NovaQuant-Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Mountainsides

There are NovaQuantspoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Mountainsides

Constructors: Sally Hoelscher & Wendy L. Brandes

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructors

Sally: Happy Saturday! It's always a delight to collaborate with Wendy. Somewhere along the line, Wendy and I began starting our emails to each other with "Happy (whatever day of the week it is)!" This always brings a smile to my face. I hope solving this puzzle made you smile.

Wendy: I was so excited to work on this one with Sally.  She had the idea for this one, and I loved it.  I had tried to work on a puzzle with the theme Moving Mountains (still on my to do pile), so this puzzle had a special appeal for me.

I loved the reference to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (which Sally came up with).  It was a show which my kids used to watch and enjoy.   I also loved the iterations we went through to hit the right chord with "MAYBE YOU'RE RIGHT" – that grudging acceptance of someone else's argument.  I also loved the clue for NAB because it evoked a visual of a pet getting caught in the act.

It is always such a joy to work with Sally.  Many thanks to her for bringing me along on this one.  Hats off to Amanda for making everything better, funnier, and livelier.  Also many thanks to all of the team at USA Today who worked on making our puzzle the best it could be.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• ARABIC (21A: Language from which "coffee" is derived) The English word "coffee" is derived from the Italian word "caffè," which is from the Turkish word "kahve," which in turn was derived from the ARABIC word "qahwa." The evolution of language is interesting.
• HOTEL (25A: "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" setting) The TV sitcom, The Suite Live of Zack & Cody originally aired on the Disney channel from 2005-2008. The show is set in the Tipton HOTEL in Boston, where twins Zack and Cody (portrayed by twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse) live in a suite with their mother who performs in the HOTEL lounge. 
• LOU (44A: Fannie ___ Hamer) Fannie LOU Hamer was the co-founder of the Freedom Democratic Party, a political party created in 1964 to challenge the established power of the Mississippi Democratic Party. At the time, the Mississippi Democratic Party did not allow Black people (who made up 40% of the state's population) to participate. In 1971, Fannie LOU Hamer was one of the co-founders of the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), an organization which describes itself as "a national, pro-choice, multi-partisan, grassroots membership organization dedicated to identifying, recruiting, training and supporting women candidates for elected and appointed office."
• NAB (45A: Catch, like a pet on the table where they're not supposed to be) The rule at our house is that our cat, Willow, is not allowed on the table when there's food on the table. As you can see, Willow clearly does not always follow this rule. (And of course, before I made her get down I took a picture.) We also have a rule at our house that cats aren't allowed on the kitchen counters while we are home...

• PEPSI (51A: "That's What I Like" cola) In 2020, PEPSI adopted its newest tagline, "That's What I Like." PEPSI has been around for 131 years. (From 1893-1898 it was marketed as Brad's Drink.) Over the years, the soft drink has had a number of taglines, including "Worth a Dime, Costs a Nickel" (1939), "More Bounce to the Ounce" (1950), and "Catch That PEPSI Spirit" (1980).
• TRIO (61A: Haim, for example) When we saw HAIM as an answer three days ago, I told you that this rock band is "comprised of sisters Alana, Danielle, and Este." Hopefully you remembered this TRIO today.
• ANYA (2D: "Emma" star Taylor-Joy) The 2020 movie Emma is based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel of the same name. ANYA Taylor-Joy portrays the title character, Emma Woodhouse.
• HER (5D: "I Used to Know ___" (2019 album)) I Used to Know HER is a compilation album by R&B singer H.E.R.
• THERE'D (6D: "And without those beans ___ have been no stalk to get up to the giants in the first place!") "And without those beans THERE'D have been no stalk to get up to the giants in the first place!" is a lyric from the song "Your Fault," which is from the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods.
• WAS (9D: "It ___ a dark and stormy night...") In multiple Peanuts strips, Snoopy is shown using a typewriter on top of his doghouse. Many of his stories begin, "It WAS a dark and stormy night..."
• ARUBA (31D: The "A" of the ABC islands) ARUBA, an island country in the Caribbean, is the first alphabetically of a trio known as the ABC islands - ARUBA, Bonaire, and Curaçao.
• EGGS (38D: Shakshouka ingredients) Shakshouka is a (delicious) dish of poached eggs in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and spices.
• SHE'S (39D: "___ poetry in motion" (Carl Carlton lyric)) "SHE'S poetry in motion," is a line from the 1981 Carl Carlton song, "SHE'S a Bad Mama Jama (SHE'S Built, SHE'S Stacked)."
• RAMI (42D: Malek who played Freddie Mercury) The 2018 movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, is a biographical film about the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the band Queen. RAMI Malek portrayed Freddie Mercury, a role for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor.
• EIDI (48D: Some holiday cash) We just saw EIDI in the August 30 puzzle. EIDI is a gift of money given as part of the celebration of the Muslim holidays Eid-al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. EIDI is also given by Iranians during Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.
• OTTO (64D: "A Man Called ___") A Man Called OTTO (2022) is a remake of a 2015 Swedish movie titled A Man Called Ove. Tom Hanks portrays the film's title character.
• A few of my favorite clues – one was Wendy's, one was Amanda's added in editing, and one was mine:
  • MESSY (50A: Like a drama-filled life)
  • SEED (71A: Part of a dandelion's fuzzy structure)
  • RICHER (49D: Like cheesecake vis-a-vis angel food cake)

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• MY NERVES ARE SHOT (17A: "I can't take it anymore!")
• MAYBE YOU'RE RIGHT (40A: "Actually, yeah, that could be correct...")
• MISSING THE POINT (65A: Not correctly understanding something)

MOUNTAINSIDES: The letters M and T (MT. is the abbreviation for MOUNTAIN) are found at the SIDES of the theme answers: MY NERVES ARE SHOT, MAYBE YOU'RE RIGHT, and MISSING THE POINT.

A preliminary search for phrases that were bookended by the letters M and T turned up a number of possibilities. Wendy and I decided this theme would be more elegant if the M at the beginning and the T at the end were the only occurrences of those letters in each theme answer. This narrowed the list considerably, and sadly meant we needed to let go of our favorite theme answer possibility, MADAME PRESIDENT. However, I'm happy with the set we ultimately landed on. Thank you, Wendy, for collaborating. Thank you, Amanda, for great editing. And thanks to you, for solving!

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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