August 3, 2025

Title: STARTING PITCH

Constructor: Max Schlenker

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• BLACK PANTHERS (20A: Members of a resistance party who organized the People's Free Food Program)
• PIPE DREAMS (41A: Out-of-reach goals)
• FORK IN THE ROAD (55A: Metaphorical decision-making moment)

STARTING PITCH: Each theme answer begins with a word that can be paired with the word PITCH to form a new word or phrase: PITCH-BLACK, PITCH PIPE, and PITCHFORK.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• RAPS (11D: Performs like Doechii) Doechii is a RAP artist whose song videos went viral on TikTok in 2021. Her second mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal (2024) won a Grammy Award for Best RAP Album.
• SHE (62D: "___ Calls Me Back" (Noah Kahan song)) "SHE Calls Me Back" is a song from Noah Kahan's third studio album, Stick Season (2022). In 2023, Noah Kahan released a version of "SHE Calls Me Back" that features Kacey Musgraves.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• CURRY (9A: Phanaeng, for example) Phanaeng is a type of red Thai CURRY paste.
• MALE (14A: Like drone bees) There are three types of bees in a hive: queen bees, worker bees, and drone bees. Drones are the only MALEs, and account for about 10-15% of a hive's population. Drones do not have stingers, and their only role in the hive is reproduction. It is the drone bees sole purpose to mate with the queen bee. 
• ASANA (16A: Mountain Pose or Warrior II) In modern yoga as exercise, mountain pose is a standing ASANA and is the beginning of many yoga sessions (and sometimes used between poses). To get into mountain pose, one stands with feet together and arms at one's side. Warrior II pose is a lunging standing ASANA.
• PEAS (18A: "Bangers and mash" vegetables) Bangers and mash is a traditional British dish of sausages and mashed potatoes. It is often served with PEAS.
• BLACK PANTHERS (20A: Members of a resistance party who organized the People's Free Food Program) The BLACK PANTHERS were a political party founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California. The BLACK PANTHERS were active in the U.S. until 1982. During that time, they created several mutual aid programs, including the People's Free Food Program.
• GSA (25A: Org. for LGBTQIA+ students) A GSA, is a student-run organization aimed at building supportive community and organizing to work for social justice.
• APRIL (39A: Month that's often a taxing time?) That's not "taxing" in the sense of being difficult, but "taxing" in the sense that many people in the U.S. file tax returns in APRIL.
• COCO (45A: Pixar film inspired by Dia de los Muertos) The 2017 animated movie, COCO, is inspired by the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a time to pray for and remember family and friends who have died.
• PIE (46A: Popular March 14th treat) March 14, or 3-14, is an annual celebration of the mathematical concept pi (3.14159265358979...) The earliest known large-scale celebration of Pi Day was in 1988 at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives recognized March 14 as National Pi Day by a non-binding resolution. Pi Day is one of my favorite holidays, as it is celebrated mainly by eating PIE.
• ISLA (61A: ___ Nublar ("Jurassic Park" setting)) Jurassic Park (1993) is the first movie in the Jurassic World sci-fi franchise. The movie is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. ISLA Nublar is a fictional Central American island that is the setting of the dinosaur theme park at the center of the story. Filming for the movie took place on several Hawaiian islands, as well as on sound stages. 
• MELBA (64A: Peach ___ (dessert)) Peach MELBA is named in honor of Australian soprano Nellie MELBA. The dessert, which is vanilla ice cream with peaches and raspberry sauce, was invented in the 1890s at the Savoy Hotel in London.
• NENE (66A: "Glee" actress Leakes) NENE Leakes played the recurring character of Roz Washington on the TV series Glee (2012-2015).
• DEER (69A: Moose or caribou) The moose is the tallest and largest member of the DEER family. Caribou, also known as reindeer, are also in the DEER family. Caribou are the only members of the DEER family that have been successfully semi-domesticated.
• IMDB (1D: Site with movie trivia) IMDB is on online database of info related to movies, TV series, podcasts, video games, and other online streaming content. IMDB began in 1990 as a fan-operated database. Since 1993 it has been a subsidiary of Amazon.
• TAIL (2D: Part of a cat costume) My cat, Willow, says, "Oh, hello! I have a TAIL."

• ELSA (3D: "Let It Go" singer in "Frozen") I am always happy to share a link to the Frozen song, "Let It Go" when it appears in the puzzle. If I'm going to have this earworm from ELSA for the rest of the day, I'm happy to share.
• MECCA (4D: Hajj destination) MECCA is a city in Saudi Arabia. It is the birthplace of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and is considered to be the holiest city in Islam. Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to MECCA. Under Saudi law, non-Muslims are not permitted to enter MECCA.
• CARE BEAR (9D: Colorful stuffed animal of the '80s) The CARE BEAR franchise was created by Elena Kucharik in 1981. Originally designed to be used on greeting cards, the idea expanded to include toys, and has grown to books, TV shows, and movies. Each CARE BEAR is a different color and has a unique symbol on its belly.
• ATARI (27D: Asteroids game developer) Players of the 1979 ATARI video game Asteroids control a spaceship flying through an asteroid field. The goal is to shoot asteroids and other spaceships without colliding into anything. 
• LIMIT (34D: "The ___ does not exist!" ("Mean Girls" quote)) "The LIMIT does not exist!" is a line said by the character Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) in the movie Mean Girls (2004).
• NINE (57D: First digit in California zip codes) The first number in zip codes represents a group of U.S. states. The second and third numbers represent a geographic region in those states, and the fourth and fifth letters represent specific addresses in that region. The number NINE is the first digit in the zip codes of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. 
• A couple of other clues I especially liked:
• ATTITUDE (36A: What teenagers stereotypically have)
• DOUGH (42D: It's kneaded in the kitchen)

The title of today's puzzle, "Starting Pitch," brought to mind the July 26th puzzle, which was titled "First Base." We are in baseball season. I'm sure there are other baseball phrases that would make good puzzle themes. Thank you, Max, for this enjoyable puzzle.