Hindu divinity / MON 10-15-18 / Eastern ascetic / Night demon / Movie with iconic theme that starts with two alternating notes
Constructor: Amanda Chung and Karl Ni
Relative difficulty: Medium (3:09)
THEME: YOUNG / AT HEART (67A: With 68-Across, still feeling like a teenager, say ... or a hint to the circled answers) — names for animal YOUNG can be found AT HEART (i.e. smack in the middle) of theme answers:
Theme answers:
INCUBUS (1A: Night demon)
AKITA (8A: Japanese dog)
OPTICAL FIBER (22A: Cable material that transmits data using light)
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (39A: "Really?!")
JOHN COLTRANE (49A: Legendary jazz saxophonist)
Word of the Day: DEVA (41D: Hindu divinity) —
noun
a member of a class of divine beings in the Vedic period, which in Indian religion are benevolent and in Zoroastrianism are evil.
INDIAN
(in general use) a god.
• • •
It's been nine years (!) since DEVA was in a puzzle, so if you didn't know that one, you are Forgiven. Certainly eluded me. I had any number of things in there before I got DEVA (entirely from crosses). That was one of a few answers that didn't seem quite *Monday* to me (see also FAKIR), but what *did* seem quite Monday to me was my solving time, so no harm done. It would be great if people stopped pretending that ANATOLE France was a household (i.e. Monday) name. I shouldn't ever see that name unless it's a late-week puzzle with a fairly demanding grid. Modernize your fill! I'm burying the lede here, which is: I thought this was a very good puzzle. The theme was cute and simple and smart and neatly executed *and* dense without being grid-burdening. All the baby animals are, in fact, smack dab in the middle of each theme answer: not just *somewhere* in the middle, but perfectly in the middle. Here's the only problem I had with the theme: the clue on the revealer. [Still feeling like a teenager]??? Uh, yeah, I don't think YOUNG / AT HEART means "still feeling socially and physically awkward and painfully insecure." I think YOUNG / AT HEART is supposed to be a *positive* concept. It doesn't square well with teenagedom. At least not mine.
Had trouble right away, forgetting the word INCUBUS. Also had issues getting OPTICAL FIBER, since the only relevant phrase I know is "Fiber-optic cable." ANATOLE France was a gimme for me, in case you think I complain only about answers I *didn't* know. Also knew FAKIR. DEVA, no so much. Misread 50D: Eight: Sp. as 50A: Eight: Prefix and wrote in OCTO-. Finally, I wrote in NAIAD at 53D: Forest of mountain maiden of myth (NYMPH), which is actually technically possibly true, and is the kind of mistake you make when you know too much myth-stuff and you star with the "N." Blowing NYMPH (!) was a big (well, small) timesuck in the SE, as I got all those Downs in order and then had to figure out which of the Downs was a bummer.
Medium. This felt tough while I was solving but my time was in the average range. Looking back over the grid, this might be tough for a beginner...ANATOLE, ASANA, AKITA, RIC, INCUBUS...
I also liked this puzzle a lot, and didn't at all mind the non-Monday stuff --I think I don't like Monday stuff. Although I thought much of the puzzle's clues and answers skewed rather young, I am surprised that Rex did not link to the Frank Sinatra classic, which perhaps offers a more idyllic version of teenagerdom: Fairy tales can come true,/ it can happen to you,/ if you're young at heart... and life gets more exciting with each passing day/ and love is either in your heart or on its way... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG7suS4YJWk
Put me in the "this felt hard for a Monday but then gosh look at my time it's pretty close to average" camp. INCUBUS, FAKIR, DEVA, ANATOLE, and maybe NYMPH (as clued) have no business in a Monday puzzle. CENSE. ASANA. but I guess the crosses were easy so, no biggie. I'd've slotted this a Tuesday, if that were my job.
I second Rex's comments on the theme (thought it was cool, who doesn't love baby animals), on OPTICAL FIBER, and on the 'teenager' clue.
I liked the puzzle a lot. Very clean and a fair theme.
I'm posting mainly because I want the posting software fixed. I am on a laptop and can actually post this (I think). But I usually access the blog on my phone and the software no longer works for posting from there. I don't know why, but it would be nice if it was fixed. It seemed to break after I once posted as a google account holder instead just with my name. Then I found I got an invidual email for everyone's post (over a hundred of them), which swamped my gmail. So I will never do that again. But ever since then, I can't post using my name. After awkwardly going through the captcha and writing a comment, once I hit publish, things just go into never never land. So this imay be my last post. But maybe you can fix your softward for someone else.
The shaded squares never actually made it to the print out, so the revealer fell flat, but eventually was evident. Yep, baby farm animals are smack dab in the center, so that's admirable, for Monday, anyway.
Rarely post a WTF in this tough room, but the mnemonic escapes me and it's late, my Google phone is in the other room, and ROY Rogers seems more like an early week cluing. Feel free to assail my ignorance.
So happy to see MOONING clued as daydreaming instead of adults exposing their behinds. Anybody want to share when that gambit was clever? Every year in San Juan Capistrano, folks stream out of a bar and a bunch of revelers moon the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and it makes the news.
Yep, the goal in remote areas is FIBER OPTICs, not that other thing.
We discovered A Love Supreme, the seminal jazz album by JOHN COLTRANE, around the late 60s. We were living in Mission Beach in San Diego and partly cognizant of the fact that these were the best years of our lives. Oddly, a small sandwich shop in our neighborhood specialized in Philly cheese steaks and Saturday night we splurged and ate their specialty, a Steak Supreme, a Steak Supreme...
@Patrick O’Connor - thank you for the Sinatra lyrics. My wife and I both love Sinatra and his “Young at Heart”, but I can empathize with Rex’s comments about teenage years in general.
I am also in the camp of those who felt the puzzle seemed tougher than the usual Monday, but finished with a faster than (my) average time. I enjoyed it because the crosses bailed me out whenever I was stuck with a particular clue. I liked that 34D EDGAR crossed at the G with 43A EAGER (and that the respective clue numbers were the mirror image of each other).
Too bad, though that the great John COLTRANE crossed with CONMAN and LYING. (If you haven’t watched John Coltrane and Miles Davis perform So What on YouTube, then you are missing the opportunity to see and hear two jazz giants at the top of their game, not to mention the all-too-cool backup musicians. Here’s a link to some of the best minutes [about 10 of them] you will enjoy: https://youtu.be/zqNTltOGh5c).
What @Rex and the others said about the difficulty level, especially particular words. Like them, though, my time was average.
I almost Naticked at the ASANA - AKITA cross, until I was reminded that the shaded area needed to be a word of a young'un. And how about 49D? I would think that many who have never seen the film JAWS would be scratching their heads over that clever clue.
Favorite crossing: MOONING in UNISON.
Small cavil: The means of transport was a STAGE coach. Can one really say just STAGE? (I was expecting coach or horse.) TUTUs on a STAGE, on the other hand ...
