THEME: "PICKY, PICKY, PICKY" (61A: "So particular!" ... or, in different senses, like 17-, 32- and 42-Across?)— theme answers are people who pick:
Theme answers:
VEGETABLE FARMER (17A: One growing asparagus, spinach, corn, etc.)
TEAM CAPTAIN (32A: Squad leader, in sports)
BANJO PLAYER (42A: Certain bluegrass musician)
Word of the Day: LOMÉ (30D: Togo's capital) —
Lomé (UK: /ˈloʊmeɪ/LOH-may, US: /loʊˈmeɪ/loh-MAY) is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437 while there were 1,477,660 permanent residents in its metropolitan area as of the 2010 census. Located on the Gulf of Guinea at the southwest corner of the country, with its entire western border along the easternmost point of Ghana's Volta Region, Lomé is the country's administrative and industrial center, which includes an oil refinery. It is also the country's chief port, from where it exports coffee, cocoa, copra, and oil palm kernels.
Its city limits extends to the border with Ghana, located a few hundred meters west of the city center, to the Ghanaian city of Aflao and the South Ketu district where the city is situated, had 160,756 inhabitants in 2010. The cross-border agglomeration of which Lomé is the centre, has about 2 million inhabitants as of 2020.
• • •
OK look I will admit that I still have some geographic confusion around Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, and Togo. They are all very far from one another, and yet those "T"s and "G"s, man, my head keeps filing them all in the same box and then mixing them up. I think I know Tonga the best because it's part of Oceania, as is NZ, and since I've been to NZ a half a dozen times or so (my wife was born there, as I've probably told you many times), I've had plenty of occasion to pin Tonga down on the map in a pretty fixed way. But the other two countries, yikes, they won't stick. This is all to say that LOMÉ was oddly slow in coming. I remembered it, eventually, with some help from the "L," but even after getting it, I could not have located it on the map with anything like certainty. Very humbling thing to face up to on a Monday. Otherwise, this puzzle was pretty doable (I solved Downs-only, as usual). My main, perhaps only, objection to the theme is VEGETABLE FARMER. We just call them ... farmers? Our farmers (the ones we buy produce from every weekend at the farmers market) grow vegetables, yes, but at least one of them also grows hemp (they're leaning more heavily into CBD products, and may eventually be making a play to grow marijuana, I dunno). One of the other farmers also raises meat and poultry. Anyway, I've only ever thought of the people we buy produce from as "farmers." If you say "farmer," it's pretty much assumed that you're referring to someone who grows "vegetables." It's only if you're *not* growing vegetables that you'd offer a qualifying adjective. I would also say that most TEAM CAPTAINs do not "pick" their teams unless the specific context is P.E. class in middle or high school. So that was a little odd. But I really love the revealer—it's silly, in a way that makes the puzzle fun. Much better than PICKERS or PICKING or something like that. I also like that there are bonus picking answers in the grid. You can pick your SPOT, for sure, and you can definitely pick NITS, and if you do the whole "She loves me, she loves me not" thing, well then you can pick PETALs as well. Just don't pick your ACNE.
The FARMER part of VEGETABLE FARMER gave me most of my non-LOMÉ trouble today. I also wrote in SYSOP (!?) before ADMIN (19D: Web page moderator, for short), and left the second vowel blank at TAC-T because I wasn't 100% sure of the musical term (51D: "Be silent," in music). Also went for Hi-RES TV before Hi-DEF (9D: Hi-___ TV). I misspelled Megan MARKEL, thusly, but luckily OVAE and TETL looked hellishly wrong, so I managed to fix it (47D: Meghan ___, Duchess of Sussex => MARKLE). Needed to infer a lot of crosses before I closed things out with MAKE NICE (40D: Act friendly despite feeling otherwise). That answer alongside the vaguely clued / kinda hard-to-parse LEGUP made the SE a bit tricky, but only just a bit (45D: Advantage). The fill wasn't terribly memorable, but "EYES ON ME!" gave the puzzle a bit of a bossy attitude, which I liked (4D: "Pay full attention while I'm talking!").
I dropped my wife off today at a two-week writers workshop near Saratoga Springs, so now I'm home alone with the cats. Normally, The Lady feeds them ("The Lady" being what they call my wife, I presume). But The Lady isn't here so they are beginning to circle me and eye me hungrily. Ida just threatened to walk across my keyboard, so I better go before things escalate. See you again soon.
Well ... I've lived eight decades never knowing that EENY is an actual word. Now that I do know, I expect this knowledge will have zero to eeny impact on my life.
Easy. Smooth gird but, not to be too PICKY, I agree with @Rex about the theme being a tad iffy. That said, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #820 was a medium Croce for me..i.e. an initial feeling of “I’ll never finish this” to finally getting it a long time later. Good luck!
As someone who grew up in farm country in Iowa, I do think there’s a distinction re:types of farmer. A farmer who grows seed corn, soybeans, wheat, etc. — almost certainly the large majority of farmland acreage in the U.S., if not also of farmers — wouldn’t be called a VEGETABLE FARMER. That’s reserved for a farmer who grows produce, typically for human consumption, and often on significantly smaller farms with very different operations.
Agree on TEAM CAPTAIN, although another example in the news recently is the NBA and WNBA All-Star Games, in which the captains are selected and then PICK their teams.
I too did down clues only, but I had a problem in the southeast. I had LEVER for "Advantage", FIELD for "area of expertise", and I can't remember what exactly for "Big Apple address abbr."... SOHO? SOMA? NOLO? I had to click "Check all squares" which gave a big bunch of errors. Oh, well, sorted it out; a big mess, but I tried.
For most of my life I hated country music, until I discovered I actually liked bluegrass! So BANJO PLAYER is a welcome answer. May I suggest Bela Fleck, for your listening pleasure?
[Spelling Bee: Sun pg -2, missing a 6 and a 10! Bummer.]
