Los Angeles suburb bordering Griffith Park / FRI 12-4-20 / 6-9 months / 1986 sci-fi film sequel / Trees symbolizing death in Celtic culture / Survivor at the end of Hamlet / Brand for determining if you're expecting

Constructor: Patti Varol and Doug Peterson

Relative difficulty: Easy or Easy-Medium, maybe (solved methodically, early in the morning, and still came in only a shade over 5)

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: Donald FAGEN (11D: Steely Dan singer Donald) —

Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s. He has also released four albums as a solo artist and in 2001 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 2017 death of Steely Dan's co-founder Walter Beckerleft Fagen as the only remaining original member. (wikipedia)

• • •

These two! I know and love them both, and know they are friends, but I don't think I've ever seen them on the same byline, which seems bizarre. They are both veteran puzzle-makers (and editors), and they both live in the L.A. area (hence, I assume, the little GLENDALE wink in this puzzle) (36D: Los Angeles suburb bordering Griffith Park). Anyway, they are delightful and this puzzle was delightful. Friday, best day, so happy. Patti and Doug are both roughly my age (uh ... grownup age) so I'm not too surprised that I was right on this puzzle's cultural wavelength, right from the beginning. Best of all, the proper names gave me almost no trouble—it is a little name-heavy, which is the only (admittedly mild) criticism I have. Maybe FAGEN crossing NEAL might've roughed some solvers up? I don't know how that box could be anything but an "N," but still, when you cross names like that, you gotta make sure the cross is at least inferrable. Me, I own three of Donald FAGEN's solo albums and one of my good friends (mystery writer and former student of mine, Libby Cudmore) is a Steely Dan superfan. She actually gave me one of my Donald FAGEN albums—his most recent one, Sunken Condos (2012). My sister loves Steely Dan and FAGEN's solo albums too. And they say Steely Dan is just for dudes. Shrug. So FAGEN's name, easy for me, and NEAL Stephenson, same, as I just read the gigantic and slightly harrowing Fall; or Dodge in Hell last summer. I also read Snow Crash back in grad school (aka the '90s). Hey, Stephenson wrote Snow Crash, and Donald FAGEN has a song on Kamakiriad (1993) called "Snowbound," so ... Snow Crash crossing "Snowbound." This pleases me. 

Grew up listening to Jim Croce (one of my dad's favorites) so "I GOT A NAME," also a piece of cake. GRETA GERWIG! Nice one. Just watched her Little Women for the first time a couple months ago. Basically everything was coming up Rex today. Some days, you get lucky.

The one name that did give me trouble was NATALIE COLE, and only because NAT KING COLE fits in the same number of boxes (56A: "Unforgettable ... With Love" Grammy recipient). I know she sang "Unforgettable" as a duet with her father, who had been dead well over two decades at that point. So because he made the song famous, and I had NAT- in place, I just automatically dropped in KING COLE. But then KING started chafing (as wrong answers will), and the "K" in particular became impossible, and then click, oh yeah, NATALIE! ("Unforgettable ... With Love" is actually the name of a Grammy-winning *album*). Only other thing I struggled at all with was CAMPY, actually (1D: Absurdly exaggerated). Needed every cross. The clue is accurate enough, it's just ... without proper context, I couldn't find my way from the clue to the answer. These things happen. I'm glad I already had the "C" in place by the time I saw the clue for MARCO (45D: One of the racing Andrettis) because I would definitely have dropped in MARIO and it would've felt *very* right ... until it wasn't. I didn't even know there *was* a MARCO, but the "C" was solid and MARCO was the only name I could make there. Again, lucky. It was a good day.

Just in case the logic escaped you:

• 37A: 6-9 months (SUMMER) — because 6 = June, 7= July, 8 = August
• 42A: Pair of skivvies? (VEES) — because there are a "pair" of VEES in the word "skivvies" 

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld 

P.S. Happy Birthday to Jay-Z, who turns 51 today. 

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