THEME: metaphorical monsters — theme answers end with types of monsters:
Theme answers:
INTERNET TROLL (20A: "Monster" on the web)
SPEED DEMON (34A: "Monster" on the highway)
SUGAR FIEND (42A: "Monster" with a sweet tooth)
ENERGY VAMPIRE (54A: "Monster" who drains people emotionally)
Word of the Day: ENERGY VAMPIRE (54A) —
A psychic vampire (or energy vampire) is a creature in folklore said to feed off the "life force" of other living creatures. The term can also be used to describe a person who gets increased energy around other people, but leaves those other people exhausted or "drained" of energy. Psychic vampires are represented in the occult beliefs of various cultures and in fiction. (wikipedia)
• • •
My main reaction is "what is an ENERGY VAMPIRE?" Figuring out what the hell kind of vampire I was dealing with was by far the hardest part of solving this one Downs-only, though in the end, it wasn't that hard. I mean, I can imagine the concept, even if I've never really heard the term before. Before I got to that answer, though, I was quite enjoying this one, partly because the first two themers were interesting answer, partly because I was oddly psyched to see (and get, instantly) "SAILOR MOON" (long Downs can often be very tricky when solving Downs-only, but not today!). In the end, the theme felt pretty light (no revealer, very loose concept), but the answers were colorful enough, and the grid was clean enough, that I didn't mind. Solid early-week work, I'd say. Seriously, though, the feeling of power when you can drop not one but both of the long Downs in a Downs-only solve with absolutely no crosses! Exhilarating. Surprised when it happened with "SAILOR MOON," and then floored when it happened again with IMAGINEEERS. I wrote the latter in thinking "that's ... a thing, right? ... that's the dumb in-house thing they call themselves?" And sure enough! Probably the weirdest part of putting this theme together was imagining, early on, that the theme would have something to do with the two words in each theme phrase sharing a last letter and first letter, respectively. That is, there's INTERNETTROLL and then there's SPEEDDEMON and I figured things might go on like this. But no. Weird that I never even noticed the possible TROLL / DEMON connection. My brain picks up on weird patterns, often not the ones it's supposed to pick up on. Downs-only can have you seeing things, for sure. But today, with no real trouble spots, I didn't remain in the dark for long.
["Fighting evil by the moonlight / Winning love by daylight!"]
How to solve Downs-only? Well, today, the NW was simply transparent, so I got this far without effort:
Shortly thereafter I started trying to infer the first themer, and my mind went to "INTERNAL" or "INTERNATIONAL" so I tested that "A" ... which made MEMES the first thing I couldn't instantly get (6D: Viral jokes like Grumpy Cat and Sad Frog). Didn't take too long to get TROLL (via "SAILOR MOON"!), but then ACCRUES really did dig its heels in and I had to think semi-hard to get the ACC- part (with just the "R" in place) (9D: Built up, as interest). I thought "interest" was ... the non-financial kind. After that, the only Down I struggled to place was PRIME (39D: Top-quality, as beef). My brain scrolled through USDA and A-ONE and CHOICE and somehow never alit on PRIME. But IMAGINEERS gave me the "G" for SUGAR FIEND and PRIME didn't remain hidden much longer. Here's a good example of how you can move horizontally in the grid even when you're not reading Across clues:
You can see that I had the "S" the two "D"s and the "MON," and so through my highly-developed power of pattern recognition (or, you know, just through obviousness), I could put SPEED DEMON across pretty confidently without ever seeing the clue. Once you drop the short Downs in the middle (PAIL EYE BEEN), you've got most of the back end of FIEND; by that point, I could see that the last words of the themers were "monsters" and so I ruled out FRIEND, wrote in FIEND, and then FLORETS dropped me down and I went on from there. Someone wrote me shortly after the puzzle went up to claim that from a Downs-only perspective, JAW could easily have been MAW (60D: Big part of T. rex). I doubt you'd make such a dino-specific reference if the answer were going to be as generic as MAW, but I guess technically there's some ambiguity. And MPEG is definitely a real thing (MPEG is a video image format, so it's unlikely someone using all the clues would make the "M" error here) (60A: Pic file format). I will now RANT and/or ORATE no further. Gotta get to sleep so I can be rested and ready for the GYM tomorrow morning. How much gymgoing do I have to do before I become a rat? (49D: Fitness enthusiast, slangily = GYMRAT). How many hours / week do you need? I don't think I want to qualify to be vermin, but I am curious about the rules. Enjoy your Monday, see you tomorrow.
I also solved down clues only, so pretty similar experience to Rex except I needed quite a few guesses at the crosses to get SAILOR MOON. I mean, I have heard of her, but from the clues?... not a chance. And I have never heard the term ENERGY VAMPIRE; thanks again for the easy crosses. But it makes sense. And then the theme was easy to get from TROLL / DEMON / FIEND / VAMPIRE.
I got IMAGINEERS right away; I think I remember it from my 1973 visit to Disneyland, where they made a point of letting us know that was their job title.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, my last word this 8er. Note also this Google Ngram of 3 selected words you could make on Sun; guess which is the only accepted one? That's right, the one at the bottom that no one ever uses. Sam, Sam.
My week, Mon to Sun: 0, -2, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0. Good finish to the week!]
