Award-winning architect Zaha / FRI 1-8-21 / Chef Lewis who wrote the Taste of Country Cooking / Whom Grogu resembles on the Mandalorian / Home to the so-called Silicon Docks European equivalent to Silicon Valley

Constructor: Evan Kalish

Relative difficulty: Easy except maybe for a few names ...


THEME: none— well, there are a lot of "IT"s, but I presume that's not thematic ...

Word of the Day: Zaha HADID (36A: Award-winning architect Zaha ___) —

Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid DBE RA (Arabic: زها حديد‎ Zahā Ḥadīd; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was a British Iraqi architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Hadid studied mathematics as an undergraduate and then enrolled at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in 1972. In search of an alternative system to traditional architectural drawing, and influenced by Suprematism and the Russian avant-garde, Hadid adopted painting as a design tool and abstraction as an investigative principle to "reinvestigate the aborted and untested experiments of Modernism [...] to unveil new fields of building."

She was described by The Guardian as the "Queen of the curve", who, through her signature adoption of non-Euclidean geometries, "liberated architectural geometry, giving it a whole new expressive identity". Her major works include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum, Rome's MAXXI Museum, and the Guangzhou Opera House. Some of her awards have been presented posthumously, including the statuette for the 2017 Brit Awards. Several of her buildings were still under construction at the time of her death, including the Daxing International Airport in Beijing, and the Al Wakrah Stadium in Qatar, a venue for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Hadid was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004. She received the UK's most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Elizabeth II for services to architecture, and in February, 2016, the month preceding her death, she became the first woman to be individually awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (Ray Eames and Sheila O'Donnell had previously been awarded it jointly with Charles Eames and John Tuomey respectively). (wikipedia)

***HELLO, READERS AND FELLOW SOLVERS!**. The calendar has turned on another year (thank God), and while that might mean a lot of things to a lot of people, for me it means it's time for my annual week-long pitch for financial contributions to the blog. Every year I ask regular readers to consider what the blog is worth to them on an annual basis and give accordingly. Last year at this time, I wrote about what a melancholy year 2019 was; my oldest dog had died and the world was kind of a wreck. And then 2020 happened, and I learned what a real wreck looks like. In February, my other dog died (R.I.P. Gabby). And then, well, COVID. And let's be honest, even with a new president, 2021 is going to be, uh, challenging as well. But I hope that the regular ritual of solving crosswords brought some solace and stability to your lives this past year, and I hope that my blog added to your enjoyment of the solving experience in some way. This year my blog will celebrate its 15th anniversary! I feel so proud! And old! A lot of labor goes into producing this blog every day (Every. Day.) and the hours are, let's say, less than ideal (I'm either solving and writing at night, after 10pm, or in the morning, before 6am). Most days, I really do love the writing, but it is work, and once a year (right now!) I acknowledge that fact. As I've said before, I have no interest in "monetizing" the blog beyond a simple, direct contribution request once a year. No ads, no gimmicks. Just here for you, every day, rain or shine, whether you like it or, perhaps, on occasion, not :) It's just me and my laptop and some free blogging software and, you know, a lot of rage, but hopefully some insight and levity along the way. I do genuinely love this gig, and whether you're an everyday reader or a Sunday-only reader or a flat-out hatereader, I appreciate you more than you'll ever know.



Several names I didn't know here, but the rest of the puzzle was so easy (for me) that I blew right through them. I really should store EDNA Lewis's name away somewhere in my brain, as this is not the first time I've seen it. But I definitely forgot it. When I see "country" and "cooking" and four letters, my brain, from past trauma of multiple solving experiences, automatically jumps to DEEN, ugh. Gotta retrain it. Here's a deal: I'll remember EDNA Lewis (she can be the number 1 EDNA as far as I'm concerned), if the NYTXW never mentions Paula DEEN's name again? Yeah? We good? Good. Who else did I stumble on? Oh, HADID! Now that I see her face, I have definitely heard of her, but her name just hasn't stuck the way other crossword architects have, guys like GEHRY and of course our fearless leader I.M. PEI, R.I.P. Seems like HADID is more than worthy of inclusion, and has a very grid-friendly name, so it would be great to see her more. It would also be great if when we saw her, she had much, much better clues than this one. "Award-winning architect" tells us nothing, not even the "award" that she "won"—hello, she was the first woman to win the bleeping *Pritzker*, which is a known award name. You can say it / include it in your clue. Or you can include some other pertinent fact, like one of the many, many buildings she designed. *Something* that defines her for the solving audience. The work of inclusion involves establishing worthiness and bringing the audience along. Last name on my "huh?" tour is HENRI. Don't feel too bad about that one, as I can only name [... counts on fingers ...] huh, zero, zero milliners. I guess the full name Henri Bendel was an NYC-based accessory store. Not on my radar. But as with EDNA, I got crosses, and as soon as I could make a name out of the letters I had, that was that. With HENRI and EDNA it wasn't hard. HADID took a little more work. But as I say, that's it for difficulty today, for me.