USA Today - 11.11.2019

2D z MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019 z USA TODAY LIFE

© WIGGLES 3D GAMES DON’T QUOTE ME® Advice columnist Dan Rearrange the words to complete the quote. Savage talks about relationships.

BE GET IF LEAVE MANNEQUIN SOMEONE WANT

________YOU________TO________WITH___________WHO CAN’T___________YOU,________A______________. 11/11

Friday’s Answer: “The average, healthy, well-adjusted adult gets up at seven-thirty in the morning feeling just plain terrible.” - Jean Kerr

TXTPERT Across 1. 747393

5463

269

3889

5299

759

Down

749

76939

942533

2653

2256

879

11/11

Today’s theme Character traits Use the phone keypad to decode the clues. For example: 2 could be A, B or C ... and 5678 could be LOST 11/8 © USA TODAY and Rich Coulter Friday’s solution

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10

(^1) T (^2) D I E S E (^3) L
U I X
R S H
(^4) B A C K S (^5) E A T
I E U
N^6 C^7 D A S H
E A A T
(^8) T R U N K
ACROSS
1 Soul’s partner
5 Leave in a hurry
10 Brother of Dubya
13 Corn maze
measure
14 Newton in Vegas
15 Computer whiz,
e.g.
16 Tiny adjustment
to an atomic clock
18 Qatari big shot
19 Magician’s prop
20 Idyllic place
21 Falsify, with “with”
23 Took over, as
territory
25 Arch of Triumph
locale
26 Martini ingredient,
perhaps
27 Italian dish similar
to grits
29 Swiss ski mecca
32 Mexican War-era
president
33 Brand sold at
Petco
35 “Science Friday”
host Flatow
36 Fragrant hybrid
bloom
39 2016 Olympics
host, for short
40 Pond gunk
42 Minor gripes
43 Itching for action
45 Untidy sorts
47 Grille protector
48 Transports to
terminals
49 Kaplan offering
for H.S. seniors
53 Fine detail
55 Seed in smoothies
56 Soccer fan’s cheer
57 Feud faction,
perhaps
58 Crispy Chinese
appetizer
61 “One more
thing.. .”
62 “Get Out” director
Jordan
63 Leave off the list
64 Cigarillo residue
65 Two-masted
vessels
66 Tourney passes
DOWN
1 Hobby shop wood
2 Cousteau’s realm
3 Weary-looking
4 “Indeed!”
5 Home to ABBA
6 Measured, in a
way, with “off”
7 French home to
Interpol
8 Roadside
stopover
9 “Ideas worth
spreading”
lectures
10 Use booster
cables on
11 Canal to the
Hudson River
12 “Hamilton” duelist
15 Twins in the sky
17 Discriminatory, in
a way
22 YOU ___ HERE
24 Narcissist’s
problem
25 Golf shirts’ relatives
27 Places to embark
28 “Time’s Arrow”
novelist Martin
29 Bad-mouth,
slangily
30 Parabolic
trajectories
31 Money for bank
transactions
32 They’re
alleviated by
Aleve
34 Sushi bar
sauce
37 Adversary’s
plant
38 Livestock
identifier
41 Rita of “West
Side Story”
44 Tot’s timeout
46 Dyer’s vessel
47 LBJ part
49 Con artist’s
plant
50 Far from
cramped
51 “Lights” singer
Goulding
52 Clobbers with
snowballs
53 Final Four org.
54 Aches and
32-Down
55 Charter personnel
59 Stir-fry spheroid
60 Seriously
overcharge
Answers: Call 1-900-988-8300, 99 cents a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-320-4280.
OFF THE
GROUND
CROSSWORD
BYZhouqin Burnikel
Friday’s Answer
11/8
© Andrews McMeel 1 1/11
CROSSWORDS
ON YOUR PHONE
get our crossword app
EDITED Fred Piscop
DIFFICULTY RATING✮✩✩✩✩
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3
box contains the numbers 1 through 9 (no repeats).
11/11
11/8
SUDOKU FUSION
ON YOUR PHONE
puzzles.usatoday.com
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x2
box contains the numbers 1 through 6 (no repeats).
DIFFICULTY RATING✮✩✩✩✩
1 8 9 7
6 4 1 5
4 6 7 1 8
7 2 9
8 9 3 7 4 1 2
4 9 8
4 5 6 7 8
1 8 3 2
9 8 6 2
6 4 5 3
2 5
5 3 1 4
4 3 1 2
2 6
6 2 4 3
1 6 4 7 5 2 3 8 9
3 7 8 4 6 9 1 2 5
2 9 5 1 8 3 6 7 4
4 3 9 6 2 8 5 1 7
7 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 6
5 8 6 9 7 1 2 4 3
6 5 1 8 9 7 4 3 2
9 4 3 2 1 6 7 5 8
8 2 7 5 3 4 9 6 1
3 2 1 5 4 6
6 4 5 3 2 1
5 6 2 1 3 4
1 3 4 6 5 2
2 1 3 4 6 5
4 5 6 2 1 3
Friday’s Answers
SUDOKU
©Andrews McMeel
QUICKCROSS
By John Wilmes 11/11
Tight spots
Apartment building
division
“99 Red Balloons” artist
Pitcher
Actress Lockhart
Afresh
Underground workplace
Featured artist
Friday’s Answer
11/8
E Y E S
D E L I
G L E N
E P E E
QUICKCROSS
ON YOUR PHONE
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UP & DOWN WORDS
By David L. Hoyt and Russell L. Hoyt

