November 18, 2022

Title: TAG TEAM

Constructors: Mikkel Snyder & Brooke Husic

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Theme Answers:

RETAIL WORKER (20A: Person doing some tagging)

GRAFFITI ARTIST (38A: Person doing some tagging)

FIRST BASEMAN (55A: Person doing some tagging)

Theme synopsis: In the theme answers we have a TEAM of three different types of people who do TAGging.

And now a word from our constructors:

Mikkel: This puzzle is dedicated to the Best Cat Tag Team in the Midwest,

Bellchime and Metronome

Bellchime and Metronome (not really, but look at how cute they are inspecting my groceries).
Tag Team is Puzzle Number 5 with Brooke, and for this momentous milestone, we changed our usual formula and Brooke gave me the theme answers to build around (with the expressed intent of avoiding Qs, Js, Xs, and other weird letters) and then let me do even more of the fill. Crosswords are hard, but I am very happy with how it came out, between 4D, 14A, 34D, and 69A. It's been an honor to work with Brooke this many times in one year as she manages to be a magician when it comes to finishing weird grids.

Brooke: Mikkel made nearly all of this grid! I think it's fabulous. I continually feel lucky and honored to be able to make crosswords together. I love our encouragement in the 4D clue, and Mikkel's clues for 21D, 22D, 34D, and 45D.

Things I learned:

• ODA (14A: "One Piece" manga artist Eiichiro) One Piece, written and illustrated by Eiichiro ODA is the best-selling manga series (comics originating from Japan) in history (as of August of this year). The series began in 1997, and has been adapted into an anime TV series, movies, and video games.
• EBO (44D: "Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul." writer-director Adamma) Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a 2022 movie written, and directed by Adamma EBO. Her twin sister, Adanne EBO, produced the movie. The EBO sisters are the founders of Ejime Productions. In Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul., Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown star as the leaders of a megachurch attempting to make a comeback after a scandal. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OREO (12A: Black-and-white cookie) and ORCAS (50D: Black-and-white whales) It's a simple thing, but seeing the black-and-white cookie, OREO, and the black-and-white whales, ORCAS, in this black-and-white grid makes me happy.
• POETS (26A: Writers at slams) At poetry slams, POETS perform their work before an audience and a panel of judges. Want to learn more about poetry slams? Check out this Power Poetry article. 
• ROAR (64A: Big cat's sound) Here's Willow doing her impression of a big cat's ROAR.

  

  Willow giving a mighty ROAR

  (I think she might have actually been yawning...)
• YEOH (69A: "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star Michelle) On August 6, 2020, we saw Michelle YEOH as a theme answer. That was before she played the role of Evelyn Quan Wang in the 2022 movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once. In this NPR interview, Michelle YEOH talks about the movie and her character.
• YOURSELF (4D: "Just be ___!") Thank you, puzzle, I will do just that! As the proverbial "they" say, "Just be YOURSELF! Everyone else is taken."
• WAR (22D: One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) Figures from the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are pestilence, WAR, famine, and death.
• MGM (30D: "Creed" movie studio) Creed is a 2015 boxing movie. It is the sequel to the Rocky film, Rocky Balboa (2006). A sequel, Creed II, was released in 2018, and Creed III is in production. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) produced the Rocky and the Creed movies. (Insert MGM lion's ROAR.)
• KARATE KID (34D: "The ___" (movie franchise that inspired "Cobra Kai") Ralph Macchio played the title character in the 1984 movie, The KARATE KID, and its sequels. The TV series, Cobra Kai, which premiered in 2018, is a sequel to The KARATE KID movies. I recently listened to an interview with Ralph Macchio on the NPR podcast, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me.

Geography review:

• LAS (45A: ___ Vegas) LAS Vegas, Nevada has many "capital" nicknames, including "The Entertainment Capital of the World," "The Gambling Capital of the World," "Capital of Second Chances," and "The Marriage Capital of the World." However, LAS Vegas is not the capital of Nevada; that would be Carson City.
• ROME (66A: Italy's capital) ROME is the capital of Italy. The city of ROME surrounds the smallest country in the world, Vatican City.
• SEA (3D: Caribbean, for one) The west, southwest and southern parts of the Caribbean SEA are bounded by Mexico, Central America, and South America. The north and eastern boundaries of the Caribbean SEA are marked by the islands of the Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. 
• PARKS (11D: Yellowstone and Yosemite) Yellowstone and Yosemite are two of the oldest National PARKS in the United States. Yellowstone National Park, located in the northwest corner of Wyoming (and extending into Montana and Idaho), was the first National PARK in the U.S., established in 1872. Yosemite National PARK, located in central California was established on October 1, 1890, becoming the third U.S. National PARK. The second oldest National PARK, Sequoia, also in California, was established just six days before Yosemite. Regular readers of the blog will know I am a huge fan of the National PARKS. My husband and I are on a quest to visit as many of them as we can. So far, we've visited 27 of the 63 National PARKS, including Yellowstone and Yosemite (and Sequoia).

It's been a while since we've had a theme united by a common clue. This is a fun take on that, with each [Person doing some tagging] from a completely different area. When I encountered the clue the first time, my immediate thought was GRAFFITI ARTIST, so it was gratifying to see that fit in the second theme slot. Thank you, Mikkel and Brooke, for this puzzle that was not MEH (63D: "idk it's fine"), but was actually a great way to start my Friday.