October 17, 2023

Title: OUT OF THE CLOSETS AND INTO THE STREETS (Freestyle)

Constructors: Jasmeet Arora & Brooke Husic

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: This is a (semi-)themeless puzzle. OUT OF THE CLOSETS AND INTO THE STREETS is a nod to STONEWALL RIOTS (20A: 1969 gay rights protests) and PARIS IS BURNING (51A: 1990 documentary featuring drag performers such as Pepper LaBeija and Angie Xtravaganza).

And now a word from our constructors:

Jasmeet: I really enjoyed working with Brooke on this one, and it was my first time making a themeless! I loved PARIS IS BURNING and STONEWALL RIOTS, as well as SPA DAY. It was such a fun puzzle to make together!

Brooke: This is our third collaboration! I feel very fortunate to have worked with Jasmeet as she's progressed from a beginner to a confident and talented constructor with a deliberate voice! Both this and our next puzzle for the USA Today are "themed themelesses" — hope you enjoy them!

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• HOOT (15A: Bird call often heard at night) and OWLS (18A: Birds whose eyes don't move) It was fun to see these two related answers stacked in the grid. I'm a fan of pairs of related clues and answers in puzzles. When the related answers appear in close proximity, it feels like discovering a microtheme. (That's not an official crossword thing; it's something I just made up.) Today's puzzle contains three of these microthemes.
• STONEWALL RIOTS (20A: 1969 gay rights protests) The STONEWALL Inn is a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. The STONEWALL RIOTS occurred in response to a police raid on the STONEWALL Inn on Saturday, June 28, 1969. The STONEWALL RIOTS were an important event in the fight for LGBTQ+ Rights in the United States.
• DOT (35A: Pointillism bit) and OIL (36A: Painting medium) Here's our second microtheme, this one made up of consecutive clues whose answers appear next to each other in the puzzle. POINTILLISM is an ART technique that uses distinct DOTs of color. This technique is in contrast to other techniques in which colors are blended together. Pointillism relies on the ability of the human eye to blend the DOTs of color. The majority of pointillist works are done using OIL paint. 
• SPA DAY (41A: Relaxing outing) and NAIL (44A: Manicure target) And here's our third microtheme. A SPA DAY definitely might include getting one's NAILs done.
• PARIS IS BURNING (51A: 1990 documentary featuring drag performers such as Pepper LaBeija and Angie Xtravaganza) The documentary PARIS IS BURNING chronicles the Black and Latinx communities involved in drag ball culture in New York City during the mid-to-late 1980s. We saw PARIS IS BURNING as a theme answer earlier this year. 
• ROSS (63A: "Touch Me in the Morning" singer Diana) "Touch Me in the Morning" is a 1973 song by Diana ROSS, and the title track from her fourth studio album. The song hit number one on Billboard's "Hot 100" chart.
• MINTS (3D: Post-meal alternative to fennel seeds) Fennel seeds are sometimes used as a post-meal digestive. The seeds contain compounds that may promote healthy digestion. After-dinner MINTS are also used for this purpose.
• ART (26D: Annie Lee's field) I learned about Annie Lee (1935-2014) from the January 2, 2021 puzzle. On February 7, 2021, "BLUE MONDAY," one of Annie Lee's paintings, was a theme answer. Annie Lee's ART depicts scenes of everyday life, and has been described as Black Americana.
• ANT (27D: Insect once brought to the International Space Station) ANTs ... In ... Space ... (I trust you read that à la the introduction to the Muppet's "Pigs In Space" sketches.) In 2014, scientists sent eight groups of ANTs to the International Space Station. Astronauts observed the actions of the ants and their ability to search in microgravity. Hooray for science in crosswords!
• POP (30D: Normani's music style) From 2012 to 2018, Normani was a member of Fifth Harmony, a POP group formed on the second season of the reality singing competition, The X Factor. Normani's first SOLO single was the 2019 song, "Motivation."
• TIA (32D: "Sister, Sister" sister) Identical twins, TIA and Tamera Mowry, play identical twin sisters, TIA Landry and Tamera Campbell, on the TV show, Sister, Sister. 
• SOLO (52D: Demi Lovato song with the lyrics "I got nobody / Here on my own") "SOLO" is a song from Demi Lovato's 2009 album, Here We Go Again. I like the fact that the lyrics provide a hint to the answer for solvers that might not be familiar with the song.

Geography review:

• IOWA (6D: Corn Belt state) The term "Corn Belt" is used to refer to the Midwest U.S. states that produce the majority of the nation's corn. Four states - IOWA, Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota - produce over 50% of the corn grown in the U.S. Of those four, IOWA leads the U.S. states in corn production. More broadly, Corn Belt is used to refer to the area of the country where much of the land is used for farming and agriculture. By either definition, IOWA is a Corn Belt state. Greetings from IOWA!
• LAOS (39D: Thailand neighbor) LAOS is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. In addition to Thailand, LAOS borders Myanmar, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The capital and largest city of LAOS is Vientiane.
• NEW (58D: ___ Delhi (India's capital)) Although NEW Delhi and Delhi are sometimes used interchangeably, they are two distinct entities. NEW Delhi, which is India's capital, is a part of the Delhi metropolitan area.

As I've probably mentioned before, semi-themed freestyle puzzles are my favorite type of themeless puzzles. Although I enjoy solving themeless puzzles, I am a themed crossword solver at heart; I enjoy making connections between answers as I solve. The pairing of STONEWALL RIOTS and PARIS IS BURNING works extremely well here. Thank you, Jasmeet and Brooke, for this puzzle that was a terrific way to start my Tuesday.