Apropos yesterday's discussion, few French cities are laid out in a grid pattern. Paris's, for example, looks more like a cross section of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (of Pastafarianism fame).
@Mark: For at least the past two years I haven't been able to post from my iPhone, though I can from my iPad. Thanks for calling attention to the issue.
I was surprised there were so few comments but then I remembered I am in Hong Kong, so when I do the puzzle after luch it's still the wee hours of the morning there. Even with briefly closing my eyes I had a below average time, but it felt medium hard to me. Didn't help that incubus only came after a lot of the crosses got filled in. I'm not crazy about jazz, so it usually takes some letters before I can suss out anything. I know Louis Armstrong plays the trumpet, but that's about it when we are talking brass instruments for me.
@TomAz – I meant to say yesterday that I was so sorry for your loss. The relationship between a human and a pet is a miracle.
Yeah, this is not the easy Monday to offer up to a neophyte. But as @Brookboy alluded to, all the crosses were fair, so no biggie. I actually had to go back and obediently scowl at DEVA ‘cause it went in via crosses and escaped my notice.
I’ve never eaten at a SONIC, but I understand they have a peanut butter milkshake. I like peanut butter, but, well, ick.
Growing up, Mom always corrected us if we used KID to refer to a person-child. I am so glad I’ve let this ridiculousness go. Kids – don’t let your grammar meanie mom interfere with natural speech.
NYMPH is a kind of little’un, too, no?
Today, @Roo could close with CONMAN LYING ERA.
I was really surprised at Rex’s take on the reveal, though my husband would probably agree. My teenage years were ok, but the comment did have me wondering what age YOUNG AT HEART refers to. I guess just whenever you were still optimistic, playful, full of wonder? Like, what kind of action would be excused with an Oh, she’s just young at heart. Walking up on the curb to see how long you can go without stepping down? Throwing up one of those helicopter leaf thingies and watching it copter down? Inhaling helium to squeak talk? Talking into a banana like it’s a phone and asking students if they can take a call? Channeling Terry Bradshaw?
Amanda, Karl – a fine (albeit prickly) Monday offering. Nicely done.
Lots of fans of the puzzle here among experienced solvers, and let me add that it is a terrific puzzle for beginning solvers, who I am in contact with all the time, as I teach beginning (and intermediate) crossword solving classes at an adjunct of UNC-A. This puzzle begins to familiarize new solvers to words that come up all the time in puzzles but not so often in life, words like TET, AKITA, UTE, ASANA, ELIE, and ABOMB. There is also a question mark clue, an abbreviation clue, and a prefix clue. It also nicely illustrates theme/reveal and shaded squares. I will be using this puzzle for my students, and thank you for that, Amanda and Karl.
Thank you Patrick O'Connor for making the Frank connection. I'm a fan. And thanks and congrats to Amanda & Karl for a fun puzzle and for your own October baby.
Lately I have been paying more attention to my times. It's just a piece of information, though, not a measure of success. I'm like that with everything I do. The only exception is when I used to run 10K's and was very much interested in reducing my time. Anyway, today was 18 minutes and I stumbled a bit. Togetherness/UNISON is bothering me for some reason. Both are nouns but somehow don't seem equivalent. I don't think they are particularly interchangeable in use. Any linguists care to comment? Like most commenters thus far I liked the puzzle.
I was going to say how I worked for a telecommunications company for 20 years and 'optical fiber' is a term used every day if you are in Operations and fairly often everywhere else. Then I thought maybe on a Monday you shouldn't need to work for a telecom to know the terms.
Rex, I'm glad you are up on all that "myth stuff" but Naiads are water nymphs; That is why I always was delighted that Diana NYAD just happened to be such a famous swimmer. Perhaps you were thinking of Dryad.
I only know "togetherness" as IN UNISON. Sounds off to hear "unison" in that context on its lonesome.
No long-winded YARNS (or yawns) today. I'm off to read more ANATOLE France and listen to some COLTRANE.
Again, I'm a newbie, but I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. I loved the theme. There was one section I HAD to look up an answer (blushing here) or I wasn't going to be able to finish the puzzle. I don't know the names of Japanese dogs, so I went to a Google list of Japanese dogs and found AKITA. I also didn't know that yoga position or ANATOLE France. Everything else went well. I was thinking of NAIAD, too, not NYMPH, so that threw me for a little bit, but it went fast for me.
I now rush to my computer first thing every morning to do the puzzle, so I guess I'm officially hooked.
When I got a heart transplant, it occurred to me that I was literally "young at heart," since my heart was several years younger than the rest of me. The song was very much in my mind at the time. After a few months of recuperation, I felt much younger than I had immediately before the surgery.
Like Rex, I do better when solving with my wife. I print two copies of the puzzle the night before, and we solve it on paper over the breakfast table, helping each other when we can.
Individually, we each would have been Naticked, in different places. Together, we bailed each other out. A good way to spend the morning together.
After solving, if we have time, we consult Rex and exchange reactions to his comments. More fun, and more togetherness.
Very enjoyable for me. Only one quibble, I am not sure that "bicep" is short for anything. The muscle is technically the biceps brachii, but whoever calls it that? Also, I was a pretty happy teenager, so I challenge Rex's challenge of the revealer clue.
Hey All ! As @chefwen 3:11 posted, ROY G BIV is a mnemonic for the Colors of the Rainbow, in order as seen top to bottom. Next time you see a rainbow, now you'll know the order of the colors as you search for the pot of gold.
Liked this YOUNG AT HEART puz. Could've worked 60A in as a revealer question, somehow. Thinking aloud. Agree with some tough answers on a Monday. But was still easy here, as had no writeovers and got puz 100% correct. #Humblebrag :-)
@LMS, well, now I can't use that phrase! Har. But cool to get a shout-out from you. :-) How about...
A Monday puzzle that starts with INCUBUS? Found that interesting. Some ese, some fun stuff, good theme, good reveal, altogether enjoyable.
I always think of myself as YOUNG AT HEART, although others have referred to this admirable state of mind as incurable immaturity. To these people I say nyah nyah nyah.
Oh, also, I usually post my rambling rumblings on my (Android) phone, and sometimes I get real far into a post, and the phone decides to refresh, or something, and my post disappears, which Really Pisses Me Off. Just saying I think all these platforms for posting are inherently flawed somehow.
Some more Rambling Rumblings, didn't care for CENSE, where's the IN? Why isn't LYING spelled LIEING? NYMPH is a cool sometimes-vowel only word. I TAKE IM IN IND. Har.
Very nice Monday and who doesn't like baby animals? I probably would have phrased the revealer clue differently too but not because I have unpleasant teenage memories. Back when I was a lurker and Andrea was a regular she had some wonderful insight about building a Monday puzzle. Today is a good example. I'm with you @ Quasi re: Diana Nyad. I always thought it was great that someone with that name was a swimmer. Incubus as clued made me realize that I don't really know the definition. I must have read it in a horror novel like Rosemary's Baby. Isn't there also an opposite entity called Succubus? I'd better go look that up. Thanks Amanda and Karl, well played.