I roasted a chicken leg in the device under my stovetop yesterday. But first I defrosted it in the device that keeps things cold. Afterward I washed the plates and silverware in the device that has running water.
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance):
1. Big sister? (6)(8) 2. Space scrap? (4) 3. Things that can really make someone pop? (9)(5) 4. Didn't go all in, say (5) 5. They're there in the clutch (4)
Second week in a row that my downs-only solve beat my average (which is mostly made up of solves reading all clues) so I was definitely a SPEED DEMON. I have never heard of an ENERGY VAMPIRE either, but I have definitely known some. I’m the kind of person who prefers hearing about someone else’s problems than talking about my own, but I have known a few people who don’t even ask “and how are YOU?” in the whole conversation. Now I know what to call them.
The factoid about TRON sent me to Wikipedia. The Academy refused to nominate the movie for a special effects Oscar because, in the director’s words, they “thought we cheated by using computers.” Hard to imagine a time when special effects were not created by computers. They are so overused now that there isn’t any wonder in movie-going anymore.
Felt like a SPEEDDEMON doing this one, as there was a veritable plethora of moo-cows roaming around. @M&A has his hands full trying to pick a winner out of this crop of contenders.
Nice puzzle discussion by OFL, if you solve downs-only. If you don't, not so much.
Surprised myself by knowing SAILORMOON from somewhere, knew JPEG even though it's computer related, and learned ENERGYVAMPIRE. Maybe I hang with the wrong crowd but my knowledge of ENERGYVAMPIREs is nonexistent.
Lost a slew of nanoseconds by reading "tirade" as "trade". Oops.
Nice beginner-friendly Mondecito, CR and AR. Could Really Accelerate Rapidly through this one, and thanks for some speedy fun.
I've only heard ENERGY VAMPIRE used to describe an appliance that uses power even when it is ostensibly off. But the definition used here was easily inferred.
I just finished reading Jane EYRE for the first time. I thought it was pretty bad. It read to me like something a 13-year old would write, with its fear of ghosts and one-dimensional characters and sharp division between 'good' people and 'bad' people and paranormal telepathic nonsense and how all obstacles magically fall away. And I also found it awfully racist. I also recently read Pride and Prejudice for the first time, and I thought that was a much better book.
IMAGINEERS reminded me of another book I hated, The Last Lecture. So, some bad literary associations from today’s puzzle for me today.
Croce Freestyle 832 on the easy side of medium, with a tough NW. 12D as clued being impossible, but at least I could tell from the clue I would not know it and just waited on crosses.
It seems like they were traveling off of the beaten path a little bit today, with answers such as SAILOR MOON, IMAGINEERS and even ENERGY VAMPIRE seems a touch esoteric for a Monday. Other than that, pretty standard Monday fare.
Isn’t MOMA the Museum of Modern Art ? Didn’t van Gogh paint The Starry Night in like the 1800’s? I obviously don’t have much of a clue as to what constitutes “modern” art, lol. Maybe the term “modern” is about as well defined as the music “genres” and “sub-genres” like EMO that the NYT keeps dropping on us.
Fine - early week puzzle. Cute theme - I’m not sure any of us will be familiar with ENERGY VAMPIRE. Limited glue
Again the Disney marketing is shameless. I knew a lot of GYM RATs over the years that just liked being around the GYM - fitness was not on their minds. Liked FLORETS, ANGST and DYNAMO.
Lovely lively theme answers today. I love that this is a family (aunt / niece) production, which brings the Steinbergs to mind. Can anyone think of other kin-structors?
My favorite moment was when out of a fog-filled sector of my brain SAILOR MOON popped out. There were other sparks as well: The 3/4/5 palindrome set of EYE / ETTE / RADAR; the homophone cross of EYE and AYE; the dooky NOONE; and what struck me as highly unusual – seven answers whose second letter is Y (AYE, DYNAMO, EYRE, GYMRAT, EYE, BYRON, and GYRO).
My logical side says that the inclusion of the monsters would bring the mood of the puzzle down, but somehow the opposite occurred. This was bouncy and fun. Congratulations, Alissa on your NYT debut, and Chloe on your second. Thank you both for a puzzle that pushed my happy button!
Thx @jae; on it! 🤞 ___ Richard Silvestri's NYT cryptic on xwordinfo.com was very hard, but a most satisfying solve. NE was brutal! ___ On to Croce's 832🤞, with K.A.C.'s Mon. New Yorker on tap for tm. ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Going Downs-only, I got the top 2/3 (maybe 3/4), but then, sadly, I had to look at some across clues on the bottom. I didn’t get quite as much as last Monday doing it Downs-only, but someday I’ll actually complete one without looking at any across clues. Someday!
If you watch What we do in the Shadows you’ve at heard the phrase ENERGY VAMPIRE. I’m surprised Rex didn’t google to do his routine check for “the first thing that came up on google were links to the NYTXW” Or maybe he did and was rebuffed by the googs that it’s a real thing.
Like OFL, solved downs-only and dropped in SAILORMOON and IMAGINEERS without hesitation, though both are far from my wheelhouse. I have a 78-year-old cousin who spends two hours at the gym, six days a week, and never fails to bring it up in any conversation, no matter the topic. Definitely a GYMRAT.
