January 29, 2026

Title: SPLIT FICTION

Constructors: Shannon Rapp & Will Eisenberg

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

• TALKING STAGE (20A: Phase that might precede officially dating)
• TAX-DEDUCTIBLE (35A: Easily written off?)
• TWO FOR ONE SALE (55A: BOGO event)

SPLIT FICTION: The word TALE, a synonym of FICTION, is SPLIT by each theme answer: TALKING STAGE, TAX-DEDUCTIBLE, and TWO FOR ONE SALE.

And now a word from one of our constructors:

Will: Shannon and I love playing video games together. Often times, I'll "pilot" as we put our heads together to solve puzzles and explore the games. We got really into Blue Prince, a game which worked perfectly as co-op since we could alternate who made decisions on each 'day'. Split Fiction is a true co-op game where we each control a character through a sometimes-challenging landscape. We've made pretty good progress but it's a long game and we still haven't finished. We'll be playing this game together on twitch today (https://www.twitch.tv/lebronswanson) starting around 4:30 pm CT. Please come hang out with us!

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• ROYAL MINT (17A: Coin maker headquartered in Wales) The ROYAL MINT is the official maker of British coins. Since 1968, it has been located in Llantrisant, Wales.
• SPA (29A: Place for a fish pedicure) The answer here was inferable from the word pedicure, but a fish pedicure is new to me. (Actually, now that I've looked it up, I think I may have heard of this before, and perhaps blocked it from my mind...) Available at some SPAs, a fish pedicure is a treatment that involves toothless fish (garra rufa, sometimes called "doctor fish") that nibble dead skin off your feet. Fish pedicures are banned in some places due to concerns about health risks and animal welfare. I'm good, thanks; I will not be seeking out a SPA that offers fish pedicures.
• LIZARD (18D: Reptilian alter ego of Dr. Curt Connors) LIZARD is a character in Marvel Comics. Dr. Curt Connors was a surgeon who lost his right arm while serving in the U.S. Army. In an attempt to mimic reptilian limb regeneration, Dr. Connors tested an experimental serum taken from reptilian DNA on himself. He grew a new arm, but also transformed into a reptilian humanoid monster. LIZARD is sometimes an enemy of Spider-Man, though as Dr. Connors, he is sometimes an ally.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• PBS (1A: "Antiques Roadshow" network) Antiques Roadshow is a PBS TV series that features people bringing in antiques to be appraised by experts. The show premiered in 1997 and is based on the BBC show of the same name. 
• ALLY (13A: Person fighting with you?) Not a person arguing with you, but a person fighting alongside of you, an ALLY.
• ALOO (15A: ___ gobi (potato curry)) It's time for my occasional reminder that ALOO is an East Asian word for potatoes. Therefore, if you see the description of a dish that contains potatoes – as in this clue – it's quite possible the answer is going to be ALOO.
• OPOSSUM (24A: Only North American marsupial) The word marsupial in the clue narrows the choices down to just a few choices. Marsupials are mammals (they have mammary glands and hair), but most of them are distinguished by the fact that females have a front pouch in which they carry their young. And, of course, the words North American in the clue narrows the choice to the OPOSSUM. 
• TAX-DEDUCTIBLE (35A: Easily written off?) Not easily written off as in erasable, but written off on one's taxes, or TAX-DEDUCTIBLE.
• PETE (38A: Former mayor Buttigieg) PETE Buttigieg was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012 to 2020. He went on to become the U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Joe Biden.
• PUP (54A: Baby shark) Like a baby dog, a baby bat, or a baby beaver (and several other animal babies), a baby shark is called a PUP.
• GORGE (62A: Zion National Park formation) Zion National Park is located in southwestern Utah. The park includes Zion Canyon, a deep and narrow GORGE. (A GORGE is essentially a narrow canyon.) 
• SONS (6D: "___ of Anarchy") SONS of Anarchy is a TV series that originally aired from 2008 to 2014. The show followed the lives of a biker gang in the fictional town of Charming, California.
• HOT TOPIC (7D: Store for many a 2000s mall goth) Earlier this month, we saw the store HOT TOPIC mentioned in a clue for MALL RATS: [Hot Topic regulars, perhaps].
• RED (11D: Word before "giant" or "panda") A RED giant is a type of star. A RED panda is a mammal native to Asia.
• ASS (12D: Beast of burden) and YAK (14D: Tibetan beast of burden) Great clue echo for these consecutive clues.
• STELLA PARKS ("BraveTart" Iconic American Desserts" author) STELLA PARKS is a graduate of the CIA; that's the Culinary Institute of America. Her 2017 debut cookbook, BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts won a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Baking and Dessert Book. If you've ever wanted to make homemade Oreos, PopTarts, or other iconic American desserts, this is the cookbook for you. I actually own this cookbook! It was a gift from my son. And while I haven't made homemade Oreos (hmm, maybe I should think about that...), I have, in fact, made homemade PopTarts. (It was in 2020, and I was looking for something to do.) They were a ton of work and it was pretty much an all-day project. But I have to tell you that they were the absolute best PopTarts I have ever tasted, and I still think about them on a regular basis. 
• CAT SITTER (31D: Caretaker who might scoop a litter box) My CAT, Willow, says if you're going to talk about CAT SITTERs, she's going to hide her face.

• TEAK (35D: Common wood for ships) Wood from the TEAK tree is valued for its durability and water resistance, making it popular for ship building.
• DEGAS (53D: French impressionist Edgar) Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917) was a French artist. He is known for his pastel drawings, oil paintings, and sculptures. More than half of his works depict dancers. Although Edgar DEGAS is associated with Impressionism, he preferred the term "realist." 
• SOSA (58D: Slugger Sammy) Sammy SOSA, who is known by the nickname "Slammin' Sammy" is a former professional baseball player. He played for MLB's Chicago Cubs from 1992-2004. During the 1998 MLB season, Sammy SOSA and Mark McGwire (who played for the St. Louis Cardinals) were both in a position to break the single-season home run record of 61 home runs, which was set by Roger Maris in 1961. Ultimately, Mark McGwire was the first player to achieve 62 home runs that year, and ended the year with a total of 70 home runs. "Slammin' Sammy" SOSA ended the year with 66 home runs.
• EVE (60D: First female rapper on the Ruff Ryder's label) EVE's debut studio album, released in 1999, is titled Let There Be EVE ... Ruff Ryders' First Lady. The album reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed: 
• PASS GO (41A: Collect $200 in Monopoly)
• DAMNED (4D: "___ if I do, ___ if I don't)
• P. P. S. (38D: It comes after an afterthought)

SPLIT FICTION (as Will mentioned in his constructor's note) is a cooperative multiplayer action-adventure video game. It was released last year. The premise of the game is that two authors have become trapped inside their own stories. You don't have to know about that game, of course, to understand the theme of today's puzzle. I appreciated that I needed to do a little extra work to identify TALE as the FICTION that is being SPLIT by each theme answer. Thank you, Shannon and Will, for this adventurous puzzle.