Raised to the third puzzle / TUES 12-28-21 / Capital of Latvia / Zoom or TikTok / Vulcan's telepathic link / Where Michelle Obama was born

Theme answers:

• LOG CABIN SYRUP (20A: Food topping used at Abe Lincoln’s birthday) 
• COTTAGE CHEESE (28A: Dairy product used at the Seven Dwarfs' dwelling?) 
• RANCH DRESSING (48A: Turkey stuffing used at the Ewings' Southfork?)

Word of the Day:HABANERA (6D: Dance named after Cuba's capital) —

Habanera (also called Contradanza, contradanza criolla, danza, or danza criolla) is the Spanish and Spanish-American version of the contradanse, which was an internationally popular style of music and dance in the 18th century, derived from the English country dance and adopted at the court of France. Contradanza was brought to America and there took on folkloric forms that still exist in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. In Cuba during the 19th century, it became an important genre, the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African rhythm pattern and the first Cuban dance to gain international popularity, the progenitor of danzón, mambo and cha-cha-cha, with a characteristic "habanera rhythm" and sung lyrics. (Wiki)

After solving the puzzle, I was left with a general feeling of: Meh. The construction was pretty tight, but I found the theme to be just sort of there. I was so focused on solving that I didn’t realize the beginnings were types of homes until I got to the revealer, and all the realization did was elicit a groan from me. 

Looking back at the theme answers, one of these things is not like the others… LOG CABIN SYRUP is the name of a brand — it’s not a type of food. COTTAGE CHEESE and RANCH DRESSING are both types of food and not brands. I also didn’t think the revealer tied the theme together all that well — the foods are just so random (and two of them are really toppings), and it all felt pretty bland to me. Even my post-Christmas leftovers feel more exciting than ranch dressing, syrup, and cottage cheese. 

The best part of this puzzle was the six 8-letter downs scattered around the puzzle (STILETTO, HABANERA, CLUSTERS, MIND-MELD, CERAMIST, and TAILSPIN). They were nicely spread across the puzzle and served as almost support beams — like three columns with two rows of beams. I liked that construction a lot. 

I did have trouble getting HABANERA (6D), as I’d never heard of this type of dance, and I messed myself up by putting a “v” in there instead of a “b” (because I tried to make it “Havana”) and by mistakenly putting “OSU” for 33A: Tulsa sch. instead of ORU. So I had some issues puzzling that one out. I also haven’t heard the word CERAMIST (38D: Pottery maker) used before, but that one at least wasn’t tough to figure out. Lastly, I’ve gotta say that the clue irked me for TAILSPIN— 40D: Bad situation for an airplane— because a TAILSPIN isn’t just a “bad” situation for an airplane; it’s a catastrophic situation from which there’s likely no coming back! The clue had me thinking in the realm of a delayed takeoff, not a plane crashing. Anywho, that was just a little nit. 

There were a handful of three-letter words and some four-letter words that were crosswordese, but, for the most part, I thought this puzzle was fresh and tight. The clue and answer combos felt fairly interesting, and it felt like I haven’t seen a lot of these words used often in a puzzle. 

The structure with the themers and long downs did create some oddity going across the puzzle. There were two rows of four three-letter words (starting at 23-Across: ALE, PAN, SOT, EMS and also starting at 51-Across: CHE, DAY, APP, LAS). I don’t have much to note about that other than it looks a tad strange and was weird to solve.

Misc:

• Growing up in Northern California, I went on a field trip in elementary school during which we tried to PAN (25A) for gold — sadly, it was fruitless, and I didn’t become some multimillionaire from it. But it was still fun. 
• KALE (47A) is slang for money?? I did not know! I think I’ve heard of “cabbage” as a vegetable that’s slang for money but never KALE. 
• I know I ragged on the use of LOG CABIN SYRUP because it’s a brand name, but I do really love this syrup! For whatever weird reason, I’ve always preferred it to the real maple syrup. 
• Seeing HYDRAS (49D: Mythical Greek monsters) in the puzzle makes me think of the bad guys in the Captain America movies because of their slogan of “Hail Hydra.” Saying that is really just an excuse to note that I saw “Spiderman: No Way Home” last weekend! Masked and vaxxed and boosted, I saw my first movie in a theater in years, and the movie was absolutely incredible. 
• I get why a STILETTO (3D) is named after a dagger — those things are sharp and pointy (and hard to walk in).

And that's it! Happy almost 2022, everyone.

Signed, Clare Carroll, currently part of my couch

 
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