In case you labored your approach down the grid at the moment, you bought a pleasant warm-up with 23-Throughout, “Aspect hustle for a hair stylist?” Consider one other phrase for tresses or curls, like locks. That second gig is likely to be as a LOCKSMITH.
In case your first sortie with this theme was on the backside of the grid, you may not have grokked the theme as effectively. That’s what occurred to me, anyway, at 118-Throughout: “Aspect hustle for a drill teacher?” I found out BASE COACH from the crosses however bought fixated on pH ranges, base versus acid, and couldn’t determine what a drill teacher needed to do with chemistry. (The BASE right here, in fact, connects a navy train chief to a ballgame adviser.) It took me a short while to shake off my misstep and get into the groove of those puns.
The remainder of them are easy and beautiful, with clear connections. I particularly cherished the therapist facet hustle — it epitomizes this sort of wordplay, doesn’t it? — and the span entry at 67-Throughout, which took me a second to reconcile however actually is a knockout.
Constructor Notes
Daniel: Like many new constructors I started in earnest throughout the 2020 lockdown, since all of opera went on an prolonged hiatus. My first mentor was Brad Wilber, who along with being a terrific trainer can also be an enormous opera fan. Along with his assist I had my debut publication this yr. By means of Brad, Doug and I had been launched nearly final yr. I used to be desperate to be taught extra, had innumerable questions, and needed to collaborate when attainable, and Doug and I hit it off superbly. His generosity and willingness to assist me hone my establishing chops has been a beautiful present. We nonetheless commerce theme concepts and chip away at them in a glacial approach.
I approached Doug with this concept after arising with a enjoyable clue in a themeless puzzle for TRIP ADVISOR [Personal injury lawyer?] and questioning if there is likely to be a theme value exploring. We went forwards and backwards with an ever-expanding record, needed to kill a couple of darlings (CROSS TRAINER [Catholic schoolteacher?]), and got here up with this very enjoyable theme set. Doug’s expertise in refining a theme set was extremely helpful.
Given all the choice careers and facet hustles folks have needed to undertake because of the altering instances, it appeared very well timed. Performers particularly have needed to reinvent themselves and develop new abilities, and lots of have confronted the grim actuality of how rapidly their livelihood will be taken away. The stigma of getting facet jobs and parallel careers has actually been torn down, for the higher. These within the arts have needed to be immensely artistic and improvisatory. Luckily that’s all a part of the coaching.
Doug: So glad I set to work with Daniel on this and some different initiatives. And I’m very a lot wanting ahead to a time after we can sit down along with Brad in particular person. Benefit from the puzzle and the remainder of 2021!
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