Amazed someone wouldn’t know Elie Wiesel. Frequent puzzle clue but also one of the most famous Holocaust survivor authors, Nobel peace prize winners and peace activists worldwide.
Loved the the theme, but OMDEVA did one clue get the side eye from me. SODA CANs haven’t “typically” had a “pull tab” for decades. I’m not remembering when the change from a pull tab to just a tab happened, but I am quite confident that my 20-something offspring have never in their lives seen a pull tab. I'm thinking the change actually happened in the 70’s or 80’s. For those of you younger than ancient, the tab on beer and SODA CANs once came off entirely rather than being levered into the can, leaving the drinker with these little pieces of aluminum. I wonder if the genius who realized there was a better design than a pull tab got rich. I hope so.
@INCUBUS commenters - This may shock you, but #metoo isn’t about sex, it’s about abuse of power. Sex is fine, using your position to get sex isn’t.
Regarding Phone issues - The software we are using is Google freeware that hasn’t been updated in years. Rex is just an end user with no control over how the software works beyond whatever administrative control Google gives him to control his Blog. I do think the mobile version has an option to go to the web version. If you really want to post from that tiny screen going to the web version would probably let you do it. @Mark - The email follow ups that one time mean you checked the Email follow up box without realizing it (probably because you checked it without noticing on that tiny screen). This is a Feature separate from your posting problem,
I should have been really early today because the Times had a production problem and didn't send the papers, I didn't have to read all that news before starting the puzzle (printed off the Times Digest). But in fact I hadn't finished yesterday's puzzle, being in the Greater Boston Sports area and having been distracted by a couple of games last night (only in crossword puzzles is the ELM the symbol of Massachusetts, around here it's a pair of Red Sox and whatever the cartoon is they've got on Patriots jerseys). So here I am after 9 AM, wanting to make a crack about how only in the times would they clue a certain phrase as a cricket term but knowing I'm not supposed to spoil Sunday puzzles for people later than I.
I jumped in and instantly thought, INCUBUS on a Monday 1A? Had to look at a cross to verify it. A friend of mine runs a B&B in an old farmhouse, I tell him that when a guest asks if the house is haunted he should reply, "Its just an INCUBUS."
@Kieran Kramer. You could become really hooked like a lot of us and solve the night before. The puzzle posts at 10:01 Eastern.
John Hnedak. Yeah, biceps (and triceps) give a lot of trouble to folks when they try to singularize something that is already singular. I hear bicep a lot, and occasionally bicept. Agree it's a bad clue. Should say "Curl target, incorrectly".
Wait, a male demon having sex with women while they sleep is ok with #me too movement ? I don’t know who made Z the spokesman for the movement but she might reconsider her choice.
INCUBUS: an evil spirit that lies on persons in their sleep; especially : one that has sexual intercourse with women while they are sleeping — compare succubus.
So I guess women incubate and men succubate, hmmm..
My main problem was sloppy hand lettering— so the K in kindly looked like an R giving RIT, KID, andCALF—I figured it must be something about dyeing leather. It all got sorted, and turned out to be a fun puzzle.
Valuing something as a “demon” does not imply that we should approve of it.
Well, for the first time in ages, I had to look up a word I didn't know on a Monday...INCUBUS. Velllly interesting. I don't think I've ever dreamt of some demon taking me forcibly while I was napping away. I think I was more scared of bed bugs. Why did my grandmother always tell me she hoped they wouldn't bite? Oh, and I had forgotten about DEVA I've been fascinated with all types of religions, especially Hinduism. For your edification, DEVAs represent the good and the Suras the bad. No shading - too bad. I missed the CUB and the KIT and thought CALF, KID and COLT... that's it? I'm glad I could come here. Now I like the puzzle even more. STAGE took me forever to get....it looks naked without its coach. I've never hear of 33D SONIC either. Carhops are still around? I wanted that job when I was YOUNG AT HEART. Back in the ICE age. I was a pretty good skater and could've balanced a tray on my head. Speaking of....I always try and feel YOUNG AT HEART. I never want the word feeble to enter my vocabulary. My teenage years were filled with all kinds of adventure so I like the clue. @Kieren 7:28. Welcome to @Rex's house. I'm glad you have an avatar - makes it so much easier to get to know you. Tell us a story... @Z. Does Aunt Olga know what you're up to?
Absolutely terrific Monday. Getting all the KIDs to be dead center is a real accomplishment. And I pulled an @Tita in solving: I jumped straight from my first fill-in, INCUBUS, to the revealer and knew immediately that the answer would be YOUNG AT HEART. Checked it with the G from LYING at 52D and confidently wrote it in ahead of everything else.
But I almost DNF at the NA?/DE?A cross. It seemed like just about any consonant might be right, but then I thought of SHIVA. "The Hindus seem to like Vs a lot," I thought, so that's what I wrote in. When I saw NAV, I thought: "Aha, navigation!" (Obviously I don't use GPS.)
My fave theme answer is OPTICAL FIBER. What a clever way to get CALF dead center. Could most constructors accomplish this? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
1. It may wind up at the side of the house (4) 2. "I'm Down" vis-a-vis "Help!" (5) 3. [Don't you think you're milking it a bit too much?] (3) 4. Diet in the Mideast (7) 5. They might be made to reconcile (6)
@Small Town Blogger: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Optical fiber is precicely the correct answer to the clue as written. In a fiber optic cable, the material that transmits the data is the optical fiber.
In 1997 Reebok introduced a women’s sneaker called Incubus. There was quite an outrage. They publicly apologized and recalled 18,000 boxes. This was two decades before #me too. I’d say a demon who has sex with sleeping women is abusing power. Pretty sure it’s a legend but I still don’t think it’s ok.
I sure don't recall pining for being a tween (or yet still more young) when I was adolescent. do you??? nah. you were, same as I, trying to shag beer with fake ID. just like Kavanaugh.
@Amelia, don’t let anonymice get to you. I for one appreciate the pointers to good puzzles outside the NYT. Monday is exactly the day to let some of us know where good hard puzzles have recently been published. Monday is when I most need my Saturday fix, especially as I’ve grown increasingly disillusioned with my normal mid-week “extra hard” subscription puzzle source.
well... consider that the fairytale was/is just the manifestation of less than comely male id. the Final Solution was also the product of a male id fairytale. some fairytales have the habit of being manifest.
Solid, fun puzzle. Felt more like a Tuesday in terms of difficulty, though my final time was better than average.
My only complaint would be the Natick in the NE. I didn't know IDA or ANATOLE, and I always forget how to spell ELIE Wiesel (even though he shows up all the darn time). I guessed right, but one should never cross that many proper nouns, especially obscure ones.
Interesting that every theme word starts with a hard C sound, adding a bit of elegance to the grid.
