Yahoo Lifestyle Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Half-Baked
There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Half-Baked
Constructor: Li Ding
Editor: Amanda Rafkin
Random Thoughts & Interesting Things
HALLE (15A: "Monster's Ball" actress Berry) Monster's Ball is a 2001 movie in which HALLE BERRY plays the role of Leticia Musgrove, a woman who unknowingly gets in a relationship with a former corrections officer who oversaw the execution of her husband. HALLE BERRY won an Academy Award for Best Actress for this role, becoming the first Black woman to receive that honor. Over twenty years later, she remains the only Black woman who has won that award.
OPE (17A: Surprised Midwestern interjection) The expression "OPE!" can be used to express surprise. It can also be used to mean "sorry!" or to express awkwardness or excitement. OPE is a multipurpose word here in the Midwest.
COOKIE POLICY (20A: Document covering how a website tracks and uses your data) The term COOKIE POLICY makes this document sound like it should be much more delicious than it actually is. My idea for a COOKIE POLICY is something along the lines of: There shall be at least two varieties of COOKIEs in the house at all times.
DEW (24A: "I know I Mountain ___ it for ya" (Sabrina Carpenter lyric)) "I know I Mountain DEW it for ya," is a lyric from Sabrina Carpenter's song "Espresso."
CONDOR (25A: "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" actress Lana ___) The 2018 movie, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, is based on Jenny Han's 2014 book of the same name. When Han was a teenager, she wrote (undelivered) letters to boys she had a crush on. This habit was the inspiration for a book about a teenager, Lara Jean Covey, who wrote such letters. Unbeknownst to Lara, her sister mails the letters. In the film adaptation, Lana CONDOR plays the role of Lara Jean Covey.
EAR (33A: Piece of corn) Because USA TODAY crosswords are made by a variety of constructors, we often coincidentally see related clueing angles for a word in different puzzles. As I commented a couple of weeks ago, February has ended up being a corny month! We have seen the word EAR six times this month (not unusual, as it's a useful three-letter word). What has had me chuckling this month is that although there are a number of ways to clue the word EAR, five of the six times we've seen the word this month, the clues for EAR have been corn-related: [Corn serving], [Serving of corn], [Corn unit], [Corn unit] again, and today's [Piece of corn]. The one non-corn clue we saw for EAR this month was [Place for an industrial piercing].
LYNX (36A: Wildcat with tufted ears) A LYNX is a medium-sized wild cat that has a short tail, tufts of black hair on the tips of their ears, large, padded paws, and long whiskers. There are four species of LYNX: Canada, Eurasian, Iberian, and bobcat. Willow is not a wildcat, and she doesn't have tufts of fur on the top of her ears. However, she is delighted to see her cat cousin in the puzzle.
THE MUFFIN MAN (55A: Drury Lane resident, in a nursery rhyme) "Do you know THE MUFFIN MAN? THE MUFFIN MAN, THE MUFFIN MAN. Do you know THE MUFFIN MAN who lives on Drury Lane?" It's been many years since I've thought of THE MUFFIN MAN, and yet as soon as I read this clue, I immediately remembered this rhyme. Memory is an interesting thing.
THETA (64A: Greek letter used in geometry) THETA is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet (occurring after eta and before iota). In geometry, theta (θ) is used to represent the measure of an angle, essentially acting as a variable representing an unknown angle measurement.
THAI (4D: Cuisine with khao soi and pad see ew) Khao soi is a THAI dish of homemade rice noodles in clear broth topped with minced pork and tomato sauce. Pad see ew is a THAI stir-fried noodle dish.
TELL (8D: "Wait Wait ... Don't ___ Me!" (NPR podcast)) Wait Wait ... Don't TELL Me is a weekly NPR podcast that combines news and comedy. I've mentioned before that my husband and I save up Wait Wait ... Don't TELL Me podcasts and listen to them when we're on the road. It's a show we both enjoy. The show tapes on Thursday evenings in front of a live audience, usually in Chicago, but sometimes in other places around the country. Each new episode is available the Saturday following the taping.
WNBA (31D: A'ja Wilson's league) A'ja Wilson plays basketball for the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces. She also plays for Team USA, and was part of the gold medal winning teams at both the 2020 (held in 2021) and 2024 Summer Olympics.
ONTARIO (45D: Ottawa's province) ONTARIO is the southernmost of Canada's ten provinces and three territories. It is also the most-populous of the provinces. Over a third of Canada's population lives in ONTARIO. Canada's capital, Ottawa, is located in ONTARIO, as well as the country's most-populous city, Toronto.
SPHERE (47D: Las Vegas venue named for its shape) If you guessed that the Las Vegas entertainment venue SPHERE is shaped like a SPHERE, then you win the prize! SPHERE opened in 2023, and the first act to do a residency there was U2. SPHERE's website has a cool page that talks about the science that went into the construction of the spherical building.
MATH (56D: Ada Lovelace's subject) Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) studied MATH and computer programming. She's considered to be one of the first to recognize the full potential of computers.
Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis
COOKIE POLICY (20A: Document covering how a website tracks and uses your data)
BREAK BREAD (37A: Share a meal)
THE MUFFIN MAN (55A: Drury Lane resident, in a nursery rhyme)
HALF-BAKED: Exactly HALF of the letters in each theme answer are a word that is a BAKED good: COOKIE, BREAD, MUFFIN.
At first I was confused that the BAKED good didn't appear in the same place in each theme answer. It was the moving placement of the BAKED good that made me look closer and realize that each BAKED item accounted for HALF of its respective theme answer. Well, that's fun. Thank you, Li, for this enjoyable puzzle.
For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword Blog & Answers for February 28, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher
