March 17, 2023

Title: PARK ON THE RIGHT

Constructors: Brooke Husic & Neville Fogarty

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Theme Answers:

GOALBALL (17A: Paralympic sport in which competitors wear blackout eyeshades)

POKEMON THEME (27A: Song with the lyrics "To catch them is my real test / to train them is my cause")

CHILI DOG (44A: Frank with a messy topping)

POISON IVY (57A: Batman foe named for a plant)

Theme synopsis: The RIGHT-most word of each theme answer (which is also aligned on the RIGHT side of the grid) can precede the word PARK. We have a BALLPARK, a THEME PARK, a DOG PARK, and IVY PARK.

And now a word from our constructors:

Neville: What a delight to write a puzzle with Brooke, who is basically the best! Also, shout out to my college friend Matt Simpson, who is a Paralympic medalist in GOALBALL and is the reason why I've learned about the sport.

Brooke: I am so thrilled that Neville and my first published collaboration is out in the world! I've learned so much from him and and teaming up is a serious fangirl moment for me. I'm glad Neville suggested right-justifying all of our theme answers! My favorite clues are for DOCS and the MLM + I DO pair.

Things I learned:

• RACHEL (15A: Admiral ___ Levine, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health) Prior to becoming the Assistant Secretary for Health in March 2021, Admiral RACHEL Levine was the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health (2017-2021). Dr. RACHEL Levine, who is a pediatrician, is also a professor at the Penn State College of Medicine. She is the first openly transgender person to hold a federal government position requiring confirmation by the Senate, and is the first openly transgender four-star officer in the U.S. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• GOALBALL (17A: Paralympic sport in which competitors wear blackout eyeshades) In GOALBALL, a sport designed specifically for vision-impaired athletes, teams of three players compete on an indoor court, and attempt to throw a ball with bells embedded in it into the opponent's goal. Players wear blackout eyeshades, and since the game relies heavily on the sense of hearing, all outside noise, including cheering, clapping, or cellphone sound, is prohibited. Here's an article about Neville's friend, Matt Simpson, who was part of the USA Team that won a silver medal in GOALBALL at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. I learned about GOALBALL from the April 22, 2022 puzzle.
• POKEMON THEME (27A: Song with the lyrics "To catch them is my real test / to train them is my cause") In case you'd like to give it a listen, here's a link to the POKÉMON THEME, "Gotta Catch 'Em All."
• L'ENGLE (42A: "A Wrinkle in Time" author Madeleine) In Madeleine L'ENGLE's novel, A Wrinkle in Time, the main characters - Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe - travel through time and space attempting to rescue the Murrys' father. A Wrinkle in Time was first published in 1962. Two movie adaptations of the book have been made, in 2003 and 2018. A Wrinkle in Time has also been adapted into a play, an opera, and a graphic novel. 
• LESBIANS (46A: Some Sapphics) Sapphic is used as an umbrella term for women who love women, whether they identify as LESBIANS, or as bisexual, pansexual, asexual, transgender, non-binary, or queer. The term is derived from Sappho, a 7th century BCE poet, who wrote about her attraction to women.
• MLM (50A: Acronym for the _en _oving _en community) Just two days ago I wrote about how this type of fill-in-the-letter clue is less common than fill-in-the-blank clues requiring a word. Therefore, I smiled when I saw this clue. 
• POISON IVY (57A: Batman foe named for a plant) I have previously written about the supervillain, POISON IVY. We have also seen POISON IVY as a theme answer previously, on November 5, 2020. A word about the PARK pointed to by this theme answer: IVY PARK is a line of athletic wear owned, managed, and operated by Beyoncé.
• POEM (62A: Work such as Nikki Giovanni's "I Wrote a Good Omelet") Nikki Giovanni is a POET, activist, and educator who was one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement in the late 1960s. We saw NIKKI GIOVANNI as a theme answer on November 25, 2022. I invite you to take a moment and read "I Wrote a Good Omelet," which is a POEM with an absolutely fabulous title.
• CURRY (1D: Massaman or panang dish) Massaman CURRY and panang CURRY are dishes that originated in Thailand. 
• GLAM (17D: Flamboyant rock subgenre) GLAM rock developed in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, and is characterized by musicians that wear flamboyant clothing. 
• SPRING BREAK (24D: Time off that might coincide with Passover) This is a timely answer - 'tis the season for SPRING BREAK. Iowa City schools, including the University of Iowa, are on SPRING BREAK this week. A friend of mine and I have a SPRING BREAK tradition of having lunch at a particular restaurant that tends to be extremely busy when the students (and university staff and faculty) are in town. We are continuing that tradition today.
• DOCS (34D: Dr. Martens, for short) This clue made me chuckle. The official name of the shoe brand is Dr. Martens, but I'm not sure I've heard anyone call it that. More commonly, the shoes are referred to as DOC Martens, or simply DOCS. 
• NPR (59D: "Life Kit" network) Life Kit is a family of podcasts from NPR with the tagline "Tools to Help You Get It Together." There are podcasts and articles on health, money, parenting, life skills, and more. Recent Life Kit episodes include, "Defining masculinity on your own terms," "5 questions to ask each other before marriage," and "Braving the 'quarterlife' crisis."

