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Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Monday)
- LACKS HEART (18a: "Doesn't have fortitude")
- LEXINGTON (23a: "Home of the University of Kentucky")
- LICKS THE SPOON (36a: "Finishes eating ice cream or soup, say")
- LOCKSMITH (51a: "Rescuer for when you've lost your key")
- LUXEMBOURG (56a: "Tiny neighbor of France")
Word of the Day: RECTO (Right-hand page of a book) —
two body-toes stacked on top of each other
Happy Monday! It's Megan again (the Renaissance poetry grad student from Boston), excited to be filling in for Rex a second time. I'm all set to start teaching again on Thursday, and I'm so ready to be back in the classroom (with masks, but in person) — especially now that the heat in Boston has died down a bit!
Recto is the "right" or "front" side and verso is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper (folium) in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. (Wikipedia)
So today, we have a classic descending vowel puzzle. The five theme answers all begin with the same consonant sounds (here, a single syllable beginning with an "L" sound and ending with a "CKS" or "X" sound), but the vowel changes for each answer, and it changes in descending alphabetical order. It's a fairly old-fashioned kind of puzzle, which is absolutely fine — except when it LACKS HEART, as this one often DOES. My apologies in advance for the SNARK, but I'll try my best to MAKE NICE.
The theme answers (rather, their clues) just . . . aren't fun? LICKS THE SPOON has so much potential! It's a wonderful answer, but the clue just lays there, dead. "Finishes eating ice cream or soup, say." No joy. No baking cookies with a relative when you were little. None of that. Just an empty bowl. We also have two geographical locations (LEXINGTON and LUXEMBOURG) for the L_X themers, for some reason, and their clues ("Home of the University of Kentucky" and "Tiny neighbor of France") are bland. There have to be some other Lexington/Luxembourg fun facts floating around out there, just begging to be written into clues. When the puzzle format is this traditional, we need a little pizzazz, a little oomph, a little *jazz hand motion.* Just because it's a Monday doesn't mean the clues have to be . . . boring.
Finally — and this is remarkably nit-"picky" (har har), so feel free to disagree — LOCKSMITH stands out from the rest of the pack. It is a compound word: LOCK + SMITH. The "s" sound here belongs to the second part of the word, "smith," whereas in the rest of the theme answers, the "CKS" or "X" sound all comfortably land in the first word or in the first syllable.
ovules, of course
I found the fill to be rather challenging for a Monday, especially in the NE corner. BILOXI (3d: "Mississippi city on the Gulf of Mexico") was utterly unknown to me. (I looked it up, and it seems to have been hit pretty hard by Hurricane Ida. I hope everyone down there is safe. Take care of yourselves and watch out for one another.)
I was stumped on BILOXI, so I was absolutely confounded by AMORS. It seems obvious in retrospect, especially because those little troublemakers appear frequently in the poetry I study, but I've also rarely encountered it in the plural form. AMOR in the singular? Great. Got it. Standard crossword fare. But plural? I couldn't parse it. I also struggled with A TASTE (6d: "Barely any, as food or drink"). I don't buy the clue. The situation of the clue doesn't seem to really match the situation of the answer. The clue suggests lack; the answer suggests restrained decadence. No one says, "Oh wow, I'm starving, I've only had A TASTE to eat today."
Two elegant long down answers: INTRICACY and FOOT MODEL. But again, the clues fell a little flat. I feel like you could come up with a fresh, Monday-level clue for FOOT MODEL other than: "One who might have a contract with a sandal manufacturer." I mean, yes, factually, it's true. But you've already gone ahead and made the decision to put FOOT MODEL in your puzzle. Don't give me a "contract"! Give me something fun!
I have never heard the term RECTO (see word of the day), which was pretty embarrassing for me, since I study old books for a living! If you knew it, kudos! And if you didn't, well, neither did I. But now we do, and we can share it with our geeky book friends.
Otherwise, a LOT of standard, un-flashy crosswordese in the corners: ALOE / OAR / EMT / POL / ELO / ELLE / LAPS / URI / ERIE / DISS / NAAN / ART / NERO. Happy to see two wonderful women, VANNA White and Laura DERN. Icons, both of them. And I got a chuckle from the eastern section: BODY on top of TOE on top of SNAIL. Because what is a SNAIL, except for a hardshell BODY stacked on top of a big, squishy TOE? (Don't @ me, malacologists - I know there's a lot more to snails than that, and y'all are doing great work.)
Have a great Monday, everyone!
Medium. Nice example of a classic theme. The fill was a bit odd in places (AMORS, ORIN), but the long downs were fine. Liked it.
ReplyDelete@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #640 was easy for a Croce or just a tad tougher than this week’s Saturday NYT to put it in perspective. Good luck!
@stephanie - sorry for not covering both sides of the PSHAW definition...and thanks @Z for the other half. I apparently should run more of these sorts of words/phrases past my grandkids before I assume things are common knowledge.
Quickie strafe bits:
ReplyDeleteDid anyone else have "fOul" before BODY?
SEAT RIP. Too obvi. Besides, I'm sure I won't be the first or last to mention it.
@GILL walks into a bar, makes a CUERVO MOCHA sing and we all dance!
DO I CARE? If a new listen is needed, I RE-EAR.
And thank Gof that's over. 🙄
🧠🧠
🎉🎉.75
I enjoyed this Monday outing. No muss, no fuss.
ReplyDeleteChoked a little on Eggplant PARM, yuk. Eggplant, Brussels sprouts, Lima beans and okra need to all just go away. On the other hand Jose CUERVO is welcomed anytime.
