March 17, 2022

Title: CRACKER BOXES

Constructors: Erica Hsiung Wojcik & Kate Chin Park

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

ANIMAL PRINT (19A: Zebra or leopard pattern on clothing, say)

RITZ CARLTON (36A: Upscale hotel chain)

OYSTER SAUCE (58A: Salty condiment for bok choy)

Theme synopsis: The BOXES of this grid contain types of CRACKERs, found at the beginning of each theme answer. We have an ANIMAL CRACKER, a RITZ CRACKER, and an OYSTER CRACKER.

Things I learned:

• TOT (50A: Typical "Octonauts" watcher) Octonauts is an animated TV series - with TOTs as the target audience - based on children's books by Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy. On the show, a crew of anthropomorphic animals live in the Octopod (an undersea base) and have undersea adventures. A spinoff of the series, Octonauts: Above & Beyond, premiered on Netflix in 2021, and features the characters going on land adventures.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• SELENA (23A: "Como la Flor" singer) "Como la Flor" ("Like the Flower") is a song that appeared on SELENA's 1992 album, Entre a Mi Mundo, and was also remixed in 1995 for her posthumous album, Dreaming of You. "Como la Flor" is one of the songs featured in the 2020 Netflix TV series, SELENA: The Series.
• VEGANS (29A: People who might use aquafaba instead of egg whites) Have you ever opened a can of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) and drained off the liquid? That viscous liquid, the water in which chickpeas, or other legumes, has been cooked, is aquafaba. The liquid can mimic the properties of egg whites, serving as a replacement for them when making meringue or marshmallows. When whipped, aquafaba can be used as a substitute for whipped cream. Although my husband and I are not VEGANS, I am fascinated by aquafaba. This magical liquid is the (not-so) secret ingredient in my smooth and creamy hummus.
• NASA (65A: Mars 2020 org.) Mars 2020 is one of the missions of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. Mars 2020 was the mission that landed the rover Perseverance on Mars. Oh, this is a perfect opportunity to remind you that NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover has its own Twitter account. As of last month, Perseverance has now been on Mars for over a year.
• CHINESE (1D: Group of languages that includes Hakka and Mandarin) There are hundreds of varieties of CHINESE, which are conventionally classified into seven dialect groups: Hakka, Mandarin, Wu, Gan, Xiang, Min, and Yue. About 16% of the world's population (over 1 billion people) speak CHINESE as their first language.
• CAT TREAT (8D: Morsel that might be tuna-flavored) As you can see,
  
  Willow is taking a day off from being the blog's spokescat. Willow's never been a huge fan of CAT TREATs, but also, I really like this photo of Toby. This handsome guy is my daughter's cat.
• ANI (20D: Name hidden in "Hawaiian Islands") Where's ANI? They're somewhere on the Hawaiian Islands.
• ZOOEY (38D: Actress Deschanel) Not only an actress, ZOOEY Deschanel is also a musician and songwriter, and the co-founder of HelloGiggles, an entertainment website geared toward women.
• KAGAN (56D: Elena on the Supreme Court) Elena KAGAN has been a Supreme Court Justice since 2010. She was also the first female dean of the Harvard Law School, a position she held from 2003-2009.

Geography review:

• ASIAN (15A: Nepali or Thai, e.g.) Nepal is a landlocked country in South Asia. Its capital is Kathmandu. Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia. Its capital is Bangkok.
• DALLAS (4D: Where the Cowboys play ball) NFL's DALLAS Cowboys have been playing football in Texas since 1960.

I appreciate when constructors build descriptions of their puzzle into the grid for me. This puzzle is TOO CUTE (42D: "Awww!") An enjoyable THEME (18A: Word before "song" or "park") today that one might even describe as CRACKERjack (a thing of marked excellence)! I really enjoyed the cluing today. So many great clues, but shoutouts especially to DISC (4A: Smarties shape), CASTS (8A: Signable arm covers) and NOT ME (3D: Response to "Who wants to run a bunch of boring errands?"). I also appreciated SCAR (24A: C-section mark) and TAMPON (11D: o.b. product). With these entries and ZOOEY Deschanel, SELENA, and Elena KAGAN, women are well represented today. One of today's constructor's, Erica Hsiang Wojcik, recently wrote an article about inclusivity and proper nouns, "My Journey to Making a Crossword Puzzle That Looks Like Me."  This puzzle was a delightful way to begin my Thursday.