November 3, 2023

Title: BACK POCKETS

Constructors: Olivia Mitra Framke & Sally Hoelscher

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

SCHEDULE CHANGE (19A: Adjustment that might affect work hours)

PEOPLE WATCH (34A: Observe fellow passengers while waiting for a flight, say)

WATER PROTECTOR (54A: Activist involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests)

Theme synopsis: The BACK word of each theme answer can be placed in BACK of the word POCKET, to give us POCKET CHANGE, POCKET WATCH, and POCKET PROTECTOR.

And now a word from our constructors:

Sally: Remember yesterday when I said that the theme FRONT POCKETS came about when we were working on another theme? Well, here is that theme! More about that below. WATER PROTECTOR is my favorite theme answer today.

Olivia: I'm so happy with how this pair of puzzles came out! I've never done a set like this before, and it was so fun to work on it with the incredible Sally. Originally, we had HATE WATCH instead of PEOPLE WATCH, but we found it trickier to grid (in fact we were able to get HATE WATCH into another upcoming collaborative puzzle! Keep your eyes peeled for it!). Some of my favorite clues are the ones for COCOA (referencing a favorite childhood movie of mine), I DID (referencing a recent favorite TV show of mine), and IRONY (a clue courtesy of Amanda, which is surprisingly a real thing that happened!). Hope you enjoyed!

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ODIN (15A: Frigg's husband, in Norse mythology) Frigg is a goddess in Norse mythology. She's associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance, and motherhood. Frigg's husband, ODIN, is portrayed as one-eyed, long-bearded, wearing a cloak and broad hat, and wielding a spear named Gungnir.
• MINI (17A: Like a 5x5 crossword) When I come to crosswords, unless I'm competing in a tournament, I don't generally aim for speed in solving. (Even in tournaments, I am not speedy in comparison to many.) The one exception is MINI crosswords, where I generally challenge myself to try to solve in less than a minute. Something about beating the one minute mark is pretty satisfying. Side note: I know there are solvers that can solve a 15x15 puzzle in under a minute (see the comment on October 7), and I am in awe.
• LUNE (18A: Debussy's "Clair de ___") "Clair de LUNE" is the third and most famous movement of Claude Debussy's piano piece, Suite bergamasque. The piece was first published in 1905, though Claude Debussy began composing it around 1890. "Clair de LUNE" means "moonlight" in French.
• SPA (27A: Place to get a scrub) and ORS (28A: Places to wear scrubs (Abbr.)) Olivia and I really liked the idea of linking these consecutive clues.
• I DID (29A: Darth Vader's answer to who killed Anakin Skywalker) This confession happens in the 2022 miniseries, Obi-Wan Kenobi. In a scene in Part VI of the series, Darth Vader tells Obi-Wan Kenobi, "You didn't kill Anakin ... I DID." When we were working on cluing this puzzle, Olivia was initially saddened that we hadn't managed to get any Star Wars content into the grid, but then she figured out that we could use a Star Wars angle here. All was once again right with the world. Olivia: This scene was the catalyst for my recent Star Wars obsession. The depth of emotional turmoil in the Obi-Wan/Anakin dynamic as seen in this miniseries is absolutely incredible, and catapulted me into the fandom.
• PEOPLE WATCH (34A: Observe fellow passengers while waiting for a flight, say) I like to PEOPLE WATCH, and airports are definitely a great place for it. 
• IONS (39A: Charged molecules) and NEURONS (40D: Signal-sending cells) I'm always happy to get some science content into a crossword.
• TOM (45A: Male cat or turkey) and RESCUE (52A: Pet from a shelter)

  

  Willow (and me)