I thought it was DIS not DISS, did I miss that memo?
Tough Monday
ReplyDeleteI agree, I didn't like the clue for A TASTE
I used to sit down and commit to coming up with a five expressions that could be a vowel progression theme and really put my mind to it. I’ve never been successful, so I always have admiration for constructors who manage to do this. It’s a Monday, and I have no complaints.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t disagree more with Megan and @Del Taco - I think the clue for A TASTE is fine. Here’s your situation:
Mom: What happened to all the guacamole I made for the party! It’s like half gone.
Me: Huh? Don’t look at me. I just had A TASTE.
GO BALD crosses DO I CARE. Well. My son has gone bald, and he really did care at first. He’s ok with it now, but it was a blow. I tried to tell him, and this is true for me, that I never really notice a receding hairline in men. Baldness doesn’t bother me at all, but then I catch myself admiring Joe the Grocer’s hair on Bachelor in Paradise, so. . . hum. Anyhoo, he’s planning to prank everyone at Thanksgiving by sporting a new toupee, gonna tell everyone it’s a trial run for his upcoming wedding. I think if he can get one that’s fairly decent but still startling, he can pull it off. Don’t tell anyone.
Ok. I’ma admit right here that I’m 60 years old and never until just now associated the word freeway with “free” as in don’t pay. I always vaguely took it to mean that you were free of local traffic, free of boneheads attempting ridiculous left turns, texting at lights, farding. Unencumbered, you were able to freely get on about your business. In my defense, I never lived anywhere with tolls until I moved to NJ when I was in my 40s.
I’ll have the RICOLA alpine shout in my head all day today. Here’s something I’ve never understood: if you have a coughy feel in your throat, that’s in your windpipe, right? Why would anything sent down your food pipe affect that? You have a coughing fit, and someone invariably scrambles to bring you water. What. You’re going to pour it down your windpipe? I know I’m not thinking about this right, but still.
Since I always think it’s Equador, my tequila was “Quervo” before CUERVO. Where I worked in Atlanta (Quinn’s Mill), our well tequila was CUERVO Gold, and I was told that this was a premium and that it was something to be proud of. (Patron and Don Julio had not been invented yet.) Snob that I was, when I was out and about, I’d order a margarita and then would be like, Wait. Do y’all have CUERVO Gold? No? Ok. Just bring me a glass of Chablis. It was my plan to look discerning and sophisticated but still reasonable and polite. I was nineteen. Sheesh.
Speaking of drinking tequila. . . SEATRIP
GSN - I’ll leave you with a Family Feud rerun.
How can you still defend this administration?
Delete@Loren Muse Smith but in your example, A TASTE is sarcasm for eating quite a lot, not hardly any! :)
Deletetoupees have actually come a long way. i know a stylist who specializes in hairpieces for men. they're glued on and then cut & styled like your own hair. many of them are really pretty miraculous. here are a couple very short videos (feel free to watch on mute) to give you an idea:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMzkxyFlaJF/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNqFNFiFT8K/
i added some factoids about the term "freeway" in my comment which is somewhere down the very bottom.
i think of a cough as being in the throat, and that's where you're working to soothe (or clear an obstruction). here's what the internet had to say about cough drops: "When you suck on a lozenge, it starts to dissolve and release medicine. It is intended to dissolve slowly in the mouth to temporarily suppress the cough, and lubricate and soothe irritated tissues of the throat. Some have medications that help fight colds, and most have anesthetic to help ease the pain. Lozenges also contain menthol or eucalyptus, which can help cool and sooth the throat. Others contain honey, which is known to have cough suppression properties. In addition to the benefits of the lozenge itself, just the act of sucking on a lozenge is helpful. This increases saliva production, which reduces dryness and coats the throat. This, in turn, cuts down on pain and itchiness."
when i uncovered CUERVO i instinctively retched a little - especially the gold, oh man. no fond memories there at all. still popular with young people that don't know any better yet though! tequila isn't my go-to, but when i do drink it, espolon blanco is my pick. affordable and delicious. milagro silver is not bad either.
ReplyDeletePretty much what Megan said, except I did know RECTO. In fact I said, "Hi, RECTO old friend! I haven't seen you around the grids lately!"
And @Frantic, I agree about SEATRIP. Who ever says that? Everyone I know says "cruise". Break out the green paint!
Ran the downs first. Needed the crosses to get some of the longer ones like 4D INTRICACY, 8D MAKE NICE, and 35D FOOT MODEL. Agree with Megan that both 35D and 36A could have had sparklier clues.
ReplyDeleteRe 58D, do I actually need to go memorize the greek alphabet so I don't have to rely on crosses for these?
Happy puzzling everyone! Ciao, ciao.
I loved MAKE NICE and INTRICACY, and I loved the constructor notes in WordInfo and WordPlay, where Brooke’s priority of working to ever improve her constructing ability shines through. That is sure to become self-fulfilling, that is, the puzzles, even if very good now, will gain polish over time, due to Brooke’s high bar – to everyone’s gain. Yay!
ReplyDeleteMake Nice could have been Fake Nice, as clued. I was looking for eggplant parf or something exotic for a bit.
DeleteRandom comment, FWIW....
ReplyDeleteIn the Wizard of Oz, the one did not have fortitude was the Cowardly Lion.
It was the Tin Man who lacked heart.
and this explains why i wrote in LIONSHEART at first and then thought...wait...isn't it LIONHEART and isn't that the opposite?
