December 10, 2025

Title: FORWARDED MESSAGES

Constructor: Prasanna Keshava

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE (19A: Perfect case in point)
• WENT EXTINCT (24A: Perished like the woolly mammoths)
• TO A GREAT EXTENT (44A: In large measure)
• OUT OF CONTEXT (50A: How some pull quotes might be taken)

FORWARDED MESSAGES: Each theme answer contains the word TEXT, a synonym for MESSAGE. The word TEXT is moving FORWARD as we go from the top to the bottom of the grid: TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE ->WENT EXTINCT -> TO A GREAT EXTENT -> OUT OF CONTEXT.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• RARE (7D: Like some Beanie Babies filled with PVC pellets) When Ty began making Beanie Babies in 1993, the toys were stuffed with PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pellets. When Beanie Babies were first made, they were produced in limited quantities. Around 1998, Ty switched to filling Beanie Babies with PE (polyethylene) pellets. Therefore, some PVC-filled Beanie Babies are RARE.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OMAR (14A: "Love & Basketball" actor Epps) Love & Basketball is a 2000 movie about two neighbors – Quincy McCall (OMAR Epps) and Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) – who are both pursuing basketball careers. The movie is divided into four quarters (like a basketball game), starting when Quincy and Monica are children, then high school students, then college students, and eventually professional basketball players.
• WENT EXTINCT (24A: Perished like the woolly mammoths) Woolly mammoths are EXTINCT relatives of Asian elephants. They WENT EXTINCT over 10,000 years ago, likely as a result of hunting and habitat shrinkage.
• ARABS (31A: Many Qataris) The country of Qatar is located on the Qatar Peninsula, a portion of the Arabian Peninsula that extends into the Persian Gulf. Approximately 40-50% of Qataris are ARABS.
• LUCA (37A: 2021 Pixar film set on the Italian Riviera) Set in the Italian Riviera, the animated movie LUCA (2021) tells the story of its title character. LUCA is a 12-year-old sea monster/boy who assumes human form while on land.
• KPH (41A: Canadian speed measure (Abbr.)) Although Canada is officially a metric country, in practice it uses a mix of metric and imperial measurements. Official measurements such as highway speeds are posted in kilometers per hour (KPH).
• OREOS (43A: Treats with a Selena Gomez limited edition version) I wrote about Selena Gomez OREOS last month.
• STARR (56A: "The Hate U Give" protagonist ___ Carter) Angie Thomas's first published novel, The Hate U Give was published in 2017, and debuted at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for young adult novels. The book tells the story of STARR Carter, a teenage girl, whose friend, Khalil - an unarmed Black teen - dies after being shot by a white police officer.
• GEN X (3D: Demographic group after boomers) Hey, it's me! GEN X refers to those born between the mid-1960s to the early 1980s.
• T REX (8D: Dino that saves the day in "Jurassic World Dominion") Jurassic World Dominion (2022) is the sixth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise. I haven't only seen the first movie of the franchise, Jurassic Park (1930), but the answer here was inferable. The use "dino" in the clue, the shortened form of dinosaur, alerts solvers that the answer will be T REX, a shortened from of Tyrannosaurus REX.
• ILANA (28D: Comedian Glazer) I have previously written about ILANA Glazer.
• XENA (54D: TV warrior played by Lucy Lawless) XENA is the title character of the XENA: Warrior Princess franchise. Lucy Lawless played XENA on the TV series (1995-2001).
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• WALK (24D: Word that might be spelled out around a dog)
• PARTY TIME (33D: "Let the festivities begin!")
• TRON (35D: Suffix for "Jumbo" or "Mega")

I enjoyed this theme a lot. When I filled in TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE, I thought "Oh, TEXT MESSAGE ... it's going to be types of messages at the FORWARD part of the theme answer." Then I came to WENT EXTINCT. "Hold on, WENT MESSAGE is not a thing, is it? Oh..." A great "Aha!" moment went I noticed TEXT was traveling FORWARD. Thank you, Prasanna, for this delightful puzzle.