January 31, 2024

Title: MINI (Freestyle)

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: Although this puzzle is labeled as a freestyle (aka themeless), it does contain (appropriately!) a MINI-theme. Two of the puzzle's answers have a first word beginning with MI-, and a second word beginning with NI-.

MINNESOTA NICE (19A: Certain brand of Midwestern politeness)

MISCHIEF NIGHT (53A: Halloween Eve pranking holiday)

Things I learned:

• MARY (59A: Actress Steenburgen) MARY Steenburgen has appeared in multiple movies and TV shows. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Lynda West Dummar (Melvin's first wife) in the 1980 movie Melvin and Howard. More recently, she starred in the 2018 movie Book Club, and its 2023 sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter, with Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen. I recognized MARY Steenburgen's face, but I couldn't recall her name to fill it in here.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• BABA (9A: Daddy, in Chinese) The word "BABA" means "daddy" or "father" in several languages, including Mandarin Chinese. BABA also means daddy in Bengali, which we have seen referenced previously.
• BLUE WHALES (14A: World's largest mammals) The average length of BLUE WHALES is 72 feet, though some BLUE WHALES have been measured as nearly 100 feet long. Adult BLUE WHALES can weigh between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds. BLUE WHALES are filter feeders; their diet consists of krill (small marine crustaceans). Here's an interesting fact I discovered while looking up BLUE WHALES: the male sex organ of BLUE WHALES has its own Wikipedia entry.
• MINNESOTA NICE (19A: Certain brand of Midwestern politeness) Ope, this answer made me laugh! MINNESOTA nice is a stereotype that implies residents of MINNESOTA are unusually courteous, polite, and mild-mannered, while also being emotionally reserved. It has been theorized that MINNESOTA NICE may have its origins in Scandinavian culture or an agrarian economy, or perhaps it's just a myth perpetuated by cultural narrators such as Garrison Keillor (creator of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion.
• DSL (22A: Internet connection option) DSL stands for "digital subscriber line," and refers to technology used to transmit data over phone lines, such as for Internet access.
• ANA (35A: "Blonde" star de Armas) ANA de Armas portrays Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane) in the 2022 movie Blonde. The film is based on a 2000 book of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates.
• MISCHIEF NIGHT (53A: Halloween Eve pranking holiday) The informal holiday known as MISCHIEF NIGHT is most commonly celebrated on October 30, the night before Halloween. It is celebrated with pranks and jokes. In some places, MISCHIEF NIGHT is known by other names, such as Devil's NIGHT, Gate NIGHT, or Mat NIGHT (characterized by stealing front door mats).
• CHO (54A: "Teen Wolf" actress Arden) Teen Wolf is a TV series about a young werewolf (played by Scott McCall) who protects the town of Beacon Hills, California from supernatural threats. Arden CHO's character made recurring appearances in the show's third season, and became a main character in the fourth season.
• STONEHENGE (57A: Circular prehistoric monument) STONEHENGE is a monument of standing stones located in Wiltshire, England. Archeologists believe STONEHENGE was constructed sometime between 3100 BCE and 1600 BCE, possibly in several stages. Approximately 100 stones make up STONEHENGE.
• TORNADO (4D: Natural disaster ranked from F0 to F5) The Fujita scale is used to rank a TORNADO by the damage it causes. An F0 TORNADO (less than 73 mph wind speed) damages trees, but not structures. An F5 TORNADO (261-318 mph wind speed) can remove buildings from their foundations and deform skyscrapers.
• BEE (11D: Insect that secretes royal jelly) Royal jelly is a secretion secreted by some BEEs that is fed to all BEE larvae. After three days, the larvae of drone and worker BEEs are no longer fed royal jelly, but queen larvae continue to receive it throughout their development. 
• SASHIMI (38D: Raw fish often garnished with grated daikon) SASHIMI also made an appearance in yesterday's puzzle.
• TEGAN (49D: ___ and Sara (indie pop duo)) The members of the pop duo TEGAN and Sara are identical twin sisters, TEGAN Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin.
• A couple of other clues I especially enjoyed:
• HARD TO READ (60A: Like tiny print or a poker face)
• EERIE (24D: Like a foggy pond at midnight)

Geography review:

• CDT (47A: Summer hours in NOLA) NOLA is an acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana, which is in the Central time zone and observes Central Daylight Time (CDT) in the summer months.
• ALGERIANS (10D: Many casbah residents) A casbah, also spelled "kasbah" is a fortress or the fortified part of a city. The Casbah of Algiers – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is the oldest part of the city of Algiers, the capital of Algeria. The casbah has been inhabited since the 6th century BCE, and is currently home to over 50,000 people, many of them ALGERIANS.
• EMIR (20D: Qatar leader) EMIR is a title used by a ruler in Islamic countries. Qatar is a country located on the Qatar Peninsula off of the northeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar is surrounded on three sides by the Persian Gulf and borders Saudi Arabia to the south. The capital of Qatar is Doha, and the current EMIR is Tamim bin Hamad.
• ASIAN (26D: Korean or Thai) Korea is a region in East Asia that includes the countries of South Korea and North Korea. Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia.

It was fun to solve this freestyle puzzle and discover it had a MINI theme. This type of "themed-ish" puzzle is a great alternative when there's not enough material to create a fully themed puzzle. It's also fun that the term "MINI crossword" is used to refer to small puzzles (generally 5x5, 6x6, or 7x7), but this MINI crossword is full-sized. Thank you, Zhouqin, for this excellent puzzle.