Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Stamp Collection

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

Constructor: Dennis Nullet

Editor: Anna Gundlach

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

CAP'N CRUNCH (17A: Breakfast cereal with an "Oops! All Berries" variety) I knew about CAP'N CRUNCH, the Quaker Oats cereal that consists of corn and oat squares with a brown sugar and butter coating. What I learned is that there are people who work as flavorists, also known as flavor chemists, whose job it is to engineer flavors. In the U.S., flavorists are certified by the Society of Flavor Chemists. I would like to meet someone that has this fascinating job! Anyway, back to CAP'N CRUNCH, which was developed by flavorist Pamela Low in 1963. The cereal's cartoon mascot is a naval captain who shares his name with the breakfast food. Over the years, the CAP'N CRUNCH cereal line has expanded to include a number of flavors and variations. Introduced in 1967, CAP'N CRUNCH's Crunch Berries includes spherical crunch berry pieces that were originally all red, but now come in four colors (all with the same flavor). The "Oops! All Berries" variation was introduced in 1997, and as you might expect from the name, includes only the spherical crunch berry pieces, and no squares. There's also a version called "CAP'N CRUNCH's Oops! Smashed Berries" that contains flat crunch berries.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• TRAP (9A: Hip-hop subgenre) TRAP music is a subgenre of hip-hop that uses synthesized drums and is characterized by complicated drum patterns. TRAP originated in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1990s.
• ACORN SQUASH (33A: Small gourd often served baked with brown sugar) ACORN SQUASH is a winter SQUASH that gets its name because it is roughly shaped like an ACORN. Unlike an ACORN, the SQUASH has a ridged exterior. A few years ago when I wrote about ACORN SQUASH, I learned it is also called Des Moines SQUASH. This name is a reference to the fact that the first well-known ACORN SQUASH variety was introduced in 1913 by the Iowa Seed Company located in Des Moines.
• PUPU (41A: ___ platter (tiki bar appetizers)) A PUPU platter consists of an assortment of meat and seafood appetizers, such as an egg roll, spare ribs, chicken wings, fried shrimp, crab rangoon, etc. In Hawaiian, "pū-pū" denotes a relish, appetizer, or canapé.
• MONSTER MASH (42A: Novelty song that was a "graveyard smash") Did this clue have you singing, "I was working in the lab late one night / When my eyes beheld an eerie sight / For my monster from his slab, began to rise / And suddenly to my surprise / He did the MONSTER MASH..." Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kickers released the novelty song, "MONSTER MASH," in 1962, and it became a number one hit on Billboard's Hot 100 chart just before Halloween that year.
• CANDY CRUSH (65A: Freemium mobile game with confections, familiarly) Freemium is a portmanteau of "free" and "premium." A freemium game is one that is available to play for free, but extra features are available for purchase. The freemium game CANDY CRUSH has been available for mobile devices since 2012. It's a "match three" game with a goal of lining up colorful candies on a board such that at least three of those candies match. With a successful match, the CANDY is CRUSHed and removed from the board, resulting in a cascade of the remaining pieces. It's been a while since I've played CANDY CRUSH, but I have to admit that the cascade resulting from a successful match is quite gratifying.
• ONE (71A: Number of countries that start with "Y") This is a great way to clue the number ONE. Did you figure out what that ONE "Y" country is? Yemen is a country in West Asia located at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. The constitutional capital of Yemen is Sanaa, but the city of Aden has served as Yemen's temporary capital since 2015.
• RACK (1D: Scrabble tile holder) I am here for all of the Scrabble clues! The game of Scrabble and I go way back to a time before I was born. When my mom was pregnant with me, my due date was August 1. On August 1, my mom and dad played Scrabble. They continued to play Scrabble every night until August 20. For some reason, they did not play that night, and that was the night I chose to make my appearance. As you can imagine, I have heard this story many times. I continue to enjoy Scrabble. Last year for my birthday, my son gave me Scrabble-themed keycaps for my computer keyboard.

• ANNA (7D: "___ Karenina") ANNA Karenina is a novel by Leo Tolstoy that was first published in 1878, and first translated into English in 1887. It is considered by some to be among "The Greatest Books of All Time." ANNA Karenina tells the story of an extramarital affair between the title character and a cavalry officer, and the effects of that affair on their lives and the lives of those around theme. ANNA Karenina has been adapted into movies, operas, TV shows, ballets, and musicals. A 2012 movie adaptation of ANNA Karenina starred Keira Knightley and Jude Law.
• O'NEAL (31D: Hoops legend Shaquille) Shaquille O'NEAL, commonly known as Shaq, is a former professional basketball player. From 1992-2011 he played for six different NBA teams: Orlando Magic (1992-1996), Los Angeles Lakers (1996-2004), Miami Heat (2004-2008), Phoenix Suns (2008-2009), Cleveland Cavaliers (2009-2010) and Boston Celtics (2010-2011). Shaq is a four-time NBA champion. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017. Shaquille O'NEAL is currently a sports analyst on the program Inside the NBA.
• LOUIE (52D: Sibling of Huey and Dewey) Huey, Dewey, and LOUIE are anthropomorphic cartoon ducks. They are the nephews of Donald Duck, and the grand-nephews of Scrooge McDuck. LOUIE is the one depicted wearing green. Huey wears red, and Dewey wears blue.
• ASIA (62D: Karachi's continent) Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan, and is therefore located in ASIA. Karachi is the capital of the Pakistani province of Sindh, but the capital of the country of Pakistan is Islamabad. Our crossword-friend ASIA set a record today. In the nearly four years that I have been blogging about the USA TODAY puzzle, there have been two months in which the word ASIA appeared in the puzzle six times, July 2020 and April 2022. This is the seventh appearance of ASIA in the crossword this month, a new record. By the way, this has absolutely no significance other than appealing to my love of data and record keeping. It is simply one of the ways I entertain myself as I write this daily blog.

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• CAP'N CRUNCH (17A: Breakfast cereal with an "Oops! All Berries" variety)
• ACORN SQUASH (33A: Small gourd often served baked with brown sugar)
• MONSTER MASH (42A: Novelty song that was a "graveyard smash")
• CANDY CRUSH (65A: Freemium mobile game with confections, familiarly)

The last word of each theme answer is a synonym of the word STAMP. Our STAMP COLLECTION includes CRUNCH, SQUASH, MASH, and CRUSH.

I was just thinking the other day that it's been some time since we've seen a synonym theme. My "Aha!" moment today came as I filled in MONSTER MASH, and it suddenly dawned on me that CRUNCH, SQUASH, and MASH are synonymous with STAMP. Uncovering CANDY CRUSH confirmed my theory. Congratulations to Dennis Nullet making a USA TODAY crossword debut! Thank you, Dennis, for this delightful puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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