Gathering where burping is encouraged / FRI 12-14-18 / Gamer's likeness

Constructor: Andrew J. Ries

Relative difficulty: Easy



THEME: None

Word of the Day: TUPPERWARE PARTY (37A: Gathering where burping is encouraged) —

Tupperware is still sold mostly through a party plan, with rewards for hosts. A Tupperware party is run by a Tupperware "consultant" for a host who invites friends and neighbors into his or her home to see the product line. Tupperware hosts are rewarded with free products based on the level of sales made at their party. Parties also take place in workplaces, schools, and other community groups. (wikipedia)

Hi-diddly-ho CrossWorld! Aimee Lucido here, filling in for Rex. When I told him I wanted to do a guest post, I was hoping he'd start me off with a nice Monday puzzle, or maybe a Tuesday... you know, something I could for-sure finish. I mean, I *just* started consistently solving Fridays back in July. But this one solved pretty easy for me.

I finished the bulk of this puzzle in just over 15 minutes (which is fast for me, I swear), but I spent five whole minutes trying to figure out what the heck NASARSTRITS were. Turns out I had misread the word "Ziegfeld" in 27A as "Ziegfried" and put in ROY. Not that that's even how you spell "Siegfried" but when you have ?OY,LOYis just about the last guess you'd make there. On top of that I had RETRO for REPRO and all that combined with the fact that it took me far too long to realize the clue on 10D had absolutely nothing to do with traffic, added up to me wasting five whole minutes scanning my grid for my mistake.

The puzzle overall was hit or miss for me. I loved the center downs, I surprisingly got ATLANTAN very quickly, and by the time I hit SOCIAL IQ in the bottom right I found myself thinking SO FAR SO GOOD. 

But moving into the west half of the grid began to get painful. I have a hard time remembering SDS, and the clue on 51A felt icky enough that I was reluctant to put in EXCON. And, since it was crossing OXLIP, I found myself rooting for STT and EUCON to be real, since then my original answer of TULIP would be right, and my icky EXCON answer would be wrong.

But what I really want to talk about is this TUPPERWARE PARTYthing. First of all, I didn't know that Tupperware parties even existed. Is it just me, or does the idea of a party where the guest of honor is a bunch of empty leftover containers sound boring AF? Also, maybe it's because I'm a Millennial™, but I have no clue what "burping" has to do with Tupperware. Does one drink carbonated beverages at a Tupperware Party? Or eat foods with a lot of OIL? Or does "burping" just refer to the sound it makes when you pull the lid off a Tupperware container? I've been staring at this clue for EONS and I just don't get it!

Bullets:

• 39D: Writer of satirical works (PARODIST) — My brain really wanted this to be a specific writer of satirical works. 
• 49D: Reduces to small bits (RICES) — This is one of those Friday-esque clues that I actually really like. I've never heard "rice" used as a verb before, but it's inferable from the "small bits" part of the clue, and the crosses are all gettable. 
• 25A: Part of a cable network? (GONDOLA) — Gondola *lifts* not gondola *boats*
• 8D: Gamer's likeness (AVATAR) — I will never again hear this word without picturing this:

Signed, Aimee Lucido, Scribe of CrossWorld

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