In my area, we have many types of farmers (pig, chicken, cattle, strawberry, sweet potato, dairy, hay, etc.), so “vegetable farmer” popped right into my mind. Nonetheless, I see how the adjective might seem redundant to urban folk.
At my local Chinese takeout, I like to order LO MEin to-go. I also like to eat hot peppers -- it's like a nuke all over your tongue (Nuku'alofa, Tonga.)
Nice puzzle. I agree with the boss that it was normally easy for a Monday.
One nit...a team captain doesn't necessarily pick anything. In baseball it's usually just an honorarium for a veteran player. In hockey it designates the person allowed to speak to the referee. In football it means the person calling heads or tails for the opening kickoff.
Son of a farmer here. "Vegetable farmer" is used more than you think, though maybe less among you civilians. The qualifier "vegetable" is important in communicating that the farmer in question does not trade in livestock whatsoever. Then, you may ask, "why don't you call farmers who also deal in livestock 'meat farmers?'" There's no need. If you're not a vegetable farmer, the implication is that you deal in livestock of some kind, even if it's just chickens.
Drat. Another downs-only solve where I had to look at one across clue to finish. I wasn’t seeing LEG UP, MAKE NICE or NICHE, and three blanks in a row made it impossible to guess at acrosses. I looked at the clue for SEEK, and that K unlocked it.
I think VEGETABLE FARMER is fine. I distinguish that grower from someone who grows wheat or rice, which may be vegetables in the animal-vegetable-mineral sense, but I certainly don’t think of them as vegetables. I am a vegetable farmer on a very small scale. The spinach is long gone, the lettuce has bolted, but the kale and chard are going strong. None of the summer veggies are producing yet but i am eyeing some little squashes and zucchinis that just need a week or so, and the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers all have flowers that will be fruit soon.
TEAM CAPTAIN brings back bad memories. I was always the last one picked. EYES ON ME but not in a good way. A cruel tradition if it’s still allowed.
BANJO PLAYER - yes to bluegrass and Bela Fleck, @okanaganer, but also check out Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops or as a solo artist.
Nice theme that doesn’t try too hard, which is always a refreshing breather - and they added EYES ON ME and MAKE NICE to the grid as well. Can’t ask for much more out of a Monday than this - nice job.
Liked it OK. Easy, even for a Monday, but had some nice non-themer entries that elevated it above the norm for the day. Plus I learned what a DEIST is.
Cute theme - but too many names and trivia didn’t help the solve experience. LOME - Big Brother?? After all the petulant grousing yesterday - I would assume similar today.
I love that PICKY PICKY PICKY echoes that there are three theme answers.
And as your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken on since 2017, I must tell you that today’s puzzle has an unusually low double-letter count, at three (“unusual” is anything lower than five). It is only the second time this year for an Unusually Low, and the last time the count was this low was in March of 2020. You’re welcome.
SPIN brings my dog Teddy to mind. He’s learned to do this, to whirl around on all fours on the command of “spin”. I taught it to him for no reason whatsoever, except that he likes to learn new tricks (he likes the time together, but more importantly, training comes rife with snacks). I never thought the skill would be useful, but one day, after a walk, I wiped down his dirty front paws, then, in a moment of clarity, said “Spin!” He whirled, I stopped him halfway around, then wiped his back paws. Voila!
Taylor and Christina, your puzzle was fun and made for a sweet springboard to the day – thank you so much!
I always wants to be a FANNY FARMER. What a thing to grow! Sure, you’d bust your butt as you reared and reaped the FANNYs, but ultimately, a crop of chocolaty goodness!
(Think I first told a similar joke when I was 6. For you young ‘uns, Fanny Farmer was an American candy manufacturer and retailer from 1919 to the ‘80s)
Very smooth. Favorite answer was EYES ON ME. I agree that VEGETABLE FARMER feels green-painty, but there had to be a 15-letter themer to go with the 15-letter revealer. Speaking of which, I came at it from the SE and entered PICKY but wondered what could possibly come before it. It was a pleasant surprise. Plus, one themer for each iteration of PICKY - that works.
Wrong answer highlight - I didn't actually type it in, but I had ARE- at 20A and my first thought was AREN'T. Just why.
What a fresh and fun puzzle! I enjoyed it more than the usual Monday fare. I’m not mentoring any new solvers at the moment but if I was this would be a perfect one to start out with.
Weighing in from the middle of farm country, I’d say VEGETABLE FARMER is a completely legitimate term. I’ve also heard of crop farmer, cattle farmer, pig farmer, poultry farmer, hill farmer and hobby farmer. Almost a generic term for anyone who produces a food product. I liked the little GNOMES there with my sweet MAMA in the garden. And that’s where she would be this time of morning too, out there PICKING bushel baskets full of green beans. A lot of memories were made while spending days snapping, washing and filling canning jars by her side.
@Rex: Good luck with the kitties. Anyone who thinks animals can’t tell time never lived with a CAT.
Whizzed thru this one (with one exception). Spent as much time in the LOME area as the rest of the puz combined. Thot, surely I must have something wrong somewhere, but eventually took the plunge and went with it.
Had to laugh at PICKY PICKY PICKY. Reminded me of yd's commentariat. lol
MAMA reminded me of one of my faves: Cass Elliot singing 'Just a Little Dream of Me' on 'It's Lulu', '70.
Both granddaughters were TEAM co-CAPTAINs on their respective ringette squads this year.
My NIECE, Ishani, recently performed her 'Fire and Dance' routine at 'Sonic Bloom Festival' at the Hummingbird Ranch in Spanish Peaks Country, CO.
Fun coincidence: just finished a dish of OKRA not 5 mins ago (Sun. eve). 😋
LOvEly trip; maybe someday I'll venture out to visit Lomé, Togo. :) ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness, Freudenfreude, Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Wouldn't you know -- I had the two "A"s in the storybook bear and nothing else. And I should remember whether it was MAMA or PAPA bear whose porridge was too cold? Any more than I should remember which one's bed was too hard? Or soft?
