March 9, 2023

Title: STARTING BIG

Constructor: Rafael Musa

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

LONG COVID (17A: Modern cause of invisible disabilities affecting millions of people)

WIDE-ANGLE LENS (36A: Camera attachment with a small focal length)

TALL ORDER (57A: Request that's hard to fulfill)

Theme synopsis: The STARTING word of each theme answer is used to describe something that is BIG in a particular dimension. We have LONG (length), WIDE (width), and TALL (height).

Things I learned:

• INDRA (60A: King of the gods in Hindu mythology) In Hindu mythology, INDRA is considered the king of the devas, or god-like deities. INDRA is also the king of Svarga (heaven), and is associated with thunder, lightning, and rain. In the ancient collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns known as the Rigveda, INDRA is the most celebrated deity.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ALAN (14A: Mathematician Turing) I have previously written about ALAN Turing.
• LONG COVID (17A: Modern cause of invisible disabilities affecting millions of people) LONG COVID, also known as LONG-haul COVID or chronic COVID syndrome, is exactly what it sounds like. It is a condition that persists or appears after the recovery from an acute case of COVID. Since we are still living through the COVID-19 pandemic, LONG COVID is not well understood and there is not yet a consensus on a definition for the syndrome. LONG COVID can affect multiple organ systems, and patients exhibit a variety of symptoms. The most commonly reported symptoms of LONG COVID are fatigue and memory problems.
• ART (35A: Painting or photography) and WIDE-ANGLE LENS (36A: Camera attachment with a small focal length) It's a small thing, but I appreciated that the mention of photography as an ART was immediately followed with a clue for WIDE-ANGLE LENS. A WIDE-ANGLE LENS is often used in landscape and architecture photography, as it allows more of the surrounding scene to be included in a photo.
• PEDI (46A: Nail salon treatment, for short) and MANIS (3D: Nail salon treatments, for short) We're getting the full MANI-PEDI treatment in today's puzzle.
• ELI (7D: Name left over when you eliminate two-thirds of a word in this clue) I had this answer filled in by crossing answers before I read the clue. Even though I knew the answer, I needed to reread the clue carefully to understand it. If you eliminate the last six of the nine letters in the word eliminate (that is, two-thirds of the word), you are left with the name ELI. That's fun.
• CORONA (10D: Mexican beer brand) CORONA is the top-selling brand of imported beer in the United States. There have been rumors that the popularity of CORONA declined due to the similarity of its name to the coronavirus, but those rumors have been debunked.
• AMERICANS (11D: One of the A's in ADA) The ADA is the AMERICANS with Disabilities Act of 1990. The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability, requires employers to make accommodations, and imposes accessibility requirements on public facilities.
• NBA STARS (12D: Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, etc.) Steph Curry is a point guard for NBA's Golden State Warriors. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a power forward for NBA's Milwaukee Bucks. Both of these players are widely regarded as NBA STARS. 
• LARGEST (26D: Like Jupiter, out of all the planets) This is a wonderful bonus for a theme featuring BIG words.
• EL MUNDO (34D: Spanish newspaper whose name means "the world") The Spanish newspaper, EL MUNDO, is headquartered in Madrid, and was first published in 1989.
• RAP (39D: Lauryn Hill genre) Lauryn Hill was a member of the hip hop group, The Fugees, and has also had a solo career. She has won eight Grammy awards, the most of any female RAP artist.
• HAILEY (45D: Model Bieber) In addition to her modeling career, HAILEY Bieber was a co-host of  the reality TV music competition, Drop the Mic. I learned about HAILEY BIEBER when we saw her as a theme answer October 24, 2021.
• WIDOW (49D: "Black ___" (2021 Marvel movie)) The movie Black WIDOW is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Scarlett Johansson played the movie's title role. We saw BLACK WIDOW as a theme answer on June 23, 2022. 
• ADELE (50D: "Easy on Me" singer) Any excuse to post a link to an ADELE song: Here's her 2021 song, "Easy on Me." 

Geography review:

• LOS (44A: One of the L's in LAPL) The LOS Angeles Public Library (LAPL) serves the largest population of any U.S. public library. The LAPL operates 72 branch libraries throughout LOS Angeles.
• ENG (4D: One of South Dakota's official languages (Abbr.)) Here's a fun fact: The United States doesn't have an official language. When the country was founded, it apparently didn't seem necessary, and attempts to adopt an official national language since then have failed. Thirty-one states have passed laws making English  (ENG) the official language in the state. South Dakota did so in 1995. In 2019, South Dakota passed a law making O'ceti Sakowin (a Siouan language) the official indigenous language of the state. South Dakota is one of only three states with more than one official language. The other states with multiple official languages are Alaska and Hawaii.

Today's title let me know what to expect of the theme, and once I had LONG COVID and WIDE-ANGLE LENS filled in, I was correctly able to predict that the third theme answer would begin with the word TALL. There are many synonyms for the word BIG, and I thought the extra touch of making each BIG word refer to a different dimension was a nice one. This is not the first BIG puzzle we've seen from Rafa. Last June he brought us BIG BREAK. Thank you, Rafa, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to start my Thursday.