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French word for a leg of the Tour de France / MON 5-23-22 / Opposition party group in British politics / Drunk in dated slang / Jacques Mon Oncle filmmaker / Basic trick at a skatepark / Helpful feature for tyops
Monday, May 23, 2022
Constructor: Simon Marotte
Relative difficulty: Medium
Theme answers:
- NET NEUTRALITY (20A: Topic of debate regarding online service providers)
- PLAY POSSUM (35A: Feign sleep)
- SPELLCHECK (44A: Helpful feature for tyops ... um, typos)
- SHADOW CABINET (56A: Opposition party group in British politics)
Eric Samuel André (born April 4, 1983) is an American actor, producer, stand-up comedian, television host and writer. He is best known as the creator, host, and co-writer of the Adult Swim comedy series The Eric Andre Show (2012–present). He also played Mike on the FXX series Man Seeking Woman (2015–2017) and voiced Banzai in the remake of The Lion King (2019). He performs music under the name Blarf. [...] In a 2016 interview, André said: "I think everyone is bi, right? There's no such thing as sexual orientation, or race, or gender. Those are all obsolete man-made concepts. I'll say it again, a hole is a hole." When asked if he was coming out as bisexual, he continued: "I'll f*** anything that moves." (wikipedia)
• • •
Do I think my version is a whole lot better? No, I think the best idea would be to do more of a tear-down in the middle and NW and rebuild from there, but my version doesn't have ETAPE, so it's inherently better, especially since I didn't make most of the surrounding fill much worse. Well, MSRP is arguably worse, I don't like it, but again, my version is just a quick what-if; if I can do this in a few seconds, that suggests that the grid could be much Much cleaner. But no one seemed to care. Good enough is good enough, I guess.
A couple of the theme answers are nice answers all on their own: NET NEUTRALITY and SHADOW CABINET would look really great in any themeless puzzle, say, or in a puzzle where the theme was really on point. Here, they're just ... answers. The only things that make the grid any fun (though "SEE YA LATER" isn't bad, either). I felt like I was moving a little slower than normal, for a few reasons. No idea who Eric ANDRÉ is, though as soon as I looked him up and saw his face, I was like "oh right, that guy." So he's good, just in my blind spot. Not in my blind spot is Jacques TATI, man I love that guy's movies (39A: Jacques ___, "Mon Oncle" filmmaker). I think I'm gonna pop "PlayTime" in the old Blu-ray player right after I'm finished here. Talk about someone who seems to be having fun, who seems to Love cinema and all its visually comedic possibilities. Just a master.
My Monday Night Movie Club is watching a Bette Davis film tonight, one in which she is CAST TWICE—the movie is called "A Stolen Life" and Davis plays identical twins. It involves a lighthouse and also stars Glenn Ford, who was in every other movie from 1940 to 1970 and has the greatest movie face and is my hero, basically. Where was I? Oh, TWICE, that was a mean clue, mostly because THREE is also five letters long and starts with "T" (53D: How many times Bette Davis won Best Actress). Davis won her Academy Awards very early in her career (for "Dangerous" in '35 and "Jezebel" in '38, neither of which I've seen). She was nominated for her most iconic role (Margo Channing in "All About Eve"), but so was Ann Baxter, so the "All About Eve" vote got split, and the lovely and inimitable Judy Holliday ended up winning instead for her role in "Born Yesterday," which is probably just as it should be, since "Born Yesterday" is a perfect movie. (My favorite movie. True story. This print ad is framed and sitting in my upstairs bathroom):
That's all for today. In case you missed it, I printed my first "Letter to the Editor" yesterday, from former Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten. I'm thinking about publishing Letters to the Editor on a regular basis, probably on Sunday, for now. So if you have something crossword-related you want to get off your chest, drop me a line and write OK TO PRINT on it. I'll contact you if I'm going to run it. OK, that's all for now. Take care.
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73 comments:
Medium. Nice set of theme answers with two solid long downs and a couple of amusing clues. Liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.
@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #711 was easy. A tough NYT Friday maybe. He used an over sized grid with 4 grid spanning answers which were very sussable. Good luck!
