February 12, 2024

Title: BAD HARE DAY (Freestyle)

Constructor: Matthew Stock

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Freestyle: This is a themeless puzzle. BAD HARE DAY is a nod to DUST BUNNIES (21A: Fluffy clumps vacuumed up from under couches) and FILTHY ANIMALS (56A: 2021 short story collection by Brandon Taylor).

Things I learned:

• ERMA (19A: Professional baseball player Bergmann) ERMA Bergman (1924-2015) was a pitcher and outfielder in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1946-1951. She played for four different teams during that time: Muskegon Lassies, Springfield Sallies, Racine Belles, and Battle Creek Belles. After her professional baseball career, ERMA Bergmann became a police officer in St. Louis, Missouri.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• STRAW POLLS (17A: Informal surveys) STRAW POLLS are informal votes used to gain information about public opinion on various issues. It's only been eight days since we saw STRAW POLLS as an answer. We see answers repeat frequently, of course, but it's often shorter answers (such as our crossword-friend Erie!), so this one caught my attention. Perhaps we are being reminded this is an election year (as if we might forget).
• EID (29A: Ramadan-ending celebration) Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims around the world observe Ramadan by fasting from sunrise to sunset during the 29 or 30 days of the observance. EID al-Fitr, also called the "Festival of Breaking the Fast," marks the end of fasting during the month of Ramadan. This year Ramadan will be observed from March 11 to April 8.
• LARA (40A: ___ Croft: Tomb Raider) LARA Croft is the protagonist of the video game franchise Tomb Raider. Angelina Jolie played LARA Croft in the movies based on the video game, LARA Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and LARA Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003).
• YEET (44A: Throw forcefully) I wrote about the word YEET last month.
• FILTHY ANIMALS (56A: 2021 short story collection by Brandon Taylor) Brandon Taylor's short story collection, FILTHY ANIMALS, won the 2022 Story Prize, an honor awarded annually to collections of short fiction. I learned about Brandon Taylor (including the fact that we live in the same town!) and FILTHY ANIMALS from the July 23, 2022 puzzle.
• HOPI (64A: Tribe of northeast Arizona) The HOPI are an indigenous people that primarily live on the HOPI Reservations in northeast Arizona. The HOPI Reservation is home to the HOPI and the Arizona Tewa people. 
• RUTH (2D: "Loving" star Negga) RUTH Negga played the role of Mildred Loving in the 2016 movie, Loving. The movie tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, the plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia. The 1967 case invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
• HOLT (7D: News anchor Lester) Five days ago we saw the clue [News anchor Holt] used for the answer LESTER. Today that clue / answer pair is flipped around. Lester HOLT is a news anchor for the weekday edition of NBC Nightly News.
• NODE (26D: Lymph ___) Lymph NODEs are located throughout the human body and are part of the immune system. Hooray for science in crosswords! A lymph NODE acts as a sort of filter for foreign particles.
• STEAMS (39D: Cooks, like xiao long bao) Xiao long bao are steamed buns that originated from China.
• MII (61D: Nintendo avatar) A MII is the customizable avatar used on some Nintendo game consoles and apps.

Geography review:

• ANN ARBOR (25A: Michigan college town) ANN ARBOR, Michigan is home to the University of Michigan. Here's a fun coincidental progression: On January 27, we saw the answer ARBOR clued as [Ann ___, Michigan]. On February 1, we saw the clue [___ Arbor, Michigan] used to clue the word ANN. Now today, ANN ARBOR has achieved having its entire name in the puzzle.

BAD HARE DAY is the title of one of the books in R. L. Stine's children's horror fiction series, Goosebumps. Today it's a humorous title for this freestyle puzzle. In addition to the answers I've already highlighted, I also enjoyed TEEN IDOL, WHO'S TO SAY, THERE IT IS, and THAT'S NOT ME. Thank you, Matthew, for this delightful puzzle.