April 14, 2026

Title: HEADSPACE

Constructor: Noelle Griskey

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• HELP WANTED (9D: "Need a job?" listing)
• HANG BY A THREAD (15D: Be close to catastrophe)
• HEAVEN FORBID (21D: "Perish the thought!")

HEADSPACE: Each theme answer is creating SPACE within the word HEAD: HELP WANTED, HANG BY A THREAD, and HEAVEN FORBID.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• TRON (35D: ___ Lightcycle Power Run (Magic Kingdom roller coaster)) TRON Lightcycle Power Run is the name of a roller coaster at both Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Florida and at Shanghai Disneyland in China. The rides are based on the TRON franchise of movies. The seats of the roller coasters are motorbike-style vehicles themed to resemble lightcycles from the movies.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• ELF (1A: 2003 holiday movie with a stop-motion narwhal) The 2003 movie ELF stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a human who grows up as an elf working in Santa's workshop at the North Pole. Stop motion animation was utilized for several sequences in the movie. One of those sequences is a scene at the beginning of the movie that shows North Pole residents – including Mr. Narwhal – saying goodbye to Buddy who is leaving to search for his birth parents.
• ICE (4A: Surface for Sidney Crosby) Sidney Crosby is a professional ICE hockey player. I wrote about Sidney Crosby on October 1, 2025. That puzzle was also constructed by today's constructor, so I'm guessing Noelle might be a Sidney Crosby fan.
• SAHARA (7A: Desert home to the dromedary camel) The dromedary camel is also known as the one-humped camel and the Arabian camel. It is the tallest of the camel species. The dromedary no longer occurs naturally in the wild; when they did, the camels lived in arid regions, including the SAHARA. Their bodies are specially adapted for living in arid conditions. Domesticated dromedary camels currently inhabit semiarid and arid regions in Africa (including the SAHARA), the Arabian peninsula, Pakistan, and India. 
• HAN (17A: Kylo's dad) In the Star Wars universe, Kylo Ren is the chosen name of Ben Solo, the son of Princess Leia Organa Skywalker, and HAN Solo. Kylo Ren was originally trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker (his uncle), but is persuaded to join the dark side (as his grandfather did).The use of the first name Kylo in the clue alerts solvers that the answer will be the first name of Kylo's dad, which is HAN.
• ATTA (18A: Chapati flour) ATTA is a wholemeal wheat flour. ATTA flour is used to make flatbreads such as roti, chapati, and naan. Because of the high gluten content of ATTA flour, dough made with it is strong and elastic, and can be rolled into thin sheets.
• FELINE (19A: Like the subjects of the subreddit r/ratemycat) and CAT BEDS (5D: Sleeping spots that might be eschewed in favor of laps) Reddit is an online news aggregation and discussion website. One of the features of Reddit is multiple discussion boards, or subreddits, focusing on particular topics. The subreddit r/ratemycat is a forum for users to post photos of their cats. My cat, Willow, is a fan of the FELINE content in this puzzle. She doesn't have a designated CAT BED; in her opinion anything can be a CAT BED if she chooses to lie on it. 

• TRAVESTY (35A: Great injustice) and TRAVERSE (46A: Move across) I'm highlighting these two entries, because I think it's interesting (and fun) to see them "traversing" the grid. Although their meanings and etymologies are different, TRAVESTY and TRAVERSE have their first five letters in common. The word nerd in me thinks that's cool.
• ALASKA (53A: State purchased for $7.2 million in 1867) In 1867, the United States purchased the land that eventually became the state of ALASKA from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million. That works out to a cost of 2 cents per acre. ALASKA didn't become a U.S. state until January 3, 1959. It was the 49th state. Hawaii became a U.S. state on August 21, 1959. I distinctly remember a mind-blowing moment several years ago when I realized that when my husband was born (in 1957) there were only 48 U.S. states.
• DOHA (69A: Qatar's fastest-growing city) Qatar is a country on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to being Qatar's fastest-growing city, DOHA is the country's capital. Over 80% of Qatar's population lives in DOHA or its surrounding suburbs.
• APIA (10D: Samoa's largest city) Samoa is an island country located in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand. APIA is Samoa's capital and, in fact, its only city.
• SOL (23D: Spanish for "sun") and OTRA (59D: Other, in Spanish) We're getting some Spanish review from today's puzzle. OTRA is a bit tricky, because "otro" also means "other" in Spanish. The crossing answer of LEADEN (71A: Heavy) provides the assist here.
• DRE (42D: 49ers linebacker Greenlaw) I learned about DRE Greenlaw from the November 24, 2025 puzzle. In that puzzle, DRE was clued as [Broncos linebacker Greenlaw]. DRE Greenlaw played for the San Franciso 49ers from 2019-2024. In 2025, DRE Greenlaw went to play for the Denver Broncos. He was only with the Broncos for a single season, and is now back to playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
• RAP (45D: Kendrick Lamar's genre) In 2018, Kendrick Lamar's RAP album, Damn, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. This was the first time a musician outside of the classical and jazz genres had received a Pulitzer Prize.
• ARAPAHO (47D: Great Plains people) The ARAPAHO have lived on the Great Plains (in what is now Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas) since the 17th century. Historically, buffalo hunting was a central component of their lifestyle.
• DAD (50D: Lenny, to Zoe Kravitz) Zoë Kravitz is an actress singer, and filmmaker. As the clue informs us, Zoë's DAD is musician Lenny Kravitz. Her mom is actress Lisa Bonet.
• KAUAI (55D: Oldest Hawaiian island) The Hawaiian islands are volcanic islands, formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago. KAUA'I, the fourth largest of the Hawaiian islands, was formed a little over five million years ago. The island of Hawai'i, aka the Big Island, is the youngest of the islands. It is estimated to be about 400,000 years old and is still growing as a result of volcanic activity.

This theme could also work if the theme answers were horizontal – the theme answers would still be making SPACE in the word HEAD. I like the choice to place the theme answers vertically though, as a nod to the fact that HEADSPACE can be used to refer to the SPACE at the top (or HEAD) of a container. Thank you, Noelle, for this enjoyable puzzle.

A note about comments: I welcome your comments on the blog! For one thing it's nice to know folks are reading what I've written. My goal for this blog has always been for it to be informational, conversational, and kind. I ask that you keep those goals in mind when commenting. Unkind comments will be deleted. Note that I am more likely to delete a negative comment if it is posted anonymously. (P.S. You can point out when I make a mistake – in fact, I appreciate that so I can correct it.)