August 26, 2025

Title: EARLY RISERS

Constructor: Stella Zawistowski

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

• SUNDAE BAR (17A: Dessert station with ice cream and toppings)
• SUNG THROUGH (28A: Like a musical with no spoken dialogue)
• SUNNI MUSLIM (48A: Member of Islam's largest 47-Across)
• SUNISA LEE (65A: 2020 women's individual all-around gymnastics champion)

EARLY RISERS: Each theme answer begins with SUN: SUNDAE BAR, SUNG THROUGH, SUNNI MUSLIM, and SUNISA LEE. 

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• ADD IN (27D: Pinkberry choice) Pinkberry is a franchise selling frozen yogurt that may be customized with a variety of extra toppings known as ADD INs. According to the Pinkberry website, the closest Pinkberry location to me is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, about 450 miles from my house. It's not surprising I hadn't heard of this frozen yogurt chain.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• FATES (9A: Goddesses of destiny) In Greek mythology, the FATES are a trio of goddesses, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. The FATES are characters in Disney's 1997 animated movie Hercules.
• COVET (19A: Desire badly?) This made me chuckle. "Thou shalt not COVET..." – that's a bad way to desire something.
• DALLAS (20A: Texas city home to the Wings and Mavericks) The DALLAS Wings are a WNBA team, and the DALLAS Mavericks are an NBA team.
• SUNG THROUGH (28A: Like a musical with no spoken dialogue) This is a bit of a digression (I know that's shocking from me, isn't it?!), but this clue reminds me of the song "A Musical" from the musical Something Rotten! This song is an exchange between the characters Nostradamus and Nick, and includes the lyrics: (Nostradamus) "Some musicals have no talking at all" / (Nick) "No talking at all?" / (Nostradamus) "That's right, there's no talking / All of the dialog is SUNG in a very dramatic fashion..." If you're unfamiliar with this song, I encourage you to give it a listen. It makes me laugh every time I hear it. 
• SIR (46A: "___, this is a Wendy's") "SIR, this is a Wendy's," is a funny way to point out that a comment is inappropriate. The line originated from an episode of The Office in which the main character calls Wendy's looking for a date. The Wendy's employee replies with "Dude, this is a Wendy's restaurant." The saying morphed over time to "SIR, this is a Wendy's."
• SECT (47A: Religious subgroup) and SUNNI MUSLIM (48A: Member of Islam's largest 47-Across) The two main branches of Islam are SUNNI and Shia. SUNNI is the largest Islam SECT, accounting for 87-90% of MUSLIMs.
• SAP (54A: Mealybugs' food) Mealybugs are insects that feed on plant SAP. If you see mealybugs feeding on a plant, you will know they are females. Male mealybugs are short-lived and don't feed at all. 
• SUNISA LEE (65A: 2020 women's individual all-around gymnastics champion) and USA (66D: Olympic team for 65-Across) SUNISA LEE was on the USA women's gymnastics Olympic team that won gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She also represented Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (held in 2021), where she was the all-around gold medalist in women's gymnastics. SUNISA LEE is the first Hmong American to win an Olympic gold medal. (The Hmong people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. Many Hmong immigrated to the United States following the Vietnam War.)
• SAN 68A: ___ Antonio Spurs) The SAN Antonio Spurs are an NBA team. Texas is home to three NBA teams, and two of them are mentioned in today's puzzle. The only Texas NBA team we're missing is the Houston Rockets. 
• TINA (3D: Rock goddess Turner) It's nice that TINA Turner (1939-2023) recorded a song that is perfect for times  when she's referred to (correctly!) as a rock goddess. TINA Turner recorded a cover of Bonnie Tyler's song "The Best" in 1989. (Bonnie Tyler has said TINA Turner, "did it much better than I did.") "You're simply the best / Better than all the rest..."
• BREAKUPS (5D: Splits that might be messy or amicable) I saw the word "splits" and my mind immediately went, "banana." I'm blaming SUNDAE BARS.
• SORBET (8D: Dairy-free frozen treat) SORBET is a frozen dessert made of ice, fruit juice, and fruit purée. 
• HAIKU (26D: Three-line poem) The short form of poetry known as HAIKU originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese Haiku consists of three lines, with a syllabic pattern of 5,7, 5, and contains a seasonal reference. The seasonal reference may be a word related to specific season. Modern HAIKU and non-Japanese HAIKU do not always include a seasonal reference. HAIKU have three lines / Count the syllables – you'll see / Five, seven, five – whee! (I think I should stick to blogging...)
• GEICO (33D: Company with a gecko mascot) Fun fact: The GEICO gecko's name is Marvin.
• MARS (51D: Home of Olympus Mons) Olympus Mons is a volcano located on MARS. Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, a type of volcano with a low profile. Of course, low profile is relative. Olympus Mons is three times as high as Mt. Everest, and roughly the size of the state of Arizona. Scientists estimate that Olympus Mons last erupted approximately 25 million years ago.
• PEACH (55D: Princess who's the head of state of the Mushroom Kingdom) The Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess PEACH, is the setting of many video games in the Mario franchise. Sometimes Princess PEACH is a protagonist, and sometimes she is a damsel in distress, being kidnapped by Bowser and rescued by Mario. The relationship between Princess PEACH and Mario has been a topic of discussion recently as Nintendo said the characters are "good friends" (rather than a couple).

It's been a bit since we've seen a theme that involves just the beginning letters of the theme answers, rather than an entire word. The word "RISERS" in the title made me think the theme might be found in the vertical answers. However, filling in SUNDAE BAR immediately clued me in to what was going on since I noticed SUN at the beginning of the answer. I am an EARLY RISER, but this puzzle is fun even for those who may not enjoy getting up with the SUN. Thank you, Stella, for this SUN-ny puzzle.