I figured out my first term at 36-Across, “Public stance of a member of Congress?,” which solves to WASHINGTON POSTURE. This works with the clue and breaks down to WASHINGTON POST + URE. That was the trick I needed to finish 74-Across, which is coincidentally also media-adjacent: “Newspaper write-up that’s light on criticism?” is NO MEAN FEATURE, a play on “no mean feat,” of course (and a good pun to describe a “puff piece,” should you ever catch a glimpse of one in the wild). Now, note the puzzle’s title, which uses a homophone. “You’re Onto Something” hints at the trick; add “U-R-E,” pronounced “you’re,” onto something to get each theme entry.
Not every answer tacks “U-R-E” on to the end. At 49-Across, “Shepherd’s job, essentially?,” solves to PASTURE CARING, for instance, which creates a funny little oxymoron since a “past caring” attitude would disqualify anyone from tending my sheep, should I ever have any. This entry is one of my favorites, as is 63-Across, “Turn more heads than intended?,” which is ALLURE TOO WELL.
Tricky Clues
4A/10D. This is an interesting crossing of animal factoids, neither of which I knew. “In South America they’re known as ‘gallinas de palo,’ or ‘chickens of the tree,’” at 4A, solves to IGUANAS; 10D, “Porpoise, in old usage,” is SEAHOG. “Porpoise” is from the Old French for “pig fish,” which might have occurred to any of you who know your porc and poisson.
44A. This is one of those cases where a couple of letters from crossing entries that should have been hints somehow misled me. I had _ G _ R in this spot, for the clue “Clichéd name for a lab assistant,” and went with “agar” for some reason, the gel that goes in petri dishes for some science experiments. The answer, of course, is IGOR, Dr. Frankenstein’s right-hand man.
82A. The “Object with one hole or two, depending on whom you ask,” is a TUBE. (It’s two, right? Who knows?)
