Classic Maya Angelou poem / MON 9-11-23 / One being propelled by hot air / Do nothing during the course of, as a storm / Focus of many an engagement photo / Pioneer in digital recording

Constructor: Hoang-Kim Vu

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "STILL I RISE" (10D: Classic Maya Angelou poem ... or a hint to the answers to the starred clues and the circled letters, in two different ways) — starred clues are for things that rise, and circled letters are all "I"s, which "rise" from the bottom to top of the grid (moving from west to east):

Theme answers:

• BREAD DOUGH (17A: *What might be kneaded in the kitchen)
• BALLOONIST (28D: *One being propelled by hot air)
• UP-AND-COMER (57A: *Person to keep an eye on for future success)

Word of the Day: Nathan CHEN (3D: Olympic figure skater Nathan) —

Nathan Wei Chen (born May 5, 1999) is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion (2018, 2019, 2021), the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), a ten-time Grand Prix medalist (8 golds, 1 silver, 1 bronze), a 2022 Olympic silver medalist in the team event, a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, and a six-time U.S. national champion (2017–22). At the junior level, Chen is the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, 2013–14 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior bronze medalist, and a six-time Junior Grand Prix medalist (5 golds, 1 silver).

Chen, who is regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time, holds the highest-winning percentage in competitions in the modern era with a more-than-three-year winning streak from 2018 to 2021 in what has been described as one of the most-dominant four-year stretches in the sport's history. Chen is recognized for performing the most technically difficult programs in the world and is credited for exceeding the expectations of athletic ability in the sport; he is known as the "Quad King" for his mastery of quadruple jumps. (wikipedia)

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This was fun to solve Down-only, even if the theme doesn't quite work. That is, the "STILL" part of "STILL I RISE" appears to be doing nothing. It's extra. Extraneous. There's nothing "still" about any of these answers, no "stillness" to be seen, by any definition of the word, so, yeah, I don't get it. I get the rising things, and the "I"s rising, but the stillness is a mystery. I now want to see this same theme done, but with "ALL RISE" as the revealer, and then "ALL" rebus squares replacing all the "I"s. Could it be done? Somebody should find out. Somebody not named me. But OK, so the "STILL" does nothing, it's a Monday, no big deal. You've still got this double-layered theme with the strange visual feature (the "I" stripe), and maybe that's enough. The things that rise seem a bit contrived. Yeast, yes, bread, good, but UP-AND-COMER ... sure, but spirits rise and the sun also rises (I've heard) and people rise (from bed) and the dead rise (from the grave) (I've heard) and the stock market rises (sometimes) and hopes and buildings rise and so, my point is, the two non-bread risers don't seem particular iconic. Arbitrary is what they seem. This is particularly true for BALLOONIST, which was, for me, the hardest answer to get. I just couldn't get past the idea that the "One" in 28D: *One being propelled by hot air was a thing, not a person. I wanted HOT AIR BALLOON, but of course "hot air" is in the clue, so that was out (also, HOT AIR BALLOON didn't fit, not by a long shot). I never ever think of the people in hot air balloons as being "-ists." BALLOONISTS. Anyway, the thing that is iconically rising is the balloon, not the person in the balloon, although yes, obviously, technically the person in the little basket dealie is rising too. The themer set seems a bit thin, a bit contrived. But the weirdness of the "I" line adds an entertaining element that makes the whole puzzle OK in my book, ultimately.

The most surprising thing to me about this puzzle is that I had no idea who Nathan CHEN was despite his being (apparently!) arguably the greatest male figure skater of all time!? I don't even remember the 2022 Olympics *happening*. The Olympics used to be Such a big deal when I was a kid, and now ... I dunno, things just haven't been the same since they moved Summer and Winter to different years. Also, in the past there were much fewer things to divert your attention, so the Olympics really did represent a common American culture. Now, despite there being a million different ways to watch, despite the fact that you can see seemingly any sport at any stage of competition, the idea that everyone is watching ... just isn't there anymore. No more Mary Lou Rettons or Miracles on Ice or whatever. The quality of the athletes obviously hasn't gone down. But the centrality of the Olympics in American culture feels like it has. But also there's the fact that I'm old and jaded and tuned out of many things. Anyway, my point is (mostly) that I really really should know who Nathan CHEN is. And now I do. We'll see if it sticks!

As for the Downs-only experience, aside from BALLOONIST (and CHEN!), the things that flummoxed me (briefly) were THE PITS and WAIT OUT and (to a lesser extent) BITSY (ew, who uses that as a standalone word?) crossing ITTY (again, same question). Would've been much (Much) better if ITTY had been ITSY and then you'd have ITSY-BITSY crossing and at least you could've justified it by cross-referencing them and cluing them as one term. But BITSY-ITTY is just an unappealing mash-up of cloying cutesy baby talk. As for THE PITS, obviously the THE was the main issue (15D: A truly unpleasant situation). And with WAIT OUT ... well, I wanted RIDE OUT, and then I was out of ideas. The "W" in WHIMS could've been an "S," the "A" in GAINS could've been an "R," so I had to get a bunch of crosses down below before confidently putting together WAIT OUT. Which I still want to be RIDE OUT.

See you tomorrow.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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