Epic poem by Dante

Place to have a good laugh

Clear beverage

Soft drink

Ariana Grande’s offering

Decorative melody maker

Package, as for shipment

Clues: Friday’s Answer SPLASH MOUNTAIN LION KING GEORGE BURNS RUBBER

MOUNTAIN LION KING GEORGE BURNS RUBBER CEMENT

DIVINE

11/11

©Andrews McMeel

K G P C D A S G E H S S CN I K O U N L R U J H V W E R N N K K N H S O W R S E A C N A L E U U O I V R U F R E S E N L B S M N L U F U R J D D L T K D T V O E T Y A E E S E A N M O O S E Y R

WORD ROUNDUP By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Friday’s answer: APEX FLAX FLEX COAX JINX LYNX / FOOT INCH YARD MILE / STRAIGHT FLUSH PAIR / PRAGUE VIENNA ROME / MAPLE CEDAR

11/11 Find and Circle: Six human joints ☑☐☐☐☐☐ Three mammals ending with E ☐☐☐ Two planets ☐☐ He played James Bond (first/last name) ☐☐ When NFL teams play ☐

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of muggings to the camera, a hyperbolic sense of wonder at mentions of the original ﬁlm and a sly sense of humor that gives an edge to the aggressively bright and sunny tone. The primary focus of “Musical” is the old teen-TV stalwart: the love triangle. Perennial chorus girl Nini (Olivia Rodri- go) and her Broadway-averse boyfriend, Ricky (Joshua Bassett) take a break over the summer after Nini says “I love you,” and Ricky panics. At theater camp, Nini starts a “showmance” with hunky lead- ing man E.J. (Matt Cornett), and breaks up with Ricky permanently. The triangle becomes complicated when Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders), a batty “HSM” obsessive, petitions the school to put on a production of the show. Ricky auditions to try to win back Nini,

and snags the role of Troy to Nini’s Ga- briella. Drama, onstage and off, ensues. It’s gratifying that the new series doesn’t repeat the plot and relationship dynamics of the original with its new characters. We have seen enough stu- dent-athletes struggle with football and the musical. Instead of trying to make the drama club appear cool, the “Musi- cal” writers know that it already is. The series is a far more accurate and affec- tionate portrait of this subculture than the “HSM” films, NBC’s flop “Rise” or even the best years of Fox’s “Glee.” Despite the intensely sanitized ver- sion of high school Disney Plus presents (not CW steamy in the slightest), these kids feel dorky and real. They fret about cast lists, post cheesy songs to Insta- gram, practice dance moves in the li-

brary and worship at the feet of the not- very-impressive Miss Jenn. Considering they have to rehearse and put on “HSM,” “Musical” finds plenty of time to repeat the infectiously catchy songs of that film and include moments where the characters watch it. The series also has (in the first two epi- sodes made available for review) two original songs that pleasantly echo 2019 high-energy pop music. There is no question that the show feels extraneous, especially in a world with hundreds of scripted series. Al- though we never asked for it, “HSMTMTS” is here. If we absolutely, positively, no argument-about-it had to have a continuation of the franchise, 11 years after the third film,somehow Dis- ney Plus has found the right way to do it.

STREAMING PREVIEW

This ‘Musical’ earns an encore

Kelly Lawler Columnist USA TODAY

Olivia Rodrigo, Matt Cornett and Julia Lester star in “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”NATALIE CASS/DISNEY PLUS

Let’s be honest about something:
There is no yearning cry for more “High
School Musical.”
There are no fan petitions on Chan-
ge.org to bring back Gabriella and Troy,
to revisit the Wildcats of East High or to,
once more, “getcha, getcha head in the
game.” But the current world of enter-
tainment cares very little whether a TV
show is wanted or needed. Corporate
behemoths only care if they can revive
their intellectual property in movie se-
quels or on one of the ever-expanding
number of platforms for television con-
tent.
A cynical person would think of the
shameless, money-grabbing parade of
Hollywood rehashes when looking at
“High School Musical: The Musical: The
Series” (streaming Tuesday, eeeE).
It’s one of only two original scripted
live-action series available at the launch
of Disney Plus, the new marquee
streaming service from the biggest of
Hollywood’s corporate giants (the other
being “Star Wars” series “The Manda-
lorian”). But despite how soulless it may
seem, “Musical” is a remarkably un-
abashed and delightful love letter to
high school theater in a way the original
ﬁlm wasn’t.
Thankfully, the absurdly titled new
series is not a continuation nor a remake
of the three millennial-touchstone
movies, starring Zac Efron and Vanessa
Hudgens, that aired on the Disney
Channel or in theaters beginning in

Instead, it’s a 10-episode, “Mod-
ern Family”-style mockumentary about
a high school that puts on a production
of “High School Musical.” To add to the
meta-concept, the series takes place at
the real East High, where the original
movie (and this series) were ﬁlmed. It’s
overcomplicated and mildly confusing,
in an amusing, “why the heck not?” sort
of way.
“Musical” works because it acknowl-
edges the ridiculousness of its concept
and its very existence. There are plenty

USA Today - 11.11.2019

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