The Onion January 26, 2011

A fun, easy puzzle that I completed over a sandwich at Hi*Rise.

By: Matt Garney
Difficulty: 2/5
Theme: "With flying colors"

Themed answers

• 60A. With 66-Across, how to solve this crossword (WITH FLYING)
• 66A. See 60-Across (COLORS)
• 17A. Navy squadron at air shows (BLUE ANGELS)
• 20A. Alan Scott's superhero alter ego (GREEN LANTERN)
• 37A. Portman vs. Kunis smackdown (BLACK SWAN)
  I'm usually crap at TV & film clues, but this one has been so buzz heavy that it has infiltrated even my dense fog of ignorance.
• 56A. Striped buzzer (YELLOW JACKET)
  By the time I got to this clue, I had figured out the theme and was able to fill it in given only 'w' and 'j'.

Stuff I learned

• 14A. Mexican hero ____ Juarez (BENITA)
  
  Click through to wikipedia
  Five term president of Mexico serving during the last half of the 1800s, and the first indigenous leader of a Western country. He fought off Napoleon during the French invasion, which is why there's a Cinco de Mayo. Died in office—actually in his office, at his desk—in 1872.
• ALVEOLI (40D. Lung structures) I know what they are, but didn't know how to spell it, which resulted in some confusion in this corner.
• 51A. Mildly alcoholic Russian drink (KVASS). Upon first reading the clue, I hoped it was a Moscow Mule, a vodka and ginger drink I have enjoyed at the Blake Street Tavern. But that obviously wouldn't have fit.
  I initially, because of not knowing how to spell ALVEOLI, had this filled in as KLASS.
  
  
  Click for http://www.google.com/images?q=klass
  Klass, first name Myleene, is a British pop star of whom there are many pictures similar to the one above. Not a tasty drink. Arguably.
  
  
  Kvass, on the other hand, is a drink fermented with rye bread to an alcohol level of about 1%, which probably shouldn't even be considered alcoholic.
  
  It sounds somewhat similar to Kombucha, a tea fermented to about 0.5% alcohol. I recently found out it exists because new Boulder resident and world-renowned ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek just started homebrewing some.
  
  
  Click through to twitter
  Jurek is also a vegan and a nutrition nerd whose twitter often contains interesting tidbits about food and eating.

Stuff I liked

• I. M. PEI (22A. Pyramide du Louvre architect). Pei is probably the only architect I can recall by name. He's been good to Denver, giving us the Mile High Tower, which most people recognize as the tower by the Wells Fargo "cash register" atrium, and of course the 16th Street Mall.
  
  He also made me finally put down MOE where I had insisted on keeping APU (23D. Small business owner on "The Simpsons")