September 24, 2022

Title: Q2

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

QUEEN QUET (17A: Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation)

QUICK QUESTION (38A: "Hey, lemme ask you something...")

QUE QUIERES (62A: Spanish for "What do you want?")

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer is composed of 2 words beginning with the letter Q.

Things I learned:

• LIST (1A: "The Trans ___" (2016 documentary)) The Trans LIST is a documentary movie directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. The movie tells the stories of 11 transgender Americans. 
• QUEEN QUET (17A: Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation) The Gullah/Geechee people are an African American ethnic group living in the southern United States. I have written about them previously. Marquette L. Goodwine, also known as QUEEN QUET, is an author, computer scientist, lecturer, mathematician, and activist, and has been the Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation since 2002. She was the first person to speak before the United Nations on behalf of the Gullah/Geechee people.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OBOE (30A: Instrument originally called an hautbois) Prior to 1770, the OBOE was known in English as a hautbois, a name derived from the French words for "high" ("haut") and "wood" ("bois"). 
• TABLA (45A: Paired percussion instrument) A TABLA is a pair of hand drums of slightly different sizes and shape. TABLA originated from the Indian subcontinent, and it is the main percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music.
• OGRE (49A: "The ___ has fallen in love with the princess!" (line from "Shrek")) In the 2001 movie, Shrek, Lord Farquaad is the character who says the memorable line that has been used in many a meme, "The OGRE has fallen in love with the princess!"
• STELLA (56A: "How ___ Got Her Groove Back") How STELLA Got Her Groove Back is a 1996 book by Terry McMillan, that was adapted into a 1998 movie of the same name. Angela Bassett played the role of STELLA in the movie.
• SOFA (9D: "Plastic Off the ___" (Beyonce song)) "Plastic Off the SOFA" is a song from Beyoncé's album, Renaissance, that was released in July of this year. 
• SKI (55D: Compete in super-G) Super-G, or super giant slalom, is an alpine skiing race.

Geography review:

• CST (32A: Summer time zone in Beijing) Beijing is the capital of China. Although China spans five geographical time zones, the official time in the entire country is China Standard Time (CST). CST is observed year-round in China, as Daylight saving time hasn't been observed in the country since 1991.
• USC (44A: School in L.A.) The University of Southern California (USC) is located in Los Angeles (L.A.), California.
• EDT (64D: Summer time zone in Baltimore) Baltimore is the most populous city in Maryland. Baltimore observes Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) in the summer months.

 Q2 can be used to refer to the second quarter, but in today's puzzle it refers to the number of times the letter Q appears in each theme answer. We even get the bonus answer of QUARTILE (38D: One of four parts in a data set). It was fun - and UNIQUE - to see so many Qs in the puzzle. Other fun answers: UMBRELLA, I DUNNO, and ABOUT ME. Thank you, Erik, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to start my Saturday. And now, I GOTTA GO.