Award-winning sports journalist who went from ESPN to The Atlantic / MON 6-1-2020 / Turned white / "Anything Goes" song / Company that launched Pong / Hanukkah coins

Constructor: Erik Agard

Relative difficulty: Easy



THEME: Encouraging phrases— Theme answers are encouraging phrases.

Theme answers:

• WE'RE NUMBER ONE (19A: Message on a giant foam finger)
• SHE'S ALL THAT (35A: 1999 rom-com with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook)
• YOU'RE THE TOP (43A: "Anything Goes" song)
• THEY'RE GRRREAT (57A: Kellogg's Frosted Flakes slogan)

Word of the Day: RUMBA (17A: Cuban dance) —

Rumba is a secular genre of Cuban music involving dance, percussion, and song. It originated in the northern regions of Cuba, mainly in urban Havana and Matanzas, during the late 19th century. It is based on African music and dance traditions, namely Abakuá and yuka, as well as the Spanish-based coros de clave. According to Argeliers León, rumba is one of the major "genre complexes" of Cuban music,^[1] and the term rumba complex is now commonly used by musicologists.^[2][3] This complex encompasses the three traditional forms of rumba (yambú, guaguancó and columbia), as well as their contemporary derivatives and other minor styles.

This was a fun one! Too fun. I told Rex it was kind of hard to talk about because I don't really have any issues with it. Pretty average quality, solved it pretty quick.  Had HALT for WHOA. The "hand on the shoulder" pun about AAA was cute. I dunno. Sorry to be an ASS, I'm just tired and this puzzle didn't really scratch my ITCH for some reason. Also I want LAVA cake now. Does anyone know a good recipe?

Theme is pretty weak. How is "they're grrr-eat" an encouraging phrase when it's just a slogan? I guess that's Monday themes for you. I know we could all use a little encouragement these days but these just didn't really do a lot.

Bullets:

• THEY'RE GRRR-EAT (57A: Kellogg's Frosted Flakes slogan) — Despite what I just said (and I stand by it not being an "encouraging phrase"), my family is obsessed with Frosted Flakes. Like, obsessed. My mom doesn't even eat cereal with milk but we still always keep a box in the pantry and we even have a box framed and hanging up on the wall. I don't get it but it's fun. 

  Why

• FRUIT HAT (14D: Signature accessory of Carmen Miranda) — I thought for sure the Carmen Miranda headdress had a real name, but Wikipedia proved me wrong by also calling it a "fruit hat." Shows what I know, I guess? 
• WHOA (63D: Equestrian's "Stop!") — I'm writing a novel set in a horse barn! And I'm allowed to tell you this because I've written 30,000 words of it already so it's technically a novella, so I'm not just whistling Dixie here. Writing a novel is hard. Did you know that after you introduce characters, you have to, like...keep them consistent and also take them on interesting arcs that make sense? Phew. It's a struggle. 
• ABBA (5A: "Dancing Queen" group) — What's your favorite Abba song? Here's my pick. 

Signed, Annabel Thompson

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