All I remember about those bears is that they were PICKY, PICKY, PICKY.
I also had ADM?? for the web page moderator and was thinking: You're letting an AD MAN run your web page?! Then I'm not going anywhere near your web page!
Oops. ADMIN.
I'm not especially blown away by the theme -- mainly because TEAM CAPTAIN seems like more of a stretch than the others. But the grid is clean as a whistle and I found filling it in to be quite pleasant.
Hey All ! YES, MEN, echos of YesterPuz's PICKYPICKYPICKY NITS. WOE are we. Har.
My uncle inherited the VEGETABLE FARM that my Dad and their 5 sisters grew up on. (7 kids, total) He farmed for a few years, but it ended up not being profitable, and a ton of work, as he was trying to do it himself. Now it's just green fields.
Always wanted to learn to PLAY the BANJO, but alas, Ive never done anything cool like that in my life. Being lazy, plus a procrastinator has its downfalls.
Decent fill here. 20A (ARE SO) gets spared the "Playground retort" clue. Even though "You ARE SO Beautiful To Me" is a silly song. I know it was meant to be sincere and lovey dovey, but it's silly. 😁
Nice MonPuz you two. Gets a good LEG UP for the week.
In my youth we called them truck farmers, but that term seems to have vanished. Fun fact: in federal farm policy vegetables are considered a “specialty crop” as opposed to the major crops: cotton, grain, corn and soybeans.
Speaking of which LOME was in the news a lot when the formation of the EU ended the Lome Convention, which had given former colonies privileged access to the markets of the former colonizers for their crops. It was disastrous for much of Africa.
BANJO PLAYER seems bland, but the theme rules out the more natural term.
Are EENY and “eanie” the same word? Today’s EENY made me think of Bullwinkle’s intro to commercial breaks:
Bullwinkle: Eanie meanie chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak. Rocky: Are they friendly spirits? Bullwinkle: Friendly? Just watch (cut to commercial).
I don’t think there’s any truth to the report that hearing of a vicious SHARK attack gave HEMINGWAY a LEGUP on the TOPIC of A Farewell to Arms.
Helen Reddy: YESMEN, IAM Woman.
Fun Monday. Thanks, Taylor Johnson and Christina Iverson.
I think @GILL writes her Monday storytelling first post before reading any of the comments. In which case, let me guess at her opening line:
"EYES ON ME" barked the TEAM CAPTAIN, as he began to SPIN his RACKET and focus on the WOE of his many NITS -- including the fact that ROSIE ISLEY always came out of her BRA when she chased down LOBS and therefore refused to chase down any at all...
RP must mean the Iowa writers workshop at Skidmore? Illustrious bunch! Our cat also tends to ignore me and move out of my way if I'm coming, until the Lady is gone, at which point I am amigo numero uno (hi, Southside:)
I love RP's extra picks, and he demonstrated the NITS version with themer complaints (which seem to be adequately rebutted in the comments); the rest of the opening paragraph is pure gold! My "I should know the capital of TOGO and LAOS, plus that LAGOS is a city by now, the life knowledge test may be coming soon" stress meter went off.
@okanager, agreed about Bela Fleck, a viable Bela alternative to Bartok, who is also fantastic. His output, including bluegrass, is a far cry from most "country" music. I too have come around on it, but find much of what is on the radio to be cynical, cloying pandering (frequently by urban artists).
ALaRm>ALERT for cellphone notification my only issue in this easy but fun offering.
It is nice to get back to the usual commentariat, and not need to skip a whole bevy of anons and other blog-unknowns who stopped by just to vent their frustration. Don't get me wrong - more voices always appreciated, but stopping by to say "awful, worst puzzle ever" for the 60th time not very illuminating or amusing.
Really cute, creative, and witty. The reveal was a delightful surprise, with the three PICKYs not only echoing the usual phrase for someone overly choosy or critical, but also allowing for one PICKY per theme person (hi, @Lewis). I loved that there was also a NIT to pick. Mine would have been a "Really?" for the TEAM CAPTAIN. Unlike @Rex but like others here, I saw nothing wrong with VEGETABLE FARMER:: if you're growing wheat, for example, you're not going to be "picking" it. With the additional treats of EYES ON ME and MAKE NICE, I thought this was a great Monday.
Oh what a delightful one. Breezy and playful. @Nancy, I had a similar thought to you re: TEAMCAPTAIN but then I thought about it in the grade school sense, where in gym class team captains were chosen and got to pick their teams. I truly hope that practice is no longer in place; I imagine I’m not the only one here who was often last pick.
Re: farming - my peas are thriving, despite the chipmunks’ best efforts at uprooting the seeds when I planted. And I’ve got some kabocha and zucchini flowering. But my nightshades (peppers, tomato, eggplant) are just runty little things, probably my fault for starting them too late in the season. I think I’m going to relent before it gets waaaay too late and purchase starts from elsewhere as a backup and if my homegrown plants step up their game, all the better for me.
Togo and Benin are the two narrow Gulf of Guinea countries sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, but which is which? I use the mnemonic "I would like 'ToGo' to Ghana but I have never 'BeN-iN' Nigeria" to remember that Togo is the one closest to Ghana. As for the capitals, both Togo and LOME have four letters, and Benin and Porto-Novo has that N thing from my mnemonic going again.
Funny revealer. Rumor has it that the Shortzmeister wanted REXPARKER added to the puz, as an extra themer. har
staff weeject pick: DEF. Nice alphabet run. Has the NYT used all 24 possible 3-letter runs?
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Danger in "Jaws"} = SHARK. Most of this puz was pretty herd-friendly, actually. TACET & LOME were the only no-knows, at our house.
Other fave stuff: EYESONME. MAKENICE. GNOMES, CHEN [not the puzguy, tho].
Thanx for gangin up on us, Mr. Johnson dude & Ms. Iverson darlin. Nuthin much to pick at, here.
I was often the last picked in elementary school, but towards the end of my time, the teachers finally wised up and realized that it's only the top handful of players who need to be distributed. So the TEAMCAPTAINs picked the first half of people then the rest got randomly split up. Much better than making kids get picked last over and over again.
Today was nowhere near the emotional rollercoaster of yesterday. Similar solve to 🦖 but I read the across clues too since I don't care about a challenge and I like the creativity behind clue writing.
PICKYPICKYPICKY was a delight.
I own three banjos and play them never. It's a horrid little instrument with the subtlety of a dump truck.
My comment from yesterday with my oh so important thoughts never appeared (again) so if you're reading this, my week is off to a better start. Pretty sure it wasn't controversial, but sometimes Blogger eats submissions. Odd platform even Google barely acknowledges despite owning it.
We're also amid an overnight ant invasion near the cat bowl so I am on a murderous rampage. Welcome to your new home inside a vacuum cleaner bag. It's a rotten system ... the food chain.
Tee-Hee: BRA.
Uniclues:
1 Principal thematic element in all future films about a former president. 2 Black women marrying red-headed sons among others, according to one story. 3 They don't row together. 4 Pompous statement from benzoyl peroxide. 5 What is required to make that instrument worth listening to. 6 Go to Ireland. 7 "Show me the money." 8 "Here kitty kitty." 9 Meghan's nickname among detractors. 10 Famous student adds hip hop beat to Beethoven composition. 11 Little words, big men.
1 YES MEN TROPE (~) 2 KINGLY NITS (~) 3 TEAM CAPTAIN WOE 4 "ACNE, I AM MAMA." 5 BANJO PLAYER NOG (~) 6 SEEK GNOMES (~) 7 AGENT RACKET (~) 8 ANGORA CAT PAGER (~) 9 EYES ON ME MARKLE 10 ELISE LOBS SPIN (~) 11 HEMINGWAY NICHE
@Nancy 9:04 AM I think Goldilocks was the PICKY PICKY PICKY one, right? The bears always struck me as a reasonably chill having a home invasion underway and the ability to make the intruder into dinner.
@Nancy 9:41 AM I'm hoping she goes with: "The BANJO PLAYER besotted with NOG used an AGENT to join the SHARKS in the RACKET-making UNION, despite protestations from the TACET ANGORA CAT."
I doubt that the anonymous were banned. The commenters, including the named participants, are far more likely to carp and criticize than to compliment. Just check how many times the named commenters added their bile. Sad, but true!
@mathgent, nope - just that the puzzle was much easier (70%), weekday (15%) and better (15%). The hordes receded today to wherever they emerged from yesterday.
If @Z were here, he would remind us that a clue is legitimate if one usage is correct, i.e. team captain picking the players on the playground, or the NBA all star game. My favorite playground team picking exercise was to show up to my local playground as an older white guy in running shoes, get picked last, have the weakest defender selected to guard me, then destroy them with my old guy pick and roll and Kevin McHale moves while the other team starts arguing with each other.
PICKY PICKY PICKY always evokes ( in me at least ) Pat Paulsen, the Smothers Brothers stalwart comedian. Solved down only for first time, and found it way funner. Cheers brothers and sisters.
@Gary Jugert, we too have had an ant invasion. Apparently they are most active at night. My husband says he followed their trail from the sink area up along the window to our lofted ceiling beam and on out the skylight in the kitchen. So that explains why the Raid he's been spraying along the base of the house hasn't worked!
The puzzle was easy, a balm to my soul after my epic fail yesterday in the center section of the Sunday puzzle. I'm still bitter about the clue for 39D yesterday. Very awkward. Am I being PICKYPICKYPICKY?
As Anonymous said at 9:19 a.m., a vegetable farm was once known as a TRUCK FARM. The term seems to have gone away since I first heard of it, and it took me a good half minute to dredge the term from memory. For some reason I associate trucks farms with New Jersey, which... I don't know why.
Hear, hear! I was busily explaining to my husband why the "all farmers grow vegetables" statement is incorrect. In Oklahoma, a "farmer" is growing wheat, soybeans, cotton, alfalfa, etc., and so someone who grows vegetables for sale would need the "vegetable" adjective. I've been also schooled more than once that "grower" is the more accurate term and to use "rancher" for growing cows.
Late to the party as I'm in Florida helping with child care while the daughter-in-law is at a nursing convention. Warmer than NH, but the water in the pools is warmer too.
Like this one fine. LOME was the only real unknown.
@Andrew, if you're a FANNYRARMER it gives you the opportunity to box up your product and sell it to cannibals, who are know to relish FARMERFANNIES.
I thought yesterdays' puzz was a real challenge and was happy to see in the comments that I finally got around to today that many agreed. I was not helped by doing it on an airplane in bad light an having my seat kicked continuously by the little boy sitting behind me. Not recommended for speed solvers.
Thanks to Anonymous at 9:29 and you for mentioning the term I was trying to recall when I read the clue. I got the right answer but still couldn’t dredge up truck farm. I also somehow associated it with New Jersey. It was once famous for its vegetable farmers (still has some I am sure) to use the crossword answer. I think I must have learned the connection in grade school.
@Gary J, Teedmn - Terro T300 liquid ant bait is the way to go - they take the food (poison) back to the nest, not toxic sprays.
I'm a hay farmer (gentleman hay farmer, actually at this point, gentleman mushroom growing medium farmer), and of Animal / Vegetable / Mineral it's Vegetable, I ain't VEGETABLEFARMER. The guy who grows my OKRA is a VEGETABLEFARMER. He's going out of business because I don't touch the stuff, but still.
Did this late last night, once again at the ER waiting for the MD to tend to another unfortunate meeting between cold hard steel and the delicate flesh of my hands. Most things are still in place.
Clues really dumbed down for Monday made this super-easy. Then there's LOME, the outlier's outlier. No real matter, since the surrounding pabulum left no choice. Still...
DOD is ex-"Deal Or No Deal" model Meghan MARKLE, with honorable mention to ROSIE Perez and the late-too-soon MAMA Cass.
