September 7, 2020

Title: LIGHTHEARTED

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

DOUBLE DUTCH (17A: Sport that's the title of a 2002 novel by Sharon M. Draper)

TUMBLE DRYER (28A: Lint source)

JINGLE DRESS (41A: Pow wow garment)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains the letters L-E-D at its exact center. Therefore, each answer is LIGHTHEARTED, containing an LED (light-emitting diode) at its HEART.

Things I learned:

• DENIS (30A: "High Life" director Claire) High Life is a science fiction horror movie about a group of criminals sent on a space mission. As a director, Claire DENIS is known for "shooting fast, editing slowly." She films a few takes on set, but spends most of the film production time in the editing room, sometimes rearranging scenes into a different order than they appeared in the script.
• DOSA (39A: Pancake made with black gram) Originating from South India, a DOSA is a pancake made from a mixture of black gram and rice that has been soaked in water and then finely ground to form a batter. The batter is then fermented overnight. Black gram is a bean grown in South Asia. Black gram is sometimes sold labeled as "black lentils" (the whole bean), or "white lentils" (the split bean).

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• DOUBLE DUTCH (17A: Sport that's the title of a 2002 novel by Sharon M. Draper) Double Dutch is a jump rope game involving two ropes turning in opposite directions. One or more players can jump at a time, and jumpers sometimes perform tricks while jumping. One of the main characters in Sharon M. Draper's novel competes on a team in the Double Dutch world championships.
• DARE (26A: "Truth or ___" (Kelela song)) This clue is a great example of a way to use a clue to introduce a solver to someone they might not know. The clue could have simply been written as [Truth or ___] without reference to the Kelela song. By choosing to highlight the song, the answer is still inferable, but solvers have the opportunity to discover a new artist. And those solvers who already know Kelela get the joy of seeing her name in the grid.
• BEALE (26A: "If ___ Street Could Talk") If BEALE Street Could Talk is a 1974 novel by James Baldwin adapted into a 2018 movie of the same name. The title is a reference to a song, "Beale Street Blues," named after a street in Memphis, Tennessee.
• TUMBLE DRYER (28A: Lint source) DRYER was my first thought, but since that didn't fit, I tried BELLY BUTTON, which did fit. Ultimately that answer turned out to be incorrect, of course, but it made me chuckle anyway. I am guessing most people refer to their TUMBLE DRYER simply as a DRYER, but the entire term is accurate and inferable.
• JINGLE DRESS (41A: Pow wow garment) The JINGLE DRESS is a garment worn by indigenous women when doing a healing-themed dance known as the jingle dance. The dress is adorned with jingles which were originally made from chewing tobacco can lids rolled into cones.
• DESTINE (30D: Preordain) As I filled this answer in I knew it was right, but wondered if I'd ever seen this verb without a -d on the end. "Destined to succeed" or "Destined to fail" feel more familiar. It is now my goal to use DESTINE in a sentence this week. 
• HIP HOP (32D: Music genre in the documentary "My Mic Sounds Nice") My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women and HIP HOP is a TV documentary directed by Ava DuVernay. "My Mic Sounds Nice" is also the name of a song by HIP HOP trio Salt-N-Pepa.

Geography review:

• HAI (44D: Japanese "yes") The most frequent non-English languages seen in crosswords are Spanish and French. I appreciate seeing some references to additional languages. 

It's always a treat to open up the USA Today app and see Erik's name as constructor as well as editor. The first thing that caught my attention about this puzzle is the grid shape. I'm fascinated by this grid - it's beautiful and appealing. The diagonal swath of words from top right to lower left is lovely to look at. From a solver's standpoint, it could be tricky because the top left and bottom right corners are separated from the rest of the grid with the exception of one square of entry. The corners are large enough to give plenty of opportunity to gain traction, though, so it wasn't an issue here.

Enough waxing poetical about the grid shape, how did the puzzle solve? This is a clever theme. It took me a little while to discover it, which led to a nice "aha!" moment. There was plenty of nice non-theme fill here as well - QUITE ENOUGH to make it an enjoyable solve, in fact. As an 8-letter Q-word, QUOTIENT is not often seen in crossword puzzles, so I enjoyed that rarity. I also liked HIGH ARCH, SLEEP LABS, and even ICE WATER. The beautiful grid, clever theme, smooth fill, and nice cluing combined to make this an enjoyable way to start this holiday Monday.