Relative difficulty: it's a Monday, so ... Monday (solved Downs-only)
THEME: "THAT'S MY JAM!" (59A: "I love this song!" ... or a doubly apt description of 17-, 28- and 46-Across) — theme answers are songs (jams!) whose titles contain fruits out of which you might make ... jams!:
Theme answers:
"CHERRY BOMB" (17A: 1976 song by the Runaways with the lyric "Hello world, I'm your wild girl")
"STRAWBERRY WINE" (28A: 1996 Deana Carter hit with the lyric "My first taste of love, oh, bittersweet")
"RASPBERRY BERET" (46A: 1985 Prince hit with the lyric "And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more")
Word of the Day: BIOTIN (47D: Vitamin that contributes to hair and nail growth) —
Biotin (also known as vitamin B7 or vitamin H) is one of the B vitamins.t is involved in a wide range of metabolic processes, both in humans and in other organisms, primarily related to the utilization of fats, carbohydrates, and amino acids. The name biotin, borrowed from the German Biotin, derives from the Ancient Greek word βίοτος (bíotos; 'life') and the suffix "-in" (a suffix used in chemistry usually to indicate 'forming'). Biotin appears as a white crystalline solid that looks like needles. (wikipedia)
• • •
Hello and Merry Christmas. The girl is home for the week and so we're very happy. Also, the ridiculously complicated cookie-baking is well underway:
Why quilt cookies? Who knows how the girl thinks? I just eat. Also, I drink, and tonight (Christmas Eve, the time that it is right now, as I'm writing) we came to the end of the whisky advent calendar that my wife got me for my birthday. Look at the evidence of a month well spent!
Oh, and I watched Rear Window again today, because it's my favorite movie of all time. Thousands and thousands of movies I've seen, and it remains untouchable. Edith Head + Grace Kelly = me fainting, every time:
Thelma Ritter and Jimmy Stewart aren't bad either. So, good times being had by all, for sure. I managed to squeeze this puzzle in, in between drinks and dinner, and I really like the "double" nature of the theme, even though I have never heard of cherry jam and I've never ever heard of this alleged Deana Carter hit. The cherry jam is bothering me slightly more. Do people eat that? Seems like grape would come before cherry on a list of plausible jam types. But then there were probably several strawberry songs to pick from, whereas grape songs, not so much. You've got that one grapevine song, sure, but otherwise, pfft, nothing. So, cherry. OK. I'm sure someone somewhere makes / eats cherry jam. Why not? It's Christmas, so I'm feeling generous. Cherry jam for all!
I am sad to say, however, that I failed at my Downs-only solve today. I was so close, but it was inevitable that eventually my refusal to look at Across answers on Mondays would cost me. Today, it was GAMGEE that did me in (12D: Samwise ___, companion of Frodo Baggins). If I was gonna go down, I guess I don't feel too bad about going down to a name that is bizarre and shared by no one anywhere at all ever in the history of anything. My brain heard / remembered it as GANGEE (probably because of the Ganges River), and that's how it went into the grid, and sadly, my decades of doing crosswords really cost me today, as I took one look at SONE (the cross I got because of GANGEE), and thought "yup, seen it, that is definitely a thing, I learned it from crosswords." It's definitely a crosswordesey thing, but in a grid that already had stuff like SRI and SOU and singular (barf!) ARREAR, SONE seemed like it would be right at home. But no. It was SOME. So that was that. Failure. But a failure I can absolutely live with.
[from xwordinfo.com]
Forgot who the hell [Physicist Ernst] was (MACH). If the Ernst isn't Max, I ... don't know it. But I was eventually able to infer it from the crosses (which I was inferring from the Downs, as one does when one solves Downs-only). I had SYNC for 6D: Be in harmony (JIBE) at first, and then, when I realized it was JIBE, I spelled it GIBE, which is a spelling mistake I will probably always make. Luckily, GOAN was not a plausible word at 6-Across, whereas JOAN was (6A: Essayist Didion). Had real trouble with 24D: Cloth strips on military uniforms (SASHES), as I imagine SASHES as things worn *over* uniforms (or, if you're in the Miss America pageant, swimsuits). I could not have told you what BIOTIN was before I looked it up just now, but luckily I'd at least heard it before, so could piece it together at 47D: Vitamin that contributes to hair and nail growth. The answer I struggled with most was also the strongest answer in the grid: RISK-AVERSE (30D: Reluctant, as an investor). Really had to work my inference muscles there to make that answer come into view—besides the first "R" and the "A" and the first "E," nothing was in place. It was the last thing I put in the grid. Well, the actual last thing I put in the grid was the "M" in GAMGEE, but that was only after I realized I had (at least) one square wrong. Boo hoo.
More Holiday Pet Pics now! Who will be the pups and keetens of actual Christmas Day!? Let's find out...
