November 21, 2025

Title: ANSWER KEYS (Freestyle)

Constructor: Willa Angel Chen Miller

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

ANSWER KEYS (Freestyle): There's no theme today, as this is a freestyle, or themeless, puzzle. The title is a nod to two answers that contain the word KEY at the end of each word in the answer: OKEY DOKEY and HOKEY POKEY.

• OKEY DOKEY (22A: "Sounds good!")
• HOKEY POKEY (42A: Participation dance in which you "Shake it all about")

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• OHIO (6D: State where the cash register was invented) This is a fun fact that I enjoyed learning. The mechanical cash register was invented by brothers James Ritty and John Birch. James Ritty owned a saloon in Dayton, OHIO, and he believed his employees were stealing money from the cash box. He invented the cash register to record each transaction, which allowed the total at the end of the day to be compared to the money in the till. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• MATH (17A: "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" subject) This is a fun clue; of course I'm biased because it has my name in it! "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" (or PEDMAS) is a mnemonic device for remembering the correct order of operations in MATH. "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" is a reminder of Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction. 
• ELIOT (20A: "The Waste Land" poet) "The Waste Land" is a 1922 poem by T. S. ELIOT. You can read "The Waste Land," which begins with the line, "April is the cruelest month," on the Poetry Foundation website. There's also a helpful poem guide on their website titled "T.S. ELIOT: The Waste Land: Who are all these people? Where is this waste land they inhabit? What is this chaos of impressions we are privy to? Wherefore such madness?" As you might be able to tell from that title, the poem isn't exactly straightforward. "The Waste Land" is considered a central work of modernist poetry.
• CURB APPEAL (33A: First impression given by a house) When my husband and I were looking at houses 31 years ago, we had been looking for several weeks (and had a heartbreaking deal fall through) when we pulled up into the driveway of a house with such CURB APPEAL that I instinctively said, "Oh, that's cute!" We subsequently bought that house and have lived in it ever since. The exterior of the house looks quite a bit different than it did when we bought it, but hopefully it still has CURB APPEAL (though we're not planning on selling any time soon).
• TED (39A: "How I Met Your Mother" protagonist) I wrote about How I Met Your Mother nine days ago when we saw TED clued as ["How I Met Your Mother" role]. Great constructor minds think alike.
• SON (45A: Luke, to Anakin) Anakin Skywalker, one of the main protagonists in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, is perhaps better known by the name he adopts later, Darth Vader. Apologies for the spoiler if you have so far avoided the realization that Luke Skywalker is the SON of Darth Vader.
• ONION (58A: Caramelized vegetable in mujaddara) Mujaddara is a dish popular throughout the Arab world. It consists of lentils and rice, garnished with caramelized sautéed ONIONs.
• LUGE (64A: Sport in which athletes lie flat) A LUGE is a small sled that holds one or two people. Riders lie flat on their backs, face up, and sled feet first. Lugers compete on artificial tracks that have specially-designed banked curves and walled-in straight sections. A LUGE can reach speeds of over 87 mph.
• DEER (67A: Bambi and Faline) Bambi and Faline are characters in Disney's animated movie, Bambi (1942). Bambi is, of course, the title DEER. Faline is Bambi's childhood friend and eventual mate.
• NOT IT (3D: "Nose goes!") "Nose goes!," also known as the "nose game" is a method of choosing who is to do an unwelcome task. The last person to touch their nose and say "Nose goes!" or "NOT IT!" is the (un)lucky winner of the game.
• PREY (13D: "Predator" prequel) Predator is a 1987 science fiction horror movie that was the first installment in what is now the Predator franchise. PREY, the fifth movie in the franchise, was released in 2022. As the clue informs us, PREY is a prequel to Predator.
• TRIAL (21D: "12 Angry Men" event) 12 Angry Men is a 1957 movie. The legal drama is a critique of the American jury system. Set during the McCarthy era, the movie focuses on the TRIAL of an 18-year-old boy accused of killing his abusive father. Specifically, the story focuses on the deliberations of the jury after what appears to be a clear cut case. 
• YEP (25D: Casual version of 43-Down) and YES (43D: Word of consent) It's often difficult to clue variation of YES, YEP, yup, yea in ways that differentiate them from each other. That's where crossing answers are helpful, of course. I like the choice to link these two answers together.
• GREY (32D: Fictional doctor Meredith) The medical drama TV series, GREY's Anatomy is having a bit of a moment this month. On November 4th, we saw ANATOMY clued as ["Grey's ___" (hospital drama)]. Five days ago, we saw ELLEN clued as ["Grey's Anatomy" star Pompeo]. 
• INCA (53D: People who made llama figurines) The INCA Empire incorporated a large part of western South America in the late 1400s and early 1500s. Llamas are native to western South America and have been used as pack animals since pre-Columbian times. As llamas were common in the INCA Empire, it's not surprising that the INCA incorporated the animals into their art. 
• MEAN (55D: Like fictional high schooler Regina George) Regina George is one of the titular characters in the 2004 movie MEAN Girls. This is a fun clue for the word MEAN.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• OLD (29A: Like a centenarian)
• THE (44A: Most common English word)
• HIDDEN GEM (52A: Amazing hole-in-the-wall restaurant, say)
• CULT (33D: ___ classic (niche hit)) 

This puzzle is on the border of themed and themeless – what I like to call "themed-ish." The hidden KEYS in OKEY DOKEY (which, by the way is a phrase I use a lot and it made me happy to see it!) and HOKEY POKEY are definitely theme-ish. But since there are just two of those answers, it's not quite enough to constitute a theme in a 15x15 grid. Therefore, overall it's themeless. Thank you, Willa, for this enjoyable puzzle.