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Small houses in Spain / MON 4-17-23 / Chip Beauty and the Beast teacup / Professional office-seeker, informally
Monday, April 17, 2023
Constructor: Katherine Baicker and Scott Earl
Relative difficulty: Normal? Easy side? I don't know ...
Theme answers:
- SILENT TREATMENT (17A: *Cold shoulder)
- EMOJI KEYBOARD (27A: *Texter's option for sending faces and symbols)
- ELEVATOR MUSIC (44A: *Easy-listening background tunes)
Chip Potts is the son of Mrs. Potts and a supporting character in Disney's 1991 animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast. (disney.fandom.com)
 |
| [Annie POTTS in Crimes of Passion (d. Ken Russell, 1984), which I finished right before solving; the Criterion Channel's "Erotic Thrillers" collection this month is a real gift!] |
Absolutely blanked on 4D: Final movement of Beethoven's Ninth ("ODE TO JOY"). I knew it was gonna start with an "O," but all I could think of, musically, was OPERETTA ... which fit! But was obviously wrong. After I inferred ADIDAS and SILENT TREATMENT, I emitted a large "D'oh!" as I sheepishly typed in "ODE TO JOY." Felt less bad about struggling (a bit) with SPEED DATES, since it was actively trying to misdirect me with its "?" clue (10D: Participates in some singles matches?). Totally blanked on Chip POTTS. Could picture his "mom" but still couldn't remember the family name. Once I got SEE IT, I was able to, well, see it. (note: SEE IT was one of those answers that had me wondering "how did they clue that??" I guess ["Understand now?"] is OK. Since I couldn't look at the clue, I didn't know it was supposed to be a question; thought the clue might be a partial, à la ["Now you ___, now you don't"]. The actual clue is better). I hesitated writing in CASITAS, since it seemed unlikely you'd see such a long foreign word on a Monday, but I couldn't make anything else out of CA-I-AS, so CASITAS it was. Wanted ON THE SCENT at 29D: Following a trail, as a bloodhound, but also had this eerie (though not EELY) feeling of "... is that the expression? ON THE SCENT? ON THE TRAIL, sure, but TRAIL is in the clue so ... SCENT?" Yes, SCENT. Alright then. IRON(ON)-ically, I finished up with GO ASTRAY—the answer that means "err" was my final and unerrant answer—that's what makes it IRON(ON)-ic!
My only other thoughts about this one are: it's weird to call it an EMOJI KEYBOARD since it's more of a giant menu and doesn't really mimic a "keyboard" much at all; I mean, that *is* what it's called, but it's just weirdly inapt, I think. And then I was thinking "Glad I had the 'T' in place and so didn't fall into the FIRMA trap at 47D: Terra ___ (COTTA). See you next time. LET'S SAY, tomorrow, OK? OK. Bye now.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
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70 comments:
Mediumish. Smooth, very clever and amusing, with some excellent long downs, liked it a bunch! A well deserved POW from Xwordinfo! Congrats to Katharine on a fine debut!
Croce Solvers: Like so many Croce puzzles my first take on his Freestyle #802 was “there is no way I’ll finish this”. Around two plus hours later, however, I did finish. So, a medium-tough Croce for me or about 5x last Saturday’s NYT. Good luck! ...not ever having had athlete’s foot contributed to the toughness...
Easy, no resistance, no write overs. one small thing - I thought GOOS nat have been cOOS. I liked the theme, great for a monday .
Hey, run for cover, I just checked my entire EMOJI KEYBOARD:
🏧🔙🔚🔛🔜🔝🆒🆓🆕🆗🆘🆙
When I am giving the SILENT TREATMENT, man oh man are there a lotta words going on in my head.
The words I most associate with ELEVATOR MUSIC is, "What brain donor thinks we needed a pan flute version of Barry Manulow's Mandy, and where is the licensing genius who bought it?"
So the theme is "Will thinks THERE ARE NO WORDS, but there are actually some words and society has gone to the dogs."
Over the weekend we watched Air at the theater. It's about Nike beating ADIDAS to sign Michael Jordan. Good movie with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I remember when those shoes hit the market and people shot each other to get them.
Uniclues:
1 Look for the worst in everyone.
2 Russell's Truck and Travel Center in Springer, New Mexico where they have a cardboard cutout of Elvis Presley AND John Wayne.