Well, @Rex, when YER right, YER right. ETAPE does not belong in a Monday crossword. Or any other day, really.
But the rest is pretty basic Monday fare. Nothing to write home about, but either a quick diversion or a medium challenge, depending on one's experience as a solver.
I don’t want to cast aspersions, nor cast the first stone, so I won’t cast my pearls before swine. However, I have no pearls, and few, if any, of you are swine. I would point out that almost no one can remember (55D) MIMI C vs any of the the other RRN MIMIs. Also, that 13D begins a memorable Elizabethan complaint about the faults of the existing pinball machines: TIS STINKO TILT. Early Shakespearean folios reveal that Hamlet originally pondered, after downing 2 farthings worth of kidney beans, the very dilemma partially posed in 52D: TOGAS or not TOGAS?
Very enjoyable puzzle. Revealer isn’t important to the solve, but the craft and placement are Monday-great! Thanks, Simon Marotte.
:
It also bugged me that you need "a" before each theme answer to make the concept work.
Q: What do you do when you need a diva for your opera?
A: You cast a diva, of course. (I figured I'd hire Anna Netrebko since she was available.)
I did Phrazle 68 in 2/6 last night but it took me forever. Here's today's:
Phrazle 69: 2/6
⬜🟪🟨⬜ 🟪⬜⬜🟩⬜ ⬜🟪⬜ 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜🟨⬜🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@Joe & @Rex. You are overthinking the theme. Action that can be done to the starts of........ That's precisely what CAST is. It's not asking for a phrase. "a" isn't needed.
@Rex: Next time you need someone to fill in for you, I nominate @egsforbreakfast.
I thought THIS was interesting.
This was one that I solved without paying any attention to the theme. I did like NETNEUTRALITY, a subject of frequent discussion in our household (which includes a computer science prof) and PLAYPOSSUM. I think kitchenCABINET, rather than SHADOWCABINET, but maybe that’s what the Brits call it.
ETAPE is not a Monday word, and I think the French word “stage” is more commonly used for the sections of the Tour de France. It’s what I put in first, so that had me briefly confused.
I like when @Rex says Medium and I thought it was easy! What are all the eyes in his finished puzz?
A perfectly okay Monday.
Clean up on Aisle yesterday:
@TJS - It was his friggin thesis statement.
And, clearly, if I don’t add an “IMO” it must be incontrovertible fact. No?
The puzzle was fun today, Rex was funner, and my fellow commenters are the funnest! Thanks for making me laugh out loud, rather than merely LOL. (And, no, I don’t think I’ll ever learn that it’s ETAPE, not ETAgE.)
Filling in the grid required a bit more work for me than a typical Monday puzzle – a good thing – and I was able to figure out CAST before filling it in, which required some satisfying sussing.
Couldn’t help but notice those hidden animals – ASSet, aMULEt, and etAPE – to go with the overt FLEAS, POSSUM and ASP. I liked seeing the Boggle-style PETA (beginning with the P in SPOKEN) to act as a SHADOW CABINET to PELT. And wouldn’t it be lovely one day to run into the ironic typo SPELCHECK?
As I woke up to a new week, your puzzle got my brain abuzz for a new day, Simon – thank you very much for this!
As a Brit I definitely would NOT call a scone (4D) a "British biscuit", which as far as I know, is a cookie to those over the Pond. Scones definitely come in the small cake or bun category.
I often claim that you should never cross two words from the same sphere. For example, don’t cross Robin YOUNT with Eddie MURRAY. Both legitimately famous if you follow baseball. Both in the hall of fame. Both played in the last 30 years, so within the memory of a lot of solvers. But still bad form. I mention this because of the ELLERY/ERNEST cross. I think in this case, ERNEST is famous enough to rise above his category. As, say RUTH would for baseball.
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Compact disc? (6)
2. U.S. locale that when said quickly, sounds like a cheer (4)
3. Rolls dough, perhaps (3)(7)
4. Rewards for staying, maybe (3)(6)
5. Snack item that's partly foreordained? (4)
MIRROR
OAHU
CAR PAYMENT
DOG TREATS
OREO
Monday puzzles are so easy I didn't notice etape...got it on crosses. Likewise didn't notice we had an, admittedly dull, theme. Never heard of the names, but not a problem with such easy crosses. Twice was tricky enough to give the puzzle a little life. Monday puzzles are just dull, so not surprising Rex can itemize some of the dullness.
I did like the theme words, which were aimed at a range of interests and ages.
Huh. I wrote in ETAPE without even thinking about it so for me, at least, it was a Monday word but I do get the complaints about it. Much like the "easy if you know it" trivia.
Now Eric ANDRE, on the other hand, was a complete unknown. I read the info that OFL included in his write up and realized I hadn't seen a thing he's been in, and his quote didn't make me want to remedy that situation.
Always glad to see the revealer be the very last answer, and I didn't see it coming, and that's always a good thing too.
Nice enough Monday, SM. Sorta Made me stop and think for a minute or two which I like on a Monday. Thanks for all the fun.
Perfectly fine puzzle except for the one French word, can't understand taking down the whole NYT puzzle department because of that. What I don't like are the names of "current" personalities I've never heard of. Currency is hardly sufficient criteria for a good clue.
@Peter (7:15 a.m.) I don't think most Americans would think of a scone as a biscuit (US usage), especially how on the sweet side they tend to be here in the US (and sometimes having more of a muffin-y texture), but when I first experienced a proper scone in Scotland back in the late 90s when I briefly lived there and England, the first thing I thought when I tasted one is: holy crap, this tastes pretty damned close to what is known in America as a biscuit. (Which is not a cookie. US cookie = (roughly) UK biscuit, but US biscuit is closest to a plain UK scone.) Looking up some UK recipes for scones later, some are rather close to American biscuit recipes. For me, the clue works fine.
Agree with OFL's assessment of ETAPE - which is definitely the outlier today. I agree with Rex that it looks sad - like no one at the NYT cares. It took him all of 5 mins to clean it up a bit.
Other than that - very standard and appropriate Monday fare - personally, I prefer a theme that just lies back and does its thing without gunking up the grid or trying to be too cute by half. They got there with the theme today.
Amy here...still having Blogger issues. Glad to see you back, @Lewis. You were mentioned from time to time.
Sometimes, the working person sturdiness of a regular old Monday puzzle is a good way to face the start of a week. And especially if the week may be impactful.
"Jezebel" is a fabulous movie. Watch it, then think of Bette in "Gone with the Wind. " Henry Fonda is superb.
Thx, Simon; excellent Mon. puz! :)
Med.
Got the NW / MW, headed down south, and back up to finish at FIERI (which I may one day remember). lol
Enjoyed the trip! :)
@jae
Thx; on it! :)
___
yd: pg -1 / Duo: 35/37 (one gaffe)
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
Fun early week puzzle. Liked all the themers - agree that the revealer was a little weak. The 3s were flat. No idea on Eric ANDRE.
There was a short lived ELLERY Queen TV series in the 70s that my dad liked - if I remember it was part of the NBC Sunday night rotation with McCloud and Hec Ramsey.
Enjoyable Monday solve.
I liked the puzzle and the 10 seconds I spent adding CAST in front of each themer. I finished the puzzle quickly. It minimized crosswordese. A newer crossword solver would have a great puzzle to tackle. And I love to PLAY POSSUM when house chores need done.
I agree ETAPE is unfortunate, but I wouldn't use it as cause to indict the NYTXW staff. They give us far clearer glaring weekly evidence it's time to clean house (or at least get them all on Tinder). For example, according to the OED, "Now I get it," is not AHA, it's OHO. Even I know that.
Yesterday's discussion railing against (or for) using evil people in puzzles gets confusing to me when you use the source of all evil SATAN, but then I remembered he's fake. Fake evil people are okay.
And, what the heck, all boys as answers? C'mon Simon... give a girl a chance.
Seemed like a nice Monday with just the right amount of resistance. Not like some that you can almost do when you feign sleep. I don’t get into evaluating the technicalities of the fill but this seemed better than average ALSO.
I occasionally have a POSSUM that can’t resist the urge to PLAY in my back porch bird feeders in the middle of the night. They are creepy looking creatures at any hour but even more so at 2:00 a.m. I’d never try to CAST a NET at one for fear I might actually catch it. Fortunately, they are easily discouraged by a barking dog, even one who’s afraid of her own SHADOW.
Born Yesterday was a perfect movie, and Jacques Tati was marvelous, yes, yes. I knew étape personally, but point pris.
A grown-up Monday with theme answers that are a lot more interesting than the revealer. I especially liked SHADOW CABINET and have been wracking my brain to try and remember if I've ever heard of it. After all, I majored in Government.
The only answer that came to mind when I read the clue was the clue itself: "opposition party". Followed closely by "the loyal opposition". Did SHADOW CABINET ring a bell? That's the worst thing about having a fuzzy memory: Not only can't you remember SHADOW CABINET; you also can't remember if it rings a bell or it doesn't ring a bell.
I know that ETAPE didn't ring a bell from my French classes. I had ETAgE -- giving me that memorable child's game: PLAY GOSSUM.
(Maybe I need to go back to school and take more Government and more French.)
If the cluing had been less on-the-nose and a bit zippier, this smooth and, happily, almost PPP-free puzzle could have been placed later in the week.
I think Rex is already taking Gene Weingarten’s advice to be less prudish, quoting Eric Andre as saying “a hole is a hole.” That’s more out there than “phlegmy” or other bodily matters that Rex has objected to.
Speaking of Weingarten’s letter to the editor yesterday, I solved quite late so few people probably saw my post. I am wondering if Weingarten is among us, commenting regularly under a pseudonym. If so, my guess is JOHN X. He gets to say outrageous things with no one able to call him out by his real name for it. Other guesses?
Liked the puzzle well enough. Theme answers are all pretty good. The missing “a” bothered me not a bit. These are things that can be cast.
Favorite spell check: When I was a reporter, I wrote a story about a conservative evangelical group that included the phrase “repentant Christian men.” I spelled “repentant” wrong in some way, and spell check changed it to “repugnant Christian men.” I was tempted to leave it that way.
Aren’t they called Stages or ETAGEs not ETAPE / Steps? Guess it was just me and Nancy trying to figure out PLAY GOSSUM
I got Natick'd by TATI/STINKO. Some Googling tells me that I should probably look into Tati, just for my own cultural edification, but Jacques TATE and STENKO seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
The larger point is that crossing a 1950s French filmmaker with 1920s (maybe?) slang should probably give someone in the editorial department some pause.
Alternate clue for ETAPE......."Digital 8-track"
Hey All !
Another English word, CAST, with many meanings. Broadway CAST, broken arm CAST, throw out a fishing line CAS
T, plus as used in the Themers. CAST a NET, throw into water, or a blanket across a city, CAST a PLAY, put on a production, CAST a SPELL, hex something, CAST a SHADOW, basically have/throw a shadow. English...
Nice MonPuz. Quite a few choices for the Easy-E MonPuz clue. I pick the clue for SET.
@Gary Jugert 8:27
The devil's best trick is convincing the world he doesn't exist. Just sayin.
My theory for Rex hitting Reveal Puzzle* is in his reworking to rid the puz of the dastardly ETAPE, he forgot what he changed, and didn't want to go back through the whole puz again. 😁
*@Smith 6:12
That's what those "eyes" are, when you go to the drop down menu during a solve, there's Check Word, Check Letter, Check Puzzle features, which can help out a solve, giving you letters or words to get you unstuck. Some of us consider it cheating, some consider it just a helpful nudge.
Liked it, TATI aside. Har.
SPELL CHECK was a good idea in principal, but man, it often sucks in practical purposes.
yd -6, should'ves 5 (long ones which prevented me from G 😢)
Duo 35, missed 1-3-7(stupid miss on 7, another missed yellow letter. Dang!)
Two F's (SPELL CHECK tried again to change it to D, as YesterComment)
RooMonster
DarrinV
All About Eve is a prefect movie. So is a letter to Three Wives. And for the same reason: Joe Mankiewicz.
Born Yestarday isn't in the same league, because Garson Kanin aint a patch on Mankiewicz's ass. Neither is Cukor.
And Broderick Crawford gave a better performance than Holliday.
Other than that, a spot on analysis as usual Mike.
@Chicago Chica - Yes, in French each leg of the tour is called an "étape." For example, from French Wikipedia on the Tour: " Les éditions modernes du Tour de France se composent de 21 étapes réparties sur une période de 23 jours et couvrent près de 3 500 kilomètres." Note the "21 étapes" there for "21 stages/legs."
I, too, thought it was étage, but looking at French websites, "étape" is the word that is used.
I thought the puzzle had a nice amount of crunch and sparkle for a Monday with NETNEUTRALITY, PLAYING POSSUM, and SHADOWCABINET. Enjoyable.
I really don’t get the deal made about ETAPE. It means step and etage means stage. Seems at worst a French “kealoa” and as @Nancy said tongue in cheek, PLAYINGGOSSUM just didn’t cut it. I enjoy the challenge of intermittent foreign language words in the puzzle. As I’ve said before I took Latin and no conversational languages so I like building up my foreign language vocab.
@Whatsername…I know on opossums! Yikes they are ugly and even more so because they are out at night. Years ago, we had a home with the laundry in the basement and a window well by the washer. Once, doing laundry in the evening I looked up and a possum was looking at me from the window well. The first thing you see are the red eyes reflected by the light and the RAT tail. I was probably in my late 30s but the sight made my heart pound!
@Wanderlust…if your guess about John X is correct than Mr. Weingarten is quite the military expert. If I had to guess, it would be @Egs. Omg, an impressive favorite book list. I’ve THOUGHT about trying Infinite Jest but…well, @Egs would have to tell me I really don’t have to read the footnotes. 🙄 I have read some DFW writings that were brilliant AND humorous.
My first reaction to the reveal was that it was rather wan, similar to @Rex's "no sass and no verve." But then it got me thinking about what a versatile verb CAST is and pondering what else can be cast, with different shades of meaning....like a glance (or eye), a horoscope, or smelted metal. I like puzzles that show the sometimes inexplicable ins and outs of English, so liked this one a lot more, post-pondering. I also thought PLAY POSSUM and SHADOW CABINET were excellent.
Do-over hEAd before BEAN. No idea: ANDRE.
Wanderlust,
My favorite autofill/ spell check was assholish atheists, for agnostic atheists. I too was tempted to leave it.
I've never thought about a SHADOW CABINET..Should I? Do I need to eat an OLDE SCONE with ANDRE, FIERI, GROUCHO, ELLERY, ERNEST, LIAM and TATI to finally get to my CAST of a thousand names? Well...of course not. I knew these names. Perhaps I want to be a STINKO and wish for a Monday sans people names. My ETAPE will be fulfilled.
My BEAN was a head...My YIPE was an ouch, my STUD (muffin) was a stag and Oh, oh where did the little O disappear with POSSUM....?
My name is a fish's breathing organ.
@OFL:
Davis won her Academy Awards very early in her career (for "Dangerous" in '35 and "Jezebel" in '38, neither of which I've seen).
upgrade your cable/sat tier to the TCM version. or pay attention to it, if you've already got it.
@Son Volt – the Ellery Queen TV show was a standalone, not a part of the NBC Mystery Movie rotation (Columbo/McLoud/MacMillan and Wife/Hec Ramsey etc.).
@Norma & Peter – I agree with you. I would consider scones and US biscuits as two different types of quickbread – cousins, but not equivalents. Like fingers are not equal to toes, but they are both digits.
** WARNING: Victorian Rant **
Since I don’t do Sundays, I’m just now catching up with yesterday‘s kerfuffle in which OFL was accused of being Victorian in his sensibilities. I would have to say it’s not that I find certain things offensive so much as I’d just rather not have to think about them when I’m doing my puzzle. I seek out the Crossword and Wordle and other games as a place to find respite from all that - a mindset which was even acknowledged by the NYT itself in this recent statement: “At New York Times Games, we take our role seriously as a place to entertain an escape.”
That particular statement was referring to Wordle but it also applies to the Crossword as far as I’m concerned. If I want to read about war and tyrants, all I have to do is click on any news outlet to get the latest update. If I want potty-mouth humor and discussions of genitalia, I can turn on the TV and take my pick of movies, talk shows, and even sitcoms. Especially sitcoms. Pornography is considered entertainment by some but do I want to know about a rap song with lyrics which are nothing but absolute filth? Just no, not ever.
Yes those things are the reality of today’s world. It’s all out there and I’m forced to acknowledge it whether I want to or not. And if I should have the audacity to say - “Come on people, we can do better. Let’s clean things up a little bit.” - I’m labeled as a fusty harrumphing prude who has no interest in staying in step with modernity. If only I’d just stop with the swooning and go along and never say a word to object. Well I do object! So stay in step with that.
Now I’m not proposing that we “damage … the Crossword genre by instituting an outdated set of criteria for what are acceptable answers.” But I am saying that those who labor to entertain the masses of cruciverbalists are under no obligation to acknowledge the “muck, mayhem, malodor, crudeness, crassness and cruelty” to which we are continually exposed from every form of media every minute of every day. There used to be a standards of decency in journalism and entertainment. Is it too much to ask that we try to preserve this one little corner of the world as a refuge of propriety where those standards still exist?
End of rant. For what it’s worth. And FWIW, I do intend to share it with RP verbatim.
How many recall that POSSUM isn't the name of the critter??
Are the Kitchen Cabinet the same thing as the SHADOW CABINET?? Let's go see... according to the wiki, similar
Shadow: senior group of opposition spokespeople, Brits
Kitchen: The Kitchen Cabinet was a term used by political opponents of President of the United States Andrew Jackson to describe his ginger group, the collection of unofficial advisors he consulted in parallel to the United States Cabinet (the "parlor cabinet") following his purge of the cabinet at the end of the Eaton affair
OTOH, I first recall hearing the term wrt FDR. Let's see ... the wiki says FDR's group was called 'the brain trust'. hmmm. It seems that, after Jackson, it's Abe then JFK. Lackluster public education is to blame.
Me too for ETAgE at first. I know better, but that didn't stop me; I'll probably do it again next time. I'm old enough to know ELLERY and TATI right off the bat, but they're still pretty old for a puzzle. But then I went with Guy FIERo, so give me the old folks every time.
TOGAS got me thinking, and I realized that the typical Greek male statue is nude, while the typical Roman one is clothed. Maybe Rex is a Roman, and Gene Weingarten is Greek.
Bonus clue: "The ----- mightier than the sword."
@Whatsername 11:14
BRAVA....!
etape is “step” the correct word is “etage” which is “stage” a leg on the Tour de France is a stage
@Anoymous (11:44) No, it is not. It is étape in French. Read the French Wikipedia article on the Tour de France. Note the numerous uses of the word étape and even subject headings for the various types of stage (Étape de montagne, Étape accidentée, Étape de plaine, Étape contra-la-montre.):
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France
Please, folks, before saying something is "wrong", look it up. There's a whole world of knowledge under your fingertips. Why do I regularly see on here incorrect statements of "fact" that a quick Google would clear up?
Cheers to Whatsername for the rant.
I agree with the post yesterday about not giving oxygen to people and behaviors that contribute to degrading civility. Especially in a game meant as a diversion.
If this challenges new constructors a bit, well, this is the NYTXW we're talking about.
Haha, I too like it when 🦖says “medium” and I find it very easy. ETAPE did stand out as unusual for a Monday, but one toughie seems fine to me to throw in for a Monday especially - if one can get it easily from crosses.
🤗🦖🦖🦖🦖🦖🤗
As for the letters to the editor idea. Love it! 👍🏽🤸🏽♀️👍🏽
In these days of trolls, rude come-backs, personal attacks when one disagrees (modeled so fabulously by 45), the blog can become a refreshing forum for rational exchange of ideas and viewpoints.
So yay! And happy Monday!
folks: words from one language to another fall into two types (at least)
transliteration: etape ≡ step
translation; etape ≡ stage
the point being that the French idiom doesn't transliterate, but it does translate. English *assumes* that a leg of the race is a stage; and what the French call it be damned. assuming that the English translation should transliterate back into French is highly chauvinistic. MAGA!!
I used to be a Washington Post paperboy.
@ Z, You are correct. I did miss "Victorian" in that first paragraph. No so sure about the "thesis statement", but a miss is a miss. I'll stand by the rest of my comment, though.
Ah,yes... The same guy who is personally distraught by the inclusion of names of politicians he doesn't like, organizations he finds offensive, or words failing the breakfast test, apparently feels we should be informed of the views of Eric Andre. Way to stay classy, Professor.
What Is A Gambit In Chess?
"A gambit happens in chess when a player gives up material during the opening to seek some kind of compensation. Most gambits require the sacrifice of one or more pawns, while a few of them involve sacrificing more valuable pieces." ((Chess .com)
@jae
Another tough Croce battle; half finished in 1 hr (bubkes in the north). Perplexed at clue: 'E, by another name'. 🤔
___
yd: 0 / td: 9:56 (0) / W: 4* / WH: 4
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@JOHN X. But I always considered you the best damn paper boy working under my editorship.
The Amaury Sport Organisation, which organizes Le Tour, refers to its stages as étapes. I agree with Rex that it doesn’t belong on a Monday, though. I wouldn’t have known it were I not a cycling fan.
@Whatsername Wait, um, wha? You don't do the Sunday puzzle? What can we do as a community to set you on an approved path? 😉 Nice post and I agree, clutching my pearls.
Good, solid MonPuz. CAST a PLAY. CAST a SPELL. CAST a SHADOW. CASTaNET. yep. Clicks, for m&e.
Some pretty good fillins, includin: GROUCHO. SEEYALATER. STINKO. AMULET.
staff weeject pick: YER.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Mustachioed Marx brother} = GROUCHO. A gimme, before I had any of its 7 letters.
fave huh?-clue: {23andMe sample} = DNA.
fave combo clues: {Zilch, zip, zero} = NADA & {Go "Zzzz"} = SNORE.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Marotte dude.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
**gruntz**
Ok, two possum stories:
1) My brother, back in the 50's, was a "Have-a-Heart" Trap enthusiast and once trapped a possum who, as it turned out, was carrying several little ones in her pouch. He kept them for quite a while in a very spacious cage under our crabapple tree, teaching them to hang upside down from his fingers. Eventually he released them, but continued to toss out lettuce for them in the late afternoons. Often we would pull into our drive at night and see, glowing in the headlights, several pairs of eyes near the wooded area beyond the carport, eating the evening feast.
2) Flash forward to the late 80's/early 90's, when our local paper (The Town Talk--you can't make this stuff up) in Central Louisiana published on the front page a picture of a possum that not only had been an unfortunate victim of roadkill, but had subsequently had a white line painted across its corpse by a careless highway paint crew. I wrote a tongue-in-cheek rant to the editor, ending it by proclaiming that we must not make fun of the poor victim, just because he had no hair on his tail and got run over ... twice.
Possum story:
A possum found its way into one of our garbage cans. He couldn't get out on his own steam. For some reason my mother--not one to panic--called the police.
And the patrolman* who showed up, unholstered his gun was prepared to shoot the possum. My mother intervened and said she was fine with the possum in a garbage can and asked the cop to leave.
Of course, the solution was as easy as laying the can on it side. Which seh did. And come nightfall, Unc Billy** trudged off.
* Typical cop. right down to his haircut. Even as a young teen I could see this was a guy just dying to use his gun to cause death. I have no idea whether he was the sadist he appeared to be, but I guarantee he was bored. There was no crime in that zip code.
** Unc Billy possum is the titular character in a wonderful children's book. Our board skews a bit old for this to be a hit with our kids, but do your grandkids a favor and buy it for them. You'll both be glad you did.
Spanish dancers sometimes castanet.
Do fisherfolk cast a line, a rod, a hook, a worm, a fly?
Who cast bread upon the waters?
SHADOW SPELL PLAY and NET may all be cast as some sage soul has pointed out, so the reveal is good without 'a' quibble.
@Lewis
There is also OLLIE since we have been considering puppets as animals recently. There is also a curled TOAD in the SE corner if you are desperate for more.
@JOHNX
I was only the paperboy for the Newark Star Ledger. A big paper by Jersey standards but not the Post.. So once again feeling like half the man you are.
@Gill
Like Water for Chocolate is an amazing movie. I have so much loved the first half of it that I am always a bit disappointed by the the second half despite it being quite good too. But then there is that handsome male actor, so if you do not agree, I understand.
Here is some Spanish dancing I found. No castanets or crazy fast footwork, but the dress the posture the movement the spirit impressed me. Certainly I am no expert.
https://youtu.be/9DWlngNFIdY
@albatross 3:29
So glad you are enjoying "Like Water for Chocolate." I particularly like the scene when the older sister escapes "evil mom" and gallops off with el bandido... stark nekkid.
Another film you might enjoy is "Chocolate" with Juliet Binoche, Judi Dench and Roux...played wonderfully by Johnny Depp.
People think these are my favorite because they contain the word "chocolate." Well...that too!
PS. I didn't know how to open the YouTube you mentioned. If it involves castanets then is already love it.
I have lived in France for over 20 years and confidently confirm the word is étape. Etage refers to the level of a building.
I agree that ETAPE might be okay as long as all the crosses are fair, but does everyone other than me really know that there's a skateboard trick called an OLLIE?
@4:34
Me, me, me. But I have no idea how. My skate board was a 1 by 12, with metal clamp-on-sneeks sidewalk skates nailed on. Toughest part was flattening out the clamps, in order to nail to the board.
I really wanted to link the scene in the "Tequila Mockingbird" episode of "Get Smart" where the agent is transmitting a secret message with her castanet playing and the Chief and Max are back at headquarters trying to decipher it. But I could only find the full episode.
Phrazle 70: 2/6
⬜⬜⬜🟪 ⬜🟪🟪 ⬜⬜⬜🟪
🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩
Shadow cabinet is British and refers to the opposition, now Labour, naming members as shadow ministers to debate the actual ministers in the government, Kitchen cabinet is a group of informal advisers to US presidents. Not related.
Any one notice the symmetrical NETs? Neither did I.
SHADOW CABINETs are Canadian, too (eh?). Hilariously, the current one is headed by Candice Bergen, the interim leader of the Conservative Party, but she bears scant resemblance to Murphy Brown.
REST, ETC., ETC.
SUE is one to PLAYPOSSUM,
I'll AFFIRM she'll SNORE, YA see,
ALSO her TALENT is awesome,
YIPE, please CHECK her LEGALID!
--- OLLIE ANDRE BEAN
I could not disagree more with GROUCHO (what a fantastic entry!), my new name for Our Fearless Fussbudget. From now on, when you see a "G" in my post, you'll know who I mean.
This to me is the perfect example of the execution of a theme. Some long phrases, whose common thread I defy you to find before the end, with a simple, short word at the very end of the puzzle creating the 31-across moment. Beautiful!
Also with the fill, especially ETAPE. I see nothing so terrible about that appearing in a Monday puzzle. It's not as if we have a debut word here. If I had an eyebrow raiser, I'd probably say ELLERY, which is a bit dated for many of the younger solvers on a Monday. It was a cold gimme for this octogenarian, though. Sorry, G, this one's an eagle.
For a Monday, I made the dopiest mistake. And not even a "typo."
I misspelled FIERI with an O, and came up with some unknown that I thought was in another language. Ha ha on me.
Still thought this was rather on the Tuesday level, IMHO.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
PS - @Spacey - I like the "G" nickname - quite fitting.
Lady Di
Ruh ROH! The real Rex is back. I agree with the old GROUCHO. The NYT crossword can and should be better than this. Personally, I find the puzzles in the New Yorker Magazine consistently better than those in the NYT. This one isn’t a STINKO but the theme is a bit of a SNORE. Not enough AHA moments - or any really. But it did the job. If it were a car it would be a Ford Taurus. OK, SEEYALATER!
Yes, everyone knows the term, but you. I normally do at least three different crosswords every day, and have seen the word in everyone of these xwords, multiple times. It's almost crosswordese. And on a personal note, I had a skateboard when I was a kid. I'm in my seventies! Yes, they've been around that long.
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