["Barry the Cat by his Christmas flat" (thanks, Rebecca)]
[Athena and Aphrodite mess with mortals from their Olympian tree, as was foretold in books of yore (thanks Kathryn)]
[Mingus, so named for the little black patch on his chin as well as for his being a hep cat (thanks, Amy)]
[Pinot, just looking good, what more do you want? (thanks, Will)]
[Christmas lights meet their one true mortal enemy: Sterling the Whirling Dervish (thanks, Jim)]
[Tamla is not even here, what cat, there's no cat, move along (thanks, Tracey)]
[And finally Otis, seen here on his way to the Dogs In Silly Headwear support group. Hang in there, Otis (thanks, Annette)]
See you ... on Boxing Day, I guess.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. Please don't send more holiday pet pics this year. I've got way too many already Will be lucky to get through them all by New Year's Day! Take lots of nice pics tomorrow and Save Them for next December, when I'll do this again!
Rex Rear Window is my favorite movie too! It's so deliciously hermetic, and chairbound Jimmy watching through his window is a proxy for us, watching through the window of the movie screen.
Plus Mingus the cat... my best friend 40 years ago had two cats, Socrates and Mingus, yes named after the musician. I think a few days ago I mentioned how he would argue with them and taunt them saying "Look! Opposable thumbs!"
Like you Rex, failed at downs only and mostly due to GAMGEE which I have never ever heard of and is completely unguessable. But I also don't feel bad because, well, nobody forced me to solve downs only. bocamp if you got this one, good on you.
Alone tonight, but hopefully tomorrow night will be spent with what remaining family I have. This year has been so difficult it will not surprise me in the least if I can't make it because of a landslide (happened twice this year!), a wildfire (once this year) or a meteor (not yet). Merry Christmas to all!
One more social event and this holiday will be done. Phew.
As for jams, I'm more of a Marionberry fan, but I think you hafta have an Oregon connection. Or an Amazon account. Or go to a farmer's market and rub elbows with hippies and NPR subscribers. Blech.
ARREAR (singular). Sigh.
XENA is an icon to me. Did the NYTXW horribly-dumb-clue department call me a lesbian?
I take biotin daily (for years) and as far as I can tell it doesn't do a damn thing except make my pee more expensive.
Uniclues:
1 Where one goes to becomes solidly affixed to the middle class. 2 Priest excommunicates golfer Ernie. 3 Married couple in La-Z-Boys. 4 Pretended to love gardening. 5 Studio executive feeling upon hearing about the strike. 6 Swimming pools. 7 How salamanders see the Super Bowl. 8 When Comet won't cut it.
1 INTO ACURA LOAN 2 REV RIDS ELS 3 RISK AVERSE DUET 4 EMOTED HOE JIBE 5 O! NO WRITERS. AWW. 6 NOBODY DRYERS 7 NEWT BLIMPS 8 GOOD ANSWER: AJAX
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Wilder way to pay than using the zebra-striped ones. ANIMAL PRINT BAR CODES.
REX, cmon... if you’re gonna do Jimmy Stewart today, make it It’s A Wonderful Life. We watch it every Christmas season and as Christmas Eve turns into Christmas, we just finished it. I have seen to over 30 times. Finished the puzzle easily though did not know GAMGEE and never heard STRAWBERRYWINE. THATSMYJAM just sounds like Jimmy Fallon... ugh. Was XENA really a lesbian? I never watched it
The cross of [Essayist Didion] and [Be in harmony] was displeasing. If you don't know Didion, vibe could easily fit. I hate when the entire puzzle can be ruined by one square that involves a (at least to my millennial eyes) relatively obscure name
Okay puzzle But I did't get any chuckles or wows. Maybe if any of the songs had been familiar??? Well,now that I look back at it. I do like"risk averse". And it came easily. And I like "good answer" I'm going to google biotin. See if I can educate myself about it. My hair and nails could use some help.
As a Michigander, cherry jam is definitely a thing. Get thee to The Cherry Republic's website and partake of all its wonders.
Deana Carter was a one-year wonder. She had three No. 1 hits in 1996, although the other two didn't have nearly the impact of "Strawberry Wine", and then faded into obscurity.
Pretty tough for a Monday. Right off the bat I had Mohs instead of MACH for the 1D physicist (thinking of the geologist Freidrich Mohs). I didn't know any of the songs, but most were inferable. When I didn't get the happy music my first suspect was 12D, GAMGEE. But that was fine. My problem was the one I always make: zENA instead of XENA at 45A.
Not the easiest Monday for and old guy like me, with so much popular culture in the answers. Luckily, I remembered IBEXES, which gave me XENA. I'm not sure the clue for EMOTED was accurate; i'd be interested in others' thoughts about that.
I did manage the downs-only, but I was a LOTR freak in middle school and the names have stuck, which I am very grateful for now since they show up almost daily in crosswords. GAMGEE went right in.
