August 19, 2023

Title: DUPLEX HOUSES

Constructor: Neville Fogarty

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Theme Answers:

ANIMAL FARM (17A: Orwell novel that's a political satire)

GREEN LIGHT (61A: Give permission to go ahead with)

STATE SCHOOL (11D: Public university)

CLEARING OUT (25D: Leaving en masse)

Theme synopsis: Each part of each theme answer can be paired with the word HOUSE, meaning each theme answer is a DUPLEX of HOUSE terms. Today's HOUSES: ANIMAL HOUSE, FARMHOUSE, GREENHOUSE, LIGHTHOUSE, STATEHOUSE, SCHOOLHOUSE, CLEARING HOUSE, and OUTHOUSE.

Things I learned:

• KATEY (12D: "Futurama actress Sagal) Futurama is an animated sci-fi sitcom that originally aired from 1999-2003, and then again from 2008-2013. An eighth season premiered last month on Hulu. Futurama is set 1,000 years in the future. KATEY Sagal voices the role of Turanga Leela, a purple-haired cyclops that is captain of the Planet Express Ship.
• ROLE (29A: Suzanne Alexander, for Audra McDonald) Ohio State Murders is a one-act play by Adrienne Kennedy, that explores issues of racism and misogyny. The play opened on Broadway in December 2022, with Audra McDonald playing the ROLE of Suzanne Alexander, a writer and Ohio State University alum.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ANIMAL FARM (17A: Orwell novel that's a political satire) George Orwell's political satire, ANIMAL FARM, was first published 78 years and 2 days ago (August 17, 1945). ANIMAL FARM is the story of a group of anthropomorphic animals that stage a rebellion hoping to create a society where all ANIMALs are equal. Things don't quite go as planned. I read ANIMAL FARM when I was in the ninth grade, so it's been a while, but parts of the book have stuck with me, including the satirical line, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." 
• NATO (19A: International grp. with a phonetic alphabet) Just yesterday I was mentioning my occasional thought that I should brush up on the NATO alphabet to help me solve crosswords. At least today's clue doesn't require knowledge of the NATO alphabet itself. However, maybe I could learn/review two letters a day. Yesterday I reviewed A (Alfa) and B (Bravo). Today's review: C is for Charlie, D is for Delta.
• PEARS (35A: Common charcuterie fruits) I really wanted this answer to be "grapes," which obviously didn't fit. This wish was definitely influenced by my preference of grapes (or really any other fruit) over PEARS. If we ever happen to share a charcuterie board, you may have all of the PEARS.
• OREO (52A: Cookie with a Cotton Candy edition) Cotton Candy OREOs, golden OREO cookies with pink and blue creme filling, were originally released as a limited edition in 2015. If you missed out on trying them, you may be in luck, because they were re-released in June of this year.
• AL GORE (56A: "An Inconvenient Truth" author) An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It is AL GORE's 2006 book about climate crisis. A documentary of the same name was released at the same time as the book. Both the book and the film attempt to get people to take steps to decrease greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow the impacts of climate change. AL GORE's work in climate change activism earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 (a joint award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
• KNEES (68A: Joint with patellas) Patella is another name for KNEEcap.
• EATS (69A: Has a sushirrito, say) A sushirrito, also known as a sushi burrito, is exactly what it sounds like - sushi ingredients rolled up burrito-style in a tortilla.
• AIR (8D: 2023 film in which Damian Young plays Michael Jordan) I learned about the movie AIR, from the August 10 puzzle. As the clue informs us, Damian Young plays the ROLE of Michael Jordan.
• LETTER (18D: What every side of a Boggle die has on it) There are many ways to clue the word LETTER, and I thought this was a fun one. 
• FELINE (49D: Catlike) Willow is, of course, delighted in her own FELINE way,

  

  Willow

  
  to see this answer in the puzzle.
• GEE (63D: "___ willikers!") This made me smile. Is it possible to say, "GEE willikers!" without smiling?

Geography review:

• UTAH (16A: Bonneville Salt Flats' state) The Bonneville Salt Flats are a salt pan in northwestern UTAH. A salt pan is a flat area covered with salt and other minerals. The Bonneville Salt Flats cover an area about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide, and are estimated to hold 147 million tons of salt. I remember the first time my husband and I drove through the Bonneville Salt Flats.

  

  Bonneville Salt Flats

  
  When I'd planned our route, I hadn't noticed we would be passing right through the area, but all of a sudden, the ground was white, and it wasn't snow. I knew immediately where we were. UTAH's Bonneville Salt Flats are home to the Bonneville Speedway, an area marked out for motor sports, where several land speed records have been set.
• ENE (34A: Nashville-to-D.C. direction) Being somewhat geographically challenged, when I encounter direction clues, I generally skip over them and wait for crossing answers to help me out. Therefore, I was extremely happy to be able to figure this one out! During the 14 years I worked as a freelance writer, I traveled to Nashville, Tennessee approximately four times a year for conferences, so I have a good idea where it's located. I've also been to Washington D.C. a couple of times, so was able to visualize that D.C. is east northeast (ENE) of Nashville.
• ESTES (38D: ___ Park, Colorado (home to the hotel that inspired "The Shining")) ESTES Park, Colorado is located at the eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. ESTES Park is home to The Stanley Hotel, said to be one of the most haunted hotels in the United States. Stephen King and his wife stayed at The Stanley Hotel in 1974. That stay inspired Stephen King's third book, The Shining. 
• TEL (40D: ___ Aviv) TEL Aviv is a city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The official name of TEL Aviv is TEL Aviv-Yafo, but it is often referred to simply as TEL Aviv.
• RIO (62D: Ipanema Beach's city) Ipanema is a neighborhood of RIO de Janeiro, Brazil. Ipanema Beach became famous in the 1960s with the song, "The Girl From Ipanema." I have previously written about the interesting history of this song.

I enjoy when I open up the puzzle, read the title, and wonder, "How is this theme going to play out?" Today was one of those days, with a nice "Aha!" moment as I filled in ANIMAL FARM, took a moment to think about it, and realized what was going on. We have an interesting grid arrangement today, too, with two theme answers as Across answers and two as Down answers. This is a smart choice for four theme answers that are all 10-letters long. This arrangement essentially isolates each theme answer in its own corner of the grid, hopefully making the filling of the grid easier. Thank you, Neville, for this puzzle that was an excellent start to my Saturday.

One more thing: Today is the Lollopuzzoola Crossword Tournament in New York City. Good luck to all those participating!