Website for customer reviews / MON 12-1-14 / Spoon-bending Geller / Mineral layer involved in tracking / Sleuth in old crime fiction

Monday, December 1, 2014

Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Medium



THEME: blank my blank — "adoring" expressions from people of different professions (if you accept "arsonist" as a profession…)

Theme answers:
  • "ROCK MY WORLD" (17A: "You really___!," said the adoring seismologist)
  • "SUIT MY FANCY" (11D "You really___!," said the adoring tailor)
  • "FLOAT MY BOAT" (51A: "You really___!," said the adoring ship captain)
  • "LIGHT MY FIRE" (25D: "You really___!," said the adoring arsonist)
Word of the Day: REDOUBT (10D: Fortress) —
redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a hastily-constructed temporary fortification. The word means "a place of retreat". Redoubts were a component of the military strategies of most European empires during the colonial era, especially in the outer works of Vauban-style fortresses made popular during the 17th century, although the concept of redoubts has existed since medieval times. A redoubt differs from a redan in that the redan is open in the rear, whereas the redoubt was considered an enclosed work. (wikipedia)
• • •

Hey, this actually works pretty well. I'd've done Everything I could to get rid of PEE (!?), and I think the "arsonist" clue really ruins the "professional" consistency of the theme clues, but other than that, I think this puzzle works. It's easy, the theme is bouncy, the fill is clean and interesting. ARDOR and "arson(ist)" are etymologically related, but something tells me nobody but me will notice that, so no foul. Most of my trouble came with REDOUBT, both because I never use and never see that term anywhere (thus often completely forgetting that it exists at all), and because I had a typo in the third letter, and thus was looking at a word starting RES- (instead of RED-) for far too long. YELP gets a nice modern clue (18D: Website for customer reviews), though URI is still down there "bending" spoons (seriously, that PEE corner needs a total reboot).  I had SUIT MY TASTE at first, instead of SUIT MY FANCY; went with the "I" spelling of REATA; and couldn't make any sense of the chicken clue, both because I wasn't sure if "Ready" was a verb or an adjective, and because, well, the clue just looked silly somehow—couldn't process it. As a chicken … readies things for market? Seriously, that clue is going along just fine until it hits "chicken," and then the wheels kind of come off (and again, I say, the house at PEE corner must go). But ALL TOLD, this gets a thumbs-up.


[trying to fact-check my claims about ARDOR / "arson," I accidentally looked up "ardor urinae," which is an ardor no one is going to make a movie about any time soon, I tell you what …]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. I *completely* forgot that the first Monday of every month is guest blogger ANNABEL's day … my bad. She graciously agreed to do next Monday instead (12/8).

73 comments:

r.alphbunker 12:04 AM  

The theme entries are wellerisms. You can look it up.

Over at xwordinfo.com the constructor said that WS changed most of his submitted clues. I did WS one better. I replaced all the clues of today's puzzle with Friday and Saturday clues from previous NYT puzzles. The result is Monday made difficult.

jae 12:19 AM  

Easy-medium for me.  CAMPing before OUT and PLUck before PLUMP.

@Rex I've seen REDOUBT in Civil War books.

Cute theme, light on dreck, liked it.

Whirred Whacks 12:33 AM  

Wow, @Ralph! 12:04 Monday made difficult, indeed! That FLOATs MY BOAT!

It just goes to show how easy or difficult a puzzle is pretty much a function of the clueing.

Many of the clues in yesterday's (Sunday, November 30th) puzzle were very difficult for me (they seemed Saturday caliber).

Could you perform a similar but reverse operation on yesterday's puzzle: "Sunday made easy."
I'd love to see it.

dmw 12:55 AM  

Nice, zippy puzzle for a Monday. Really fun. Thanks Mr. Guzzetta, construct some more (especially because it is a rare puzzle that Rex has more nice things to say criticisms.

Moly Shu 1:09 AM  

Learned something on a Monday, REDOUBT. Never heard of it and didn't believe it was correct, but all the crosses checked. Easy, fun puzzle.

I knew they weren't Tom Swifty's, but couldn't remember what they are called. Thanks @R.alph for jogging it loose.

George Barany 1:48 AM  

Great idea by @R.alph for creating a tougher version of this sweet, easy puzzle by @John Guzzetta. I particularly appreciate changing the clue for TED to "Rocker ___ Leo" (whoever that is). The first 144 Shortz-era clues for this name were clued in a myriad of interesting ways, until less than four weeks ago, we were for the first time asked to ponder the junior Sen. from Texas who provoked the 2013 government shutdown. Today, the verbatim same clue. Why?

