Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Spill the Tea

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Spill the Tea

Constructor: Jess Rucks

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructor

Jess: When I made this puzzle, I was watching a ton of RuPaul's Drag Race. (I think this theme was inevitable!) In addition to seeing this theme in print, I'm happy to see TSINGTAO in the puzzle! It brings back many fond memories from my time in China when I was lucky enough to study abroad there in college. Hope you enjoyed the puzzle! Cheers (or ganbei, as they say in China)!

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• CELLO (61A: Instrument Bach wrote six suites for) Johann Sebastian Bach's six CELLO suites were composed between 1717 and 1723. Written for unaccompanied CELLO, the pieces are some of the most frequently performed CELLO solo compositions. Fun fact: Two artists have won Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance for recordings of Bach's Unaccompanied CELLO Suites: Yo-Yo Ma (1985) and János Starker (1998).

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• BRB (1A: "Just a sec!" in a text) BRB = be right back
• MOOLA (12A: $$$) and ATM (40A: Source of $$$) Show me the $$$! This is a fun pair of clues.
• TREE POSE (21A: Balancing stance also known as Vrikshasana) and ASANA (48A: 21-Across, for example) TREE POSE, or Vriskshasana, is one of the balancing ASANAs, or positions, in yoga. To get into TREE POSE, one stands on one leg, bending the other leg and placing the foot of that leg against the standing leg, either above or below the knee. The hands are either raised overhead, or placed palms together in front of the chest. Balance is not my strong suit, and I always feel incredibly accomplished on days when I can hold TREE POSE for more than a few moments.
• NAT (29A: ___ Geo Kids (educational magazine)) National Geographic Kids, or NAT Geo Kids, is a children's magazine published by the National Geographic Society. It's written for children 6-14 years of age. Originally published beginning in 1975 as National Geographic World, the magazine's title was changed in 2002. Regular NAT Geo Kids features include "Amazing Animals," "Kids Did It!," "Cool Inventions," and "Naughty Pets."
• TEN (33A: Big ___ Conference (group of 14 teams)) This clue made me laugh! The Big TEN Conference (stylized as B1G) is an NCAA Division 1 conference. As the clue states, there are currently 14 teams in the Big TEN conference (including the University of Iowa - Go Hawks!). However, soon there will be 18 teams in the Big TEN conference, as four schools have declared their intent to leave the Pac-12 conference and join the Big TEN in August of this year. I am not an expert on sports, but I have a suggestion for the NCAA – choose conference names that don't include a number. The Big 12 Conference currently includes 14 teams. The Pac-12 Conference currently has 12 teams (hooray!), but will have eight teams when the move I mentioned above takes place.
• ASIA (41A: Native continent for the slow loris) The slow loris is a nocturnal primate that lives in trees and has large round eyes adapted for night vision. There are nine species of slow loris, and they are all native to South and Southeast ASIA. Fun fact about the slow loris: It is the only venomous primate. The animals have a bare patch under their arm that secretes oil. When threatened, the slow loris licks the oil, which combines with their saliva to create venom. Today's appearance of ASIA in the grid is the sixth time we have seen it in the puzzle this month. Perhaps it's making up for the fact that we didn't see ASIA in the puzzle at all in February.
• NILE (42A: Egypts's river) Egypt is one of 11 African countries through which the NILE River flows. The NILE is Egypt's primary water source. Egypt's capital, Cairo, is located near the NILE River delta.
• TSINGTAO (45A: Popular Chinese beer) TSINGTAO Brewery is the second largest brewery in China. Its flagship product is TSINGTAO Beer, a pale lager. I learned about TSINGTAO beer from a puzzle a couple of years ago.
• HELIX (64A: DNA shape) Not just one HELIX, but two. The shape of DNA is described as a double HELIX. Hooray for science in the crossword! I can't pass up this opportunity to mention chemist and x-ray crystallographer, Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958). Her work on x-ray diffraction images of DNA led to the discovery of its double HELIX structure.
