December 12, 2023

Title: THE SPANISH

Constructor: Aidan Deshong

Editor: Jared Goudsmit

Theme Answers:

LA BREA TAR PITS (20A: SoCal research site with preserved Ice Age fossils)

LOS ANGELES KINGS (40A: Hockey team with a crown in its logo)

LAS VEGAS STRIP (60A: Stretch of road in Nevada known for gambling and resort hotels)

Theme synopsis: Each theme answer begins with a word that means THE in SPANISH: LA, LOS, LAS.

Things I learned:

• ALI (32D: Actor Fazal) ALI Fazal is one of those actors whose name I did not recognize, but when I saw his picture I realized I've seen some of his work. (He's in good company; I am absolutely terrible at remembering celebrity names!) ALI Fazal is an Indian actor who has appeared in Hindi-language films and English-language movies and TV shows. He portrayed Abdul Karim in the 2017 British historical drama film, Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant. I recognize ALI Fazal from the movie Death on the Nile (2022). 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• MACS (1A: Big ___ (Golden Arches burgers)) and PHO (52A: ___ Burger (soup-flavored McDonald's offering in Vietnam)) I enjoyed this pair of McDonald's clues. I just commented to my husband the other day that I couldn't remember the last time I ate at McDonald's. I can however, tell you the ingredients of Big MACS – two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion on a sesame seed bun – thanks to 1970s TV commercials. I appreciated the "soup-flavored" hint in the clue for PHO, and also like this interesting clueing angle. 
• MASS (5A: The "m" in E=mc^2) Albert Einstein's famous formula, E=mc^2 (energy equals MASS times the speed of light squared), describes the relationship between mass and energy. In physics, this is referred to as the mass-energy equivalence.
• CACTI (9A: Prickly pears, e.g.) Prickly pear CACTI have cladodes, growths that

  

  prickly pear cactus

  are large, flat, and paddle-shaped. These cladodes grow in clusters. When my family hiked into the Grand Canyon last year, we saw a lot of prickly pear CACTI. We were there in April, and some of the CACTI were blooming.
• LA BREA TAR PITS (20A: SoCal research site with preserved Ice Age fossils) Hancock Park in LOS ANGELES, California was formed around the LA BREA TAR PITS. For tens of thousands of years, natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground in this area. The tar preserved the bones of animals unlucky enough to get caught in the pits centuries ago. The LA BREA TAR PITS Museum displays the results of research done in the area.
• LOS ANGELES KINGS (40A: Hockey team with a crown in its logo) The LOS ANGELES KINGS are a National Hockey League (NHL) team. Their logo is a banner featuring a crown below the letters "LA."
• LAS VEGAS STRIP (60A: Stretch of road in Nevada known for gambling and resort hotels) The LAS VEGAS STRIP is a portion of South LAS VEGAS Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada. Although referred to as LAS VEGAS, the approximately 4-mile long STRIP is technically outside of the city limits and located in the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester. Many of the largest hotels and casinos in the world are located on the LAS VEGAS STRIP.
• ACLU (60A: Rights org. where RBG once worked) Ruth Bader Ginsburg, aka RBG, and Brenda Fiegen co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, aka ACLU, in 1972. RBG was the general counsel and the Director for the Project for several years. Between 1973 and 1976, she argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court. She won five of those cases. As RBG said, "Women's rights are an essential part of the overall human rights agenda, trained on the equal dignity and ability to live in freedom all people should enjoy."
• LOBE ("Parietal" or "occipital" part of the brain) The human brain is divided into identifiable sections called LOBEs. Although there is overlap, some brain functions are centralized in specific LOBEs. The parietal LOBE integrates sensory information, and is also important in language processing. The occipital LOBE processes visual input. Hooray for science in the crossword!
• ODDS (73A: ___ and evens (hand game)) ODDS and evens is a simple game of chance. It involves two people revealing a number of fingers, and winning or losing depending on whether they are ODD or even. The game is similar to rock paper scissors.
• SUGAR (7D: "A Spoonful of ___" ("Mary Poppins" song)) "A Spoonful of SUGAR" is a song from  the musical film Mary Poppins. The song was written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman. Robert Sherman got the idea for the song after one of his children described receiving his polio vaccine by explaining that the medicine was put on a cube of sugar and then he swallowed it. "A spoonful of SUGAR helps the medicine go down / the medicine go down / the medicine go down / Just a spoonful of SUGAR helps the medicine go down / in a most delightful way..."
• ELI (37D: NFL great Manning) ELI Manning is a former quarterback. He played 16 seasons with the NFL's New York Giants. During his career, he led the Giants to two Super Bowl victories, and was named MVP in both of those years (2008 and 2012). I'm always delighted when I know a sports answer, as (almost) everything I know about sports I learned from crossword puzzles.
• MTV (49D: "Daria" channel) Daria is an animated show aimed at adults that originally aired on MTV from 1997 to 2002. The show was a spin-off from Beavis and Butt-Head, on which Daria was a recurring character. The show revolves around two teenage girls, the title character and her best friend Jane Lane.
• SPUDS (59D: ___ MacKenzie (former Bud Light mascot)) I wrote about SPUDS MacKenzie last month.
• ABBA (62D: "Money, Money, Money" band) "Money, Money, Money" is a 1976 song by ABBA. Now this song and "A Spoonful of SUGAR" can compete in my head for earworm of the day.

I was intrigued by the title of this puzzle. THE SPANISH ... hmm, what would the theme be. I had a guess, which turned out to be incorrect. (The nice thing about that is that I now have an idea for a puzzle theme!) After LA BREA TAR PITS disproved my theory, I took a moment to ponder on what the theme might actually be. I had a nice "Aha!" moment, and was delighted to then fill in theme answers beginning with LOS and LAS to confirm that I had correctly identified the theme. So fun! Congratulations to Aidan Deshong making a USA Today crossword debut today! Thank you, Aidan, for this puzzle that was a terrific way to start my Tuesday.