3 Effective architectural installation to deter margarita delivery drivers (from leaving).
4 Tries to develop a romantic relationship with an Italian bear prior to being eaten by it.
1 OMIT UPSIDES
2 ARTY GAS STOP
3 CASITA'S MOAT
4 SPEED DATES ORSO
THis seems easy for Money.There were answers that needed some crosses to come to mind, but I dont think I stalled long anywhere. Pleasant. Agree with Rex that the revealer is good.
I love these puzzles where I have all the themers in place but can’t for the life of me see what they have in common. I could’ve sat with this trio all day and not gotten the common thread. So when I finally resorted to teasing out the revealer, I smiled.
Rex – I paused at the clue for SEE IT, too. For me, “Understand now?” would be just SEE? You’d ask SEE IT? when you’re pointing out the cloud that’s shaped exactly like a STOAT. So, SEE? involves understanding; SEE IT? involves vision.
I prefer the crappy chemical-laden fake maple syrup to the real stuff from real maple sap. I’m thinking I like all the added sodium, I dunno. Waffles with the “good” syrup eat too sweet and one-notedly.
Start of a countdown – when my “service engine soon” light comes on, and James Earl Jones’s voice in my head is saying You are about to die in TEN, nine…
“Those interested in poetry or painting” – people superior to me. Who eschew tv and have season tickets to the symphony. And buy only real maple syrup.
I liked YEAST crossing GAS.
I never equated ice bought in a convenience store with ICE CUBES. There are no cubes in there, even after you hold the bag over your head and hurl it to the ground to break everything up. ICE CUBES are uniform, the issue of an icemaker that works properly (unlike ours). I remember when Heather Dubrow of The Real Housewives of Orange County built her mansion with several icemakers here and there, and they all produced ICE CUBES of different shapes. Now That’s rich and fancy.
SPEED DATING sounds like a hoot. But I imagine in actuality, it’s just all the guys stepping out from behind their profile pictures where they’re posing a) in front of a motorcycle, b) holding a big fish, c) leaning against a Corvette, d) sitting in a golf cart. Puh Leeze.
Katherine, Scott – great idea! And you included ODE TO JOY. I’ve posted this here many times, but I could watch it every day.
Congrats on the debut, Katherine. Easy and fun, just like a Monday is supposed to be.
And 7D reminds me of this: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=442415422844821
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Over-the-top sorts? (4)
2. Produce in pods (4)(4)
3. Note taker? (5)
4. Who had us at "Hello"? (5)
5. Work with a pick and an ax? (5)
LIDS
SNOW PEAS
THIEF
ADELE
STRUM
Sucess
Very hard downs-only solve for me, and I “cheated” a couple of times to look at across clues. I got SILENT TREATMENT first, then THERE ARE NO WORDS, which gave me the theme and helped me get the last two. But for a loooong time I did not see EMOJI at all. I had EDAM, ON THE SCENT, and MIT, which seemed like the only options. Once I had ODE TO, I wanted to put in JOY, but for some reason I thought that was Bach (my classical music knowledge is an Achilles heel). Finally I saw EMOJI and thought “what the **** is an EMOJI KEYBOARD?” I couldn’t believe there are people who literally have a board with keys of various emojis. Why would you need that? Rex set me straight.
Agree this was a great theme with four solid answers. Nice clues for SPEED DATES, STRIKE and OVA.
@LMS, I don’t agree with you on syrup, but I’m not a snob, I swear. I’d actually like to do a blind taste test to see if my purism will hold. I remember when Cook’s Illustrated magazine did a blind taste test with serious foodies on real vanilla extract vs. artificial, and artificial won. It rocked the cooking world. I think they did it again, and this time the real stuff won, and everyone settled down. My sibs and I grew up eating Little Debbies Swiss Rolls in our lunch boxes, while our cousins had Ho-Hos. Each of us insisted our product was superior, so we did a blind taste test with the chocolate logs cut into slices so we wouldn’t know the size (Ho-Hos are bigger). We sheepishly had to admit Ho-Hos were better. Oh, and I should say that we did this taste test as adults in our 50s. OK, have I proven I am not a snob yet?
