December 18, 2020

Title: FACT OF THE MATTER

Constructor: Amanda Rafkin

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

SOLID FOUNDATION (17A: Sturdy footing)

LIQUID DETERGENT (40A: Laundry product)

GAS STATION SUSHI (64A: Fish dish that might be fishy)

Theme synopsis: The first word of each theme answer is a state of matter: SOLID, LIQUID, and GAS.

Things I learned:

• ASIAN (35A: The first "A: in AALDEF) The ASIAN American Legal Defense and Education Fund is a national organization that works to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans. Founded in 1974, the AALDEF utilizes litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing to work for human rights for all.
• ARIA (10D: Anime about a gondolier on Mars) The Japanese manga series, ARIA, is written and illustrated by Kozue Amano. It has been adapted into an anime TV series. In the series, the planet Mars has been adapted to make its environment similar to Earth, and it is now named Aqua.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• DIN (22A: Commotion) and ADO (19D: Commotion) This puzzle is making quite the commotion!
• ROD (53A: Cone's counterpart)  RODs and cones are photoreceptor cells in the eye.
• GAS STATION SUSHI (64A: Fish dish that might be fishy) This made me laugh! I thought it was funny even before my husband informed me that GAS STATION SUSHI is the subject of many classic jokes and memes. Apparently I need to surf the Internet more!
• POOL NOODLE (5D: Pasta-shaped swimming toy) A POOL NOODLE! Such a fun thing. POOL NOODLEs are believed to have been invented in the 1980s. Two Canadians claim to have been the first to invent the toy, but neither patented the invention. Not only for swimming, POOL NOODLEs can be used inside boots to keep them standing upright (in shoe stores or in your closet), on sharp edges of coffee tables to protect toddlers learning to walk, and in many other ways. Plus, they come in delightful colors!
• TED (8D: "Thank you for coming to my ___ Talk") The TED Conference, at which TED Talks originated, began in 1984, and has been held annually since 1990. Many TED Talks are available online with the tagline, "ideas worth spreading." The phrase "Thank you for coming to my TED Talk," has gained a life of its own. You will sometimes see it at the end of a Twitter thread. This is a fun way to clue the word TED. (I'm a little bit jealous, because I used this clue in a puzzle I constructed several months ago. However, my puzzle was rejected, or as I prefer to think of it, has not found a home yet.)
• PANDA (33A: "Giant" mammal) A giant PANDA male is about 4 to 6 feet long, and can weigh up to 350 pounds. So, they are large, but not giant as compared to an elephant, say, which can weigh four to seven tons! The giant PANDA is a vulnerable species; they are classified as likely to become endangered unless circumstances threatening their survival (habitat loss and fragmentation) and reproduction (very low birthrate in the wild and in captivity) improve.
• GPS (42A: Aid for a lost Soul) The tip-off here is the capital S of the word Soul, indicating we are talking about a Kia Soul, rather than the generic lost soul wandering aimlessly. Another fun clue!
• TGIF (55D: End-of-the-week exclamation) Although you see TGIF in crosswords on a fairly
  
  regular basis, it's nice to see it appear on the appropriate day. If a puzzle contains TGIF, it's a bonus if it's published on Friday. And speaking of TGIF, at our house we have been counting down to this particular TGIF for quite awhile. Today I sent my husband, Randy, off to work his last day as a pharmacist at the VA Medical Center. After almost 30 years at the VA, at 5:00 p.m. today he will be officially retired. And yes, I did make him take a "last day of work" photo in the same spot we used to take "first day of school" photos of the kids. So, a shoutout to Randy! 
• LILY (63A: Actress Collins) LILY Collins plays the title role in the TV series, Emily in Paris, about a 20-something American who moves from Chicago to Paris for a job opportunity.  

Geography review:

• NAPA (31A: California wine country) Thanks to a combination of favorable climate, geography, and geology, NAPA Valley is considered one of the premier wine regions in the world. My daughter and I visited NAPA in January of this year. We had a fabulous time, but it doesn't seem possible that the trip was this year. So much has happened since that trip - it seems like it happened ages ago.

You know I liked the science-related theme of today's puzzle! It always makes me happy when science shows up in crosswords. Nice to find grid-spanning entries containing the states of matter - SOLID, LIQUID, and GAS. I also appreciated the arrangement of the entries in the puzzle such that as we work our way down the puzzle we move from the most dense to the least dense matter. (For my fellow science people, I know there's a fourth state of matter, but since plasma doesn't freely exist under normal conditions on earth, I think it's fine to stick to the three most common and well-known states.) In addition to the theme, there are a lot of great entries here: SPECIALTY, SPIRITUAL, POOL NOODLE, and GET SERIOUS. Nice work to fit in so many long bonuses in addition to three 15-letter entries. I enjoyed the cluing today, too; playful and fun. This puzzle was a delightful way to begin my Friday. TGIF!