September 3, 2020

Title: IT'S LIT!

Constructor: Matthew Stock & Brooke Husic

Editor: Erik Agard & Paolo Pasco

Theme Answers:

PIPE CLEANER (16A: Bendable craft item)

BURNER ACCOUNT (36A: Social media alter ego)

TINDER MATCH (59A: Potential date)

Theme synopsis: The first word of each theme answer is something that is LIT (literally, in the sense of being set on fire). In the case of TINDER MATCH, both parts of the answer fit the theme. 

And now a word from our constructors:

Brooke & Matthew: We *love* constructing together, and we think it’s safe to say we had as much fun hyping this puzzle to the sun as we did making it (suffice it to say our texts have been full of fire emojis for the past few days (weeks??)). We're especially grateful to Paolo for coming up with TINDER MATCH, a brilliant double play on the puzzle’s title! Hope you all enjoy.

Things I learned:

• SOLEIL (13A: Restaurant critic Ho) SOLEIL Ho is the restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. She was formerly a co-host on the podcast, The Racist Sandwich, and has co-authored a cookbook with Blue Delliquanti, titled, Meal.
• ARDEN (24D: Cho who played Kira on "Teen Wolf") I learned about the TV series Teen Wolf from the June 17 crossword. The show centers on a young werewolf (played by Scott McCall) who protects the town of Beacon Hills, California from supernatural threats. ARDEN Cho's character made recurring appearances in the show's third season, and became a main character in the fourth season. In 2019, ARDEN Cho became the CEO of a New York City-based watch company, Leonard & Church, a company she co-founded with some friends.
• ERIKA (48D: "Living Single" actress Alexander) For her portrayal of Maxine "Max" Felice Shaw on Living Single, ERIKA Alexander won two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also played the role of Detective Latoya in the movie, Get Out.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• PIPE CLEANER (16A: Bendable craft item) I don't have a lot of memories from my childhood, but I distinctly remember a time during a summer school program when I constructed a pair of PIPE CLEANER glasses. During my time as a freelance writer of children's curriculum, I wrote quite a few instructions for art projects using these marvelous, bendable items. We had to refer to them as chenille stems, however, even though we know everyone calls them PIPE CLEANERs.
• IKEA (62A: The ___ effect (tendency to overvalue self-assembled items)) This clue made me chuckle. It's a real thing - people place a disproportionate value on products which they partially created. The effect was identified and named by researchers from Harvard, Yale, and Duke in 2011. The effect had been recognized by marketers long before it was named. 
• BOIL UP (1D: Traditional Maori dish) A BOIL UP includes a combination of meat, greens, and potatoes, boiled together, as the name suggests. 
• CAR SEAT (29D: Perch for a "baby on board") I enjoyed the playfulness of this clue.
• ALIKE (19A: "Great minds think ___") and ATTUNED (25A: In sync) and UNITE (32A: Bring together) I sense a bit of a "cooperation" sub-theme here. Appropriate for a co-constructed puzzle! And then in contrast to this sub-theme, there's UPSTAGES (37D: Steals the limelight from)!

Geography review:

• UTAH (6D: State home to the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians) The Skull Valley Indian Reservation is located in UTAH, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. 
• ESTONIAN (10D: Language related to Finnish) We just saw ESTONIA in the puzzle on Monday, so I'm sure you remember ESTONIA is a country in Northern Europe. It is separated from Finland by the Gulf of Finland.
• NYC (12D: City served by EWR, JFK and LGA) That's Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport serving New York City.

This puzzle is LIT! I just couldn't resist... It's a delightful puzzle. I especially enjoyed the bonus double theme answer of TINDER MATCH. A lot of fun non-theme fill here as well. In addition to those I've highlighted above, I enjoyed FUN RUNS, BONA FIDE, and OH, I GET IT! I appreciated learning a few new things today, too. Thank you, Brooke and Matthew, for a lovely puzzle to start my Thursday.