Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Kindhearted

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve before reading further! Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• EMO (21A: All Time Low genre) All Time Low is a band formed in 2003. Their music has been characterized as EMO, pop punk, and alt rock. All Time Low released their ninth studio album, Tell Me I’m Alive, in 2023. EMO is a music genre characterized by angsty, emotional, and sometimes confessional lyrics. I like that the band’s name – All Time Low – has a bit of an angsty vibe to it.

• RANDY (23A: Jazz singer Crawford) Veronica “RANDY” Crawford is a jazz and R&B singer. In a tie-in with another answer in the grid, RANDY Crawford RETIREd in 2018. Although she’s American, she’s had more success in Europe than at home, and was awarded a Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist in 1982. In learning about RANDY Crawford, the title of her 1998 studio album stood out to me as being quite fun. It’s called Every Kind of Mood – RANDY, Randi, Randee.

• ELAINE (3D: “Seinfeld” character who ordered a big salad) is an episode of Seinfeld in which George buys a big salad for ELAINE, and then becomes irritated when he doesn’t receive the credit for it. Not having watched Seinfeld on a regular basis, I haven’t seen “The Big Salad” episode. However, I’ve picked up enough Seinfeld lore from popular culture to be able to figure the answer out without too much difficulty.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• STARK INDUSTRIES (17A: Iron Man’s company in “The Avengers”) In the 2012 Marvel movie, The Avengers, the titular group of superheroes includes Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. Iron Man is the alias of Tony STARK (played by Robert Downey, Jr), who is an industrialist, genius inventor, MIT grad (he graduated at age 17), and the CEO of STARK INDUSTRIES.

• UNI (20A: College, to an Aussie) The abbreviation of Australian to Aussie in the clue alerts solvers that the answer will be an abbreviation: UNI for university.

• EPEE (29A: Largest Olympic sword) Of the three swords used in the Olympic sport of fencing – ÉPÉE, sabre, and foil – the ÉPÉE is the largest. At ninety centimeters (35 inches) long, its blade is just a tad shorter than the yardstick in my coat closet. Another fun fact: the blade of an ÉPÉE is triangular, and does not have a cutting blade.

• DUNKIN’ DONUTS (38A: Chain that sells 60 cups of coffee per second) Speaking of fun facts, this is an interesting and almost mind-blowing fact. Sixty cups of coffee per second is a lot of coffee! Of course, it isn’t a single store selling all of these cups of coffee. DUNKIN’ DONUTS has about 12,700 stores around the world. This clue made me wonder how many DONUTS DUNKIN’ DONUTS sells per second. I found that they sell . Doing a little math led me to conclude that DUNKIN’ DONUTS sells about 92 DONUTS per second, so one and a half times as many donuts per second as cups of coffee per second. That was a fun math diversion!

• DORA (47A: Explorer with a talking map) The title character of the animated children’s TV series, DORA the Explorer is a seven-year-old Latina girl. Each episode of the show sees DORA going on an adventure accompanied by her talking purple backpack and a monkey named Boots. DORA’s helpful talking map lives inside her backpack.

• TLC (51A: “No Scrubs” group) “No Scrubs” is a 1999 song by the girl group TLC off of their album FanMail.

• LISTS (55A: Documents for the forgetful) It’s me. I’m forgetful, and I’m a big fan of LISTS!

• CATNAP (2D: Short snooze) Oh to be a cat and spend one’s day taking CATNAPs! Cats sleep an average of 15 hours a day. I believe my cat, Willow, spends at least 15 hours a day sleeping, and another two hours of her day meowing at me.

• RENOIR (6D: “Girls at the Piano” painter) Pierre-Auguste RENOIR (1841-1919) was a French painter. He is known as an important leader of the Impressionism movement. (also referred to as Two Young Girls at the Piano) is a series of oil paintings by RENOIR that depict two young girls at a piano. The subjects of the paintings are the same, while the individual versions vary in details and size. Girls at the Piano paintings are on display at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

• NAAN (26D: Bread full of bubbles) The flatbread NAAN is leavened with yeast, which produces air pockets or bubbles.

• RETIRE (46D: Stop working for good) I know what this clue means, but it made me wonder if a person who RETIREs stops working for good and starts working for evil. My husband says he doesn’t think I’ll ever RETIRE. Maybe this is what he’s afraid of…

• DAD (62D: Fa Zhou, to Mulan) Disney’s 1998 animated movie, Mulan, and the 2020 live-action adaptation of the same name are based on a Chinese legend. Fa Zhou, an honored warrior, is the DAD of Mulan, who is his eldest daughter. Mulan masquerades as a man to take her ailing father’s place.

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• STARK INDUSTRIES (17A: Iron Man’s company in “The Avengers”)

• DUNKIN’ DONUTS (38A: Chain that sells 60 cups of coffee per second)

• NAPKIN DISPENSER (61A: Diner table fixture reached for after a spill)

KINDHEARTED: The word KIND is found at the HEART of (inside of) each theme answer: STARK INDUSTRIES, DUNKIN’ DONUTS, and NAPKIN DISPENSER.

A KINDHEARTED puzzle is always a welcome addition to the week. This is a fun set of theme answers. I suspected what the theme was from the title, and STARK INDUSTRIES confirmed it. Thank you, Zhouqin, for this enjoyable puzzle.

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