May 30, 2022

Title: FALL SHORT

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

THAT'S HYSTERICAL (3D: "LOL")

I WISH YOU WELL (5D: "Good Luck!")

OH GOSH YES (37D: "Of course!")

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains the word SHY spanning two words. SHY is a word with many meanings; for this theme it means "having less than the full or specified amount" - i.e. SHORT. As the theme answers are vertical, the word SHY is FALLing down the grid.

Things I learned:

• ACHE (13A: Feeling after a hapkido class) Hapkido is a martial art that originated in Korea. Used for self-defense, hapkido employs both close-range and long-range fighting techniques. Although hapkido is new to me, ACHE was inferable.
• REESE (66A: Long jump champion Brittney) Retired long jumper, Brittney REESE, is a seven-time world champion. Representing Team USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Brittney REESE won a gold medal in the long jump. She won silver medals at the 2016 and 2020 (held in 2021) Summer Olympics. 
• ACT (9D: "___ Like You Know" (LaShun Pace song)) "ACT Like You Know" is a 1996 song by gospel singer-songwriter LaShun Pace. Earlier this year, the song became a TikTok trend when creators began using the song as a response to various scenarios. On a sad note, LaShun Pace died on March 21 of this year at the age of 60.
• BENTO (28D: Lunchbox artist Little Miss ___) When Shirley Wong, aka Little Miss BENTO, began posting her creative and intricate BENTO lunchbox creations and decorative sushi rolls on social media, she soon accumulated many followers. If you check out her Instagram account, you'll understand why her posts became popular, as her creations are pretty incredible. 
• SKIER (45D: Eileen Gu, for one) Eileen Gu is a freestyle SKIER. At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, she won gold medals in Big air and halfpipe, and a silver medal in Slopestyle, becoming the first freestyle SKIER to win three medals at a single Olympics. At the age of 18, she's also the youngest freestyle Olympic champion. Eileen Gu was born in San Francisco, California, but has represented China in freestyle skiing since 2019. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• IPAS (5A: Their "I" stands for India) IPA = India pale ale, a hoppy style of beer.
• NOBELS (27A: Prizes for Marie Curie and Malala) Marie Curie won two NOBELS - one in Physics (1903) and one in Chemistry (1911). Malala won the NOBEL Peace Prize in 2014.
• BADGE (1D: Award earned on Sporcle) Sporcle is a trivia website on which users can take quizzes on a range of subjects, earning BADGEs along the way.
• SUNS (39D: Phoenix ballers) The Phoenix SUNS are an NBA team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Here's something new for this blog...a Sports Quiz! Can you name the other three major league sports teams based in Phoenix Arizona? The answer is at the end of this blog post. 
• PAPA (57D: "Daddy & ___" (2002 documentary)) Daddy & PAPA is a 2002 documentary exploring same-sex parenting. Four families of male couples were highlighted, including the family of director and writer Johnny Symons. 

Geography review:

• EAST (40A: Gwangju-to-Busan direction) Gwangju and Busan are cities in South Korea. Gwangju is located in the southwestern part of South Korea. As the clue informs us, Busan is EAST of Gwangju, on the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Busan is South Korea's second-largest city (Seoul is the largest), and is Korea's busiest port.
• SOCAL (61A: L.A.'s region) Los Angeles (L.A.) is located in Southern California (SOCAL). The SOCAL region is generally defined as containing California's ten southernmost counties.
• OSLO (21D: Capital home to the Fram Museum) The FRAM Museum, in OSLO, Norway, tells the story of Norwegian polar exploration. Fram is the name of the original exploration vessel used by Norwegian polar explorers. The ship is the centerpiece of the museum. 
• SRI (63D: ___ Lankan) It seems like we've seen SRI a lot in the puzzle lately, but then I wondered if maybe it just felt like that because I feel like I'm running out of things to tell you about SRI Lanka, the South Asian island country in the Indian Ocean. Checking my spreadsheet, I see this is the fourth time we've seen SRI (clued in reference to the country) this month, and we only saw it once in April, once in March, and not at all in February. So it's not just my imagination, it's been a busy month for SRI! (There's nothing wrong with that, by the way. I just like data.)

The theme answers are vertical today, and I enjoyed the theme. As a bonus, the across answers contained so many gems: INSTANT TAN, GET LOST, TOY POODLE, and HAIRSTYLE. I also especially enjoyed the clues for HOLY (29A: Word before "cow" or "smokes") and NOT ME (10D: Response to "Who would've thought?") Thank you, Zhouqin, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to begin my Monday.

Sports Quiz Answer: In addition to the Phoenix SUNS, the Arizona Cardinals (NFL), Arizona Coyotes (NHL), and Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB) all call Phoenix home. As you can see, the Phoenix SUNS are the only one of these four teams to use the name of the city rather than the state.