December 12, 2020

Title: WEARING A RING

Constructor: Evan Kalish

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

RIDE-ALONG (18A: Opportunity to join a firefighter in a truck)

RIGHT AND WRONG (38A: Moral opposites)

RECYCLING (61A: Blue bin's purpose)

REGINA KING (3D: Acting royalty whose first and last names are both royalty-related)

RANSACKING (33D: Searching chaotically)

Theme synopsis: The letters of the word RING are split and found at the beginning and end of each theme answer, resulting in each answer WEARING A RING.

And now a word from our constructor:

Evan: This theme was definitely inspired by 3-Down—both her performance in “Watchmen” and the cool trivia that makes up the clue! I was pleased to be able to get the interlocking theme entries, even if it led to a more segmented grid with fewer bonus non-theme answers than usual.

Things I learned:

• HAM (6A: Sincronizada meat) A sincronizada is a dish in Mexican cuisine that is similar to a quesadilla. In fact, its name comes from a mashup of "synchronized quesadilla."  A sincronizada is made by placing HAM and cheese, and sometimes refried beans and chorizo, between two flour tortillas. The tortilla sandwich is then grilled until the cheese melts. The sincronizada is served with salsa, pico de gallo, and guacamole.
• ALEXA (13A: Actress Mansour) ALEXA Mansour plays the role of Hope Bennett on the TV series, The Walking Dead: World Beyond. The series premiere in October of this year, and is the third TV series in The Walking Dead Franchise. 
• SUE (65D: Eden Sher's role on "The Middle") The Middle is a TV series about a middle class, middle-aged Midwestern woman, her husband, Mike, and their three children. Eden Sher plays the role of SUE, the middle child. The character's name is actually SUE SUE Heck, as the hospital mistakenly wrote her name down twice, resulting in her first and middle names being the same.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• RIDE-ALONG (18A: Opportunity to join a firefighter in a truck) A RIDE-ALONG is opportunity for a civilian to spend a shift observing the work day of a firefighter, police officer, or paramedic. RIDE-ALONG was a theme answer in the July 11 puzzle (also constructed by Evan Kalish).
• ESPN (27A: Doris Burke channel) Doris Burke is a sports announcer and analyst. In 2018 she was awarded the Curt Gowdy Media Award, an honor given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to outstanding basketball writers and broadcasters.
• ANA (37A: Tennis champ Ivanovic) ANA Ivanovic is a retired professional tennis player. She was ranked number one in the world in 2008, and in 2011 was included in Time's list of "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present, and Future."
• DARK (60A: "Coming Out of the ___" (Gloria Estefan hit)) "Coming Out of the DARK" was the first single released by Gloria Estefan following her recovery from a near-fatal accident involving an 18-wheeler ramming her tour bus. It is also the first song Gloria Estefan performed publicly after recovering. This song is now apparently my earworm for the day! Although I was familiar with Gloria Estafan's music (and remember when she was in the afore-mentioned accident), I did not know much more about her until a few years ago when my husband and I saw the jukebox musical, On Your Feet! It is a fabulous, feel-good, show, and I highly recommend seeing it if you ever get an opportunity once we're able to attend live theater performances again. 
• REGINA KING (3D: Acting royalty whose first and last names are both royalty-related) In addition to her many acting credits, REGINA KING has also done some directing. Her most recent role is as Angela Abar/ Sister Night on the TV series, Watchmen. As for her royal name, "Regina" means "queen" in Latin, Italian, and Romanian.
• OHO (24D: Exclamation that's a Midwest state without an "i") When I first read this clue, I thought, "OWA is an exclamation?" Ha! Not my Midwest state. OHO! We're talking about Ohio. 

Geography review:

• IRISH (64A: From Dublin or Cork) Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Cork is the second largest city in Ireland.
• OAHU (67A: Island with Hawaii's only interstates) This is an interesting fact. By definition, an interstate connects one or more states. However, there are interstates in Hawaii and Alaska which do not connect to other states, but connect military and naval bases and major cities. As the clue states, all of Hawaii's interstates (H-1, H-2, H-3, and H-201) are located on OAHU. 

I enjoyed this theme-dense puzzle with its interlocking theme answers. It is an interesting grid pattern with those large areas of black squares on each side of the grid. As Evan mentioned, not a lot of long, non-theme bonuses, but that's okay. Smooth fill all around. This was a delightful way to start my Saturday morning. It's snowing where I am - wet, sticky snow that is blanketing everything and making it beautiful. This is putting me in a good mood! I hope your day is beautiful, as well.