January 4, 2021

Title: OFF AND ON

Constructor: Olivia Mitra Framke

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

OFFICE DRONES (18A: Workers with mundane tasks)

COFFEE AND DONUTS (36A: Breakfast pairing)

OUT OF FASHION (52A: Not trendy anymore)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains the word OFF AND the word ON.

Things I learned:

• IRA (30A: Hummingbirds singer Tucker) IRA Tucker was a member of a gospel music group which began in 1928 and is still active today. The group has performed under the names The Hummingbirds, The Dixie Hummingbirds, the Swanee Quintet, and the Jericho Quintet. IRA Tucker was a member of the group from 1938, until his death in 2008. He was 13 years old when he first joined The Hummingbirds. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OREO (13A: Cookie brand that partnered with PFLAG in 2020) Ah, it's our crossword-friend OREO! This is a great clue for OREO. PFLAG is a national organization for LGBTQ+ people, their parents, families, and allies. If you haven't seen the PFLAG OREO commercial, do yourself a favor and watch it. You might want to have Kleenex handy - it gets me every time.
• IMAM (28A: Masjid leader) As I learned from the October 25 puzzle, a masjid is a Muslim place of worship. The English term for a masjid is mosque. An IMAM is a Muslim worship leader.
• MAYAN (40A: Like Chichen Itza) Chichen Itzá is an archeological site in Mexico. It is a pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people. 
• ASL (66A: U.S. language) ASL, or American Sign Language, is the predominant sign language used in the United States and parts of Canada. ASL originated at the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut, in the early 19th century.
• CENTER (19D: A Blow Pop's can be chewed) This is a fun clue for the word CENTER. Blow Pops are lollipops with a bubble gum CENTER. The Blow Pop was patented in 1969. Sold by the Charms Candy company, when it debuted in 1973 the Blow Pop became their number one selling product of all time.
• AFOOT (32A: "The game is ___" (Sherlock Holmes)) I'm always up for a Sherlock Holmes reference in my crossword puzzle! It's such an iconic Holmes-associated phrase, "The game is AFOOT." Interestingly, as I've mentioned previously, Holmes only said this phrase once in the written stories, at the beginning of "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange."
• ART (43D: "___ is not living. It is the use of living" (Audre Lorde)) This is a lovely quote from Audre Lorde, who described herself as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet." 
• SINES (49D: Law of ___ (trigonometry rule)) The Law of SINES is a trigonometric equation relating the lengths of a triangle's sides to the SINES of its angles. At one time I might have been able to tell you more about this, but it's been a long time since I've used trigonometry.

Geography review:

• USA (9D: Where to find WA, WI, and WY) It's true that Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are found in the United States of America. What I appreciated about this clue was how it somewhat echoed the clue just above it [Who, what, when, where, or why]. There's no QUESTION about it - there are a lot of W's in those two clues.
• LOS (11D: The "L" in L.A.) LOS Angeles is the largest city in California.
• SAHARA (45D: North African desert) The SAHARA is the largest hot desert in the world. The SAHARA covers large parts of the following countries: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, and Tunisia.

I really enjoyed the theme of this puzzle. Nice, solid theme answers - my favorite was the grid-spanning COFFEE AND DONUTS. I appreciated that OFF consistently came first in the theme answer, followed by ON. The rest of the puzzle was delightful as well, with QUESTION, AND FUNHOUSE as nice non-theme bonuses. This is Olivia Mitra Framke's second USA Today puzzle, but the first since I have been blogging. I've enjoyed solving Olivia's puzzles in other venues, and it was nice to see her byline when I opened the app this morning. This puzzle was an enjoyable way to start my Monday.