As for @R.alph choosing "Home to Tell" for URI, thank you, thank you. When my son Michael was but a lad, I brought him to a public lecture at the University of Minnesota given by James "The Amazing" Randi. We were sitting in the front row, and when Randi set about to debunk that fraud URI Geller, Michael waved his hand furiously and was thus selected as a volunteer from the audience. Bottom line, anyone can learn to bend a spoon in mere minutes.

Anoa Bob 2:37 AM  

I think this one has a nice balance between theme and fill. By using a two-across and two-down theme arrangement in the grid layout, no fill is restricted by having to cross multiple themers. This frees up space for some solid fill with a few sparklers here and there, like STIR FRY & LIP SYNC.

When I bought my boat in '99, I had to decide what to name her. I had a long list of candidates, but nothing jumped out at me. One day I was doing a crossword and came upon the clue "Gentle breeze". I immediately knew the answer, and, ta-da, at the same time had a name for my boat, ZEPHYR.

An easy way to dodge the PEE in the SW is to change PLUMP to PLUMB and cross reference the resulting BEE to 23D APIAN.

GILL I. 4:33 AM  

@Anoa Bob....or, "I'm the luckiest boy in the World" per ___Wee Herman?
This cute Monday puzzle held my attention like GOURMET BEANS in a STIR FRY.
I didn't have trouble with REDOUBT but PITH did give me pause. I Like that BULLY BUILT BUSBOY in the FAB corner.
Enjoyable Monday puzzle, John Guzzetta. Grazie mille.

Lewis 5:51 AM  

@anoabob -- good change for PEE. Another option is simply to change PEE to PRE, and HIREE becomes HIRER

@ralph -- Patrick Berry says the cluing is the most important part of a puzzle (in his book). Thank you for showing what a difference it can make.

The grid was such that this is really three independent puzzles, NW, SE, and NW-to-SE, and it works okay on a Monday, but later in the week might make the puzzle more challenging. This puzzle is an UDDER delight, with it's lighthearted theme and lack of dreck.

I like the overBUILT BUSBOY and underBUILT CELLO. If you start with 43D and make a right turn, you get USER FEES. If you like to play Boggle, you can find a "four" to go with FAB and a "down" to go with PARE. URI makes my mind think of "urine", and there it is, so close to PEE.

While ZEPHYRS and REDOUBT are later in the week words, they teach a beginner to rely on crosses. If there are just one or two of these words on Monday and the crosses fair, I think it adds to the Monday experience.

Bravo!

keleng 6:01 AM  

A local landmark helped me sail through that clue.
York Redoubt is a fortress built in the 1700s overlooking Halifax (Nova Scotia) harbour and is well-known in this part of the world.

Lewis 6:07 AM  

Factoid: Some famous former BUSBOYs include Jacques Chirac, Langston Hughes, Richard Feynman, Chris Rock, Joh Stewart, and Al Pacino.

Quotoid: "One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." -- Frank Zappa

Danp 6:17 AM  

I never heard of a wellerism, so thanks @r.alph. I doubt Guzzetta ever considered "profession" as part of the theme. And you have to love the irony of an "adoring arsonist".

You could also make PEE ESE, but clued as it was, I never got the ardor urinae vibe that @Rex did.

Anonymous 7:23 AM  

How could you not forget that the first day of the month was when your teenage guest blogger does the write up?

Anonymous 7:24 AM  

correction ... how could you not remember

Dorothy Biggs 7:32 AM  

@Ralph's reboot of the clues for this puzzle illustrate what I often feel after I finish a "challenging" puzzle. I look at the words, see that they are just words I know pretty well, and wonder how I ever had a hard time filling them in. Makes me wonder if the puzzle is in the clues or in the grid, given how easy the grid usually is in retrospect.

I had RiATA at first...shouldn't the clue have a "var." in it?

There is that pesky TEC again.

Had "eew" before finally UGH. CAMPing before CAMPOUT.

A CELLO is more like a violin's brother than a cousin. The viol family are more correctly "cousins" to the violin family, if I'm not mistaken. BOA, on the other hand, is probably more of a cousin to the python...constrictors but different.

One small nit to pick: a BUSBOY is no more a "starting employee" than a new server or bartender. Granted, it may be the first job ever for the busboy, in which case the clue should have been "First time employee in a restaurant, maybe" or something like that.