DeleteA Monday with bite and delight....like opening a Chinese fortune cookie and being told that you've been selected to sing "Old MacDonald Had Some Vowels." Finish the song and then go tip TOEing through the tulips with @Frantic.
ReplyDeleteI don't really nit my picks....or is it pick my nits? - I can't ever remember - but I did think there were lots of little threes. Not that I mind threes. My granddaughter is three and then there's the Holy Trinity. If I had to "pick" anyone walking into a bar and ordering Jose CUERVO it would be my PAL TOE ART. You should see his FOOT MODEL.
I've never taken a SEA TRIP..... I leave that to Nemo. I do LICK THE SPOON when it involves making chocolate bon bons with Godiva and I will talk about GO BALD in my next life.
You’re not done when you lick the spoon; gotta lick the bowl clean after that.
ReplyDeleteFelt a little harder than a typical Monday with AMORS, OVULE, RECTO etc. But only one over-write (OVary before the aforementioned OVULE).
Megan on Monday, thank you and good luck teaching. The progression was fine and good for Monday. Just found Indian Eggplant at the farmers market and they are fun! Put them in a saute with peppers, onions, and an anchor chili mole sauce.
ReplyDeleteExplored the Olmsted created Linear Parks in Atlanta Sunday. Impressive and beautiful.
Vowel theme has been done before but fine for a Monday. Issue here is the overall fill is rough - very few bright spots. I take no issue with A TASTE - pretty common usage and at least it’s not crossed with A TEAT. RESEEK, SCORER, IT HELP etc are just bad. So much short glue we get a progression run on the threes.
ReplyDeleteTough way to start the week.
@Frantic. foul temperature?
ReplyDeleteI hope everything is ok with Rex. Did he tell us he'd be away for a couple of days?
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else stumped by 14A (Plagued) for ATEAT - that one just zoomed way over my head. It still hasn’t hit me.
ReplyDeleteAMORS was new to me as well. Enjoyed the rest of it - I’m also enjoying the greater civility being displayed by the guest bloggers.
@chefwen
ReplyDeleteDIS DISS DISSED DISSES. No memo needed. Just a MOC. Matter(s) Of Convenience.
A TASTE: I feel you have misread the clue if you think the answer is wrong. Or fell for a subtle misdirect if you prefer. Barely any food and drink is one thing. Barely any, as food or drink definitely leaves room or even nudges you to the answer given. Did you get any of that cheese dip at the party? I just took a taste and when I went back it was all gone. Or whatever scenario you prefer.
Definitely agree it was another Monday with thought needed. Nice longs as mentioned above.
I did not even notice the theme. Vowel progression is a theme? I forgot. Me: Oh boy! A Monday themeless. Too much short stuff but not too bad.
Johnny, He was Plagued with guilt. His guilt ATE AT him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for tha!
Delete@LMS - I'm with you on "freeway." I remember looking this up years ago, but the word "free" there refers to something meaning closer to "open" and "unencumbered" rather than as in "without cost." The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) defines it as: "A divided highway facility with two or more lanes in each direction and full control of access and egress. It has no intersections; access and egress are provided by ramps at interchanges." No mention of tolls or the lack thereof. Wikipedia further adds that this definition applies to both roads with and without tolls.
ReplyDeleteI had a rough time for a Monday with this puzzle. ATEAT is simply a word I'm not familiar with, and feels rather esoteric for a Monday. Same with RECTO.
@Peter P ATEAT isn't a word, it's two. ATE AT. if you're plagued by something, it eats at you ;)
DeleteNice enough Monday and the vowel progression theme being done before will not ruin the rest of the day for me. Maybe LOCKS should have involved LOX somehow but that would still give you a separate word, so maybe not.
ReplyDeleteAgree that SEATRIP doesn't do it. Maybe @JoeD will find "Sea Cruise" somewhere. Also have never said or written RESEEK, while we're at it. Maybe there should be a term for arbitrarily doing something over using RE--ROCS? RE's of convenience?
@LMS--here's how it works in Spanish--if you see QUE, it's always KAY. Kay pasa? If you see QUA, it's wrong. The KWA thing in Spanish is always CUA. Stuff like this is why Spanish is so much easier to spell than English.
Nice Mondecito, BH. 'Bout Half a cup of coffee's worth of fun, for which thanks.
@Lewis - He didn’t tell us, but his Twitter feed has him in Minneapolis for the weekend. Drinking cocktails.
ReplyDeleteAgree with @LMS about A TASTE. Remember those images where you’d be looking at them and the image is going in one direction and then you’d blink and the image would look like it was going in a different direction? That’s this clue. I had the eyebrow beginning to arch and I blinked and I realized how the clue worked.
I agree with Bowman (do you say that like “bow” or “bow”?) about the theme cluing. Sure, Monday cluing tends to be more direct, but does it have to be boring, too? Rex’s rule of thumb is “if it’s the grid blame the constructor, if it is the cluing blame the editor,” so I blame Shortz. Looking at the theme set I can’t help but feel that there is a fun, groan-inducing puzzle trying to get out.
How do you know someone is (relatively) new to solving puzzles? They don’t know RECTO or verso. Yes, it’s been awhile, and seeing RECTO on a Monday seemed odd, but tis definitely a member of the Crosswordese Hall of Shame.
Thx Brooke; nice Mon. challenge to start the week! :)
ReplyDeleteMed. ++ solve.
Felt like a Tues. + or easy Wednes.
The NW fell quickly, but all was a SNAIL's pace after that.
Didn't know CEURVO, so that held up progress in that area.
Nevertheless, a Mon. challenge is always welcome! :)
Flew from New York to LUXEMBOURG in '68 to embark on my European adventures.