Like: the symmetrical pairing of EYESONME! and MAKENICE! Birdie.
Wordle par, but it felt like a blown eagle, as if I drove the green and three-putted. BGBGG GGBGG GGBGG and finally GGGGG.
I was picked last for many a playground ball game because I had no aim. In fact, I struck out in 16 inch softball, and noone else did that. But they kept me around for a very good reason. When a ball got hit onto the rooftop of the 3 story school, I could shinny up the drain pipe, on to the rooftop and retrieve it.
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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66 comments:
Well ... I've lived eight decades never knowing that EENY is an actual word. Now that I do know, I expect this knowledge will have zero to eeny impact on my life.
Easy-PEAsy, just like a Monday is supposed to be.
Easy. Smooth gird but, not to be too PICKY, I agree with @Rex about the theme being a tad iffy. That said, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #820 was a medium Croce for me..i.e. an initial feeling of “I’ll never finish this” to finally getting it a long time later. Good luck!
As someone who grew up in farm country in Iowa, I do think there’s a distinction re:types of farmer. A farmer who grows seed corn, soybeans, wheat, etc. — almost certainly the large majority of farmland acreage in the U.S., if not also of farmers — wouldn’t be called a VEGETABLE FARMER. That’s reserved for a farmer who grows produce, typically for human consumption, and often on significantly smaller farms with very different operations.
Agree on TEAM CAPTAIN, although another example in the news recently is the NBA and WNBA All-Star Games, in which the captains are selected and then PICK their teams.
I too did down clues only, but I had a problem in the southeast. I had LEVER for "Advantage", FIELD for "area of expertise", and I can't remember what exactly for "Big Apple address abbr."... SOHO? SOMA? NOLO? I had to click "Check all squares" which gave a big bunch of errors. Oh, well, sorted it out; a big mess, but I tried.
For most of my life I hated country music, until I discovered I actually liked bluegrass! So BANJO PLAYER is a welcome answer. May I suggest Bela Fleck, for your listening pleasure?
[Spelling Bee: Sun pg -2, missing a 6 and a 10! Bummer.]
In my area, we have many types of farmers (pig, chicken, cattle, strawberry, sweet potato, dairy, hay, etc.), so “vegetable farmer” popped right into my mind. Nonetheless, I see how the adjective might seem redundant to urban folk.
At my local Chinese takeout, I like to order LO MEin to-go. I also like to eat hot peppers -- it's like a nuke all over your tongue (Nuku'alofa, Tonga.)
Nice puzzle. I agree with the boss that it was normally easy for a Monday.
One nit...a team captain doesn't necessarily pick anything. In baseball it's usually just an honorarium for a veteran player. In hockey it designates the person allowed to speak to the referee. In football it means the person calling heads or tails for the opening kickoff.
Son of a farmer here. "Vegetable farmer" is used more than you think, though maybe less among you civilians. The qualifier "vegetable" is important in communicating that the farmer in question does not trade in livestock whatsoever. Then, you may ask, "why don't you call farmers who also deal in livestock 'meat farmers?'" There's no need. If you're not a vegetable farmer, the implication is that you deal in livestock of some kind, even if it's just chickens.
Good Monday fun. I like it when Monday still gives me a challenge or two.
Drat. Another downs-only solve where I had to look at one across clue to finish. I wasn’t seeing LEG UP, MAKE NICE or NICHE, and three blanks in a row made it impossible to guess at acrosses. I looked at the clue for SEEK, and that K unlocked it.
I think VEGETABLE FARMER is fine. I distinguish that grower from someone who grows wheat or rice, which may be vegetables in the animal-vegetable-mineral sense, but I certainly don’t think of them as vegetables. I am a vegetable farmer on a very small scale. The spinach is long gone, the lettuce has bolted, but the kale and chard are going strong. None of the summer veggies are producing yet but i am eyeing some little squashes and zucchinis that just need a week or so, and the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers all have flowers that will be fruit soon.
TEAM CAPTAIN brings back bad memories. I was always the last one picked. EYES ON ME but not in a good way. A cruel tradition if it’s still allowed.
BANJO PLAYER - yes to bluegrass and Bela Fleck, @okanaganer, but also check out Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops or as a solo artist.
Nice theme that doesn’t try too hard, which is always a refreshing breather - and they added EYES ON ME and MAKE NICE to the grid as well. Can’t ask for much more out of a Monday than this - nice job.
Liked it OK. Easy, even for a Monday, but had some nice non-themer entries that elevated it above the norm for the day. Plus I learned what a DEIST is.
Cute theme - but too many names and trivia didn’t help the solve experience. LOME - Big Brother?? After all the petulant grousing yesterday - I would assume similar today.
Jerry was my favorite BANJO PLAYER
Sweet that my two favorite answers – EYES ON ME and MAKE NICE (Hi, @Southside Johnny!) – are symmetrical. Sweet PuzzPair© of BLIND and SPOT. And lovely contradictory cross of TACET and RACKET.
I love that PICKY PICKY PICKY echoes that there are three theme answers.
And as your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken on since 2017, I must tell you that today’s puzzle has an unusually low double-letter count, at three (“unusual” is anything lower than five). It is only the second time this year for an Unusually Low, and the last time the count was this low was in March of 2020. You’re welcome.
SPIN brings my dog Teddy to mind. He’s learned to do this, to whirl around on all fours on the command of “spin”. I taught it to him for no reason whatsoever, except that he likes to learn new tricks (he likes the time together, but more importantly, training comes rife with snacks). I never thought the skill would be useful, but one day, after a walk, I wiped down his dirty front paws, then, in a moment of clarity, said “Spin!” He whirled, I stopped him halfway around, then wiped his back paws. Voila!
Taylor and Christina, your puzzle was fun and made for a sweet springboard to the day – thank you so much!
I always wants to be a FANNY FARMER. What a thing to grow! Sure, you’d bust your butt as you reared and reaped the FANNYs, but ultimately, a crop of chocolaty goodness!
