June 17, 2023

Title: 3 CM

Constructor: Malaika Handa

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

CHECK MARK (16A: Symbol on a completed to-do list)

CHAAT MASALA (37A: Tangy seasoning blend)

COFFEE MUG (59A: Break room cup)

Theme synopsis: Each of the 3 theme answers is a phrase with the initials CM.

Things I learned:

• SWAY (42A: '50s song covered by The Pussycat Dolls) The song, "SWAY," was the debut single for The Pussycat Dolls. It was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 movie Shall We Dance?. This song has an interesting history. It was written by Mexican composers Luis Demetrio and Pablo Beltràn Ruiz, who titled the song, "¿Quién será?" ("Who will it be?") and recorded it with their orchestra in 1953. The American lyricist Norman Gimbel wrote brand new English lyrics for the song and retitled it "SWAY." Dean Martin's 1954 version of "SWAY" charted in both the U.S. and the U.K.
• MOORE (61A: "General Hospital" actress Demi) This isn't "something I learned," but rather "something I'd forgotten." Demi MOORE has an extensive filmography, and I'd forgotten that early in her career she appeared on the soap opera General Hospital, portraying Jackie Templeton in 85 episodes.
• McMANSION (31D: Many a home on the "Crappy Cheapo Architecture" Twitter account) I've heard the word "McMANSION," but was unfamiliar with the Twitter account "Crappy Cheapo Architecture," so it took the help of a few letters from crossing answers for me to uncover this answer. According to Merriam-Webster, a McMANSION is "a very large house built in usually a suburban neighborhood or development," especially "one regarded critically as oversized and ostentatious." The word McMANSION was coined sometime in the 1980s, and was added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1990. As a side note: I enjoy looking at the words Merriam-Webster chooses to add to the dictionary each year. It provides an interesting history of the evolution of language. Merriam-Webster has a tool you can use to look up words added to the dictionary in a specific year. The year I was born, for example, saw the addition of a number of words, including "alley-oop," "dork," "mockumentary," and "zit."

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• STYLE (8A: Taylor Swift song with the lyric "And I got that red lip classic thing that you like") Taylor Swift's 2015 song, "STYLE," is from her 1989 album. And now I have the lyrics running through my head, "You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye / And I got that red lip classic thing that you like / And when we go crashing down, we come back every time / 'Cause we never go out of STYLE, we never go out of STYLE..."
• ALTA (14A: ___Vista (early search engine)) ALTAVista was a search engine that was established in 1995. The brand was eventually purchased by Yahoo!, and "altavista.com" now redirects to the Yahoo! search engine. Fun fact: ALTAVista was the first user of CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart).
• TREAT (15A: Reward enjoyed after a great day) and CONES (64A: Some ice cream holders) and COFFEE MUG (59A: Break room cup) This may seem like an unusual grouping of answers,

  

  MUG choice matters

  but in my mind, they go together. As I've mentioned before, I have "a number of" (translation: "a lot of") COFFEE MUGS. In this photo you can see today's MUG choice in front of my MUG collection. In our house, we don't limit the use of MUGs to COFFEE (as neither my husband or I drink it regularly). We also use MUGs for tea, hot chocolate, and ice cream. Yes, we use MUGs as an alternative to CONES for serving ice cream. And somewhere along the way, we've fallen into the habit of having a MUG of ice cream as a TREAT at the end of the day. It's a routine we're both rather fond of.
• LOCUST (20A: Pest that plagues the Ingalls' farm in "On the Banks of Plum Creek") On the Banks of Plum Creek is the fourth of nine books in the Little House series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In the book, the Ingalls family moves from Kansas to Plum Creek, Minnesota. One event recounted in the book is the LOCUST Plague of 1874. 
• MAGPIE (31A: Long-tailed crow relative) I find MAGPIEs entertaining. Like their crow relatives, MAGPIEs are quite intelligent. In fact, I've previously written about their ability to recognize themselves in a mirror. We don't see MAGPIEs where I live, so I enjoy seeing these birds

  

  MAGPIE

  
  when we travel west. I took this picture a couple of years ago in Montana. On this same trip, we watched a MAGPIE attempt to get into a container of food in the back of a pickup truck.
• CHAAT MASALA (37A: Tangy seasoning blend) CHAAT MASALA is a spice blend that originated in South Asia. It was originally used to flavor CHAAT, savory snacks of fried or baked dough, but has other uses as well. CHAAT MASALA typically includes dried mango powder, cumin, coriander, ginger, salt, black pepper, asafoetida, and chili powder. 
• MEMOIR (39A: "Crying in H Mart," for one) I have previously written about Michelle Zauner's MEMOIR, Crying in H Mart.
• ALIEN (57A: Visitor from outer space) and ETS (12D: Visitors from outer space (Abbr.)) This puzzle has received multiple visitors from outer space!
• BEETS (3D: Veggies that stain your teeth red) Ha! This clue made me laugh. I like BEETS a lot, and if you do as well, you know that teeth are not the only red result of eating a lot of BEETS.
• LAKOTA (7D: People who speak Lakhotiyapi) Lakhotiyapi is the language spoken by the LAKOTA, indigenous people that are one of the prominent subcultures of the Sioux.
• TRUST FALL (9D: "Don't worry, we'll catch you!" team-building exercise) Did this answer make anyone else nervous? Just me?
• MSG (39D: Additive in Doritos and Takis) Doritos and Takis are both chip brands. Doritos is an American brand, and Takis are a Mexican brand. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is used as a flavor enhancer that imparts a umami taste.
• COMMA (50D: Punctuation mark in "Get a Life, Chloe Brown") This is a fun clue for COMMA. Get a Life, Chloe Brown is a 2019 romance novel by Talia Hibbert. We saw TALIA HIBBERT as a theme answer in Malaika Handa's April 28, 2022 puzzle, clued as [Romance novelist known for "Get a Life, Chloe Brown"].
• MONO (54D: "The kissing disease") Infectious mononucleosis, or MONO, as it is more commonly known, is colloquially known as "the kissing disease," as it is primarily spread through saliva.

Successfully solve today's puzzle ✅. Use a COFFEE MUG ✅. Cook with the seasoning CHAAT MASALA ... well, that CHECK MARK will need to wait. I enjoyed the playful cluing throughout this puzzle, such as YESTERDAY (10D: Monday, on Tuesday) and AHOY THERE (32D: "Hello, fellow pirate!") Thank you, Malaika, for this puzzle that was a marvelous way to start my Saturday.

Today's puzzle is edited by Amanda Rafkin. We've seen Amanda's editorial byline before, of course, but today it is particularly exciting, because Amanda is the new lead editor of the USA Today crossword. Hooray! (insert celebratory sounds of your own choosing) This is delightful news! I've worked with Amanda as an editor on crosswords I've submitted to other publications, and she is fantastic to work with. She's thoughtful and encouraging, and I am completely confident in her ability to excel in this new role. The USA Today published a great article about Amanda yesterday if you'd like to learn more about her. (I highly encourage you to check out the article, if for no other reason than to see Amanda's game collection in the background of her photo, a collection that rivals my own!) Welcome, Amanda, to this new role! I'm glad you're here.