• ATHENA (8D: Zeus' daughter who was born from his head) In Greek mythology, ATHENA is the goddess of wisdom, handicraft, and warfare. Her father was Zeus, and ATHENA was said to have emerged from his forehead, fully grown and wearing a full set of armor. In one version of ATHENA's birth, she has no mother. In another version, ATHENA's mother is Metis, the first wife of Zeus. In this version of the story, Zeus swallows Metis when she is pregnant with ATHENA, and ATHENA is then born within Zeus and escapes through his forehead.
• MAE (12D: ___ C. Jemison (Endeavor astronaut)) MAE Jemison is an engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor, and was the first Black woman to travel into space. She was also the first real-life astronaut to appear on Star Trek. In 1993, she appeared in "Second Chances," an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• NYT (29D: Newspaper with an annual Puzzle Mania section, for short) Puzzle Mania is an annual special puzzle section in the print edition of The New York Times (NYT, for short). It is included in a Sunday paper during the month of December. The insert includes a number of types of puzzles, including an extra-large crossword. Last year's Super Mega Crossword was a 50x50 grid that had 1,282 words.
• NOLA (35D: Mardi Gras city, for short) New Orleans, Louisiana – NOLA, for short – is well-known for its Mardi Gras festival. Technically Mardi Gras, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent in the Christian tradition. However, NOLA celebrates Mardi Gras for approximately two weeks prior to Ash Wednesday. 
• IAN (37D: Singer-songwriter Janis) Janis IAN's two signature songs are "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" (1966) and "At Seventeen" (1975). Did you know Janis IAN also writes science fiction? Some of her short stories have been published in anthologies. She also co-edited the anthology Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian. 
• LEO (39D: Fierce and courageous sign) LEO is the zodiac sign for those born between July 22 and August 23. As I mentioned last week when we saw "LEO RISING" as a puzzle title, I am a LEO. I don't pay much attention to astrological signs or horoscopes, but I appreciate being described as fierce and courageous.
• ARGON (50D: Most abundant noble gas in the atmosphere) The three most abundant gases in Earth's atmosphere are nitrogen (about 78%), oxygen (about 21), and ARGON (about 0.93%). ARGON is the only one of those three gases classified as a noble gas. I wrote about the noble gases last week when we saw ARGON and neon mentioned in a clue for INERT.
• NINA (53D: Singer Simone) NINA Simone (1933-2003) was a singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. NINA Simone's 1992 autobiography is titled I Put a Spell on You after the title track from her 1965 studio album.
• ELLA (55D: Singer Fitzgerald) During her career as a jazz singer, ELLA Fitzgerald (1917-1996) earned several nicknames, including "Queen of Jazz," "Lady ELLA," and "First Lady of Song." It was fun to see a trio of female singers today: Janis IAN, NINA Simone, and ELLA Fitzgerald.
• SOX (57D: Chicago White ___) The Chicago White SOX, originally called the Chicago White Stockings, were one of the original eight teams in Major League Baseball's American League. 

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

BLACK DIAMOND (3D: Symbol on an expert-level ski run)

LITTLE WHITE LIES (5D: Small, harmless fibs)

PUTTING GREEN (22D: Smooth grassy area surrounding a golf hole)

Each theme answer contains a type of TEA: BLACK, WHITE, and GREEN. Moving from left to right, the TEA types are falling, or SPILLing from the top to the bottom of the grid.

This is a clever and fun theme. I like that the TEAs are not only found in the theme answers, but are also moving downward in the grid. For the last couple of years, I have had an open invitation to constructors to send me pet photos when their puzzles run. Jess sent me this wonderful photo of her cat, Milo, who, as you can see, is a gorgeous fluffball. I have a page on the former home of my blog that is dedicated to pets that have been featured on my blog. It's a great place to visit if you need a fix of pet photos (mainly cats, but a few dogs and guinea pigs). Welcome to the Cats+ of Sally's Take and Off the Grid, Milo! Thank you, Jess, for this delightful puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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