Nice theme that resulted in the aha moment when I got to the revealer. The only real resistance was CASITAS crossing COTTE and the POTTS teacup thing/character - I can’t tell if teacup is intended to be complimentary or pejorative there. I’m guessing they wouldn’t insult a (Disney?) cartoon character, so we’ll go with complimentary and leave it at that.
Today was a very good example of what a Monday could/should be. Congrats to the constructors on a job well done.
Re: Rex’s objection to EMOJIKEYBOARD, on a phone the emojis are on an alternate keyboard.
Fairly sure I have shared that Missing Persons video on the blog in the past. It is everything you need to know about the ‘80s. I wish Rex had given us the Berlin video, too, rather than just he album cover. Saw Berlin in concert a couple of years ago. Still great.
Monday puzzle that had a bit more interest than usual due to the “I wonder what the theme is” element.
This puzzle gave the solver different choices. I had FIRMA after "Terra" instead of COTTA which slowed me down a bit. IRONED seemed more appropriate than IRONON. On the whole I thought it was a reasonable Monday.
@jae - ooh! I thought Croce 802 was easy (for a Croce), although 3D was new to me and I felt like I must have an error there (but didn't). It really helped that a lot of the PPP clues were gimmes this week. Last week's Sid Sivakumar Saturday puzzle beat me up a lot worse.
This theme clicked for me in every way. The theme answers, including the revealer, had zip (EMOJI KEYBOARD mainly because of the J and K – looks very cool to me). The revealer worked perfectly because the “no words” worked in a different way in each of the three theme answers. Also, the theme set up a mystery to be cracked – I actually filled in the entire grid, leaving the revealer squares blank, and tried and tried to figure out what it was, with no success. So, when I finally began to fill it in, letter by letter, the moment I realized what it was brought a huge “Aha!” and “Hah!”. Marvelous theme.
The grid lacks junky answers, and has lovely vertical longs. It’s one of those that I gaze at post-solve, and it makes me feel peaceful. Strange but true.
I did like the three palindromes (NAN, AMA, and ALA), and the DIAL up and LAYS down.
It’s the second day in a row where it’s a debut for one who had more than 20 puzzles rejected by the Times, but, amazingly and admirably, persisted rather than bailed on constructing. Brava, Katherine!
A sterling Monday, IMO, Katherine and Scott, which sent me off feeling good about the world. Thank you for this, you two!
Yep, agree, that was an excellent theme. Really refreshing to have one that isn’t contorting itself to work, but instead is just a clever new way of utilizing a familiar saying to group some familiar phrases.
The fill was a little boring in spots, but at least it was clean, and it made up for that with some fun cluing in spots - I loved SPEED DATES. In real life, however, I would genuinely rather be stung by a small-to-moderate number of bees than participate in a speed dating event.
Re: maple syrup - no judging @LMS for preferring the fake stuff, but as someone within walking distance of several folks who tap their own trees, I’m a fervent real deal aficionado. The darker and more iron-y the better. If we weren’t renters and it didn’t take 40 gallons of sap to yield one gallon of syrup, I might get into it myself. But it’s a good thing I’m in maple country because I have a pretty serious (syrious?) syrup habit: some in my oatmeal every morning, and a bit to sweeten my tea 2-3 times a day. And of course we cook and bake quite a bit with it. I do a maple-ginger-soy-chili flake marinade that I’m obsessed with. There’s an awesome syrup biz about a half hour’s drive from here called Tree Juice - I go for their straight stuff but have been meaning to try their roasted garlic syrup.
@Loren Muse Smith: Thanks for the link. Do flash mobs even happen any more? There was a time when an unexpected performance in an unexpected place brought a lot of spontaneous joy, but I haven't seen or heard of one in years. Too bad too.
Also, I used to prefer the fake maple syrup until I discovered the dark amber real stuff. Some of the real syrup is too pale and too sweet and doesn't have enough maple punch. Try the dark side! I will never go back.
As for the puzz...meh. EMOJI KEYBOARD is unknown to me (@JJK: Really? Maybe different phones?) and the theme seemed very far-fetched: an attitude, an app, something piped into an elevator? I don't 22A. Is SPEED DATING still a thing? In the end, more a demonstration of how tough it is to do a really good Monday than an enjoyable solve.
