Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Last Try

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today'spuzzle before reading further! Last Try

Constructor: Prasanna Keshava

Editor: Jared Goudsmit

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• THAI (35A: Chin hum cuisine) In THAI cuisine, chin hum is a stewed meat curry.
• AMAL (2D: "Shauq" singer Murkus) AMAL Murkus is a Palestinian singer, actress, and producer. Shauq is her second album, released in 2004. AMAL Murkus' music takes inspiration from Palestinian folklore and Arabic heritage.
• THEO (12D: "The Gentlemen" actor James) The Gentlemen is a Netflix TV series that premiered in March of this year. The show is a spin-off of the 2019 movie of the same name. THEO James stars as Edward Horniman, who learns that after his father died, he (and not his older brother) inherits his 15,000 acre estate and the title of Duke of Halstead. He also learns the estate is home to a huge weed empire.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• SAUDI (5A: Resident of Mecca or Medina) Mecca and Medina are cities in SAUDI Arabia. Both cities are considered holy sites in Islam. Mecca is the birthplace of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and Medina is where Muhammad's grave is located.
• BATS (10A: Items swung in cricket) The other day, I was chatting with a friend and they described cricket as a "racket sport." Now, I don't know a lot about sports, but I do know that the things swung in cricket are called BATS, not rackets. (We had a good laugh about this.)
• BIG BEN (26A: Famous Westminster clock tower) Technically, BIG BEN is the nickname of one of the five bells in London's famous clock tower. The bell is massive, and weighs more than 13 tons. By extension, BIG BEN has become the nickname of the clock tower as well. The clock is wound by hand; it takes about an hour and a half to wind it completely. If the clock is running fast or slow, the rate its pendulum swings is adjusted by stacking or removing coins on it.
• MAHI (29A: When doubled, fish aka dorado) MAHI-MAHI are also known as dorado (as the clue informs us) or the common dolphinfish (though they are not related to dolphins). In Hawaiian, "MAHI MAHI" means "very strong."
• TTY (30A: Device that a deaf person might use for a phone call) TTY stands for TeleTYpewriter. The TTY was invented by Robert Weitbrecht in the 1960s, and it enabled deaf and hard of hearing people to call each other if both had a TTY. In order to interface with people who had telephones, relay services developed for converting voice to text and text to voice. The availability of smartphones with texting capabilities has made the use of TTY much less common. 
• LEIA (36A: She called Han Solo a "stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder") Indeed, in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Princess LEIA referred to Han Solo as "a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder." Spoiler alert: She changed her mind.
• PETE (40A: Tennis great Sampras) PETE Sampras is a former professional tennis player. He retired after winning the 2002 US Open, which was his 14th major singles title. PETE Sampras was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007.
• ELSA (61A: Disney queen who made Olaf) I am familiar with ELSA and Olaf (and the many other characters with 4-letter names) from the 2013 animated movie Frozen, yet when I read this clue I thought, "Oh, yeah, I kind of forgot that." Olaf is a snowman created by ELSA's ice powers. OLAF is a recreation of a snowman that ELSA had built with her sister Anna when they were children.
• NORI (3D: Makizushi seaweed) Makizushi is a cylindrical piece of sushi formed with the aid of a bamboo mat (a makisu), and then wrapped in NORI. 
• DOG (8D: Pomeranian or goldendoodle) A Pomeranian, or Pom for short, is a DOG breed named for the Pomerania region of Poland and Germany. Pomeranians are tiny DOGs, only weighing three to seven pounds. Goldendoodles are a crossbreed that is the result of breeding a Golden Retriever and a Poodle.
• IRON CHEF (9D: Cooking show created in Japan) IRON CHEF (1993-1999) was a Japanese cooking show in which guest CHEFs challenge one of the show's resident "IRON CHEFs" in a cooking battle. When the Food Network picked up IRON CHEF in 1999, the show became a hit in the U.S. There have been multiple IRON CHEF spin-offs.
• SERB (13D: Belgrade resident) Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia, a landlocked country in Europe.
• NODES (18D: Lymph ___ (immune system structures)) Lymph NODES are located throughout the human body and are part of the immune system. Hooray for science in crosswords! A lymph NODE acts as a sort of filter for foreign particles.
• SUEDE (34D: Soft leather named for a Scandinavian country) SUEDE refers to a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped surface. The fabric's name is derived from a French phrase, "gants de SUÈDE," which means "gloves from Sweden."
• CITI (43D: ___ Field (Queens stadium)) CITI Field, which opened in 2009, is a baseball stadium in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the home stadium of the New York Mets.
• MADEA (45D: Titular Tyler Perry character) MADEA is a character created and portrayed by Tyler Perry, who says the character, "is the PG version of my mother and my aunt." The MADEA films include MADEA's Family Reunion (2006) and A MADEA Homecoming (2022).
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
  • SENT (39A: Like an email that's out of the outbox)
  • ARTIE (41A: Apt name for a creative person)
  • WAXED (38D: Like some eyebrows and surfboards)

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• RARING TO GO (17A: SO ready)
• OUT OF WHACK (37A: On the fritz)
• CANDID SHOT (54D: Pic that isn't staged)

LAST TRY: The LAST word of each theme answer is a synonym of TRY: GO, WHACK, and SHOT.

Aren't you glad you gave this crossword a TRY / a GO / a WHACK / a SHOT? I enjoy a synonym theme, and this is a fun one. The theme answers are all great phrases. Congratulations to Prasanna Keshava on a USA Today crossword debut! Thank you, Prasanna, for this delightful puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

• USA TODAY’s Daily Crossword Puzzles
• Sudoku & Crossword Puzzle Answers