But I thought I would fail on the pairing of RISK AVERSE and SASHES. Once I finally gave up on yOU for SOU (after a brief flirtation with lOU and iOU), I saw SASHES and then RISK AVERSE.
I don’t know the Deana Carter song, have heard of the Runaways’ song but can’t remember how it goes. But RASPBERRY BERET is definitely my JAM - one of my favorite Prince songs.
Super easy XW today, despite not knowing any of the theme songs. I put a teaspoon of Bon Maman cherry preserves in plain yogurt pretty much every day for b’fast. Unless I go BM blueberry. Can’t beat it! https://www.bonnemaman.us/cherry-preserves-13-oz.html — SoCal Craig
BOMBed on 'Samwise'; I've read the books and watched the movies, but just couldn't come up with the name. My feeble attempt was orMGrE. D'oh!! Also, got JAMmed up at RISK AVERSE & SASHES, but got them eventually.
Nevertheless, a fun adventure in Hobbitsville. Loved the challenge! :)
Thx @jae, on it! :) ___ Still working on the Sunday downs-o (over 4 hrs in), with gaping holes all over the place. Will take some time out to work on the Sat. Stumper, Croce's 870, the Mon. New Yorker & the NYT PandA, but yd's NYT Sun. is the priority. ___ Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Love Rear Window! Took a film class in college and the prof really delved into that one. Those cookies are unbelievable! Have a great Christmas! Love this puzzle for some reason!
We’ve had Tuesdays with three or more WoEs, but I can’t recall a Monday with three. JOAN Didion, STRAWBERRY WINE, and BIOTIN are all new to me.
Theme nit: the STRAWBERRY refers to the actual fruit. The CHERRY and RASPBERRY do not.
I have never heard anyone say THAT’S MY JAM in real life, and I don’t expect to. I’m aware of the game show of that name, and I think that remains the only context in which I’ve heard it.
Christmas stocking had a lot of jam this year, including four jars of BEAR jam (blueberry, elderberry, apple, raspberry). It’s really good.
Croce Freestyle 870 was mostly easy, but for a change of pace I had a two-square DNF. 2D/14A intersection I absolutely should have noticed a problem, but I had put in 2D with great confidence and didn’t check properly. And maybe I should have gotten the 5A/10D cross – seeing the answers it’s clear – or maybe it was just too tough for me.
Definitely a bit of a disappointment to have a holiday puzzle with a theme based on Fruit Songs that one can barely remember along with a reveal that rarely (if ever) gets spoken by anyone. What’s the point ? Add in the Didion, GAMGEE and really odd looking ARREAR and well, I’ll just say I was hoping for better.
I love the pictures of the family and the baking! The cookies are beautiful and as a holiday baker myself I know the difficulty of getting such a striking product! Great job by your wife and daughter! Merry Christmas to all!
The puzzle was fun. I just saw part of LOTR the other night and still I thought I heard Samwise Gangee so I learned it was Gamgee too. It was a little bit of a downer on Christmas Day to see the clue for "NOBODY" as a completely meaningless person. No person is completely meaningless to me, although some are known for not-so-nice things.
Thanks Rex for the gift of this blog all year round!
Hey All ! Merry Christmas! Now where is the Christmas theme? We got one YesterPuz...
Blackberry, THATS MY JAM of choice. Seedless, mind you. I have trouble eating peanut butter lately, so no JAM for me.
Nice puz, typical Monday fare. Just was hoping for something Christmassy. At least throw in a Christmas clue if some sort.
We get the True KEALOA today! Neat!
Seemed like a lot of POCs in the Downs. Or maybe I just got a bunch one after the other. Curious as to the rating @Anybody will give today.
Enjoy the day. Presents, family, friends, no work! 😁 Unless you have to work. Plenty of that in this city of Las Vegas. Casinoes never close. (Well, COVID...)
Just finished our popovers with [wait for it] cherry jam! What a surprise to see it in the puzzle. Which, BTW, I could not finish downs only because I didn't know 12D (although I read all those books obsessively, it just now strikes me that it was over half a century ago), and looking at 22A w/o the clue gave me nothing, so I looked at the clue.
I forgot to mention - The Shop Around the Corner is the Jimmy Stewart movie we watched yesterday. Grace Kelly won’t be dethroned fashion-wise, but it’s enjoyable.
Had a really? moment with the CHERRY-as-jam thing, but all you folks have me convinced. Join with some in giving the side-eye to the singular ARREAR.
Good old Sam GAMGEE is one of those example of an answer you know instantly or can't figure out. I'm in the former group.
Very nice to see old friend IBEXES again after a long absence. I am sure that in corssworld Santa's sleigh is pulled by IBEXES, possibly helped out by OKAPIS and maybe the odd ANOA.
I am reminded that Joe D. is the King of Fun Trivia. Great stuff.