Anatole is definitely a problem. The only Anatole that comes to mind aside from the author (whom Proust admired and used as a model for his character Bergotte - but who I don't think is read much anymore) is Anatole Broyard, a NY Times book critic from several decades ago. Some young actor should assume the name Anatole and become a movie star. That will ensure his occasional inclusion in the Times puzzle.
Colt: 1. a: Foal especially : a male foal. b : a young male horse that is usually not castrated (Make your own cricket joke here. See Sunday puzzle.) and has not attained an arbitrarily designated age such as four years.
Foal: A young animal of the horse family especially : one under one year.
@Anony 1:23: A yearling is a Filly or Colt and after a year becomes a Mare or Stallion. Feeling YOUNG AT HEART makes you live longer. Have a little Scotch before you go to bed!
@Amelia: echoing other sentiments, ignore the non-blue comments. Thanks for the reminder of the New Yorker puzzle. I subscribe to the online version of the magazine, but have forgotten about the puzzle in recent weeks. Very intimidating, but a joy to do it correctly.
I usually take issue with Rex’s nitpicking but I agree that young at heart is not best captured by reference to teenage. A better simile would be “feeling like it’s still the Springtime of life “.
@Tim Arthur, good point! another Anatole if not was the director Anatole Litvak who directed Sorry Wrong Number and a bunch of other great flicks. altho equally unMonday-ish.
Very fine Monday puzzle. I like a little spice coming out of the gate, and INCUBUS and APRICOT did the trick.
If I remember correctly, both INCUBUS and Sucubus are mythological creatures that were created to account for the sexual dreams that people, especially the YOUNG AT HEART, often have during the night. (We dream during REM sleep. Another distinctive activity during REM is physiological sexual arousal in both males and females.)
OPTICAL FIBER is definitely a thing. Merrimam-Webster has a couple of good examples here.
Some other 12-letter candidates are conical flask, logical field, medical fraud (my favorite) and musical forms. The last would get points off in my book for resorting to a plural of convenience (POC) to boost the letter count.
@michiganman - How could I forget, although I’ve never understood the term “church key.” Probably related to growing up in Holland where nobody drank (at least, nobody admitted to it). When I was very young the need to make a big opening on one side and a small opening on the other to let the air in as you drank still existed. The pull tab must have been pretty short-lived.
@Gill I - I certainly hope not. Not that she’d criticize.
@anon9:41 - You’re right. People should be just as concerned about imaginary beings raping sleeping women as the abuse of position and power. Why don’t you do a think piece on the evil of incubi in modern society. I’m sure Jezebel will publish it.
@Banana - Damn, you do befuddle one, as in WTF are you talking about? It's the male id that invents the fairytale of young women being impregnated by spirits in the middle of the night? Agreed, it's likely the male id that did the impregnating, but twasn't the male id that invented the excuse of "a spirit got me pregnant in the middle of the night while I was asleep because I'm a virgin, I swear!". The male Id created the holocaust? That's a pretty specific incidence of a pretty specific type of evil to equate to the "male id". You win the Godwin's Law Award of the decade for that one.
Agreed - I thought this was challenging for a Monday, interesting and -- yay! -- error-free, as far as I could tell. Like OFL I hadn't a clue about DEVA and got it from crosses.
@Amelia--Many thanks for the reminder of the New Yorker puzzle, thought it was good hard fun. Let me echo the advice of those who say stick around and try to ignore those whose idea of a good time is to offer anonymous snide criticism.
@Jess: It's the male id that invents the fairytale of young women being impregnated by spirits in the middle of the night?
who do you think were the creators of fairytales way back when?? horny women hoping for an incubus?? c'mon.
The male Id created the holocaust?
have you not read history?? the notion that Jews killed Germany after WWI is pure fairytale. which Hitler and pals turned into the Final Solution. you really need to read a bit of history.
Very late to the game today, but in case the constructors might still look in on the comments, I wanted them to know how much I enjoyed this light-hearted theme that was so nicely carried out.
@Amelia, let me add my "Wait!" I, too, wanted to thank you for the reminder - somehow, I never remember the New Yorker puzzles and am always grateful for the nudge. But not only on that account, please don't go.
Certainly one of the better Mondays to come down the pike. The crosses were very helpful in getting INCUBUS, SONIC, and DEVA, none of which I knew. That's why the puzzle is fair for beginners. You know, CROSSword puzzle.
A fairly prosaic theme elevated by the placement of the theme answers in the exact middle, and a revealer that perfectly describes that placement. If YOUNG AT HEART doesn't describe the teen years, what *does* it describe, pray tell?
Nice fill and not just definition clues throughout.
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Medium. This felt tough while I was solving but my time was in the average range. Looking back over the grid, this might be tough for a beginner...ANATOLE, ASANA, AKITA, RIC, INCUBUS...
ReplyDeleteNicely executed theme, liked it .
I also liked this puzzle a lot, and didn't at all mind the non-Monday stuff --I think I don't like Monday stuff. Although I thought much of the puzzle's clues and answers skewed rather young, I am surprised that Rex did not link to the Frank Sinatra classic, which perhaps offers a more idyllic version of teenagerdom: Fairy tales can come true,/ it can happen to you,/ if you're young at heart... and life gets more exciting with each passing day/ and love is either in your heart or on its way... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG7suS4YJWk
ReplyDeletePut me in the "this felt hard for a Monday but then gosh look at my time it's pretty close to average" camp. INCUBUS, FAKIR, DEVA, ANATOLE, and maybe NYMPH (as clued) have no business in a Monday puzzle. CENSE. ASANA. but I guess the crosses were easy so, no biggie. I'd've slotted this a Tuesday, if that were my job.
ReplyDeleteI second Rex's comments on the theme (thought it was cool, who doesn't love baby animals), on OPTICAL FIBER, and on the 'teenager' clue.
I liked the puzzle a lot. Very clean and a fair theme.
ReplyDeleteI'm posting mainly because I want the posting software fixed. I am on a laptop and can actually post this (I think). But I usually access the blog on my phone and the software no longer works for posting from there. I don't know why, but it would be nice if it was fixed. It seemed to break after I once posted as a google account holder instead just with my name. Then I found I got an invidual email for everyone's post (over a hundred of them), which swamped my gmail. So I will never do that again. But ever since then, I can't post using my name. After awkwardly going through the captcha and writing a comment, once I hit publish, things just go into never never land. So this imay be my last post. But maybe you can fix your softward for someone else.
Not your typical slam, bam, fill in the squares Monday puzzle, yeah, I like that.
ReplyDelete39A is puzzle partners favorite expression, although he usually replaces the kidding with another ing word.
Cute theme. Good start to the week.
The shaded squares never actually made it to the print out, so the revealer fell flat, but eventually was evident. Yep, baby farm animals are smack dab in the center, so that's admirable, for Monday, anyway.
