July 8, 2023

Title: PULLING STRINGS (FREESTYLE)

Constructor: Jared Goudsmit

Editors: Jared Goudsmit & Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: This is a themeless puzzle. The title, PULLING STRINGS, is a nod to PUPPET SHOW (24A: Performance with marionettes, maybe).

Things I learned:

• WOMEN (32A: Girls Just Wanna Weekend performers, e.g.) Girls Just Wanna Weekend is a music festival started by Brandi Carlile in 2019. As the name suggests, Girls Just Wanna Weekend features WOMEN as the headline artists. Girls Just Wanna Weekend 5 is planned for January 18-21, 2024 in Riviera Maya, Mexico. 
• ACT (40A: There is one in "The Thanksgiving Play") The Thanksgiving Play is a one ACT play by Larissa Fasthorse. The satirical play revolves around four white people attempting to create a respectful and culturally sensitive play about the first Thanksgiving. When The Thanksgiving Play opened on Broadway in April of this year, Larissa Fasthorse became the first Native American woman playwright produced on Broadway. It's too late to catch the play on Broadway this time around. It closed on June 4.
• JENNY (44D: "Big Terrific" comedian Slate) Big Terrific is the stand-up comedy trio of JENNY Slate, Gabe Liedman, and Max Silvestri. Although I thought I wasn't familiar with JENNY Slate, I discovered I did mention her in a write-up a few months ago. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• CLUE (1A: Board game with Professor Plum) CLUE is my favorite board game of all time, so I was delighted to see it start off this puzzle. When I was growing up, I always chose to be Professor Plum, perhaps a foreshadowing that I would someday be a professor.
• ERECTOR SET (17A: Classic construction toy) ERECTOR SETs, metal beams designed to be connected with nuts and bolts, have been around since 1913. The SETs also include motors so you can make your constructions move. This brought back memories of my childhood; the ERECTOR SET technically belonged to my brother, but I remember building with it. 
• SATAY (21A: Skewered dish) I erroneously tried "kebab" here at first. Crossing answers pointed out  my error soon enough. Now I'm hungry for some chicken SATAY with peanut sauce. Perhaps with a PINA COLADA (24D: Cocktail with rum and coconut milk)?
• LIPA (31A: "Physical" singer Dua ___) "Physical" is a 2020 single from Dua LIPA's second studio album, Future Nostalgia. 
• MASTER MIND (41A: Code-breaking game) This is another of my favorite games! There's definitely a theme with games I like; both CLUE and MASTER MIND require the use of logic in order to succeed.
• OH JOY (43A: Sarcastic "I'm thrilled") At the end of my solve, I had the "OH_OY" here, and not being familiar with JENNY Slate (or not remembering anyway...), I filled in a B. When that didn't correctly solve the puzzle, I switched to a J and met with success, resulting in "OH JOY" without sarcasm.
• DO ME A SOLID (57A: "I need a favor from you") We saw DO ME A SOLID as the title of a puzzle on July 12, 2020.
• GERE (60A: "Primal Fear" actor Richard) Primal Fear is a 1996 movie based on William Diehl's book of the same name. Richard GERE plays a defense attorney in the legal thriller.
• LARA (2D: "___ Croft: Tomb Raider") LARA Croft is the protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider. Angelina Jolie played LARA Croft in the movies based on the video game, LARA Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and LARA Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003).
• SLOW NEWS DAY (5D: Time period without any big headlines) I don't know about you, but I think a SLOW NEWS DAY sounds lovely.
• LUCA (2021 Pixar film set in Italy) Set in Italy on the Italian Riviera, the animated movie LUCA tells the story of its title character. LUCA is a 12-year-old sea monster/boy - he assumes human form while on land.
• POOH (47D: Fictional bear who said, "A hug is always the right size") Awww.
• IKEA (49D: Seller of GLOSTAD loveseats) If you're in the market for a relatively inexpensive loveseat, here's a video review of IKEA's GLOSTAD loveseat.

Geography review:

• SUN (22A: Star on Namibia's flag) Namibia is a country in southern Africa. Namibia is northwest of South Africa, which it gained independence from in 1990. Namibia has had its flag since it gained independence. The golden-yellow SUN on the flag represents life and energy. The description of the SUN as a star (which it is), reminded me of Nicola Yoon's book, The SUN is Also a Star, which I have previously written about.
• WALES (23A: Country in the U.K.) The countries in the United Kingdom (U.K.) are England, Scotland, WALES, and Northern Ireland. WALES is the only U.K. country that fit here. The capital of WALES is Cardiff.
• LAOS (36A: Kuang Si Falls' country) The Kuang Si Falls in northern LAOS is known for its multiple cascades of water that empty into turquoise pools. 
• EURO (6D: Currency in Amsterdam) Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is one of the European countries that uses the EURO as its currency.

This FREESTYLE puzzle contains many things I like, such as the aforementioned CLUE, MASTER MIND, chicken SATAY, and PINA COLADA. I'm also a fan of PUPPET SHOWS. My favorite clue today is (41D: Cleaning tool that could be a makeshift wig) for MOP. Thank you, Jared, for this delightful Saturday puzzle.