Nice enough Mondecito, AW. A Welcome diversion from the weather here, which is not A White Christmas, but everything is definitely All Wet. Thanks for all the fun.
And nice to see so many of us spending part of the day with a crossword, as we would every day,"wet or fine, on Christmas Day or Dooms Day.".
Just a few minutes into this, I realized that doing it downs-only was going to be impossible for me. I had lots of down answers but could not infer many of the acrosses — there just seemed to be too many plausible possibilities. Maybe if I had pushed and stayed with it but I didn’t have the patience so I looked at some across clues and zoom-whoosh it was done. I guess it’s comforting to know that Rex also had some downs-only difficulties, but mine were much more basic and pervasive.
Waffles are on the breakfast menu, which will be eaten with RASPBERRY JAM, maple syrup, and Reddi-Wip (no SNEERs, please!). Sadly, we're out of our favorite Amish-made CHERRY butter. A tasty puzzle that went down easy, despite my not being familiar with any of the songs. I liked SAXES along with JAM, GOOD ANSWER, RISK AVERSE, and especially YOU BET, which for my dad and now my brother was/is a sign-off for just about every phone call, right before "Bye."
Surprised OFL didn't mention the loa/KEA item, a sure symptom of a dreadful puzzle, which this one certainly was. Did not come even close to finishing. GAMGEE? *Huh*? On a *Monday*? Sheesh.
@Dr_phunkenstein 2:39 AM - I appreciate that you added the qualifier "at least to my millennial eyes." I no longer chide people for their wheelhouses, so I am not chiding you for yours; rather, I'm suggesting you give yourself a last-minute Christmas present and read Didion's career-making and groundbreaking novel, "Play It As It Lays." Also, I mean, it is, after all, a puzzle in The New York Times. It does not get more brie-and-Chardonnay than Joan Didion.
@Joe Dipinto 2:51 AM — Haha it's true! Tommy Roe. As a gay 8 year old boy, I was so crushed out on Tommy Row, whom I came to know through his 1969 hit, "Dizzy." I made my Mom buy me the "Tommy Roe's Greatest Hits" album, which was also a 1969 debut, and I wore out the grooves listening to all those goofy hits and staring into those dreamboat eyes on the album cover.
staff weeject pick: KAT. Sterling was kinda the kraziest one, today. fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Walk in water up to one's ankles, say} = WADE, say.
@RP: Next year possibility: Halloween pet pics. Tamla requests this, obviously.
Thanx for the fruits of yer constructioneerin labors, Ms. Walker darlin. And congratz on a primo debut. Merry Christmas, @RP. And happy holiday wishes to y'all. Especially to @Muse darlin, wherever U is.
For what it's worth, and for better or worse, I say "That's my jam" all the time. Usually when talking to myself out load in public, which is a thing I do increasingly in recent years. I usually use it with reference to a personality trait, like prioritizing other peoples' needs over my own, saying yes when I mean no, or failing to establish limits or maintain boundaries. This generally comes up in the context of ruminating over the demise of my historically 20-year same-sex marriage. Just sayin.
Thanks for this blog! Not only is it the go-to place for explanations when the puzzle is done and the jokes or themes made no sense--but it's also place to go to settle the question: "Was that really hard or am I just super slow today?" or "Did I just smoke that or is Rex going to say it was the easiest puzzle ever and he did it backwards only and blindfolded?" And there's always a great fact to learn, so thanks. One other question -- those cookies are amazing. Is the pattern all in the icing, or are the pieces or layers assembled? Next year's project -- cookies of "crocheted" squares to fully bring back happy family memories from the 70s, when mom and grandma took up crocheting. Happy holidays to all.
So you can guess how much I loved this puzzle. Entirely based on a lot of forgettable pop music I don't know, it omitted the one song from my era that I did know and that that would have fit the theme: BLUEBERRY HILL.
BLUEBERRY HILL was just as forgettable and sophomoric a pop hit as any of these later ones -- the only problem being that I haven't forgotten it and will now probably have an earworm of this adolescent nonsense instead of, say, "One For My Baby" or "Some Other Time".
But it's Christmas and I don't want to be too negative, so let's just say that I found this puzzle very...sweet. A Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.
@JOHN X - 8:44 AM - That was my first thought, too! Not that I don't appreciate Yoko's music. I love every second of "Double Fantasy," even the Yoko songs. And she did after all write the lyrics to "Imagine," it turns out (Christo and Jeanne-Claude much?). But, yeah, I would have clued it with something like "Peace activist and pioneering conceptual artist."
STRAWBERRY WINE was a huge hit for Deana Carter in country music, hitting #1 and winning Song of the Year from the Country Music Association. But it really didn't cross over to the pop world at all, so I'm guessing that most people have never heard of it, even in the time period when it was a country powerhouse.
Anon (8:59) -- well said! I never feel alone thanks to all of you folks in Rexworld, or, even better, alone in the best way. Merry merry to one and all.
