Spoilers ahead. Maybe you want to fix it today’s puzzle before reading further! The Open Door

Builder: Kapil Mehta

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Comments from today’s Crossword Builder

Kapil: I thought of the crossword title after hearing Shruthi Kumar’s Harvard graduation speech where she closed with these words of Emily Dickenson: “Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.” I find this poem evocative and inspiring. Glad this could be turned into a USAT crossword! The title also reminds me of my dear friend, Salt, who loved open doors.

What I learned from today’s puzzle

• AJA (34A: Actress ___ Naomi King) AJA Naomi King was part of the ensemble cast How to get away with murder (2014-2020). The TV series is a legal thriller series about a law professor who, along with five of her students, becomes involved in a murder plot. AJA Naomi King plays one of the students, Michaela Pratt.

Random thoughts and interesting things

• SARI (16A: Bangladeshi women’s national dress) Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. Dhaka is the capital and largest city. As the clue informs us, SARI is the national dress for Bangladeshi women. SARI is also traditionally worn in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. A SARI consists of a single length of unstitched fabric, varying in length from four and a half to nine meters. The SARI can be wrapped and draped in a variety of styles.

• INTROS (45A: May be skipped when watching TV shows) My first thought here was “commercials”, which obviously didn’t fit. INTROS can also be skipped of course. I usually forget it’s an option!

• ALL (48A: “The Winner Takes It ___” (ABBA hit)) “The Winner Takes It ALL” is a 1980 song by ABBA that reflects the end of a relationship. It has been described as the best breakup song. The music video for “The Winner Takes It All” it was filmed 10 days after the divorce of two of ABBA’s members, Agnetha Fältskog (the lead singer of the song) and Björn Ulvaeus (one of the co-writers of the song) became official.

• LOVE (7D: “Smiling face with heart eyes” sentiment emoji)

• TOON (8D: Animated Character “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”) Who directed Roger Rabbit? is a 1988 live-action/animated film. Set in a 1947 version of Hollywood, the film features characters and people coexisting. The film is loosely based on Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? I saw the movie Who directed Roger Rabbit? when it first came out, and the character of Jessica Rabbit stayed with me. In particular, her line, “I’m not evil, I’m just drawn that way.”

• ASIA (34D: Continent of India) India is located in South ASIA. Its capital is New Delhi. Yesterday, when we saw our crossword friend ERIE in the puzzle, I commented that we hadn’t seen ERIE as often recently as in years past. The opposite is true for our crossword friend ASIA. We’ve seen more ASIA appearances in the puzzle this year than in years past. So far this year, we’ve seen ASIA in the puzzle 32 times, compared to 22 times in all of 2023. ERIE has made 21 appearances in the puzzle so far this year, compared to 36 total appearances in 2023. (These statistics brought to you by my love of data!)

• ALI (60D: “Moonlight” actor Mahershala) Moonlight is a 2016 film based on an unpublished semi-autobiographical play by Tarell Alvin McCraney titled In the moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue. The film explores themes of sexuality and masculinity while telling the story of its main character through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Mahershala ALI plays Juan, a drug dealer who becomes a father figure to the main character. Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Mahershala ALI won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

• Some other hints and answers I particularly liked:

Synopsis crossword puzzles

• DO ME A FAVOR (17A: “I’d like some help”)

• DOCTORAL ADVISOR (37A: graduate student supervisor, sometimes)

• DOUBLE MAJOR (59A: Following two university degrees)

OPEN DOOR: The word DOOR is OPEN by every answer to the theme: DO I FAVOR, DOTORAL ADVICEORand DOUBLE MAJOR.

Today’s headline tells me exactly what to expect theme-wise. Three solid answers here. I appreciate the consistency of having the DOOR OPEN in the same place in every homework answer. Thanks Kapil for this nice puzzle.

For more on the USA TODAY crossword puzzle

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword blog and answers for November 7, 2024 by Sally Hoelscher