October 22, 2023

Title: WHEN THERE WAS ME AND YOU

Constructor: Matthew Stock

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

MESSING UP (17A: Making mistakes)

MELBOURNE UNITED (38A: Basketball club in Australia's largest city)

METRIC UNIT (62A: Liter or kilogram, e.g.)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer consists of a word beginning with ME- and a word beginning with U- (a homophone of YOU).

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OLGA (5A: Actress Kurylenko) OLGA Kurylenko gained recognition for her portrayal of Camille Montes in the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace (2008), and Taskmaster, a supervillain in Black Widow (2021). In the 2022 spy miniseries Treason, OLGA Kurylenko portrays a Russian spy, Kara Yusova. OLGA Kurylenko was born in Berdansk, a city in southeastern Ukraine, which is currently under Russian military control. She has French and Ukranian citizenship.
• ALIEN (16A: "Arrival" or "Signs" creature) The 2016 sci-fi movie, Arrival, stars Amy Adams as a linguist enlisted by the U.S. Army to discover how to communicate with ALIENs that have arrived on Earth. The 2002 sci-fi horror movie, Signs, stars Mel Gibson as a former Episcopal priest that discovers crop circles in his cornfield that have been made by ALIENs.
• ONO (36A: Jiro in "Jiro Dreams of Sushi") Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 documentary. The movie follows Jiro ONO, the chef/owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a sushi restaurant in Japan. Jiro ONO is considered one of the greatest sushi craftsmen.
• BEACH (52A: Job for Ryan Gosling's Ken in "Barbie") In the movie Barbie, Ryan Gosling's Ken (not to be confused with the other Kens in the movie) says, "My job ... it's just BEACH." 
• MINA (66A: NFL analyst Kimes) MINA Kimes is a senior writer at ESPN, and an analyst on NFL Live. I have previously written about MINA Kimes, and have noted that she is interested in crosswords. This summer I was able to attend Major League Baseball's All-Star Events in Seattle. One of the events was a Celebrity Softball Game featuring celebrities from the sports, entertainment, and music world. MINA Kimes was one of the announcers for the Celebrity Softball Game. When she was introduced, I said to my husband, "Oh, she likes crosswords!" I tweeted about this in response to a post MINA Kimes made from the game. My minor brush with fame is that MINA Kimes liked my tweet.
• SOS (4D: "Help us pls!" and LIFEBOAT (11D: Emergency craft that might respond to a 4-Down) I tend to think of a LIFEBOAT that is on a large ship to be used in case of an emergency. But the term is also used to refer to rescue crafts. A LIFEBOAT is specially designed and equipped for rescuing people at sea.
• ADHD (29D: Neurodevelopmental condition (Abbr.)) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition whose symptoms may include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Although the exact causes of ADHD are unknown, genetic factors appear to play an important role.

Geography review:

• MELBOURNE UNITED (38A: Basketball club in Australia's largest city) MELBOURNE is the capital of Victoria, which is one of Australia's six states. Fun Fact: Until recently, Sydney was the largest city in Australia, with MELBOURNE a close second. The borders of MELBOURNE were recently redrawn, and it has now overtaken Sydney for the title of largest city. (Some argue that Sydney is still the largest city by certain parameters.) Whether it's considered the largest city or the second-largest city of Australia, it is certain that MELBOURNE is home to the basketball team MELBOURNE UNITED. Founded in 1984, MELBOURNE UNITED is part of the National Basketball League (NBL), an Australian professional basketball league.
• CHINA (33D: Xi'an's country) Xi'an is a city in northwest CHINA. It is the home of the Terracotta Army, a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Chi Huang, the first emperor of China.
• NORDIC (40D: Like Swedes and Danes) The geographical and cultural region known as the NORDIC countries includes Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Norway, as well as the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and the autonomous region of Åland. 

Today Matthew Stock treats us to the seventh in a series of puzzles based on songs from the Disney movie High School Musical. "WHEN THERE WAS ME AND YOU" is a High School Musical song sung by Vanessa Hudgens. When I saw the title, I was expecting theme answers that included the words ME and YOU. It was a nice twist that the "YOU" was the letter U, providing a bit of an "Aha!" moment. Thank you, Matthew, for this puzzle that was a lovely way to start my Sunday.