@Nancy (9:01 PM yd eve.)
I too, enjoyed the cryptic element sneaking into the acrostic! :)
@jae (1:24 AM)
Looking forward to Croce's Freestyle offering. :)
___
yd 0
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
I'm a librarian so RECTO was a gimmie for me but, I think it's too hard for a Monday. I agree, the puzzle skewed hard for a Monday.
ReplyDelete@Peter P & @LMS - I think the clue writer is playing on words, not being literal. I think the vast majority of TOLLROADs in the U.S. in 2021 are freeways.
ReplyDelete***Breakfast Test alert***
ReplyDeleteRECTO has a medical meaning as a prefix, RECTO-
My favorite clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Something you might flip over (3)
2. Stuck-up couples at weddings? (4)(7)
3. Stock holder (4)
4. Something rectangular that may have more than four sides (4)
5. Lead-in to com or net, but not org
MAT
CAKE TOPPERS
SOUP
MENU
INTER
@LMS, thank you for pointing out the coughing issue. I can’t think of how many times I’ve had water or some other beverage go down the wrong “pipe” and someone asks if I want some water. Um, that’s what got me here in the first place! I’ll just hack away for a bit, and that’ll take care of it. And recently when I’ve had that happen the first thing I think is that others immediately believe it may be COVID. Apologies ensue.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the lack of junk in this puzzle, along with some un-Mondayish words like RECTO and OVULE. The theme, however, put me to sleep. This sort of theme always does.
ReplyDeleteI was half-expecting LICKS THE PLATE to come in and was so relieved when it was the much less objectionable LICKS THE SPOON.
Didn't realize that there was such a thing as a FOOT MODEL. Imagine going into a modeling agency and having them look every part of your BODY up and down and saying as they go along: "Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough. And then..."Oh, wow, what gorgeous feet!! Will you be our FOOT MODEL?"
So NERO was adopted. Who knew?
I've never heard baldness described as a "chrome dome". (Why chrome? Because it gleams in the light?) But at the first "G" I did wonder if the answer would be GO BALD, and it was.
A professionally executed Monday, but one that LACKS sparkle.
Recto and Verso walked into a bar. Recto sat right down, Verso left.
ReplyDeleteI had to get that out. A couple puzzling thoughts.
Licks The Spoon is a great, great evocative answer. But "Finishes eating ice cream or soup, say," misses the chance to draw ya in. Clue something like "Gets the last delicious bit," and you're thing, "Ohhh yeah..."
"Say" has all the joy in a clue as your mother saying, "Don't forget your raincoat."
"That's right," for Recto (such a fun word), and you're thinking, "Oh clever." Tougher for a Monday but you either know Recto or you don't, so gussy it up and send it out there. Make it a Tuesday.
Brooke Husic notes that this was one of her first puzzles and only 15 of the 76 clues here were hers. But in the grid you still see the twinkle in her eye for the language.
Cluing NYT, cluing. The solving experience tips in its direction.
@Anonymous 725am Why, yes. Of course, being a complete idiot and reading the clue as "word before language or weather" helps a buttload.
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of buttloads...it appears my brain has migrated south. 🙄
I went to a backyard party yesterday that turned out to be more of a fundraiser than a fun time. All the food was a TASTE. Plattersfull of TASTEs. Having one was like eating one potato ship. You'd have to load your plate up with stacks of the little things to feel fed. One cm square crackers with smoked fish on them; puff pastry cops with one cherry tomato in them. Thinking it was a party I had been invited to, rather than what it was, I had brought a big Indian sweet potato dish, but there were no forks on the table since all the little TASTEs were finger food. People had to use the puff pastry cuppy things and dip my sweets.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the puzzle. I do have one quibble. Is PLASM a suffix? I would have thought that cyto or Proto were prefixes. Prefices?
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteNo LOX AND BAGELS? Har, too long. Maybe LEX LUTHOR could've been in place for LEXINGTON. Still wouldn't have worked to get LOX in, though. But a better answer, IMHO.
Nice MonTheme. Took to completion to actually see it, which is nice that a MonPuz keeps you in the dark. Usually, I find the theme, then just finish the puz.
playNICE first. uVULa-OVULE, think that's it for writeovers.
Are there FOOT MODELs out there? I mean, there must be, but sounds a bit odd. LOL at SEAT RIP (I know it's SEA TRIP), visions of pants ripping whilst squatting down. A TEAT, AT EAT, ATE AT. Har. My hair situation: GO BALD. GO(ing), actually. Wanted LICKS THE bowl, but too short. "Gets the last bit of peanut butter" maybe a better clue?
Neat pattern to 2D, O_O__O. Thanks to @Clare for knowing BTS. Can't see RICOLA without hearing the commercial jingle. Advertising at its best.
DO I CARE. I'm a LOON? Not really. 😁
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Oh good, nobody has posted this Jimmy Buffett song, "Down Around Biloxi" yet. I'll just post before somebody does, and be right back.
ReplyDelete@JD 929am 🤣🤣🤣 Did you just make that up?
ReplyDelete@Frantic, Just some brains, party favors and the cat would get me by til your back full time. Sniff, cough, eyes right. Or just the party favors and the cat.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit offended by 1D; I mean, sure, but do you have to call attention to it? (Fortunately, I'm not at all sensitive, no, really.)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I've always thought freeways were called that because they were free; I can't think of any that aren't, but then I don't know them all. But I was more intrigued by the meaning of 'opposite' in the clue. I mean, if you accept my definition, freeways and TOLL ROADs are exactly alike in all respects but one, how they're paid for. So the opposite of a freeway might be a cross-town street in New York, or maybe an impassable swamp.