Strange to me to see so many people unfamiliar with ENERGY VAMPIRE, particularly in this age of 21st century climate change. For me, SUGAR FIEND is the obscure, unused phrase.
Easy and smooth; I enjoyed the theme. I was slightly bothered by the clues for DYNAMO (would've preferred something electrical) and SCALP (hair roots grow all over your body). But it's Monday, so dumbing down is acceptable.
Downs only, 5 min. Like a vocabulary quiz ("What's another word for...?). Never heard of SAILOR MOON but the acrosses were super inferrable so that was easy. ENERGY VAMPIRE is an appliance that uses electricity even when it's turned off, lots of those in modern American homes.
Also, unlike @Rex, I thought the acrosses were obvious from INTERNET TROLL and SPEED DEMON - oh, we're talking about common phrases with a devilish twist. Can't think of any others offhand, Cookie Monster? But that refers to a specific character, while the themers are general. Same problem with Dirt Devil.
Speaking of which, we're enjoying Season 2 of Good Omens!
i've seen the term "energy vampire" to describe electronic equipment that continues to use energy and drain power, even when it is turned off. these include any appliance or device with a "wall wart" or "brick".
I was looking for your comment! WWDITS is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen and I feel like crossword enthusiasts would enjoy the humor! I ran to my fiancé this morning to show him Colin had made the Times crossword.
Never heard of ENERGY VAMPIREs? To paraphrase a catch phrase of Nandor the Relentless (not Nandor DeLaurentis), "These #$*@ing guys!"
What We Do in the Shadows is one of those slice of life mockumentary style comedies a la The Office, with this one telling the story of four vampires (one, an energy vampire) and one human just trying to get by in 21st c. Staten Island. Hysterically funny and with a pretty rabid (heh) fan base.
I made matzoh ball soup recently and gave my grandson Leon (6) a bowl. He liked it but must have misheard me when I told him what it was because when he asked for more he called it monster ball soup. Needless to say, that's what we all call it now.
Hey All ! No one has yet mentioned that Sailor is in the clue for 40A, and in a long Down, SAILOR MOON. Mark of a good puz, if no one complains about that. Could've changed 40A to "Affirmation at sea".
Neat little puz. My namesakes getting top billing. Har. One who never stops crowing? - RooMonster 😁
ENERGY VAMPIRE was new here, but I can see it. @Twangster, (fellow STER!) I tried to get into Shadows when it first came out. Just didn't do it for me. A bit too obscure and dullish. Sorry. I did get a few chuckles a couple of times...
I enjoy my MegaStuf Oreos. Doesn't quite make me a SUGAR FIEND, does it? More like a Sugar Enthusiast.
Even though I wouldn't know an ENERGY VAMPIRE if one fell on me, all the other themers were familiar and the theme was a lot of fun. In fact, this is a Monday puzzle I'd give to a novice solver. It's gettable without being insultingly slam-dunk, and it's delightfully playful in its use of language.
Today I noticed the kinds of things I haven't noticed -- much less commented on -- in the near-decade I've been coming here. They're the kinds of things that @Lewis notices, but not me: where certain words are positioned in relation to other words. But today I couldn't miss the fact that...
INTERNET TROLL sits on UPLOAD.
SUGAR FIEND sits atop ILL.
ENERGY VAMPIRE lurks under DYNAMO and BODY -- waiting, I suppose, to drain them.
Let me go see now if Lewis has already beaten me to the punch. More than likely he has.
Very clean -- with almost no proper names. And one that's there, TRON, is clued in an extremely interesting way. Lovely Monday.
As it is already 10 a.m. in New York City, I'm sure all of the monster jokes have already been used. I will just say that I've never heard of a ENERGY VAMPIRE. I'm not much of a vampire expert. I remember them making those movies written by Stephenie Meyer and people saying they were terrible or awesome as was her writing. She's probably not worried about paying her electricity bill anymore, so she's probably fine with people having whatever opinion they have.
Otherwise a perfectly lovely puzzle. Go Monday!
I love the phrase IMAGINEERS, not even ironically, I just love it. SAILOR MOON is a nice phrase even though I know nothing about the entire genre.
Uniclues:
1 🌹 2 Dude who's five minutes late in a box. 3 Kinda gelatinous. 4 Kinda not gelatinous. 5 Bright pastry for urban camping. 6 La Amazon. 7 Bought Arp. 8 Treadmills.
1 ROSE UPLOAD 2 ACME SPEED DEMON 3 SUGAR FIEND TONE 4 DYNAMO BODY 5 NEON OCCUPY PIE 6 PIERRE PRIME 7 ACCRUED DADA 8 GYMRATOPEDS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Making the decision about putting a pillow over his face after listening to the latest weird sounds rumbling out of him in his sleep. ASSESS NEWER SNORES.