ReplyDeleteRarely post a WTF in this tough room, but the mnemonic escapes me and it's late, my Google phone is in the other room, and ROY Rogers seems more like an early week cluing. Feel free to assail my ignorance.
So happy to see MOONING clued as daydreaming instead of adults exposing their behinds. Anybody want to share when that gambit was clever? Every year in San Juan Capistrano, folks stream out of a bar and a bunch of revelers moon the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and it makes the news.
Yep, the goal in remote areas is FIBER OPTICs, not that other thing.
We discovered A Love Supreme, the seminal jazz album by JOHN COLTRANE, around the late 60s. We were living in Mission Beach in San Diego and partly cognizant of the fact that these were the best years of our lives. Oddly, a small sandwich shop in our neighborhood specialized in Philly cheese steaks and Saturday night we splurged and ate their specialty, a Steak Supreme, a Steak Supreme...
@Patrick O’Connor - thank you for the Sinatra lyrics. My wife and I both love Sinatra and his “Young at Heart”, but I can empathize with Rex’s comments about teenage years in general.
ReplyDeleteI am also in the camp of those who felt the puzzle seemed tougher than the usual Monday, but finished with a faster than (my) average time. I enjoyed it because the crosses bailed me out whenever I was stuck with a particular clue. I liked that 34D EDGAR crossed at the G with 43A EAGER (and that the respective clue numbers were the mirror image of each other).
Too bad, though that the great John COLTRANE crossed with CONMAN and LYING. (If you haven’t watched John Coltrane and Miles Davis perform So What on YouTube, then you are missing the opportunity to see and hear two jazz giants at the top of their game, not to mention the all-too-cool backup musicians. Here’s a link to some of the best minutes [about 10 of them] you will enjoy: https://youtu.be/zqNTltOGh5c).
Nice review, Rex.
Took me almost double my usual Monday time. I enjoyed it, but, man, this was stumping me all over the place. Slowest Monday maybe ever.
ReplyDeleteWhat @Rex and the others said about the difficulty level, especially particular words. Like them, though, my time was average.
ReplyDeleteI almost Naticked at the ASANA - AKITA cross, until I was reminded that the shaded area needed to be a word of a young'un. And how about 49D? I would think that many who have never seen the film JAWS would be scratching their heads over that clever clue.
Favorite crossing: MOONING in UNISON.
Small cavil: The means of transport was a STAGE coach. Can one really say just STAGE? (I was expecting coach or horse.) TUTUs on a STAGE, on the other hand ...
Apropos yesterday's discussion, few French cities are laid out in a grid pattern. Paris's, for example, looks more like a cross section of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (of Pastafarianism fame).
@Mark: For at least the past two years I haven't been able to post from my iPhone, though I can from my iPad. Thanks for calling attention to the issue.
-- WHAT AM I, a CONMAN?
I was surprised there were so few comments but then I remembered I am in Hong Kong, so when I do the puzzle after luch it's still the wee hours of the morning there. Even with briefly closing my eyes I had a below average time, but it felt medium hard to me. Didn't help that incubus only came after a lot of the crosses got filled in. I'm not crazy about jazz, so it usually takes some letters before I can suss out anything. I know Louis Armstrong plays the trumpet, but that's about it when we are talking brass instruments for me.
ReplyDelete@Larry G. Colors of the rainbow.
ReplyDeleteRed
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
@TomAz – I meant to say yesterday that I was so sorry for your loss. The relationship between a human and a pet is a miracle.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this is not the easy Monday to offer up to a neophyte. But as @Brookboy alluded to, all the crosses were fair, so no biggie. I actually had to go back and obediently scowl at DEVA ‘cause it went in via crosses and escaped my notice.
I’ve never eaten at a SONIC, but I understand they have a peanut butter milkshake. I like peanut butter, but, well, ick.
Growing up, Mom always corrected us if we used KID to refer to a person-child. I am so glad I’ve let this ridiculousness go. Kids – don’t let your grammar meanie mom interfere with natural speech.
NYMPH is a kind of little’un, too, no?
Today, @Roo could close with CONMAN LYING ERA.
I was really surprised at Rex’s take on the reveal, though my husband would probably agree. My teenage years were ok, but the comment did have me wondering what age YOUNG AT HEART refers to. I guess just whenever you were still optimistic, playful, full of wonder? Like, what kind of action would be excused with an Oh, she’s just young at heart. Walking up on the curb to see how long you can go without stepping down? Throwing up one of those helicopter leaf thingies and watching it copter down? Inhaling helium to squeak talk? Talking into a banana like it’s a phone and asking students if they can take a call? Channeling Terry Bradshaw?
Amanda, Karl – a fine (albeit prickly) Monday offering. Nicely done.
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ReplyDeleteLots of fans of the puzzle here among experienced solvers, and let me add that it is a terrific puzzle for beginning solvers, who I am in contact with all the time, as I teach beginning (and intermediate) crossword solving classes at an adjunct of UNC-A. This puzzle begins to familiarize new solvers to words that come up all the time in puzzles but not so often in life, words like TET, AKITA, UTE, ASANA, ELIE, and ABOMB. There is also a question mark clue, an abbreviation clue, and a prefix clue. It also nicely illustrates theme/reveal and shaded squares. I will be using this puzzle for my students, and thank you for that, Amanda and Karl.
ReplyDeleteAlso, having the baby animals exactly in the middle of the theme answers is not only a construction feat, it perfectly illustrates YOUNG AT HEART.
ReplyDeleteASANA, ANATOLE, & ELIE amounted to A BOMB for me.
ReplyDeleteThank you Patrick O'Connor for making the Frank connection. I'm a fan. And thanks and congrats to Amanda & Karl for a fun puzzle and for your own October baby.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no, and no. Optical fiber??????? No one ever refers to fiber optic cable this way!!!
ReplyDeleteLots of downs done today, but still Monday easy here. Fun to have some long answers early in the week. The theme was just there for me.
ReplyDeleteDoes INCUBUS seem a bit tone deaf in the #metoo world?
ReplyDeleteLately I have been paying more attention to my times. It's just a piece of information, though, not a measure of success. I'm like that with everything I do. The only exception is when I used to run 10K's and was very much interested in reducing my time. Anyway, today was 18 minutes and I stumbled a bit. Togetherness/UNISON is bothering me for some reason. Both are nouns but somehow don't seem equivalent. I don't think they are particularly interchangeable in use. Any linguists care to comment? Like most commenters thus far I liked the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteRe 44A, I learned this mnemonic as VIBGYOR. Like much of my early science knowledge, I got this from Dorothy Collins’s Experiment Songs .
ReplyDeleteI was going to say how I worked for a telecommunications company for 20 years and 'optical fiber' is a term used every day if you are in Operations and fairly often everywhere else. Then I thought maybe on a Monday you shouldn't need to work for a telecom to know the terms.
@'merican in Paris: In westerns, people often say things like, “She’ll be on the STAGE from Tucson.”
ReplyDeleteCharming Monday offering. Solid and smooth.
