"The Good Earth" author / MON 11-14-2016 / Hack (off) / Target competitor / Have because of

Constructor: ZHOUQIN BURNIKEL

Relative difficulty: MEDIUM except for the left middle which was HARD



THEME: Animalistic (or [ANIMAL]ING [VERB] for the more serious) — Theme answers are sayings that take the form of [ANIMAL]ing [VERB].

Theme answers:

• MONKEYING AROUND (17A: Goofing off)
• MOUSING OVER (31A: Getting ready to click on, as in a link)
• WOLFING DOWN (47A: Eating quickly)
• SQUIRRELING AWAY (63A: 

Word of the Day: SHAMAN (9D: Tribal healer) —

Shamanism (/ˈʃɑːmən/ shah-mən or /ˈʃeɪmən/ shay-mən) is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of consciousness in order to perceive and interact with a spirit world and channel these transcendental energies into this world.^[1]

The anthropologist Alice Kehoe criticizes the term "shaman" in her book Shamans and Religion: An Anthropological Exploration in Critical Thinking. Part of this criticism involves the notion of cultural appropriation.^[7] This includes criticism of New Age and modern Western forms of shamanism, which, according to Kehoe, misrepresent or dilute indigenous practices. Alice Kehoe also believes that the term reinforces racist ideas such as the Noble Savage.

(Wikipedia)

Wow, what a week, huh? Yeah. That sure was a week that happened! Well, it's been a whole month and a week, actually. What did you guys go as for Halloween? I went as a zombie prom queen, or "the death of enforced femininity" as I introduced myself at a Halloween party. Majoring in women's and gender studies (and being a little bit pretentious anyways) will do that to a gal. I did win an honorable mention in a costume contest for it though!

my artist friend did the fx makeup, but trying to dance in the heels I was wearing was the scariest part, trust me

Anyways, the puzzle! Like I said, the left middle was super hard for me - an '80s legal drama, the author of a 1931 novel that I for some reason have not yet read despite my other major being English, and two Across clues as vague as they are short all bunched together? *shudder* The rest of the puzzle wasn't bad though. TORAH/ORATE has a nice slant-rhyme-y RING to it, and there's something cool going on with IGOR/BIGOT/SEGO! I also appreciated the nerd nod in DC UNIVERSE.

The theme was okay, can't complain. I was a little disappointed MONKEYING AROUND wasn't HORSING AROUND, because I've been on a huge Bojack Horseman kick recently (and you should be too omg it's so good). I had CHOWING DOWN for 47A for the longest time - isn't Chow the name of a dog breed or something? I think? Related question: who knew SQUIRRELING was spelled with one L, not two?

Bullets:

• BIGOT (71A: Archie Bunker, notably) — A bit on the nose for this week, eh?
• IGOR (48D: Dr. Frankenstein's assistant)— It's pronounced EYE-gor!
• ERS (50A: Spot for getting stitches, in brief) — I JUST realized this is supposed to be an abbreviation for emergency rooms, d'oh! I was going to say I only ever knew ERS as Egyptian Rat Screw, that card game everyone used to play at camp. I can't read the abbreviation as anything else at this point. Man, those were some good times.
• KENNY G (42D: Saxophonist with the #42 album "Miracles") — And now, some smooth tunes for your Monday.

With love, Annabel Thompson, exceptionally tired college student.

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