@chance2travel, you don't have to know the order of the alphabet, only whether a particular word is or is not a Greek letter. Once you have LUXEMBOURG it can only be XIS (and what an ugly POC that is!
Brooke Husic has had some beautiful puzzles on AVC; it makes sense that this is one of her first.
A SEA TRIP isn't necessarily a cruise (especially these days, when a cruise is what you do on a cruise boat); but to my ear, 'sea voyage' is what one would say. I don't know why.
Did you see where the Canadian mint produced a bunch of dollar coins that came out with one blank side (the RECTO, in fact). They had to RELOON them.
Thanks for the write-up Megan. May I recommend that you check out the wonderful Neil Simon play/film "Biloxi Blues."
ReplyDeleteThis was nice and a pleasant solve for the most part. Solid reliable theme but must say I found a few of the clues/entries baffling. That said, I know from reading the constructor notes that she wasn’t particularly happy with some of them herself. But it was a win overall IMHO and compromise is often required to achieve success. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteAmong the minor quibbles, DO I CARE was the first entry which to me LACKS in general. The expression I have always heard and used is: “DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE.” The other entry that really LOCKed my jaw was SEA TRIP. You don’t say. No seriously, you don’t say that. No one does. Flipping the coin though, I loved MAKE NICE and FOOT MODEL.
Aside from that . . . CUERVO MOCHA anyone? Hey, don’t DISS it! @Frantic, @GILL and I are gonna have A TASTE of ours while seated on the BALES.
@Whatsername as it happens, patron makes a variant called "XO cafe" - coffee flavored tequila. never tried it as i don't care for coffee but it exists. (an actual mocha made with actual cuervo though, that'll be a hard pass.)
Delete@LMS = You be starting a "are well and good synonyms" fight?
ReplyDeleteI thought the vocabulary was decidedly un-Mondayish which, perhaps, forced the clueing to be a little too bland. Solving downs-only I was impressed with the lack of crosswordese until I hit the NE corner where it all came flooding out.
I like that all the vowel sounds that changed were short rather than random, which likely necessitated the LEX... and LUX...
I probably says a lot about my age and history that I when "LICKSTHESPOON" became apparent I hoped for a heroin reference.
@jberg, Agree on 1D but maybe younger people don't think of it that way. Who knows, it could be a compliment by now. Which reminds me of the time my first grader daughter drew a picture of our family, drawing her father's head as a circle between two straight lines. When I asked her why she drew him that way she said, "He just gets his hair cut on the top."
ReplyDelete@Frantic, Snorting laugh through the nose, nose wipe left. Yah.
Hi Megan, thx for your excellent write-up! And, all the best with your teaching experience. Stay safe out there! :)
ReplyDelete@jberg (9:38 AM)
Thx for the Jimmy Buffett vid. :)
🙏 for BILOXI and all affected by Ida.
___
g -19
Peace ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
megan's references to the east, and northeast, have me concerned -- have i somehow been using these terms wrong? surely biloxi is in the NW corner of this grid?
ReplyDeleteDid any one start singing Jose Cuervo you are a friend of mine...
ReplyDeleteLove the answer ATASTE even though it took me forever to see it as I wasn't quite confident about ATEAT and hadn't written it in initially.
I enjoyed this puzzle, and yes, my last entry was the first T in ATASTE because I misread it and toyed with the idea of AWASTE.
ReplyDelete@Chefwen, I tend to agree on eggplant but I do like babaganoush (sic?)
@LMS and others, I think for half of my life I thought that freeway was just another word for highway and then thought it must be “without toll.” Well fuhgeddaboutit, because more and more roads today that were previously free are tolled. To cross the Ohio River at Louisville, KY today one must pay a toll on I65 unless you go over the old 4 lane Second Street bridge. Who knows when even that has a toll. We have a series of automated Three Billy Goats Gruff growing across the US because I guess, we just don’t want to pay more taxes to the gov’ment.
Try this, "A freeway is a highway where access to the roadway is controlled. Drivers can only enter a controlled-access highway by ramps. Traffic traveling in opposite directions is usually separated by a median, and vehicles wanting to cross a freeway must use an overpass or underpass. Freeways are usually in an urban setting and have higher speed limits."
ReplyDeleteOr this. "A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway,[a] motorway[b] and expressway."
@chefwen:
ReplyDeletebrussel sprouts can be made very TASTy. here's one recipe. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/240253/braised-brussels-sprouts-with-bacon/
¼ cup butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, minced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
½ cup crumbled cooked bacon
2 [tablespoons powdered; never ever] chicken bouillon
use a bit of 'Better Than Bouillon' if you want chick
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup Chardonnay wine
the cooking method is at the site, but simple
1 - heat large skillet
2 - add butter
3 - split sprouts and add to skillet
4 - saute until GBD
5 - add the remaining ingredients
6 - cover, lower heat to low-ish, simmer for ~15 minutes, test sprouts with toothpick until done to perfection
To make the distinction even murkier, several cities now have toll lanes side-by-side with (or stacked on top of or below) lanes of an otherwise non-tolled controlled access highway. These are usually managed toll lanes, with variable tolling, where the charge increases as the traffic increases, the idea being that the higher cost will dissuade people from using the toll lanes, keeping traffic moving at a desired speed in those lanes.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-occupancy_toll_lane
And then there's the Dulles Toll Road, which was built on either side of the freeway to Dulles Airport 20 years after the freeway opened. If you're going to or from the airport, the ride is free. If you want to get off at an intermediate point between the Beltway and Dulles Airport, you'll pay a toll.