ReplyDeleteRex, I'm glad you are up on all that "myth stuff" but Naiads are water nymphs; That is why I always was delighted that Diana NYAD just happened to be such a famous swimmer. Perhaps you were thinking of Dryad.
I only know "togetherness" as IN UNISON. Sounds off to hear "unison" in that context on its lonesome.
No long-winded YARNS (or yawns) today. I'm off to read more ANATOLE France and listen to some COLTRANE.
Again, I'm a newbie, but I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. I loved the theme. There was one section I HAD to look up an answer (blushing here) or I wasn't going to be able to finish the puzzle. I don't know the names of Japanese dogs, so I went to a Google list of Japanese dogs and found AKITA. I also didn't know that yoga position or ANATOLE France. Everything else went well. I was thinking of NAIAD, too, not NYMPH, so that threw me for a little bit, but it went fast for me.
ReplyDeleteI now rush to my computer first thing every morning to do the puzzle, so I guess I'm officially hooked.
Hi, all. I recently started doing crosswords again after a break (four? five? years) - delighted to see that Rex is still going at it.
ReplyDeleteStopping by today to ask: ROY B BIV??? Shouldn't a mnemonic be something you can actually remember?
Glad he didn’t complain about incubus or A Bomb. Here’s to a more inclusive puzzle where all things good and bad are welcome.
ReplyDeleteEasy, what I didn't know was in the cross.
ReplyDeleteHow do I know anatole france? No idea but I do. Fiber optics is what you do with optical fibers. So no quibbles there.
Very appropriate for a Monday. I thought I would come here and see it called too easy, since it was easy for me. The vagaries of knowledge sets...
PC
Started with SONNYROLLINS as my saxophonist, which also fit.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got a heart transplant, it occurred to me that I was literally "young at heart," since my heart was several years younger than the rest of me. The song was very much in my mind at the time. After a few months of recuperation, I felt much younger than I had immediately before the surgery.
ReplyDeleteLike Rex, I do better when solving with my wife. I print two copies of the puzzle the night before, and we solve it on paper over the breakfast table, helping each other when we can.
Individually, we each would have been Naticked, in different places. Together, we bailed each other out. A good way to spend the morning together.
After solving, if we have time, we consult Rex and exchange reactions to his comments. More fun, and more togetherness.
You solve in UNISON.
DeleteVery enjoyable for me. Only one quibble, I am not sure that "bicep" is short for anything. The muscle is technically the biceps brachii, but whoever calls it that? Also, I was a pretty happy teenager, so I challenge Rex's challenge of the revealer clue.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteAs @chefwen 3:11 posted, ROY G BIV is a mnemonic for the Colors of the Rainbow, in order as seen top to bottom. Next time you see a rainbow, now you'll know the order of the colors as you search for the pot of gold.
Liked this YOUNG AT HEART puz. Could've worked 60A in as a revealer question, somehow. Thinking aloud. Agree with some tough answers on a Monday. But was still easy here, as had no writeovers and got puz 100% correct. #Humblebrag :-)
@LMS, well, now I can't use that phrase! Har. But cool to get a shout-out from you. :-)
How about...
MOONING in a TUTU
RooMonster
DarrinV
A Monday puzzle that starts with INCUBUS? Found that interesting. Some ese, some fun stuff, good theme, good reveal, altogether enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI always think of myself as YOUNG AT HEART, although others have referred to this admirable state of mind as incurable immaturity. To these people I say nyah nyah nyah.
Oh, also, I usually post my rambling rumblings on my (Android) phone, and sometimes I get real far into a post, and the phone decides to refresh, or something, and my post disappears, which Really Pisses Me Off. Just saying I think all these platforms for posting are inherently flawed somehow.
ReplyDeleteSome more Rambling Rumblings, didn't care for CENSE, where's the IN?
Why isn't LYING spelled LIEING?
NYMPH is a cool sometimes-vowel only word.
I TAKE IM IN IND. Har.
RooMonster
Amen re fix to prevent lockout of comments from iphone, please.
ReplyDeleteVery nice Monday and who doesn't like baby animals?
ReplyDeleteI probably would have phrased the revealer clue differently too but not because I have unpleasant teenage memories.
Back when I was a lurker and Andrea was a regular she had some wonderful insight about building a Monday puzzle. Today is a good example.
I'm with you @ Quasi re: Diana Nyad. I always thought it was great that someone with that name was a swimmer.
Incubus as clued made me realize that I don't really know the definition. I must have read it in a horror novel like Rosemary's Baby. Isn't there also an opposite entity called Succubus?
I'd better go look that up.
Thanks Amanda and Karl, well played.
Amazed someone wouldn’t know Elie Wiesel. Frequent puzzle clue but also one of the most famous Holocaust survivor authors, Nobel peace prize winners and peace activists worldwide.
ReplyDeleteDidn’t know incubus however.
Loved the the theme, but OMDEVA did one clue get the side eye from me. SODA CANs haven’t “typically” had a “pull tab” for decades. I’m not remembering when the change from a pull tab to just a tab happened, but I am quite confident that my 20-something offspring have never in their lives seen a pull tab. I'm thinking the change actually happened in the 70’s or 80’s. For those of you younger than ancient, the tab on beer and SODA CANs once came off entirely rather than being levered into the can, leaving the drinker with these little pieces of aluminum. I wonder if the genius who realized there was a better design than a pull tab got rich. I hope so.
ReplyDelete@INCUBUS commenters - This may shock you, but #metoo isn’t about sex, it’s about abuse of power. Sex is fine, using your position to get sex isn’t.
Regarding Phone issues - The software we are using is Google freeware that hasn’t been updated in years. Rex is just an end user with no control over how the software works beyond whatever administrative control Google gives him to control his Blog. I do think the mobile version has an option to go to the web version. If you really want to post from that tiny screen going to the web version would probably let you do it.
@Mark - The email follow ups that one time mean you checked the Email follow up box without realizing it (probably because you checked it without noticing on that tiny screen). This is a Feature separate from your posting problem,
Is an ELM TREE really a state symbol of Massachusetts?
ReplyDeleteThis was an outstanding Monday puzzle and @Lewis said it best. I appreciate his explanation of why YOUNGATHEART was the perfect revealer.
ReplyDeleteI only raised an eyebrow once, when I saw CENSE arrived at the party without an “in”. Otherwise I thought the entries were interesting and fair.
I should have been really early today because the Times had a production problem and didn't send the papers, I didn't have to read all that news before starting the puzzle (printed off the Times Digest). But in fact I hadn't finished yesterday's puzzle, being in the Greater Boston Sports area and having been distracted by a couple of games last night (only in crossword puzzles is the ELM the symbol of Massachusetts, around here it's a pair of Red Sox and whatever the cartoon is they've got on Patriots jerseys). So here I am after 9 AM, wanting to make a crack about how only in the times would they clue a certain phrase as a cricket term but knowing I'm not supposed to spoil Sunday puzzles for people later than I.