Mohair Sam 7:33 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mohair Sam 8:01 AM  

As good as Monday gets. Played a little easy here, but fun clues and a likable theme.

Thanks for the link above @ralph - educational. Getting the right clues for the right day is the heart of Shortz's job - and I think he's great at it (best throw on my flak jacket).

Speaking of military terms - Worked for a Tech Sergeant in the Air Force who would jokingly refer to our office as the REDOUBT. Hence the word that troubled many on the blog was a gimme in this house.

Spent a summer as a BUSBOY, disappointed I didn't make @Lewis' list.

@Rex's etymological pick, pick, pick on ARDOR (34d answer) and arson(ist) (part of 25d clue) reminds us why we need the forgotten Annabel as an occasional breath of fresh air.

Anonymous 8:13 AM  

I don't know if any of you work the 5x5 "mini" crossword that comes with the NYT iOS app, but today the grid forms a swastika-like pattern and the first answer is "Jew." Pretty bad taste, if you ask me!

RooMonster 8:18 AM  

Hey All !
Pretty much agree with @NCA Pres.

Nice breezy grid design, good fill.

Miss Annabelle! Oh well, something to look forward to next week!

M&A, yesterday's name... Masked and Aweenymous... priceless!!

PLUMP BEANS
RooMonster
DarrinV

r.alphbunker 8:19 AM  

@NCA President
Exactly. You need to be a poet to create great clues and an engineer to pack a lot of interesting fill into the grid. Great clues are going to be the domain of humans for a long time.

M & A's cluing is one of the reasons why I like runtpuzzes so much. For example, the mundane ECRU was recently clued as {Color similar to jackrabbit}.

And TAUPE could be clued as {The Audacity of ___, recent headline commenting on Obama's suit}

jberg 8:34 AM  

You say REATA, I say RiATA... let's call the whole thing off!

Far from avoiding PEE, my impression was this puzzle was doing what it could to get it in. Not that I think that's a good idea, or anything.

@NCA President -- not sure about CELLO. It's definitely a brother to the violone -- the reason you sometimes see it as 'cello is that it's original name was violonecello, or little violone. I don't know enough to say whether it's somehow different (other than size) from the violin and the modern viola. Certainly all the bowed string instruments with four strings are more closely related than those with more or fewer, etc. But hey, this is a puzzle, and a Monday! "Cousin" is good enough.

I liked the diagonal column in the middle; made up for those silly 3-stacks in the NE and SW, IMO.

Eager to see you next week, Annabel!

AliasZ 8:39 AM  

This puzzle made my day, flew my flag, peeled my banana, buttered my biscuit, tossed my salad and humped my camel, except I thought tickle MY FANCY would have sounded better.

Why would we want to eliminate PEE? When there is a PEER on top, it's only logical that you get PEE below. PEE trickles downhill.

Fun to see ARENA over ROCK, even though we all know there is no such thing as ARENA ROCK.

Anyone for a little CELLO?

Gotta run.

Ludyjynn 8:49 AM  

Riata before REATA, camping before CAMPOUT. BUSBOY okay by me as clued.

AGREE w/ @GeorgeB that its UDDERly UGH-worthy seeing TED Cruz, yet again. More apropos, SEEMs to me, to cast him in a SITCOM as the resident BULLY.

ALLTOLD, a very nice Monday. Thanks, JG and WS.



Anonymous 8:53 AM  

I totally missed the House at PEE Corner. I PLU[ck] my chickens before market.

Z 8:57 AM  

TED Leo and Aimee Mann - The Both.

Boats float. Fires are lit. Earthquakes rock worlds. How are suits fancied?

Generic Solver 9:09 AM  

@Z (8:57): I think you have it backwards. Fancies are suited, as in fulfilling one's desires/likes.

chefbea 9:11 AM  

Fun easy puzzle for @Chefwen and me...being connoisseurs of fine food. I think we will have to go for a wok!! and another shoutout to me at 23 across.

Z 9:19 AM  

@Generic Solver - Thanks!

Lewis 9:22 AM  

Oops -- the three sections of this puzzle are NW, SE, and NE to SW (not NW to SE as I wrote above)...

dk 9:25 AM  

🌕🌕🌕 (3 mOOOns)

As you can hire one and pay one a fee for a service.... Arsonist is a profession.

Off to work to get some rest after the holidays.

Oh! Those West Texans sure know how to decorate houses for x-mas. Some amazing sights.

