December 14, 2025

Title: GET GELT

Constructor: Rebecca Goldstein

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

• NUNCHUCKS (17A: Michelangelo's weapons)
• HEY DON'T LOOK AT ME (40A: "Find someone else to blame!")
• SHIN GUARD (64A: Protective gear for a soccer player)

GET GELT: Each theme answer begins with a word found on a dreidel: NUN, HEY, and SHIN.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• PGA (28A: Org. whose stars were featured in "Happy Gilmore 2") Happy Gilmore 2 is a sports comedy movie released in 2025, which is a sequel to the 1996 movie Happy Gilmore. Adam Sandler stars as Happy Gilmore, a former professional golfer who is coming out of retirement. Several professional golfers – both current and retired PGA Tour members – made appearances, including Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Keegan Bradley, Fred Couples, Tony Finau, Ricky Fowler, and Bubba Watson.
• ANNA (3D: "The Afterparty" actress Konkle) The Afterparty is a murder mystery TV series that originally aired from 2022-2023. The show is an anthology, which means each season presents a different story with different characters. The first season of The Afterparty takes place after a high school reunion. The second season takes place the day after a wedding. ANNA Konkle portrays Hanna Minnows (the murder victim's adopted sister) in the show's second season.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• NUNCHUCKS (17A: Michelangelo's weapons) NUNCHUCKS are a traditional East-Asian martial arts weapon made of two sticks connected by a short chain or rope. Michelangelo here is one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – the one who wears an orange bandana and uses NUNCHUCKS. 
• CAROL (19A: Christmas movie starring Cate Blanchett) Cate Blanchett plays the titular character in the 2015 movie CAROL. The movie tells the story of an affair between CAROL, an older woman going through a divorce, and an aspiring photographer (played by Rooney Mara). CAROL is based on Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel, The Price of Salt.
• BET (24A: Put money in the pot) This is a fun bonus answer in today's puzzle, as a game of dreidel begins with each player placing a BET by putting a piece of GELT (or whatever is being played with) in the pot.
• OCT (30A: Month for Sukkot, in '25) Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, is a weeklong Jewish holiday. This year, Sukkot was celebrated from OCT. 6-14.
• HAY (39A: Part of a stable diet?) The question mark in this clue alerts solvers to expect some trickiness. The clue is not referring to a "stable diet," but rather to a "diet" for an animal in a "stable," or HAY. I thought it was fun to see the answer HAY followed by "HEY, DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Fun to see HAY and HEY on opposite sides of the grid.
• DO-SI-DOS (44A: Peanut butter-filled Girl Scout cookie) The Girl Scout cookies known as DO-SI-DOS are also known as Peanut Butter Sandwich, which describes them well. Previously these cookies were known as Savannahs.
• BOOPS (62A: Playful touches on the nose) My cat, Willow, is hiding her nose in her fur so I don't BOOP it!

• KOLA (68A: African rainforest nut) The KOLA tree, on which the KOLA nut grows, is native to the tropical rainforests of Africa. Although KOLA nut extract was originally used as a source of caffeine in commercial cola drinks, most commercial colas no longer use it.
• SON (1D: Judah Maccabee, to Mattathias) Both Mattathias and his SON, Judah Maccabee, were Jewish priests. Both father and SON were influential in the Maccabean Revolt, a Jewish rebellion against the Greek Seleucid Empire. This is another bonus answer for today's Hanukkah-themed puzzle. Hanukkah commemorates the restoration of Jewish worship at the Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE. That happened after Judah Maccabee removed the Greek statues and purified the Temple.
• ROCK BAND (4D: Guitar Hero alternative) Guitar Hero and ROCK BAND are rhythm video games.
• FLU (5D: Annual trivalent vaccine target) and PHDS (36D: Some grad degrees) We have seen FLU clued as [Annual vaccine target] several times previously. There's nothing wrong with that clue, but the pharmacologist in me got a bit of a thrill from the inclusion of the word "trivalent" in today's clue. Influenza viruses, which cause influenza (or FLU), mutate rapidly, which is why new vaccines are constantly being developed. Each year scientists chose three influenza strains to include in the next year's seasonal FLU vaccine. This trivalent vaccine targets the strains of influenza that are thought to be most likely to cause human suffering in the upcoming season. The scientists are making a best guess of sorts. I've included PHDS here as well, because today's constructor, Rebecca, and I both have PHDS in pharmacology. (No wonder I geeked out on this clue she wrote!)
• TULIP (32D: National flower of the Netherlands) The Netherlands, informally referred to as Holland, is a country in northwestern Europe. The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam. The Netherlands exports two-thirds of the world's total of fresh-cut flowers and flower bulbs. However, while the TULIP is definitely associated with the Netherlands, it isn't actually its national flower. In 2023, the people of the Netherlands voted to make the daisy the national flower.
• LAMPS (34D: Light accents?) Again, the question mark alerts us to wordplay. The clue is not referring to light (as in pale-colored) accents, but to accent pieces that provide light, or LAMPS.
• ODIN (41D: God father?) In Norse mythology, ODIN is a god associated with wisdom and healing. He's also a father; one of his sons is Thor.
• SHOE (57D: Sneaker or stiletto) and DSW (66D: Store with discounted sneakers and stilettos) I enjoyed seeing sneaker and stiletto used as SHOE examples and then seeing them again a few clues later in the clue for DSW (Designer SHOE Warehouse). It's also fun that sneakers got a shoutout in the clue for SOLE (13D: Bottom of a sneaker)
• SKY (63D: Chicago WNBA squad) The WNBA's Chicago SKY play their home games at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The team was formed in 2006, and they were the 2021 WNBA Champions.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed: 
• RANCH (50A: Dressing that can be used as dip for pizza)
• GAYBORHOOD (29D: Part of town that may have rainbow crosswalks)
• AMATEURS (42D: "Stand back and watch a pro")

Dreidel is a Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) game played with a four-sided spinning top (a dreidel). To begin the game, each player puts a game piece – often GELT (chocolate coins) – in the pot. Each side of a dreidel has a Hebrew letter. The letter that is spun determines what a player does on their turn: NUN ("nothing") – the player does nothing, Gimel ("everything") – the player gets everything in the pot, HEY ("half") – the player gets half of the pot, and SHIN ("put in") – the player adds a piece to the pot. This delightful Hanukkah-themed puzzle is timely, as Hanukkah begins tonight. Happy Hanukkah! I always enjoy Rebecca's Hanukkah puzzles. If you'd like to check out some of her previous ones, you can find theme here: 2021, 2022, and 2023. Thank you, Rebecca, for this excellent puzzle.