February 10, 2026

Title: HANDS DOWN

Constructor: Alice Liang

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• PLEASE HOLD (3D: Receptionist's polite request)
• SHAMROCK SHAKE (14D: Minty McDonald's treat served every March)
• LOOSE CHANGE (25D: Money that might be found under couch cushions)

HANDS DOWN: The DOWNmost word of each vertical theme answer can be paired with the word HANDS to form a new phrase: HOLD HANDS, SHAKE HANDS, and CHANGE HANDS.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• AMANDA (60A: Two-time Grand Slam tournament finalist Anisimova) AMANDA Anismova is a professional tennis player. She reached the finals at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open in 2025. Ultimately, she lost to Iga Świątek at Wimbledon and Aryna Sabalenka at the U.S. Open.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• LAP (9A: Speed skater's unit) and TOOK (53D: ___ the gold (was best in the Olympics)) Have you been watching any of the speed skating happening at the 2026 Winter Olympics?
• TEAL (18A: Color named after a bird) The Eurasian TEAL, a type of duck, has distinctive coloring on its head, along its eyes. That color is TEAL, named for this duck. 
• POGO (33A: Extreme ___ (action sport with a bouncy stick) Several years ago while writing a clue for POGO in a puzzle I was constructing, I learned about extreme POGO. This action sport involves doing tricks and acrobatics using a POGO stick. Not being a terribly coordinated person myself, trying extreme POGO is not in the cards. I do like to watch it and be amazed, however.
• AGO (35A: "Four score and seven years ___...") "Four score and seven years AGO..." are the opening words of the Gettysburg Address, a speech delivered by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863 at the dedication of Soldier's National Cemetery (now known as Gettysburg National Cemetery).
• KIWI (41A: Fruit sometimes called a Chinese gooseberry) The fruit known as the KIWI is native to China, but it was first grown commercially in New Zealand. Prior to the 1960s, the fruit was known as the Chinese gooseberry. The fruit began to be called KIWIfruit because its fuzzy appearance is reminiscent of the KIWI (bird)
• STATIC (44A: Cause of a hair-raising experience?) The question mark in the clue alerts solvers to expect some trickiness. The clue is not referring to a scary hair-raising experience, but a literal hair-raising experience, as might be caused by STATIC.
• AGATHA (46A: Author Christie) I'm always delighted to see a reference to Dame AGATHA Christie (1890-1976), as she is my favorite author. The cozy mystery – detective stories featuring amateur detectives and short on blood and gore – is my favorite literary genre. No matter how many cozy mysteries I read (and I've read a lot of them!), AGATHA Christie remains the queen of the genre. In writing about her today, I discovered The Home of AGATHA Christie website. I have bookmarked it to explore later. I'm especially intrigued by the "Read Christie 2026" page, which outlines an AGATHA Christie reading challenge for 2026. I've read all of her books, but I do reread them (even though theoretically I already know "whodunnit," I don't always remember!). 
• GHANA (55A: West African country about the same size as the UK in land area) GHANA is a country in West Africa. Its southern border is along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. GHANA's neighbors are the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Accra is the capital and largest city of GHANA. I appreciate the perspective this clue provides about the similar sizes of GHANA and the United Kingdom.
• PILLAR (4D: The Hajj is one of five, in Islam) The five PILLARs of Islam are the foundation of Muslim life. The PILLARs are basic acts considered mandatory by believers. The five PILLARs of Sunni Islam are: Shahada (Profession of Faith), Salat (Prayer), Zakat (Almsgiving), Shawm (Fasting), and Hajj (Pilgrimage). Shia Islam has the same basic acts, but they differ in the naming and numbering.
• ART (10D: The "A" of MoMA) MOMA is the Museum of Modern ART, located in New York City. 
• PSY (11D: "Gangnam Style" singer) Remember "Gangnam Style" by the South Korean artist, PSY? It was in 2012 that the music video for "Gangnam Style" went viral and became the first YouTube video to exceed one billion views. 
• SHAMROCK SHAKE (14D: Minty McDonald's treat served every March) The SHAMROCK SHAKE is a green mint-flavored milkshake that McDonald's adds to its menu during the month of March to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. 
• DIEGO (20D: Muralist Rivera) I wrote about DIEGO Rivera last October. 
• NASA (31D: Curiosity rover's org.) To date, there have been six successful Mars rovers, five managed by NASA (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance) and one managed by China (Zhurong). The Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers are still active. One of Curiosity's missions was to answer the question, "Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes?" Curiosity discovered evidence suggesting the answer to that question is yes. Science is cool!
• IOWA (34D: "American Gothic" state) Well, hello from IOWA! American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood. It depicts a farmer and his daughter standing in front of a house. Grant Wood was inspired by the house in Eldon, IOWA, and decided to paint it along with the kind of people he imagined would live in such a house. The painting is named for the architecture style of the house. Grant Wood used his sister and their dentist as models for the people in the photo.
• TITAN (37D: Saturn's largest moon) Unlike the Earth, which has one moon orbiting it, Saturn has many moons. Scientists know of at least 274 moons orbiting Saturn, of which TITAN is the largest. TITAN is larger than the planet Mercury, and is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere. TITAN is the second-largest moon in the Solar System, after Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• SHOPPERS (14A: "Attention, all ___. We will be closing in 10 minutes")
• HILARITY (17A: "___ ensued" ("Things got wildly fun"))
• SELFIE (39A: Vacation pic, often)
• HUGGER (63A: "I'm a ___" ("Bring it in, please!"))

The word DOWN in the title alerted me to look in the vertical answers for the theme. I enjoyed uncovering each theme answer to discover the words to pair with the word HANDS. Congratulations  to Alice Liang making a USA Today crossword debut! (Clap your HANDS for Alice!) Thank you, Alice, for this great puzzle!