Title: IT ENDS WITH US
Constructor: Rafael Musa
Editor: Amanda Rafkin
Theme Answers:
TITUS ANDRONICUS (19A: Shakespeare's first tragic play)
HOCUS POCUS (30A: 1993 Halloween movie with a large queer fan base)
GLUTEUS MAXIMUS (52A: Largest muscle in the human body)
Theme synopsis: Each word of the theme answers ENDS WITH US.
Things I learned:
- SIS (24A: "Little Miss, Big ___" (rhyming kid's book) Little Miss, Big SIS is a children's book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. As you might guess from its title, the topic of the book is becoming an older sibling, in this case, a SIS. I am not familiar with Amy Krouse Rosenthal's (1965-2017) work, but her website made me want to learn more about it. I especially enjoyed the option on the home page to "choose your website ambiance."
- WES (37A: Jazz guitarist Montgomery) WES Montgomery (1923-1968) was a self-taught jazz guitarist who was known for an unusual technique of striking the strings with his right thumb instead of a pick.
Random thoughts and interesting things:
- TITUS ANDRONICUS (19A: Shakespeare's first tragic play) It is believed that William Shakespeare wrote TITUS ANDRONICUS between 1588 and 1593. In addition to being Shakespeare's first tragic play, TITUS ANDRONICUS is also the bloodiest. It's a story of a cycle of revenge between the title character, who is a Roman general, and Tamora, queen of the Goths.
- HOCUS POCUS (30A: 1993 Halloween movie with a large queer fan base) The 1993 movie, HOCUS POCUS, features a trio of witches named the Sanderson sisters, portrayed by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. The three reprised their roles for HOCUS POCUS 2, released in 2022. Side note: When I wrote about HOCUS POCUS on May 13, 2022, I admitted I hadn't seen the movie. I was admonished for this lapse in my movie-viewing by both my daughter and Amanda Rafkin. Therefore, I want to state here that I have now seen HOCUS POCUS! My husband and I watched it before the sequel came out so we could watch the sequel. Oh, and if you're curious about why the movie has a large queer fan base, here's a story about that.
- SNEAKERS (44A: Shoes so named because the rubber soles made wearers stealthier) and TAP DANCERS (7D: Performers with noisy shoes) First of all, fun fact about SNEAKERS. Secondly, when I got to the clue for TAP DANCERS, I then envisioned how different it would be if TAP DANCERS word SNEAKERS. Not nearly as enjoyable.
- GLUTEUS MAXIMUS (52A: Largest muscle in the human body) The GLUTEUS MAXIMUS, the largest single muscle in the human body, is a hip muscle that gives shape to your buttocks. The GLUTEUS MAXIMUS muscles (you have two, one on each side of your body) are responsible for keeping the body erect.
- EMMA (60A: "When ___ Falls in Love" (Taylor Swift song)) "When EMMA Falls in Love" is a song from Taylor Swift's 2023 album, Speak Now (Taylor's Version).
- SALT (64A: Seasoning that's high in sodium) The wording on this clue has me thinking. Is it true to say SALT is high in sodium? SALT is mostly composed of sodium chloride (NACL), and table SALT is about 40% sodium. While foods containing SALT are often high in sodium, I'm just pondering whether this wording is appropriate to SALT itself. Maybe? Interesting, I've just never thought of it quite like this before.
- SCORE (26D: "The Body Keeps the ___") The Body Keeps the SCORE: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma is a 2014 book by Bessel van den Kolk, a psychiatrist who researches post-traumatic stress. The book describes the effects of traumatic stress on the mind and body.
- USA (32D: Jessica Long's Olympic team) Jessica Long is a Paralympic swimmer representing Team USA. Her 2018 memoir is titled, Unsinkable: From Russian Orphan to Paralympic Swimming World Champion.
- LIME (53D: Fruit used to make caipirinha) A caipirinha is a cocktail made with cachaça (a distilled spirit made from sugarcane), sugar, and LIME. Caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil.
Geography review:
- DANE (43A: Person from Copenhagen) Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark.
- SCOT (1D: Person from Edinburgh) Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland.
- IOWAN (25D: Person from Des Moines) Des Moines is the capital of Iowa. I, an IOWAN, quite enjoyed the repeated format in these three clues.
I enjoyed this theme. I appreciate that it's not just the theme answer that ENDS WITH US (which would work), but that each word of each theme answer ENDS WITH US. That makes it especially nice. I thoroughly enjoyed the side-by-side answers "I WANT MORE!" and "CAN YOU NOT?" in the lower right corner. Thank you, Rafa, for this excellent Wednesday puzzle.
I had the same reaction to the "salt" clue. As a biologist and former chemistry teacher, I know firsthand that pure sodium is different than table salt; pure sodium is a soft metal that explodes in water. Table salt, as you know, is sodium chloride, meaning that it's one sodium ion per one chlorine ion. This compound is what tastes salty to us and it's what our body uses to maintain our internal salinity as well as a number of other functions, like helping us to move our muscles. So here's what I'd say: Table salt (Na+Cl-) is indeed high in sodium, as you said, about 40% (by volume) sodium and 60% chlorine (by volume, because one ion of chlorine is bigger than one ion of sodium). But without the chlorine, the sodium wouldn't be entering our bodies or tasting salty - the two function as one to form "salt."
ReplyDeleteHm... I was originally going to say that the clue was pretty weird, but after typing all that out, I guess it makes sense to me now? I think the issue is that I often casually think of table salt *as* sodium, when in fact sodium is part of table salt but, again, about 40% of it by volume and mass, if we're being pretty technical. I never thought of it exactly that way before!
Ack, that comment posted as Anonymous but it was written by I, Matt Medeiros. I must have hit the wrong button.
DeleteYes, that was pretty much the thought process I went through, Matt!
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