January 10, 2022

Title: IN THE LEAD 

Constructor: Claire Rimkus

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

LOOKS AHEAD (17A: Prepares for the future)

LEARNING AID (32A: Educational tool)

LEAVE BEHIND (41A: Fail to bring)

LIVING DEAD  (56A: Zombies)

Theme synopsis: Each of the theme answers is IN THE word LEAD, with some letters of LEAD appearing at the beginning of the answer, and the remaining letters at the end.

Things I learned:

• POEM (16A: Cathy Park Hong creation) Cathy Park Hong has published three volumes of POEMs: Translating Mo'um (2002), Dance Dance Revolution (2007) and Engine Empire (2013). You can read some of her POEMs here. In 2020, she published a memoir of essays titled, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning. Time magazine included Cathy Park Hong in their list of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2021" for her writings and advocacy for Asian American women. I recommend watching the video at the beginning of the Time article in which Cathy Park Hong discusses anti-Asian racism, and why she wrote Minor Feelings.
• ARI (44A: HighlightHer founder Chambers) ARI Chambers is a social media producer at the sports-focused website Bleacher Report. As part of her campaign to increase reporting on women's sports, she founded the Instagram account HighlightHer, with the tagline, "This is everything you need to see HER do in sports and culture." The account has over 172,000 followers. HighlightHer also has accounts on Twitter ("Your fam who tweets about everything you should  know of HER doing in sports and culture.") and TikTok ("It's time to see HER in sports and culture.")
• EVER (3D: "Felix ___ After" (Kacen Callender novel)) Felix EVER After is a 2020 novel by Kacen Callender. The title character is a Black, queer, transgender teen navigating the challenges of self-discovery and falling in love.
• PERNIL (20D: Pork dish often accompanied by arroz con gandules) PERNIL is slow-roasted, marinated pork associated with the national cuisines of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Ecuador. In Puerto Rico, it may be served with a combination of rice, pigeon peas, and spices known as arroz con gandules. PERNIL with arroz con gandules is often served during the Christmas season, or for other special occasions.
• LIME (50D: Green fruit in caipirinhas) A caipirinha is a cocktail made with cachaça (a distilled spirit made from sugarcane), sugar, and LIME. Caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• APART (14A: "Things Fall ___" (Achebe novel)) Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958, was the debut novel of Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart is considered to be a trilogy with Achebe's books No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God. (I learned this when writing about the April 21, 2021 puzzle.) The October 24, 2020 puzzle taught me that Chinua Achebe taught at Bard College in New York from 1990 to 2011. 
• NET (22A: Footvolley divider) Footvolley is essentially beach volleyball, except it is played with a football (known as a soccer ball in the United States), and players are not allowed to use their hands. Footvolley originated in Brazil in 1965.
• HER (48A: "Damage" singer) "Damage" is a 2020 song by H.E.R. This is the second day in a row H.E.R. has made a puzzle appearance.
• PILSNER (52A: Lager type first made in the city of Plzen) Plzen is a city in the Czech Republic. PILSNER is a type of pale lager first produced in Plzen in 1842 by Josef Groll.
• EAGLE (62A: Bird on the Mexican flag) The Mexican flag has vertical bands of green, white, and red. The Mexican coat of arms, featuring an EAGLE sitting on a cactus and holding a snake in its mouth, appears in the center of the flag.
• DOVE (60D: Competed like Tom Daley) Tom Daley is a diver and TV personality. With Matty Lee, he won a gold medal for Great Britain in Men's synchronized diving at the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021).
• CLIMB (25D: Go free soloing) Free solo CLIMBing is a type of rock CLIMBing in which CLIMBers are not attached to ropes or other protective equipment. Wikipedia helpfully informs me (in case I haven't already figured it out...) that "Free soloing is the most dangerous form of CLIMBing." 
• EATEN (27D: Like the plums in the poem "This Is Just To Say") This is such a fun clue! "This Is Just To Say" is a 1934 POEM by William Carlos Williams written as if it were a note. The short poem, which begins, "I have EATEN/ the plums/ that were in/ the icebox," has been widely parodied. 
• LATIN (29D: Language that gave us "i.e.") The abbreviation "i.e." stands for "id est," meaning "it is" in LATIN.

Geography review:

• ASIA (63A: Continent where sun bears live) Sun bears are the smallest bear species. They live in the tropical forests of Southeast ASIA. This is the first appearance this year of our crossword friend, ASIA.
• ALPS (1D: "The Sound of Music" mountain range) The ALPS are an extensive mountain range that extends across eight countries in Europe: France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. In the final scene of The Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family is shown fleeing Austria and heading over the ALPS.
• SAO (7D: ___ Tome and Principe) SÃO Tomé and Príncipe is an island country consisting of island groups around the two main islands of SÃO Tomé and Príncipe. The islands are in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western coast of Central Africa (about 160 and 190 miles off the coast of Gabon). The capital of SÃO Tomé and Príncipe is SÃO Tomé.

A nice classic USA Today theme type today. I particularly liked the juxtaposition of the theme answers LOOKS AHEAD and LEAVES BEHIND. In addition to the theme, I enjoyed the THOR/THURSDAY combo, the answer SMITTEN, and the previously mentioned clue for EATEN. This puzzle was a delightful way to begin my Monday.

One more thing: As today is January 10, it's my self-appointed day to remind you this blog has a Donate button, so please consider yourself reminded! Seriously, though, I am gratefully to those of you that choose to donate, and in so doing, keep this blog humming along. Donations are always optional (truly) and always appreciated (tremendously).