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

Constructor: Zhouqin Burnikel

Editor: Jared Goudsmit

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• LAREDO, TEXAS (17A: Rio Grande city with a jalapeno festival) LAREDO, TEXAS is located in the southern part of the state, along the Rio Grande, River. Across the river from LAREDO, TEXAS is the city of Nuevo LAREDO, Tamaulipas, Mexico. I knew of LAREDO, TEXAS, but was not familiar with their Jalapeño Festival, which takes place each year in February. This year’s Jalapeño Festival will be February 21-22.
• CBS (19A: “Buddy Games” network) Buddy Games was a reality TV series that aired on CBS in 2023. The show featured teams of people who competed against each other in summer camp-style challenges.
• ALTO (33A: Jensen McRae’s vocal range) Jensen McRae is a singer-songwriter whose debut studio album, Are You Happy Now? was released in 2022. Last year she released a single titled, “Massachusetts.” Although I just learned about Jensen McRae from this puzzle (and have enjoyed listening to some of her songs), the answer here was fairly easy to figure out, as it had to be either ALTO or bass, since neither soprano nor tenor would fit.
• LACROSSE TEAMS (54A: The Denver Outlaws and the New York Atlas, for two) I often say that “(almost) everything I know about sports I’ve learned from crossword puzzles,” and that is definitely true about LACROSSE. The oldest organized sport played in North America, LACROSSE originated with indigenous peoples as early as the 12th century. Players use the head of their stick, which features a net, to carry, pass, catch, and shoot a rubber ball into the goal. The LACROSSE TEAMS given as examples here – the Denver Outlaws and the New York Atlas – are part of the Premier LACROSSE League (PLL), which is composed of eight teams. The PLL had its inaugural season in 2019.
• PEA (61D: Kerau ko achar veggie) Kerau ko achar, or green PEA pickle, is a dish in Nepali cuisine. The dish consists of PEAs, radish, carrots, and other vegetables with spices and herbs.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• NADAL (20A: French Open champ Rafael)  Rafael NADAL has won 22 Grand Slam men’s single tennis titles. Those wins include a record 14 French Open championships, most recently in 2022. Rafael NADAL retired from professional tennis last year.
• RAO (30A: “Inception” actor Dileep) Inception is a 2010 movie directed by Christopher Nolan. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the movie as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in infiltrating people’s dreams to access information. Dileep RAO portrays Yusuf, a chemist who assists in the creation of dream sequences. I saw Inception shortly after it came out, but pretty much all I remember is that it is difficult to tell what is a dream sequence and what is reality.
• SIS (34A: Margo, to Agnes Gru, for short) Margo, Edith, and Agnes are the sisters in the Despicable Me franchise. They are adopted by Gru (Felonious Gru Sr.) in the first movie, Despicable Me (2010). Margo is the oldest SIS, and Agnes is the youngest. The middle child, Edith, is not mentioned in this clue; such is the life of a middle child.
• BEATLES (42A: The ___ (band aka the Fab Four)) The BEATLES formed their band in Liverpool, England in 1960. The Fab Four – John Lennon (1940-1980), Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison (1943-2001) – made their U.S. television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 7, 1964. It’s estimated that over 73 million viewers watched The BEATLES that night. I didn’t see that performance (as I wasn’t alive yet), but I often think about it when considering how media has changed over the years. Nowadays, the most viewed YouTube videos have been viewed billions of times, but not all at the same time.
• ENEMY (44A: Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy, to WordGirl) WordGirl is an animated children’s TV show that originally aired from 2007-2015. The titular superhero fights villains as viewers are asked to listen for specific words. Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy is one ENEMY of WordGirl. He has a sandwich as a head and uses condiments for weapons.
• CAR (46A: Vehicle banned in Venice, Italy) Located in northeastern Italy, Venice is built on more than 100 small islands connected by the city’s famous canals. Over 400 bridges span the canals and connect the islands. Venice is Europe’s largest CAR-free city.
• SYRIA (67A: Turkey’s neighbor) In addition to Turkey, the Western Asian country of SYRIA is bordered by Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, and has coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of SYRIA is Damascus.
• DSL (1D: _igital _ubscirber _ine) DSL, which stands for Digital Subscriber Line, refers to technology used to transmit data over phone lines, such as for Internet access.
• SARASOTA (3D: Florida city south of Tampa Bay) SARASOTA is located in the southwest part of the Florida, on the southern end of the Greater Tampa Bay Area.
• CAT (6D: Pet such as Lil Bub) Lil Bub (2011-2019) was a celebrity CAT who had an extreme form of feline dwarfism. As a result, her jaw and lower limbs were small compared to the rest of her body. Her small jaw meant she couldn’t keep her tongue in her mouth. A 2013 documentary, Lil Bub &Friendz, followed Lil Bub and her owner, Mike Bridavsky, as they visited other CAT celebrities. My cat, Willow, is happy to see another famous CAT celebrated in today’s puzzle. (Please don’t tell Willow she’s nowhere near as famous as Lil Bub.) The word CAT is making back-to-back crossword appearances, as we also saw it yesterday.

• OLE (18D: Copa Mundial cheer) “Copa Mundial” is Spanish for “World Cup.” The FIFA World Cup is an international football (called soccer in the U.S.) competition held every four years. The next World Cup will be held in 2026, and will be hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States. OLÉ!
• TEMPO (37D: Adagio or allegro) The TEMPO marking adagio means “slow with great expression.” In Italian, the word “adagio” means “slowly.” The TEMPO marking allegro means “fast and bright.” The word “allegro” means “cheerful” in Italian.
• NBA (38D: Org. with Jazz and Thunder) The Utah Jazz are an NBA team based in Salt Lake City. The Oklahoma City Thunder are based in Oklahoma City (as their name suggests!).
• AL PASTOR (39D: Taco order with marinated pork) Tacos AL PASTOR is made with pork marinated with pineapple, dried chilies, and spices and then skewered on a spit and grilled.
• PLANE (48D: Air India vehicle) The main hub of Air India is the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• LAREDO, TEXAS (17A: Rio Grande city with a jalapeno festival)
• LAB TECHNICIAN (36A: Diagnostic test pro)
• LACROSSE TEAMS (54A: The Denver Outlaws and the New York Atlas, for two)

LATE START: The first word of each theme answer STARTs with the letters LA, and the second word of each theme answer STARTs with the letters TE. Put together, that gives us a LATE START: LAREDO, TEXAS , LAB TECHNICIAN, and LACROSSE TEAMS.

This is an interesting variation on an initialism theme, as the first two letters of each word are utilized. From the title, I made a guess that the first word of each theme answer would be paired with the word LATE in some way. That was not quite right today, making for a nice “Aha!” moment when I realized what was happening. Thank you, Zhouqin, for this clever puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

• USA TODAY’s Daily Crossword Puzzles
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