March 10, 2023

Title: STORYBOOK ENDINGS

Constructor: Ada Nicolle

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

PRECURSORY (20A: Introductory)

FRIENDIVERSARY (39A: Date celebrated by besties)

NURSERY RHYMES (58A: What 20-Across and 39-Across are)

Theme synopsis: PRECURSORY, FRIENDIVERSARY, and NURSERY are RHYMES. 

And now a word from our constructor:

Ada: i don't have much to say about this puzzle, except that i love the current title and i'm grateful to erik for suggesting i put the original title ("nursery rhymes") in the grid as a revealer. i hope this puzzle plays as fun as the phrase [Fruit in a Newton] (say that five times fast!).

Things I learned:

• PAMELA (50D: Women's Basketball Hall of Famer McGee) PAMELA McGee was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. She was part of the USA women's basketball team that won an Olympic gold medal in 1984, and was a first round draft pick in the inaugural season of the WNBA. PAMELA McGee is the mother of former WNBA player, Imani McGee Stafford (who currently plays for the Australian team, the Perth Lynx) and NBA player, JaVale McGee (currently playing for the Dallas Mavericks).

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• IT IS (5A: "___ certain" (Magic 8 Ball response) Even if, like me, you've never had a Magic 8 Ball, you know the drill. You ask the black plastic sphere (designed to look like an oversized 8 ball) a yes/no question, and then turn it over to get the answer. A standard Magic 8 Ball has twenty possible answers. "IT IS certain," is one of the ten affirmative answers in the ball's repertoire. The Magic 8 Ball has five noncommittal answers, including "Better not tell you 7now," and five negative answers, such as "Outlook not so good."
• IDLI (14A: Rice cake often served with chutney) The savory rice cake down as IDLI originated in South India.
• MOOS (17A: Says "hi" in Cow) This is fun and made me smile! (Yes, I am a person who "MOOS" at cows.)
• UNDO (43A: Google Docs command) and REDO (34D: Opposite of 43-Across) It's fun to see these answers crossing. I am thankful for both of these commands!
• ALAN (67A: Turing on England's 50-pound note) We last saw ALAN Turing in yesterday's puzzle. As I have previously written, mathematician, computer scientist, code-breaker, and logician ALAN Turing was treated quite horribly by the British government during his lifetime. The 50-pound note released in 2021 features a picture of ALAN Turing, his signature, and designs referencing his work.
• TWO-SPIRIT (6D: What the 2S in LGBTQ2S+ stands for) TWO-SPIRIT, or 2S, is a term used in some indigenous cultures to describe a person with both a feminine and masculine SPIRIT living in the same body. 
• APA (9D: Counterpart of MLA, in citation styles) The MLA Handbook is a style guide published by the Modern Language Association, which provides guidelines for writing and research documentation in the humanities. The counterpart of MLA style is APA style, which is used for formatting academic documents and journal articles in the behavioral and social sciences. APA style is described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
• MARIAH (48D: "Always Be My Baby" singer Carey) "Always Be My Baby" is a 1996 song by MARIAH Carey, from her album, Daydream. MARIAH Carey recorded a new version of "Always Be My Baby" in 2021, which was used in the HBO Max animated TV special, The Runaway Bunny (based on Margaret Wise Brown's children's book of the same name).

Geography review:

• PERU (28D: Machu Picchu's country) Machu Picchu is a 15th-century citadel in southern PERU. It was constructed around 1450, most likely as an estate of Pachacuti, an Incan emperor. Machu Picchu is one of the most well-known examples of Incan architecture. 
• TEXAN (57D: Austin resident) Austin is the capital of Texas. Among the U.S. capitals, Austen is the second most-populous; only Phoenix, Arizona is larger. In the state of Texas, Austen is the fourth-most-populous city, behind Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas.
• LES (64D: ___ Etats-Unis) LES Etats-Unis is French for United States.
• EST (65D: Toronto time zone, for short) Toronto is the capital of the Canadian province, Ontario. Toronto is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. Like Rochester, New York, which is located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, Toronto is on Eastern Standard Time (EST). It's nice to see a time zone clue feature a Canadian city.

We don't often see a revealer (a theme answer that hints at or explains the theme of the puzzle) in USA Today puzzles, as usually the title serves that purpose. Therefore, today's revealer of NURSERY RHYMES provided a nice, "Aha!" moment. Halfway through solving the puzzle, I was wracking my brain trying to find a common connection between PRECURSORY and FRIENDIVERSARY. "Aha! NURSERY RHYMES - there it is!" I do enjoy a good revealer; a STORYBOOK ENDING, indeed. This puzzle is full of delightful fill, including RAINFOREST, LIVESTREAM, PANSEXUAL, and PROMISING. Oh, also, yesterday we were STARTING BIG, and today we have STORYBOOK ENDINGS. That's nice. Thank you, Ada, for this puzzle that was a wonderful way to start my Friday.

One more thing today: I constructed this week's Inkubator puzzle, titled "Turtles All the Way Down." This is a theme idea that sat on my notes app for quite some time, and I'm delighted that the puzzle is finally complete and published! If you don't have a subscription to the Inkubator (which I recommend!), you may purchase my puzzle for $1.00.