Title: A MATTER OF DEGREE
Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel
Editor: Erik Agard
Theme Answers:
A FEW GOOD MEN (30A: “You can’t handle the truth!” movie
MANY-FACETED (48A: Like a brilliant-cut diamond)
ALL SET TO GO (64A: Totally ready)
Theme synopsis: The beginnings of the theme answers progress from ONE → A FEW →MANY → ALL.
Things I learned:
- GILA (37A: Colorado River tributary) When I see this word, I generally think of Gila monsters. Although the Gila River is 649 miles long, irrigation and municipal water diversions have turned it into a mostly dry river. Located in Arizona and New Mexico, between 1848 and 1853 the Gila River served as part of the border between the United States and Mexico.
- NOLAN (18D: TV host Katie who set a donut-stacking world record) Katie Nolan is a sports television host. Her Guinness World Record is for stacking donuts in a tower while blindfolded. She set this record by stacking seven donuts on the November 7, 2018 episode of Always Late.
- ELENA (33D: “___ of Avalor”) Elena of Avalor is a Disney channel computer-animated TV series. Aimee Carrero voices the teen Latina princess, Elena, who has saved the magical kingdom of Avalor from an evil sorcerer.
Random thoughts and interesting things:
- LEO (65D: Summer zodiac sign) As the only three-letter zodiac symbol, Leo pops up in crossword puzzles a lot. I happen to be a Leo, so it always makes me smile.
There were a couple of things in this puzzle that weren’t necessarily new to me, but the puzzle allowed me an opportunity to refresh my knowledge.
- RHINO (40A: Horned ungulate on safaris) Ungulates are mammals with hooves. The word ungulate is roughly translated as “being hoofed.”
- INCA (11D: Ancient Cuzco dweller) Cuzco is a city in southeastern Peru. Sometime in the early 13th century, the Inca civilization emerged in the Peruvian highlands. The Incan Empire was the largest Empire in pre-Columbian America.
I enjoyed this puzzle. It was fairly straightforward, but that’s not a bad thing.
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