  Willow is not a TOM cat, but she is a RESCUE from a shelter.
• WATER PROTECTOR (54A: Activist involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests) A WATER PROTECTOR, as the name suggests, is an activist focused on defending and maintaining the world's water systems. The name of WATER PROTECTOR arose from the work of indigenous communities protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. We've seen WATER PROTECTOR as a theme answer before, November 4, 2021.
• IRONY (64A: Dolly Parton losing a Dolly Parton lookalike contest, e.g.) As Olivia mentioned, this clue was Amanda's, added during editing, and we love it! Here's the story about the IRONY of Dolly Parton losing a Dolly Parton lookalike contest.
• TAPS (65A: Dances like Ayodele Casel) I learned about TAP dancer Ayodele Casel from the June 15, 2023 puzzle. I was so impressed by her when I first learned about her, that when we ended up with TAPS in the grid, I knew I wanted to feature her. Here's a video demonstrating how Ayodele Casel TAPS.
• AFT (1D: Second-largest teachers union) AFT here is the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teacher's union in the U.S., after the NEA (National Education Association).
• SELENA (5D: "Only Murders in the Building" star Gomez) Only Murders in the Building is a comedy mystery TV series starring SELENA Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. As I have mentioned several times previously, I am a fan. Olivia has not seen Only Murders in the Building (yet), but we're still friends.
• KNEELS (12D: Preps for camel pose) In yoga as exercise, camel pose is a backbend from a kneeling position.
• AM I (22D: "___ only dreaming?") This is a line from the song, "Eternal Flame," released by the Bangles in 1989. Be careful; it's a catchy earworm. "...Do you understand? Do you feel the same? / AM I only dreaming? / Is this burning an eternal flame?..."
• ISLAM (26D: Religion associated with paradise gardens) In ISLAM, gardens are a way to represent paradise on earth. Gardens are mentioned extensively in the Quran, the religious text of ISLAM. Paradise gardens are traditionally divided into four sections, with a pond, pool, or fountain in the center. The gardens often feature fruit trees, for their scent.
• HOT COCOA (37D: Beverage Judy the elf makes in "The Santa Clause") The Santa Clause is a 1994 movie in which Tim Allen portrays a man that accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall off of his roof on Christmas Eve. When Santa dies, Tim Allen's character discovers he must become the new Santa. In the movie, Judy the elf makes the new Santa some HOT COCOA, "Not too hot, extra chocolate, shaken not stirred." If you'd like to make HOT COCOA using Judy the elf's recipe, check out this Binging with Babish video.
• TEAMS (51D: Cardinals and Orioles) As regular readers of the blog know, I am not into sports. However, I was raised a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, so when I needed to choose some examples of TEAMS, the first choice was easy. Olivia doesn't have a favorite TEAM, so I chose another TEAM with a bird name, the Baltimore Orioles.
• STARR (53D: "Rush" singer Ayra) "Rush" is a 2022 song by Nigerian singer, Arya STARR. The song went viral on TikTok this year.
• RARE (55D: Like Shiny Pokémon) Here's Olivia working in a gaming clue! Shiny Pokémon have a different coloration than normal. These Pokémon are RARE, and according to Wikipedia, the odds of encountering a Shiny Pokémon are nearly 1 in 5,000. Olivia: There is a small pocket (*wink*) of Twitch.tv streamers that engage in what is called "shiny hunting" - they spend hours upon hours in-game, rustling in grass, waiting to catch a shiny. When they do in fact encounter one, it's always an incredibly hype moment on the stream!

Geography review:

• OMAHA (4D: City where Malcolm X was born) Malcolm X was born in OMAHA, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. His family relocated to Lansing, Michigan in 1926.
• ALASKA (43D: State with eight National Parks) Eight of the U.S. National Parks are located in ALASKA. Even so, ALASKA is not the state with the most National Parks; California has nine. The National Parks in ALASKA are Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katmai, Kenai Fjords,  Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, and Wrangell-St. Elias. On our quest to visit as many National Parks as we can, my husband and I have not yet been to any of ALASKA's National Parks. Something to look forward to!

Have I mentioned recently that I like POCKETS?! Olivia had the idea of using BACK POCKETS as a theme for a puzzle. As we were brainstorming for possible theme answers, I suggested we could do a FRONT POCKETS theme as well, and see if Amanda would be willing to run the puzzles consecutively (FRONT to BACK?) I have always enjoyed the fact that USA Today will sometimes run puzzles whose titles relate to each other. We saw a recent example of this with Chandi Deitmer's puzzles LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS. And, of course, we've been enjoying Matthew Stock's series of High School Musical puzzles. My absolute favorite example of related titles was a week-long series of puzzles by various constructors (who were not aware of the series until after the fact), tied together by a Saturday puzzle by Zhouqin Burnikel. Thanks to Amanda for allowing Olivia and I to get in on the fun with some FRONT POCKETS and BACK POCKETS. I hope you enjoyed this Friday puzzle.