August 1, 2023

Title: "LISTEN UP!" (FREESTYLE)

Constructors: Tom Pepper & Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Kelsey Dixon

Freestyle: This is a themeless puzzle. "LISTEN UP!" is a nod to I HAVE AN IDEA (15A: "Hear me out..."), and could also work for ANGELA DAVIS (56A: Political activist who wrote "Women, Race & Class") and LEAD STORIES (58A: Front page articles).

Things I learned:

• ADDISON (22D: Social media star and actress Rae) With over 88 million followers (yes, you read that correctly!), ADDISON Rae's TikTok account is the fourth-most followed account on the platform. ADDISON Rae has been actively posting on TikTok since 2019. ADDISON Rae made her acting debut in the 2021 movie He's All That, which is a remake of the 1999 film She's All That.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• COMET (40A: Icy space object) You can think about a COMET as sort of a dirty snowball. Left over from the formation of the solar system approximately 4.6 billion years ago, COMETs are made of dust, rocks, and ice. COMETs orbit the Sun. When a COMET gets close to the Sun, it heats up, and releases dust and gases that trail behind the COMET and form its characteristic tail.
• BOG (46A: Place where cranberries grow) Cranberry bushes are evergreen dwarf shrubs that grow in acidic BOGs in cooler climates. In the United States, Wisconsin is the top producer of cranberries, followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon. The fruit grows on trailing vines, similar to strawberries. In commercial production, cranberries are grown in human-made BOGs. The BOGs are flooded during harvest. The ripe cranberries float, and are then collected. Some cranberries are also harvested dry. Those are the fresh cranberries sold in stores. Wet-harvested cranberries are generally made into juice, jelly, or dried snacks. 
• GOPRO CAMERA (51A: Recording gadget worn by some adventurers) Just for you, I spent part of my morning watching a number of video compilations of GOPRO CAMERA footage. Here's one compilation I enjoyed. Watching these videos led me to the conclusion that I do not lead an adventurous enough life to need a GOPRO. Honestly, I'm okay with that!
• ANGELA DAVIS (56A: Political activist who wrote "Women, Race & Class") ANGELA DAVIS is a professor emerita of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of over ten books on class, feminism, race, and the U.S. prison system. Women, Race & Class is her third book, published in 1980. The book contains 13 essays about slavery in the United States, and about the women's liberation movement from the 1960s to the 1980s.
• RHEA (2: "Cheers" actress Perlman) RHEA Perlman won four Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series for her portrayal of Carla Tortelli on the TV sitcom Cheers. 
• BIG CAT (42D: Lion or tiger, but not a bear) I thoroughly enjoyed this fun playful clue. This morning Willow parked

  

  Willow

  herself between my keyboard and monitor, informing me that she wished I would pet her instead of writing this blog post. Eventually I convinced her to move, by assuring her that CATs were mentioned in today's puzzle. 
• AUTO (45A: "American ___" (Detroit-based sitcom)) I have previously written about American AUTO, a TV sitcom about a Detroit-based AUTO company.
• LEVI (47A: Jeans maker Strauss) It was in 1873 that LEVI Stauss & Co. and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for adding rivets to work pants to reinforce areas of strain. These pants became known as blue jeans. 

Geography review:

• IDA (9D: Boise's state (Abbr.)) Boise is the capital and largest city of Idaho (IDA.). The Boise metropolitan area is known as Treasure Valley, and include's Idaho's three largest cities: Boise, Nampa, and Meridian.
• OMAHA (43D: Nebraska's largest city) Though OMAHA is the largest city in Nebraska, it is not the state's capital. Lincoln is the state's capital.

"LISTEN UP!" Due to grid restraints in themed puzzles, we rarely (though not never) see stacks of long answers as seen in the upper left and lower right corners of today's grid. One perk of themeless puzzles is that these stacks become possible. Fun to see such lively answers as FREE SPIRITS, I HAVE AN IDEA, and DESERT PLANTS stacked together, and the equally enjoyable stack in the bottom corner: GOPRO CAMERA, ANGELA DAVIS, and LEAD STORIES. Thank you, Tom and Zhouqin, for this puzzle that was a great way to start my Tuesday.