November 16, 2022

Title: UPDATES

Constructor: Ada Nicolle

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

JE T'ADORE (3D: Fond French phrase)

SECRET ADMIRER (7D: Person who might buy gifts off of someone's wishlist without taking credit for it)

STREET ADDRESS (17D: Info for a delivery driver)

METADATA (35D: File information such as author and size)

Theme synopsis: The word DATE is found going UP each vertical theme answer.

Things I learned:

• CREATOR (21A: Dana Simpson, for "Phoebe and Her Unicorn") Phoebe and Her Unicorn is a syndicated comic about a young girl and her unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. The comic's CREATOR is Dana Simpson, who also created the webcomic, Ozy and Millie. 
• ARGO (51A: Toronto CFL player, for short) The Toronto Argonauts are a professional football team competing in the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Argonauts were founded in 1873 by the Argonaut Rowing Club, who owned the team for its first 83 years. 
• LANA (54A: Actress Parrilla) LANA Parrilla played the role of The Evil Queen / Regina Mills in the TV series Once Upon a Time. In 2021, LANA Parrilla launched a clothing line called Keep It Regal. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• TOTO (18A: "Rosanna" band) "Rosanna" is a 1982 song by TOTO. Thanks, for this earworm, puzzle! "All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes / Rosanna, Rosanna..."
• AUNTS (19A: Parents' sisters) I laughed when I saw this clue. After yesterday's clue for AUNTS confused me a bit, this one I understood!
• WHO'S WE (25A: "Don't lump me in with you") This clue made me chuckle. "WHO'S WE?" reminds me of the saying with a similar sentiment, "You got a mouse in your pocket?" (Of course, that phrase didn't fit...)
• NBA TEAMS (38A: The Warriors and the Lakers, for example) These two California NBA Teams are the Golden State Warriors, based in San Francisco, and the Los Angeles Lakers. 
• MEWED (50A: Made a sound like a kitten) Willow is 11 years old, so it's been some

  

  Willow

  time since she MEWED like a kitten. She definitely meows though! She has quite the variety of meows she uses to communicate with us. Doesn't she look sweet and fluffy in this photo?
• SKIN (58A: "Brown ___" (India.Arie song) "Brown SKIN" is a 2001 song by India.Arie. It was just a couple of weeks ago that we saw Arie clued as ["Brown SKIN" singer India.___].
• TTYL (59A: "g2g!" response) "g2g!" (Got to go!) "TTYL" (Talk to you later!)
• ACE (62A: Highest card in poker) and TWO (1D: Lowest card in poker) I liked the visual of these two answers appearing in opposite corners of the grid.
• JE T'ADORE (3D: Fond French phrase) JE T'ADORE is similar to the French phrase je t'aime. Both mean "I love you." Je t'aime is generally used to express romantic love, while JE T'ADORE is used with friends, and also to express adoration of things. 
• ERIC (6D: "Sex Education" character Effiong) I have previously written about ERIC (though without mentioning that his last name is Effiong), Ncuti Gatwa's character on the TV show, Sex Education. 
• METADATA (35D: File information such as author and size) I chuckled when I saw this clue, because just two days ago I messaged someone to ask, "What's METADATA mean?" This enabled me to confidently fill in this answer correctly! Merriam Webster describes METADATA as "data that provides information about other data."
• BLEU (39D: "Sacre ___!") Sacré BLEU, which translates to "sacred blue" derived as a phrase used to avoid blasphemy. It was essentially a way of saying, "Mon Dieu!" ("My God!") without mentioning the lord's name. This clue made me think of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, for whom "Sacré BLEU!" is a catchphrase. 
• SNOW (40D: Winter precipitation) This answer is appropriate, as once again I'm looking out my window and watching it SNOW.
• FORGET (42D: Draw a blank) I had something to say about this answer, but I FORGET what it was...
• CURIE (46D: Physicist Marie) Always a delight to see Marie CURIE, the two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist, in the puzzle.

Geography review:

• UTES (36D: Utah Natives) UTES are the indigenous people of the Great Basin. Prior to European colonization, the UTE tribe lived in the region that is now Utah and Colorado.
• NYC (55D: The Bronx's city, for short) The Bronx is the northernmost of New York City's (NYC's) five boroughs. NYC's other four boroughs are Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.

Nice to get some UPDATES without having to wait for my computer to install them and reboot. In addition to the (many!) answers I've already highlighted, I enjoyed MURMURS, ENORMOUS, and POTATOES. Thank you, Ada, for this puzzle that was a wonderful way to begin my Wednesday.