“I must remember to RESEEK AMORS on my next SEA TRIP,” said no one ever.
ReplyDeleteI’ll try to MAKE NICE, but it’s hard to get excited about the sounds of vowel progression. The highlight of the grid for me was FOOT MODEL. Who knew you could make money from just your feet? Don’t think mine have much of a career in front of them, however.
Given the discussion about freeways versus TOLLROADs, I guess I live on a freestreet.
Another slow and challenging early of the week puzzle for me. That makes last Monday, last Tuesday, and today in which I was twice as slow as usual. Seems a bit unusual to have so many in such a short time. Toughest part for me was remembering how to spell Luxembourg, and that crossing OVULE and Laura DERN (whose name I initially forgot) and GSN. That to me was very un-Monday-ish.
ReplyDeletewho eats Ice Cream (just that, one or more scoops unadorned) that's not a Sundae or Soda or Banana Split with a Spoon???? that's an Ice Cream Cone, spoon not an option.
ReplyDelete@anon 11:05 me. i don't really like the cone. not to mention these days we either get ice cream from the seasonal place in cups and bring them home (holding two cones while riding in the car in the heat of summer would not end well) or i buy it at the store by the pint. eat it straight from either vessel, or if i'm sharing i'll have it from a mug (better than a bowl imho). i wager there's plenty of people eating ice cream "plain" with a spoon, actually. especially these days when there's plenty of "stuff" in the ice cream itself. additional toppings not required.
DeleteAfter LACKS and LEX I saw the vowel progression, but anticipating the "i" didn't prepare me for the delight of LICKS THE SPOON. I liked the inclusion of the Xs - thought this was a witty and creative take on the old standard of a theme. I also liked the sort of bad-attitude vibe of SNARK, DO I CARE?, and MAKE NICE.
ReplyDelete@Megan - Thank you for "LUCKs, My Fair Falcon." It seems Wyatt had the misfortune of being forsaken right and left: "They flee from me that sometime did me seek...."
@Freeway definers--And of course it was George Carlin (I think) who observed that we drive in a parkway and park in a driveway.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked the elegant sounding "dual carriageway" for highways with a median. Very posh.
M-W defines freeway:
ReplyDelete1: an expressway with fully controlled access
2: a highway without toll fees
I do not believe any officially named freeways have tolls. Interstates (not called freeways) are not allowed to have tolls unless they were pre-existing toll roads that got grandfathered in when they became a part of the interstate system. Maybe some bridge or tunnel exceptions, but not that I know about. (Trump tried to change this) So the opposite in the clue seems appropriate. Turnpike would cause a slew of write-overs.
Thomas Wyatt really did go on about women finding him no longer so hot in hid old age, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteHarder than average for me. I tried just downs and lost patience at RESEEK and ITHELP.
Luxembourg phoned: it resents being called tiny when Andorra is available to make size jokes about.
ReplyDeleteA SEAT RIP always look nice, especially when you put tape on it to cover it up. When it occur in your pants, well, that's a whole other toll road.
Here is @Pablo's request, complete with intro by Dick Clark, who uses words like "flavorific" and "dark green".
Where did my s's go? Beat me.
DeleteAlternate Clues
ReplyDelete18A. Collect only male painters. LACKSHEART
29A. Cockney preschool, DOICARE
45A. Cause of a stinky chair? SEATRIP
A: Was it you that ate that whole bowl of cooked cereal grain?
B. No, I had barely any barley. Just a taste.
The fill was far better than the cluing. As someone pointed out earlier, Ms. Husic wrote less than 20% of the clues. Hers might have been so bad that they needed to go, but I suspect they were too difficult or subtle for a Monday.
@albatross:
ReplyDeleteI know of one (at least) exception: the replacement for the Tappan Zee over the Hudson is tolled; and only E-Z pass, so if you don't have a gizmo you get a nasty letter after your trip. used it once after the Tappan Zee (many crossings over the years) was decommissioned, and was delighted to see no toll booths. Yippee! then got the nasty letter: your toll or your first born male child. the Cuomo way.
I suppose the argument is that it's Not a New Bridge. looks New to me.
@Amonymous (11:05) “Who eats Ice Cream (just that, one or more scoops unadorned) that's not a Sundae or Soda or Banana Split with a Spoon?” Goodness! Ever hear of having a bowl of ice cream? A couple of my favorites are butter pecan and black walnut, neither of which really lends itself to sundaes or sodas or splits so I often enjoy it with a SPOON. Sometimes [G*A*S*P] straight outta the carton. In fact, it’s widely known that a spoon comes in especially handy when you’ve just gotten home from the store with it and you open the carton - just to inspect it of course - and it’s kinda melted around the edges. And you don’t want to put it in the freezer like that because then it’ll be all mucky when it REfreezes so you take the spoon and just run it around the edges to get the melted drippy part and maybe a little off the top so the carton doesn’t squish it. Not that I’ve ever actually done that or anything.
ReplyDeleteI finished the puzzle without knowing there was a theme... but it was nice to have a crunchy Monday
ReplyDelete@anon1105am
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I do and I suspect millions of others. People who live alone and dislike doing dishes might eat right out of the container. Also the clue would not be wrong with nuts or whip cream or anything else on top. Soup is still soup with croutons too.
Would have liked gets a treat when grandma bakes for licks the spoon
ReplyDelete***Seinfeld clip alert***
ReplyDeleteSo, with FOOTMODEL, all I could think about was this and this and this.
