November 24, 2025

Title: HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

Constructor: Mike Graczyk

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• PITY PARTIES (16A: "Poor me" occasions)
• WITHOUT QUESTION (36A: "Undoubtedly!")
• QUALITY TIME (60A: Period of meaningful interaction)

HAVE IT BOTH WAYS: Each theme answer contains the letter strings I-T and T-I, or IT BOTH WAYS: PITY PARTIES, WITHOUT QUESTION, and QUALITY TIME.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• DRE (18A: Broncos linebacker Greenlaw) DRE Greenlaw is a professional football player. Since March of this year, he has played for the Denver Broncos. From 2019-2024, he played for the San Francisco 49ers. 
• ANA (59A: "I cause allergies / I also make things weird" ("Santa ___ Winds" song lyrics)) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a musical TV series whose four seasons aired from 2015-2019. Rachel Bloom starred as Rebecca Bunch, a lawyer who moved from New York City to California in order to pursue her ex-boyfriend from summer camp. "Santa ANA Winds" is a song from the show's second season. It is sung by a personification of the weather phenomenon known as the Santa ANA Winds. Here's another line from the song, "Technically, I'm known as a katabatic wind / That's science for "A pain in your asses."

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• YMCA (6A: Village People hit) The Village People released the song "Y.M.C.A." in 1978. "It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A..." Thanks for the earworm, puzzle.
• OTIS (19A: R&B singer Redding) If the "Y.M.C.A" reference didn't give you an earworm, there's always OTIS Redding's 1968 song, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." "I'm sitting' on the dock of the bay / Watching the tide roll away..." OTIS Redding recorded this song  on December 10, 1967, just three days before he died in a plane crash. The song was released in January 1968, and it became the first posthumous song to top Billboard's Hot 100.
• POGO (35A: ___ stick (toy for bouncing)) Almost five years ago now while I was writing a clue for POGO in a puzzle I was constructing, I learned about extreme POGO. Now that's what I think about anytime POGO sticks are mentioned. I am not a very coordinated person, so I am unlikely to ever master a POGO stick, let alone extreme POGO. I enjoy watching it though.
• TBS (52A: "American Dad!" network) American Dad! is an animated sitcom theater premiered on Fox in 2005. The TV show moved to TBS in 2014 for its 12th season. The show centers on an eccentric upper middle class family – the Smiths – who live in a fictionalized version of Langley, Virginia.
• TERI (56A: "Desperate Housewives" star Hatcher) TERI Hatcher won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her depiction of Susan Mayer on the TV series, Desperate Housewives (2004-2012).
• SMOG (58A: Pollution portmanteau) The word SMOG is a portmanteau of the words "smoke" and "fog." It appears the word was first used in the 1880s, to describe the atmosphere of London.
• DARIN (65A: "Beyond the Sea" singer Bobby) "Beyond the Sea" is Bobby DARIN's 1959 English-language version of Charles Trenet's French song "La Mer." Perhaps Bobby DARIN was particularly drawn to water, as he also had a hit with the song "Splish Splash."
• YETI (6D: Himalayan cryptid) and LEGEND (49D: 6-Down, for example) YETI aka Bigfoot aka the Abominable Snowman is a LEGEND from Himalayan folklore. 
• ADOPT ME (22D: Pet shelter sign) My cat, Willow, thinks that if you visit a pet shelter and see a sign that says "ADOPT ME," you should take notice. It's been over 14 years now since we adopted Willow from the shelter. She looks a tad grumpy in this photo, doesn't she?

• TRI-STATE (39D: ___ area (where many Florida snowbirds are from)) I got this answer mostly from crossing answers, and that's fine. The tricky thing here is that there are many, many parts of the U.S. that are referred to as the TRI-STATE area. I used to live in the TRI-STATE area of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, but I don't think that's the one this clue is referring to. Then again, maybe Florida snowbirds come from multiple TRI-STATE areas.
• ELON (57D: North Carolina university) ELON University is a private school located in ELON, North Carolina. The schools colors are maroon and gold, and the mascot of the sports teams is the ELON Phoenix.

This is a fun theme. I was able to correctly guess the theme from the title, and it was great to have IT confirmed (BOTH WAYS!) as I filled in PITY PARTIES. Thank you, Mike, for this interesting puzzle.