Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Shapes Up

Sally Hoelscher, USA TODAY
·6 min read
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There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Shapes Up

Constructors: Will Eisenberg & Brooke Husic

Editor:Amanda Rafkin

April 7, 2024
April 7, 2024

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

  • HAS (20A: "The Girl Who ___ Everything" ("Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure" song) Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure is an animated TV series that originally aired on the Disney Channel from 2017-2020. The TV show is based on the 2010 movie Tangled. "The Girl Who HAS Everything" is a song sung by Mandy Moore, who voices the character Rapunzel. Although I wasn't familiar with this song, the answer was inferable, and I am a fan of using song titles to add interest to the clues for three-letter words.

  • RHEA (51A: Ripley in the WWE) RHEA Ripley is a professional wrestler. She joined World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2017, and is the current Women's World Champion. RHEA Ripley was born in Adelaide, Australia.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

  • PHI (14A: Golden ratio letter) The golden ratio, represented by the Greek letter phi, is a mathematical ratio approximately equal to 1.618. The golden ratio commonly occurs in nature. For example, pine cone seeds tend to grow in patterns that relate to the golden ratio. The ratio is related to the Fibonacci sequence (a series of numbers where each number is added to the last).

  • NOBLE (15A: ___ gas (periodic table "royalty")) The periodic table is an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements. Group 18 of the periodic table, which includes helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon, are known as the NOBLE gases. These elements have low reactivity. I liked the "royalty" hint here.

  • HYPE TRAIN (16A: Result of viewer support on Twitch) Twitch is a video streaming service. Twitch's focus is on video game live streaming, but the service is also used by a number of crossword solvers who live stream their solves. A HYPE TRAIN is a Twitch event that results from certain kinds of viewer activity. I admit that my Twitch knowledge is minimal, and I don't understand all of the details, but essentially a HYPE TRAIN is a way for viewers to monetarily support a Twitch streamer. By participating in a HYPE TRAIN, viewers earn specific emotes they can then use in the chat stream.

  • NITRO (31A: ___ cold brew) NITRO cold brew is a variation of iced coffee that uses nitrogen gas to create a smooth texture and produce a head of foam.

  • PEDRO (35A: "The Last of Us" actor Pascal) The Last of Us is a TV series based on a 2013 video game of the same name. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic United States. PEDRO Pascal portrays Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenager (played by Bella Ramsey) across the country.

  • SEAN (36A: "Will & Grace" star Hayes) Will and Grace is a TV sitcom centered on best friends Will Truman (played by ERIC McCormack) and Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing). Will is a gay man and a successful corporate lawyer. Grace is a straight woman and an interior designer. The two became friends in college, and are roommates throughout most of the show. SEAN Hayes won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Jack McFarland, one of Will's close friends.

  • PIG-PEN (40A: "Peanuts" character surrounded by dirt) Charles M. Schulz's classic comic strip, Peanuts, launched on October 2, 1950. PIG-PEN, a character who walks amid a cloud of dust, made his first appearance in the strip on July 13, 1954. In one strip, PIG-PEN declared, "You know what I am? I'm a dust magnet!"

  • MESA (44A: Grand Canyon landform) The Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River, is located in ArIzona. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long. At some points the canyon is 18 miles wide. A MESA is an isolated, flat-topped landform. Many MESAs are visible when looking out over the Grand Canyon. This photo was taken when I was at the Grand Canyon with my family in 2022.

Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon

  • POETS (61A: Writers at Cave Canem workshops) Cave Canem is a nonprofit organization supporting emerging Black POETS. I learned about this organization when I wrote about one of its co-founders, Cornelius Eady, on July 12, 2022. Cornelius Eady and Toi Derricotte co-founded Cave Canem in 1996.

  • TENTH (1D: Like "Discipline," among Janet Jackson albums) Released in 2008, Discipline is the TENTH of Janet Jackson's eleven studio albums. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. This is a fun way to clue the word TENTH.

  • HOT ONES (16D: Interview show with the "Wings of Death") HOT ONES is a YouTube talk show hosted by Sean Evans, who interviews guests while they eat increasingly spicy chicken wings (or a vegetarian/vegan alternative), often referred to as the "Wings of Death." Each season of the show features a different line-up of HOT sauces.  If you'd like to try the HOT ONES challenge at home, you can purchase a set of the current season's HOT sauces. 

  • FLO (19D: Saleswoman in Progressive ads) Since 2008, ads for Progressive insurance have featured a saleswoman named FLO, portrayed by Stephanie Courtney. FLO has appeared in over 100 different Progressive ads.

  • CONE OF SHAME (23D: Protective wear for a healing pet) This is my favorite of today's theme answer. The CONE OF SHAME is a humorous name for a protective collar placed on a pet, usually in order to keep them safe while healing from surgery or injury. The CONE OF SHAME reminds me of the Pixar movie Up (2009). In the movie, a dog named Dug (a talking Golden Retriever) is forced to wear the CONE OF SHAME.

  • VON (26D: Maria ___ Trapp ("The Sound of Music" inspiration) Maria VON Trapp (1905-1987) was the matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers, an Austrian family singing group active from 1935-1957. She wrote a memoir, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which was published in 1949. The book inspired a 1956 West German movie, The Trapp Family, and the 1959 Broadway musical, The Sound of Music.

  • NENE (28D: Hawaiian state bird) The NENE, also known as the Hawaiian goose, is found in the wild exclusively on the Hawaiian islands. It was designated as the Hawaiian state bird in 1957.

  • PURIM (30D: Jewish holiday with carnivals and masks) During the holiday of PURIM, Jews commemorate the events recounted in the Biblical book of Esther, in which the Jewish people were saved from an empire official's plan to kill them. The official's name was Haman. The celebration of PURIM may include reading or listening to the book of Esther, dressing up in costumes and masks, donating food, and eating hamantaschen (a triangular filled cookie whose name means "Haman's pocket").

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

  • CUBE STORAGE (3D: Boxy organizing solution)

  • PYRAMID SCHEME (13D: Fraudulent business structure)

  • CONE OF SHAME (23D: Protective wear for a healing pet)

The UP-most words of the theme answers are all three-dimensional SHAPES. We have a CUBE, a PYRAMID, and a CONE.

It's fun that we've seen UP-themed puzzles two days in a row; yesterday's puzzle was Jazz Up. I appreciated the fact that all of the SHAPES featured in the puzzle are three-dimensional. That's a nice bit of consistency. A few years ago we saw a similar theme with two-dimensional shapes. Thank you, Will and Brooke, for this delightful puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword Blog & Answers for April 7, 2024 by Sally Hoelscher