Cute theme - more nuance than most early week puzzles. The revealer is apt and a wonderful entry itself. The long non-theme downs really shine - ODE TO JOY, SHUTS OUT, GET REAL are all solid. My dad had a ‘60 Dodge DART station wagon - beautiful car.
Mighty LEMON Drops
There was some trivia here - most in my wheelhouse but had to back into POTTS. Didn’t know SPEED DATES and didn’t like EELY or NAUSEA. Like the outlier J usage.
Enjoyable Monday solve.
Very gratified to see 4D today. The symphony was a genre in which THERE ARE NO WORDS, until Beethoven wound up his Ninth with a musical setting of Schiller’s Ode to Joy, aka “An die Freude.”
One of these days I’ll get an html hyperlink to work, but in the meantime, that’s https://www.treejuicemaplesyrup.com/
I would have thought a smiling face emoji linked to some Muzak would have been more than sufficient for Rex's commentary today.
Excellent puzzle, for all the reasons many have already stated.
Can't remember the last time I actually heard MUSIC in an ELEVATOR, other than through the non-noise-cancelling headphones of the person standing next to me.
Refreshing Monday, and that is high praise. Interesting Monday puzzles are not easy to create. Isn't ELEVATOR MUSIC extremely annoying to most professional musicians?
Off for a walk before tuning in to the Boston Marathon at 9:30. Happy Patriots Day to all who celebrate!
Definitely adorable. Quick and fun.
Fine - kind of fun.
@Weezie (7:49) Email me and I can send you @JC66’s nifty little cheat sheet to get those hyperlinks to work.
Yeah, what everybody says, beautiful theme, despite the EELY. The only thing missing was the world's most famous composer of elevator music, crossword favorite Brian ENO/
People used to pull you aside and confess that they really preferred the Grade B maple syrup for its stronger flavor. Then the industry got smart and renamed it "Grade A Dark Amber" and it took off. I'm a throwback, though, I like the subtle bite of Grade A Light Amber (formerly "Vermont Grade Fancy"). My father spent a lot of February out in the woods boiling sap, which he then brought home to boil some more. The results were worth it, but he didn't get much. My brother-in-law does it on a bigger scale. So anyway, I grew up with it.
But @Loren, are you trolling us? I clicked on your avatar to see what it was, and noticed you now have a blog. Great! Only when I click on it it says "There's nothing here." I hope that's going to change!
Hey All !
Got a chuckle when I got the Revealer. Neat phrase that works two ways.
Fun puz, neat looking grid. Only 34 Blockers.
Apparently, not feeling chatty this morning. I guess that's it from me, THERE ARE NO more WORDS.
THERE ARE NO F's (STOP it!) 😁
RooMonster
DarrinV
Fun! Like others I got the themers but could not work out the connection. Funny that the revealer is Saturday's 12D answer.
@LMS It’s ironic that you should mention the Real Housewives of Orange County with your recounting of the ice makers. That’s the show that taught me the word “casita” which in one episode was a euphemism for a little rental house that one woman had to occupy until her divorce was finalized. In any other part of the world it would be a perfectly fine home but I guess when everyone else is living in multi-million dollar splendor people are embarrassed to say they live in someone else’s regular rental.
Great theme idea from two young constructors who gave us a clever, entertaining solve and didn’t saturate it with trivia or pop culture. Well done you two and congratulations Katherine, on your debut. Perseverance pays off.
I vote for the real SAP deal in the great maple syrup debate, so long as you don’t put it on cottage cheese as they do in Wisconsin. We’re talking some serious NAUSEA at the sight of that. MEH, just STOP.
Thx, Katherine & Scott; well done! :)
Med+
Just a tad crunchier than the avg Mon. puz (in a good way).
Fast start in the NW, but slow and steady the rest of the journey.
The NE was a bit tricky, with POTTS in the mix.
ODE TO JOY is a fave. Thx to @LMS (3:38 AM) for the flashmob vid. Hadn't seen it before; wonderful! :)
Bob Gibson on throwing STRIKEs:
"My pitching philosophy is simple. I believe in getting the ball over the plate and not walking a lot of men." ('From Ghetto to Glory')
In 1968 he had an ERA of 1.12, pitched 13 SHUTOUTS, 28 complete games and STUCK out 268 batters. (vivaelbirdos.com)
Fun adventure today. :)
___
@pabloinnh (7:02 PM yd eve) wrote:
"I absolutely gave up on the Stumper yesterday and picked it up after doing today's NYT and finished it in about twenty minutes. I never know quite how that works."
