Sally Analyzes USA TODAY’s Daily Crossword, Lemon Drop

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today’s puzzle before reading further! Lemon Drop

Constructor: Darby Ratliff

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Darby: JANELLE MONAE was the seed for this entry; I love their music, so I was delighted to discover LEMON in the middle. It took a lot of finagling to get a theme set that worked, but once fill like MAIN MENU, EVIL PLAN, and the meta USA TODAY came in, I was so pleased with how this turned out.

• VEGAN (51A: “The ___ Chinese Kitchen” (Plant-based cookbook)) The VEGAN Chinese Kitchen is a cookbook by Hannah Che, who also writes a blog called “The Plant-Based Wok.” The cookbook won the 2023 James Beard Foundation Award for Vegetable Focused Cooking.
• RUTH (55D: “The Midnight Club” actor Codd) The Midnight Club is a 2022 horror mystery-thriller TV series set in a hospice. RUTH Codd portrays Anya, one of the terminally ill young adults who form a club to share scary tales. The show is adapted from the works of Christopher Pike.

• YSL (4A: Fashion initials) Back-to-back appearances for YSL, as we saw this answer in yesterday’s puzzle.
• EMOJI (18A: Clown Face or Face With Tears of Joy, e.g.) 🤡😂
• SATAN (23A: Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in “Good Omens”) Good Omens is a 2019 TV miniseries based on the 1990 book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The show’s main characters are an angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon (David Tennant) working together to prevent the apocalypse. Benedict Cumberbatch voices SATAN.
• CLE (24A: The Guardians, on an MLB broadcast) The Cleveland Guardians (CLE on scoreboards) are a Major League Baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1896 as the Columbus Buckeyes, they have been a part of MLB since 1901 and have had nine different names before settling on Guardians in 2022.
• NERDS (28A: Wonka candy with a dweeby name) We also saw NERDS yesterday.
• PAPER (44A: It wins against rock) In the classic game rock PAPER scissors, PAPER beats rock.
• USA TODAY (45A: Newspaper that published a crossword titled “Lemon Drop” on 8/6/24) This is a fantastic meta clue.
• EURO (53A: Currency in Italy) Italy is one of 20 European countries using the EURO as their currency.
• SCAT (64A: Sing like Ella Fitzgerald) Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), known as the “Queen of Jazz,” was famous for her scat singing skills.
• ARE (68A: “Scooby-Doo, Where ___ You!” (TV series)) Scooby-Doo Where ARE You! premiered in 1969, becoming the first in the Scooby-Doo media franchise. A live action series is in development at Netflix for a possible 2025 release.
• YAO (4D: Basketball player Ming) YAO Ming played for the Shanghai Sharks from 1997-2002 and the NBA’s Houston Rockets from 2002-2011. Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, he has been President of the Chinese Basketball Association since 2017.
• LITTLE MONSTERS (6D: Lady Gaga’s fans) Lady Gaga’s fans call themselves LITTLE MONSTERS, referring to the pop star as Mother Monster. The term has been in use since 2009 when she released The Fame Monster.
• TOUT LE MONDE (8D: Everyone, in French) “TOUT LE MONDE” literally translates to “all the world” and means “everyone.”
• CLINGY (13D: Like a cat that follows you from room to room) Appropriately, my CLINGY cat, Willow, decided she needed to lie next to my keyboard while I was writing this.

• JANELLE MONÁE (19D: “Dirty Computer” artist) “Dirty Computer” is the title track of JANELLE MONÁE’s third studio album, released in 2018. The album’s release was accompanied by a narrative film called an “emotion picture” by MONÁE.
• ANN (25D: “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” author Brashares) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001) by ANN Brashares is the first in a series of books that were adapted into movies. The series follows four friends who share a pair of jeans during their first summer apart.
• AGATHA (47D: Miss Marple creator Christie) AGATHA Christie (1890-1976) wrote over 66 mystery novels and 14 collections of short stories. Miss Marple, an elderly single woman with a knack for solving mysteries, appears in 12 novels and 20 short stories.
• PEAR (57D: Fruit that’s part of the rose family) PEARs, along with apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, strawberries, and roses, are members of the rose family, Rosaceae.
• A couple of other clues I especially enjoyed:
• STAIN (7A: Spot on a shirt, perhaps)
• EVIL PLAN (40A: Scheme that a villain might reveal)

LEMON DROP: Each of the vertical theme answers contains the word LEMON going down – i.e. DROPping: LITTLE MONSTERS, TOUTLE MONDE, and JANELLE MONAE.

There’s a lot to like about this puzzle. The theme is fun, and all three theme answers are excellent. I enjoyed the multiple literary references, as well. And, of course, the self-referential meta clue for USA TODAY is so good. Thank you, Darby, for this superb puzzle.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY’s daily crossword puzzle, Lemon Drop