@Andrew - love your Patrick Berry Jam!
Question: Was yesterday's SILENT N, a subtle nod to Silent Night?
@Diane Joan - 9:31 AM - I had a similar reaction to the cluing for NOBODY, but it sort of gave me a chuckle, and with Yoko being in the puzzle today, it became a tie-in with "Nowhere Man" ("Making all his nowhere plans for nobody").
For those interested in a breezy Monday-level puzzle with a riff on the holiday theme, I can recommend today’s LAT/WaPo offering constructed by Barbara Lin.
@Mike (10:28). With cellphones, it's no longer unusual for someone to seem to be talking to him or herself in public. I was on the subway Saturday and this fellow near me started a bit of a rant. I said to my wife: If that guy's not on the phone, we're moving.
Just last night had appetizer with sour cherry preserves, goat cheese and proscuitto -- delish. Bought the sour cherry preserves after reading the wonderful Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.
I am certain there was an absolute hat-tip to you in today's grid: in the "Across" clues, so you would not have seen it, "Hawaii's Mauna ___"!!! I saw it and laughed aloud, feeling as if both it's inclusion and it's placement in the across section on a Monday HAD to be deliberate!
@JOHN X and @Mike in -- I also inwardly seethed when I saw the ONO clue. But calling her a musical "artist" somehow seems even more egregious than calling her a musician. It would be interesting to count how many times the NYT has called her an artist. Even once is too often, and they've done it many, many times, I think.
I love "Rear Window" too. A truly great Hitchcock. But not his greatest, I'd argue. I'd pick "Notorious" for that honor.
Well, Holy cow. I just got QB in the SB!!! Talk about your Christmas miracles!
I only have limited time I'm the AM to do the SB, my goal is to get Genius, if I can get more, all the better. Today, no work, extra time, and got it! Wow, rarity here, unlike some of y'all where it's old hat. 😁
Nice Mondayish Monday, but was wishing for a clever xmas theme. Few smiles, few good clues, solid.
Jae clearly not a country music fan: It would be a rare weekend out here in the heartland that STRAWBERRY WINE didnt play a few times on the radio or in the bars. Think of it as a '70s Taylor Swift song
Cherry jam or preserves are near the top of my list, after raspberry and blackberry. I first heard Raspberry Beret sung by Warren Zevon, and later found out that it is a song by Prince. For some reason, this is my favorite line: "And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more."
It's interesting that with all the favorable comments about "Rear Window," nobody has mentioned the actor who played the villain. It was RAYMOND BURR, later defense counsel to the needy who never lost a case.
The movie was great, but I'd rate it just behind "Dial M for Murder" and "North by Northwest," in a tie with "Vertigo" among Hitchcock classics.
Physicist Ernst MACH (1D) was a major figure in 19th century physics, philosophy and psychology. He is probably best known for his MACH number for the speed of sound through air. He was also part of a group that studied the relationship of physical stimuli and our sensations and perceptions of them, an area known as psychophysics.
He discovered that our visual system exaggerates the contrast between the edges of lighter and darker areas to enhance object detection and illustrated this with his MACH Bands illusion.
@bobmills - I know what you mean. I looked it up and the Webster’s online definition is neutral, saying “expressing emotion,” but commentary mentions that the word is often (usually?…..) used in context to indicate overacting. And their examples mostly reflect that bias.
I solved a Tim Croce archive puzzle from February 2019 earlier this week that had “This is my jam” as an answer. “That’s my jam” sounds better to my ear but close enough for a bit of déjà vu while solving today. The Croce puzzle is themeless, so no fruit involved.
I don't think I've heard of cherry jam either, Rex. I'll be sure to look for it now.
All the kitty pics have made Rex the new (wait for it, and give extra credit for the Christmas timeliness of the pun) the new, (because this homophone sounds like Jolly St. Nick), the new…
Rear Windows is a great movie but I agree with @Nancy—Notorious is the best of the Hitchcock films : Superb performances by Raines, Bergman and Grant ; and, one of the all-time great movie scenes where Madam Sebastian, played by Leopoldine Konstantin, lights a cigarette.
I grew up in Door County, Wisconsin, where cherries were the main crop, we had a Cherry Blossom Queen every year, and we would have been the world center of Montmorency cherry production except that they grew about ten times as many across the lake in Michigan. So, yse, there is cherry jam. Right now my morning jam is cherry-ginger conserve from Nervouse Nellie's Jams and Jellies in Stonington, ME, soit's not just an upper midwestern thing, either. So yes, Rex, there is cherry jam.
I didn't know any of the songs, and, like @Nancy, was looking for Blueberry Hill (though the full title was too long to fit), but that was OK. The crosses were fair enough, and most things were inferable.
But ARREAT? I looked it up in Dictionary.com, The definiton begins "plural noun," and gives severl examples were the word is "arrears." Maybe ot s a variant, but a pretty obscure one.
