April 10, 2023

Title: WRITING CENTERS

Constructor: Erik Agard

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

ABOLITION (20A: Subject of "Are Prisons Obsolete?" and "The End of Policing")

FOR A SPLIT SECOND (40A: Extremely briefly)

MOBILITY AID (54A: Walker or scooter)

Theme synopsis: WRITING, in the form of LIT (short for literature), is found at the CENTER of each theme answer.

Things I learned:

• ABOLITION (20A: Subject of "Are Prisons Obsolete?" and "The End of Policing") Are Prisons Obsolete? is a 2003 book by Angela Y. Davis. (We have seen this book referenced in a clue for ANGELA, but it's been a couple of years, and I didn't remember it.) In the book, Angela Davis advocates for the ABOLITION of the prison system. The End of Policing is a 2017 book by Alex S. Vitale that advocates for the ABOLITION of the police.
• ELLEN (65A: 19th-century entrepreneur Mary ___ Pleasant) Mary ELLEN Pleasant (1814-1904) was an entrepreneur, and one of the first Black women in the U.S. to become a millionaire. She used her wealth to work for the ABOLITION of slavery, including helping fund John Brown's 1959 raid at Harpers Ferry, which I have written about previously. Mary ELLEN Pleasant moved to San Francisco at the peak of the Gold Rush. In California, she invested in real estate, and continued to work for social justice. She sued a streetcar company for denying service to Black citizens after a driver refused to pick her up even though she had tickets. That case went to the California Supreme Court, which declared segregation on streetcars unconstitutional.
• RAM (2D: Tennis star Rajeev) Rajeev RAM is a professional tennis player. He specializes in doubles, and has won multiple doubles championships, including the 2022 U.S. Open with Joe Salisbury.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• CMA (23A: ___ Awards (annual country music event) The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in Nashville, Tennessee in 1957. The CMA Awards have been presented annually since 1967.
• BTS (36A: They gave us "Permission to Dance") This is a fun clue! Even though "...we don't need permission to dance," it was nice of BTS to give us the song "Permission to Dance" in 2021. The song debuted at number one on Billboard's Hot 100. Fun fact: "Permission to Dance" replaced the song, "Butter," also by BTS, at the top of the charts.
• KNEE (66A: Joint bent during wall sits) Wall sits are a good exercise to strengthen the quadriceps muscles in your thighs (or so I'm told). Standing with one's back against a wall and feet shoulder width apart and about two feet in front of the wall, one lowers down until the KNEEs are at a right angle, holding this position for 20 to 60 seconds before sliding back to a standing position.
• IDC (22D: "Whatever," for short) IDC = I don't care.
• ASTRONOMERS (25D: Star students) I fell for the misdirect in this clue for such a long time! Even after having a number of letters filled in from crossing letters, I was still trying to make it "A honor list" or some such thing. A nice "Aha!" moment (and perhaps a groan) when I finally realized the answer was ASTRONOMERS.
• MOO (59D: Word in a lot of cow puns) This clue is MOO-sic to my ears! Seriously, it MOO-ved me to tears (of laughter).

Geography review:

• SAN (46A: ___ Juan) and RICO (34D: Puerto ___) SAN Juan is the capital of Puerto RICO, and is its largest city. Puerto RICO is located in the Caribbean Sea, between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but because Puerto RICO is a territory rather than a U.S. state, they cannot vote for president or have voting representation in Congress. Puerto RICO does hold presidential primary elections, however, and sends delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions. I admit that the whole idea of territories is confusing to me.
• IRAN (10D: Tehran's country) Tehran is the capital and largest city of IRAN.

The title of this puzzle tipped me off to the fact that the theme would be found in the CENTERS of the theme answers. My guess was perhaps "pen" would be in the center, but instead I found LIT. That works! A great set of theme answers here; I especially enjoyed seeing MOBILITY AID as a theme answer. This puzzle has left-right mirror symmetry. This allows the theme answers to be centered so that LIT is not only in the CENTER of each answer, but also in the CENTER of the grid. That's a nice touch. This puzzle played a bit on the challenging side for me. I'm not sure if it that's because I was UNCONFIDENT (28D: Not very self-assured) about some of the answers, or if I was just not quite awake while I was solving. Nonetheless, I prevailed. Thank you, Erik, for this puzzle that was an excellent way to start my Monday.