May 16, 2026

Title: SECOND RATE

Constructor: Alice Liang

Editor: Amanda Rafkin


Theme synopsis:
  • LOVE INTEREST (19A: Object of romantic affection)
  • IN NO TIME FLAT (35A: Super-quickly)
  • PICTURE FRAME (51A: One of many on a gallery wall)
SECOND RATE: The SECOND word of each theme answer can pair with the word RATE to create a new phrase: INTEREST RATE, FLAT RATE, and FRAME RATE.

What I learned from today's puzzle:
  • IRISES (43D: 25th wedding anniversary flowers) I'm familiar with the idea of traditional gifts for certain anniversaries – paper for the first, silver for the 25th, etc. – but I did not know there were also specific flowers associated with different anniversaries. Most of the information I was able to find about this was from the websites of florists. I'm sure they approve of this tradition! As I learned from this clue and answer, IRISES are the traditional 25th wedding anniversary flowers. I have a wedding anniversary coming up in four days. There's no specific flower assigned to the 37th anniversary, however. I guess I'll have to wait three more years: gladiolas are 40th wedding anniversary flowers.
Random thoughts and interesting things:
  • EPCOT (8A: Theme park where 11 country pavilions can be visited) EPCOT is part of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. EPCOT is divided into four themed areas or "neighborhoods": World Celebration, World Discovery, World Nature, and World Showcase. The World Showcase – the largest of the four neighborhoods – aims to represent the culture, history, cuisine, and architecture of 11 different countries. The countries with EPCOT pavilions are Canada, United Kingdom, France, Morocco, Japan, United States, Italy, Germany, China, Norway, and Mexico.
  • OAHU (13A: Most populous Hawaiian island) O'AHU is the third-largest of the populated Hawaiian islands. And, as the clue informs us, it is the most-populated Hawaiian island. O'AHU has an area of just under 600 square miles and a population of over one million people. Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, is located on O'AHU.
  • TUE (31A: Day of the week for voting (Abbr.)) In the United States, elections are held on Tuesdays. This is an opportunity to encourage you to vote any time you are eligible to do so, whether it's in a local, state, or federal election. In recent years, non-voters (who are eligible to vote) have outnumbered voters. Elections matter.
  • ROMA (32A: City home to the Fontana di Trevi) Fontana di Trevi is the Italian name of the Trevi Fountain, a large Baroque fountain in Rome, Italy. The use of the fountain's Italian name alerts solvers the answer will be the Italian word for Rome, or ROMA.
  • SUNISA (44A: Olympic gold medalist Lee) SUNISA Lee was on the USA women's gymnastics Olympic team that won gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She also represented Team USA at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (held in 2021), where she was the all-around gold medalist in women's gymnastics. 
  • ODES (60A: 2016 collection of praise poems by Sharon Olds) Sharon Olds won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2013. She is known for her ODES, and her 2016 collection of poetry is simply titled ODES. The poetry collection contains ODES to an array of subjects. Here's a sample: "ODE to Dirt."
  • TESS (64A: "___ of the d'Urbervilles") TESS of the d'Urbervilles is an 1891 novel by Thomas Hardy. The novel is set in the 1870s in Wessex, a fictional area of England that Thomas Hardy created and used as the setting for several of his novels. 
  • COLLAR (1D: Pet accessory) If you look at (the many!) pictures I share of my cat, Willow, you might notice she's not wearing a COLLAR. To be fair, it could be hidden under all that fur, but it isn't. When Willow was a kitten, my husband and I put a COLLAR on her. Even though she's a house cat, we felt it was a good idea in case she ever got outside. As Willow grew older, she decided she didn't like her COLLAR, so she would ditch it. We would find the COLLAR and put it back on her. This process was repeated multiple times, until one day we couldn't find her COLLAR. That was several years ago now. Since then we have moved everything in our house to replace the flooring, and yet we have never found that COLLAR! It's a mystery where the COLLAR is, but it's not on the cat.
A fluffy calico cat is looking at the camera.
  • YOUTH (5D: What's chased in "The Substance") The Substance is a 2024 movie in which Demi Moore portrays a 50-year-old movie star whose fame is fading. She purchases a black market serum (the titular substance) in an attempt to counteract the aging process. The Substance is a horror movie, so as one might imagine in such a film, the pursuit of YOUTH does not go well.
  • ANNE (6D: Actress Hathaway) I'm always happy to see ANNE Hathaway in the puzzle, as I'm a fan of a lot of her work. She has an extensive filmography, including the recently released The Devil Wears Prada 2, as well as its precursor, The Devil Wears Prada (2006). One of my favorite ANNE Hathaway movies is The Princess Diaries (2001), which happens to have been her film debut.
  • METRONOME (7D: Musician's tempo keeper) This answer brought back some (not entirely pleasant) memories of my childhood piano teachers setting up a METRONOME and asking me to play along with its tempo.
  • PLATT (9D: Dear Evan Hansen" actor Ben) Ben PLATT originated the role of Evan Hansen in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015). He received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance. He reprised the role for the movie adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen (2021). 
  • CANON (14D: Pachelbel's "___ in D") Like many other couples, my husband and I had Pachelbel's "CANON in D" played at our wedding.
  • IOWAN (20D: Des Moines resident) Although I don't currently live in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, this IOWAN says hello.
  • NET (27D: Not gross?) The word "gross" here isn't used as a synonym of "icky," but rather, as it relates to income. The answer then is NET income, which is "not gross" income.
  • POP (38D: Sabrina Carpenter's genre) Here are links to a couple of Sabrina Carpenter's POP hits: "Espresso" and "Please Please Please."
  • URDU (52D: Language mutually intelligible with Hindi) When two languages are described as "mutually intelligible," it means speakers of those languages can readily understand each other. URDU and Hindi are both Indo-Aryan languages native to South Asia.
  • DIY (56D: Home improvement initials) DIY = Do It Yourself
  • Several other clues I especially enjoyed:
    • YAM (5A: Ube is a purple one)
    • OMG (11D: "!?!")
    • IT'S A MIRACLE (25D: "I can't believe my eyes!")
    • SAMOAS (45D: Cookies also known as Caramel deLites)
The title of SECOND RATE allowed me to make a pretty good guess about today's theme. Filling in LOVE INTEREST confirmed my guess, as INTEREST RATE is an easily recognizable phrase. FRAME RATE (from the theme answer PICTURE FRAME) is less familiar to me, but it was inferable to think that it is a thing. FRAME RATE refers to the frequency at which images are displayed in movies, videos, etc. Thank you, Alice, 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.)

Comments

Post a Comment