After yesterday’s Beastie Boys video, I thought we’d see Luscious Jackson’s “Energy Sucker” today, but it was not to be. A new personal best and first sub-3:00 time for me on this one,
Had a wonderful SAILOR MOON adventure post-solve. Was wondering if there was an oldie by the same name – maybe akin to silvery moon, etc. Came across two of my fave Ann Breen songs, 'SAILOR' & 'Carolina MOON' which I likely conflated. Enjoyed re-listening to both. ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
23 years ago last Friday, my oldest son married my daughter-in-law under a tend in my yard. The wedding cake, baked by my daughter, had two figurines on top -- not the usual bride and groom figures, but Godzilla and SAILOR MOON. So this puzzle brought back wonderful memories -- also that song from The Life of Brian, which I sing to my wife whenever she encounters misfortune.
The trouble with ENERGY VAMPIRE is that, according to the Wikipedia passage Rex quotes, it is an actual mythological monster. All the other monsters are only metaphorical as they are used here. And, as clued, the vampire is a metaphor, so it's not a huge discrepancy.
Love to see some WWDITS fans; I can't get my family into it:( Saw the movie a while back, then just started on the TV series. One of the many wonderful shows TAIKO Waititi has his prints on (Reservation Dogs just started its final season on Hulu, plus The Mandalorian, and some more fun in the Marvel series, just to name a few).
I see that ENERGYVAMPIRE appliances have been well covered here.
One of my fastest Mondays ever, but still enjoyable.
A winning Monday. I liked the way these "monsters" - capable of some havoc in the real world - were tamed by being confined to a crossword grid and a creative theme. On the other entries: I knew SAILOR MOON thanks to a long-ago student in a conversation course who ardently regaled the class about his fascination with the character; on the other hand, IMAGINEERS and ENERGY VAMPIRE were new to me. I liked MERCI x PIERRE and SAILOR adjacent to ATOLL.
I don't think anyone has mentioned that the sun is literally setting in the WEST. I just did another puzzle where EAST was the answer half way down the right column, but can't find it now.
Rex’s insistence on walking us square-by-square through his downs only solve is starting to take such ATOLL on me that I may be ILL. Give me a good RANT any day.
Dilemma for a regatta participant who would also like to show his disdain for the competition: SAILORMOON
I tried to post something like this post earlier. Don’t know if it was a techno loss or a Mod axed it.
Little monsters! Lady Gaga will approve. Schlocky theme, so M&A definitely approves. May have heard tell of ENERGY VAMPIRES, but only faintly. It was decidedly my fave themer, tho.
staff weeject pick (of only 10 choices): EYE. Cyclops clue firmed it up, but it was also a strong contender, by bein crossed by AYE, smack dab in the puzgrid center.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue (of only 50 or so solid choices): {South Dakota's capital} = PIERRE. Six free letters, for the likes of @RP doin them totally downer solvequests. Pierre is also nice and runty … population way under 15K.
some other faves: SAILORMOON … which was an M&A no-know … googled her up, and she kinda looks like Taylor Swift. GYMRAT. OCCUPY. DYNAMO.
MERCI for gangin up on us, Revery & Revness darlins. Lotsa neat Revs, there. Y'all really need to sneak REV into all yer future collabpuzs.
Off-topic, but I thought this was funny in yesterday's Book Review:
In the "By The Book" interview, the featured writer was asked which current writers she admires most (one of their standard questions). She rattled off a list of 29 names in alphabetical order. The last one was Charles Yu, after which she said: "...oh, I could go on and on!" I thought: Not likely, you're already at the end of the alphabet.
@smalltowndoc, re Spelling Bee: the numbers are how many words I missed each day, and "8er" means an 8 letter word. Some people use "pg-2" to mean: got the pangram(s); got to Genius; missed 2 words.
Set a new Monday record with this one, with only my second sub-4. ENERGY VAMPIRE I've always known as "emotional vampire." That term I have used and heard many times. ENERGY VAMPIRE sounds less in the language to me, but it does appear to be a phrase, and it was easy to figure out.
I think this is a fine example of having a good balance between theme and fill. The four modest length themers and 36 black squares left lots of room for some quality fill that was more than just the perfunctory 3 and 4 letter "glue" we often see in grids that are overburdened with theme material and subsequent excessive number of black squares.
There was a connection for me between a couple of the longer Downs. A daughter of one of my nephews showed an artistic flair as a youngster, especially for anime style illustrations similar to those in the YouTube video Rex posted of the 11D "Japanese manga heroine..." SAILOR MOON. She just graduated from the University of Southern California and landed a job with the Disney Corp. as one of their IMAGINEERS.
Oped is NOT an a shortening of opinion it is from OPposite EDitorial when the Times began running columns on the opposite page from the editorial page. This answer is not a dupe.
Well, I thought the universe was trolling me when the Wordle word of the day was "POLYP". As it turns out, it was an exact prediction of today's test results. What's up with that?
Today's puzzle was off the books easy somehow - I did it in bed, after starting the prep, after taking a sleeping pill, downs only and set a personal best for any NYT Puzzle.
Truly a Crosswords 101 puzzle, right at home on Monday. Unlike OFNP, I never heard of SAILORMOON, but no matter, it materialized while I was going across. Yes, dear folks, I solve across on Mondays. So shoot me.
The cherry on top (for this SUGARFIEND) is DOD SELA You-Know-Who. Birdie.
Wordle birdie, my 149th of 500. Average score per hole = 3.958, just under par. This includes 10 fails, recorded as 7s (+3 to par).
