Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, At Last! Coffee!

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! At Last! Coffee!

Constructors: Geoffrey Schorkopf & Sally Hoelscher

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructors

Geoffrey: This puzzle was inspired by my morning ritual in which I perform the latter two verbs of this puzzle's theme.

• Chemex with paper filter.
• 750 g water heated to 205 F.
• 45 g coffee, ground fresh. I use Javavino City Blend (this is not a paid endorsement, but if you see this Javavino, I could always use some free product...)
• Pour a lil water over, let it bloom.
• Then pour the rest slowly over a few more minutes.

I like mine black. Hope you enjoyed this puzzle with a cup of your own!

Shout-out to Sally. It was an honor debuting in the USA Today with a member of the USAT crossword royal court like yourself. And shout-out to Amanda for amazing edits. Cheers! ☕

Sally: My morning ritual involves tea rather than coffee. Nonetheless, when Geoffrey invited me to collaborate with him on this puzzle, I readily agreed. I'm a fan of progression themes, and this is a fun one. Thanks for bringing me along for the ride on this one, Geoffrey!

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• IMPALA (14A: Tame ___ (psych-rock band named for an antelope)) Tame IMPALA is an Australian band whose music has been characterized as psych-rock, psychedelic pop, and indie rock. Interestingly, all of Tame IMPALA's recorded music is written, performed, and produced by one person, Kevin Parker. To translate the music to a live setting, Kevin Parker enlists the help of other musicians. Tame IMPALA has four studio albums, the most recent of which is The Slow Rush (2020). Tame IMPALA has also contributed songs for some movie soundtracks, including "Wings of Time" for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) and "Journey to the Real World" for Barbie (2023).
• MART (19A: "Crying in H ___") Crying in H MART is the 2021 memoir of Michelle Zauner, the lead vocalist of the band Japanese Breakfast. The book discusses Michelle Zauner's relationship with her mother, who died in 2014. My husband and I listened to the audiobook version of Crying in H MART on one of our road trips. I enjoyed it, and recommend it if you haven't read it yet.
• L-SITS (30A: Exercises in which the body forms a right angle) and EDIT (65A: Refine a crossword clue, say) L-SITS is the entry in this puzzle that went through the most EDITs. We felt that this answer is a bit tricky, and is one that doesn't appear in crosswords often. Therefore, we wanted to make sure we clued it in a way that allowed solvers to be successful. This meant including a hint to the L – without mentioning the letter L! We tossed several options around before landing on this clue. Hopefully our efforts were successful.
• WHERE'S (34A: "___ Waldo?" (classic children's series)) The WHERE'S Waldo? books feature intricate drawings of scenes in which readers are asked to find Waldo, who is identifiable by his red-and-white-striped shirt, knit hat, and glasses. The drawings in the books are by Martin Hanford, an illustrator from London. The books were originally published in the United Kingdom, where Waldo is known as Wally. The first WHERE'S Wally? book was published in 1987. Here's an interesting fact: WHERE'S Waldo? was the subject of multiple requests for its banning in the 1990s. A few of the challenges were successful, and the book was banned from several school libraries. Apparently, the beach scene in the book featured a topless woman whose breast was visible. (The woman was given a bikini top in later editions.)
• HBCU (42A: Spelman, or nine others in GA) The abbreviation for Georgia as GA in the clue alerts solvers that the answer will be an abbreviation. HBCU stands for historically Black college and university, and refers to colleges and universities that were established prior to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to serve Black students. Georgia is home to ten HBCUs: Spelman College, Albany State University, Clark Atlanta University, Fort Valley State University, Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Paine College, Savannah State University, and Morris Brown College. Georgia is also home to Geoffrey, so it was fun to get a shout-out to his state here.
• CAT (44A: Purring pet) Would you look at that? The word CAT made its way into our grid. I wonder how that happened... My CAT, Willow, may have had something to do with it, though she's currently curled up like a croissant and sound asleep.

