June 13, 2020

Title: SEEN IN D.C.

Constructor: Evan Kalish

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

DON'T PANIC (17A: "Remain calm!")
DRAMA CRITIC (27A: Play reviewer)
DATELINE NBC (49A:Long-running TV newsmagazine)
DEFY LOGIC (64A: Make absolutely no sense)

Theme synopsis: The theme answers are not things you might see in the District of Columbia, but rather two word phrases that begin with the letter D and end with the letter C. I like the play on words - the theme phrases are actually contained within the letters D and C, thus "Seen in D.C."

And now a word from our constructor:

Evan: The natural successor to “I Found a CD!” was “Seen in DC.” I enjoyed the pairing of 5- and 28-Down. My favorite clues that I wrote are 16-Across and 50-Down, and I learned something from Erik at 36-Across!

Things I learned:

• ALEX ( Comedian Borstein) ALEX Borstein is an actress and comedian. She won a Primetime Emmy award for voicing the character of Lois Griffin on Family Guy. She also plays Susie Myerson on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
• RABBI (The first ordained female one was Regina Jonas in 1935) Evan noted this as one of his favorite clues, and I appreciated learning about Regina Jonas. As you might imagine, she did not have an easy path. To fulfill ordination requirements, Jonas wrote a thesis on the topic "Can a Woman Be a Rabbi According to Halachic Sources?" Her conclusion was yes, but not all were convinced. Sadly, Regina Jonas died at Auschwitz in 1944 at the age of 42. Her work was ignored until 1991.
• ABLE (Surname of Sable and Mabel in "Animal Crossing") Sable and Mable ABLE are hedgehogs in the Animal Crossing series of video games. In the Animal Crossing games, the player assumes the role of a character who explores an island and interacts with anthropomorphic animals. The latest version, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released in March 2020 and became popular with many people staying at home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was aware of Animal Crossing, but haven't played it and didn't know these characters. ABLE was easily achievable from crosses and inferable from rhyming. Fun to learn about these anthropomorphic hedgehogs.

Some expansion of my culinary knowledge today:

• SESAME (36A: Jian dui ingredient) Jian dui is a type of fried Chinese pastry that is coated with SESAME seeds on the outside.
• EAT (Enjoy some aloo tiki, say) "Aloo" means potato and "tikki" means croquette in Hindi and Marathi. Aloo tikki is made with potatoes, peas and curry spices. Aloo tikki is served with a variety of dipping sauces.

 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• RARE (15A: Far from ubiquitous) Ubiquitous happens to be my favorite word! It always makes me smile to encounter it. Do you have a favorite word?
• OBIT (11D: Any entry in the NYT's "Overlooked" series) The New York Times says about its "Overlooked" series: "Since 1851, obituaries in The New York Times have been dominated by white men. Now, we're adding the stories of other remarkable people." It's a fascinating series, and I recommend it.
• EVITA (55D: Musical about Eva Peron) I saw EVITA for the first time this past February. Eva Perón was an interesting person. Also, this was the second to last theater production I saw before the coronavirus pandemic. (I saw Anastasia on March 1.) I miss theater and look forward to the time when it's safe to enjoy live theater productions again.
• GRACIAS (5D: "Danke," in Spanish) and MERCI (28D: "Danke," in French) This was a fun clue pairing using German to clue the Spanish and French words for "Thank you." In junior high I took a quarter of French. In high school, I took a semester of Spanish. In college I took a year of German. As a result, I can't speak any of those languages, but I can say "thank you" and count to ten in all of them!
• DON'T PANIC (17A: "Remain calm!") This phrase always reminds me of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

More geography review today:

• TAIPEI (24A: Taiwan's capital) TAIPEI is officially known as Taipei City and is an enclave of New Taipei City.
• LIMA (35A: Peru's capital) LIMA is the capital and largest city of Peru.

I enjoyed this puzzle. My favorite theme answers were DON'T PANIC and DEFY LOGIC. A good way to begin my Saturday.

I almost forgot to note that there is no ELENA in today's puzzle!