October 28, 2020

Title: WORLD SERIES

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

POWER DRILL (17A: Handywoman's item)

RECORD DEAL (59A: Aspriring singer's goal)

CUP OF COFFEE (10D: Morning eye-opener)

CLASS ACTION (23D: Group lawsuit)

Theme synopsis: The first word of each theme answer can be preceded by the word WORLD, giving us WORLD POWER, WORLD RECORD, WORLD CUP, and WORLD CLASS.

Things I learned:

• UDON (16A: Noodle sometimes topped with abura-age) Abura-age is twice-fried tofu. Thin tofu slices are first fried at a low temperature, and then again at a higher temperature. Abura-age is often added to miso soup. In Japanese mythology, abura-age is the favorite food of foxes (kitsune). For this reason, UDON noodle dishes topped with abura-age are sometimes called kitsune-UDON.
• EVE (4D: "First Cow" cow) First Cow is a movie based on Jonathan Raymond's novel, The Half Life. The cow in the movie was played by a cow named EVE, chosen for the role because of her muted brown color which matched the film's movie palette, her big eyes, and the fact that she loves people. Since the movie was filmed, EVE has given birth to a calf named Cookie, in honor of John Magaro's character in First Cow. 
• DIANA (18D: Phoenix Mercury star Taurasi) DIANA Taurasi plays basketball for WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. DIANA also plays on the U.S. Women's basketball team, and has won four Olympic gold medals. In 2017, she became the WNBA's all-time leading scorer.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• SELF (24A: Lead-in to "care" or "control") It occurs to me that adequate SELF-care sometimes helps me maintain SELF-control.
• BRA (55A: Wacoal garment) Wacoal was founded in Japan by Koichi Tsukamoto in 1949. The company manufactures women's lingerie and underwear, and has divisions in North America and Europe.
• ENYA (13D: Irish music star who has never toured) Touring is not required to appear in my imaginary concert of "Crossword Friendly One-Named Singers!" This is ENYA's third act in my imaginary concert. She previously sang for us on September 12 and September 29. 
• PIPE DREAM (34D: Unrealistic aspiration) The earliest documented use of the phrase PIPE DREAM was in an 1890 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune. It was used to refer to aerial navigation, "regarded as a PIPE-DREAM for many years." The phrase's origin stems from using a PIPE to smoke opium, which then lead the smoker to have hallucinations.
• REDDIT (47D: Online home of r/mildlyinteresting) REDDIT is an online news aggregation and discussion website. One of the features of REDDIT is multiple discussion boards, or subreddits, focusing on particular topics. The r/mildly interesting subreddit features photos that are mildly interesting. As with all REDDIT threads, REDDIT users get to upvote and downvote posts. At the time I am writing this, the top r/mildly interesting photo is of some truly cringe-worthy old U.S. postage stamps. 

Geography review:

• SRI (20A: ___ Lanka) SRI Lanka is an island country in the Indian Ocean. It's legislative capital is SRI Jayawardenepura Kotte (another possible clue for SRI?) The commerce center and largest city of SRI Lanka is Colombo.
• NOVA (32A: Halifax, ___ Scotia) NOVA Scotia, whose name translates to New Scotland, is a
  
  province in eastern Canada. Halifax is its capital. NOVA Scotia is Canada's second-smallest province by area. (Prince Edward Island is Canada's smallest province.) I have a soft spot for NOVA Scotia, as my husband and I honeymooned there in 1989. As that was before the time of smart phones and prevalent selfies, this is one of the few photos we have of us together in NOVA Scotia.

An appropriately titled puzzle for today! Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers on their World Series win last night. (You see, I do sometimes keep track of sports news!) No baseball clues in the puzzle today, though, in spite of its title. I enjoyed the bonus long answers of PIPE DREAM and COLD SPELL, as well as the interesting words UPTICK and MUSTY. I also thoroughly appreciated learning about EVE the cow. This puzzle was an enjoyable start to my Wednesday morning.