April 24, 2023

Title: BEGINNER'S LUCK

Constructor: Rafael Musa

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Theme Answers:

TOUGH COOKIE (17A: Resilient, determined person)

GOOD VIBES ONLY (39A: "No negativity allowed here")

LADY LIBERTY (64A: Figure rising over New York Harbor)

Theme synopsis: The starting word of each theme answer is a word that can be paired with the word LUCK. Our types of BEGINNER'S LUCK are TOUGH LUCK, GOOD LUCK, and LADY LUCK.

Things I learned:

• PETER (28A: "Game of Thrones" actor Dinklage) In the TV series, Game of Thrones, PETER Dinklage portrays Lord Tyrion Lannister, who is a dwarf, and the youngest Lannister sibling. PETER Dinklage has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism. He has used his celebrity status to raise awareness of dwarfism.
• OBIE (60D: Orange Bowl mascot) OBIE, the official mascot of the Orange Bowl, made his debut at the first Orange Bowl game in 1935. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• AGASSI (13A: Tennis legend Andre) Andre AGASSI is a retired tennis player. He won the Australian Open four times, the US Open twice, and the French Open and Wimbledon one time each. He represented Team USA at the 1996 Olympics, winning a gold medal. I'm always happy to be able to fill in a sports answer without the help of crossing answers.
• YAS (21A: Affirmative with roots in ball culture) YAS is a playful and celebratory alternative to the word "yes." As the clue informs us, the use of YAS has roots in ball culture, a predominantly Black and Latino LGBTQ+ subculture in the late 1980s. By the 1990s, the term had been adopted by the wider LGBTQ+ community.
• GOES (36A: "So It ___..." (Taylor Swift song)) "So It GOES..." is a song from Taylor Swift's 2017 album, Reputation.
• MON (48A: First nonweekend day (Abbr.)) Hey, look...today is MONday, the first nonweekend day.
• EDU (67A: www.xavier.___) and OSU (18D: Campus in Columbus, for short) Not just one, but TWO Ohio universities featured in today's puzzle. Xavier University is a private Jesuit University in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1831 as Athenaeum. The Ohio State University (OSU) is located in Columbus, Ohio. OSU is a public land-grant university founded in 1870. 
• TWO (6D: Number of dots seen in this clue) I'm a fan of self-referential clues, and this is an interesting one that had me counting the dots on the i's.
• TOMATILLO (10D: Salsa verde ingredient) The TOMATILLO is also known as the Mexican husk tomato. The small, round, green fruit is a staple of Mexican cuisine, and is used to make salsa verde.
• KINDRED (12D: Octavia E. Butler time-travel novel) KINDRED is a 1979 novel by Octavia E. Butler in which the protagonist time-travels between her home in 1970s California and the pre-Civil War South. A TV miniseries, also titled KINDRED, premiered in December 2022. Season one covers the first three chapters of the novel.
• BIG BIRD (27D: Muppet who's over 8 feet tall) The BIG BIRD costume doesn't have any openings to allow the performer to see. The puppeteer wears a camera strapped to their chest that allows them to navigate. 
• HAM (46D: Meat in a Cubano) A Cubano is a HAM and cheese sandwich variation that includes roasted pork, pickles, mustard, and (sometimes) salami in addition to HAM and Swiss cheese. The sandwich is made using Cuban bread. 

Geography review:

• ENG (20A: Official language in Barbados) Barbados is island country located in the Atlantic Ocean. Barbados is the easternmost island in the group of Caribbean islands known as the Lesser Antilles. The capital of Barbados is Bridgetown, and the country's official language is English (ENG).

GOOD VIBES ONLY is a fabulous theme answer, and an apt description of this delightful puzzle. At no point during solving did I utter the phrase, "I CAN'T EVEN..." Pardon my MONOLOGUE, but I am a fan of this MONday puzzle. Thank you, Rafa, for this enjoyable puzzle.