On the other hand, I've Probably read The Lord of the Rings 12 times, so that was a gimme. I do realize that's not true for everyone!
@Joe D -- So if I hadn't come back late to the blog, I might never have found out that Arlen wrote "One For My Baby" -- which I love.
Perhaps I didn't know Arlen wrote it because the song doesn't depress me. I thought everything he wrote, even his happiest songs, depressed me. Anyway -- very observant of you, Joe.
@ccredux -- I don't remember that scene in Notorious. Is that the same scene where (SPOILER ALERT)...
- - - - - - - - - -Claude Rains says : "Mother, I'm married to an American agent!"?
A Hitchcock movie lines quiz. You won't see this tonight, but I'll send you all Hitchcock fans back here tomorrow. (I'm quoting from memory, but it's close enough for you to recognize.)
1)"He was looking at HER face, but he was strangling ME!"
2) "That's the problem with latch keys -- they all look the same."
3) [Holding up his hand] "Are you sure you don't mean THIS one?"
4) "Mother, I'm married to an American agent!"
5) "Do nuns wear high heels?"
6) [Written on a matchbox] "They're onto me. I'm in your room."
Answers on tomorrow's blog. I'll post them late-ish.
That was Christmas? What a let down for real-timers. At the time RASPBERRYBERET came out DQ was offering a RASPBERRY parfait, so . . . MOSS in the corners. Wordle par.
So, on a Monday, we couldn't have Mellencamp for CHERRYBOMB? Oh well. Also, non-residents of Bag End will have trouble with GAMGEE.
I like me all of those JAMs, and Rear Window as well. Some of the side stories: the composer, Miss Lonely Heart, the hot ballerina with the pipsqueak boyfriend, and the honeymooners were sad/hilarious. Who but Princess Grace could be DOD? Honorable mention, of course, to XENA. Birdie.
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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78 comments:
Rex Rear Window is my favorite movie too! It's so deliciously hermetic, and chairbound Jimmy watching through his window is a proxy for us, watching through the window of the movie screen.
Plus Mingus the cat... my best friend 40 years ago had two cats, Socrates and Mingus, yes named after the musician. I think a few days ago I mentioned how he would argue with them and taunt them saying "Look! Opposable thumbs!"
Like you Rex, failed at downs only and mostly due to GAMGEE which I have never ever heard of and is completely unguessable. But I also don't feel bad because, well, nobody forced me to solve downs only. bocamp if you got this one, good on you.
Alone tonight, but hopefully tomorrow night will be spent with what remaining family I have. This year has been so difficult it will not surprise me in the least if I can't make it because of a landslide (happened twice this year!), a wildfire (once this year) or a meteor (not yet). Merry Christmas to all!
[Spelling Bee: Sun 0. Good luck puzzlehoarder!]
One more social event and this holiday will be done. Phew.
As for jams, I'm more of a Marionberry fan, but I think you hafta have an Oregon connection. Or an Amazon account. Or go to a farmer's market and rub elbows with hippies and NPR subscribers. Blech.
ARREAR (singular). Sigh.
XENA is an icon to me. Did the NYTXW horribly-dumb-clue department call me a lesbian?
I take biotin daily (for years) and as far as I can tell it doesn't do a damn thing except make my pee more expensive.
Uniclues:
1 Where one goes to becomes solidly affixed to the middle class.
2 Priest excommunicates golfer Ernie.
3 Married couple in La-Z-Boys.
4 Pretended to love gardening.
5 Studio executive feeling upon hearing about the strike.
6 Swimming pools.
7 How salamanders see the Super Bowl.
8 When Comet won't cut it.
1 INTO ACURA LOAN
2 REV RIDS ELS
3 RISK AVERSE DUET
4 EMOTED HOE JIBE
5 O! NO WRITERS. AWW.
6 NOBODY DRYERS
7 NEWT BLIMPS
8 GOOD ANSWER: AJAX
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Wilder way to pay than using the zebra-striped ones. ANIMAL PRINT BAR CODES.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
REX, cmon... if you’re gonna do Jimmy Stewart today, make it It’s A Wonderful Life. We watch it every Christmas season and as Christmas Eve turns into Christmas, we just finished it. I have seen to over 30 times. Finished the puzzle easily though did not know GAMGEE and never heard STRAWBERRYWINE. THATSMYJAM just sounds like Jimmy Fallon... ugh. Was XENA really a lesbian? I never watched it
Medium. I did not know STRAWBERRY WINE and GAMGEE (Hi @rex). Pretty tight theme, liked it.
….I’ve seen CHERRY preserves from Bonne Maman and CHERRY Jam from Stonewall Kitchen plus CHERRY BOMB is classic rock so no problems there for me.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #870 was a medium Croce for me (about 4x a Sat. NYT) with the SW as the toughest section.
