August 13, 2025

Title: Making Partner

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

• DIVINE MISS M (17A: Bette Midler's nickname)
• KATHRYN MA (29A: "The Year She Left Us" author)
• WELCOME MAT (41A: Item right outside a front door)
• RUNNING MATE (61A: Partner on a political ticket)

MAKING PARTNER: The last parts of the theme answers are MAKING the word MATE, a synonym of PARTNER: M→MA→MAT→MATE.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• KATHRYN MA (29A: "The Year She Left Us" author) The Year She Left Us is KATHRYN MA's 2014 debut novel. It tells the story of three generations of Chinese American women living in San Francisco. The Year She Left Us was chosen as an NPR "Great Read" of the year and named a New York Times Editor's Choice. KATHRYN MA's most recent novel is The Chinese Groove, published in 2023.
• MARY (57D: "Book Club" actress Steenburgen) Book Club is a 2018 movie about four friends who read Fifty Shades of Grey for their book club. The move stars MARY Steenburgen, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen as the four friends. I had heard of this movie, but didn't remember enough about it to know who starred in it.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• RALPH (6A: Actress Sheryl Lee ___) In 1981, Sheryl Lee RALPH won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role of Deena Jones in Dreamgirls. Since 2021, she has portrayed kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard on the TV series Abbott Elementary.
• EMOJI (15A: Cat With Tears of Joy, e.g.) My cat, Willow, approves of this EMOJI. 😹

• ELI (16A: Country's ___ Young Band) The ELI Young Band is comprised of Mike ELI, James Young, Jon Jones, and Chris Thompson. Their most recent album, Strange Hours, was released at the beginning of this month.
• DIVINE MISS M (17A: Bette Midler's nickname) Bette Middler's debut album, released in 1972, was titled, The DIVINE MISS M. The album resulted in Bette Middler receiving the 1973 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. DIVINE MISS M stuck as a nickname.
• HI HO (34A: Kermit's greeting) I'm always happy to see Muppet content in the puzzle. "HI HO, Kermit the Frog here..."
• RAP (35A: Doechii's genre) I just learned about RAP artist Doechii from the puzzle on August 3.
• EEL (36A: Fish often served with tare sauce) Tare sauce is a sweetened, thickened soy sauce. In Japanese cuisine, tare sauce is often used as a glaze for grilled EEL.
• WELCOME MAT (41A: Item right outside a front door) It will probably not surprise anyone to learn that our custom WELCOME MAT features Willow. (Taking this photo made me realize it could use a good cleaning!)

• SEVEN (54A: Prime number between five and 11) As a math reminder, if a number is greater than one and can only be formed by multiplying one and itself, it's a prime number. Five, SEVEN, and 11 are all prime numbers.
• KIM (64A: "___ Possible") KIM Possible (2002-2007) is an animated TV series in which the title character is a teenage girl who fights crime while also dealing with everyday adolescent issues. In 2019, Disney produced a live-action movie based on the series. 
• EGYPT (69A: Country once ruled by Cleopatra) From 51 to 30 BCE, Cleopatra was the queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, an ancient Greek state based in EGYPT. Cleopatra's title was Pharaoh, as that was the title used for monarchs in ancient EGYPT. Cleopatra was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Following her death in 30 BCE, EGYPT became a province of the Roman Empire.
• YEN (5D: Bill from a Tokyo ATM) Tokyo is the capital of Japan and its most populous city. It makes sense then ATMs in Tokyo will dispense Japanese YEN, the currency of Japan.
• LEFT ON READ (11D: Spurned using a cellphone) When I first read this clue I read it as talking about not using a cellphone ... and I did think that "spurned" was an interesting word choice. Eventually I realized that the clue was referring to the action of having been spurned (rejected) by someone on a cellphone. If you are LEFT ON READ, that means someone has clearly seen your text messages, but is choosing not to respond.
• EDU (18D: www.uchicago.___) EDU is the Internet domain for educational institutions, which includes The University of Chicago.
• SOY (22D: Bean in natto) A traditional Japanese food, natto is made from fermented SOY beans. Natto has a distinctive odor, similar to aged cheese.
• ARMY (53D: BTS's fan base) The BTS ARMY is the name of the fan base for the K-pop group BTS. I am sure the BTS ARMY is thrilled about the announcement of the release of new music planned for spring 2026. BTS has been on a scheduled pause to allow its members to complete their mandatory South Korean military service.
• UMA (62D: "Kill Bill" actress Thurman) In the Kill Bill movies (Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)), UMA Thurman stars as the Bride, a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.

Even though it's only been a couple of weeks since we saw an "add-a-letter" progression theme (that one was also by Zhouqin Burnikel), I did not catch on to today's theme until I was almost finished solving. The word MAKING in the title is the clue here. I enjoy these types of themes; it's fun to see the word appear as you work your way through the puzzle. Thank you, Zhouqin, for this delightful puzzle.