And limited congrats to the Eagles, who hung on for a 25-20 win over New England in a sloppily played contest. Hey, a W is a W, and nobody got badly hurt. But three days to get ready for Minnesota.
MERCI for Mondays. Nothing too hard, but enough to get my brain cells rolling along.
@Spacey - eye drops? I had eye surgery last year for cateracts, and had drops for a few weeks. (and I use the OTC ones regularly) No problems with that. Is it the recovery process that is bothersome? I didn't mind the drops, but of course, I had the cats helping me. (One of my cats gets eye drops and he "just says no" to drugs!)
Anyway, I sure was in the mood for a Monday today! Feeling lots better.
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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62 comments:
I don't really think of these things as "monsters", but still close enough for the crossworld.
Best part to me was 23A, as it reminded me of one of my favorite jokes, told here in the most charming way:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhs0r2
Easy the regular way too. Smooth and cute with a couple of fine long downs. Liked it. A fine debut!
@Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #832 was mediumish for a Croce or about 4X+ a Saturday NYT for me. The NW gave me the most trouble. Good luck!
I also solved down clues only, so pretty similar experience to Rex except I needed quite a few guesses at the crosses to get SAILOR MOON. I mean, I have heard of her, but from the clues?... not a chance. And I have never heard the term ENERGY VAMPIRE; thanks again for the easy crosses. But it makes sense. And then the theme was easy to get from TROLL / DEMON / FIEND / VAMPIRE.
I got IMAGINEERS right away; I think I remember it from my 1973 visit to Disneyland, where they made a point of letting us know that was their job title.
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0, my last word this 8er. Note also this Google Ngram of 3 selected words you could make on Sun; guess which is the only accepted one? That's right, the one at the bottom that no one ever uses. Sam, Sam.
My week, Mon to Sun: 0, -2, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0. Good finish to the week!]
I roasted a chicken leg in the device under my stovetop yesterday. But first I defrosted it in the device that keeps things cold. Afterward I washed the plates and silverware in the device that has running water.
Very enjoyable Monday. I, too, was not familiar with ENERGY VAMPIRE, but it’s always nice to learn a new word/phrase.
@okanaganer: I’ve been curious for some time how to interpret your shorthand for the Spelling Bee. Could you please explain it to me? Thanks
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Big sister? (6)(8)
2. Space scrap? (4)
3. Things that can really make someone pop? (9)(5)
4. Didn't go all in, say (5)
5. They're there in the clutch (4)
MOTHER SUPERIOR
NOGO
PATERNITY TESTS
WADED
EGGS
Second week in a row that my downs-only solve beat my average (which is mostly made up of solves reading all clues) so I was definitely a SPEED DEMON. I have never heard of an ENERGY VAMPIRE either, but I have definitely known some. I’m the kind of person who prefers hearing about someone else’s problems than talking about my own, but I have known a few people who don’t even ask “and how are YOU?” in the whole conversation. Now I know what to call them.
The factoid about TRON sent me to Wikipedia. The Academy refused to nominate the movie for a special effects Oscar because, in the director’s words, they “thought we cheated by using computers.” Hard to imagine a time when special effects were not created by computers. They are so overused now that there isn’t any wonder in movie-going anymore.
Felt like a SPEEDDEMON doing this one, as there was a veritable plethora of moo-cows roaming around. @M&A has his hands full trying to pick a winner out of this crop of contenders.
Nice puzzle discussion by OFL, if you solve downs-only. If you don't, not so much.
Surprised myself by knowing SAILORMOON from somewhere, knew JPEG even though it's computer related, and learned ENERGYVAMPIRE. Maybe I hang with the wrong crowd but my knowledge of ENERGYVAMPIREs is nonexistent.
Lost a slew of nanoseconds by reading "tirade" as "trade". Oops.
Nice beginner-friendly Mondecito, CR and AR. Could Really Accelerate Rapidly through this one, and thanks for some speedy fun.
I've only heard ENERGY VAMPIRE used to describe an appliance that uses power even when it is ostensibly off. But the definition used here was easily inferred.
I just finished reading Jane EYRE for the first time. I thought it was pretty bad. It read to me like something a 13-year old would write, with its fear of ghosts and one-dimensional characters and sharp division between 'good' people and 'bad' people and paranormal telepathic nonsense and how all obstacles magically fall away. And I also found it awfully racist. I also recently read Pride and Prejudice for the first time, and I thought that was a much better book.
IMAGINEERS reminded me of another book I hated, The Last Lecture. So, some bad literary associations from today’s puzzle for me today.
Croce Freestyle 832 on the easy side of medium, with a tough NW. 12D as clued being impossible, but at least I could tell from the clue I would not know it and just waited on crosses.
It seems like they were traveling off of the beaten path a little bit today, with answers such as SAILOR MOON, IMAGINEERS and even ENERGY VAMPIRE seems a touch esoteric for a Monday. Other than that, pretty standard Monday fare.
Isn’t MOMA the Museum of Modern Art ? Didn’t van Gogh paint The Starry Night in like the 1800’s? I obviously don’t have much of a clue as to what constitutes “modern” art, lol. Maybe the term “modern” is about as well defined as the music “genres” and “sub-genres” like EMO that the NYT keeps dropping on us.
