Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Bring the Heat

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

Constructor: Jess Shulman

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructor

Jess: When I proposed this theme to editor Amanda Rafkin, I had a whole different set of shorter themers, which included an option for a "raw" entry along with rare/medium/well. I'm glad Amanda talked me out of that; this theme set feels more cohesive, and it's nice to make room for some juicy long entries. We worked through a bunch of different ideas, including some really fun ones for well, such as "well I'll be darned" and "well excuse me." Medium was the hardest to find options for, and I'm happy we landed on MEDIUM SALSA. Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• SCI-FI (30A: Cixin Liu's genre) Cixin Liu's novel, The Three-Body Problem, was published in China in 2008; an English translation was published in 2014. It won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The Hugo Awards honor achievements in SCI-FI literature. The upcoming SCI-FI TV series, 3 Body Problem, is based on Cixin Liu's novel. The series premieres March 21 on Netflix. In addition to the Hugo Award, Cixin Liu has won nine Galaxy Awards, China's awards honoring SCI-FI literature.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• BFF (1A: Person you might dish to, for short) and LMAO (17A: "omg hilarious!") These two abbreviations appear in crosswords on a fairly regular basis. BFF stands for "best friend forever." LMAO – often used in texting and on social media – stands for "laughing my ass off."
• ALL (4A: "___ I Wanna Do" (Sheryl Crow song)) "ALL I Wanna Do" is Sheryl Crow's breakthrough hit, released in 1994 as a single from her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club. The song's lyrics are inspired by Wyn Cooper's 1987 poem, "Fun," which begins with the line, "ALL I want is to have a little fun." Sheryl Crow won two Grammy Awards for "ALL I Wanna Do" – Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. I am a fan of clues that use the titles of songs, books, or movies to clue common three-letter words; this is a great way to add interest.
• ITALY (7A: Tuscany's country)Tuscany is one of twenty regions (administrative divisions) in ITALY. It is located in central ITALY, with coastline along the Ligurian Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean). The capital of Tuscany is Florence, and the city of Pisa, with its famous leaning tower, is also in this region. Tuscany is known as being the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries, and is still noted for its art culture.
• GENIE (15A: Aladdin's wish-granting friend) In the 1992 Disney animated movie, Aladdin, which is based on an Arabic folktale, the role of the GENIE was voiced by Robin Williams. The GENIE was portrayed by Will Smith in the 2019 live-action adaptation of the movie.
• OGRE (16A: "Puss in Boots" baddie) "Puss in Boots" is a fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat. The cat requests a pair of boots from its owner, the youngest son of a miller who has died. The cat then kills an OGRE to obtain a castle for his master, and proceeds to orchestrate a meeting between his master and the king's daughter. The character of Puss in Boots has appeared in other stories, including the Shrek movies. I highly doubt my cat, Willow, would wear boots. Here is a photo of her wearing a hat, however. You can tell she was absolutely thrilled about it.

