March 1, 2023

Title: PERSONAL CHOICE

Constructor: Tom Pepper & Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

MANDY MOORE (16A: "I Wanna Be With You" singer)

AMANDA GORMAN (28A: "Call Us What We Carry" poet)

HOLLAND TAYLOR (54A: Star of the one-woman play "Ann")

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer is the name of a person whose first name contains the word AND, and whose last name contains the word OR.

Things I learned:

• HOLLAND TAYLOR (54A: Star of the one-woman play "Ann") HOLLAND TAYLOR began her acting career in 1965, and has an extensive filmography that includes movies, TV, and theater. I recognized her once I looked her up, but while solving I needed to rely on the help of crossing answers. In 2013, HOLLAND TAYLOR starred in the one-woman play, Ann, which she also wrote. The play was based on the life of Ann Richards, a politician who was the governor of Texas from 1991-1995. Last year, HOLLAND TAYLOR reprised her role for the premiere performance of Ann at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• MANDY MOORE (16A: "I Wanna Be With You" singer) "I Wanna Be With You" is the title track of MANDY MOORE's 2000 album. The album I Wanna Be With You was a reissue of her 1999 debut album, So Real, and contained five songs from that album. MANDY MOORE released her seventh studio album in 2022, titled In Real Life. In addition to singing, MANDY MOORE has acted in a number of movies and TV shows, and done voice work for several video games.
• PURI (18A: Crispy fried bread) PURI is a fried bread made from unleavened whole wheat flour.
• MAGENTA (21A: Viva ___ (2023 Pantone Color of the Year)) Pantone is a company best known for its standardized color matching system. Since 2000, Pantone has named a Color of the Year. As this clue and answer inform us, the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year is Viva MAGENTA, a "new, animated red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint."
• AMANDA GORMAN (28A: "Call Us What We Carry" poet) In 2017, AMANDA GORMAN was the first National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States. In 2021, she read her poem, "The Hill We Climb," at President Joe Biden's inauguration. Call Us What We Carry is a collection of AMANDA GORMAN's poetry, published in 2021. This review of Call Us What We Carry made me want to check out AMANDA GORMAN's book. We previously saw AMANDA GORMAN as a theme answer on March 21, 2021.
• STATUE (51A: Living ___ (performer who stays very still)) I am in awe of performers who can act as living STATUEs; to do it well takes a lot of discipline. This clue and answer reminded me of a recent episode of the NPR podcast, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me, on which Geena Davis talked about working at Ann Taylor, and turning a dare from her friends into a job being a mannequin.
• OWNER (64A: Pet's human) You may have heard the saying, "Cats don't have OWNERs, they have staff." With that in mind, I am most definitely Willow's human. As I've mentioned before, she likes to climb up behind me when I am sitting at my desk (or at the supper table). I have hundreds of

  

  Willow and her human (me!)

  photos of her doing so (it's just so cute). This is the photo I took yesterday.
• ARIA (12D: Word aptly hidden in "Bavarian State Opera") The Bavarian State Opera is located in Munich, Germany. Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria. I am a fan of apt hidden words.
• TWO (61D: Scrabble value of D or G) I'm always happy to see a Scrabble clue.

Geography review:

• ARUBA (13A: Island near Venezuela) The island of ARUBA is located in the Caribbean Sea, approximately 18 miles north of Venezuela. ARUBA is a constituent country (administrative region) of the Netherlands, meaning its citizens are Dutch. The capital of ARUBA is Oranjestad.
• EURO (63A: Currency in Italy and Ireland) Of the 27 member countries of the European Union, 20 use the EURO as their currency, including Italy and Ireland. 
• TULSA (40D: Oklahoma city on the Arkansas River) TULSA is the second-largest city in Oklahoma, following the capital of Oklahoma City. TULSA's nicknames include "T-Town," "Oil Capital of the World," and "The 918." (918 is one of two area codes for TULSA.)
• NAPA (56A: California wine region) Thanks to a combination of favorable climate, geography, and geology, NAPA county in northern California is one of the premier wine regions of the world.

It took me a bit to catch on to today's theme, (I got distracted by the word MAN appearing three times in the first two theme answers...), providing for a nice "Aha!" moment when I saw the CHOICE words AND/OR. In addition to the theme answers, I enjoyed the opposing views COUNT ME OUT and SAY YES, as well as DROP A HINT. Congratulations to Tom Pepper making his USA Today debut today! Back-to-back debuts this week. Thank you Tom and Zhouqin, for this puzzle that was an excellent way to start my Wednesday.