LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:

Title: “Watching the State of the Union on TV”
Prompt: This puzzle’s contest answer is a U.S. state.
Answer: CALIFORNIA, found by 511 solvers, of which 480 were solo solves

A famous one-word TV show concealed itself in each nonsensical theme entry last week:

17-A: [“The first President Roosevelt had a mean streak, right?”] = WASN’T TEDDY NASTY? = “Dynasty”
23-A: [Two things u might see if ur in a baseball stadium’s lounge? [Note: tortured syntax alert, sorry] = NEWSMAG ‘N’ UMPIRES. You see why the tortured syntax alert was necessary. = “Magnum, P.I.”
37-A: [Military takeover of a bookstore’s “Novels” wing?] = PROSE ANNEXATION. “Roseanne”
47-A: [Soak up the frigid ocean waters near Akureyri?] = BATHE OFF ICELAND. “The Office”
58-A: [President Wilson, when he couldn’t get a decent hand all night at the poker table?]. CARD-DEAD WOODROW. “Deadwood”. “Card-dead” might sound made up but it really is the poker term for when you haven’t been dealt a good hand all night. And Wilson’s presidential library is a mile from my house; he was born here in Staunton, Va., where his father was a professor at Mary Baldwin College (whose campus I can see from the window in my house as I’m writing this).

Anyway: each of these shows was set in a different state:

Dynasty: Colorado
Magnum, P.I.: Hawaii
Roseanne: Illinois
The Office: Pennsylvania
Deadwood: South Dakota

The first letters of those five states spell “CHiPs,” the 1970s-80s motorcycle cop classic, set of course in the Golden State.

BrainBoggler says:

Thanks for bringing back the memories of watching Ponch and Jon on their cool (at that time) motorcycles.

And patanga says:

I had a hell of a time with the grid but loved that The Office was included and really loved that the answer was my home state. Thanks, Matt!

Somehow I have only been to California once (2005, San Diego), but I have learned much about life there from TV and movies, like everyone else has!

NEGRONI’S COCKTAILS:

Attention cryptic crossword fans: Martin Reinfried has a new Patreon up called “Negroni’s Cocktails.” It’s a series of six variety cryptic crosswords in 2024, one every two months, each with a meta. There is also a final meta for the entire year. Check it out here:
https://www.patreon.com/negronis_cocktails

THIS WEEK’S INSTRUCTIONS:

This week’s contest answer is a five-letter part of the body.