ReplyDeleteI jumped in and instantly thought, INCUBUS on a Monday 1A? Had to look at a cross to verify it. A friend of mine runs a B&B in an old farmhouse, I tell him that when a guest asks if the house is haunted he should reply, "Its just an INCUBUS."
ReplyDelete@Small Town Blogger
ReplyDeleteFour nos, seven question marks, three exclamation points!!! Try googling “optical fiber” to see how the term is used.
@Kieran Kramer. You could become really hooked like a lot of us and solve the night before. The puzzle posts at 10:01 Eastern.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hnedak. Yeah, biceps (and triceps) give a lot of trouble to folks when they try to singularize something that is already singular. I hear bicep a lot, and occasionally bicept. Agree it's a bad clue. Should say "Curl target, incorrectly".
Wait, a male demon having sex with women while they sleep is ok with #me too movement ? I don’t know who made Z the spokesman for the movement but she might reconsider her choice.
ReplyDeleteINCUBUS: an evil spirit that lies on persons in their sleep; especially : one that has sexual intercourse with women while they are sleeping —
ReplyDeletecompare succubus.
So I guess women incubate and men succubate, hmmm..
Funny. Love it.
DeleteMy main problem was sloppy hand lettering— so the K in kindly looked like an R giving RIT, KID, andCALF—I figured it must be something about dyeing leather. It all got sorted, and turned out to be a fun puzzle.
ReplyDeleteValuing something as a “demon” does not imply that we should approve of it.
Pretty sure CENSE, and, in context, perfume are verbs.
ReplyDeleteWell, for the first time in ages, I had to look up a word I didn't know on a Monday...INCUBUS. Velllly interesting. I don't think I've ever dreamt of some demon taking me forcibly while I was napping away. I think I was more scared of bed bugs. Why did my grandmother always tell me she hoped they wouldn't bite?
ReplyDeleteOh, and I had forgotten about DEVA I've been fascinated with all types of religions, especially Hinduism. For your edification, DEVAs represent the good and the Suras the bad.
No shading - too bad. I missed the CUB and the KIT and thought CALF, KID and COLT... that's it?
I'm glad I could come here. Now I like the puzzle even more.
STAGE took me forever to get....it looks naked without its coach. I've never hear of 33D SONIC either. Carhops are still around? I wanted that job when I was YOUNG AT HEART. Back in the ICE age. I was a pretty good skater and could've balanced a tray on my head. Speaking of....I always try and feel YOUNG AT HEART. I never want the word feeble to enter my vocabulary. My teenage years were filled with all kinds of adventure so I like the clue.
@Kieren 7:28. Welcome to @Rex's house. I'm glad you have an avatar - makes it so much easier to get to know you. Tell us a story...
@Z. Does Aunt Olga know what you're up to?
Primo MonPuz, with just that little bit of 'tude. U don't get started out with a 7-stack in the NW, just any old Monday.
ReplyDeleteAs per @RP: Themers really nail it, by havin all the young pups perfectly centralized.
Also a dash unusual: Those double black squares in the NE & SW corners. M&A likes unusual.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Night demon} = INCUBUS. har. JustKIDding around.
Actual fave moo-cow clue: {Neither Dem. nor Rep.} = IND.
staff weeject pick: NYS. M&A fave state/state abbr. like that would maybe be: WAS.
Are there some real weird young animal names that could've been used, to make this MonPuz even more challengin? A young cockroach = a NYMPH, I think.
Thanx to Amanda & Karl for the young fun.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
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ReplyDeleteAbsolutely terrific Monday. Getting all the KIDs to be dead center is a real accomplishment. And I pulled an @Tita in solving: I jumped straight from my first fill-in, INCUBUS, to the revealer and knew immediately that the answer would be YOUNG AT HEART. Checked it with the G from LYING at 52D and confidently wrote it in ahead of everything else.
ReplyDeleteBut I almost DNF at the NA?/DE?A cross. It seemed like just about any consonant might be right, but then I thought of SHIVA. "The Hindus seem to like Vs a lot," I thought, so that's what I wrote in. When I saw NAV, I thought: "Aha, navigation!" (Obviously I don't use GPS.)
My fave theme answer is OPTICAL FIBER. What a clever way to get CALF dead center. Could most constructors accomplish this? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
My five favorite clues from last week:
ReplyDelete1. It may wind up at the side of the house (4)
2. "I'm Down" vis-a-vis "Help!" (5)
3. [Don't you think you're milking it a bit too much?] (3)
4. Diet in the Mideast (7)
5. They might be made to reconcile (6)
HOSE
SIDE B
MOO
KNESSET
AMENDS
hey @Amelia, how much is the New Yorker paying you to hype their puzzle? haha
ReplyDelete@Small Town Blogger: Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Optical fiber is precicely the correct answer to the clue as written. In a fiber optic cable, the material that transmits the data is the optical fiber.
ReplyDeleteIn 1997 Reebok introduced a women’s sneaker called Incubus. There was quite an outrage. They publicly apologized and recalled 18,000 boxes. This was two decades before #me too. I’d say a demon who has sex with sleeping women is abusing power. Pretty sure it’s a legend but I still don’t think it’s ok.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI sure don't recall pining for being a tween (or yet still more young) when I was adolescent. do you??? nah. you were, same as I, trying to shag beer with fake ID. just like Kavanaugh.
ReplyDelete@Amelia, don’t let anonymice get to you. I for one appreciate the pointers to good puzzles outside the NYT. Monday is exactly the day to let some of us know where good hard puzzles have recently been published. Monday is when I most need my Saturday fix, especially as I’ve grown increasingly disillusioned with my normal mid-week “extra hard” subscription puzzle source.
ReplyDelete@Jess Sayin:
ReplyDeletewell... consider that the fairytale was/is just the manifestation of less than comely male id. the Final Solution was also the product of a male id fairytale. some fairytales have the habit of being manifest.
Kudos to Amanda and Karl for a clever theme well executed. My only nit was DEVA crossing NAV. Avoided a DNF thanks to a lucky guess but ugh.
ReplyDeleteNoted the cross of BEETLE and ELM TREE. Lost several beautiful elms here due to invading beetles, i.e., Dutch elm disease.
What the he-goat said to the she-goat: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
@Lewis (11:01): As usual, I enjoyed reading your list of the week's best clues but I think that you overlooked a winner. UNO for "Italian cardinal."
ReplyDelete@Z. Before the pull tab you had to punch your own hole in the can with a church key. Inconvenient but better environmentally than the pull tab.
ReplyDeleteGood point on INCUBUS. Waste of energy to get upset about this.
Solid, fun puzzle. Felt more like a Tuesday in terms of difficulty, though my final time was better than average.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint would be the Natick in the NE. I didn't know IDA or ANATOLE, and I always forget how to spell ELIE Wiesel (even though he shows up all the darn time). I guessed right, but one should never cross that many proper nouns, especially obscure ones.
