Off the Grid: Sally breaks down Paste BN's daily crossword puzzle, Scatterbrain
There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Scatterbrain
Constructor: Mark Budovitch
Editor: Anna Gundlach
What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle
- SPAR (30A: Train like Claressa Shields) Claressa Shields is a professional boxer and mixed martial artist who has held multiple world championships. She won gold medals for Team USA at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. In 2023, Claressa Shields was awarded the Best Boxer ESPY. She was the first woman to be given that award.
- ROSIE (56D: "Pineapple Express" actress Perez) Pineapple Express is a 2008 movie. I'm sure I can't do a better job summarizing this movie than the IMDb website: "A process server and his marijuana dealer wind up on the run from hitmen and a corrupt police officer after he witnesses his dealer's boss murder a competitor while trying to serve papers on him." ROSIE Perez portrays the corrupt police officer.
Random Thoughts & Interesting Things
- ENID (17A: "Wheat Capital" of Oklahoma) ENID, Oklahoma has earned the nicknames of "Wheat Capital" and "Queen Wheat City," not for the production of wheat, but for its storage. The ENID Terminal Grain Elevators Historic District, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, consists of nine concrete grain elevators built between 1928 and 1954.
- THE PELICAN BRIEF (19A: Bestselling John Grisham legal thriller) THE PELICAN BRIEF is John Grisham's third novel. It was published in 1992, and adapted into a movie of the same name in 1993. THE PELICAN BRIEF is about a law student at Tulane university who writes a BRIEF speculating that the assassination of two ideologically different Supreme Court justices has more to do with PELICANs than politics. It's much more complex than that, of course! Julia Roberts portrays the law student in the movie, and Denzel Washington portrays a news reporter who becomes involved in the case.
- SRI (26A: ___ Lanka) SRI Lanka is an island country in South Asia. It is located in the Indian Ocean, just off the southeast coast of the Indian Peninsula. SRI Lanka has two capitals. Its legislative capital is SRI Jayawardenepura Kotte, and its executive and judicial capital is Colombo.
- MANHATTAN BRIDGE (38A: NYC landmark with a footpath to Brooklyn) The MANHATTAN BRIDGE in New York City crosses the East River and connects the boroughs of MANHATTAN and Brooklyn. In addition to a designated pedestrian walkway and a separate bike lane, the MANHATTAN BRIDGE also has seven lanes for vehicular traffic and four tracks for subway trains.
- OPERA (53A: Sydney ___ House) The Sydney OPERA House, located in Sydney, Australia, was designed by Danish architect, Jørn Utzon, and is considered one of the world's most distinctive buildings. The building opened in 1973, and is home to a number of performance organizations, including OPERA Australia, the Sydney Theatre Company, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
- TEMPO (63A: Speed measured in beats per minute) and NOTE (61D: A, B, C, D, E, F or G) I enjoyed this pair of music-themed clues.
- ERIE (67A: Lake fed by the Detroit River) The primary inlet of Lake ERIE is the Detroit River. The Niagara River, Lake ERIE's main natural outflow, provides hydroelectric power to Canada and the U.S. Our crossword-friend ERIE is making its first appearance this month, and its 23rd appearance of 2024.
- IDAHO (2D: The Gem State) "The Gem State" is IDAHO's official nickname. The nickname is an apt reference to the more than 72 types of gems found in IDAHO, including garnet, jasper, and opal. The unofficial nickname of IDAHO is "The Potato State," which is also appropriate considering that IDAHO produces nearly one-third of the potatoes grown in the United States.
- TONI (6D: "Beloved" novelist Morrison) Beloved is the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by TONI Morrison that was adapted into a 1998 movie of the same name. Beloved tells the story of Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, and her family. The role of Sethe was played by Oprah Winfrey in the movie.
- BEERS (9D: Samuel Adams and Stella Artois) I'm a fan of clues that provide two examples of the answer, because they allow solvers to be successful, even if they are only familiar with one of the examples. I appreciate when there is an extra something that links the examples used. In this case, it is fun that both of these BEERS – Samuel Adams and Stella Artois – are names.
- LEAF (12D: Canadian flag symbol) The flag of Canada features vertical bands of red on the outer edges, with a white band in the center and a red maple LEAF on the band of white. The maple LEAF has been used as a symbol of Canada since the 18th century.
- PAPA (31D: "___ Was a Rollin' Stone") The song "PAPA Was a Rollin' Stone" was originally recorded in May of 1972 by the Motown group, the Undisputed Truth. The Temptations recorded "PAPA Was a Rolling Stone" later the same year. Their version reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100. In May of this year, Slash (best known as lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses) included "PAPA Was a Rollin' Stone" on his album, Orgy of the Damned. Slash's version features Demi Lovato.
- RHO (33D: Frat row letter that's a homophone of "row") Letters of the Greek alphabet are often featured in the names of fraternities and sororities. RHO is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet. It follows pi and precedes sigma.
- EDEN (59D: "Paradise Lost" setting) Paradise Lost is an epic poem by John Milton (1608-1674), which was originally published in 1667. The epic centers on the biblical story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of EDEN. Although it was written over 350 years ago, Paradise Lost continues to have an impact on literature, music, art, films, theater, TV shows, and video games.
Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis
- THE PELICAN BRIEF (19A: Bestselling John Grisham legal thriller)
- MANHATTAN BRIDGE (38A: NYC landmark with a footpath to Brooklyn)
- VEGETARIAN BACON (58A: Smoky, meatless breakfast strip)
SCATTERBRAIN: Each theme answer contains an anagram of the word BRAIN: THE PELICAN BRIEF, MANHATTAN BRIDGE, and VEGETARIAN BACON.
Okay, puzzle, who are you calling a SCATTERBRAIN? Sometimes hidden anagram themes are difficult for me to spot, but SCATTERBRAIN works extremely well as a title and revealer. The "SCATTER" part of the title had me on the lookout for anagrams – or scattered letters – right from the start. Thank you, Mark, for this enjoyable puzzle.