There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today’s puzzle before reading further! Have a Ball (Freestyle)
Constructor: Jess Rucks
Editor: Amanda Rafkin
Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructor
Jess: This grid was a labor of love and I am pleased with how it turned out. I’m a huge college basketball fan, so CINDERELLA TEAMS was fun to have in there! I also had way too much fun coming up with clues for DONUT PILLOW, but alas, they all were a tad too … ahem …cheeky, to make the cut.
On a more serious note, I am grateful that Amanda kept my clue for DOORS. The book referenced in the clue is a compelling and poignant read about a family’s struggle to access special education supports in their school district. Highly recommend. I hope you enjoyed the puzzle! Thanks for solving!
What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle
- BEE (5D: Barry B. Benson, e.g.) Barry B. Benson is the main character of the 2007 animated film, BEE Movie. Barry is a BEE who has the ability to talk to humans. Jerry Seinfeld voices Barry, who has just graduated from college as the movie begins. Since this is in the “What I Learned” section, you can safely assume that I never saw BEE Movie. The answer was fairly inferable, however, thanks to Barry B. Benson’s alliterative name.
- DOORS ( 37D: “Thirteen ___: A Family’s Fight for Equal Access to Education”) Thirteen DOORS: A Family’s Fight for Equal Access to Education is a book by Aaron Wright. Published in 2020, the book tells the story of a family in the San Francisco Bay area as they advocate for educational resources for their daughter who is on the autism spectrum. The book is a work of fiction, but is based on the author’s personal experiences.
Random Thoughts & Interesting Things
- QUINCEANARA (14A: Fifteenth birthday celebration, for some) A QUINCEAÑARA, a common tradition in Mexican and other Latin American cultures, is a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday.
- ANA (16A: “SNL” alum Gasteyer) ANA Gasteyer was a cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 1996 to 2002. One of the things she became known for on the show was her Martha Stewart impressions.
- USE THE FORCE (17A: Harness power from a galaxy far, far away) This Star Wars reference made me smile.
- GSA (20A: Student-led LGBTQIA+ grp.) GSA here stands for “gay-straight alliance” or “gender-sexuality alliance.” This student-led organization works to provide a safe and supportive community for LGBTQIA+ persons. The groups also advocate for social change “related to racial, gender, and educational justice.”
- GEO (21A: Nat ___ Wild) Nat GEO Wild is a TV network that focuses on wildlife and natural history programming. It is a sister network to National Geographic TV.
- AFRO (22A: Hairstyle for Questlove) Questlove (whose name is sometimes stylized as ?uestlove) is a rapper, dj, record producer, and filmmaker. He is also an adjunct professor at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, and he hosts a podcast called Questlove Supreme. And yes, as the clue informs us, Questlove’s hairstyle is an AFRO.
- ESCHER (25A: “Drawing Hands” artist) M. C. ESCHER (1898-1972) was a Dutch artist known for his mathematically-inspired drawings that depict impossible objects and tessellations. Drawing Hands is an M.C. ESCHER lithograph first printed in 1948. It depicts two hands in the act of drawing each other.
- GINSENG (28A: Medicinal root) GINSENG is a root that has been used in traditional medicine for hundreds of years, particularly in China and Korea.
- RONDO (31A: Sonata movement) In instrumental music, a RONDO is a recurring musical theme. A sonata may include a RONDO. (This is an extremely basic explanation. I’m sure it’s probably more complicated than this!)
- MLK (33A: Jan. honoree) The abbreviation of January as Jan. in the clue alerts solvers that the answer will be an abbreviation. In the U.S., the third Monday of January is a Federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., who is often referred to as MLK.
- ACA (34A: Obamacare letters) Obamacare is officially known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). President Obama signed the ACA into law on March 23, 2010, and many of the law’s provisions were put into place by 2014.
- CINDERELLA TEAMS (36A: Underdogs of the Big Dance) The Big Dance here is a reference to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, which is also referred to as March Madness. CINDERELLA TEAMS are those teams that achieve more success in the tournament than predicted.
- ZOO (42A: Workplace for some conservationists) Many ZOOs play a significant role in conservation programs. Examples may include captive breeding programs, research, and educational programs.
- TWOS (43A: Basketball shots inside the arc) Three days ago we saw THREES clued as [Beyond-the-arc shots]. It was fun to see TWOS clued in a corresponding way today.
- IRIS (50A: Greek rainbow goddess) In Greek mythology, IRIS is considered to be a personification of the rainbow. She was a messenger of the Olympian gods. In some stories IRIS is described as wearing a coat of many colors. She is sometimes depicted as riding on rainbows to get from place to place.
- OUR (51A: “___ House” (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song) “OUR House” is a 1970 song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Thanks for this earworm, puzzle! “OUR house is a very, very, very fine house / With two cats in the yard / Life used to be so hard / Now everything is easy ’cause of you…”
- DONUT PILLOW (57A: Cushion sometimes used for tailbone pain relief) and HOLE (27D: Feature of a 57-Across) So named because its central HOLE makes it look like a DONUT, a DONUT PILLOW can be used for tailbone pain, as sitting on one doesn’t place pressure on the tailbone.
- PET (64A: Fur baby) Shoutout to our PETs: Jess’s cat, Milo, and my cat, Willow.
- HAAGEN-DAZS (11D: Ice cream company with a pseudo-Scandinavian name) Well, now I am hungry for ice cream… HÄAGEN-DAZS is an ice cream company started by Reuben and Rose Mattus in 1960 in the Bronx. They invented the pseudo-Scandinavian name HÄAGEN-DAZS because they thought it sounded Danish.
- CRETE (26D: 26D: Island where the Minotaur was trapped) In Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. King Minos of CRETE – the largest of the Greek islands – instructed Daedalus and his son Icarus to create an elaborate labyrinth to house the Minotaur.
- WARP PIPE (35D: Tube-shaped transport in Super Mario Bros.) I knew the answer here was a type of PIPE. After all, in the Mario video game franchise, Mario is a plumber. However, my limited knowledge of the games themselves meant I needed the help of crossing answers to arrive at WARP PIPE.
- Several other clues I especially enjoyed:
- SIT (62A: Ride the bench)
- LUST (2D: Desire in many romantasy novels)
- GLITTERATI (28D: Glamorous group)
- HOME (55D: “___ is wherever I’m with you”)
Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis
HAVE A BALL (Freestyle): There’s no theme today, as this is a freestyle, or themeless, puzzle. The title is a nod to CINDERELLA TEAMS (36A: Underdogs of the Big Dance).
I really enjoy that the title of HAVE A BALL relates to the grid-spanning answer CINDERELLA TEAMS on a couple of levels. The story of CINDERELLA famously features a BALL, which could also be referred to as a “Big Dance,” a term mentioned in the clue. The term CINDERELLA TEAMS refers to basketball TEAMS – you know, TEAMS that need a BALL to play. Such fun! Thank you, Jess, for this delightful puzzle.
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