(Think I first told a similar joke when I was 6. For you young ‘uns, Fanny Farmer was an American candy manufacturer and retailer from 1919 to the ‘80s)
Very smooth. Favorite answer was EYES ON ME. I agree that VEGETABLE FARMER feels green-painty, but there had to be a 15-letter themer to go with the 15-letter revealer. Speaking of which, I came at it from the SE and entered PICKY but wondered what could possibly come before it. It was a pleasant surprise. Plus, one themer for each iteration of PICKY - that works.
Wrong answer highlight - I didn't actually type it in, but I had ARE- at 20A and my first thought was AREN'T. Just why.
What a fresh and fun puzzle! I enjoyed it more than the usual Monday fare. I’m not mentoring any new solvers at the moment but if I was this would be a perfect one to start out with.
Weighing in from the middle of farm country, I’d say VEGETABLE FARMER is a completely legitimate term. I’ve also heard of crop farmer, cattle farmer, pig farmer, poultry farmer, hill farmer and hobby farmer. Almost a generic term for anyone who produces a food product. I liked the little GNOMES there with my sweet MAMA in the garden. And that’s where she would be this time of morning too, out there PICKING bushel baskets full of green beans. A lot of memories were made while spending days snapping, washing and filling canning jars by her side.
@Rex: Good luck with the kitties. Anyone who thinks animals can’t tell time never lived with a CAT.
Very solid Monday. Theme answers are fine and great revealer. Agree the theme clues could have been a little cleaner. Like, “one only growing…”
Lmao, at expecting petulant commentary on this one, based on yesterday. No HOWDEDO, here.
Thx, Taylor & Christina; NICE job! 😊
Easy-med.
Whizzed thru this one (with one exception). Spent as much time in the LOME area as the rest of the puz combined. Thot, surely I must have something wrong somewhere, but eventually took the plunge and went with it.
Had to laugh at PICKY PICKY PICKY. Reminded me of yd's commentariat. lol
MAMA reminded me of one of my faves: Cass Elliot singing 'Just a Little Dream of Me' on 'It's Lulu', '70.
Both granddaughters were TEAM co-CAPTAINs on their respective ringette squads this year.
My NIECE, Ishani, recently performed her 'Fire and Dance' routine at 'Sonic Bloom Festival' at the Hummingbird Ranch in Spanish Peaks Country, CO.
Fun coincidence: just finished a dish of OKRA not 5 mins ago (Sun. eve). 😋
LOvEly trip; maybe someday I'll venture out to visit Lomé, Togo. :)
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness, Freudenfreude, Serendipity & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
If I had better typing skills, I probably could’ve set a personal best
Wouldn't you know -- I had the two "A"s in the storybook bear and nothing else. And I should remember whether it was MAMA or PAPA bear whose porridge was too cold? Any more than I should remember which one's bed was too hard? Or soft?
All I remember about those bears is that they were PICKY, PICKY, PICKY.
I also had ADM?? for the web page moderator and was thinking: You're letting an AD MAN run your web page?! Then I'm not going anywhere near your web page!
Oops. ADMIN.
I'm not especially blown away by the theme -- mainly because TEAM CAPTAIN seems like more of a stretch than the others. But the grid is clean as a whistle and I found filling it in to be quite pleasant.
The constructors and/or editors should've worked "Rex Parker" into this theme.
Hey All !
YES, MEN, echos of YesterPuz's PICKYPICKYPICKY NITS. WOE are we. Har.
My uncle inherited the VEGETABLE FARM that my Dad and their 5 sisters grew up on. (7 kids, total) He farmed for a few years, but it ended up not being profitable, and a ton of work, as he was trying to do it himself. Now it's just green fields.
Always wanted to learn to PLAY the BANJO, but alas, Ive never done anything cool like that in my life. Being lazy, plus a procrastinator has its downfalls.
Decent fill here. 20A (ARE SO) gets spared the "Playground retort" clue. Even though "You ARE SO Beautiful To Me" is a silly song. I know it was meant to be sincere and lovey dovey, but it's silly. 😁
Nice MonPuz you two. Gets a good LEG UP for the week.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
In my youth we called them truck farmers, but that term seems to have vanished. Fun fact: in federal farm policy vegetables are considered a “specialty crop” as opposed to the major crops: cotton, grain, corn and soybeans.
Speaking of which LOME was in the news a lot when the formation of the EU ended the Lome Convention, which had given former colonies privileged access to the markets of the former colonizers for their crops. It was disastrous for much of Africa.
BANJO PLAYER seems bland, but the theme rules out the more natural term.
-jberg
Are EENY and “eanie” the same word? Today’s EENY made me think of Bullwinkle’s intro to commercial breaks:
Bullwinkle: Eanie meanie chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak.
Rocky: Are they friendly spirits?
Bullwinkle: Friendly? Just watch (cut to commercial).
I don’t think there’s any truth to the report that hearing of a vicious SHARK attack gave HEMINGWAY a LEGUP on the TOPIC of A Farewell to Arms.
Helen Reddy: YESMEN, IAM Woman.
Fun Monday. Thanks, Taylor Johnson and Christina Iverson.
I think @GILL writes her Monday storytelling first post before reading any of the comments. In which case, let me guess at her opening line:
"EYES ON ME" barked the TEAM CAPTAIN, as he began to SPIN his RACKET and focus on the WOE of his many NITS -- including the fact that ROSIE ISLEY always came out of her BRA when she chased down LOBS and therefore refused to chase down any at all...
Fun puzzle. Nothing here to PICK a fight with, but one suggestion:
For 61A, an alternative clue from The New Yorker: Like the guy who publishes all the NYT answers on his blog at 7 AM.
