February 14, 2023

Title: DOWN TO EARTH

Constructors: Matthew Stock & May Huang

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

PROMISED LAND (19D: Destination invoked in King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech)

SHAKY GROUND (21D: Unsolid foundation)

DISH THE DIRT (22D: Share gossip)

Theme synopsis: The last (DOWN-most) word of each vertical theme answer is a synonym for EARTH.

Things I learned:

• SARAH (1A: Actress Shahi) In the 2022 DC Extended Universe (DCEU) movie Black Adam, SARAH Shahi portrays archaeologist and resistance fighter, Adrianna Tomaz. SARAH Shahi also stars in the TV series, Sex/Life, where she plays Billie Connelly, a Connecticut housewife experiencing a mid-life crisis.
• LENTILS (14A: Filling for Ethiopian sambusas) Sambusas are a variety of samosas, fried pastries with savory fillings. In Ethiopian cuisine, sambusas are filled with LENTILS and spices. 
• ARIKE (36A: WNBA All-Star Ogunbowale) ARIKE Ogunbowale plays basketball for the WNBA's Dallas Wings. She was a WNBA All-Star in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and in 2021 was named the WNBA All-Star Game MVP. In addition to basketball, ARIKE Ogunbowale competed on season 26 of Dancing with the Stars. 
• HAIKU (5D: Poetic form used by Basho) Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) was a Japanese poet famous during the Edo period (1603-1867). He wrote almost 1,000 HAIKU poems (called hokku at the time) during his lifetime, and is recognized as a master of this poetic form.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• SUPERFOOD (21A: Marketing term often disputed by dietitians) SUPERFOOD is a marketing term used to describe foods that are supposedly nutrient dense and confer health benefits. The use of the term "SUPERFOOD" is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration or any other regulatory agency, so buyers should definitely beware, and recognize the term as marketing. Given its usage, it was amusing to me that this answer intersected with (is on, in a way) SHAKY GROUND. 
• PROMISED LAND (19D: Destination invoked in King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech) "I've Been to the Mountaintop" was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final speech, delivered on April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated. In the speech, he said, "...I've seen the PROMISED LAND. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the PROMISED LAND."
• NEURONS (32D: Cells that transmit electrical signals) NEURONS are the main component of the nervous system in animals. These electrically excitable cells send messages by transmitting electrical signals. There are three classifications of NEURONS: sensory NEURONS (transmitting signals from sensory organs to the spinal cord and brain), motor neurons (sending signals from the brain throughout the body), and interNEURONS (connecting NEURONS together into circuits). Hooray for science in crosswords!
• RUN (42D: What feet and noses can both do) This clue made me chuckle!
• OLAF (48D: Snowman in "Frozen") and NEMO (49D: Pixar title fish) This animated character party in the lower left corner of the grid brought me joy.
• EVOO (52D: Acronym for a cooking fat) EVOO is an acronym for extra virgin olive oil, a designation used for olive oil with no more than 0.8% free acidity (a measure used to determine olive oil quality). Did you know that there is an international literary prize for writing about EVOO? It's called the Ranieri Filo della Torre literary prize. 

Geography review:

• DHAKA (38A: Bangladesh's capital) Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. Its neighbors are India and Myanmar, and it has coastline along the Bay of Bengal. DHAKA is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. DHAKA has the dubious distinction of being one of the most densely populated cities on EARTH, with nearly 74,000 residents per square mile. For comparison, the population density of New York City is a little over 26,400 people per square mile, and the state of Alaska has a population density of just over 1 person per square mile.
• PROVIDENCE (46A: Rhode Island's capital) I know the U.S. capitals - truly I do! I learned them in the 5th grade (granted, that was a few years ago...). And yet, confronted with a clue such as [Rhode Island's capital], my mind draws a complete blank. Fortunately, getting the first letter of P from PIXEL (46D: Small part of a digital image), was enough to jog my memory. The city of PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island is located in PROVIDENCE County, at the mouth of the PROVIDENCE River.
• RIVER (57A: The Yangtze, for example) The Yangtze RIVER is the third longest RIVER in the world, following the Nile RIVER and the Amazon RIVER. The Yangtze RIVER flows through China. In Mandarin Chinese its name is Cháng Jiāng, meaning "long RIVER."

One thing you can definitely say about this puzzle is that it is DOWN TO EARTH. (Ha! I simply could not pass up that opportunity.)  Thank you, Matthew and May for this puzzle that was a delightful way to start my Tuesday.