April 9, 2021

Title: CHECKMATE

Constructor: Amanda Rafkin

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

BOOK REPORTS (18A: English class assignments)

POINT OF INTEREST (37A: Place worth visiting)

MARK MY WORDS (53A: "Just you wait!")

Theme synopsis: The first word of each theme answer can follow (is a MATE for) the word CHECK, giving us CHECKBOOK, CHECKPOINT, and CHECKMARK.

Things I learned:

• DEAF (46A: ___ West Theatre (organization whose productions combine ASL and spoken English) DEAF West Theatre was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1991. Their performances are "inspired by DEAF culture and the expressive power of sign language." Their stage productions, featuring DEAF and hearing artists, have included Our Town, Big River, Oliver!, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Additionally, they have collaborated with artists to produce music videos and performances such as Kelly Clarkson's "I Dare You," and Ingrid Michaelson's "Hell No!"

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• UCLA (15A: West Coast Schuster. with an annual JazzReggae Festival) JazzReggae Festival @ UCLA (The University of California, Los Angeles) is held every Memorial Day weekend. In addition to jazz and reggae music, there are food and craft vendors.
• ORGAN (17A: Instrument heard at a baseball game) The debut of ORGAN music at baseball games happened at Chicago's Wrigley Field on April 26, 1941. On that day, Ray Nelson played a pipe organ located behind the grandstand screen. The use of ORGAN music then spread to other major league baseball stadiums. Many teams have now supplemented (or replaced) ORGAN music with pre-recorded music.
• ASHLEY (23A: Actress ___ Nicole Black) ASHLEY Nicole Black is one of the stars of HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show. She also writes for the show, which features comedy sketches by the main cast and featured guests. 
• APE (67A: Animal hidden in "banana peel") and RHEA (54D: Animal hidden in "overhead" (though it can't fly)) This was a fun pair of clues! 
• COCO (2D: Tennis star Gauff) COCO Gauff is the youngest tennis player to be ranked in the Women's Tennis Association's Top 100. She won her first singles title in 2019 at the age of 15.
• FOO (38D: ___ Fighters (rock band)) The FOO Fighters were founded in 1994 in Seattle, Washington, by former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl. The group took its name from a nickname used by Allied aircraft pilots during World War II to describe UFOs and other mysterious aerial phenomena.
• TAMALE (45D: ___ pie (cornmeal-based casserole)) TAMALE pie has a cornmeal crust and features ingredients typically used in TAMALEs, such as beef, corn, beans, chili peppers, and salsa 
• DEEP (57D: Like the Mariana Trench) The Mariana Trench is in the western Pacific Ocean, about 124 miles east of the Mariana Islands. It is the DEEPest oceanic trench on Earth, with a maximum known depth of 36, 037 feet. (That's almost 7 miles DEEP!)

Geography review:

• IOWA (22A: Davenport's state) Ah, this was a gimme for me! Davenport, IOWA is located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of IOWA. Davenport is the largest of the Quad Cities, a group of four cities in IOWA and Illinois cities along the Mississippi River. The other cities are Bettendorf, IOWA, and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Interestingly, Wikipedia informed me that East Moline, Illinois is now also a part of the Quad Cities, meaning there are now five cities in the Quad City area.
• TAHITI (20D: Largest island in French Polynesia) TAHITI is an island in the central Pacific Ocean that was formed from volcanic activity. Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, is located on TAHITI. 

The technical difficulties I encountered in the USA Today puzzle app and web interface made this morning's puzzle more of a challenge than usual. I'm guessing I'm not alone in experiencing these difficulties, and hope they get addressed soon. But on to the puzzle, which is much more fun to talk about! MARK MY WORDS, this puzzle is a POINT OF INTEREST! Enjoyable theme answers today. I also liked HEART EMOJI and MAKING NICE. (OH, MAN! You could use a HEART EMOJI when MAKING NICE!) This puzzle was a delightful way to begin my Friday! Puzzle completed (in spite of technical difficulties) - CHECK!