December 11, 2022

 Title: Care Package

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Guest Blogger: Matthew Stock

Theme answers:

PICNI[C ARE]A (16A: Place to eat outside)

[CAR E]NGINE (34A: Place for a piston)

R[CA RE]CORDS (61A: Music label with an alleged curse)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains a "care package" — that is, the letters C-A-R-E.

Things I learned:

• CHAI (16A: Elaichi ___ (cardamom tea)) Elaichi is the Hindi name for cardamom, which I enjoy very much but didn't know.
• PINE NUT (4D:Seed stir-fried with sweet corn) Another tasty-sounding thing! I love PINE NUTS, but haven't had them stir-fried with sweet corn. We make a version of this recipe quite often, and I always end up scraping the last pine nuts off my plate.
• LARA (11D Actress Dutta) LARA Dutta is an actress and former Miss Universe winner from India. She appears primarily in Hindi-language films and has enjoyed a very successful acting career.

Geography roundup:

• ASIA (65A: Yu Shan's continent) Yu Shan is the tallest mountain in Taiwan, with an elevation of just under 13,000 feet. The name Yu Shan (or 玉山) translates to "Jade Mountain" in English. I particularly like the character shān 山 because it's an example of a pictograph, or a character evolved from a drawing of a mountain.
• ERIE (26D: Lake fed by the Cuyahoga River) My partner and I have enjoyed the board game Parks for the past several years, and the artwork for all of the national parks cards is beautiful. Here's what they came up with for Cuyahoga Valley National Park in northeast Ohio.

Hi friends! Newly minted Florida man* Matthew Stock reprising my role as a Sally's Take guest blogger. I love blogging Sundays for Sally because it means I'm treated to a Zhouqin Burnikel puzzle, and this one was as delightful as expected. I count at least 12 food-related entries, which I love (David Steinberg, the Universal Crossword editor, once asked me in an email if I only filled grids when I was really hungry).  My favorite of the bunch I think were PINE NUT, COARSE (49A: Texture of some sugar) and POPS (1D: Bursts like a kernel). I also enjoyed this grid layout, which is asymmetric but also feels symmetric in a lot of places, and the theme, whose "care" packages make me think back to my months spent at sleepaway camp. Thank you, Zhouqin, for a wonderful puzzle to kick off my Sunday!

*This does, indeed, mean that Scotch is now a Florida cat. He enjoys watching the birds and geckos from our back porch and sometimes cries at the back door if we go outside without him. IN ALL, though, life is good.