February 6, 2023

Title: GET IN 

Constructor: Rafael Musa

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

WAGE THEFT (16A: Requiring employees to work off the clock, for example)

COLLEGE TOWN (35A: Community with a large student population)

PAGE TURNER (59A: Riveting book)

Theme synopsis: The word GET is found IN each theme answer.

Things I learned:

• BEER (67A: Tusker or Tsingtao drink) From the May 10, 2022 puzzle, I learned that Tsingtao is the second largest brewery in China. Tsingtao BEER is a pale lager. Tusker, I learned today, is an African BEER brand, owned by East African Breweries. Tusker BEER's slogan is "Bia yangu, Nchi yangu," which translated from Kiswahili means "My BEER, My country."
• ASHLEE (5D: "Pieces of Me" singer Simpson) From 2004-2005, ASHLEE Simpson starred in The ASHLEE Simpson Show, a reality TV series about her life, focusing on the beginning of her career and the recording of her debut album, Autobiography. "Pieces of Me," is one of the songs from ASHLEE Simpson's debut album. The song was inspired by ASHLEE Simpson's relationship with musician Ryan Cabrera.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• STEW (1A: Dish such as doro wat) Doro wat is a chicken curry STEW that is a traditional dish in Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. We saw DORO WAT as a theme answer several months ago. I learned about doro wat from the third post I wrote for this blog!
• SHIA (14A: Predominant branch of Islam in Iran) SHIA is the second-largest branch of Islam. The largest branch of Islam is Sunni.
• WAGE THEFT (16A: Requiring employees to work off the clock, for example) WAGE THEFT refers to employers not paying employees the wages or benefits they have earned. While the most straightforward WAGE THEFT is employees outright failing to reimburse workers what they're owed, there are other variations of WAGE THEFT that are less straightforward, but still illegal. For example, failure to pay the minimum wage, or failure to follow laws about minimum wages and tipped wages, making employees work "off the clock," not paying for overtime, and not paying for breaks that are worked instead of taken, are all forms of WAGE THEFT. WAGE THEFT disproportionately affects people of color, women, and foreign-born workers. Here's an article from Forbes with more information about WAGE THEFT, including advice for addressing it. 
• EARTH (18A: Planet between Venus and Mars) One might have used a mnemonic device for remembering the names of the planets in order to get at this answer, such as "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles." Or, one might have remembered there are only two planets with five letter names, and one of them is in the clue. Or, one might have lucked out and had all but the R filled in from crossing answers by the time this clue was read. I fell into that third category today.
• ERDOS (31A: Mathematician Paul) I have previously written about Paul ERDOS. (That puzzle was also constructed by Rafael Musa!)
• COLLEGE TOWN (35A: Community with a large student population) If you live in a COLLEGE TOWN, you may be familiar with planning visits to certain restaurants when the students are on break, or checking the COLLEGE sports schedule before venturing to certain parts of town. I have lived in the COLLEGE TOWN of Iowa City, Iowa (home to the University of Iowa) for 33 years now, and I went to high school in the COLLEGE TOWN of Columbia, Missouri (home to the University of Missouri), so this answer was easy for me to fill in.
• BRASS (47A: Alloy of copper and zinc) Just three days ago I wrote about stainless steel, an alloy of iron and chromium. An alloy is a mix of elements containing at least one metal. The mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties of BRASS vary depending on the proportions of copper and zinc in the alloy. Bronze, which is similar to BRASS, is an alloy of copper and tin.
• AGREE TO DISAGREE (10D: "You're wrong, but let's stop arguing") This is a fabulous grid-spanning answer with a fun, sassy clue.
• TA TA FOR NOW (27D: "See ya later") It's not uncommon to see the abbreviation TTFN in crosswords. It was fun to see the sentiment spelled out. 
• TRANS PRIDE (29D: What Monica Helms' flag celebrates) The TRANS PRIDE flag has five horizontal stripes - two light blue (at the top and bottom), two pink, and one white in the center. The flag was created in 1999 by Monica Helms.
• GLOW (36D: What bioluminescent animals do) The GLOW of bioluminescent animals is a result of a chemical reaction that converts chemical energy into light energy. I wrote more about this when we saw BIOLUMINESCENCE as a theme answer.

Geography review:

• AIRES (21A: Buenos ___, Argentina) Buenos AIRES is the capital of Argentina. It is also a primate city of Argentina. A primate city is one that is the largest in its country, and is disproportionately larger than other cities in the area. With a population of nearly 14 million people, Buenos AIRES is almost ten times larger than the next two largest cities in Argentina (Córdoba and Rosario). Approximately 35% of Argentina's population lives in Buenos AIRES.
• ONE (50A: Number of official time zones in China) Although China spans five geographical time zones, the ONE official time in the entire country is China Standard Time (CST). CST is observed year-round in China, as Daylight saving time hasn't been observed in the country since 1991.
• NAPA (52A: California wine valley) It's been just four days since we last saw NAPA in the puzzle. 
• TEL (17D: ___ Aviv) TEL Aviv is located on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. TEL Aviv is the economic and technological center of Israel.
• MECCA (25D: City that only Muslims can visit) MECCA is considered to be Islam's holiest city. It is the home of Islam's most important mosque, Masjid al-haram, which I have previously written about. Under Saudi law, non-Muslims are not permitted to enter MECCA.
• CAPE (55D: ___ Town, South Africa) CAPE Town is located on the Atlantic coast of South Africa, and is the country's oldest city, founded in 1652. CAPE Town is one of South Africa's three capitals. CAPE Town serves as the legislative capital of the country, while Pretoria is the executive capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.

We have a straightforward theme today with a  nice set of theme answers. Those theme answers are shifted to the left of the grid, which means we also get some great bonuses on the right side of the grid. I SPOT the previously mentioned AGREE TO DISAGREE and TRANS PRIDE, as well as FEAR NOT. Fun fact: We've seen PAGE TURNER as a theme answer twice before, on November 10, 2020 and September 3, 2022. Thank you, Rafa, for this puzzle that got my Monday off to a fantastic start.