July 1, 2020

Title: STUFFED SOLE

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

SOAP BUBBLE (17A: It usually bursts after a few seconds)

SOLAR ECLIPSE (27A: Blocking of the sun's light by the moon)

SOCIAL CIRCLE (50A: Who you know)

SOLID STATE (64A: Like some storage devices)

Theme synopsis: The theme answers are all two word phrases that either begin with SO- and end with -LE, or begin with SOL- and end with -E. Therefore, the remaining letters of the theme answers are STUFFED in SOLE.

Things I learned:

• ARIEL (20A: "Modern Family" actress Winter) When ARIEL Winter was four years old, she acted in a Cool Whip commercial. She now plays the role of Alex Dunphy on Modern Family.
• THELMA (43A: Film editor Schoonmaker) THELMA Schoonmaker has won three Academy Awards for film editing, including for Raging Bull in 1980. She often works on films directed by Martin Scorsese. I enjoy learning about women that work behind the scenes in the film industry. 
• ALI (24D: Broadway star Stroker) ALI Stroker was a finalist on the second season of The Glee Project, a reality TV series where contestants competed for an appearance on Glee. She made a guest appearance on Glee in 2013. In 2015 ALI Stroker played the role of Anna in the Broadway show Spring Awakening, making history as the first actress that uses a wheelchair for mobility to appear on a Broadway stage. Nice to see a non-boxing ALI clue.
• SLAPS (48A: Is really good) According to Dictionary.com, SLAPS is slang meaning "to be excellent or amazing." This was a new one to me. Today the crossword puzzle helped me keep up on modern language usage - this is usually my children's job!
• EDITOR (52D: Job title for Emmanuelle Alt) Since 2011, Emmanuelle Alt has been the EDITOR of Vogue Paris. 
• TESS (62D: Poet Gallagher) TESS Gallagher has several collections of published poetry, including Portable Kisses and Dear Ghosts.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• SAGA (14A: Tale spanning centuries, perhaps) We've had back-to-back SAGA sightings in the puzzle, although yesterday's SAGA was plural.
• PIVOT (61A: Change direction) PIVOT also appeared in yesterday's puzzle.
• SIA (53A: Adelaide-born pop singer) Shoutout to the one-name singers popular in crossword puzzles!
• ELUDE (68A: Slip away from) and EVADE (55D: Slip away from) A bit of a slippery puzzle, this one! These two words appear frequently enough in crosswords that I often fill in E??DE and wait for the crossing words to reveal which word is meant.
• MAORI (2D: Like the haka) The haka is a ceremonial dance in the MĀORI culture. The MĀORI are indigenous people of New Zealand.
• MRS (13D: "___ Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.") This quote is the first line of Virginia Wolfe's novel, MRS. Dalloway. 
• MARE (57D: Mule's mother) It was just last Friday that the mule's sire (ASS) appeared in the puzzle - now it's the mother's turn. Fun to cross this entry with MUSTANG (57A: Free-roaming horse)

From a solver's standpoint, an advantage to this type of theme is that if you recognize the theme early, you can fill in the first and last letters of the theme answers. The southeast corner of the puzzle, with the combination of SLAPS and SOLID STATE was the most challenging for me. In fact, the A in SLAPS was the last letter I filled in. Considering the theme, it feels like I should make a joke about the puzzle being fishy... An enjoyable solve to kick off the month of July.