• PSAT (47A: Natl. Merit Scholar's hurdle) The Preliminary SAT (PSAT) is also known as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Students generally take the PSAT in their sophomore or junior year of high school, and scores are used to determine eligibility for the National Merit Scholarship Program.
• WITCHES' BREW (56A: Potent "MacBeth" concoction) "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." These are the words of the three WITCHES in William Shakespeare's 1623 play, MacBeth, as they surround a cauldron and concoct their WITCHES' BREW. Interesting ingredients go into this WITCHES' BREW, "Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog," just to name a few.
• MOAN (61A: ___ and 63-Across (complain)) and GROAN (63A: ___ and 61-Across (complain)) When we realized MOAN and GROAN were next to each other in the grid, we felt they absolutely needed to be clued together. We hope our decision didn't cause you to MOAN and GROAN...
• LANE (64A: Penny's surname in a classic Beatles song) The classic Beatles song referenced here is, of course, the 1967 single, "Penny LANE." The word "surname" in this clue may be a bit misleading, as although at times the lyrics make it seem like Penny LANE is a person – "Penny LANE, is in my ears and in my eyes" – Penny LANE is actually the name of a road in Liverpool.
• HEARD (66A: "I ___ It Through the Grapevine") The song "I HEARD It Through the Grapevine" was released by Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1967, and Marvin Gaye in 1968. For me, this song (Marvin Gaye's version) will always be linked with the 1983 movie, The Big Chill, as it plays during the film's opening credits.
• SETH (68A: TV host Meyers) Since 2014, SETH Meyers has been the host of the talk show Late Night with SETH Meyers. From 2001 to 2014, SETH Meyers was a cast member on Saturday Night Live.
• RADIO (2D: National Public ___) National Public RADIO (NPR) was established by an act of Congress, the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. NPR syndicates shows produced by a network of over 1,000 public RADIO stations.
• AMER (5D: "Mo" star Mo ___) The Netflix TV series, Mo, is loosely based on Mo AMER's life as a Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas.
• AFTER (12D: Home renovation photo caption) My husband and I are currently in the midst of a kitchen renovation. My husband is building new cabinets, so it hasn't exactly been a speedy process. However, the end is in sight! I am looking forward to taking AFTER photos.
• SEXES (29D: Battle of the ___ (Riggs vs. King tennis match, for one)) There have been several tennis matches that have been billed as the Battle of the SEXES. Perhaps the best known is the 1973 match-up between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. That battle was won by Billie Jean King.
• REN (35D: "The Force Awakens" villain Kylo) The Star Wars' antagonist Kylo REN was played by Adam Driver in The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Resistance (2018-2020), and The Rise of Skywalker. Kylo REN is the chosen name of Ben Solo, the son of Princess Leia Organa Skywalker, and Han Solo. Kylo Ren was originally trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker (his uncle), but is persuaded to join the dark side (as his grandfather did).
• ON A (37D: "Livin' ___ Prayer" (Bon Jovi classic)) "Livin' ON A Prayer" is Bon Jovi's signature song, originally released in 1986. "Woah, we're halfway there / Woah-oh, livin' ON A prayer..."
• MEMES (49D: Surprised Pikachu and Futurama Fry, for two) The Surprised Pikachu MEME features an image of the Pokémon character Pikachu with its mouth agape paired with a variety of captions. The Futurama Fry MEME features the character Fry from the animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama. He is squinting his eyes, and the text on the image is some variation of "Not sure if ___ or ___."
• TREE (57D: Southern live oak, for example) The southern live oak is an oak TREE found in the southeastern part of the United States. These oak TREEs retain their leaves nearly year-round, but are not strictly considered evergreens. The southern live oak is the state TREE of Georgia (another shout-out to Geoffrey's state).

Crossword Puzzle Theme Synopsis

• WIENER ROAST (20A: Cookout featuring hot dogs and sticks)
• HAS AN AXE TO GRIND (39A: Is motivated by a hidden agenda)
• WITCHES' BREW (56A: Potent "MacBeth" concoction)

AT LAST! COFFEE!: The LAST word of each theme answer is a step in making COFFEE: ROAST, GRIND, and BREW.

As I mentioned above, I am a fan of progression themes. The steps for making COFFEE not only appear in the theme answers, but also appear in the puzzle in the order in which they are performed. First, ROAST the COFFEE beans. Next, GRIND the beans. Finally, BREW the COFFEE. Congratulations to Geoffrey Schorkopf on a USA Today debut! Thanks to Geoffrey for letting me tag along on his debut. Hope you all enjoyed the solve.

For more on USA TODAY’s Crossword Puzzles

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