December 12, 2025

Title: HOPPING MAD

Constructor: Jay Silverman

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• MADE WITH LOVE (20A: Crafted in a caring way)
• PRIMA DONNAS (37A: Hard-to-please performers)
• DIGITAL NOMAD (52A: Traveling remote worker)

HOPPING MAD: The word MAD is moving forward (HOPPING, in a way) in the theme answers as we move from top to bottom in the grid: MADE WITH LOVE, PRIMA DONNAS, and DIGITAL NOMAD.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• LOSE (18A: Get the fewest point in Exhibition: 20th Century, say) Exhibition: 20th Century is a board game released in 2021. Each player's goal is to make the best exhibition about the 20th Century from the 100 20th Century object cards (one object from each year). Players gain points by successfully meeting individual and group goals. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins, and the other players LOSE. Although this game is new to me, this answer was inferable.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OPERA (19A: Performance at The Met) and ARIA (59A: 19-across solo) It's fun to see these two answers together in the grid, and it feels particularly appropriate with PRIMA DONNAS as one of the theme answers. A couple of weeks ago we saw OPERAS and ARIA together in the grid, clued as [Prima donna's performances] and [Prima donna's solo], respectively.
• IRISH (23A: Like many Gaelic speakers) IRISH, also know as IRISH Gaelic or Gaelic, is one of two official languages in Ireland. The other official language in Ireland is English.
• CEE (28A: Cowboys wide receiver ___Dee Lamb) CEEDee Lamb is an NFL wide receiver. He has played with the Dallas Cowboys since 2020.
• ANIMAL (29A: Muppet drummer) ANIMAL is the drummer for The Muppet Show band, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. ANIMAL was originally performed by Frank Oz, and is currently performed by Eric Jacobsen. I'm a fan of any and all puzzle references to the The Muppet Show. 
• TATTOO (43A: Part of a sleeve, perhaps?) The question mark in the clue alerts solvers to suspect some trickiness. The "sleeve" here is not part of a garment, but a TATTOO sleeve, a collection of TATTOOs that covers the arm.
• GAS (49A: Word after word"laughing" or "ideal") Laughing GAS is a common name for nitrous oxide, a chemical used in medicine for its anesthetic and pain-reducing properties. Ideal GAS is a theoretical concept of a GAS composed of randomly moving particles that are not subject to interactions. Although an ideal GAS is theoretical, some real GASes behave like ideal GASes at certain temperatures and pressures.
• NATO (60A: Alliance headquartered in Brussels) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance between 30 European countries and Canada and the United States. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium.
• SETH (65A: "Late Night" host Meyers) Since 2014, SETH Meyers has been the host of the talk show Late Night with SETH Meyers. From 2001 to 2014, SETH Meyers was a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
• COSMIC (1D: ___ dust (particles that might be intergalactic)) COSMIC dust is also referred to as space dust, star dust, or extraterrestrial dust. Whatever you call it, COSMIC dust is dust that occurs in outer space or has fallen to Earth. There are several types of COSMIC dust, distinguished by their location: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust, and circumplanetary dust (that makes up the rings around planets).
• MALI (4D: Timbuktu's country) Timbuktu is a Western African city in the country of MALI. Timbuktu is located North of the Niger River, and on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.
• ROPE (9D: Feel free to skip it!) The exclamation point in the clue alerts solvers to take the clue literally. You can literally skip ROPE.
• ERA (12D: Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl," e.g.) The Life of a Showgirl is Taylor Swift's 2025 studio album and thus her most recent ERA.
• AVA (26D: "Abbot Elementary" principal Coleman) Abbott Elementary (2021-present) is a mockumentary (a show that presents fictional events as if they were a documentary) that focuses on a group of educators in the Philadelphia public school system. Janelle James portrays principal AVA Coleman (a job she got after blackmailing the superintendent).
• GRAY (33D: Cloudy sky's color) The other day when we saw GRAY clued as [Color of an elephant's skin], I commented that I'm never sure how I'm supposed to spell this color. Today I remembered that GRAY is the more common spelling in the U.S. (Also, thank goodness for crossing answers!)
• TEA (40D: Bigelow product) Bigelow TEA Company was founded in 1945 in Fairfield, Connecticut by Ruth Campbell Bigelow. Although the company sells a number of different TEA varieties, the first TEA they sold, marketed as Constant Comment, remains the most popular.
• ASIANS (44D: South Koreans and Kazakhs) South Korea is a country in South Asia on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. The capital of South Korea is Seoul. Kazakhstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Its capital is Astana.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• NUNS (62A: Some "The Sound of Music" characters)
• AMELIA (7D: Children's book character ___ Bedelia)
• WITS (25D: Match ___ (engage in a battle of the minds))

In spite of its title, this puzzle did not have me HOPPING MAD. At first I wondered if HOPPING might be an anagram indicator. But when I filled in MADE WITH LOVE I realized that wasn't the case, and I had a lovely "Aha!" moment when I realized the word MAD was going to be HOPPING about the theme answers. Very nice. Thank you, Jay, for this delightful puzzle.