Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Lemon Drop

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Lemon Drop

Constructor: Darby Ratliff

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructor

Darby: JANELLE MONAE was the seed for this entry; I love their music, so I was delighted to discover LEMON in the middle. It took a lot of finagling to get a theme set that worked, but once fill like MAIN MENU, EVIL PLAN, and the meta USA TODAY came in, I was so pleased with how this turned out.

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• VEGAN (51A: "The ___ Chinese Kitchen" (Plant-based cookbook)) The VEGAN Chinese Kitchen is a cookbook by Hannah Che. The cookbook won the 2023 James Beard Foundation Award: Vegetable Focused Cooking. The James Beard Awards are presented annually to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, and authors. Hannah Che writes a blog called "The Plant-Based Wok." I was grateful for the "plant-based" hint in the clue.
• RUTH (55D: "The Midnight Club" actor Codd) The Midnight Club (2022) is a horror mystery-thriller TV series set in a hospice. Eight terminally ill young adults form "the Midnight Club," and meet up each night to share scary tales. The show is adapted from the works of Christopher Pike. RUTH Codd portrays Anya, one of the members of the Midnight Club.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• YSL (4A: Fashion initials) Back-to-back appearances for YSL, as we saw this answer in yesterday's puzzle.
• EMOJI (18A: Clown Face or Face With Tears of Joy, e.g.) 🤡😂
• SATAN (23A: Benedict Cumberbatch's character in "Good Omens") Good Omens is a 2019 TV miniseries created by Neil Gaiman. It is based on the 1990 book of the same name by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The show's main characters are an angel named Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and a demon named Crowley (David Tennant), who are reluctantly working together to prevent the apocalypse. Benedict Cumberbatch provides the voice of SATAN. I have not watched Good Omens, but it is on my (rather lengthy) to-be-watched list, as I have read the book and enjoyed it.
• CLE (24A: The Guardians, on an MLB broadcast) The Cleveland Guardians (CLE on scoreboards and broadcasts) are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team was founded in 1896 in Columbus, Ohio as the Columbus Buckeyes. They've been part of MLB since 1901. The team has had nine different names, and has been known as the Guardians since 2022. From 1903 to 1914, the team was called the Cleveland Naps.
• NERDS (28A: Wonka candy with a dweeby name) We also saw NERDS yesterday.
• PAPER (44A: It wins against rock) In the classic game rock PAPER scissors, PAPER beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beat PAPER. We saw rock PAPER scissors as the theme of the puzzle on February 11, 2021.
• USA TODAY (45A: Newspaper that published a crossword titled "Lemon Drop" on 8/6/24) Ha! I'm a fan of a good meta clue, and this is a fantastic one.
• EURO (53A: Currency in Italy) Italy is one of the 20 European countries that use the EURO as their currency.
• SCAT (64A: Sing like Ella Fitzgerald) Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) was known as the "Queen of Jazz," and the "First Lady of Song." She was particularly known for her SCAT singing skills (vocal improvisation with nonsense syllables or no words at all).
• ARE (68A: "Scooby-Doo, Where ___ You!" (TV series)) Scooby-Doo Where ARE You! made its premiere in the Saturday morning cartoon schedule in 1969. The show was the first in what eventually became the Scooby-Doo media franchise. It was announced earlier this year that a live action Scooby-Doo series is in development at Netflix for a possible 2025 release.
• YAO (4D: Basketball player Ming) YAO Ming is a former professional basketball player. He played for the Chinese Basketball Association's Shanghai Sharks from 1997-2002, and for NBA's Houston Rockets from 2002-2011. He was inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. Since 2017, YAO Ming has been the President of the Chinese Basketball Association.
• LITTLE MONSTERS (6D: Lady Gaga's fans) Lady Gaga's fans refer to themselves as LITTLE MONSTERS, and refer to the pop star as Mother Monster. The term has been in use since 2009, which is the year Lady Gaga released The Fame Monster, a reissue of her debut album titled, The Fame (2008). Three of Lady Gaga's tattoos are fan inspired: a monster paw, the words "Mother Monster," and the words "LITTLE MONSTERS."
• TOUT LE MONDE (8D: Everyone, in French) The literal translation of the French phrase, "TOUT LE MONDE," is "all the world," and it is used to mean "everyone."
• CLINGY (13D: Like a cat that follows you from room to room) Appropriately, my CLINGY cat, Willow, decided she needed to lie next to my keyboard while I was writing this.

• JANELLE MONÁE (19D: "Dirty Computer" artist) "Dirty Computer" is the title track of JANELLE MONÁE's third studio album, released in 2018. The album's release was accompanied by the release of a narrative film that JANELLE  MONÁE called an "emotion picture."
• ANN (25D: "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" author Brashares) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001) is the first in a series of books by ANN Brashares that were later adapted into movies. The books follow the adventures of four close friends, Lena, Tibby, Bridget, and Carmen. The "traveling pants" are a pair of jeans that the friends pass among themselves during the first summer they are apart. It's been quite a few years since I have read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the other four books, but I enjoyed them.
• AGATHA (47D: Miss Marple creator Christie) I'm always happy to see my favorite author appear in the puzzle. AGATHA Christie (1890-1976) was the queen of the cozy mystery genre (as far as I'm concerned). She wrote over 66 mystery novels and 14 collections of short stories. Miss Marple is one of AGATHA Christie's fictional detectives. She appears in 12 novels and 20 short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly single woman with a penchant for knitting. People often underestimate her deductive powers, and she solves mysteries by making analogies to life in St. Mary Mead, the English village where she lives.
• PEAR (57D: Fruit that's part of the rose family) PEARs, apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, strawberries, and roses are just a few members of the rose family, Rosaceae.
• A couple of other clues I especially enjoyed:
  • STAIN (7A: Spot on a shirt, perhaps)
  • EVIL PLAN (40A: Scheme that a villain might reveal)

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• LITTLE MONSTERS (6D: Lady Gaga's fans)
• TOUT LE MONDE (8D: Everyone, in French)
• JANELLE MONAE (19D: "Dirty Computer" artist)

LEMON DROP: Each of the vertical theme answers contains the word LEMON going down – i.e. DROPping: LITTLE MONSTERS, TOUT LE MONDE, and JANELLE MONAE.

There's a lot to like about this puzzle. The theme is fun, and all three theme answers are excellent. I enjoyed the multiple literary references, as well. And, of course, the self-referential meta clue for USA TODAY is so good. Thank you, Darby, for this superb puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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