November 14, 2025

Title: BOO! (Freestyle)

Constructor: Rafael Musa

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

BOO! (Freestyle): There's no theme today, as this is a freestyle, or themeless puzzle. The title is a nod to I HATE THAT FOR YOU (14A: "What a bummer!")

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• CHAD (6D: Zakouma National Park's country) CHAD is a landlocked country in Central Africa. Zakouma National Park is the country's oldest national park, established in 1963. Located in southeastern CHAD, Zakouma National Park is home to elephants, giraffes, and buffalo, as well as many small mammals and numerous bird species. Since 2010, the park has been managed by the nonprofit organization African Parks, which has made efforts to prevent poaching of the park's elephants.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• WALES (1A: Cardiff's country) WALES is a country that is located on the island of Great Britain and is part of the United Kingdom. Cardiff is its capital and largest city. Any mention of Cardiff reminds me of the BBC quiz show Only Connect, which is filmed there. 
• MACRO (9A: Class focusing on the economy as a whole, for short) and STATS (61A: Class covering the normal distribution, for short) We're going to class today. I enjoyed the parallel structure of these two clues, as well as the fact that these answers just happen to be in opposite corners of the grid. It doesn't mean anything, of course ... it just makes me happy.
• OLA (22A: Greeting in Manaus) The South American country of Brazil is divided into 26 states and one federal district. Amazonas is the largest of Brazil's states, and Manaus is its capital. Portuguese is the official and national language of Brazil. In Portuguese, OLA means "hello."
• DRYNESS (28A: Desert's notable quality) The important thing about this clue is to note that the word "desert" only has one "s," not two. DRYNESS is a notable quality of a desert, but is not at all a desirable quality for most desserts. Helpful hint: I always remember that the word dessert has a double "s" because I want two scoops of ice cream.
• SANTA (36A: ___ Clara, California) SANTA Clara is a city in the southern Bay Area of California. It is part of Silicon Valley and is home to headquarters for Intel and Nvidia.
• B-DAY (40A: Dec. 13, for Taylor Swift) The abbreviation "Dec." in the clue alerts solvers the answer will be a shortened form of the word birthday. Dec. 13 is indeed Taylor Swift's B-DAY. The singer will be 36 next month.
• ARE (43A: "We ___ the Champions" (Queen song)) Queen released their song, "We ARE the Champions" in 1977. It has been used to celebrate numerous sports victories since then, and the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. "We ARE the champions, my friends / and we'll keep on fighting 'til the end..." The three-letter word ARE is making back-to-back grid appearances. Yesterday we saw it clued as ["___ You the One?" (reality show)]. I'm a fan of using the titles of songs, TV shows, and books to add interest to clues for common three-letter words.
• REBA (50A: Country singer McEntire) REBA McEntire has been called the "Queen of Country." Since starting her singing career in the 1970s, she has had 25 number one hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and been nominated for 51 CMA awards (and won seven times). REBA McEntire has also won three Grammy Awards. Her song, "Whoever's in New England" won a Grammy in 1987 for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.
• YEMENI (6A: Omani's neighbor) Yemen and Oman are countries in West Asia. They are located on  the Arabian Peninsula, and in addition to neighboring each other, they are both neighbors of Saudi Arabia.
• WIND (1D: Air force?) The question mark in the clue and the lowercase letter "f" tell us this clue is not referencing the U.S. Air Force, but is referring to WIND, which is literally an air force.
• STEP (8D: "One small ___ for a man...") "One small STEP for a man, one giant leap for mankind," is an iconic line said by Neil Armstrong when he became the first person to walk on the Moon. When I read this clue I thought, "Wait, there's no "a" in this quote. Apparently, there's been some discussion about whether the quote is "One small STEP for a man..." or "One small STEP for man..." Neil Armstrong says that he said, "One small STEP for a man..." However, most people who have listened to the audio agree that – regardless of his intention – he didn't say the word "a." At any rate, whether Neil Armstrong said "a man" or "man," I knew this answer right away.
• DEEP-DISH (28D: Pizza style associated with Chicago) DEEP-DISH pizza, which is exactly what it sounds like, is also known as Chicago-style pizza. Chicago-style DEEP-DISH pizza was invented at Pizzeria Uno in 1943. I have yet to meet a pizza I don't like. I know many people who don't care for DEEP-DISH pizza, claiming that it's not pizza, but a casserole. To that I say, "What's wrong with a casserole?"
• SPAY (49D: Fix, like a pet) The word "fix" has been used to mean "SPAY" (females) or "neuter" (males) since the 1930. The word likely came into use as the procedures were intended to fix the problems of pet overpopulation. My cat, Willow, was already spayed when we adopted her from the animal shelter, so I don't know what she was like before she was "fixed." I can attest that she's pretty perfect now.

• BEANS (51D: Legumes in some chili recipes) I was an adult before I realized some people make chili without BEANS. What?! That's just meat stew. (I'm kidding ... don't come at me!)
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• SETS UP (5D: Prepares a board game for play)
• HE STARTED IT (21D: Words said when shifting blame to a brother)
• EVEN BETTER (29D: "Actually, I prefer that")

I HATE THAT FOR YOU is a lovely grid-spanning answer. I especially like it in combination with NEWS TRAVELS FAST (17A: "I can't believe word already got around!"). I'm also enjoying the grid configuration today. This grid has left-right mirror symmetry; it's symmetrical along a line down the center of the puzzle. I almost see a cat face in the top of the grid (eyes, a cat nose, and a single whisker on each side), and that block of black squares at the bottom of the grid looks like it's giving us the middle finger! "BOO!" indeed... Thank you, Rafa, for this delightful puzzle.