Fine - early week puzzle. Cute theme - I’m not sure any of us will be familiar with ENERGY VAMPIRE. Limited glue
Again the Disney marketing is shameless. I knew a lot of GYM RATs over the years that just liked being around the GYM - fitness was not on their minds. Liked FLORETS, ANGST and DYNAMO.
Pleasant Monday solve.
Peter NO ONE
Add me to the "never heard of an ENERGY VAMPIRE" crowd. It became obvious with just ENERGYV- from OVENS and "drains" in the clue.
I also thought of the potential wrong guess at JAW/MAW. If that JAW was a JAR there would've been no ambiguity.
No love for Colin Robinson from this crowd yet!
Rex et al, if you haven't heard of an energy vampire, I highly recommend What We Do In the Shadows (which streams on Hulu).
Here’s a clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szGmZAPsILQ
Lovely lively theme answers today. I love that this is a family (aunt / niece) production, which brings the Steinbergs to mind. Can anyone think of other kin-structors?
My favorite moment was when out of a fog-filled sector of my brain SAILOR MOON popped out. There were other sparks as well: The 3/4/5 palindrome set of EYE / ETTE / RADAR; the homophone cross of EYE and AYE; the dooky NOONE; and what struck me as highly unusual – seven answers whose second letter is Y (AYE, DYNAMO, EYRE, GYMRAT, EYE, BYRON, and GYRO).
My logical side says that the inclusion of the monsters would bring the mood of the puzzle down, but somehow the opposite occurred. This was bouncy and fun. Congratulations, Alissa on your NYT debut, and Chloe on your second. Thank you both for a puzzle that pushed my happy button!
I tried solving using just across clues. Didn't work out so well today. But I shall try again. It was an easy solve once I started using the downs.
I learned about Energy Vampires recently and it really applies well to some people i know! Love that term. I was happy to see it in the puzzle.
Thx, Chloe & Alissa for the 'monster' Monday! 😈
Easy-med.
Pretty much on the good wavelength for this one.
Caught on to the theme early; it was helpful.
Enjoyable journey. :)
Thx @jae; on it! 🤞
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Richard Silvestri's NYT cryptic on xwordinfo.com was very hard, but a most satisfying solve. NE was brutal!
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On to Croce's 832🤞, with K.A.C.'s Mon. New Yorker on tap for tm.
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Going Downs-only, I got the top 2/3 (maybe 3/4), but then, sadly, I had to look at some across clues on the bottom. I didn’t get quite as much as last Monday doing it Downs-only, but someday I’ll actually complete one without looking at any across clues. Someday!
Yes! I’m surprised that Rex isn’t already a fan of WWDITS, as it seems right up his alley.
If you watch What we do in the Shadows you’ve at heard the phrase ENERGY VAMPIRE. I’m surprised Rex didn’t google to do his routine check for “the first thing that came up on google were links to the NYTXW” Or maybe he did and was rebuffed by the googs that it’s a real thing.
Good Monday puzzle and fine debut.
If you’d like to learn more about ENERGY VAMPIRES, I strongly recommend watching the TV Series, “What We Do in the Shadows.” Hilarious.
Like OFL, solved downs-only and dropped in SAILORMOON and IMAGINEERS without hesitation, though both are far from my wheelhouse.
I have a 78-year-old cousin who spends two hours at the gym, six days a week, and never fails to bring it up in any conversation, no matter the topic. Definitely a GYMRAT.
Strange to me to see so many people unfamiliar with ENERGY VAMPIRE, particularly in this age of 21st century climate change. For me, SUGAR FIEND is the obscure, unused phrase.
Easy and smooth; I enjoyed the theme. I was slightly bothered by the clues for DYNAMO (would've preferred something electrical) and SCALP (hair roots grow all over your body). But it's Monday, so dumbing down is acceptable.
Downs only, 5 min. Like a vocabulary quiz ("What's another word for...?). Never heard of SAILOR MOON but the acrosses were super inferrable so that was easy. ENERGY VAMPIRE is an appliance that uses electricity even when it's turned off, lots of those in modern American homes.
Also, unlike @Rex, I thought the acrosses were obvious from INTERNET TROLL and SPEED DEMON - oh, we're talking about common phrases with a devilish twist. Can't think of any others offhand, Cookie Monster? But that refers to a specific character, while the themers are general. Same problem with Dirt Devil.
Speaking of which, we're enjoying Season 2 of Good Omens!
i've seen the term "energy vampire" to describe electronic equipment that continues to use energy and drain power, even when it is turned off. these include any appliance or device with a "wall wart" or "brick".
I was looking for your comment! WWDITS is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen and I feel like crossword enthusiasts would enjoy the humor! I ran to my fiancé this morning to show him Colin had made the Times crossword.
Never heard of ENERGY VAMPIREs? To paraphrase a catch phrase of Nandor the Relentless (not Nandor DeLaurentis), "These #$*@ing guys!"
What We Do in the Shadows is one of those slice of life mockumentary style comedies a la The Office, with this one telling the story of four vampires (one, an energy vampire) and one human just trying to get by in 21st c. Staten Island. Hysterically funny and with a pretty rabid (heh) fan base.
I made matzoh ball soup recently and gave my grandson Leon (6) a bowl. He liked it but must have misheard me when I told him what it was because when he asked for more he called it monster ball soup. Needless to say, that's what we all call it now.
