June 15, 2020

Title: GO-BETWEENS

Constructor: Margit Christenson

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

GAZPACHO (16A: Chilled tomato soup)

GROUND ZERO (28A: The very beginning)

GRAND PIANO (46A: Instrument at a John Legend concert)

GUESS WHO (61A: Game in which a player might ask, "Is your person wearing a hat?")

Theme synopsis: The theme answers all begin with the letter G and end with the letter O. The words or phrases are all between the letters G and O, therefore they are GO-BETWEENS.

 

Things I learned:

• RED (45A: Ethiopian flag color) The Ethiopian flag has stripes of green, yellow, and RED overlaid with a circular blue emblem with a star. The color green recalls the land, yellow stands for peace, and RED symbolizes strength. The diversity and unity of the country are represented by the emblem. And here's a little geography review: Ethiopia is a landlocked country in eastern Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan.

More geography review:

• ABU (21D: ___ Dhabi) ABU Dhabi is the capital of Dubai. It is the second largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). ABU Dhabi is also the name of the largest of the UAE's seven emirates. The city of ABU Dhabi is on an island in the Persian Gulf.

 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• LIAISE (15A: Act as a go-between) A nice tie-in with the puzzle's title.
• OBAMA (36A: "Becoming" author Michelle) If you haven't read Becoming, I encourage you to do so and then watch the documentary about the Becoming book tour. Both brought me laughter and tears. 
• ROMANS (41A: "Friends, ___, countrymen, lend me your ears" ("Julius Caesar" quote)) When I was in 9th grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Horton, made us memorize Marc Antony's soliloquy. After memorizing it and listening to the entire class recite it, it is forever etched in my brain. Thank you, Mrs. H!
• NESTS (56A: Crane constructions) Nice misdirect in this clue. I was definitely thinking of a construction crane.
• GUESS WHO (61A: Game in which a player might ask, "Is your person wearing a hat?") When my kids were little we played GUESS WHO a lot. I never minded, because I love this game that introduces kids to logical thinking. It was a great way to equip my kids with the skills needed to play my favorite board game, Clue. It was a treat to see GUESS WHO as a theme answer in today's puzzle.
• ANSEL (51D: Nature photographer Adams) ANSEL Adams is known for his
  
  black-and-white landscape photos. He was an active member of the Sierra Club and took photos of National Parks for the United States Department of the Interior. Yosemite National Park is one of the parks ANSEL Adams frequently photographed. In 2017 I visited Yosemite for the first time with my husband, Randy, who is also a photographer. One of my fond memories of that trip was taking this photo of Randy right after he said, "Just think, ANSEL Adams probably stood in this very spot!"

This is a great puzzle! The theme is of a pretty basic type, but the theme answers are all fun. Smooth fill with some nice long bonuses in TIPPED OFF, LAND LINES, RAPUNZEL and MANGROVE. Definitely an enjoyable way to begin my Monday.