And who eats what with a what?
@Frantic (12:07) Loved the Seinfeld clips. I did think of the hand model episode but I had forgotten about the Snickers bars. 🤣
Delete@Frantic Sloth exactly what i thought of too!!
Delete@chefwen. Shocked!! Dissing eggplant parm? You, of all people ? Try the eggplant at an old time Italian restaurant in the Little Italy section of Chicago and it will change your mind. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteRe. the review :
"A taste" suggests "decadence" ?
Of all the great Renaissance poetry to choose from, we are treated to "Like lice away from dead bodies they crawl" ? There's a breakfast test for ya.
Do we really have to count up all references to women in a puzzle and make note of it ?
Anyone remember the Seinfeld episode where George is "discovered" as a hand model ? I can still see him walking down the street with oven mitts on his hands to protect his valuable assets. Sorry, I don't no how to find the scene or give a reference to it.
Themes are just an annoyance for me. I don't notice them unless they are keyed in a clue. Ergo: didn't notice today's until I read Jeff Chen, who is obsessed with them.
ReplyDeleteChen says that critics of this theme call it a vowel movement. Love it!
FOOTMODEL reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George gets hired as a hand model.
Not boring. That's enough for me on Monday.
My favorite posts this morning.
ReplyDeleteLoren (4:39)
JD (9:29)
Today's xword made Monday feel like a Wednesday. If only we were already half way through the work week.
ReplyDelete@JoeD-Had no doubt you would come through. Great clip, and thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteOooo-eee, ooo-eee baby. Timeless lyrics.
Played slightly tough for a MonPuz, at our house. Not that we mind at all.
ReplyDeleteThe theme … not just a "vowel movement", as the other letters morph a bit, too boot: LACKS, LEX, LICKS, LOCKS, LUX. Vowel movement with consonantipation?
Can't help wonder why this particular vowel-progression series of themers got picked by the constructioneer. Musta been a seed entry, like LICKSTHESPOON, that sold it to her. Or somesuch. Anyhoo, different kinda progression -- and M&A likes different.
staff weeject pick: PAL & POL. Some start-up letters for another vowel movement, perhaps? Nifty weeject stacks [stax?] in the NE & SW, btw.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Rower's implement} = OAR.
fillins of the first class: SNARK. VANNA. INTRICACY. CUERVO. BILOXI. MAKENICE.
RESEEK/SEATRIP … har
Thanx for the luck's out fun, Ms. Husic darlin.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
heavy biter:
**gruntz**
Megan -- I used to think that it was pretty easy to write these columns. Yours today has taken them to a whole new level. Thank you for a great and thoughtful write-up!
ReplyDeleteMegan Bowman’s write up is very well done. I solved this puzzle as a themeless and never looked back … until I read the write up. Oh yeah, there was a … theme … sort of. I would not bother posting, only I think that Bowman deserves a thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteI think this one is a little high on bLACK squares, 38, and we get a corollary higher number of 3s and 4s and some pinched off sections. The latter is especially noticeable in the upper right and lower left corners. Some of the less-that-desirable 3s are also there, to wit EMT, LOA, URI and XIS.
ReplyDeleteThe grid has, however, a very high theme density what with five of them for a total of 52 squares. That's a ton of predetermined squares that must be worked around and through, so maybe the 38 black square count was needed to make it all come together.
Looks like the grid also gets significant help from the POC, including two of the themers. Both LACK HEART and LICK THE SPOON are one letter short of their respective slots in the grid and need a convenient letter count boost form a constructor's best friend, the letter S. There's also a two-for-one POC S in the lower rightmost square where it occurs with some grid-fill-helpful regularity. Altogether, that's some pretty serious POC help in getting the grid filled.
The INTRICACY of the black square locations does allow for some NICE Downs like INTRICACY and MAKE NICE.
I have a bench top milling machine that was made in LUXENBOURG. It's really well-made and a joy to use.
I was surprised this kind of tack tech tick tock tuck theme was still viable these days. So far the commentariat ratings suggest that opinions are varied on that issue.
The writeup was more FUN than the puzzle! ������
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the review, Meghan!
ReplyDeleteMy first answer to “opposite of freeway” would have been “surface roads” if that had fit. Which is another conundrum; aren’t most roads “surface roads” and aren’t most freeways also on the surface? Then again why are they called “high”ways?
LICKS THE SPOON, yummy; LICKS THE bowl (really, lick as much of the bowl as you can, then use finger to clean the rest and lick finger), yummier; but the yummiest part is contorting your tongue around the inside blades of the mixing beater to get every. last. bit. of batter. Complete with raw eggs, I might add.
@Whatsername, nothing like a bowl of butter pecan, black walnut, or pecan praline (I believe the NOLA pronunciation is “puhCON PRAWleen”). REmoving with precision (eating out of the carton) the melted part is a must - REfrozen melted ice cream spoils everything. On the other hand, if the ice cream is too hard, my mom taught me to use a fork to get it out.
Not my idea of a SEA TRIP
@A yes, the beaters! raw eggs shouldn't harm most people, it's actually the raw flour that's the concern believe it or not.
Deletefrom the cdc:
Flour doesn’t look like a raw food, but typically, it is. This means it hasn’t been treated to kill germs such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), which causes food poisoning. Harmful germs can contaminate grain while it’s still in the field or at other steps during flour production. Processing steps like grinding grain and bleaching flour do not kill germs such as E. coli. Bacteria are killed only when food made with flour is cooked. This is why you should never taste or eat raw dough or batter—whether made from recalled flour or any other flour. In recent years (2016 and 2019), two outbreaks of E. coli infections linked to raw flour made more than 80 people sick.
now that said, i'm still gonna lick the beaters.
