January 19, 2022

Title: JUNIOR CLASS

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

BARGAIN BIN (17A: Place for discounted items)

FAVORITE SON (25A: Hometown hero)

PIE IN THE SKY (48A: Unrealistic goal)

FREDDIE MAC (61A: Mortgage giant founded in 1970)

Theme synopsis: The last word of each theme answer is used to mean "JUNIOR" or "offspring of" in some language: BIN, SON, SKY, and MAC. (More discussion of the theme below.)

Things I learned:

• PAT (22A: "Movement in Black" poet Parker) PAT Parker's Movement in Black is a collection of poems originally published in 1978. The poems relate to PAT Parker's experiences as a Black woman, lesbian, feminist, mother, writer, poet, and activist. I enjoyed this article about PAT Parker, which discusses her work, and her friendship with Audre Lorde.
• TOXIN (40A: Comic book character descended from Venom) If I were up on my comic book characters, this might have been inferable. I've (peripherally) hear of the character, Venom, but did not know about TOXIN. Both Venom and TOXIN are Marvel comic book characters. Venom is a villain that first appeared in 1984 in the comic, The Amazing Spider-Man #252. TOXIN has been depicted as an antihero and a supervillain. TOXIN first appeared in comics in 2004.
• TIBET (57A: Momos are part of its cuisine) Momos are a type of dumpling popular in the cuisine of TIBET, Nepal, and Bhutan.
• NOSE RING (36D: Nath, etc.) A nath, or NOSE RING, is a piece of jewelry worn through a piercing in the nose. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• RICAN (4A: Puerto ___ Day Parade) The Puerto RICAN Day Parade usually occurs annually on the second Sunday in June along Fifth Avenue in New York City. Although the parade has been cancelled the last couple of years, organizers are hoping for the parade's return this year. 
• DALE (21A: Chip's chipmunk brother) Chip and DALE are a cartoon duo created by Disney in 1943. The chipmunks' names are a pun on the 18th-century furniture maker, Thomas Chippendale.
• CAM (34A: Word after "web" or "panda") If you need some panda CAM action in your day (and who doesn't?), check out the Smithsonian National Zoo's panda CAM.
• NSA (8D: Dishfire org.) Dishfire is a global surveillance system and database run by the National Security Agency (NSA). The existence of Dishfire, which collects millions of text messages daily, was revealed in 2014. It would be easy to get a bit freaked out about this if one thinks about it too much. However, as I think about the majority of my text messages, I just hope the NSA enjoys cat photos.
• VIETNAMESE (27D: Like the zodiac whose signs include Cat and Buffalo) The VIETNAMESE zodiac is based on the lunar calendar, and assigns an animal and its attributes to each year. The 12-year cycle is similar to the Chinese zodiac, but replaces the ox with the water buffalo, and the rabbit with the cat. In the VIETNAMESE zodiac, 2022 is the year of the Tiger.
• EMOJI (29D: Smiling cat with heart eyes, for example) 😻 It will probably not surprise you that I
  
  have used this EMOJI a few times. Willow does not have heart eyes in this photo, but she is sporting a red hat!

Geography review:

• SONORA (35A: Mexican state for which a desert is named) SONORA is one of Mexico's 31 state. It is neighbors with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Baja California, and Sinaloa, and shares borders with the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico. The Sonoran Desert is the hottest desert in Mexico and the United States. It covers large parts of SONORA, Baja California, and Baja California Sur in Mexico, and Arizona and California in the U.S.
• LOS (24D: The L in LAX) LAX is the airport code for LOS Angeles International Airport.

Well, today's theme stumped me. I reached out to crossword Twitter, and was relieved, honestly, to discover I wasn't alone in being perplexed! Many thanks to all of those that reached out in response to my plea for help. As I mentioned above, BIN, SON, SKY, and MAC are a CLASS of words used in various languages to indicate someone is the offspring of someone else. The word JUNIOR is also used in this way. I suspected the theme was something along these lines, but while I was familiar with SON and MAC in this usage, and also BIN once I thought about it, SKY was definitely stumping me, and making me question whether I was on the right track. My Twitter helpline let me know that "-SKY" means "SON of" in the Slavic languages. Okay, that makes sense. It's good for me to be stumped by the theme once in a while. It certainly keeps me humble. When I first began blogging, not being able to figure out the theme was one of my biggest fears. Now - while still making me a bit anxious - I realize it's bound to happen sometimes. Always grateful for the safety net of the crossword community that's willing to help me out! Theme confusion aside, I enjoyed today's puzzle. I especially liked the clue for EMOJI, of course. I also liked the entries ROBOTIC, CAN'T WAIT, and I DO NOT. Solving this puzzle was a fine way to begin my Wednesday.