Geography review:

• SWEDE (41A: Neighbor of a Finn) Sweden and Finland are Nordic countries in Northern Europe. Sweden and Finland do share a land border, but much of the the two countries is separated by the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. Sweden lies to the west of the bodies of water, and Finland lies to the east. The capital of Sweden is Stockholm, and the capital of Finland is Helsinki. And, as the clue informs us, SWEDEs and Finns are neighbors.
• NEPAL (47D: Kathmandu's country) Kathmandu is the capital of NEPAL, and its largest city. Kathmandu has four sister cities in the United States: Boulder, Colorado; Eugene, Oregon; Fredericksburg, Virginia; and Rochester, Minnesota. Sister cities (also called twin towns) are legal and social agreements between two cities for the purpose of cultural and commercial promotion.

This is a classic USA Today theme type, and I appreciated the extra touch of moving the theme answers all the way to the RIGHT. Interesting fill and enjoyable clueing combined with the theme for a delightful-all-around solving experience. Thank you, Brooke and Neville, for this puzzle that was an excellent way to start my Friday.

One more thing: This past Wednesday, I participated, along with 81 other crossword solvers, in the Naked Crossword Challenge. (No, it wasn't that kind of challenge!) The idea sprang out of a tweet from Amanda Rafkin earlier this month that asked, "Genuinely curious: if someone removed all of the identifying information and gave you the standard rotation of newspaper puzzles to solve (NYT, WSJ, USAT, Uni, LAT, etc.) do you think you could tell which was which and why?" Many people expressed interest, and (occasional Sally's Take guest blogger) Shannon Rapp ran with the idea. Yesterday, people that signed up were sent six puzzles (NYT, WSJ, USAT, Universal, LAT, and Newsday) that had been stripped of identifying information. We solved the puzzles and made our guesses about where they had been published. We were also asked to explain why we guessed as we did. It was a fascinating experiment! Note: I only participated in the 83% Naked Crossword Challenge, as I blogged the USA Today puzzle prior to the puzzle drop, not wanting to wait until late morning to blog. That being said, I'm (unsurprisingly) 100% confident I could have identified the USA Today puzzle. On the rest of the challenge I faired only so-so. Here's a link to some slides showing a compilation of some of the data. The USA Today crossword was the puzzle correctly identified by the most solvers, and with the most confidence. This is partly explainable by the fact that Wednesday's USA Today puzzle was asymmetric, and the other outlets only rarely run asymmetric puzzles. Many solvers indicated they could have identified the USA Today puzzle without the asymmetry for a variety of reasons. This challenge is only a single data point, of course, and it will be interesting to see how the results differ if this challenge is repeated. However, I think it's pretty clear that the USA Today crossword, under Erik Agard's editorship, has established a distinctive style and voice. We, as solvers, are the winners here!