Luna 10:03 AM  

For everyone's information, there is a park with a military ruin in it called York Redoubt in Halifax, NS. That was one we non-New Yorkers got easily!

Bob Kerfuffle 10:16 AM  

Better than usual Monday.

Hand up for CAMPING before CAMPOUT.

Also, 13 D, CHEER before CHANT.

@dk reminds me:

Two older gentlemen happen to sit side-by-side in lounge chairs in Miami.
1st: I retired after my business burned down. Fortunately I had good fire insurance.
2nd: I retired after my business was destroyed in a flood. Fortunately I had good flood insurance.
1st: How do you make a flood?


@Luna - You might want to read @keleng's post at 6:01 AM!

Anonymous 10:22 AM  

I had similar difficulties that others have expressed.

Top-left
ALLSAID
CAMPING
SKOE for TROY (!?!?)

Mid-right
HONOR
YAWNS

Bottom-left
PLUCK

Very frustrating fill. Theme was way easier than the fill. I probably would have solved the theme without even having any of the letters had I proceeded that way.

-JW Norwich

mac 10:22 AM  

Good Monday, with only write-overs at pluck and camping.

Lots of beautiful words, especially for a Monday. It suited my fancy.

mathguy 10:31 AM  

If you are still going to do Acrostic in yesterday's NYT Magazine, please don't read the rest of this comment.

The puzzle is based on an eye-opening paragraph about lobster. The early colonists to America used the plentiful crustacean to feed prisoners and slaves and as fertilizer. Deb Amlen has a witty comment about it in her blog. But it reminds me of when I was a kid and my mother would serve corn at dinner. My dad, who was raised on a ranch in Spain, would say, "This is what we used to feed the pigs."

Carola 10:36 AM  

Fun Monday - cute theme plus PHYSICS, REDOUBT, ZEPHYRS, MUTINY (nice echo with BOAT and MER). Had to erase lasso and series (for SITCOM); had an eye-widening moment at SUIT MY FANnY.

@Alias Z - Same smile here over ARENA ROCK, with the ancillary NOISE and LIPSYNC.

Arlene 10:51 AM  

I was counting on this being a fast Monday - and it was! I got slowed down a big with CAMPing instead of CAMPOUT - and thought PLUCK before PLUMP.
But felt smug about REDOUBT and wondered if that was a bit Tuesday-ish for a Monday.
Nice start to the week!

chasklu 10:52 AM  

only erasure today was BREEZES to make way for ZEPHYRS.

Unknown 11:39 AM  

In the (likely?) event that Annabelle didn't forget and wrote up today's puz as planned, I suggest she post it here -- LIKEABOSS -- as my 10yo nephew is now given to saying.

Last night, on the long drive back from Ann Arbor, we were staring down lots of red lines on maps.google.com for I84 in NY and CT, so as we passed Scranton, I called an audible: North I81, I said. To Binghamton! I figured we'd pick up I88 to ALBANY and ride I90 toward BEANTOWN. Peasy like a Monday, says I, presciently identifying our eventual arrival day. How bad could traffic in rural, swept-by-a-Broome county backwater, Hinterwalden-an-der-Susquehanna be? I thought, naïvely.

Then it all became clear. I81 was stop-and-go for 12 miles entering the Capital of the Cross World. For. No. Discernable. Reason. Mrs. Kid became cross. I became cross. Even the always-affable @cascodog sniffed in disgust. And Rex has to live here? Now that's an A-HA moment. Annabelle of Annapolis has a distinct psychogeographical advantage. ;)

I've always believed in cutting Rex some slack. Now I'm cutting him seconds. Tis the season.

Masked and Anonym8Us 11:52 AM  

Kinda sympathize with the urgent feelin @63 had to get rid of PEE. Had to hop outta the car north of Lubbock one time. Not many trees to hide behind, out there... But I digress.

All I gotta say is, URI stays. Just do some sch. mascot clue and move on. Lil darlins.

Outstanding MonPuz. OPTIC UDDER SAC. Rodeo out of the gate. Me too, @jae, on PLUck it.

Moonday clue highlights:
* UDDER one.
* Go for a wok. har
* INK shoulda had {Quill fill}, maybe. Cows like rhymes.

M&A

**gruntz**
***metaz***
****runtzravaganza****

Sorry to have to leave 12:46 PM  

Oh dear, being a novice and just starting to master Mondays, this one threw me for a loop. Thank God for Rex that helped me cheat.

retired_chemist 1:40 PM  

A fun puzzle (but then they all are to me.......).

