September 26, 2020

Title: SCHOOL CLOSINGS

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

AGREED PRICE (17A: A buyer and a seller converge on one)

PHYSICAL LIMIT (30A: "Mind over matter" obstacle)

MEMORY SPACE (47A: Computer capacity)

Theme synopsis: The CLOSING (last) letters of each word of each theme answer are the name of a SCHOOL. We have REED (Portland, Oregon), RICE (Houston, Texas), CAL (University of California, Berkeley), MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts), EMORY (Atlanta, Georgia), and PACE (New York City, New York).

Things I learned:

• LENAPE (21A: ___ land (region that encompasses New York City and Philadelphia) The LENAPE are an indigenous people of the United States. In addition to New York City and Philadelphia, LENAPE land also includes New Jersey. In the 1860s the LENAPE were forced to migrate west by the U.S. government. Most LENAPE now live in Oklahoma.
• TARA (38A: "The Yield" author ___ June Winch) The Yield is the latest book from Australian author TARA June Winch. The Yield won the Miles Franklin Literary Award, a prize given to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases." 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• MISO (1A: Soup paste) A traditional Japanese seasoning, MISO is a paste made by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (a type of fungus). In addition to being used to make MISO soup, the paste is used for pickling vegetables and seasoning sauces and spreads.
• MASALA (1D: Garam ___ (South Asian spice blend) The composition of garam MASALA varies regionally, but may contain bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, mace, cardamom, cumin, coriander, and/or chili powder. I found this seasoning corner of MISO/MASALA visually (deliciously?) appealing.
• SHARED BATHROOMS (5D: Communal areas in some dorms) Ha! When I read the clue I was thinking of some sort of lounge or study area. Fun to uncover this answer. Also appropriate to see this in a puzzle with a college theme and to have the grid-spanning answer cross all three theme answers. That's quite a feat.
• SKI (9D: Compete like Bonnie St. John) Bonnie St. John won bronze and silver medals in several alpine skiing events during the 1984 Winter Paralympics. St. John was the first Black American to medal in any paralympic event. Bonnie St. John is also an author of several books, including one written with her teenage daughter, Darcy Deane, titled How Great Women Lead.
• ERIN (27D: "The Office" receptionist) Ellie Kemper plays the role of ERIN on the TV show, The Office.
• PLOP (34A: Sound before a fizz, perhaps) This clue dredged up memories of TV commercials from my childhood! The catchy jingle, "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is" was created by Madison Avenue ad executive Paul Margulies. He also came up with the tagline, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing." Interestingly, the "plop, plop, fizz, fizz" slogan was altered to "plink, plink, fizz, fizz" for advertising in the United Kingdom.
• WOMBAT (37D: Australian marsupial) Unlike their marsupial cousins, kangaroos and wallabies, wombats are quadrupedal, meaning they walk on four legs. A group of wombats is called a wisdom.

Geography review:

• ERIE (23A: Lake under which Garrett Morgan led a rescue in 1916) Garrett Morgan invented a safety hood to protect firefighters from smoke. In 1914 he received a patent for this device which featured a hood to protect eyes from smoke, and a series of air tubes to draw clean air. In 1916, Morgan used this invention to rescue workers trapped in a water intake tunnel 50 feet below Lake ERIE. Morgan was awoken in the middle of the night and asked to help with the rescue after two previous rescue attempts had failed. When he arrived on the scene, Morgan was still wearing his pajamas.
• EMIRATI (13D: From Dubai, say) The EMIRATI people are citizens of the United Arab Emirates of which Dubai is the most populous city.
• ALASKA (39D: State that's the title of a Maggie Rogers song) The song "Alaska" became popular after Maggie Rogers played it for Pharrell Williams during a Masterclass at her school. 

It took me a bit to figure out that the CLOSING part of the title referred not to the entire last word of the theme answer, but only to some of the last letters. I saw RICE first (This did ELICIT an "aha!"), and then MIT confirmed I was on the right track. (No PROB!) The highlight of the puzzle for me was uncovering the aforementioned SHARED BATHROOMS. A TIP-TOP addition to an enjoyable puzzle. A delightful puzzle to begin my Saturday.

Thanks to Stupac2 for pointing out that the theme is even more extensive than I first noticed! Tricky, tricky - so fun! Sometimes it takes a village to help me figure out a theme! As ever, grateful for the village.