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

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

    There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve before reading further!

    Constructor: David Steinberg

    Editor: Amanda Rafkin

    Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

    • PSI (23A: Greek letter hidden in “epsilon”) This clue has me imagining a children’s book where Greek letters are eating each other. Well, not all of my ideas are good ones… At any rate, it’s a fun discovery that PSI, the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet is hidden in epsilon, the 5th letter of the Greek alphabet.

    • GIRL (32A: “Super Graphic Ultra Modern ___”) is a song by Chappell Roan, from her 2023 album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The song starts off with, “You know what they say / Never waste a Friday night on a first date…”

    • STAG (49A: Deer sir) This clue made me laugh. (I am easily amused.)

    • ONE-HIT WONDERS (56A: Musical artists known for single songs) I am sure that musical artists don’t set out to be ONE-HIT WONDERS. But it does happen that sometimes an artist or group will have a HIT song, and that ends up being their only ONE. Do you remember The Buggles? They had a 1979 HIT, Or how about Jeannie C. Riley? Her song, topped Billboard’s country and pop charts when it was released in 1968. There are many examples of ; I’ll give you just one more. Do you remember Katrina and the Waves (winners of the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest) and their 1985 song,

    • ANNE (56A: Oscar winner Hathaway) ANNE Hathaway has an extensive filmography. The role that won her an Oscar (Academy Award) was Fantine in the 2012 musical movie, Les Misérables. She won Best Supporting Actress.

    • ROSE (66A: “The Golden Bachelorette” flower) The Golden Bachelorette is a dating reality TV series that premiered in September of this year. The final episode aired last week. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to provide any spoilers!) The Golden Bachelorette featured a bachelorette and contestants who are older than those seen on its counterpart The Bachelorette. Like the other series in this family of shows, The Golden Bachelorette includes a ROSE ceremony.

    • SANTA (71A: Christmas cookie consumer) My first thought when I read this clue was, “Me? I consume Christmas cookies.” I suppose SANTA is a more universally-recognized Christmas cookie consumer.

    • EUROPE (4D: Continent home to the world’s smallest country) Did this clue make you stop to think about what the world’s smallest country is? That distinction belongs to Vatican City, a country located within Rome, Italy in EUROPE. Vatican City is the world’s smallest country by land area (0.19 square miles) and population (764).

    • BED HOG (9D: Person who takes up a lot of space while sleeping) This answer sparked a multitude of thoughts! In the interest of marital harmony, I will remind myself that not every thought that enters one’s head needs to be spoken aloud (or written).

    • EMMA (38D: “Little Women” actress Watson) In the 2019 movie Little Women (an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 book of the same name), EMMA Watson portrays Meg March, one of the four March sisters. Back we saw PUGH clued as [“Little Women” actress Florence]. Florence Pugh portrays Amy March. we saw RONAN clued as [“Little Women” actress Saoirse]. Saoirse RONAN plays Jo March. , we saw LAURA clued as [“Little Women” actor Dern]. LAURA Dern portrays Marmee March, mother of the four sisters. Eliza Scanlen, who portrays Beth March, is still waiting for her turn in the puzzle.

    • SERBIA (49D: Country north of North Macedonia) SERBIA is a landlocked country in EUROPE. In addition to North Macedonia, its neighbors are Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. The capital of SERBIA is Belgrade.

    • YEARS (55D: 2024, 2025, 2026 and others) and ODDS (58D: 1, 3, 5 and others) I enjoyed the parallel style of these two clues.

    • DOT (64D: Period in a URL) and ERA (65D: Period in history) I like the repeated use of the word “period” in these consecutive clues. It caught my attention, and it’s interesting to note the different meaning of period in each clue.

    Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

    • DOWN TO THE WIRE (20A: Like a situation with a suspenseful outcome)

    • DON’T ARGUE WITH ME (39A: “My word is final!”)

    • ONE-HIT WONDERS (56A: Musical artists known for single songs)

    WHITE BLEND: Each theme answer contains an anagram (a BLEND) of the word WHITE: DOWN TO THE WIRE, DON’T ARGUE WITH ME, and ONE-HIT WONDERS.

    The word BLEND in the title had me looking for a hidden anagram. It was gratifying to have my hunch confirmed when I filled in DOWN TO THE WIRE. I was going to say that my favorite theme answer today is ONE-HIT WONDERS, because I enjoyed digging into all the musical groups that fall under this classification, but on second thought, “DON’T ARGUE WITH ME!” may actually be my favorite. Thank you, David, for this enjoyable puzzle.

    One more thing: Going along with the WHITE BLEND theme, a reminder that USA TODAY has a . You’re not limited to WHITE BLENDs, there are reds as well.

    For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

    This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:

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