Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Mixed Emotions

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

Constructor: Amanda Rafkin

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• DESI (55A: "American ___" (2022 book)) American DESI is a children's book by Jyoti Raja Gopal, illustrated by Supriya Kelkar. The book is about a girl who identifies as both American and Indian (DESI is a term used to refer to people from the Indian subcontinent), and wonders if she has to choose one or the other. I watched a video of the author discussing this book, and it definitely made me want to read it. The illustrations look colorful and vibrant.
• ORE (19D: Metallic resource in the board game A Feast for Odin) I'm always happy to learn about a board game that is new to me. A Feast for Odin is a board game in which users send Vikings out to raid and explore new territories. As ORE is a commonly found resource in board games, it was fairly easy to infer the answer here.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• YOUNG (1A: Like a kitten) Willow will turn 13 next month, so she's no longer YOUNG like a kitten. She is still cuddly though.

• MAMBA (30A: Venomous snake) There are four species of MAMBA; three are green in color, and one is black. All four species of MAMBA are native to sub-Saharan Africa. MAMBAs are venomous, with untreated bites often being fatal. MAMBAs can grow to a length of 8 to 14 feet, and can slither at speeds of 12 miles per hour.
• A LOT (34A: "I cry ___ but I am so productive") and WAH (37A: Crying sound) "I cry A LOT but I am so productive," followed by the words, "it's an art," is a line from Taylor Swift's 2024 song, "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart." The song is from her album The Tortured Poets Department. I enjoyed seeing the clue for WAH in close proximity to this clue.
• URSULA (35A: Disney villain whose look was inspired by Divine) URSULA is the sea witch in the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid (1989). The animated character was inspired by Divine (1945-1988), a drag queen who starred in the 1972 movie, Pink Flamingos, and was the subject of the 2013 documentary, I Am Divine. Melissa McCarthy plays the role of URSULA in the 2023 live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
• ANI (43A: Singer DiFranco) ANI DiFranco is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, activist, and feminist icon. Her lyrics are "often autobiographical, and strongly political." All of her albums have been released on her own record label, Righteous Babe. ANI DiFranco's most recent album, Revolutionary Love, was released in 2021.
• NUTS (47A: Crunchy bits in rocky road) Rocky road ice cream traditionally consists of chocolate ice cream with NUTS and marshmallows added. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? I'm currently into Moose Tracks – vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups and fudge.
• AT A (54A: One day ___ time) The crossword is reminding me of my dad lately. (That's certainly not a bad thing.) Yesterday's puzzle contained a reference to the saying, "Play it by ear." One of my dad's all time favorite sayings was "One day AT A time." My mom says this a lot, too, always preceded by, "As your dad used to say..."
• EMAIL (56A: Medium for many crossword submissions) I submitted my first crossword puzzle in 2018 (which doesn't seem too long ago, right?), and it was sent to The New York Times by snail mail. One advantage to being able to submit crosswords by EMAIL, is that if they are rejected (as my first submission unsurprisingly was), at least you're not out any postage.
• ERNIE (66A: "Rubber Duckie" singer) This clue immediately brought to mind the classic image of ERNIE in his bathtub singing, "Rubber Duckie, you're the one / You make bath time lots of fun / Rubber Duckie, I'm awfully fond of you ... voh voh di oh..." My husband and I have a rubber duckie that we leave around the house for each other to find. I wrote about that last year when I used RUBBER DUCKIE as a theme answer in a puzzle.
• GLENDALE (5D: Los Angeles city home to the Museum of Neon Art) The Museum of Neon Art is located in GLENDALE, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Founded in 1981, the Museum of Neon Art "encourages learning, curiosity, and expression through the preservation, collection, and interpretation of neon, electric, and kinetic art."
• AHS (7D: TV show with a season titled "Coven") AHS here stands for American Horror Story, a TV series that first aired in 2011. AHS is an anthology TV series, meaning each season is a self-contained miniseries with a different set of characters and story lines. American Horror Story: Coven is the third season of the show, which originally aired from October 9, 2013 to January 29, 2014. The shows of that season focus on a coven of witches, and feature flashbacks to the Salem witch trials.
• AMO (53D: "Eu te ___" ("I love you")) "Eu te AMO" is Portuguese for "I love you."
• PSI (59D: Trident-shaped Greek letter) A trident is a three-pronged spear. The Greek letter PSI (Ψ) is indeed shaped like a trident. Let's take this opportunity to review the shapes of a few other Greek letters. The capital letter delta (Δ) resembles a triangle, the letter rho (Ρ) resembles the letter P of the English alphabet, and the capital letter omega (Ω) resembles a horseshoe.
• GIA (62D: Drag queen Gunn) GIA Gunn competed on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, the second season of The Switch Drag Race, and the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. 
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
  • CAR (52A: "Vroom vroom" vehicle)
  • EMU (22D: Big bird (but not Big Bird))
  • I'M SO OLD (24D: Comment after hearing your bones creak from the slightest movement)

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• PROTEIN SMOOTHIE (17A: Fruit-based drink that may help build muscle)
• COMES INTO VIEW (38A: Appears)
• I PROMISE NOT TO GO (58A: "You'll have me beside you the whole time")

Each theme answer contains an anagram (i.e. the same letters but MIXED) of the word EMOTIONS: PROTEIN SMOOTHIE, COMES INTO VIEW, and I PROMISE NOT TO GO.

We've seen several hidden anagram themes recently. This particular theme is impressive because the word being anagrammed – EMOTIONS – is so long. I wonder how many anagram variations Amanda tried before settling on this lovely set. Thank you, Amanda, for this enjoyable puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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