Hey All !
No one has yet mentioned that Sailor is in the clue for 40A, and in a long Down, SAILOR MOON. Mark of a good puz, if no one complains about that. Could've changed 40A to "Affirmation at sea".
Neat little puz. My namesakes getting top billing. Har.
One who never stops crowing? - RooMonster 😁
ENERGY VAMPIRE was new here, but I can see it. @Twangster, (fellow STER!) I tried to get into Shadows when it first came out. Just didn't do it for me. A bit too obscure and dullish. Sorry. I did get a few chuckles a couple of times...
I enjoy my MegaStuf Oreos. Doesn't quite make me a SUGAR FIEND, does it? More like a Sugar Enthusiast.
AYE EYE. BEE BEEN there.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Even though I wouldn't know an ENERGY VAMPIRE if one fell on me, all the other themers were familiar and the theme was a lot of fun. In fact, this is a Monday puzzle I'd give to a novice solver. It's gettable without being insultingly slam-dunk, and it's delightfully playful in its use of language.
Today I noticed the kinds of things I haven't noticed -- much less commented on -- in the near-decade I've been coming here. They're the kinds of things that @Lewis notices, but not me: where certain words are positioned in relation to other words. But today I couldn't miss the fact that...
INTERNET TROLL sits on UPLOAD.
SUGAR FIEND sits atop ILL.
ENERGY VAMPIRE lurks under DYNAMO and BODY -- waiting, I suppose, to drain them.
Let me go see now if Lewis has already beaten me to the punch. More than likely he has.
Very clean -- with almost no proper names. And one that's there, TRON, is clued in an extremely interesting way. Lovely Monday.
As it is already 10 a.m. in New York City, I'm sure all of the monster jokes have already been used. I will just say that I've never heard of a ENERGY VAMPIRE. I'm not much of a vampire expert. I remember them making those movies written by Stephenie Meyer and people saying they were terrible or awesome as was her writing. She's probably not worried about paying her electricity bill anymore, so she's probably fine with people having whatever opinion they have.
Otherwise a perfectly lovely puzzle. Go Monday!
I love the phrase IMAGINEERS, not even ironically, I just love it. SAILOR MOON is a nice phrase even though I know nothing about the entire genre.
Uniclues:
1 🌹
2 Dude who's five minutes late in a box.
3 Kinda gelatinous.
4 Kinda not gelatinous.
5 Bright pastry for urban camping.
6 La Amazon.
7 Bought Arp.
8 Treadmills.
1 ROSE UPLOAD
2 ACME SPEED DEMON
3 SUGAR FIEND TONE
4 DYNAMO BODY
5 NEON OCCUPY PIE
6 PIERRE PRIME
7 ACCRUED DADA
8 GYMRATOPEDS
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Making the decision about putting a pillow over his face after listening to the latest weird sounds rumbling out of him in his sleep. ASSESS NEWER SNORES.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After yesterday’s Beastie Boys video, I thought we’d see Luscious Jackson’s “Energy Sucker” today, but it was not to be. A new personal best and first sub-3:00 time for me on this one,
Thank you!
This crowd is missing out on one of the best shows on TV
Current season of WWDITS is the best yet IMO
“Sailor” was in a clue as well as an answer.
OPEDS clued with the word “opinion.”
Sloppy
I was just about to post the same! I guess of I wasn't such a big WWDITS fan, I'd not have heard of it.
This was an easy, fun, typical Monday puzzle. Thank you, ladies!
Had a wonderful SAILOR MOON adventure post-solve. Was wondering if there was an oldie by the same name – maybe akin to silvery moon, etc. Came across two of my fave Ann Breen songs, 'SAILOR' & 'Carolina MOON' which I likely conflated. Enjoyed re-listening to both.
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Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude ~ Serendipity ~ & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Solid Monday. Only nit is using "Opinion Columns in brief" as the clue for OPEDS.
23 years ago last Friday, my oldest son married my daughter-in-law under a tend in my yard. The wedding cake, baked by my daughter, had two figurines on top -- not the usual bride and groom figures, but Godzilla and SAILOR MOON. So this puzzle brought back wonderful memories -- also that song from The Life of Brian, which I sing to my wife whenever she encounters misfortune.
The trouble with ENERGY VAMPIRE is that, according to the Wikipedia passage Rex quotes, it is an actual mythological monster. All the other monsters are only metaphorical as they are used here. And, as clued, the vampire is a metaphor, so it's not a huge discrepancy.
Love to see some WWDITS fans; I can't get my family into it:( Saw the movie a while back, then just started on the TV series. One of the many wonderful shows TAIKO Waititi has his prints on (Reservation Dogs just started its final season on Hulu, plus The Mandalorian, and some more fun in the Marvel series, just to name a few).
I see that ENERGYVAMPIRE appliances have been well covered here.
One of my fastest Mondays ever, but still enjoyable.
@Phil C
FYI, OPED stands for Opposite Editorial (it's the page across from the editorials in the NYTs that contains essays and letters).
