August 8, 2020

Title: MIDDLE AGES

Constructor: Evan Kalish

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

RUMMAGE SALES (20A: Clutter-clearing events)

STORAGE SPACES (29A: Place for items not needed for a while)

AVERAGE SPEED (44A: Stat that's low in a traffic jam)

POSTAGE STAMP (53A: "Forever" item)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer has the letter string A-G-E-S spanning the two words and located in the exact MIDDLE of the phrase.

And now a word from our constructor:

Evan: Erik held me to ensuring that the appropriate four-letter string appeared in the exact center of each of the puzzle’s theme entries. My favorite theme entry is, of course, 53-Across, a shout-out to my favorite hobby, philately / photographing post offices. (I’ve visited more than 10,000 post offices, across all 50 states.)
The fill I was most pleased to include was 43-A, which, according to Matt Ginsberg’s “cluer” database, has never appeared in a mainstream crossword before. Favorite clues: 3-Down and 64-A.

Things I learned:

• LAW (36A: Charlotte E. Ray's field) Charlotte E. Ray graduated from Howard University School of LAW in 1872. She was the first Black female lawyer in the United States, and the first woman admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. Charlotte E. Ray practiced LAW only for a few years; prejudice against Blacks and women caused her business to struggle to be sustainable. Ray eventually moved to New York and became a teacher.
• CHOI (63A: Poet Franny) Many of Franny CHOI's poems focuses on self-identity and her struggles as a Korean-American living in a white-dominated society. Click here to watch Franny CHOI read her poem, "Whiteness Walks Into a Bar."

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• STEP (18A: 2017 dance documentary) STEP tells the story of a girls' high school dance team in Baltimore.
• POSTAGE STAMP (53A: "Forever" item) Nice clue! My current favorite "Forever" stamps feature
  
  Sesame Street characters. 
• ALUMS (3D: Kory Stamper and Julia Child, to Smith College) Smith College is a private women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest institution in the group of historically women's colleges known as the Seven Sisters. Julia Child graduated from Smith College in 1934 with a B.A. in history, but is, of course, more well-known for graduating from Le Cordon Bleu and introducing many people to French cooking. Kory Stamper is a lexicographer and author of the book, Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries.
• ALI (11D: Tony-winning Stroker) Did you remember learning about ALI Stroker from the puzzle on July 1? 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.
• ACTED (21D: Emulated Helen Mirren) Dame Helen Mirren has ACTED on both stage and screen since she auditioned for the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain at the age of 18. (She has been performing for more years than I have been alive!) In 2014 she received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Fellowship for lifetime achievement.
• SIA (29D: "Chandelier" singer) SIA performs her second act in my imaginary concert featuring "Crossword-Friendly One-Named Singers." I recently discovered that my husband had never heard of SIA. In case you haven't either, SIA is an Australian singer and songwriter. Since 2014, SIA has covered her face when performing, often wearing large wigs with hair that hangs down over her eyes. 
• WAHOO (50D: Fish aka ono) The clue is self-explanatory, I just wanted to note that WAHOO is a fun word!

Geography review:

• NILE (14A: River through Cairo) The NILE River flows through Cairo, Egypt and into the Mediterranean Sea.
• OHIO (Birth state of Toni Morrison) Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, OHIO, a city in northeastern OHIO on the shore of Lake Erie. 

An enjoyable puzzle with a straightforward theme, interesting fill, and nice cluing. I wonder if the demand for STORAGE SPACE would decrease if people had more RUMMAGE SALES. PIQUE and TROVE are fun words, in addition to the aforementioned WAHOO, and I enjoyed seeing them in the grid. Hopefully you successfully solved this puzzle, and can say more than "I TRIED!" (32A: Well, gave it my best shot!")