Chainkeen Exchange-Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Cutting the Cards

There are Chainkeen Exchangespoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Cutting the Cards

Constructor: Stella Zawistowski

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• LUCAS (27D: "Stranger Things" character Sinclair) Stranger Things is a Netflix TV series about a small town dealing with a hostile alternate dimension. Although I have written about the show several times, I have never watched it, so I needed the help of crossing answers here. Caleb McLaughlin portrays LUCAS Sinclair who is one of the main characters on the show. Netflix has partnered with Penguin Random House to release a number of books that relate to Stranger Things. One of the books – LUCAS on the Line – features the character LUCAS Sinclair.
• ARIA (61D: Dashon Burton solo) Dashon Burton is a concert and opera singer and an assistant professor of voice at Vanderbilt University. He has won three Grammy Awards, the most recent one this year, for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance with the vocal band Roomful of Teeth.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• RASP (5A: Feature of Louis Armstrong's voice) Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was a trumpeter and vocalist and an influential figure in jazz. Although he had no formal musical education, Louis Armstrong's voice, with its signature RASP, became iconic and instantly recognizable. If you need some Louis Armstrong in your day, here's a link to "What a Wonderful World."
• OREO (15A: Cookie with layers) And what delicious layers they are, too. Cookie, creme, cookie ... OREO goodness.
• CLIPBOARDS (20A: Writing surfaces for solving crosswords, sometimes) Perhaps unsurprisingly, solving crosswords is exactly what I use CLIPBOARDS for. Additionally, a CLIPBOARD is a great place for stickers.

• LADY GAGA (27A: "Bad Romance" singer) "Bad Romance" is a song from LADY GAGA's 2009 EP, The Fame Monster. "Bad Romance" won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and the music video won a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. Thanks to this puzzle, I now have "Bad Romance" as an earworm: "Rah, rah-ah-ah-ah / Roma, roma-ma / GAGA, ooh-la-la..."
• USA (36A: Diana Taurasi's Olympic team) Diana Taurasi is a professional basketball player. She plays for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. She also plays on the USA women's basketball team. She has won six gold medals with Team USA, in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 (held in 2021), and 2024. Team USA's most recent Olympic win makes Diana Taurasi the only basketball player with six gold medals.
• CADILLAC RECORDS (40A: Movie starring Beyonce as Etta James) CADILLAC RECORDS is a 2008 biographical movie about record company executive Leonard Chess, co-founder of Chess Records. When Chess Records began, Leonard Chess sold records from the back of his CADILLAC; this was the inspiration for the title of the movie. Leonard Chess launched the careers of several notable musicians, including Etta James, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters. As the clue informs us, Beyoncé portrays Etta James in the movie.
• CARBO LOADS (57A: Eats to prep for a marathon) When one CARBO LOADS, one increases the amount of carbohydrates consumed for a short period of time. This practice is common among endurance athletes, as it maximizes the storage of glycogen (a form of energy) in the muscles. The classic CARBO LOADing meal is pasta.
• KIWI (70A: Fuzzy fruit or fluffy bird) Last month I wrote about how the KIWI (fruit) was adopted as a commercial name for the fruit known as the Chinese gooseberry because of the fruit's resemblance to the bird.
• KALE (11D: "Curly" veggie) Curly KALE is one of many KALE varieties, so named because its leaves are curly or frilly. When I was in high school, I worked at a Bonanza Steakhouse. One of my jobs was stocking the salad bar. We used KALE as decoration on the salad bar; to cover the ice. It was only about fifteen years ago that I discovered people actually eat KALE.
• DADDY (29D: "But ___ I Love Him" (Taylor Swift song)) "But DADDY I Love Him" is a song from Taylor Swift's most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department. This song was also the inspiration for last Friday's crossword.
• EXPLORED (43D: Checked out the different areas of an open-world game) An open world video game is one that can be EXPLORED freely, as opposed to video game with a linear and structured arc of play.
• EEL (50D: Unagi or anago) Freshwater EEL is known as unagi. Saltwater EEL is known as anago.
• CAPS (54D: FEATURE OF THESE LETTERS) NICE!
• AGED (58D: Got older) and ERA (65D: Phase of life) These two answers seem to go together. One of my parenting mantras when my kids were younger (and even now that they are adult children) was, "It's a phase." As my kids AGED, they were constantly entering new ERAs. The same is true of all of us, of course. I'd like to think that I have AGED into my crossword ERA!
• DOWN (62D: Direction of this answer) I always enjoy a self-referential answer, and it delights me that we just saw ACROSS clued self-referentially three days ago.

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• CLIPBOARDS (20A: Writing surfaces for solving crosswords, sometimes)
• CADILLAC RECORDS (40A: Movie starring Beyonce as Etta James)
• CARBO LOADS (57A: Eats to prep for a marathon)

CUTTING THE CARDS: The word CARDS is CUT by each theme answer: CLIPBOARDS, CADILLAC RECORDS, and CARBO LOADS.

I appreciate that the theme answers represent three different ways of CUTTING THE CARDS: C/ARDS, CA/RDS, and CAR/DS. In addition to the answers I've already highlighted, I also enjoyed ROBOCALL (though I don't generally enjoy ROBOCALLs), IS IT OKAY?, and STILETTO. Thank you, Stella, for this superb puzzle.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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