December 24, 2020

Title: SAME ON THE INSIDE

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

LASER BASED (16A: Like some sensors)

FANCY DANCE (56A: Powwow performance)

GREEN TREES (10D: Parts of some scenic views)

BAKED CAKES (27D: Did some pastry cheffing)

Theme synopsis: In each theme answer, the two words in the phrase share the SAME set of INSIDE letters, but have different beginning and ending letters. 

Things I learned:

• KATY (45D: Actress Jurado) In 1952, KATY Jurado won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in High Noon, making her the first Mexican actress to win the award. Throughout her 60-year career, she was in many films, both in Hollywood and Mexico, and often played to role of the femme fatale. In 2018, on what would have been her 94th birthday, KATY Jurado was honored with a Google Doodle. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• LABRUM (25A: Ring of cartilage in the shoulder) The Latin word LABRUM means "having the edge." The glenoid LABRUM is a ring of cartilage on the shoulder blade (scapula) into which the upper arm bone (humerus) fits. The glenoid LABRUM helps stabilize the ball and socket joint of the shoulder. As you might imagine, a tear of the LABRUM - by acute or chronic injury - can be painful and often requires surgery to repair. I was extremely thankful for the crossing answers here. Although it was not a new term to me, it's been awhile since I thought about this word.
• O'JAYS (30A: "Use Ta Be My Girl" group The ___) The O'JAYS are an R&B group that was first formed in 1958. Their 1978 song, "Use Ta Be My Girl," was number one on the R&B singles chart for five weeks. In 2013 The O'JAYS were inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
• OAK (35A: One of four planted by Jesse Owens) At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin Germany, the German Olympic Committee gave athletes an OAK sapling for each gold medal they won. Four of the 24 OAK saplings the U.S. team returned home with belonged to Jesse Owens. One OAK was planted at the University of Southern California, and another was planted at Rhodes high school in Cleveland, Ohio. It is believed that one of the trees was planted at Ohio State University, but it has not been identified. Jesse Owens planted the fourth OAK at his mom's house, but the tree was removed when the house was later demolished.
• SOMEDAY (36A: "____ at Christmas, men won't be boys) "SOMEDAY At Christmas" is a 1967 song by Stevie Wonder, from an album of the same name. The song has been covered by many artists since then. "SOMEDAY at Christmas we'll see a land/ With no hungry children, no empty hand...SOMEDAY at Christmas man will not fail/ Hate will be gone and love will prevail..." May it be so.
• PRE (39A: Lead-in to "fix") It made me chuckle to think about the PREfix of PREfix.
• UCONN (46A: Maya Moore's alma mater, for short) Maya Moore is a basketball player for WNBA's Minnesota Lynx. While she was playing for UCONN, their women's basketball team won back to back national championships in 2009 and 2010. 
• FANCY DANCE (56A: Powwow performance) FANCY DANCE is a style of dance that is flashy, colorful, and highly energetic. It is also known as Fancy Feather, or Fancy War Dance, and is one of the most popular contemporary powwow dances.
• SULA (1D: Toni Morrison protagonist) Published in 1973, SULA was Toni Morrison's second published novel.
• STOP (12D: "Quit-playing!") and C'MON (31D: "Quit playing!") I enjoyed this pair of identical clues.
• CANDYMAN (21D: Name not to say five times into a mirror) According to the 1992 horror film, CANDYMAN, saying the name five times into a mirror summons the CANDYMAN, who then kills the summoner. There's a reason I don't watch horror films. I will probably have nightmares from writing about this!
• END GAME (42D: Last part of a chess match) My husband is an avid chess player. He and a friend have been playing chess against each other for over 30 years. They began playing at lunch each day. Now they play via a chess app. In addition to reminding me of my husband, this answer reminded me of the Netflix series, The Queen's Gambit, which my husband and I finally got around to watching a couple of weeks ago. The hype about the series is well-deserved. It's quite good, and I recommend it if you haven't watched it yet.

Geography review:

• KANSAS (45A: Wichita's state) Wichita is the largest city in Kansas.
• RUSSIANS (23D: People from Moscow, say) Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia.

I always try to guess what the theme will be from reading the title. I did not guess correctly today, resulting in a nice moment of discovery when I realized what the theme was. The puzzle challenged me a bit today, in a good way. There weren't a lot of answers that were new or unfamiliar to me; it just seemed  there were quite a few answers that didn't immediately come to mind. In the end I was successful, and I enjoyed the solve. This puzzle was a delightful way to begin my Christmas Eve day.