October 11, 2023

Title: LET 'ER RIP!

Constructors: Emet Ozar & Matthew Stock

Editor: Kelsey Dixon

Theme Answers:

ROARING TWENTIES (16A: Decade known for flappers and speak-easies)

CURRENT EVENTS (29A: Things happening right now)

CORD CUTTERS (52A: People who cancel their cable)

Theme synopsis: The first word of each theme answer can be paired with the word RIP, giving us RIP ROARING, RIP CURRENT, and RIP CORD.

Things I learned:

• TONGUE (48A: Tacos de lengua protein) Tacos de lengua are also known as beef TONGUE tacos. Because TONGUE tends to be tough, it requires slow braising to make the meat tender. Even though I didn't recognize tacos de lengua as beef TONGUE tacos, I have eaten them. My son, who is an adventurous eater and enjoys making interesting recipes, made them for me several years ago. He did a great job of cooking the TONGUE, and it tasted like beef. Still, something about knowing I was eating TONGUE felt kind of odd.
• TAY (31D: "Pound Town" by Sexyy Red and ___ Keith) In January of this year, rapper Sexyy Red and record producer TAY Keith released the song "Pound Town." The song went viral on TikTok, and a remix of the song with Nicki Minaj was released in May. 
• HEDDA (44D: Drag queen ___ Lettuce) Drag queen HEDDA Lettuce, perhaps , unsurprisingly, sports a green wig. HEDDA Lettuce has appeared on several TV shows, including Project Runway, Ugly Betty, and Sex and the City. Although I wasn't familiar with HEDDA Lettuce, I guessed that the name might be a pun, which made it possible to figure out the answer.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• DVDS (1A: Recently discontinued Netflix offerings) It may be hard to believe, but Netflix hasn't always been a streaming service. The company began in 1997 as a mail-based rental business, mailing DVDS out to customers who mailed them back after they had watched them. (I remember those days!) Netflix is now a major streaming service, and produces shows as well. The mailing of DVDS was discontinued a couple of weeks ago, on September 29.
• KAREN (13A: Stephanie Hsu's role in the SpongeBob musical) and WEENIE (20A: ___ Hut Jr's (SpongeBob restaurant for the not-very-tough)) A pair of SpongeBob answers today. Back in July when I was writing about Stephanie Hsu, I mentioned that one of her recent stage appearances was "playing the role of Karen in The SpongeBob Musical in Chicago and on Broadway." I didn't remember that today, though, so was thankful for crossing answers. In the SpongeBob franchise, WEENIE Hut Jr's is a restaurant in Bikini Bottom that is shaped like a cupcake. The restaurant, which first appeared in a season 3 episode called "No WEENIEs Allowed," has an animatronic server that can identify if someone is a "WEENIE" or not.
• TO LIFE (19A: What "l'chaim!" means) A HAT TIP (46D: Gesture of acknowledgement) to the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and specifically the song "TO LIFE," for providing me the knowledge to immediately fill in this answer. "TO LIFE, TO LIFE, l'chaim / L'chaim, l'chaim, TO LIFE..."
• DIANE (35A: Photographer Arbus) I wrote about photographer DIANE Arbus on July 3, 2020, when we saw her name as a theme answer.
• ZERO (67A: 67 minus 67) This is a fun way to clue the word ZERO. And although any number would have worked in this clue, it's a nice touch to use the number of the clue.
• MUTE (8D: "Everybody on ___" (Beyonce fan challenge)) The "Everybody on MUTE" challenge was a fan challenge that happened during Beyoncé's recent Renaissance World Tour. When Beyoncé performed the song "Energy," after she sang the line, "Big wave in the room / the crowd gon' move / Look around, everybody on MUTE," the crowd would stay silent while Beyoncé paused, and stay silent until she went on, "Look around, it's me and my crew / Big energy." I found a compilation video of the challenge; the crowds were varied in their ability to rise to the challenge!
• KNEELED (13D: Got ready to propose, perhaps) I know that either KNEELED or knelt is acceptable as the past tense of kneel, but my default is knelt, so I really had to talk myself into filling in KNEELED here.

Geography review:

• NYU (40A: Big Apple college (Abbr.)) The Big Apple is a nickname for New York City, the home of New York University (NYU). Since 1833, NYU's main campus has been located in Greenwich Village. NYU has the largest enrollment of any private university in the United States, with over 51,000 students.
• TENNESSEE (32D: Dollywood's state) Dollywood is a theme park located in Pigeon Forge, TENNESSEE. The park is jointly owned by Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. 

I hope you had a RIP ROARING good time solving this puzzle. It took me some time to identify the theme, making for a nice "Aha! moment as I filled in CORD CUTTERS. Thank you, Emet and Matthew, for this puzzle that was a delightful way to start my Wednesday.