Solution: Dress-up at a comic con - NYT Crossword

The first challenge for some of us when encountering “Dress-up at a comic con” might be figuring out the ol’ comic con part. Is this term widely known at this point? New York’s goes back to 2006 and it looks like the San Diego Comic Convention started in 1971. The art of dressing as featured characters is COSPLAY, a term coined in Japan in the ’80s. I would say something about nothing new under the sun, as we’ve been playing masquerade as a species for millenniums, but these costumes are really something else. New York’s con is in less than a week, guys! Come to think of it, maybe Sam has sequestered himself in his sewing room.