A winning Monday. I liked the way these "monsters" - capable of some havoc in the real world - were tamed by being confined to a crossword grid and a creative theme. On the other entries: I knew SAILOR MOON thanks to a long-ago student in a conversation course who ardently regaled the class about his fascination with the character; on the other hand, IMAGINEERS and ENERGY VAMPIRE were new to me. I liked MERCI x PIERRE and SAILOR adjacent to ATOLL.
I don't think anyone has mentioned that the sun is literally setting in the WEST. I just did another puzzle where EAST was the answer half way down the right column, but can't find it now.
Rex’s insistence on walking us square-by-square through his downs only solve is starting to take such ATOLL on me that I may be ILL. Give me a good RANT any day.
Dilemma for a regatta participant who would also like to show his disdain for the competition: SAILORMOON
I tried to post something like this post earlier. Don’t know if it was a techno loss or a Mod axed it.
Little monsters! Lady Gaga will approve.
Schlocky theme, so M&A definitely approves. May have heard tell of ENERGY VAMPIRES, but only faintly. It was decidedly my fave themer, tho.
staff weeject pick (of only 10 choices): EYE. Cyclops clue firmed it up, but it was also a strong contender, by bein crossed by AYE, smack dab in the puzgrid center.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue (of only 50 or so solid choices): {South Dakota's capital} = PIERRE. Six free letters, for the likes of @RP doin them totally downer solvequests. Pierre is also nice and runty … population way under 15K.
some other faves: SAILORMOON … which was an M&A no-know … googled her up, and she kinda looks like Taylor Swift. GYMRAT. OCCUPY. DYNAMO.
MERCI for gangin up on us, Revery & Revness darlins. Lotsa neat Revs, there. Y'all really need to sneak REV into all yer future collabpuzs.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
**gruntz**
@burtonkd – it was in yesterday's puzzle.
@SouthsideJohnny
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_art
it doesn't literally mean modern as in "made recently" but rather a departure from traditions of the past in the art world. :)
Did I really just have to scroll all the way down here to see a post about Colin Robinson?
Off-topic, but I thought this was funny in yesterday's Book Review:
In the "By The Book" interview, the featured writer was asked which current writers she admires most (one of their standard questions). She rattled off a list of 29 names in alphabetical order. The last one was Charles Yu, after which she said: "...oh, I could go on and on!"
I thought: Not likely, you're already at the end of the alphabet.
@smalltowndoc, re Spelling Bee: the numbers are how many words I missed each day, and "8er" means an 8 letter word. Some people use "pg-2" to mean: got the pangram(s); got to Genius; missed 2 words.
Fell into the MPEG/JPEG trap. Kind of pissed, they both work and are to me both correct.
Set a new Monday record with this one, with only my second sub-4. ENERGY VAMPIRE I've always known as "emotional vampire." That term I have used and heard many times. ENERGY VAMPIRE sounds less in the language to me, but it does appear to be a phrase, and it was easy to figure out.
Like Rex, I was a SPEED DEMON with downs only, knew IMAGINEERS, but needed to infer a few crosses for SAILORMOON.
!!!!!!
I think this is a fine example of having a good balance between theme and fill. The four modest length themers and 36 black squares left lots of room for some quality fill that was more than just the perfunctory 3 and 4 letter "glue" we often see in grids that are overburdened with theme material and subsequent excessive number of black squares.
There was a connection for me between a couple of the longer Downs. A daughter of one of my nephews showed an artistic flair as a youngster, especially for anime style illustrations similar to those in the YouTube video Rex posted of the 11D "Japanese manga heroine..." SAILOR MOON. She just graduated from the University of Southern California and landed a job with the Disney Corp. as one of their IMAGINEERS.
Oped is NOT an a shortening of opinion it is from OPposite EDitorial when the Times began running columns on the opposite page from the editorial page. This answer is not a dupe.
Well, I thought the universe was trolling me when the Wordle word of the day was "POLYP". As it turns out, it was an exact prediction of today's test results. What's up with that?
Today's puzzle was off the books easy somehow - I did it in bed, after starting the prep, after taking a sleeping pill, downs only and set a personal best for any NYT Puzzle.
Ty!
Cute theme. Fun to solve. A solid beginner-friendly puzzle that is perfect for a Monday.
Truly a Crosswords 101 puzzle, right at home on Monday. Unlike OFNP, I never heard of SAILORMOON, but no matter, it materialized while I was going across. Yes, dear folks, I solve across on Mondays. So shoot me.
The cherry on top (for this SUGARFIEND) is DOD SELA You-Know-Who. Birdie.
Wordle birdie, my 149th of 500. Average score per hole = 3.958, just under par. This includes 10 fails, recorded as 7s (+3 to par).
And limited congrats to the Eagles, who hung on for a 25-20 win over New England in a sloppily played contest. Hey, a W is a W, and nobody got badly hurt. But three days to get ready for Minnesota.
MERCI for Mondays. Nothing too hard, but enough to get my brain cells rolling along.
@Spacey - eye drops? I had eye surgery last year for cateracts, and had drops for a few weeks. (and I use the OTC ones regularly) No problems with that. Is it the recovery process that is bothersome? I didn't mind the drops, but of course, I had the cats helping me. (One of my cats gets eye drops and he "just says no" to drugs!)
Anyway, I sure was in the mood for a Monday today! Feeling lots better.
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords
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