July 6, 2023

Title: GET THE BALL ROLLING (FREESTYLE)

Constructor: Neville Fogarty

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: This is a themeless puzzle. GET THE BALL ROLLING is a nod to WHEELCHAIR RUGBY (37A: Sport originally called murderball).

Things I learned:

• OUR (35A: "___ Migrant Souls" (Hector Tobar book)) Hector Tobar is an author and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. His most recent book, published in May of this year, is OUR Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino." Hector Tobar was born in Los Angeles, California, and is the son of Guatemalan Immigrants. Our Migrant Souls examines what it's like to be Latino in the 21st century.
• LAURA (38D: Photographer Aguilar) LAURA Aguilar (1959-2018) "spent most of her career examining her identity as a Chicana lesbian artist." Her work includes portraits of diverse Los Angeles communities, self-portraits, and nude self-portraits in nature. You can view LAURA Aguilar's work online. The online gallery of her work includes collections titled, Clothed/Unclothed, Stillness, and Motion.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• DRAG BRUNCH (16A: Late-morning meal/show offered at many gay bars) Here's a helpful article about "How to Be a Good DRAG BRUNCH Guest," which includes the advice, "If you're the type of person that doesn't want to have fun, then you shouldn't be going to a DRAG BRUNCH - you should just be going to your refrigerator."
• AREA (18A: What "A" might stand for in geometry class) and FORCE (1D: Mass times acceleration) and TEN (6D: 1+2+3+4) and ACID (57D: Base's opposite, in chemistry) We're brushing up on some science and math basics in today's puzzle. 
• OREO (24A: Double Stuf cookie) Hello, crossword-friend OREO.
• TOMEI (33A: "My Cousin Vinny" actress Marisa) My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 movie about two New Yorkers - Bill Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) - who are traveling through Alabama and end up getting arrested for a murder they didn't commit. They are defended by the titular character, Bill's cousin, Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci), who recently passed the bar exam (after five attempts). Marisa TOMEI plays Bill Gambini's fiancee, Mona Lisa Vito. Marisa TOMEI won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this role.
• WHEELCHAIR RUGBY (37A: Sport originally called murderball) If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might have remembered this fun fact from the time I wrote about WHEELCHAIR RUGBY on February 26, 2022. (That was a year and a half ago, so perhaps like me, you just thought, "That sounds familiar...") WHEELCHAIR RUGBY is played in specially designed WHEELCHAIRs, and physical contact between WHEELCHAIRs is an essential component of the game. The intense physical nature of WHEELCHAIR RUGBY is what led it to be called "murderball" when it was invented in the 1970s. WHEELCHAIR RUGBY includes elements of game play from WHEELCHAIR basketball, ice hockey, handball, and RUGBY union.
• ANT (41A: Insect that some people think smells lemony) and NOSE (43A: Smelling organ) Okay, I have questions! Are people holding an ANT by their NOSE to see what they smell like? Or did an ANT just happen to wander near someone's NOSE, and they thought, "Is that a lemon I smell?" Of course I did some research to answer these questions. (That's what I'm here for!) The ANTs in question here are a particular type of ANT known as citronella ANTs, or yellow ANTs. When threatened, these ANTs emit a defensive compound that smells like lemon or citronella. This smell is most noticeable when the ANTs are crushed. 
• CASABA (58A: Melon with a wrinkled rind) CASABA melons have a yellow rind that has furrows resembling wrinkles. CASABA flesh "has a texture similar to a cross between honeydew and Asian pear, with a pearly white color."
• EMU (5D: Bird not quite as tall as an ostrich) An EMU can grow up to just over six feet tall, while an ostrich's average height is six to nine feet. EMUs are also second to ostriches in running speed. An EMU can run at speeds just over 30 miles per hour, while an ostrich can obtain speeds of 40 miles per hour.
• ANCHO (7D: Dried poblano pepper) Put another way, an ANCHO is to a poblano as a raisin is to a grape.
• MEAT (11D: Ground be'f is made without it) Gardein is a line of MEAT-free products whose name is a portmanteau of "garden" and "protein." Ground be'f is a plant-based meat substitute made by Gardein.
• TO GO (28D: Like orders that aren't "for here") and SUBS (29D: Sandwich shop orders) I'll have those SUBS TO GO, please.
• UNDO SEND (40D: Email button hit in a panic after CC'ing the wrong person maybe) This clue made me chuckle ... in a slightly uncomfortable, "Oof! I can relate to that" kind of way.

Geography review:

• EMIR (63A: Qatar leader) Qatar is a country on the Qatar Peninsula off the northeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. The capital of Qatar is Doha, and the current EMIR is Tamim bin Hamad.

The thing I've found about the FREESTYLE puzzles that USA Today recently began incorporating into its crossword offerings, is that the puzzles are so full of interesting answers I have a harder time than usual deciding which answers to highlight. BY GEORGE, it's a great problem to have! Thank you, Neville, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to start my Thursday.

One more thing: When I attended the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) in April, I had the joy of meeting a ton of people I had only previously known online. That included a number of USA Today constructors, and while I didn't get photos of all of them, for the ones I did I've been trying to remember to share their photos with you. This photo is one I've partially shared with you before. On May 28, I shared a picture of Rachel Fabi and me. True confession: I edited that photo. Here's the full photo, and it's one of my favorites that my husband took at ACPT. Not only does it show Neville, Rachel, and me, but the person photobombing us in the left corner is Dan Feyer, who won the ACPT tournament.

(Dan) Neville, Rachel, and me