RP must mean the Iowa writers workshop at Skidmore? Illustrious bunch! Our cat also tends to ignore me and move out of my way if I'm coming, until the Lady is gone, at which point I am amigo numero uno (hi, Southside:)
I love RP's extra picks, and he demonstrated the NITS version with themer complaints (which seem to be adequately rebutted in the comments); the rest of the opening paragraph is pure gold! My "I should know the capital of TOGO and LAOS, plus that LAGOS is a city by now, the life knowledge test may be coming soon" stress meter went off.
@okanager, agreed about Bela Fleck, a viable Bela alternative to Bartok, who is also fantastic. His output, including bluegrass, is a far cry from most "country" music. I too have come around on it, but find much of what is on the radio to be cynical, cloying pandering (frequently by urban artists).
ALaRm>ALERT for cellphone notification my only issue in this easy but fun offering.
It is nice to get back to the usual commentariat, and not need to skip a whole bevy of anons and other blog-unknowns who stopped by just to vent their frustration. Don't get me wrong - more voices always appreciated, but stopping by to say "awful, worst puzzle ever" for the 60th time not very illuminating or amusing.
Really cute, creative, and witty. The reveal was a delightful surprise, with the three PICKYs not only echoing the usual phrase for someone overly choosy or critical, but also allowing for one PICKY per theme person (hi, @Lewis). I loved that there was also a NIT to pick. Mine would have been a "Really?" for the TEAM CAPTAIN. Unlike @Rex but like others here, I saw nothing wrong with VEGETABLE FARMER:: if you're growing wheat, for example, you're not going to be "picking" it. With the additional treats of EYES ON ME and MAKE NICE, I thought this was a great Monday.
Oh what a delightful one. Breezy and playful. @Nancy, I had a similar thought to you re: TEAMCAPTAIN but then I thought about it in the grade school sense, where in gym class team captains were chosen and got to pick their teams. I truly hope that practice is no longer in place; I imagine I’m not the only one here who was often last pick.
Re: farming - my peas are thriving, despite the chipmunks’ best efforts at uprooting the seeds when I planted. And I’ve got some kabocha and zucchini flowering. But my nightshades (peppers, tomato, eggplant) are just runty little things, probably my fault for starting them too late in the season. I think I’m going to relent before it gets waaaay too late and purchase starts from elsewhere as a backup and if my homegrown plants step up their game, all the better for me.
The captain doesn't pick the team, the team picks the captain. At least when I was playing sports...
Togo and Benin are the two narrow Gulf of Guinea countries sandwiched between Nigeria and Ghana, but which is which? I use the mnemonic "I would like 'ToGo' to Ghana but I have never 'BeN-iN' Nigeria" to remember that Togo is the one closest to Ghana. As for the capitals, both Togo and LOME have four letters, and Benin and Porto-Novo has that N thing from my mnemonic going again.
Funny revealer. Rumor has it that the Shortzmeister wanted REXPARKER added to the puz, as an extra themer. har
staff weeject pick: DEF. Nice alphabet run. Has the NYT used all 24 possible 3-letter runs?
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Danger in "Jaws"} = SHARK. Most of this puz was pretty herd-friendly, actually. TACET & LOME were the only no-knows, at our house.
Other fave stuff: EYESONME. MAKENICE. GNOMES, CHEN [not the puzguy, tho].
Thanx for gangin up on us, Mr. Johnson dude & Ms. Iverson darlin. Nuthin much to pick at, here.
Masked & AnonymoUUs
pangrammer!:
**gruntz**
I was often the last picked in elementary school, but towards the end of my time, the teachers finally wised up and realized that it's only the top handful of players who need to be distributed. So the TEAMCAPTAINs picked the first half of people then the rest got randomly split up. Much better than making kids get picked last over and over again.
Today was nowhere near the emotional rollercoaster of yesterday. Similar solve to 🦖 but I read the across clues too since I don't care about a challenge and I like the creativity behind clue writing.
PICKYPICKYPICKY was a delight.
I own three banjos and play them never. It's a horrid little instrument with the subtlety of a dump truck.
My comment from yesterday with my oh so important thoughts never appeared (again) so if you're reading this, my week is off to a better start. Pretty sure it wasn't controversial, but sometimes Blogger eats submissions. Odd platform even Google barely acknowledges despite owning it.
We're also amid an overnight ant invasion near the cat bowl so I am on a murderous rampage. Welcome to your new home inside a vacuum cleaner bag. It's a rotten system ... the food chain.
Tee-Hee: BRA.
Uniclues:
1 Principal thematic element in all future films about a former president.
2 Black women marrying red-headed sons among others, according to one story.
3 They don't row together.
4 Pompous statement from benzoyl peroxide.
5 What is required to make that instrument worth listening to.
6 Go to Ireland.
7 "Show me the money."
8 "Here kitty kitty."
9 Meghan's nickname among detractors.
10 Famous student adds hip hop beat to Beethoven composition.
11 Little words, big men.
1 YES MEN TROPE (~)
2 KINGLY NITS (~)
3 TEAM CAPTAIN WOE
4 "ACNE, I AM MAMA."
5 BANJO PLAYER NOG (~)
6 SEEK GNOMES (~)
7 AGENT RACKET (~)
8 ANGORA CAT PAGER (~)
9 EYES ON ME MARKLE
10 ELISE LOBS SPIN (~)
11 HEMINGWAY NICHE
@Nancy 9:04 AM
I think Goldilocks was the PICKY PICKY PICKY one, right? The bears always struck me as a reasonably chill having a home invasion underway and the ability to make the intruder into dinner.
@Nancy 9:41 AM
I'm hoping she goes with: "The BANJO PLAYER besotted with NOG used an AGENT to join the SHARKS in the RACKET-making UNION, despite protestations from the TACET ANGORA CAT."
Easiest Monday in a long stretch
You're right, Gary. Goldilocks was the PICKY, PICKY, PICKY one.
You whizzed through this one? I hope you solve on the paper, and not your computer.
I've stopped doing Mondays but I still read the comments here. Enjoyed hearing about the crops some of us are raising.