This abstract, 'Incubation and Intuition in Creative Problem Solving' is worth the read.
I almost never complete a Newsweek Sat. Stumper, Croce or Mon. New Yorker in one sitting. I rely on the 'incubation effect' (occasionally, overnight). 💤 💭
___
Thx @jae; on to Croce's 802! 🤞 @kitshef: anytime you find a Croce easy, I get prepared for a major battle. lol
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
I think it is fun that this comes shortly after KAC gave us the "there are no words" clue on Saturday - which brings me to LMS and her maple syrup heresy. Big dark syrup fan, pick up a case at Jean Talon market in Montreal whenever we go to visit. Yes, I pick up those "other" flavors in Log Cabin or whatever, and the flavors all have multisyllabic chemical names. I guess the thick gelatinous texture is better at staying put on the pancake and not sliding off, if I must say something positive.
Grandson day and he's finally napping so no little hands trying to get my keyboard, which is not an EMOJIKEYBOARD, and the next emoji I send will be the first.
Count me among the fans of this one who were surprised by the revealear. Very cool
.
GETIT before SEEIT was about the only snag. Briefly considered Terra FIRMA but CASITAS took care of that in a hurry.
This is maple syrup country and I agree with those who prefer the darker version. The "fancy" grade used to be priced more but is comparatively flavorless. A lot of people still prefer it. A lot of people like Bud Light. So it goes.
Very nice Monday, KB and SE. Kinda Breathtaking in its Simple Elegance, and thanks for all the fun.
Croce will have to wait until later, but I did print out the New Yorker Monday to bring with me. Now we'll see how long little Jack wants to stay asleep.
An unusually satisfying Monday -- with a cute theme and a lovely grid. I wracked my brain at the beginning trying to figure out what SILENT TREATMENT and EMOJI KEYABOARD had in common, and I had no idea. ELEVATOR MUSIC was no help either. I was pleased with the revealer: it works perfectly and it's a colorful phrase.
Some nice touches in the rest of the fill too. Liked the clues for UPSIDES, LET'S SAY and SPEED DATES.
A word about 27A: Look, in so many ways I'm close to computer illiterate. I can't make files, can't open up more than one window at a time, have no idea what all the "Ctrl" functions do, and please don't tell me I need to "go into 'Settings'" because I don't know where they are located.
But the fact that I didn't even know I had an EMOJI KEYBOARD, much less where it's to be found -- that's a blessing. I can't stand looking at those incredibly ugly little faces and have no idea what emotions they purport to be expressing. They all seem to have differently contorted smiles of some type. I promise never, ever to send one to you. In return, please don't ever send any to me. Deal?
A very enjoyable Monday. Nice job.
1) Good Puzzle.
2) Ho-Hos >> Little Debbies, hands down.
3) Real Syrup >> Fake Syrup
4) Poop Smoothies >> Ultra Dark Maple. Seriously, until someone deigned it 'artisanal' they used to just throw it out.
5) Ahmad Jamal >> Anything else you can listen to today.
What a JOY of a Monday puzzle. Same here on getting the three theme answers and pondering their possible connections, in vain, followed by the delight of the on-the-nose reveal that encompasses three kinds of no-word language. And I couldn't believe how the terrific long Downs just kept coming. Super debut!
The puzzle did what a Monday puzzle is supposed to do. Nice, straightforward, drama-free work.
In terms of maple syrup: I am of Chinese descent and grew up on my mother's home cooked Chinese meals. I love Panda Express. I love General Tso's chicken. But I don't think of them as Chinese food. It's a different category in my head. Perhaps LMS thinks the same in terms of real maple syrup and fake maple syrup. Sometimes I have a craving for Kraft macaroni and cheese. I don't like "real" macaroni and cheese very much, though.
♪ The sight of you leaves me weak
There are no words left to speak ♪
Nice theme idea, on-point execution. But the emoji clue reads weird, like you're sending the whole keyboard. Better wording: "Source of options for texting faces and symbols" or "Where there are options...".
Soothing elevator music for Monday morning
Most enjoyable puzzle in a long time.
