September 29, 2023

Title: TTYL

Constructors: Matthew Stock & Natasha Isloor

Editor: Kelsey Dixon

Theme Answers:

BETTY LA FEA (16A: Colombian telenovela whose U.S. adaptation starred American Ferrara)

KITTY LITTER (36A: Pet store purchase for a cat)

NATTY LIGHT (60A: Popular beer for a college party)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer contains the letter string TTYL.

Things I learned:

• NATTY LIGHT (60A: Popular beer for a college party) NATTY LIGHT is the informal name of Natural Light, a beer produced by Anheuser-Busch. Because of its relatively low price (compared to other beer), NATTY LIGHT has become popular among college students. Fun Fact: According to the website RateBeer (there's a website for everything, isn't there...), NATTY LIGHT is the worst beer in the world. I don't drink beer, and it's been quite some time since I've been in college, so I needed the help of crossing answers to uncover NATTY LIGHT. It did help that I had uncovered the theme by the time I reached this answer, so I knew it would include TTYL. 
• SPEX (15D: X-Ray ___ (British punk band)) The British punk band, X-Ray SPEX, was originally formed in 1976. Their debut album, Germfree Adolescents, was released in 1978. The band split up in 1979, but reformed several times over the years, most recently in 2008. Poly Styrene (1957-2011) was the frontwoman for the X-Ray SPEX. Poly Styrene's daughter, Celeste Bell, co-wrote and co-directed a 2021 documentary about her mother's life, Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• BETTY, LA FEA (16A: Colombian telenovela whose U.S. adaptation starred America Ferrara) Yo soy BETTY, LA FEA ("I am BETTY, the ugly one"), known simply as BETTY, LA FEA, is a Colombian telenovela that originally aired from 1999-2001. Several countries produced adaptations of BETTY, LA FEA, including the United States. The U.S. adaptation was known as Ugly BETTY (2006-2010), and starred America Ferrara as the title character. I have previously written about both Ugly BETTY and BETTY, LA FEA. 
• KITTY LITTER (36A: Pet store purchase for a cat) I was apparently not quite fully awake when I solved this puzzle, as when I encountered this clue, I immediately filled in KITTY ___. Having already discovered the theme, I knew the rest of the answer would begin with an L, and my first thought was "KITTY Leash." Okay, that didn't fit and KITTY LITTER makes

  

  Willow

  much more sense! Some cats do tolerate leashes, but not Willow. We have been unable to get her to even wear a collar. (We never found the last collar we put on her. She managed to get it off and make it disappear. Hmm, I wonder if it went out with the KITTY LITTER...) Anyway, here's a photo of Willow. I don't take pictures of her using KITTY LITTER, but I did catch her taking a bath. 
• BATBOY (47A: Baseball team's assistant) If you've ever watched a baseball game, you've seen a BATBOY (or batgirl) at work, retrieving bats from the field, bringing equipment to the players, and bringing baseballs to the umpires. I'm always struck by how hard the BATBOYs are working; they always seem to be running. Since 2002, the minimum age to be a BATBOY is 14. 
• ARE (2D: "We ___ the Champions" (Queen song)) Queen's classic song, "We ARE the Champions," was released in 1977. Freddie Mercury wrote the song with audience participation in mind. I'd say he succeeded. It's difficult not to sing along to these lyrics, "We ARE the champions, my friend / And we'll keep on fighting till the end..."
• ODE (8D: Each poem in the book "Black Oak") Black Oak: ODEs Celebrating Powerful Black Men  is a 2022 book by Harold Green III. The book includes ODEs to Billy Porter, Chance the Rapper, LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, and others. Harold Green III is also the author of Black Roses: ODEs Celebrating Powerful Black Women, which I wrote about in July.
• ELEVEN (11D: Millie Bobby Brown's character in "Stranger Things") In the science-fiction horror TV series, Stranger Things, ELEVEN is a young girl with psychokinetic abilities. From previous puzzles, I have learned that Millie Bobby Brown's character has a fondness for Eggos. I appreciate that this answer matches the number of its clue.
• YEET (49D: 2010s dance craze) Videos of people doing a dance referred to as YEET made the rounds on Vine and YouTube in 2014. It's interesting that although YEET began as a dance, the term has evolved to mean "launching something at high velocity," and/or "an exclamation made while throwing something."
• ENTS (56D: Treelike creatures in "Lord of the Rings") J.R.R. Tolkien's work, Lord of the Rings, describes a fantasy world known as Middle-earth. In this world, ENTS are a species that resemble trees. The leader of the ENTS is Treebeard.

Geography review:

• SOCAL (19A: San Diego's region, for short) The region of Southern California, or SOCAL, is generally defined as encompassing the state's ten southernmost counties. SOCAL includes San Diego, as well as Los Angeles.

TTYL is an abbreviation for "talk to you later." Some nice finds for theme answers today, as I imagine this letter string isn't found in a lot of phrases. In addition to the answers I've already highlighted, I enjoyed PAELLA, DEBRIS, EXHALE, and RIB CAGES. Congratulations to Natasha Isloor, making a USA Today debut! Thank you, Matthew and Natasha, for this puzzle that was a fine way to start my Friday. TTYL.