The cross of [Essayist Didion] and [Be in harmony] was displeasing. If you don't know Didion, vibe could easily fit. I hate when the entire puzzle can be ruined by one square that involves a (at least to my millennial eyes) relatively obscure name
Okay puzzle But I did't get any chuckles or wows. Maybe if any of the songs had been familiar???
Well,now that I look back at it. I do like"risk averse". And it came easily. And I like "good answer"
I'm going to google biotin. See if I can educate myself about it. My hair and nails could use some help.
Merry Christmas all.
Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves are the best. And yes, you can buy cherry jams, jellies and fruit spreads from myriad companies.
Movie trivia: The piano player across the courtyard in "Rear Window" is portrayed by Ross Bagdasarian, the creative mind behind Alvin & The Chipmunks.
Flashback to December 1969: Tommy Roe was on his way into the Top 10 with this song.
As a Michigander, cherry jam is definitely a thing. Get thee to The Cherry Republic's website and partake of all its wonders.
Deana Carter was a one-year wonder. She had three No. 1 hits in 1996, although the other two didn't have nearly the impact of "Strawberry Wine", and then faded into obscurity.
Merry Christmas, RP. Thanks for keeping us entertained and educated.
Pretty tough for a Monday. Right off the bat I had Mohs instead of MACH for the 1D physicist (thinking of the geologist Freidrich Mohs). I didn't know any of the songs, but most were inferable. When I didn't get the happy music my first suspect was 12D, GAMGEE. But that was fine. My problem was the one I always make: zENA instead of XENA at 45A.
Not the easiest Monday for and old guy like me, with so much popular culture in the answers. Luckily, I remembered IBEXES, which gave me XENA. I'm not sure the clue for EMOTED was accurate; i'd be interested in others' thoughts about that.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
Had Jeffries just hired Paul Drake to investigate in the first place, he would have saved himself a lot of trouble.
But I just hope Della wasn't somehow mixed up in all of this nasty business.
I did manage the downs-only, but I was a LOTR freak in middle school and the names have stuck, which I am very grateful for now since they show up almost daily in crosswords. GAMGEE went right in.
But I thought I would fail on the pairing of RISK AVERSE and SASHES. Once I finally gave up on yOU for SOU (after a brief flirtation with lOU and iOU), I saw SASHES and then RISK AVERSE.
I don’t know the Deana Carter song, have heard of the Runaways’ song but can’t remember how it goes. But RASPBERRY BERET is definitely my JAM - one of my favorite Prince songs.
GOOD ANSWER.
Super easy XW today, despite not knowing any of the theme songs. I put a teaspoon of Bon Maman cherry preserves in plain yogurt pretty much every day for b’fast. Unless I go BM blueberry. Can’t beat it! https://www.bonnemaman.us/cherry-preserves-13-oz.html
— SoCal Craig
Quilter LOVES those cookies - so clever. Recipe tips?
Today I learned that I don't know how to spell the word "raspberry" so that was fun.
Have a Cheery Cherry, Patrick Berry Jam of a Christmas, Berrybody!
(Little known fact: in England, Rear Window is titled “Arse Glarse”.)
Thx Amie, for the fruity word salad! 🍓
Downs-o was very tough (over an hr).
BOMBed on 'Samwise'; I've read the books and watched the movies, but just couldn't come up with the name. My feeble attempt was orMGrE. D'oh!! Also, got JAMmed up at RISK AVERSE & SASHES, but got them eventually.
Nevertheless, a fun adventure in Hobbitsville. Loved the challenge! :)
Thx @jae, on it! :)
___
Still working on the Sunday downs-o (over 4 hrs in), with gaping holes all over the place. Will take some time out to work on the Sat. Stumper, Croce's 870, the Mon. New Yorker & the NYT PandA, but yd's NYT Sun. is the priority.
___
Peace 🕊 🇺🇦 ~ Compassion ~ Tolerance ~ Kindness ~ Freudenfreude & a DAP to all 👊 🙏
Love Rear Window! Took a film class in college and the prof really delved into that one. Those cookies are unbelievable! Have a great Christmas! Love this puzzle for some reason!
We’ve had Tuesdays with three or more WoEs, but I can’t recall a Monday with three. JOAN Didion, STRAWBERRY WINE, and BIOTIN are all new to me.
Theme nit: the STRAWBERRY refers to the actual fruit. The CHERRY and RASPBERRY do not.
I have never heard anyone say THAT’S MY JAM in real life, and I don’t expect to. I’m aware of the game show of that name, and I think that remains the only context in which I’ve heard it.
Christmas stocking had a lot of jam this year, including four jars of BEAR jam (blueberry, elderberry, apple, raspberry). It’s really good.
