September 2, 2020

Title: COLD OPEN

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

BREAD ROLLS (18A: Restaurant freebies)

BRASS RING (27A: Metallic symbol of success)

BROWN RICE (49A: Healthy grain)

BREAK RANKS (60A: Deviate from a group)

Theme synopsis: In each theme answer, the first word begins with the letters BR, and the second word begins with the letter R. Therefore, the words of each theme answer begin (or OPEN) with BRR, which you might say if you were COLD.

Things I learned:

• ARIEL (15A: "MR. Peabody & Sherman" actress Winter) In addition to voicing the role of Penny Peterson in the movie, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, ARIEL Winter voiced the roles of Sofia in Elena and the Secret of Avalor, and Smurf Lily in Smurfs: The Lost Village. ARIEL also played the role of Alex Dunphy on the TV series, Modern Family.
• SILK (48D: Qipao fabric) A qipao is a close-fitting Chinese dress. Another term for a qipao is cheongsam.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• BREAD ROLLS (18A: Restaurant freebies) I understand the term BREAD ROLLS is not a new innovation. My difficult dilemma is the words have the same identical meaning and this phrase needs to be reported to the Department of Redundancy Department. Isn't English fun? (I realize there are types of BREAD other than ROLLS, and types of ROLLS other than BREAD - BREAD ROLLS still sounds redundant to my ear.)
• BRASS RING (27A: Metallic symbol of success) I was curious about the origin of "grabbing for the BRASS RING" as a symbolism of success. It seems to have originated from a practice used with carousels in the late 1800's. Carousel riders would sit on fixed horses. Once the carousel began turning, a metal arm holding a BRASS RING was swung out. Riders would try to grab the BRASS RING as they passed by. If attained, the BRASS RING could be exchanged for a free ride. The practice was discontinued due to safety concerns (easily imagined!), but the expression is still in use.
• NET (30A: Lacrosse stick features) Apparently lacrosse is the oldest organized sport played in North America. Players use the head of their stick, featuring a NET, to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the rubber ball into the goal.
• THAT'S A NO-NO (3D: Disapproving statement) and THIS IS TRUE (31D: "You're not wrong") Some nice long bonuses, and I entertained myself by imagining the two sides of the grid having a conversation. 
• LIES (7D: "Real eyes realize real ___") I went down a bit of an internet rabbit hole looking for the source of this quote. I found many sites attributing the quote to rapper, Tupac. The Pink Floyd Song, "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" ends with the words, "Realize, realize, realize," and some hypothesize it might actually be "Real eyes, realize, real LIES." I also discovered "Real Eyes, Realize, Real LIES" is a song by heavy metal band, Machine Head, off of their 1994 debut album, Burn My Eyes. The song features sampled commentary from news reports of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Those riots were in response to the acquittal of Los Angeles Police officers for usage of excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. No matter who said this phrase first, here's a reminder: Black Lives Matter.
• POST (21D: Blog entry) I simply wanted to highlight this answer in my blog POST.

Geography review:

• EURO (66A: Currency in Helsinki) Helsinki is the capital of Finland. 

This puzzle starts out in the PITS and ends with a bit of a DENT, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's a bit of an OGRE - it's NICER than that. Attempts at joking aside, I enjoyed this puzzle. It was a delightful midweek solve.