@Loren Muse Smith, no! no! no! Real maple syrup has a more complex flavor (especially grade B if you can find it), the fake stuff is full of unhealthy sugars. If you want a little salt, just sprinkle it on your waffle or pancake!
I felt like the puzzle was harder than average, but my stats say otherwise. In any event, like many others, I had no idea what the revealer was going to be until I got there. Which is just the way I liked it.
I've never heard of an EMOJI KEYBOARD, but it wasn't hard to suss out.
I'm learning Spanish right now and knew casa, and have been taught ahorita so it wasn't too much of a stretch to figure out what to do there.
Wouldn't it be fun to meet an EMO JIKEY? An ODE TO JOY should be written about him.....
This was a nice uncomplicated Monday. My one pause? SPEED DATES. I haven't been in that scene for many yeas so I thought I'd do a little look see.
So, you wear your best togs, check you har and your breath and head for a cafe and take a seat around the perimeter of the joint. Then the men come around and sit in front of you for about 5 minutes. Both of you decide whether one or the other meets your fantasy standards and moves on to the next desperate person in need of some sort of company. Does it start like this?
Hi..my name is EMO JIKEY...Can I DIAL you up?
THERE ARE NO WORDS I can use to describe how this might cause me some NAUSEA. GET REAL? Does it work? I think one would have better luck if AI was involved and picked just the right one. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
Favorite image: JIKEY LAYS some OVA....the SCENT is like HENS GAS GOOS...SEE IT?
My Monday blindfold is at the dry cleaners, so I tried solving this in a pitch black closet and found it to be extremely challenging. Not only did I have trouble knowing what the clues were. I also ended up with a DNF because I didn’t realize that my pen had run out of ink.
I went looking for my EMO JIKEY BOARD and couldn’t find it. Turns out that, per the Urban Dictionary, a JIKEY is “ a girl who loves to laugh and who is very approachable. She would win you over just by looking at her sexy, seductive and beautiful eyes.” I’ve never been much into EMO, but I’m gonna look into this whole concept now. I mean, like, it doesn’t have to be a choice between ELEVATORMUSIC.
And BTW, @jberg 8:58 says “The only thing missing was the world's most famous composer of elevator music, crossword favorite Brian ENO/“. Welp, check out the revealer, which is THERE AR ENO WORDS.
Really a fantastic Monday puzzle. Thank you Scott Earl and congrats on the debut, Katherine Baiker.
@Joseph Michael: Another Monday beaut! Now excuse me while I use my EMOJI KEYBOARD to express myself further:
🙂😌😄😆😂🤣🤣🤣🥳
(Sorry @Nancy.)
Bob Gibson and his catcher Tim McCarver were very close friends. McCarver never once took issue with what pitch Gibson wanted to throw -- he was afraid of him. He approached the mound once for a conference and Gibson glared at him and said: "Get back behind the plate -- the only thing you know about pitching is that you can't hit it."
When MLK was killed, Gibson was beside himself with grief. McCarver approached him to comfort him and Gibson told him to get away -- he said McCarver could never understand what Gibson was feeling. And McCarver said, No -- I am staying with you until you make me understand.
May they both rest in peace.
ThankssomuchfortheOdeflashmob,Loren.myspacebarisnotworkingagain,soI’llstop.
FINALLY! A diagramless puzzle yesterday. About time!!
@Your Monday comments are an absolute hoot, @Joseph Michael. Of course if I ever read Rex, I know I'd laugh even harder. I assume he was talking about solving "Downs Only"...again?
@Bocamp 9:56
Thank you for that abstract! I'm always amazed by experiences like @Pablo's. Like looking at SB and knowing the pg before even consciously processing the letters...
@Nancy 12:06
Your constant comments about not reading Rex are tiresome and rude.
@Nancy 10:12 AM
❤️ 😆 🤪 🙄
As a pancake purist I’m a butter & syrup only kind of girl and Log Cabin is my go to. And I’ve tried many many. That and Cracker Barrel.
@Anon 12:01 – Thanks for reminding me about the Diagramless, I never did get around to it yesterday. So, later tonight...
Thanks for Ode to Joy. Marvelous!
