August 21, 2022

Title: CHOP DOWN

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

GAUCHO PANTS (9D: Wide-legged garments)

OLYMPIC HOPEFULS (13D: Athlete aspiring to make the Summer or Winter Games)

FRENCH OPEN (27D: Major clay court tennis tournament)

Theme synopsis: Each DOWN theme answer contains the word CHOP connecting the two words in the answer.

Things I learned:

• ARIA (12A: Solo for Sumi Jo) Sumi Jo is a Grammy-award-winning operatic soprano from South Korea.
• HER (24A: Cherry Muhanji novel hidden in this clue) HER is a 1990 book by Cherry Muhanji (the pen name of Jeannette Delaine Washington). The novel is about a community of black women working at the Ford Motor plant in Detroit in the late 1950s. The book won a Lambda literary award. Fun fact: Cherry Muhanji and I both have doctorates from the University of Iowa. Hers is in English, anthropology, and African American World Studies.
• TBS (49A: "Rat in the Kitchen" channel) Rat in the Kitchen, which premiered on TBS earlier this year, is a cooking competition show with a twist. Hosted by comedian Natasha Leggero and chef Ludo Lefebvre, the TV show features six contestants competing in a cooking contestant to win a cash prize. However, one of the contestants is a "rat" and is deliberately trying to undermine the efforts of the other contestants. As I've mentioned before, I rarely know what channel any show is on, so with clues such as this I need to rely on the help of crossing answers.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ALBA (5A: "Honey" star Jessica) Honey is a 2003 movie starring Jessica ALBA as the title character, aspiring hip hop choreographer Honey Daniels. The role is considered to be Jessica ALBA's big screen breakthrough.
• KOALA (40A: "Bear" that sleeps a lot) The word bear is in quotation marks in the clue because although KOALAs are often referred to a bears, they are marsupials rather than bears. A KOALA sleeps up to 20 hours a day.
• APPS (52A: Duolingo and Babbel, for example) Duolingo and Babbel are both language-learning APPS.
• LEFT (69A: Didn't hang around) and STAY (70A: Hang around) To hang around or not to hang around? That appears to be the question.
• DATE (1D: Jujube, aka red ___) From the June 15, 2022 puzzle, I learned that red DATEs are also known as jujube, or Chinese dates.
• SABRE (4D: Buffalo hockey player) The Buffalo SABREs are an ice hockey team in the NHL. Their home arena is KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.
• GAUCHO PANTS (9D: Wide-legged garments) GAUCHO PANTS are essentially a split skirt. The calf-length trousers get their name from PANTS that used to be worn by South American cowboys (GAUCHOS).
• SASHA (22D: Drag queen Velour) Spoiler alert! SASHA Velour won the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. SASHA Velour is also featured on the TV series Nightgowns that premiered on Quibi in 2020. 
• STIR (25D: Tend to tteokguk) We saw tteokguk as a theme answer in January of this year. Also known as sliced rice cake soup, tteokguk is traditionally eaten in celebration of the Korean New Year.
• FRENCH OPEN (27D: Major clay court tennis tournament) The FRENCH OPEN is held beginning in late May at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament currently held on a clay court.
• ACHES (50D: Feels yesterday's HIIT workout) HIIT is short for high-intensity interval training.

Geography review:

• NEPAL (35A: Country that celebrates Dashain) Dashain is a Hindu religious festival celebrated in NEPAL to symbolize the victory of good over evil. Lasting fifteen days, it is the biggest festival in the country. 

A straightforward theme type today. I appreciated that each theme answer broke the word CHOP in a different place across the two words in the answer. Enjoyable answers include TOP BILLING, TORTOISES, DEBACLE, and FOOD COURTS. Thank you, Zhouqin, for this puzzle that was a fine way to start my Sunday.