August 16, 2022

Title: HOME IN

Constructors: Ada Nicolle & Rafael Musa

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

ON ESTROGEN (16A: Taking feminizing hormones)

SCENE STEALER (22A: Non-lead actor with a memorable performance)

ONLINE STORES (47A: Shops that might offer discount codes)

T-BONE STEAK (56A: Short loin beef cut)

Theme synopsis: The word NEST - a synonym of HOME - is found IN each theme answer.

Things I learned:

• MSU (38A: Sparty's school, for short) Michigan State University (MSU) is located in East Lansing, Michigan. The nickname for the school's athletic teams is the Spartans. Sparty is the school's mascot. 
• HULA (43A: Dance accompanied by an ipu) An ipu is a percussion instrument made from gourds that have been dried, hollowed out, and polished. There are two types of ipu: ipu heke is a double gourd instrument, and ipu heke 'ole is made from a single gourd. The ipu is one of the instruments traditionally used to provide a beat for HULA dancing. The ipu gourd has been utilized by Hawaiians in many ways, not only for making instruments. 
• STAR (33A: "___ vs the Forces of Evil" (Disney show)) STAR vs. the Forces of Evil is an animated TV series that premiered on Disney XD in 2015. The title character, STAR Butterfly, is a magical princess from Mewni (another dimension). After accidentally setting fire to the family castle, she is sent to Earth (as a foreign exchange student of sorts...). There she becomes friends with Marco, with whom she shares many adventures. Oh, did I mention that STAR has a powerful magic wand? She is learning to use it, and must also protect it from being stolen.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• MEN (19A: Either M in MLM) MLM here is short for MEN loving MEN. (MLM is also used as an abbreviation for multi-level marketing, but that doesn't fit the clue.)
• LIN (34A: Basketball star Jeremy) Often when I encounter a sports clue, I'll skip over it and wait for enlightenment from crossing answers. Occasionally, however, as in this case, I will surprise myself and realize I know the answer. Jeremy LIN is a professional basketball player who has played for multiple teams, including NBA's New York Knicks and L.A. Lakers, and Chinese Basketball Association's Beijing Ducks.
• WAS (51A: "As It ___" (Harry Styles hit)) "As It WAS" is the lead single from Harry Styles's album, Harry's House, which was released earlier this year. The song broke the Guinness World Record for the "most streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours (male)." (Did you know there was such a record?)
• HMU (52A: "my dms are open") dms = direct messages; HMU = hit me up
• SLED (63A: Slide down sand dunes) I have gone sledding on sand dunes! A year ago when my husband and I visited Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, we rented sand SLEDs, specially designed SLEDs with an extra slick base. After exploring the sand dunes on foot in the morning, we headed back out to the dunes in the afternoon with our rented SLEDs. It was a

  

  sand SLED

  tremendous amount of fun, and... I was not good at it. (This was not at all surprising; I am not known for my athleticism or my gracefulness.) I took this photo after falling off of my SLED. If you look closely you can see the serpentine path I carved on the dune with my attempts to stay on the SLED. It was fun to see this take on cluing the word SLED.
• BUS (4D: Freedom Riders' transport) The Freedom Riders were civil rights activists that rode BUSes into southern states in the 1960s to raise awareness of and challenge the non-enforcement of Supreme Court decisions that had ruled segregated BUSes as unconstitutional.
• ROE (17D: Eggs in ikura don) Ikura don is a Japanese rice bowl topped with salmon ROE.
• SEA (22D: Place for 23-Down) and EEL (23D: Animal with a mysterious reproductive process) If you are interested in delving into the mysterious subject of the EEL reproductive process, you might check out this article, "How Do EELs Reproduce? The Mystery of EEL Sex Explained."  (I found the article fascinating; science, you know!)
• BUN (57D: A baozi is one) Baozi, also known as bao, is a yeast-leavened BUN popular in various Chinese cuisines. 

Geography review:

• NEPAL (48D: Country where Mount Everest is known as Sagarmatha) Mount Everest, located on the China-NEPAL border in the Himalayan mountains, is Earth's highest above-sea-level mountain. In the 1950s or 1960s (I found sources citing various dates) NEPAL began using the Nepali word, Sagarmāthā, as the mountain's name. Sagarmāthā translates to "goddess of the sky," or "head in the great blue sky." In 1976, NEPAL established Sagarmatha National Park which encompasses the area surrounding Mount Sagarmāthā. 

I didn't immediately deduce the theme of today's puzzle when I filled in ON ESTROGEN. It took SCENE STEALER (my favorite of a nice set of theme answers) to enable me to HOME IN in the theme. Other great answers: IMPULSE BUY, OPTICS, LATTE ART, LEGO SETS, and RASCALS. Thank you, Ada and Rafa, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to begin my Tuesday.