Can we talk turnpikes tomorrow?
ReplyDelete@LMS, I have noticed that young men seem to be balding earlier than in my day. It must be something in the cafeteria mystery meat. My son’s HS friends seem to have a dearth of follicles starting in their late twenties. Confidence is the key to rocking the “chrome dome”. NB Jean-Luc Picard. Sigh, again.
I love the Brussels sprouts recipe by @The Swedish Chef (hope he’s the Muppet). Could this be a regular feature, @Rex?
Hey, this Wyatt guy is pretty good. Lucks, my fair Falcon got me interested. It helps to know that falcons referred to females. The males were Hawks.
ReplyDeleteI do not recall crossing paths with him before. Maybe some anthology in high school?
He also penned an ode to the Dude.
"I Abide and Abide and Abide and better Abide".
And one for America (or Biden?) today:
"I find no Peace, and all my War is done".
All are fine poems, despite my somewhat inaccurate descriptions.
@A
ReplyDeleteYou take the high way and I'll take the low, and Ida, sweet as apple cidah, will scwa me away.
High speed? Or they are built higher than the ground around them for better drainage? Or the original foundations involved a lot of stoning.
i felt like i was taking a long time for a monday. had ACTS before DOES and BESET before ATE AT. really had a heck of a time finishing off ATE AT/RECTO/STEP IN/A TASTE, just couldn't think of them until i started running the alphabet in my head. i think the "as food or drink" really threw me on the last one - all i could think of was old mother hubbard and her bare cupboard. without that addition, the clue does work though, and i was just watching a streamer last night talk about how he hates getting only A TASTE of a game, in reference to a beta that was only 48 hours long.
ReplyDeleteas always grateful for this blog or i never would have noticed any theme at all beyond "starts with L." had the same thoughts as megan about LICK THE SPOON...after soup? really? that clue was easy to get but sucked imho so i avoided writing it in for awhile. also, the phrase is "DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE?" not "DO I CARE?"
LOCKSMITH held me up for a bit, kept thinking more...neighbor? landlord? hide-a-key? never had to actually call or visit a locksmith, but i guess then i've never truly "lost" a key, only left it somewhere i shouldn't have. but i knew exactly where it was. credit card also occurred to me, only because back in the day my partner and i shared a key, and if one of us was without the other and thus without the key, a credit card worked just fine to get in. i later used this trick to get my bff into her house late one night when she had misplaced her keys and her roommates weren't answering their phones. a useful trick if the door supports it. (definitely unsettled my fair share of onlookers with it though too, lol.)
love anything to do with wheel of fortune, something my gramma and i would watch together. before vanna came out each night, we'd place bets on what color her dress would be. laura dern meanwhile is in the fond memories with dad category, as we're both fans of david lynch. also really loved her (and all the women but especially her) in big little lies.
thought TOLL ROAD was a funny reveal, but then i was like...wait, maybe it's just true? we don't say freeway here so i've never really thought about it. i looked it up. here's what the internet had to say:
a New York City lawyer named Edward M. Bassett is credited with coining the term "freeway" to describe a controlled access urban facility based on the parkway concept but open to commercial traffic. Bassett saw "freeways"--i.e., highways for the free flow of traffic--as adapting many of the parkway design concepts to serve transportation instead of recreation. Where parkways were dedicated to recreation, the freeway was dedicated to movement. To make the distinction, he delineated three kinds of thoroughfares:
A "highway" is a strip of public land devoted to movement over which the abutting property owners have the right of light, air and access.
A "parkway" is a strip of public land devoted to recreation over which the abutting property owners have no right of light, air or access.
A "freeway" is a strip of public land devoted to movement over which the abutting property owners have no right of light, air or access.
and now you know...the rest of the story.
@stephanie
ReplyDeleteWell that settles the history of the word. Nice job. The Federal Highway Admin has it all. He had vision. Started developing the language of highways early on. 1916 to 1930.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteMegan (Rex’s fill-in) summed it up perfectly. Nothing terribly wrong with this one. But it lacked pizzazz. Plus the word count (at 76) is above the NYT’s supposed rule of no more than 72 words for a standard 15 x 15 grid. So how did this one get the OK from WS?
ReplyDeleteVowel progressions have been done before--and better. I mean c'mon: RESEEK? I wanted to put in RESEARCH as a joke but it wouldn't fit. Well, I guess Ralph Nader kept RESEEKING the presidency...
ReplyDeleteDOD VANNA could be a FOOTMODEL--or any other body part model at that.
SEATRIP is what happens if I bend over too fast. As far as freeways, highways &thruways go, I give you Yakov Smirnoff (not to be confused with CUERVO):
What a country! You drive on the parkway, and park in the driveway!
Guess I'll MAKENICE and give it a par.
ATASTE SCORER
ReplyDeleteDOICARE if VANNA's a hottie?
DOES THE IDEA MAKE me A LOON?
A MODEL with A DERN good BODY?
IT_HELPs, PAL, when she LICKSTHESPOON.
--- URI "ROMEO" RICOLA
Slight modification to the Swedish Chefs recipe: Fry bacon. Enjoy. Take Brussels. Discard.
ReplyDeleteOkay, L__X with A,E,I,O,U. Neat and clean -- and not that easy for Monday. Enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteOh, especially liked INTRICACY and MAKENICE.
ReplyDelete