August 14, 2020

Title: MINISERIES

Constructor: Gail Grabowski

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

VAN GOGH MUSEUM (20A: Home to "View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic")

BARCODE SCANNERS (37A: Checkout counter devices)

SKIRT THE ISSUE (53A: Circumvent a point of contention)

Theme synopsis: The first part of each theme answer can follow the prefix MINI- to form a new word: MINIVAN, MINIBAR, MINISKIRT.

Things I learned:

• ABBI (5A: Comic Crutchfield) ABBI Crutchfield is a comedian with a strong social media presence. She also appeared in the 2015 movie, You, Your Brain, & You.
• EDIE (62A: Singer Brickell) The 1988 debut album of EDIE Brickell & New Bohemians was titled Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars. In 2013, EDIE released an album titled, Love Has Come for You, which was a collaboration with Steve Martin.
• LEA (30D: Actress DeLaria) In 1993, LEA Delaria appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, and is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on a late-night talk show. LEA portrayed Carrie "Big Boo" Black on the TV series Orange is the New Black.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• HATE (18A: Detest) and ABHOR (5D: Detest) You could say this was a detestable crossing - HA! I like order and I have a lot of rules (or strong suggestions). This was especially true about my parenting style. I'm sure my kids could tell you many stories about this! I would probably laugh at most of them. One of my rules was that we don't use the word "HATE" in our house. As a result, we did a lot of "strong disliking." I try (and admittedly don't always succeed) to reserve the word HATE for things I ABHOR, like racial injustice and misogyny.
• VAN GOGH MUSEUM (20A: Home to "View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic") The VAN GOGH MUSEUM in Amsterdam is the most-visited museum in the Netherlands. How about that long, descriptive painting title? Vincent VAN GOGH painted "View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic" while living with his brother, Theo, in an apartment in Montmartre, an area of Paris located on a large hill.
• ERRS (25A: Forgets an email attachment, say) This was a great way to clue this common crossword answer. Haven't we all made this mistake?
• HBO (34A"Lovecraft Country" channel) Of course I didn't know this. Thank goodness for crossing answers!
• SKIRT THE ISSUE (53A: Circumvent a point of contention) A fun phrase! This was the first theme answer I filled in completely, and the one that tipped me off to the theme.
• BATH (7D: ___ bomb (fizzy relaxation aid) and TLC (28D: Pampering treatment, for short) A BATH bomb and a little TLC sounds delightful at the moment.
• BRIDE (35D: Wedding suit wearer, perhaps) A nice acknowledgement that not every BRIDE chooses to wear a wedding dress.

Geography review:

• OSAGE (36D: River named for a Great Plains people) The OSAGE River is a tributary of the Missouri River. The OSAGE flows through the area of Missouri known as Lake of the Ozarks and part of eastern Kansas. 

Nice theme answers and a couple of lovely long bonus answers in ELEVATORS (3D: They go up and down in a skyscraper) and HERE WE ARE (34D: Driver's drop-off phrase). This puzzle was an enjoyable start to my Friday. 

We are still without power as a result of Monday's storm - 91 hours, if we were counting. We are really doing okay; it's just wearisome. We did get cell signal back yesterday, which has helped us feel a little less isolated. I was able to sit at my kitchen table and write this, connecting my laptop computer to a hotspot on my phone. Having cell signal has also meant I could see more news and hear friends' reports of storm damage. This was a devastating storm that is estimated to have destroyed a third of Iowa's corn crop. (We grow a lot of corn here in the crossword-friendly state of IOWA.) It seems a bit surreal to continue writing this crossword blog each day amidst dealing with the storm's damage and having no power. However, doing so has also served as an oasis of (almost) normal. I know crews are working nonstop to restore power, and I am thankful for them. Maybe today will be our lucky day.