Interesting that every theme word starts with a hard C sound, adding a bit of elegance to the grid.
ReplyDeleteAnatole is definitely a problem. The only Anatole that comes to mind aside from the author (whom Proust admired and used as a model for his character Bergotte - but who I don't think is read much anymore) is Anatole Broyard, a NY Times book critic from several decades ago. Some young actor should assume the name Anatole and become a movie star. That will ensure his occasional inclusion in the Times puzzle.
Shouldn’t COLT have been FOAL?
ReplyDeleteColt: 1. a: Foal especially : a male foal. b : a young male horse that is usually not castrated (Make your own cricket joke here. See Sunday puzzle.) and has not attained an arbitrarily designated age such as four years.
DeleteFoal: A young animal of the horse family especially : one under one year.
@Anony 1:23: A yearling is a Filly or Colt and after a year becomes a Mare or Stallion.
ReplyDeleteFeeling YOUNG AT HEART makes you live longer. Have a little Scotch before you go to bed!
@Amelia: echoing other sentiments, ignore the non-blue comments. Thanks for the reminder of the New Yorker puzzle. I subscribe to the online version of the magazine, but have forgotten about the puzzle in recent weeks. Very intimidating, but a joy to do it correctly.
ReplyDeleteI usually take issue with Rex’s nitpicking but I agree that young at heart is not best captured by reference to teenage. A better simile would be “feeling like it’s still the Springtime of life “.
ReplyDelete@Tim Arthur, good point! another Anatole if not was the director Anatole Litvak who directed Sorry Wrong Number and a bunch of other great flicks. altho equally unMonday-ish.
ReplyDeleteVery fine Monday puzzle. I like a little spice coming out of the gate, and INCUBUS and APRICOT did the trick.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, both INCUBUS and Sucubus are mythological creatures that were created to account for the sexual dreams that people, especially the YOUNG AT HEART, often have during the night. (We dream during REM sleep. Another distinctive activity during REM is physiological sexual arousal in both males and females.)
OPTICAL FIBER is definitely a thing. Merrimam-Webster has a couple of good examples here.
Some other 12-letter candidates are conical flask, logical field, medical fraud (my favorite) and musical forms. The last would get points off in my book for resorting to a plural of convenience (POC) to boost the letter count.
Sweet dreams!
@michiganman - How could I forget, although I’ve never understood the term “church key.” Probably related to growing up in Holland where nobody drank (at least, nobody admitted to it). When I was very young the need to make a big opening on one side and a small opening on the other to let the air in as you drank still existed. The pull tab must have been pretty short-lived.
ReplyDelete@Gill I - I certainly hope not. Not that she’d criticize.
@anon9:41 - You’re right. People should be just as concerned about imaginary beings raping sleeping women as the abuse of position and power. Why don’t you do a think piece on the evil of incubi in modern society. I’m sure Jezebel will publish it.
@Banana - Damn, you do befuddle one, as in WTF are you talking about? It's the male id that invents the fairytale of young women being impregnated by spirits in the middle of the night? Agreed, it's likely the male id that did the impregnating, but twasn't the male id that invented the excuse of "a spirit got me pregnant in the middle of the night while I was asleep because I'm a virgin, I swear!". The male Id created the holocaust? That's a pretty specific incidence of a pretty specific type of evil to equate to the "male id". You win the Godwin's Law Award of the decade for that one.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - I thought this was challenging for a Monday, interesting and -- yay! -- error-free, as far as I could tell. Like OFL I hadn't a clue about DEVA and got it from crosses.
ReplyDelete@Amelia--Many thanks for the reminder of the New Yorker puzzle, thought it was good hard fun. Let me echo the advice of those who say stick around and try to ignore those whose idea of a good time is to offer anonymous snide criticism.
ReplyDelete@Amelia
ReplyDeleteWhat @pabloinnh said. I, for one, appreciate the reminder. Don't let the anonymice get to you.
Blew out my flip flop
ReplyDeleteStepped on a pop top
@Jess:
ReplyDeleteIt's the male id that invents the fairytale of young women being impregnated by spirits in the middle of the night?
who do you think were the creators of fairytales way back when?? horny women hoping for an incubus?? c'mon.
The male Id created the holocaust?
have you not read history?? the notion that Jews killed Germany after WWI is pure fairytale. which Hitler and pals turned into the Final Solution. you really need to read a bit of history.
@Amelia, please don't go. I enjoyed those recommendations!!! Thanks for them!!!
ReplyDelete@kitshef, thank you for letting me know it posts the night before. I had no idea! For now I'll keep it as my new favorite early morning routine. :-)
Very late to the game today, but in case the constructors might still look in on the comments, I wanted them to know how much I enjoyed this light-hearted theme that was so nicely carried out.
ReplyDelete@Amelia, let me add my "Wait!" I, too, wanted to thank you for the reminder - somehow, I never remember the New Yorker puzzles and am always grateful for the nudge. But not only on that account, please don't go.
Loved Rex’s insertion of Canada’s own Neil Young when he was young.
ReplyDeleteTUTU EAGER
ReplyDeleteAREYOUKIDDINGME about WHATAMI doing?
ITAKE it seriously when that YOUNG NYMPH is MOONING.
--- SGT. ROY “PUG” KEYS
Tougher than your usual Monday. Theme was okay, but not thrilling. I finished - albeit with a few erasures.
ReplyDeleteUh oh. Another week of off-the-wall puzzles - imo?
ReplyDeleteYes - harder than the average bear (CUB) of a Monday. INCUBUS? To start off? Good morning!!! AREYOUKIDDINGME
Nice puz, nice answers, but not a Monday. Hope this week begins to even out.
And let's all hope for rain in California.
Diana, Waiting for the Clouds
I love a Monday puzzle with 'crunch'. Thanks to Amanda and Karl.
ReplyDeleteCertainly one of the better Mondays to come down the pike. The crosses were very helpful in getting INCUBUS, SONIC, and DEVA, none of which I knew. That's why the puzzle is fair for beginners. You know, CROSSword puzzle.
ReplyDeleteA fairly prosaic theme elevated by the placement of the theme answers in the exact middle, and a revealer that perfectly describes that placement. If YOUNG AT HEART doesn't describe the teen years, what *does* it describe, pray tell?
Nice fill and not just definition clues throughout.
Can't do much better on Monday.
Solid, satisfying Monday. Had a quick start with INCUBUS, and theme/revealer helped in the solve.
ReplyDeleteE in the BICEP/CENSE crossing was last letter in when BICEP as "curl target" flashed in a somewhat dim brain.
A very fine start to the week.
Tough-ish Mon-puz. Not your normal 1a. KINDLY have the CENSE to mark this down as one of the better Mondays.
ReplyDeletePopeye: “WHATAMI? I YAM what I YAM.”
Fortunate to have her diary: Alicia KEYS. Yeah baby.
Nice puz, especially if you are among the very YOUNG ATHEART.