August 6, 2020

Title: INNER EYE

Constructor: Brooke Husic

Editor: Erik Agard and Paolo Pasco

Theme Answers:

ARE WE THERE YET (34A: Question from a groggy travel buddy)

MICHELLE YEOH (3D: Actress who played Yu Shu Lien in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon")

FIVE YEAR PLAN (22D: Goal-setting framework)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains the letter string E-Y-E, spanning two words of the answer.

And now a word from our constructor: 

Brooke: I love how the grid shape turned out for this one. The central theme entry, 34A, is a shoutout to my dear friend and best travel partner Qiqi, who has a superlative talent for sleeping on trains. 17A is a shoutout to myself: greetings from Europe! I’m grateful to have a platform where I can write clues like 5A and 52D. Many thanks to Paolo Pasco for the terrific editing.

Things I learned:

• BET (20A: "American Soul" network) I almost laughed out loud when I read this clue. This is the third day in a row we've seen a TV network in the puzzle clued by a show aired on that network. I guess I jinxed myself by writing about not ever knowing these clues because I don't own a TV. Once again, it was fine. I simply skipped it and let the answer reveal itself from crossing answers.
• BLAIR (43A: "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" audiobook narrator Selma) Selma BLAIR was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for her narration of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• MOMS (1A: Alex and Wanda Sykes, to Lucas and Olivia) It was just two days ago that we saw DADS clued as a parenting pair. MOMS can be a parenting pair, too, of course. The MOMS here are actress, comedian, and writer Wanda Sykes and her wife Alex. Lucas and Olivia are their twins, born in 2009.
• EXPAT (17A: Residence permit holder, maybe) Short for expatriate, an EXPAT is a person living in a country other than their native country.
• SEE (39A: "I ___ what you did there") I SEE what you did there, Brooke, placing SEE as a bonus theme answer, almost an INNER EYE. Nice!
• SLEET (57A: Frozen precipitation) and SNOW (51D: Sculpture medium in "Calvin and Hobbes") This section of the puzzle had a wintry feel to it. I am one of those people who like winter (though I'm more fond of SNOW than SLEET), but I'm not quite ready for it yet. The clue for SNOW was lovely with its reference to the wonderful "Calvin and Hobbes" comic.
• MICHELLE YEOH (3D: Actress who played Yu Shu Lien in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") In 2008, the film-review website Rotten Tomatoes ranked MICHELLE YEOH as the greatest action heroine of all time. Here's some trivia for you: In 1983, MICHELLE YEOH was Miss Malaysia.
• BERNARD (38D: St. ___ (Alpine dog breed)) When I was two-years-old, I was knocked down and run over by a St. BERNARD named Butterball. I don't remember the incident, but I have heard the story many times. As a result, I approach St. BERNARDs cautiously.
• PREP (52D: Antiretroviral drug, for short) The pharmacologist in me feels that technically this clue should read "Antiretroviral drug therapy, for short." (It's a minor detail, and most people solving the puzzle are not pharmacologists.) PREP is short for "pre-exposure prophylaxis," a term used to describe the use of antiviral medications in HIV/AIDS prevention, specifically in persons not yet exposed to the virus.

Geography review:

• ERIE (41A: Pennsylvania's Great Lake) Hello, Lake ERIE - it's been almost two and a half weeks since we've seen you in the puzzle! In addition to Pennsylvania, Lake ERIE borders the states of Michigan, Ohio, and New York, and the Canadian province of Ontario.
• PISA (53A: Leaning tower city) In addition to the famous leaning tower, PISA, Italy is also home to the University of PISA, founded in 1343.

I agree with Brooke that this is a fun grid shape. If you squint you can almost imagine those black squares in the middle of the puzzle lining up to form an INNER EYE. It's a delightful puzzle all around. Plenty of interesting entries, including INFINITE and PIERCED. Nice cluing, too. In addition to those I've already mentioned, I appreciated NON (15A: Prefix for "binary") and RESETS (45D: Takes a mental health day, say). Did you read "ARE WE THERE YET?" in a groggy voice as the clue describes, or in a whiny voice?  An enjoyable puzzle to start my Thursday.