August 23, 2023

Title: UPPERCASE

Constructors: Wendy L. Brandes & Sally Hoelscher

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

WORKER BEES (11D: Queens' subjects, in a hive)

HISTORY BUFF (17D: Lover of Renaissance Fairs, perhaps)

STUDY BUDDY (28D: Friend to do homework with)

Theme synopsis: The UPPER word of each vertical theme answer can be paired with the word CASE, giving us CASE WORKER, CASE HISTORY, and CASE STUDY. 

And now a word from our constructors:

Wendy: It is great collaborating with Sally. She is very kind, very knowledgable and is very open to learning new things.
While working on this puzzle, I learned that drone bees are not considered workers. I also learned about Cora Harrington's piece "In Intimate Detail." My favorite clue is for MESSES [Things muddy dogs make] -- having had many muddy dogs tromp through my home, I can definitely vouch for this clue! Hope you enjoy solving this one!

Sally: I'm happy to be back in the constructor by-line again, this time sharing it with Wendy. This isn't the first collaboration for Wendy and me, but it's our first USA Today puzzle. Wendy is always great to work with, and I'm excited for this puzzle to be out in the world!

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ORDEALS (1A: Stressful experiences) and TRAUMA (36D: EMDR might treat it) We didn't set out to make our puzzle a bummer; we hope this solve wasn't a stressful experience! EMDR in the TRAUMA clue stands for "eye movement desensitization and reprocessing." EMDR is a form of exposure therapy that may be used in the treatment of TRAUMA and PTSD. Because both of these answers are in the grid, we made sure that OMEN (1D: It might be a good sign) was clued in a positive way.
• GUITAR (20A: "Teardrops on My ___" (Taylor Swift song)) "Teardrops on My GUITAR" is a song from Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album, released in 2007.
• PEPSI (23A: Cola originally called "Brad's Drink") Do you know the name of the person that created PEPSI? It wasn't Brad! The drink now known as PEPSI was developed by Caleb Bradham in 1893. Just five years later, the name of the cola was changed from Brad's Drink to PEPSI-Cola.
• NOUN (38A: Person, place, or thing) Did I suggest this clue simply so I could once again link to the Schoolhouse Rock song, "A NOUN is a Person, Place or Thing?" It's possible.
• TODD (41A: "Sweeney ___" (Sondheim musical)) When a revision of this grid introduced TODD as an answer, Wendy suggested we clue it as Sweeney TODD, as she thought it was one of Amanda's favorites. If that is indeed the case, this one's for you, Amanda. (Sweeney TODD is not one of my favorite musicals. It's just so dark...)
• BRA (47A: Garment in Cora Harrington's "In Intimate Detail") I learned about Cora Harrington's book, In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie, from the November 23, 2021 puzzle. 
• HOU (51A: Comets or Rockets, on scoreboards) Funny story about this clue. We had originally clued it with just one example (the Comets), and another example got added in editing. We're okay with two examples, but we (especially Wendy!) were not fond of the second example chosen. Fortunately, Amanda was kind enough to choose another example. The Houston Comets are a WNBA team, and the Houston Rockets are an NBA team.
• DOES (3D: ___ This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" (Springsteen song)) "DOES This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" is a song from Bruce Springsteen's 1973 debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. In the process of writing clues, Wendy and I noticed we had a lot of musical references in the puzzle. We are 100% okay with that. 
• SET UP (7D: Get the components laid out for a game of Wingspan) This is an Amanda edit, and Wendy and I love it! Wendy and I share Amanda's love for the game of Wingspan. Check out Amanda's Wingspan-themed puzzle. 
• EMMA (12D: "Easy A" star Stone) In the 2010 movie Easy A, EMMA Stone plays the role of high school student, Olive Penderghast, who gets caught up in a web of lies.
• HISTORY BUFF (17D: Lover of Renaissance Fairs, perhaps) This is my favorite of the three theme answers, which is ironic, as I am definitely not a HISTORY BUFF. 
• AFOOT (27A: "The game is ___!") I suppose there's another way to clue AFOOT, but why would one not want to clue it using a Sherlock Holmes reference? "The game is AFOOT," is an iconic Holmes-associated phrase, even though - as I've mentioned previously - Holmes only said this phrase once in the written stories, at the beginning of "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange."
• BEY (31D: Nickname for Beyonce) More music content! This clue goes out to my favorite Beyoncé fan, my daughter. I asked my daughter to choose a song to highlight in this clue, and although it didn't make the cut (likely due to character count constraints), the advantage of blogging about my own puzzle is that I can share her song choice with you. She chose, "Cuff It" from BEY's 2022 album, Renaissance.
• MEDLEY (46D: "Elephant Love ___" ("Moulin Rouge" song)) Even more music content! This is another Amanda clue, and it's a fun one. The song "Elephant Love MEDLEY" from the musical, Moulin Rouge, is a back-and-forth "conversation" between the two main characters of Moulin Rouge, that consists of snippets of love songs. Take a listen to "Elephant Love MEDLEY," and see how many of the songs you recognize. If you'd like to learn more about how the song was created, I recommend this Entertainment Weekly article. 
• HISS (51D: Unhappy cat's sound) Here's a mid-meow photo of Willow.

  

  Willow

  
  Fortunately, Willow doesn't HISS very often, generally only if another animal dares to invade her territory.
• ORGS (54A: ACLU and GLAAD) Happy to use this clue to highlight two worthy ORGS: the ACLU and GLAAD.

Geography review:

• MESA (55A: ___ Verde National Park) MESA Verde National park is located in southwest Colorado. Located in the park, are more than 5,000 archeological sites preserving ancestral Puebloan dwellings, many of which are cliff dwellings, built into the sides of a canyon.

  

  MESA Verde National Park

  I visited MESA Verde for the first time when I was 13 years old, and it made such an impression on me. Two years ago, I visited again, this time with my husband. I highly recommend a visit if you haven't been there.
• ERIE (56D: Shallowest Great Lake) Our crossword-friend ERIE is having a good month! This is its fourth appearance so far this month, and there's still a week to go in August.

Happy Wednesday! Wendy and I have fallen into the habit of greeting each other in our email correspondence with "Happy (day of the week)!" I couldn't tell you how it got started, but it makes me smile every time. This theme idea was Wendy's, and I'm delighted she let me come along for the ride. I hope you enjoyed today's puzzle. Thank you, Wendy, for collaborating with me. And thanks to Amanda for the great editing.