December 9, 2023

Title: SHANTAY, YOU STAY (Freestyle)

Constructor: Rafael Musa

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: This is a themeless puzzle. SHANTAY, YOU STAY is a nod to BOB THE DRAG QUEEN.

Things I learned:

• CNN (51A: Dana Bash's network) Dana Bash is the weekday host of CNN's political talk show, Inside Politics. She and Jake Tapper are the co-anchors of CNN's Sunday talk show, State of the Union.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• RTS (27A: "___ are not endorsements" (social media bio phrase)) RTS here stands for "retweets." Some users of X (formerly known as Twitter) add the statement, "RTS are not endorsements," to their bio as a disclaimer.
• MAGICAL (29A: ___ realism (genre with supernatural phenomena)) MAGICAL realism is a genre of literature that combines fantasy with the mundane. I wrote about MAGICAL REALISM when we saw it as a theme answer last month.
• BOB THE DRAG QUEEN (36A: Black Queer Town Hall co-founder) BOB THE DRAG QUEEN was the ***spoiler alert*** winner of RuPaul's Drag Race in the eighth season. ("SHANTAY, YOU STAY!") In 2020, BOB THE DRAG QUEEN and fellow-DRAG-QUEEN, Peppermint, co-founded Black Queer Town Hall, a nonprofit "committed to celebrating black queer excellence." BOB THE DRAG QUEEN was also one of the hosts of We're Here for the reality TV show's first three seasons.  On We're Here, DRAG QUEENs travel to small towns across the United States, and recruit residents to participate in one-night-only DRAG shows.
• MAY (40A: National Talk Like Yoda Day month) National Talk Like Yoda Day is celebrated by some Star Wars fans on MAY 21 each year. The date commemorates the release of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, the movie that introduced Yoda to the world. Fun, this is, yes? MAY is also the month for Star Wars Day, an informal celebration on MAY 4. "MAY the fourth be with you."
• ADELE (60A: "Set Fire to the Rain" singer) "Set Fire to the Rain" is a 2010 song by ADELE. The song won a Grammy Award in 2013 for Best Pop Solo Performance.
• ORE (12D: Catan resource) ORE is one of the five resources in the board game Catan. 
• ALAN (26D: Cryptanalyst Turing) ALAN Turing (1912-1954) was a cryptanalyst, mathematician, computer scientist, logician, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. He is considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. I have previously written about ALAN Turing. 
• BEN (43D: "Dear Evan Hansen" star Platt) BEN Platt played the title character in the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen. He received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance. He reprised the role for the movie adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.
• APP (55D: Spotify or BeReal) Spotify is an audio streaming APP. BeReal is a social media APP that encourages user to share a photo of themselves and their surroundings at a random time each day.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• SQUAD (5A: ___ goals!" ("Our friends are the best!"))
• HOT POCKET (11D: Microwaveable snack that might be scalding on the outside and frozen on the inside)
• FUTILE (44D: "Resistance is ___!")

Geography review:

• IOWA (14A: State south of Minnesota) The state of IOWA is south of Minnesota, west of Wisconsin and Illinois, north of Missouri, and east of South Dakota and Nebraska.
• KSU (46A: School near Topeka, for short) Topeka is the capital of Kansas. Kansas State University (KSU) is located in Manhattan, Kansas, about 50 miles west of Topeka.
• ERIE (54D: Cleveland's Great Lake) Cleveland, Ohio is located in the northeastern part of Ohio, along the shores of Lake ERIE. Cleveland is the largest city on Lake ERIE.

There's so much great stuff in this puzzle that I had a difficult time choosing what to highlight. I'M SERIOUS! In addition to the answers I've already highlighted, I also enjoyed TRANS WOMAN, MATHLETE, and OBSTACLES. Thank you, Rafa, for this delightful Saturday puzzle.