@Liveprof (11:38 AM)
Loved your Gibson / McCarver anecdote; very touching! :)
@Smith (12:11 PM) 😊
___
Crocers: 802 was one of the easier ones (just n. of 1 hr.), but a careless blunder at the cell of 28A / 28D rained on my parade. :( Had a lucky guess at the cross of 51A / 54D. @kitshef: 3D was new to me, too; liked it.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness to all 🙏
THEREARENOWORDS … well, other than them 74 ones linked together into a great MonPuz, that is.
staff weeject pick: POL & GAS. Synonyms! SAP pretty much almost qualifies for that there same set, btw. [Reminds m&e -- have they ever clued up MTG as Marjorie Taylor Greene, yet?]
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {One of 26.2 in a marathon} = MILE. On the day of the Boston Marathon -- which M&A watched, instead of workin on the puz, earlier. M&A was kinda tuckered out, right after watchin, tho … which delayed the puz solvequest even longer. Needed some cinnamon rolls and vodka collinses, to recover.
some other faves included: ODETOJOY. GOASTRAY. ONTHESCENT. UPSIDES. SHUTSOUT. GETREAL. POL crossin EELY. Startin with a LEMON and nearly endin on a note of NAUSEA.
Thanx for gangin up on us, Scott & Earl & Katherine & Baicker. And congratz to Ms. Baicker darlin on her half-debut. Real good job. POW award, too boot. Even that Sharp dude kinda liked it.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
**gruntz**
@Nancy 12:06 – Yes. We found out that Rex owns a "Downs-Only Bag Of Tricks", and today he had to use every tool in it.
Worked this one late but had to say how much I liked it. One of the best Mondays ever. I haven't fallen in with the "downs only" crowd because that seems an arbitrary way to make easier puzzles harder. I did what @Nancy talks about and avoided the revealer until I figured out what the themers had in common. Took a while but it finally dawned on me. Excellent theme and some fun fill - LETS SAY, GO ASTRAY, GET REAL. Is the DE NOTE/ODE TO JOY cross on purpose?
Thanks and congrats, Katherine and Scott!
@Liveprof: Great baseball story. Tim also caught Steve Carlton when they were both with the Phillies during a rare winning streak for the team I've followed since my grandfather used to take me to Connie Mack Stadium, back when the infield was always getting messed up by the occasional roaming stegosaurus.... He was a great player and a great person, and I loved the story you provided. Never heard that one before.
I’m not a down-only person. Life is hard enough and I enjoy the success of completing a Monday puzzle as fast as possible. This was my fastest, as far as I can remember. The only change I made along the way was switching to Lays from Wise. I grew up with Wise potato chips and so that name will always come to me first. This is my first time commenting, and only because my husband insisted I do so.
There's a very questionable clue in yesterday's Diagramless (which I just finished). I assume it was used for the sake of conforming to the theme, but I think most people familiar with the answer would say the clue is wrong. At the very least it's entirely unhelpful. I won't give the clue # but it's near the bottom.
Thought it was really good aside from ARTY and EELY
That kid on the lamp post!
@Sheila Rodbell: You must've grown up somewhere near Berwick, PA, home of the Wise chip factory. I used to live in Bloomsburg just down the road. Welcome to the blog.
Nice Monday offering today, with a theme that isn't readily connectable till the revealer--but seems as though a person could SEEIT after a little thought. Anyway, cool. Solid fill, as well.
This one rates somewhere between a birdie and an eagle. A birgle??
Wordle bogey.
LET'S GO ASTRAY
I'MHERE TO SAY I'M ONTHESCENT
SO far as SPEEDDATES GO,
STOP IT with THE SILENTTREATMENT,
OR GETREAL and just SAY, "NO."
---OSCAR POTTS
A pretty nice Mon-puz. Wrote over gEtIT to SEEIT. NOTICED: IRONON ONTHESCENT, ODETO ATO. Circled: TORI Amos. PLAT the corners.
A wordle Phew, didn't SEEIT coming.
A bit more challenging than usual for a Monday (it could have been a Tuesday) but that’s okay. No complaints. A very clever theme with mostly decent fill. Not bad at all.
There are no words to explain how much I love Monday puzzles.
@Spacey - wonder when we'll see a "birgle" in the grid?
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
@Anonymous 1:54pm:
What's wrong with Arty Eely?! I guess you don't know that he's Artoo Detoo's third cousin twice removed.
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