Discovered a problem with doing the puzzle in the NYT online app when there is high net traffic - you wait for a few (sometimes more) seconds, increasing your solve time since the clock doesn't stop, and it is way too easy to try your keystroke(s) again while you wait. The latter leads predictably to unpredictable confusion and yet slower solve time. Bah. Back to AL.

Considered vioLa briefly for 37A but crosses rapidly changed that. Ditto for ick @ 16A, Series@ 44A, and RiATA @ 59A (fixing that was my last square). Too bad Mr. Smoketoomuch (from the Monty Python Travel Agency Sketch didn't fit 48A.

My fix for PEE is either EEE (big shoe width) or EDE (Netherlands city) depending on how easy you want to make it. But PEE doesn't offend me anyway.

Thanks, Mr. Guzzetta

chefwen 3:08 PM  

Sweet little puzzle that I solved while renter boy was sitting next to me staring in fascination. He said "the clue for 27A is interesting" I filled in GOURMET. He said "how do you know that stuff?" I sez "cuz I are one" (hi @chefbea)

REDOUBT might have given me pause, but I never saw it, managed to fill itself in quite nicely.

Thanks Mr. Guzzetta, that was fun.

Mr. Benson 3:09 PM  

This might not be much of an improvement but maybe that PEE corner could be cleaned up by replacing PLUMP with PLAME (clued as outed spy Valerie) and HIREE with HIRES. The acrosses would be ARI (D'backs on a scoreboard) and ESE (Kansas City-St. Louis dir.). Kind of bland, but no PEE.

Or maybe just PLUMS/SEE.

Or just embrace PEE and give it the fun scatological clue it deserves ("Make yellow snow" or some-such).

mskmoorthy 3:10 PM  

Thanks to @ralph for a hard variation. Clue for Troy is interesting!

Leapfinger 3:18 PM  

@Z, I had SUITS MY STYLE before SUITS MY FANCY. I think that would have satisfied yor nit. Great minds think. Also thout ROCK MY WORLD should've been a geologist instead of a seismologist,who could mayhap have gone with SHIVER MY TIMBERS... or ME TIMBERS... oh well.

Some kind of strange to have OPTIC PEER UDDER SAC, but okay, if that fills your cup. Gotta PRO TEC THE PEER as well as the PEEd. PITH on them both.

Speaking of which, whenever I'm on my North-South drive, I enjoy seeing the signs for the Little PEE Dee River.

Fun theme with no UGH fill as far as I was concerned; allof it enhanced by @r.alph's alternates and revival of Sam Weller.

A most 'Strordinary Thanksgiving week is drawing to a close.

SHALE,SHALE, the gang's all here

Leapfinger 3:28 PM  

I DOUBT and REDOUBT that it was a good idea to re-raise the issue of ARENA ROCK, @You-two-know-who-you-are.

wreck 3:38 PM  

Youse talkin' to me?

Benko 5:18 PM  

@Ralphbunker: Thank you for introducing me to the concept of "wellerism". I used it on Amy's blog giving you full credit.

Steven J. St. John 6:05 PM  

I had SUIT MY STYLE at first, which would have been a double joke. Was hoping that was the direction of the puzzle, but even still, nice and clean, good Monday.

William-Lambos-Neuropsych 6:20 PM  

In the intro to one of Will Shortz’s 500+ puzzle books (no I have no idea which one), he recounts the discovery he and another constructor made early in his career that whereas an “easy” puzzle (one with common words or phrases for answers) could be made into even a very difficult puzzle with arcane or vague cluing, the opposite was not necessarily true. Ie a difficult puzzle - one with esoteric or rarely used words and phrases -
could not be made easy no matter how easy they tried to clue it.


With respect to yesterday’s NYT Sunday puzzle, I found most of the answers to be common enough fodder, so it played more difficult than usual because of misleading clues, often with little relation to the answers. Compare this to one of Peter Gordon’s difficult Fireball themelesses, for example, where the puzzle is hard because both the clues and the answers are difficult. It leads to a much more enjoyable experience, IMO, for a challenging puzzle. Yesterday’s Times puzzle was hard for all the wrong reasons, and failed (again, IMO) because it tries to be too cute for it’s own good.

Teedmn 6:29 PM  

CALL MY BLUFF (rock climber)
SELL MY SOUL ( musician to agent)
COLOR MY WORLD (dyer)
COOK MY GOOSE ( chef)
MAKE MY DAY (to the sun)
BREAK MY BALLS ( pool player)

These don't exactly fit the theme but they were fun to make up!

