January 8, 2023

Title: DOWNRATE

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

ALGEBRA TEACHERS (3D: They're "X" perts)

SARA TEASDALE (5D: "Love Songs" poet)

KANGRA TEA (36D: Northern Indian beverage)

Theme synopsis: The word RATE is found going DOWN each vertical theme answer.

Things I learned:

• SARA TEASDALE (5D: "Love Songs" poet) Love Songs is a collection of poems by SARA TEASDALE (1884-1933) for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1918. The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry has been awarded annually since 1922. The award presented to Love Songs was funded by a special grant from The Poetry Society, and was the first Pulitzer Prize for Poetry to be awarded. 
• KANGRA TEA (36D: Northern Indian beverage) KANGRA TEA is produced in the KANGRA district in Himachal Pradesh, a state in the northern part of India. KANGRA TEA is known for its unique flavor. KANGRA black TEA has a sweet after taste, and KANGRA green TEA has a woody aroma.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ANNE (16A: Photographer Geddes) ANNE Geddes is known for her photos of children, which are often elaborately staged. She was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame in 2017. 
• RED CABBAGE (18A: Vegetable that can turn blue when cooked) Ah, the intersection of science and cooking - my happy place! The color of RED CABBAGE is ph-dependent. Grown in acidic soil, the leaves will be more reddish; alkaline soil will result in more of a purple color. The juice of RED CABBAGE turns red in acidic solutions and green or yellow in basic solution, making it useful as a pH indicator in many home science experiments. As the clue mentions, RED CABBAGE may turn blue when cooked. The addition of vinegar (an acid) will help cooked RED CABBAGE retain its color.
• ALA (22A: Brownie ___ mode) I wasn't planning on making brownies today, but then again, why not?
• SAVER (33A: Pizza ___ (little table-shaped item in a pizza box)) This little plastic piece has a name? Who knew? (Not me...) I usually refer to this plastic piece as a "Barbie table." (I know it's too small to actually work as a table for a Barbie, but that's a mere technicality.) The purpose of a pizza SAVER, of course, is to keep a pizza box from collapsing onto the pizza. Looking to upcycle your pizza SAVER? In my search this morning, I saw suggestions for turning it upside down and using it as an egg holder or a phone holder. Most pizza SAVERs are made of plastic, so a better idea might be to find a way to do away with them completely (while still saving our pizzas!). I read that some pizza makers are returning to using a trick they used before the advent of the pizza SAVER, baking an extra ball of dough in the center of the pizza. Extra bread? Yes, please!
• ALGEBRA TEACHERS (3D: They're "X" perts) Ha! Once I figured out this answer it made me laugh.
• CATS (21D: Tigers and tabbies) I was relieved to see this answer, as it is the first mention of CATS in the puzzle since last Sunday! Willow gets grumpy when there is a long stretch of cat-free crosswords.

  

  Willow

  Here she is "helping" me write today's post.
• ENERO (25D: Spanish for "January") A timely answer.
• OSU (26D: College where the Lantern is published, for short) The Lantern is published by students at Ohio State University (OSU).
• SARCASM (46D: Humor that might not come across online) And why is that a problem? (Please note that the previous question is SARCASM. It would be helpful to have a SARCASM font, wouldn't it?)
• GURU (56D: ___ Nanak, founder of Sikhism) I have previously written about GURU Nanak.

Geography review:

• MECCA (20D: Masjid al-Haram city) I have previously written about Islam's most important mosque, Masjid al-Haram. Also known as the Great Mosque of MECCA, Masjid al-Haram is located in MECCA, Saudi Arabia, and is the destination for Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage. At the center of the mosque is the Kaaba, a building that is considered Islam's most sacred site. When Muslims pray, they face the direction of the Kaaba.
• ERIE (37D: Niagara Falls is its main outlet) The Detroit River carries water from Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair into Lake ERIE. Water drains from Lake ERIE into Lake Ontario via the Niagara River and Niagara Falls. This is the first 2023 appearance of our crossword-friend ERIE. Would you like to make a prediction about how many times we will see ERIE in the puzzle in 2023? Feel free to leave your guess in the comments! Here's some data upon which to base your guess: In 2021, we saw ERIE 42 times. In 2022, ERIE appeared 37 times. (My guess for how many people will take me up on actually commenting with a guess is zero ... feel free to prove me wrong!)

A classic USA Today theme type here, perfectly explained by the title. HERE'S A TIP: Solve the USA Today crossword every day and then come read my take! Thank you, Zhouqin, for this puzzle that was a great way to begin my Sunday.