September 29, 2022

Title: YOU PUT MY LOVE ON TOP

Constructors: Brooke Husic & Will Needier

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

HONEY MUSTARD (4D: Sweet and tangy sauce)

SUGAR SKULLS (18D: Day of the Dead decorations)

BABE ZAHARIAS (23D: Golf great with Olympic golds in hurdles and javelin)

Theme synopsis: The TOP word of each vertical theme answer is a synonym for the endearment LOVE: HONEY, SUGAR, BABE.

And now a word from our constructors:

Brooke & Will: We’re delighted to be back in the USAT with another collaboration! We've written a bunch of puzzles together, but most recently we separately contributed puzzles that we love to Lollapuzzoola. Brooke came up with the theme idea for this one, and approached Will about it since he once made a puzzle inspired by the same song.

Things I learned:

• LOS (62A: The L in LACC) This is an interesting clue, because LACC is an abbreviation for a number of things, and for the majority of those things the L stands for LOS. If you were familiar with any of the LACCs, you could be successful at figuring out the answer. (As it happens, I didn't know any of them, but crossing answers helped me out.) LACC may mean LOS Angeles Children's Chorus, LOS Angeles City College, LOS Angeles Common Council, LOS Angeles Country Club, LOS Angeles College of Chiropractic, LOS Angeles Convention Center, LOS Angeles Comic Con, or LOS Angeles Consular Corps.
• ASL (8D: Language used by Makkari in "Eternals") Eternals, the 26th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), was released in 2021. In the movie, the Eternals are immortal alien beings that have emerged from hiding to protect Earth. Lauren Ridloff plays the role of the Eternal, Makkari. The first superhero in the MCU to be played by a deaf actor, Makkari uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate.
• BABE ZAHARIAS (23D: Golf great with Olympic golds in hurdles and javelin) BABE ZAHARIAS (1911-1956) won gold medals in hurdles and javelin and a silver medal in the high jump at the 1932 Summer Olympics (held in LOS Angeles). She then turned to professional golf, and ultimately won 10 LPGA championships. I did actually know about BABE ZAHARIAS, because I read a biography about her when I was in 5th grade. That was a few years ago, however, and I could not remember her married name, and alas BABE Didrickson wouldn't fit. BABE Didrickson ZAHARIAS died of colon cancer at the age of 45. In her final years she was an advocate for cancer awareness. I am sure BABE ZAHARIAS would want me to remind you that if you are between the ages of 45 and 75, you need to have colonoscopies on a regular basis to screen for colon cancer.
• WRESTLE (42D: Compete like a sumotori) The October 27, 2021 puzzle taught me that rikishi is a term for a professional sumo WRESTLEr. Today I learned that sumōtori is a synonym for rikishi.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OCTOPUS (13A: Cuttlefish relative) Cuttlefish are Cephalopods, a class that includes OCTOPUS, squid, and nautiluses.
• CHANA MASALA (17A: Chickpea dish) CHANA MASALA is a dish made of chickpeas, onion, tomatoes, ghee, and curry-like spices. The dish originated from the Indian subcontinent. 
• KOBE (20A: Expensive type of beef) and T-BONE (22A: Expensive type of beef) When I encountered the clue for KOBE, I thought, "Oh, I know that - we just saw KOBE in the puzzle the other day." Then I came to the clue for T-BONE and thought, "Wait, didn't I already fill in this answer?" Right, there's more than one expensive type of beef!
• AFROBEAT (30A: Music genre from Nigeria) I have previously written about AFROBEAT musicians the Lijadu Sisters, and Fela Kuti.
• NIL (61A: Zero, in Spades) In the card game Spades, a bid of zero is known as NIL. 
• ECHO (2D: Marvel hero who can perfectly copy people's movements) I have previously written about ECHO. 
• SUGAR SKULLS (18D: Day of the Dead decorations) Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1 and 2. SUGAR SKULLS, often colorfully decorated with royal icing, are symbols used to remember family and friends who have died. 
• HARRIS (45D: "The Other Black Girl" author Zakiya Dalila ___) I learned about The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila HARRIS, when it was used as a clue for the word "other" last year.
• ALTA (50D: Baja's opposite) "ALTA" and "baja" are the feminine Spanish words for "tall" and "short."
• NEIN (55D: Opposite of ja) "Ja" and "NEIN" are the German words for "yes" and "no."

Geography review:

• LANKA (49A: Colombo, Sri ___) Colombo is the executive and judicial capital of Sri LANKA, as well as its largest city. The legislative capital of Sri LANKA is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte. We often see SRI in puzzles clued as [___LANKA]. It was fun to see the latter half of the country get its turn.
• ALBANIA (63A: European country with a double-headed eagle on its flag) The flag of ALBANIA features the black silhouette of a double-headed eagle on a red background. The golden eagle is the national bird of ALBANIA.

The title of today's puzzle, "YOU PUT MY LOVE ON TOP," is a lyric from Beyoncé's 2011 song, "LOVE ON TOP." (We saw "LOVE ON TOP" as a theme answer last month.) I enjoyed this theme, and all three of the theme answers. I also liked the answers GNARLY (though I tried "snarly" first), TWEAKS,   ZEAL, and YES AND. Thank you, Brooke and Will, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to start my Thursday.