September 9, 2023

Title: "CURTAIN'S UP!" (Freestyle)

Constructor: Amanda Rafkin

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: This is a themeless puzzle. "CURTAIN'S UP!" is a nod to IT'S SHOWTIME (48A: "Places, people!").

Things I learned:

• HOUSE PLANTS (3D: Indoor organisms seen on Verdant cards) Verdant is a board game

  

  HOUSE PLANTS

  
  where the objective is collect cards with HOUSE PLANTS and other objects, to create a cozy space. This is a new game to me, but it sounds fun. Do I need another game? Maybe. Yesterday I shared a picture of my African violet. Here's a photo of the majority of my plants. (I have a few in other places around the house.) As you can see, they love this window. At the end of the blog post, I'll put a close-up photo of my snake plant, which is absolutely thriving. Some of its leaves are 44 inches tall! (I know the snake plant is sometimes called by another name, but I don't care for that name, particular as I will be a mother-in-law soon...)
• FIG (57D: Fruit used to make aiyu jelly) Aiyu jelly, also known as ice jelly in Singapore, is made from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping FIG. The jelly originated in Taiwan.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• RNA (15A: Molecule hidden in "Mother Nature") This is a delightful hidden word clue.
• ATE (16A: Enjoyed some nazook) Nazook is a pastry that originated in Armenia. The pastry often has a walnut filling.
• XYZ (25A: "Your fly is down") This answer took me right back to elementary school days, when we thought it was so funny to tell someone "XYZ," that is (e)Xamine Your Zipper. Side note: Leggings and sweat pants don't have zippers. Problem solved!
• ANO (44A: Year, in Portuguese) For many years, the word ANO appeared in crosswords clued as [Year, in Spanish], or some variation along those lines. The problem with these clues is that the Spanish word for "year" is AÑO. Without the tilde, ANO in Spanish means "anus." Oops, that's not quite the same thing! Fortunately, it's now more common to see ANO clued as we see it today. In Portuguese, ANO really does mean "year."
• IT'S SHOWTIME (48A: "Places, people!") This is a great answer. It's so evocative!
• CHEF'S SALADS (54A: Meals consisting of lettuce, meat, eggs and cheese) When I first tried to fill this answer in, it was too short. I had forgotten the 'S on CHEF. These are SALADS created by a CHEF (therefore the CHEF'S SALADS), though the name without the 'S is also used sometimes.
• DIGITAL ERA (59A: Tech-heavy period of human history) In case you hadn't noticed, the DIGITAL ERA, also known as the information age, is the one we're living in. The DIGITAL ERA is considered to have begun in the mid-20th century. Technological advances that are considered to have been important in ushering in the DIGITAL ERA are the development of the transistor (1947), the optical amplifier (1957), and Unix time (1970 - a date and time widely used in computing). 
• REY (63A: "Star Wars" heroine) and YODA (47D: Grogu aka Baby ___) In the Star Wars franchise, REY is the main protagonist of the sequel film trilogy. Daisy Ridley portrays REY in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Grogu, colloquially known as Baby YODA, is a character from the Star Wars TV series, The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. (Side note: If you'd like to see my daughter's cat dressed as Grogu, check out the May 4, 2022 blog post.)
• CONCERT PIANIST (4D: Musician such as Yuja Wang) Yuja Wang is a Beijing-born, internationally-recognized CONCERT PIANIST. This month Yuja Wang is performing in the Netherlands, Romania, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Funny story: I have written about Yuja Wang twice before, and both times I placed her in the "Things I learned" section. Obviously, I didn't learn very well the first time! Today, I once again placed this clue in the "Things I learned" section, until I discovered that wasn't quite true.
• MOO COWS (32D: Dairy farm animals, to toddlers) Some adults channeling their inner child may also call these animals MOO COWS (or so I'm told).

Geography review:

• HANOI (40A: Vietnamese city where Barack Obama famously dined with Anthony Bourdain) HANOI is the capital of Vietnam. In May 2016, Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain dined together in Hanoi for an episode of CNN's travel and food show, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Somehow I missed this when it happened, but I spent some time this morning reading Tom Vitale's account of filming that episode, which I found to be a fascinating read. I watched a clip of the episode, which I also recommend.
• SAHARA (2D: Largest hot desert in the world) The SAHARA Desert covers 31% of the continent of Africa, an area of 3.6 million miles. For comparison, the area of the United States (all 50 states and Washington, D.C.) is just under 3.8 million square miles. Eleven African countries contain portions of the SAHARA Desert: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan, and Tunisia.
• OMAN (29D: Country east of Saudi Arabia) OMAN is located in West Asia, on the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to sharing borders with Saudi Arabia, OMAN also borders the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen. OMAN has coastline on the Gulf of OMAN, and the Arabian Sea. The capital of OMAN is Muscat.

NOT GONNA LIE, there's a ton of great stuff in this puzzle. What an interesting grid! I'm trying to see a stage curtain in it. I definitely see some steps leading to a stage. "IT'S SHOWTIME!" and CONCERT PIANIST are a great pair of answers. AIR GUITAR, SLEEP MODE, XANAX, WALTZ, AT THAT, A WORD - all fantastic answers. Thank you, Amanda, for this puzzle that was an enjoyable way to start my Saturday.

snake plant