January 10, 2024

Title: THE RATES ARE RISING AGAIN!

Constructors: Sally Hoelscher & Wendy L. Brandes

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme Answers:

SET A RECORD (10D: Top all previous performances)

STREET ARTISTS (15D: Caricaturists, muralists, etc.)

APPLE TARTS (30D: Small open pies filled with Honeycrisps, perhaps)

Theme synopsis: Each vertical theme answer contains the letter string -ETAR-, which when reading up spells RATE.

• SET A RECORD
• STREET ARTISTS
• APPLE TARTS

And now a word from our constructors:

Sally: We're back again so soon! What's better than one collaboration with Wendy? Two collaborations with Wendy! We have Amanda to thank for encouraging this encore performance. See below for the backstory of how this second RISING RATE puzzle came to be. My favorite of today's theme answers is STREET ARTISTS.

Wendy: What a treat to work with Sally on back-to-back puzzles. Many thanks to Amanda for coming up with the idea for this one and encouraging us to run with it. I love that the same general idea can have so many interesting iterations. My favorite theme answer is: SET A RECORD. In 2013, I attended a Tri-City ValleyCat game in Troy, NY, where my family helped set the record for largest gathering of people wearing fake mustaches (2,685 fans all wore them at one time).

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• CATSIT (7A: Watch a friend's kitty) Willow was not happy that there was no

  

  Willow

  CAT reference in yesterday's puzzle. So, while CATSIT is not her favorite word, she's happy that it means I will share a photo of her with you. 
• ELEPHANT (17A: Largest living land animal) ELEPHANTs are native to sub-Saharan Africa, South ASIA, and Southeast ASIA. There are three living species of ELEPHANT: the African bush ELEPHANT, the African forest ELEPHANT, and the Asian ELEPHANT. Male African bush ELEPHANTs can be 10-11 feet tall at the shoulder, and weigh almost seven tons.
• POP (33A: Soda, in the Midwest) I feel the need to point out (before some of my friends and family complain!) that this clue is a generalization. I grew up in eastern Missouri – part of the Midwest –, and I grew up calling carbonated beverages "soda." When I came to college in Iowa, I thought it was the strangest thing that people called soda "POP." I swore I would never call it POP... Well, I didn't know at the time that my college years were just the beginning of many, many years living in Iowa. Once I realized I was in Iowa for the long haul, I reluctantly gave in. Now I refer to carbonated beverages as POP without a second thought.
• MARTA (34A: Ana's "Knives Out" role) This is Wendy's clue, and I like it! As I have previously mentioned, I am a big fan of the movie, Knives Out, and of Ana de Armas, who portrays MARTA. I also enjoyed Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and I am extremely happy about the news that a Knives Out 3 is in the works.
• IGUANAS (40A: Spiny lizards with dewlaps) A dewlap is a flap of skin that hangs beneath the lower jaw. Male IGUANAS may extend and retract their dewlaps during courtship.
• MATT (51A: Actor Bomer) Some of MATT Bomer's recent work includes the portrayals of Jamie Burns on season 3 of the TV anthology series The Sinner, and Hawkins Fuller on the TV miniseries Fellow Travelers. I have previously written about MATT Bomer's LGBTQ+ advocacy and my favorite role of his.
• ELI (53A: "Da Kink in My Hair" actor Goree) Da Kink in My Hair is a TV sitcom that originally aired from 2007-2009. The show, based on Trey Anthony's play of the same name, centers on a hair salon in Toronto, Canada. ELI Goree plays the role of Malik in the show's second season.
• WTA (54A: Org. for Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff) WTA here is the Women's Tennis Association. I have previously written about professional tennis players Ons Jabeur and Coco Gauff.
• YAM (71A: Root veggie in Asaro) Asaro, also known as YAM porridge, is a dish that originated from the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin.
• BANANA (22D: Fruit that might be used as a pretend phone) I adore this silly clue, and am happy it survived the editing process! You've used a BANANA as a pretend phone, haven't you?
• SPAM (28D: ___ Museum (Minnesota attraction celebrating canned meat)) The SPAM Museum is located in Austin, Minnesota. As you might guess, the museum tells the history of SPAM, as well as the culture surrounding the canned precooked meat product. Admission is free, so next time you're in Minnesota, consider adding the SPAM Museum to your itinerary.
• NATO (50D: "A is for Alfa" org.) My own puzzle is reminding me to continue my review of the NATO phonetic alphabet. A is for Alfa ... M is for Mike, N is for November, and O is for Oscar.

Geography review:

• EDT (70A: Summer hrs. in NYC) We were happy to use this clue to give a shoutout to New York City (NYC). Wendy lives in NYC, which is on Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) during the summer.
• ERIE (37D: Shallowest Great Lake) It's our crossword-friend Lake ERIE, the shallowest and warmest of the five Great Lakes. 
• ASIA (60D: Nepal's continent) Nepal is a landlocked country in South ASIA. About 75% of Nepal is located in the Himalayan mountains. The capital of Nepal is Kathmandu. Our crossword-friend ASIA is making its first appearance of 2024 today. It's also fun to see ERIE and ASIA in the same puzzle. In 2023, ERIE made 36 appearances in the puzzle, and we saw ASIA 22 times. There were only three times in 2023 when we saw ERIE and ASIA on the same day. (A reminder that the only thing this means is that I like data!)

As if yesterday's RISING RATES wasn't enough cause for concern, today THE RATES ARE RISING AGAIN! When Wendy and I submitted the theme query for yesterday's puzzle, Amanda admitted we had surprised her with our theme interpretation, because she was expecting -ERAT- formations. She then went on to say that if we were interested in making a second puzzle... As you can see, we happily took her up on the offer! We hope you enjoyed both of our RATE raising puzzles.