Thanks for a fun Monday, Mr. Guzzeta.

Your Friendly Foot Fetishist 6:51 PM  

@Teedmn,

You CURL MY TOES!

Anonymous 2:49 AM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown 6:05 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous 10:48 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown 10:48 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous 5:03 AM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous 4:19 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
mrs tony 3:26 AM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
mrs tony 3:26 AM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous 12:16 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown 5:54 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous 3:02 PM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
spacecraft 10:52 AM  

Testing 123...

spacecraft 11:16 AM  

Well, the captcha system SEEMS to be working today, so here goes.

I am having more and more trouble with this site. Two issues that have come up many times before:

1. Syndidate not updated. Usually this presents minimal problems, but if it occurs on the cusp of a month (or, as today, a year: YIKES!), then I have to try to put a clue unique to that puzzle into the search bar and HOPE that works. It did today after only two tries, but it's still a hassle. As I age, I become less and less tolerant of hassle.

2. These ubiquitous spellcasters. Today the length I had to scroll to get past them was ridiculous. I ask again, WHERE'S the FILTER???

And a new wrinkle to an old hassle: the captcha. I blogged yesterday--oh yes I did!--but then miscopied a (dimly lit and VERY poorly photographed) number, was called wrong and asked to try again--and from then on was called wrong EVERY SINGLE TIME, even when (rarity!) the captcha was clearly legible. I simply could not post yesterday no matter what I did.

These hassles are piling up on me, and I really am at the point where I'm ready to chuck the whole deal. It's just NOT WORTH the HASSLE!!

Still, if this goes through, I'll try to address today's puzzle.

Hello, puzzle!

I had CAMPing before CAMPOUT; the former is a noun which agrees with the clue (activity).

Is SUITMYFANCY a thing? Maybe it used to be. The rest of it seems good--Monday simple, but good. One or two awkward clues: ZZZ for ZETAS (duh) and the uber-cute "Go for a wok, say?" for STIRFRY. USE a wok, I'll buy. Just don't say that phrase if you have a dog in the house, or you'll be presented with a saliva-laden leash.

B. Well, off to the captcha wars.

Ta-da! 8666 = 8. Not bad.

rondo 1:08 PM  

@spacey - ditto on those issues, think I've had 'em all at least once.
Decent Monday puz, everything gettable.
Later in the week 20a would probably be clued with Gynt.
ACHY was recently clued with Breaky Heart.
How about some Jonses with my ZETAS?? And maybe Evans with my LINDA?

How about a captcha:
check, I'm not a robot

D 1:09 PM  

Welcome to the world of spell casters! probably should read one of those someday to find out what they get out of posting here!??

As for the puzzle. Fun for a Monday. Only one write-over for me CHeers to CHANTS, so a good start for my week

@spacecraft. I have spells of seeing my post disappear after appearing, and then finding I couldn't repost Anything. I suspect there is something in the Captcha system that misfires as it started when this new little,square box thing appeared. Don't know if has to do with the fact that I have a prehistoric IPad?

As for getting the new puzzle. I just save roday's blog and hit the "new puzzle" the next day. On Monday you have to,scroll past Suday's blog which is time-wise out of sync with my paper.

Hoping this will,post! But not for the points...100

DMG 1:11 PM  

that was me above, duess Captcha just decided to use my first name?

rain forest 3:01 PM  

Pretty good Monday puzzle except for the absence of Annabelle. Wonder how her university applications have panned out. Wonder what sort of hat she is wearing today.

Liked this, and almost was able to solve across-only, but I rarely have the discipline to do that from top to bottom. Today, though, I missed the STIRFRY clue, which I think is cute.

One of the better Mondays.

While scrolling past the spellcaster testimonies, I noticed that in one of them, a spellcaster helped a woman to get pregnant. Clearly this wasn't done online.

Bloody check!

Anonymous 3:47 PM  

From Syndication Land

When the "syndi" link doesn't work, just go to your browser (Safari) and type in "rex parker" and the date of the puzzle. The puzzle number at the top of the puzzle is the date it ran. For instance today's puzzle number 1201, ran on December 1 2014.

rondo 5:31 PM  

I usually just go to the Blog Archives on the sidebar if the syndi button leaves me short.

126 = 9, second post, but first play

Unknown 2:27 AM  
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

  © Free Blogger Templates Columnus by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP