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Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Monday)
Theme answers:
- WHOLE BEAN COFFEE (17A: Input for a barista's grinder)
- "CARE TO ELABORATE?" (26A: "Can you say more about that?")
- GUERILLA WARFARE (47A: Tactic employed by the Vietcong)
Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms, that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It takes its name from the historic county of Sussex in England.
The title was revived in 2018, when Queen Elizabeth II bestowed it on her grandson Prince Harry on 19 May 2018 upon his marriage to Meghan Markle. (wikipedia)
• • •
DYE LOT? DYE VAT? I dunno, I just know that the whole world of DYE-related things exist in my mind solely because of crosswords, why? DYE DYED DYES DYER DYERS, then DYE LOT, which I definitely learned from crosswords, and DYE VAT, which maybe I've also seen, but sigh. To be clear, I'm sighing not so much because of DYE VAT, but because it was the last straw, the answer that exhausted me before I was even 30 seconds into this thing. OAHU OTOE EEL ... it's a teeny corner and I felt like already I was just getting all the old repeaters flung at me before I'd even had time to get underway. And of course things didn't really improve. I mean, the longer answers are, of course, more interesting, but LIL ANI OSLO et al just never let up. Are we still doing LOLCAT (singular?) in the year of our lord 2022? OK. And as for the theme, well, the discovery of that was occasion for yet another deep sigh and another screenshot:
FEE ... RATE ... oh boy, grindingly mundane transactional bizness-y terms. This reminded me of all the crosswordese I have had to endure involving ads (including ADRATE and ADFEE as well as ADMAN ADSPACE etc.). The dullest things in life ... turned into a puzzle theme. OK. I mean, there's cute wordplay in the revealer (the "price" is indeed "right"), but it's really just ... at the end. If you'd actually *shifted* something right, that would seem like ... something. This is just a "like endings"-type puzzle masquerading as something slightly more elaborate. The answers themselves are mostly fine. I would enjoy seeing something like WHOLE BEAN COFFEE or "CARE TO ELABORATE" in a themeless puzzle, or under different thematic circumstances. I'm less sanguine about GUERILLA WARFARE, which is grisly on its face and is made somehow grislier by the clue's specificity about the Vietnam War. Surely there are other -FARE ending words out there that could fit the bill. The theme concept is stronger than the overall fill, but both are a bust for me today.
- 54A: Love, with "the" ("L" WORD) — this was one of the few answers that slowed me down. I could not conceive how anything "with 'the'" could possibly mean "love"—certainly not as a verb, and not as a noun either. I really think ... well, two things: 1, the clue needs some kind of qualifier, like "it's said," perhaps, because I have never called "love" "the 'L' WORD"; and that leads me to 2, which is that the "L" WORD is "lesbian." Everybody knows this. They made a TV show about it and everything. Two TV shows!
- 49D: "The Shining" plot device that became significant when read backward (REDRUM)— "plot device?" I got this because of the "read backward" part but would never have got it without the "read backward" part because "plot device" just feels like a bizarre thing to call it. It's no more a plot device than the hotel or the labyrinth or Jack's typewriter or the axe or the elevator ... like, it's *in* the book, but ... "plot device" feels wrong. It's too specific. It's not a "technique." It's not a recognizable thing that other plots have used. It's just this freaky way that "Tony" indicates to Danny that some bad **** is going to go down. It looks cool and sounds scary when Danny says it (in "Tony"'s voice), but "device"? I dunno.
See you tomorrow.
I like this better as a themeless. But, yeah, some of the fill is a little esey.
ReplyDeleteWell, considering I was setting off cherry bombs in the school parking lot when I was a rising senior (60+ years ago!), I gotta tip my cap to young Mr. Chalfin. Quite an accomplishment for a high school kid to be published in The NYT, and a pretty slick debut in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteFelt very hard for a Monday, with a lot of words that need crosses -- often not true on a Monday. But the clues for e.g. OTOE, DARN, IRE have a lot of options.
ReplyDeleteNice malapop with LIL going in but turning out to be WEE, then LIL coming in right below it.
FAYE Dunaway seems to have been mostly forgotten about now, but for a decade or so when I was young she was in a lot of juicy roles in important movies. Her most famous role, in Mommie Dearest, may have been her last in big movies. Of course, she’s still going, so there’s time for a resurgence.
I think this is the first time I've seen a "variant spelling" of a Spanish word. GUERRILLA normally has two r's – I mean, GUERRA is the word for "war". Do people really spell it with just one r? Apparently so, but geez, it looks stupid.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised also but FWIW Google Translate has it as an ENGLISH variant spelling. It has been an English word long enough to change the spelling after all. I don't like it but it seems valid.
DeleteEasy-medium. Cute Monday theme, liked it more than @Rex did, nice debut!
ReplyDelete@bocamp - Croce’s Freestyle #731 was on the easy side (2 hrs. or so) for a Croce. If I hadn’t misread the clue for 25d (I missed the “a”) it would have been quicker. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHow many sopranos are in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?
TENOR more.
Here’s hoping that Rex, while relaxing on Lake Michigan, gets to visit SONOFA Beach.
Encores we’re impossible, as the drummer refused to REDRUM.
Would a false god stuck in the Central Valley be a Lodi IDOL?
There was something kind of refreshing about this debut puzzle. Thanks, Garrett Chalfin. Hope to see many more from you.
Compared to Rex, I'm a little fonder of the theme and revealer. It's Monday; FEE RATE FARE, THE PRICE IS RIGHT = on the right. FARE enough!
ReplyDeleteI solved by looking at only the down clues, and it went pretty good. With that method, if the theme answers are common phrases like these, even without knowing the across clues, they help a lot with the downs that aren't immediately obvious. From the clue EVEN KEEL was a lucky guess and a nice answer.
Quite an elaborate clue for TROUPES! For AMFM I really wanted something like MHZ, except it would have to be MHTZ to fit, which is silly.
A nice toasty 39°C / 102°F today here in my town in western Canada... evidently a record high. (We are not a typical hotspot as we lie between two lakes.) Not quite the sizzling 44°C / 111°F from last year's heat dome!
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0; my last 2 words were odd ones... the 4 sounds vaguely familiar, but the 5 I'm pretty sure I've never heard of.]
Go kid go! Four gridspanners. A solid consistent theme and revealer. Nothing to get upset about.
ReplyDeleteBut the coffee is weak and lukewarm. The warfare is with wet toothpicks and the extended explanations a bit of a bore.
Average Monday in average time although I did stumble around more than average. Not sure how that worked. Well yes I do. I typed in whole coffee beans and some how it fit. Then I changed it one letter at a time as I filled in the rest around it. Never noticed what letter I left out.
So kid your probably sharper than me and I have never created a crossword much less got one in the NYT. Congrats and keep going. Be proud. Now I'll go see what they say about you in the Wordplay essay. I hope we get some more from you.
WOW, Rex rips this puzzle apart from stem to stern and then tells “the kid” to go make some more. Why, to get more abuse poured on?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a fine, Monday easy puzzle. No complaints here.
Way too hard for Monday and I still don't get the theme.
ReplyDeleteThis felt smooth and clean. A perfect Monday.
ReplyDeleteWe also have IRE back in its proper place as a noun.
@Rex. the clue is Textile factory CONTAINER. VAT is the clear obvious answer. A dye lot is a very different thing.
@Rex. I loved your closing statement of support for this clever young constructor.
My five favorite clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Tires out in a playground, perhaps (6)
2. Fun times between the sheets? (4)(7)
3. Starters can be found on it (4)
4. Like a well brushed canine (5)
5. Competition that begins and ends with a tie (5)(6)(4)
SWINGS
TOGA PARTIES
MENU
WHITE
THREE LEGGED RACE
Cheers to the young puzzlemaker but a plea from a no-longer-young solver: Can we please have a time-out on Disney princesses? I realize that these are tempting because of all the vowels in their names, but I haven't seen a Disney movie since, maybe, Pinocchio.
ReplyDeleteA lot of it was repetitive, standard crosswordese as Rex mentioned, which is to be expected. It also had some clues that were a touch tougher than a normal Monday, which is cool as well. The LWORD through me for a loop - tend to agree with OFL on that one. Nice job by the kid - impressive accomplishment at a young age.
ReplyDeleteR.I.P Wally Cleaver and Lt. Ohura
ReplyDeleteNot my kind of theme - but cute enough and well filled. I don’t know anything about LOL CAT. Side eye to III. Currently watching The Offer - which is the story of the making of The Godfather. I think Joe Colombo would have something to say about Cosa NOSTRA tied to the Mafia.
ReplyDeleteRock Bottom
Enjoyable Monday solve.
Isn't there some kind of law against crossing AEIOU with III?
ReplyDeleteThis was, for me, an easy and entertaining puzzle. Well done - and double well done that it's the work of a teenager. Rex seems determined to find problems with every puzzle, especially the fill. I don't get it; some fill will always be tiresome, but so what? I admire the skill sets of all constructors who work hard to create a pleasant diversion for us solvers. Good on ya!
ReplyDeleteYes, it’s a lovely punny concept for a theme, getting those prices to end on the right edge, but this theme is not only clever, but tight as well. Consider:
ReplyDelete• The “price” words have to be hidden and come at the end of an unrelated word.
• That unrelated word has to come at the end of an in-the-language phrase.
• In this grid, each theme answer contains 15 letters.
So, it’s hard enough, IMO, to come up with words that end in “price” words. There’s BACKSTAB, for instance, and ACCOST, and Jeff Chen, in his column, came up with RESIDUES and STOWAGE. But none of these words, I don’t think, come at the end of a common phrase. The only alternate theme answer that hit me is BIKINI ATOLL, but that’s not 15 letters.
So, props for the skill behind this theme, and on a debut by a 17-year-old! I also loved the answer EVEN KEEL, the PuzzPair© of WED and L-WORD, and that LOW POINT ends exactly there.
Congratulations, Garrett, on your debut, and you’ve whet my appetite to see more from you. I greatly enjoyed this, and thank you!
So, biography is now an additional criterion for evaluating crosswords. Only in NYT, of course, as no other outlet publishes constructor bios. Consider, if for example, today’s offering was by Patrick Berry, what the reactions might be. Would we be as patronizing? By introducing this l suspect NYT might be creating an unhealthy situation whereby young new constructors become dependent on NYT are discouraged from submitting to other outlets. All in all, l don’t care much for this development.
ReplyDeleteAlso thought it was a fine Monday. Nice to see 3 grid-spanning 15s without the annoying '...ones...' phrase (like Clue: Good time to eat breakfast? A: 'before ones lunch'). I am happy to say that I had no idea LOLCAT was an actual name. @Joe Dipinto, I also put GUERrILL? in at first try. And the Across line at 36A (III LIL ANI) seemed a little OOXTEPLERNON, but I liked the puzzle just fine. About the only other thought that crossed my mind was that RATE, FEE, and FARE we're not all the same length (two 4s, one 3) and they seem pretty dry 'synonyms' for such a wacky show, but that is just a tiny nit on my part. Well done, constructor.
ReplyDeleteSo a high school student made this puzzle that boasts a refreshingly low amount of pop culture names. Older constructors could learn from him. And while WHOLE BEAN COFFEE and DYE VAT seem a little green-paint-y to me, basically it's a nice grid.
ReplyDeleteThe revealer is quite nice -- although perhaps not quite as nice for those who never heard of the show. It was an absolutely cringe-making show, but the title is well known to just about everyone who was alive back then.
I spent most of the puzzle trying to guess at the revealer, but not being able to. HIDDEN CHARGE, maybe? (They're not actually hidden, but they're shrouded in gray in my paper edition.) ADDED TAX? None of these are grid-spanners, so they can't be right.
I think I spy the hand of Will Shortz in the clue for TROUPES. I liked that clue a lot.
Nice Monday. Better than many.
The Price is Right is still airing today. Its 51th season will premiere later this year, substantive unchanged from.whatever you have in mind as "back then."
DeleteNo one has noticed that NYT allowed a misspelling of GUERRILLA as GUERILLA?
ReplyDeleteA MESSY kindergarten?
ReplyDeleteMESSY, you say?
Our kindergartens?
I can tell you with absolute certainty, and with no room for dissent, that the German founders of the kindergarten movement would be appalled at such nonsense. And outraged. Appalled AND Outraged!
A wonderful debut from a rising high school senior. So impressive.
ReplyDelete4 delightful spanners.
A nice theme.
How does a high schooler even know about TPIR?
And yet rex craps all over it.
I wonder why he even bothers to do these puzzles, unless it's just to vent and rant and show how much smarter he is than all the constructors who actually get accepted into the NYTXW.
GUERILLA, though uncommon, is not incorrect. We deal with less common but correct alternate spellings all the time. At least look them up before you rant, and then don't rant.
ReplyDeleteLOAM, by definition, is good fill.
ReplyDeleteWe have an oil painting by Bob White called "The Gloaming" on our fireplace mantle. It's a river scene at dusk, the silhouette of a man standing at the stern of a small wooden boat, poling. Another man sitting in the bow. You can feel the dusk light changing to dark on the water.
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteGot a chuckle out of SONOFA. Sounds like a city next to SONOMA. 😁
Nice puz, was trying to think how THE PRICE IS RIGHT went with the shaded squares, thinking of the game show trope. Then the "Aha" hit me, seeing each "PRICE" being on the "RIGHT" of the grid. Neat.
Lots of easy MonPuz stuff in here, AEIOU probably the easiest one. LEICA probably the toughest one. Pretty sure that's been in puzs before, but can never remember it. OH YOU was playful sounding.
Nice debut puz, Garrett.
yd -9, should'ves 4
Five F's - nice.
RooMonster
DarrinV
'LWORD' crossing 'LOLCAT" did not leave me with a lot to work with for that 'L'. Initialisms should not cross.
ReplyDeleteWell I loved this and had a great time doing it. If I was currently mentoring a novice solver, this would be one I’d strongly recommend as a perfect starter puzzle. It’s the appropriate level of difficulty, four themers spanning the entire grid, some nice long downs, plus the added touch of the hidden words. And all this in a debut from a high school senior. Very nicely done Garrett! I foresee many more publications in your crossword constructing future.
ReplyDeleteI did not take the time to look it up, but I’m guessing one if not all of those themers were debuts too. Funny timing that we just had COME ON DOWN last Friday.
The theme was fine, the revealer clever, and it was a fun puzzle. But oh, that NW corner. Not what Rex said, but was it going to be OTOh or OTOE? MATie or MATEY? Variant spellings aren't kealoas, but cause the same problems. After that it was fine. There's a local group named "GUERILLA Opera" that I like a lot, so I knew about that variant spelling already.
ReplyDeleteThe L-WORD doesn't refer to the emotion, but to the word itself: "We've been together for 6 months, and I have strong romantic feelings, but we haven't used The L-WORD yet." You see things like that fairly often if you read the relationship-advice columns (at least, if you read Love Letters).
Aesthetic question: if you need to use ANI, is it better to come up with a convoluted clue like 39-A, or just to go ahead and say "blackbird?"
I think I found your Bob White painting, @Birchbark. It's lovely.
ReplyDeleteI think @chefwen said it perfectly. Rex, sometimes I think you need to take a hard look in the mirror. Or in this case, tone down the heavy sighs over the efforts of "that kid" (sigh -- such condescension), what with "the last straw" and "exhausted me" and the multiple screen shots [look how awful!]. Is this how you critique your students?
ReplyDeleteYou can criticize. But sometimes it's a little over the top, emotion-wise.
There seems to be an idea afoot that THE PRICE IS RIGHT no longer exists. It's still going, and is consistently among the most-viewed daytime broadcast TV shows.
ReplyDeleteA little over the top, @TTrimble (10:02)??
ReplyDeleteThe time is right for a high school senior to get published in the NYT. Congrats to Garrett on the debut.
ReplyDeleteBest themer: CARE TO ELABORATE.
Best fill: OH YOU, SONOFA, and REDRUM
Other clues:
*Sunken land mass in the ocean
*Feel melancholy
*Criticize Will Shortz
*Opening of “Ode to My Left Foot”
*Finally understand former spouse
*EX ILE
*BE LOW
*BOO ED
*O TOE
*SUSS EX
The Price is Right is still on TV, about to start its 50th season. So not just for old-timers.
ReplyDeleteTaking a WALK down OSLO lane, SUE turns to ELSA and says "I have to take a BM....let's see if they have a WS nearby. They spot a WEE MESSY place that smells like pad see ew. A GORILLA is standing watch and demands a FEE to get in. SUE uses the L WORD and murmurs her RATE is good and the PRICE IS always RIGHT. "OH YOU...ok, YOU can go in and be sure to order the carne ASADA."
ReplyDeleteELSA tells SUE to run not WALK to do her business and that SHE'S going to order a couple of RED RUM COFFEE drinks at the bar. RAFA, the bartender, tells her they are MURDER and no SANE person can finish one. ELSA smiled and cooed "Listen MATEY, my friend is taking a BM in your WS and when SHES back, I will RAISE your drink in an ELABORATE gesture and smile!..."SON OF A WHOLE BEAN full of pad see ew"...exclaimed RAFA..."You're my IDOL."
SUE gets back and SHES all smiles. " I did have a LIL WEE accident, though" she whispers...There was a LIL HOLE BELOW this KEEL and it made me FEEL the UGGS." " Drink your MURDER RED RUM," SUE URGES... "we'll be back on OSLO lane in no time." They waved goodbye to the GORILLA . "SUS" yells SUE, he'll think you'll want SEX." "OH YOU, sings ELSA..."Let"s go get some THAI PIES and find a car to RENT...it'll be fun!" And so they do. It's TRUE! Guess what kind of car they did RENT...! Your RIGHT!!!...a BMWS.....
Va-Va-VOOM!
Once you found out that the constructor is a HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, you should have backed down. . . removed all your PICKED NITS. . . and congratulated him for a very enjoyable puzzle. Nice job, Garrett!
ReplyDelete@7:17
ReplyDeleteBill Russell is by far and away the most consequential death this weekend. Unless one is still a racist. The 1950s, 60s, and 70s in Boston was not a welcoming place for a tall Black guy. He not only withstood the crap, but made the Cs the winningest team of any sport (American, at least). Give Red much credit for bringing him in, when a so-so white guy would have been so much easier.
Jeez folks, that upper left quadrant was objectively bad. A car brand next to OAHU next to OTOE next to EEL? Each is ok by its self, but that's a PPP trifecta and and the most common word in all of xwordom. It deserved calling out. It was bad.
ReplyDeleteAnd how was telling the kid he should be proud condescending.? They are a kid. They got a puzzle published in the NYTimes. They should be proud. And make more puzzles.
@Birchbark (9:14) Thanks to Nancy I was able to see the painting you mentioned. Very nice. I was not familiar with that artist but after viewing some of the related images, I find his work very appealing. Another one who is good at making you “feel the light“ is Andrew Wyeth. I have his Evening At Kuerners on my bedroom wall. I see a peaceful farmhouse at dusk, the day’s work done with supper on the table as the light slowly ebbs into darkness. I find it very soothing and conducive to sleep. However my husband saw daybreak with eggs frying in the pan and the light just breaking over the eastern hilltop. Interesting how one image can evoke those different interpretations. I guess that’s the mark of a great artist.
ReplyDelete@Nancy (9:54) Thanks for taking the time to post that link. A stunning work and one I would like to own.
Thx, Garrett; fine FARE! :)
ReplyDeleteEasy-med.
Smooth solve. Very much on the right wavelength for this one.
Took a minute to suss out the theme; PRICEless. :)
The OAHU / MATEY cross reminded me of my Navy days at Pearl.
Liked BELOW & KEEL next to each other.
Did a brief stint at the BMW plant in Munich.
Have once and for all got ASADA vs ASAnA down pat. yay!
Coincidence: Teed up 'The Shining' yd; will be my streaming FARE for this eve.
Fun Mon. adventure! :)
@jae, thx; on it! :)
Thx @Joe & @JC yd for the Acrostic heads-up; will tackle it td. :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
@Unknown:
ReplyDeleteI seriously doubt that Bill Cullen would recognize today's version.
The original PRICE IS RIGHT ran from 1956 to 1965; the current version began in 1972 and will complete year #50 in September.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this Monday puzzle!
@Nancy (9:54) & @Whatsername (10:47) -- Yes, that's the one. Thanks for the Andrew Wyeth link as well -- interesting dusk or dawn question. I saw dusk there, though was looking for it. Thanks --
ReplyDelete@Nancy
ReplyDeleteYes, that was a bit of an understatement. ;-)
I suspect that Rex is quite taken with his ability to write wittily and well, and that blinds him to when it shades into nastiness and brutality.
He's on vacation; he should stop writing for a while and get his XW friends to substitute already. The semester is soon upon him, and he needs to get refreshed before the onslaught begins.
ReplyDeleteIn NGRAM, guerilla led guerrilla in the early 19th century, then they remained "tied" until 1936 when guerrilla jumped to the lead. But guerilla still maintains common usage.
Not only is THAI cuisine blech-y, it's named pad see ew sometimes. The "ew" is the hint.
ReplyDeleteOur constructor and editor think a 1967 song is the super-coolest clue for SHE'S. 1967! If you're doing the math, that's a 55 year old pronoun on a song that charted at #25. Hint: Try harder. Sheez <== Hint #2.
Hint from those of us who've been to rock bottom. It is not a LOW POINT. Low point is when Starbucks gets your order wrong.
Imagined @SouthsideJohnny's hint: It's insane to use a long Latin phrase like campos mentis for an English concept you could've clued as "okay." Who are we trying to impress on a Monday?
Those hints to the revealer are about as "hint-y" as not having hints at all. We don't know if the FEE, RATE, or FARE is "right" so we're being expected to take the word of a NYTXW editor and we've heard about prices in their neighborhood and we know their primary expertise is in four letter phrases for British rock-bottoms.
Uniclues:
1 Norwegian cattle droppings.
2 Lesbian bomb.
3 Central plains landlords go for more.
4 Meh tabby.
5 Medium point.
6 Expression of surprise at learning your friend is overly enthused about quoting catch phrases from horror movies.
1 OSLO PIES
2 TRUE LWORD USE
3 OTOE RAISE RENT
4 EVEN KEEL LOL CAT
5 SON OF A LOW POINT
6 OH YOU REDRUM
I was a teammate of Bill Russell on the freshman team at University of San Francisco in 1952. In those days, freshmen weren't allowed to be on the varsity team. I remember him as a friendly, nice guy. He credits Ross Guidice, the coach of that team, with developing him as a basketball player.
ReplyDelete@Gary Jugert 11:55
ReplyDeleteClearly you & rex were made for each other.
Calling Thai food "blech-y" sadly says more about you than it does about this delicious cuisine.
*sigh*
But I'm not sure it's entirely your fault, rex's blog can certainly set a tone for everyone else . . .
"Oh boy," I thought when FEE and RATE had appeared in my grid, "this is going to be tagged as dull, I bet." But for me, the revealer made everything fun for a Monday.
ReplyDeleteThe clue for TROUPES made me chuckle because, no, I've never considered that it might be a portmanteau. Don't try to put thoughts in my head! :-)
I threw in LOL CAT with no problem but was backpedaling on it when the W of L-WORD showed up. And then smiled when it made sense.
Garrett Chalfin, thanks, nice job.
It’s hard to fault -or praise- a Monday 🧩. Thus, often - my comment is not to comment.
ReplyDeleteYes those theme answers were boring and the croswordese plentiful- but it IS Monday, a time in crossword world 🌎 to be gentle, simple, fast, and accessible.
I respect a good critique - so yay 🦖. But am not feeling it today except for the unpleasant jolt from
GUERILLAWARFARE.
Well, at least it woke me up. And ego has to love breaking a speed record.
Not gonna RATE this one. ✌🏼⭐️✌🏼not even for a FEE or FARE. ✌🏼⭐️✌🏼
😂🤗🤸🏽♀️🤗😂
@mathgent (12:01) That’s remarkable, that you knew him when. I’ve read that elsewhere in the last few days, what an all-around nice guy he was. Have ever seen the movie Glory Road? A fact-based film about the first all black starting lineup in the NCAA. If not you would probably enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteDear Unknown @8:51
ReplyDeleteI wonder why you even bother to read Rex, unless it's just to vent and rant and show how much smarter you are than all the people who comment on his blog. BTW, Rex's puzzles have been accepted and published by NYTXW.
Your rant re @Gary Jugert 11:55 was certainly uncalled for.
@Boston Blackie (10:34 AM) & @mathgent (12:01 PM)
ReplyDeleteSaw Bill Russell play against Oregon St. in Corvallis (1955 NCAA West Regional final). Later became a fan of the Celtics, mainly because of him. A class act in every way! RIP.
@Joe & @JC
Fun Acrostic; got the mag & author early on, so the puz turned out to be relatively easy for me. Am becoming more and more fond of cryptic and acrostic puzzles, so I can appreciate the quote. :)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
DYEVAT and LOLCAT were roadblocks. Never heard of the latter. The rest of it was OK.
ReplyDeleteImpressed a high school kid would know 'SHES a Rainbow'- from 1967.
Still trying to figure out if Rex is being serious when he claims not to get that the title of The L Word (the TV show) was a play on the original meaning of the expression “the L word”. Is he?
ReplyDeleteHe’s clearly never seen Scott Pilgrim vs the World if he thinks it can only mean lesbian lol
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete@Eggs for...LOL
ReplyDelete@Joe Dipilto and others agree re the spelling.
As for the NE corner.
I thought booed was somewhat unusual and took a second of thought, matey was unusual and Fun, Otoe and eel and sue were good for the start of a puzzle aimed at beginners, as Mondays are meant to be, and dye vat effort. It took some crosses to get the idea, but VAT was clearly the answer once the dye shoed up. A LOT is not a container.
So GOOD OPENING CORNER.
But I had DNF on a Monday! because I could not think of the L word and never heard of lolcat. Although once I saw the answer the phrase the lword was very familiar. Not lesbian at all. Rex must have had a bad night.
Re: GUERILLA
ReplyDeleteFun coincidence: just now watching 'Aretha: Unforgettable' (S3, Ep3 of 'Genius') on Disney+ (subtitles on) "… we have to fight as guerillas and soldiers to hold the line …" (25:15 into episode)
___
Peace 🙏 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🕊
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJust want to chime in on DYEVAT. Well, actually DYEloT. Any knitter or crocheter will tell you that you always check the DYEloT of your yarn when buying multiple skeins. Otherwise, there may be differences that will become obvious lines/patterns in your finished product. Also, my father-in-law was a QC manager for a company that produced industrial carpeting. The kind you find in cube world offices. His job primarily, was to check each dye lot to see if it stayed within specs from previous product. Amazingly, he demonstrated that even carpet samples that looked identically blue in incandescent light, were hugely different under fluorescent light! Since then, I almost always check any product where color really matters under several light sources.
ReplyDeleteThe Stones’ SHE’S a Rainbow was featured in Season 2 Episode 5 of Ted Lasso. The episode’s title is Rainbow. The show is a multiple Emmy winner so I suspect a number of folks have heard it recently.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a barista but I do grind my own COFFEE every morning so I thought the answer to 17A "Input for a barista's grinder" should have been COFFEE BEANS. When the answer turned out to be WHOLE BEAN COFFEE, it had me wondering what other kind of COFFEE would be an input for a barista's grinder. HALF BEAN COFFEE? QUARTER BEAN?
ReplyDeleteWow, what a caustic comment from the acrostic! I googled for H, now I know there are 27, my money was on what turned out to be the correct one. Otherwise it was mostly knowledge of English and realizing early on who the author must be. Did not know the magazine but it became clear.
ReplyDeleteI like to save the acrostic for Mon because the puzzle takes only a minute or two. But, another wow, a high school student made this? Good going!
@mathgent -- Any teammate of Bill Russell must have been one hell of a basketball player, that's all I have to say!
ReplyDeleteNot bad. But I agree the NW corner has a touch too much crosswordese, The NE corner had a convoluted clue for AMEX that took me a while to figure out even after solving it. That’s too cryptic for Monday. Why not go with “Don’t leave home without it card, in brief.” ? Aside from those minor LIL TSKs I LWORDed it. ALL in ALL, it’s a DARN nice debut Garrett Chalfin
ReplyDeleteBELOW FARE
ReplyDeleteTHEPRICEISRIGHT for THE RATE YOU spent,
so LOW SHE might EVEN RAISE THE RENT.
--- L'IL ELSA FAYE
My cat said "LOL" to this puzzle, then jumped off my lap. Probably because it was tougher than the typical Monday - a cause for labor on Labor Day.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes - the clue for AMEX was convoluted - good word that.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
If a H.S. kid did this, then good for him. Didn't like the AEIOU/III cross, but the noob gets a pass. Wasn't LWORD one of the Blues Brothers?
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the holiday. Back to in-person at the office tomorrow, 2 days/week min. Sucks.