trivia.

Tricky Clues

16A. I had truthful overmuch affection for this pun hint — “Digital filing service?” — that I didn’t caput getting misdirected successful the slightest. I had “manicure” and felt precise clever, but the introduction is doubly luxurious; 4 sets of digits get buffed during a MANI PEDI.

29A. “Giving a intersexual mentation to astir immoderate statement, say” is intelligibly DIRTY-MINDED. The powerfulness of suggestion, then, got maine reasoning of oysters and billets-doux astatine 32A, “Like mussels oregon immoderate letters,” which tin beryllium STEAMED OPEN. Finally, astatine 34A, “U.S. radical with six branches” refers to the lusty clasp of the American ARMED FORCES.

14D. In different perchance intentional intersection, this entry’s origin is military. “Ordinary members” are RANK AND FILE, which crosses ARMED FORCES. The “rank” refers to a partition of soldiers, broadside by side; the “file” is the extent of soldiers lasting 1 down the other.

Constructor Notes

I cognize solvers are often turned disconnected by an abundance of names successful the grid, but I guarantee you the names successful this crossword are rather purposeful and idiosyncratic to me. In fact, this puzzle is filled with dozens, if not baker’s dozens, of names that person existent meaning successful my life. To item conscionable a few:

SHELBY (1D) is my sister’s name.

DANNY (7D) is the sanction of 1 of my oldest friends. It’s besides the sanction I’m called by radical who’ve met maine erstwhile and lone vaguely retrieve my existent name.

RYAN (45A) is my assemblage champion friend’s name.

SEXILED (2D) was sadly a predominant nickname of excavation successful college.

So was SNOTTY (41D), little truthful due to the fact that of immoderate hoity-toity cognition and much due to the fact that of my terrible allergies to dander and pollen.

ELI (39A) is the sanction I’m called by radical who’ve met maine erstwhile and don’t person the vaguest thought what my existent sanction is.

SIRI (24A) is the sanction of the virtual adjunct connected my iPhone 13.

SUZANNE (18A) is the sanction of the virtual adjunct connected my gray-blue Nokia flip phone. Still waiting for her to reply my questions.

MANI PEDI (16A) is my rap name.

RAP STAR (14A) is the sanction I usage erstwhile I cheque successful to nail salons.

And ZOOM MEETING (19D) is the sanction I’m called by radical who person some ne'er met maine and who seemingly don’t cognize what a sanction is.

Again, I guarantee you these are each 100 percent existent oregon my sanction isn’t Eli Snotty Distenfeld.

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