• MEDIUM SALSA (35A: Semi-spicy taco sauce) You may recall that yesterday's crossword contained MILD SALSA, clued as [Not-too-spicy taco add-on]. With its title of BRING THE HEAT, today's puzzle appropriately upgrades the SALSA choice to MEDIUM. It brings me joy to see links between answers in consecutive puzzles, whether by coincidence or design.
• NDA (38A: Secrecy contract (Abbr.)) and ON THE DL (42D: Hush, hush, for short) Shh, it's a secret! NDA here stands for "non-disclosure" agreement, and ON THE DL means "ON THE down-low."
• WELL HELLO THERE (53A: "Oh, hi!") When a clue is a spoken phrase placed in quotation marks, it means the answer will also be a spoken phrase. "WELL, HELLO THERE!" is my favorite of today's theme answers. I enjoy the fact that the clue for this 14-letter answer is only 4 letters.
• ERIN (59A: Pam's successor on "The Office") I am fond of saying, "(Almost) everything I know about ___, I've learned from crossword puzzles," with the blank being filled in with everything from sports to Dungeons & Dragons, to the TV series The Office. I've never seen an episode of The Office in its entirety, but I've learned a bit about the show from solving and writing about crosswords. Toward the end of the fifth season of The Office, ERIN Hannon (Ellie Kemper) was introduced as the receptionist, replacing Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), who moved to a different position.
• KNEE (61A: Largest joint in the human body) The KNEE is a complicated joint that is crucial for the leg movement involved in many forms of movement, including walking, running, swimming, and cycling. The KNEE involves three bones – the femur (thigh bone), the patella (kneecap), and the tibia (lower leg bone) – as well as cartilage, and a number of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Hooray for science in crosswords!
• LIMO (5D: Celeb's ride to the Oscars, typically) The use of the word "celeb" in the clue (the shortened version of celebrity) is a hint that the answer will be a shortened form of a word; in this case, LIMO, for the word "limousine."
• ANNE (9D: Green Gables girl) ANNE of Green Gables is a 1908 book by L. M. Montgomery, the first in a series of books about an 11 year old orphan named "ANNE with an E." I have a well-loved box set of the first three ANNE of Green Gables books that I purchased with my own money from a Scholastic book order when I was 10 years old.

• DORA (12D: Explorer of kids' TV) The title character of the animated children's TV series, DORA the Explorer is a seven-year-old Latina girl. On her various adventures, DORA is accompanied by her talking purple backpack and an anthropomorphic monkey named Boots. Like DORA, her backpack speaks both Spanish and English.
• BARIUM (20D: Element used as a radiocontrast agent) BARIUM is used as a contrast agent in radiography because it is not absorbed into the body from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Instead, BARIUM coats the GI tract and shows up on x-rays.
• CENA (31D: Wrestler and actor John) John CENA has been part of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 2001, and has been the WWE Champion a record 13 times. His acting credits include the currently unreleased movie, Coyote vs. Acme, in which he portrays the Acme Corporation's lawyer. The movie was scheduled to be released in 2023, but although the movie was completed, Warner Bros. decided not to release it, claiming it as a tax loss instead.
• USDA (33D: Org. that grades eggs) Appropriately for the theme of today's puzzle, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is also the organization that grades beef.
• LANA (56D: "The Matrix Resurrections" director Wachowski) LANA Wachowski and her sister, Lilly, are a writing and directing team that often work together, though each has worked on their own projects as well. In addition to co-writing and directing The Matrix, the Wachowski's other projects include the 2005 movie, V for Vendetta, and the 2015-2018 Netflix series, Sense8. One of LANA Wachowski's solo directing credits is the 2021 movie, The Matrix Resurrections.
• DNA (57D: Double-stranded genetic material) The abbreviations DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) both appear in crossword grids on a fairly regular basis. From a constructing standpoint, 3-letter words with common letters are extremely valuable in connecting longer entries. DNA and RNA could both be clued as [genetic material], but DNA is double-stranded and RNA is single-stranded.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
  • UGLY (26D: ___ Christmas sweater)
  • UPDO (28D: Hairstyle that might require a scrunchie)
  • SALTED (44D: Like some popcorn and winter roads)

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• RARE BOOKSTORES (19A: Places to buy first editions of novels)
• MEDIUM SALSA (35A: Semi-spicy taco sauce)
• WELL HELLO THERE (53A: "Oh, hi!")

The first word of each theme answer might be a response to "How would you like your steak cooked?": RARE, MEDIUM, and WELL. The answers appear in order of increased cooking times.

The phrase BRING THE HEAT is used to refer to increasing the energy level, intensity, or power of an activity. In today's theme, literally adding more HEAT will result in meat moving from RARE to MEDIUM to WELL-done. I enjoyed this clever theme and its three excellent theme answers. Thank you, Jess, for this delightful puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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