@burtonkd seemed to imply that anonymous posters have been banned or somehow restricted. I only see one so far this morning.
I'm gonna make nice with him, I'm only gonna challenge him (0:48)
I doubt that the anonymous were banned. The commenters, including the named participants, are far more likely to carp and criticize than to compliment. Just check how many times the named commenters added their bile. Sad, but true!
@burtonkd 9:49
Are Anons really gone?
This was very easy (a real Monday puzzle) & enjoyable especially after yesterday. Thank you both!
@mathgent, nope - just that the puzzle was much easier (70%), weekday (15%) and better (15%). The hordes receded today to wherever they emerged from yesterday.
If @Z were here, he would remind us that a clue is legitimate if one usage is correct, i.e. team captain picking the players on the playground, or the NBA all star game. My favorite playground team picking exercise was to show up to my local playground as an older white guy in running shoes, get picked last, have the weakest defender selected to guard me, then destroy them with my old guy pick and roll and Kevin McHale moves while the other team starts arguing with each other.
I think her name now is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex . Leave off her previous surname. The family name is Mountbatten Windsor as I recall.
This was a nice puzzle. Thanks to the Editor. Also, glad to get the blurb on LOMÈ.
A
NYer puzzle by Elizabeth C. Gorski today. A solid, fair challenge. 2 triple 15 stacks, plus another grid-spanner in the middle.
PICKY PICKY PICKY always evokes ( in me at least ) Pat Paulsen, the Smothers Brothers stalwart comedian.
Solved down only for first time, and found it way funner. Cheers brothers and sisters.
Agree on medium for Croce 820, although I did have a one-letter dnf involving the utterly baffling (even after Googling) 54A.
@Gary Jugert, we too have had an ant invasion. Apparently they are most active at night. My husband says he followed their trail from the sink area up along the window to our lofted ceiling beam and on out the skylight in the kitchen. So that explains why the Raid he's been spraying along the base of the house hasn't worked!
The puzzle was easy, a balm to my soul after my epic fail yesterday in the center section of the Sunday puzzle. I'm still bitter about the clue for 39D yesterday. Very awkward. Am I being PICKYPICKYPICKY?
@Nancy 9:41 @Gary 11:06
Give it up now! You will NEVER match GILL's sense of humour and her cleverness.
As Anonymous said at 9:19 a.m., a vegetable farm was once known as a TRUCK FARM. The term seems to have gone away since I first heard of it, and it took me a good half minute to dredge the term from memory. For some reason I associate trucks farms with New Jersey, which... I don't know why.
Maybe it’s a west coast thing, Farmers grow vegetables/ grain etc. Ranchers have animals.
Hear, hear! I was busily explaining to my husband why the "all farmers grow vegetables" statement is incorrect. In Oklahoma, a "farmer" is growing wheat, soybeans, cotton, alfalfa, etc., and so someone who grows vegetables for sale would need the "vegetable" adjective. I've been also schooled more than once that "grower" is the more accurate term and to use "rancher" for growing cows.
Late to the party as I'm in Florida helping with child care while the daughter-in-law is at a nursing convention. Warmer than NH, but the water in the pools is warmer too.
Like this one fine. LOME was the only real unknown.
@Andrew, if you're a FANNYRARMER it gives you the opportunity to box up your product and sell it to cannibals, who are know to relish FARMERFANNIES.
I thought yesterdays' puzz was a real challenge and was happy to see in the comments that I finally got around to today that many agreed. I was not helped by doing it on an airplane in bad light an having my seat kicked continuously by the little boy sitting behind me. Not recommended for speed solvers.
Thanks to Anonymous at 9:29 and you for mentioning the term I was trying to recall when I read the clue. I got the right answer but still couldn’t dredge up truck farm.
I also somehow associated it with New Jersey. It was once famous for its vegetable farmers (still has some I am sure) to use the crossword answer. I think I must have learned the connection in grade school.
@kitshef - re: Croce #820 54a - yep, no idea? but I apparently guessed right.
@Gary J, Teedmn - Terro T300 liquid ant bait is the way to go - they take the food (poison) back to the nest, not toxic sprays.
I'm a hay farmer (gentleman hay farmer, actually at this point, gentleman mushroom growing medium farmer), and of Animal / Vegetable / Mineral it's Vegetable, I ain't VEGETABLEFARMER. The guy who grows my OKRA is a VEGETABLEFARMER. He's going out of business because I don't touch the stuff, but still.
Did this late last night, once again at the ER waiting for the MD to tend to another unfortunate meeting between cold hard steel and the delicate flesh of my hands. Most things are still in place.
The puzzle was fine but the theme was weak. Not really worth it,
Clues really dumbed down for Monday made this super-easy. Then there's LOME, the outlier's outlier. No real matter, since the surrounding pabulum left no choice. Still...
DOD is ex-"Deal Or No Deal" model Meghan MARKLE, with honorable mention to ROSIE Perez and the late-too-soon MAMA Cass.
Like: the symmetrical pairing of EYESONME! and MAKENICE! Birdie.
Wordle par, but it felt like a blown eagle, as if I drove the green and three-putted. BGBGG GGBGG GGBGG and finally GGGGG.
Nice and easy. Some see MARKLE as a SHARK, so there's that.
TOKEN LEGUP
BECKY was a PLAYER, see,
"IAM not SO PICKY, it seems,
YES,MEN put your EYESONME
and I'll MAKENICE with the TEAM."
--- ROSIE HEMINGWAY
I was picked last for many a playground ball game because I had no aim. In fact, I struck out in 16 inch softball, and noone else did that. But they kept me around for a very good reason. When a ball got hit onto the rooftop of the 3 story school, I could shinny up the drain pipe, on to the rooftop and retrieve it.
PICKY. haha. But I didn't see that coming. Not BLIND enough to miss Meghan MARKLE.
Off TOPIC: wordle par.
Just one or two (LOME) Monday outliers. Otherwise, I couldn't get too PICKY about this puz.
Lady Di
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