May 3, 2023

Title: STEALTH GAMES

Constructor: Rafael Musa

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

HMONG AMERICANS (20A: Many residents of St. Paul and Sacramento)

MEGA MERGER (34A: Joining of two large corporations)

MAKING AMENDS (55A: Compensating for causing harm)

Theme synopsis: The word GAME is hidden (STEALTHily) in each theme answer.

Things I learned:

• CASA (17A: "La ___ de papel" (Spanish heist drama)) La CASA de papel ("the house of paper"), also known as Money Heist, is a Spanish TV series. IMDB describes Money Heist as such: "An unusual group of robbers attempt to carry out the most perfect robbery in Spanish history - stealing 2.4 billion euros from the Royal Mint of Spain."
• GLEN (11D: English footballer Johnson) GLEN Johnson is a former professional footballer (soccer player in the U.S.). He began his career with West Ham United, and also played for Liverpool for six years. Additionally, he was capped 54 times by the England national team. I just recently learned what it means to be capped in football/soccer. Essentially it means you've played for your national team in an international game.
• GIA (61D: Supermodel Carangi) GIA Carangi (1960-1986) was a model who appeared on the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and appeared in ads for Armani, Dior, Versace, and Yves Saint Laurent. She was one of the first to be described as a supermodel. Sadly, GIA became addicted to heroin, and died of AIDS-related complications at the age of 26. The 1998 TV movie, GIA, was about her life. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• BELLA (16A: Supermodel Hadid) Supermodel BELLA Hadid has appeared on numerous covers of Vogue. Time magazine included BELLA Hadid in their list of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2023."
• SONIA (43A: "Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman" poet Sanchez) I learned about poet SONIA Sanchez from the July 11, 2020 puzzle, and have written about her several times since then. SONIA Sanchez's poem, "Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman" begins, "Picture a woman / riding thunder on / the legs of slavery..." You can read the entire poem on the Poetry Foundation website, and I recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to do so.
• DOT (49A: .) and PERIOD (31D: .) So delightful to see these answers crossing! When I encountered the clue for DOT, I thought the clue was missing. I had to look closely to see the DOT. Fun to see the DOT repeated as the clue for PERIOD.
• SIAMESE (6D: Blue-eyed cat breed) Unlike her feline cousin, the SIAMESE, my cat,

  

  Willow

  Willow, has green eyes. 
• MLK (34D: 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner, for short) The 1964 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), MLK, for short, for his "non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population."
• CACAO (51D: Seed from which chocolate is made) The CACAO tree is an evergreen tree whose seeds are used to make chocolate. On our recent trip to Seattle, my husband and I toured the Theo Chocolate factory. In addition to tasting 14 kinds of chocolate (!), we learned that the football-shaped CACAO fruits grow from the trunk of the tree. 
• MAUL (56D: "Star Wars" character Darth ___) The powerful Sith Lord, Darth MAUL, portrayed by Ray Park, made his first appearance in the 1999 movie Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. 

Geography review:

• ARAB (1A: United ___ Emirates) Between the word ARAB and the abbreviation UAE, we end up seeing the United ARAB Emirates referenced in the puzzle quite often. Could you find the United ARAB Emirates on a map? It's located on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula along the Persian Gulf.
• HMONG AMERICANS (20A: Many residents of St. Paul and Sacramento) The HMONG people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. Many HMONG immigrated to the United States following the Vietnam War. St. Paul, Minnesota has the largest HMONG AMERICAN population per capita in the United States. Sacramento, California also has a large HMONG AMERICAN community.
• SCOT (25A: Person from Edinburgh) Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. I'm currently working my way through a cozy mystery series set in Edinburgh, The Scottish Bookshop Mystery Series by Paige Shelton. 
• BEANTOWN (4D: Nickname for Boston) Boston is the capital and largest city of Massachusetts. Boston has many nicknames. BEANTOWN is a reference to the regional dish, Boston baked beans.
• ISRAELI (42D: Person from Tel Aviv) Tel Aviv is an ISRAELI city located on the Mediterranean Sea.
• EGYPT (52D: Country with the second most pyramids, after Sudan) This clue surprised me! Pyramids are associated so frequently with EGYPT. Some 135 pyramids have been discovered in EGYPT, including the Great Pyramid of Giza. Although less well known, Sudan has 220 pyramids.

Today we have three GAMEs being STEALTHy and hiding themselves in the theme answers. In addition to the theme, I enjoyed the answers CARETAKERS, AVERSE, SEND-OFF, and OBSCURE. Thank you, Rafa, for this puzzle that was a great way to start my Wednesday.