October 1, 2021

Title: SIDE ISSUES

Constructors: Doug Peterson & Brooke Husic

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

RACE AGAINST TIME (16A: Rush to meet a deadline)

EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (35A: Stevie Nicks hit sampled in "Bootylicious")

DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (55A: Titular radio show in a 2014 Tessa Thompson film)

Theme synopsis: The last word of each theme answer is the title of a magazine. The ISSUES available on the SIDE today are TIME, SEVENTEEN, and PEOPLE.

And now a word from our constructors:

Doug: As sometimes happens, the theme entry that inspired the theme was left on the cutting room floor. Not to worry. That phrase ended up inspiring yet another puzzle, which you'll be solving soon. :)
As always, it was an absolute blast to collaborate with Brooke. It was a fun process from beginning to end. And many thanks to Amanda for the stellar edit and for her working with us to find a great clue for 34-Down. I thought all of our nine-letter Down entries were quite nice. Hope you enjoy them too.

Brooke: I really love the layout Doug started us off with here! The only answer lengths are 3, 4, 5, 9, and then the three length 15 theme answers. Almost 60% of the grid is four-letter words! I agree that I love all our nine-letter Down answers; I also love all three theme answers! And my favorite clues are 40A, 45A, and 50D.
Definitely echoing Doug: it's consistently a blast to work together and I really appreciate his thoughtfulness and open-mindedness, which make it so easy to talk about anything that comes up during the collaboration process. We'll be back soon — make a note of the 29A clue!

Things I learned:

• ADA (6A: Education pioneer Comstock) Throughout her career, ADA Comstock advocated for the education of women. She was a founding member of the International Federation of University Women, a group organized in 1920 to promote higher education for women in every country of the world. From 1923 until her retirement in 1943, ADA Comstock was the president of Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
• BETSY (43A: "Otherwise Unseeable" poet Sholl) Otherwise Unseeable is the most recent of  Betsy Sholl's eight published collections of poetry. Betsy Sholl was the Poet Laureate of Maine from 2006 to 2011. 
• CREE (44A: Canadian people) The CREE are one of the largest First Nations people in Canada. It's estimated that over 350,000 people in Canada are CREE or have CREE ancestry.  Of the three "people" clues today, CREE is the only one I was familiar with, but I still needed the help of crossing answers.
• WERE (49A: How Beautiful We ___" (Mbue novel) How Beautiful We WERE, published earlier this year, is the second novel by Imbolu Mbue. Set in a fictional African village that is experiencing the effect of environmental degradation brought on by an American oil company, the book tells about the struggles of the village when they decide they must fight back. 
• METIS (9D: Canadian people) The MÉTIS are Canadians with mixed Indigenous and European ancestry. 
• TEWA (32D: Pueblo people) The TEWA people share the Pueblo culture and speak the TEWA language. The TEWA live in New Mexico near the Rio Grande River. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• JET (29A: Invisible vehicle for Wonder Woman) Wonder Woman's invisible JET first appeared in DC Comics in 1942 (as an invisible plane - it would be represented as a JET later). In Wonder Woman's many appearances over the years, her invisible plane has sometimes been a feature, and other times been ignored (invisible, you might say...) This article gives a nice overview of the history of Wonder Woman's invisible JET. 
• SONY (34A: Maker of the Discman) At a time when our cell phones give us access to unlimited music, portable CD players seem bulky and archaic. However, when Sony released the first Discman in 1984 it was a big deal.
• EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (35A: Stevie Nicks hit sampled in "Bootylicious") "EDGE OF SEVENTEEN" is a single from Stevie Nicks's 1981 debut album, Bella Donna. (My earworm for the day: "Just like the white winged dove...Sings a song...Sounds like she's singing...Whoo...whoo...whoo...") As the clue informs us, "EDGE OF SEVENTEEN" is sampled in the 2000 Destiny's Child song, "Bootylicious."
• PETE (45A: "___ the Cat: I Love My White Shoes") PETE the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, illustrated by James Dean with text by Eric Litwin, is the first of a series of children's books featuring PETE the Cat. 
• DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (55A: Titular radio show in a 2014 Tessa Thompson film) In DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, Tessa Thompson plays the role of Samantha White, a Black student at a predominantly white school (the fictional Winchester University). She uses her radio show to call out racist transgressions at the school. The movie was adapted to a Netflix TV series in 2017.
• ORCA (3D: Whale with the same color scheme as a crossword) This was a fun clue for the crossword-friendly entry ORCA. 
• ARIA (6D: Solo for Simon Estes) Always nice to see Iowa-native, Simon Estes in the puzzle. I wrote about him a few months ago. 
• TYNE (31D: Emmy winner Daly) TYNE Daly has won six Emmy Awards: four Lead Actress in a Drama Series Awards for Cagney and Lacey (1983, 1984, 1985, and 1988), and two Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Awards, for Christy (1996) and Judging Amy (2003).
• STATEHOOD (34D: Goal of the Washington, D.C. Admission Act) The Washington, D.C. Admission Act is a congressional bill that would make Washington, D.C. a state. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on April 22, 2021, but has not passed the Senate. [Note: Due to a mix-up, this puzzle was originally published with a different clue. I have edited it to reflect Brooke and Doug's intended clue.]

This puzzle has ISSUES! I mean that in a good way, of course. Three delightful grid-spanning theme entries today. Four enjoyable vertical 9-letter entries added a lot to the solving experience: OVERSLEEP, DANCE MOVE, I SURE WILL, and STATEHOOD. I also liked "YAY, ME!" which is always my reaction to successfully solving a puzzle, honestly. I enjoyed this collaboration and look forward to the promised future Doug and Brooke collaborations. This puzzle was a great way to begin my Friday.

One additional note: Unfortunately, the online and app solving experience did have some ISSUES today, as all of the quotation marks appeared as """ - hopefully this glitch will be quickly fixed.