September 28, 2020

Title: COUNTDOWN

Constructor: Amanda Rafkin

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

THREE LEGGED RACE (3D: Cooperative running event)

GOODY TWO SHOES (14D: Well-behaved person)

BACK TO SQUARE ONE (9D: "Welp, let's start over")

Theme synopsis: Each vertical theme answer is a phrase containing a number. Placement of the theme answers allows you to COUNTDOWN visually as you move across the grid from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. THREE, TWO, ONE...

Things I learned:

• KING (13A: ___ Princess (singer of the queer anthem "1950") Released in 2018, "1950" was the debut single for KING Princess. The song is a tribute to the 1952 novel, The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith. The online magazine, Queerty, named KING Princess among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people."
• CADY (45A: Astronaut Coleman) CADY Coleman is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and a retired NASA astronaut who was on two Space Shuttle missions. She spent 159 days on the International Space Station in 2011. Fun fact: CADY is a flute player and took several flutes with her to the International Space Station. Nice bonus to have an astronaut in this COUNTDOWN puzzle.
• ART (24D: "This is What I Know About ___" (Kimberly Drew book)) Kimberly Drew is the former social media manager for the Metropolitan Museum of ART. This is What I Know About ART was released in June of this year and is her first book. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• DOG SAT (38A: Watched someone's boxer) My response to this clue was HA HA (47A: "Good one!")
• URL (41A: TheTrevorProject.org, e.g.) It's nice to see a clue for URL used to highlight a specific website, and TheTrevorProject.org is an excellent one. The Trevor Project is a national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people.
• ESCAPE (57A: Goal in some rooms) Excellent and delightful clue. I just watched a video clip yesterday of Kelly Clarkson and Neil Patrick Harris lamenting that they miss ESCAPE rooms. 
• SKATE (4D: Do ollies and kickflips) Ollies and kickflips are SKATEboarding maneuvers. When performing an ollie, the rider and board leap into the air together. A kickflip is achieved when the rider flips their skateboard 360 degrees. While writing this I got distracted watching SKATEboarding videos...
• PAM (55D: Acting legend Grier) PAM Grier has appeared in so many movies and films that I would lose your attention if I listed them all here! Quentin Tarantino has described PAM Grier as the first female action star. PAM appears as herself in the video game Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Geography review:

• MILANO (15A: Sandwich cookie named after an Italian city) A nice reminder that OREO isn't the only sandwich cookie! MILANO is the second-most populous city in Italy. A MILANO is also a delicious Pepperidge Farm cookie consisting of a thin layer of chocolate sandwiched between two thin cookies.
• ARG (34A: Neighbor of Brazil (Abbr.) Brazil and ARGentina are South American countries. Fun fact: The only South American countries that are not neighbors of Brazil are Ecuador and Chile.
• INUIT (10D: Some Alaskans) INUIT are a group of indigenous peoples in Greenland, Canada, and ALASKA. 
• TOME (51D: Sao ___ and Principe) São TOMÉ & Príncipe is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea off the western coast of Africa. The population of São TOMÉ & Príncipe is roughly equivalent to that of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• ASIA (52D: Most populous continent) ASIA is home to approximately 60% of the world's population. It's been over a month since we've seen ASIA in a puzzle. Hello, ASIA, we've missed you!

What a fun puzzle to start off this week! A nicely-executed COUNTDOWN with the numbers perfectly placed. All three theme answers are delightful phrases. THREE LEGGED RACE brought back memories of elementary school field days. Did you know that the term GOODY TWO SHOES originated from a 1765 children's story? And now we're BACK TO SQUARE ONE...haven't we all felt that before. The rest of the puzzle was smooth with some delightful answers like EGO BOOST, and enjoyable cluing (looking at you again DOG SAT!) This puzzle was a lovely way to start my Monday.