Croce Freestyle 870 was mostly easy, but for a change of pace I had a two-square DNF. 2D/14A intersection I absolutely should have noticed a problem, but I had put in 2D with great confidence and didn’t check properly. And maybe I should have gotten the 5A/10D cross – seeing the answers it’s clear – or maybe it was just too tough for me.
I take issue with calling Yoko ONO a musician.
Never alone when you have the blog. Merry Christmas my friend.
Definitely a bit of a disappointment to have a holiday puzzle with a theme based on Fruit Songs that one can barely remember along with a reveal that rarely (if ever) gets spoken by anyone. What’s the point ? Add in the Didion, GAMGEE and really odd looking ARREAR and well, I’ll just say I was hoping for better.
Another fan of Cherry Preserves. Unfamiliar with the songs, but I'd be happy to find a RASPBERRY BERET in my stocking!
I love the pictures of the family and the baking! The cookies are beautiful and as a holiday baker myself I know the difficulty of getting such a striking product! Great job by your wife and daughter! Merry Christmas to all!
The puzzle was fun. I just saw part of LOTR the other night and still I thought I heard Samwise Gangee so I learned it was Gamgee too. It was a little bit of a downer on Christmas Day to see the clue for "NOBODY" as a completely meaningless person. No person is completely meaningless to me, although some are known for not-so-nice things.
Thanks Rex for the gift of this blog all year round!
Hey All !
Merry Christmas! Now where is the Christmas theme? We got one YesterPuz...
Blackberry, THATS MY JAM of choice. Seedless, mind you. I have trouble eating peanut butter lately, so no JAM for me.
Nice puz, typical Monday fare. Just was hoping for something Christmassy. At least throw in a Christmas clue if some sort.
We get the True KEALOA today! Neat!
Seemed like a lot of POCs in the Downs. Or maybe I just got a bunch one after the other. Curious as to the rating @Anybody will give today.
Enjoy the day. Presents, family, friends, no work! 😁 Unless you have to work. Plenty of that in this city of Las Vegas. Casinoes never close. (Well, COVID...)
No F's (SNEER)
RooMonster
DarrinV
Just finished our popovers with [wait for it] cherry jam! What a surprise to see it in the puzzle. Which, BTW, I could not finish downs only because I didn't know 12D (although I read all those books obsessively, it just now strikes me that it was over half a century ago), and looking at 22A w/o the clue gave me nothing, so I looked at the clue.
I forgot to mention - The Shop Around the Corner is the Jimmy Stewart movie we watched yesterday. Grace Kelly won’t be dethroned fashion-wise, but it’s enjoyable.
Had a really? moment with the CHERRY-as-jam thing, but all you folks have me convinced. Join with some in giving the side-eye to the singular ARREAR.
Good old Sam GAMGEE is one of those example of an answer you know instantly or can't figure out. I'm in the former group.
Very nice to see old friend IBEXES again after a long absence. I am sure that in corssworld Santa's sleigh is pulled by IBEXES, possibly helped out by OKAPIS and maybe the odd ANOA.
I am reminded that Joe D. is the King of Fun Trivia. Great stuff.
Nice enough Mondecito, AW. A Welcome diversion from the weather here, which is not A White Christmas, but everything is definitely All Wet. Thanks for all the fun.
And nice to see so many of us spending part of the day with a crossword, as we would every day,"wet or fine, on Christmas Day or Dooms Day.".
Merry Christmas.
Just a few minutes into this, I realized that doing it downs-only was going to be impossible for me. I had lots of down answers but could not infer many of the acrosses — there just seemed to be too many plausible possibilities. Maybe if I had pushed and stayed with it but I didn’t have the patience so I looked at some across clues and zoom-whoosh it was done. I guess it’s comforting to know that Rex also had some downs-only difficulties, but mine were much more basic and pervasive.
Waffles are on the breakfast menu, which will be eaten with RASPBERRY JAM, maple syrup, and Reddi-Wip (no SNEERs, please!). Sadly, we're out of our favorite Amish-made CHERRY butter. A tasty puzzle that went down easy, despite my not being familiar with any of the songs. I liked SAXES along with JAM, GOOD ANSWER, RISK AVERSE, and especially YOU BET, which for my dad and now my brother was/is a sign-off for just about every phone call, right before "Bye."
@okanaganer - I hope your get-together works out!
@Rex, those are some cookies!
I grew up on ‘90s country music so STRAWBERRY WINE was whoosh-whoosh for me!
Surprised OFL didn't mention the loa/KEA item, a sure symptom of a dreadful puzzle, which this one certainly was. Did not come even close to finishing. GAMGEE? *Huh*? On a *Monday*? Sheesh.
Rear Window was nominated for practically everything and should’ve won especially for cinematography: that close-up of
Wendell Corey.
@Dr_phunkenstein 2:39 AM - I appreciate that you added the qualifier "at least to my millennial eyes." I no longer chide people for their wheelhouses, so I am not chiding you for yours; rather, I'm suggesting you give yourself a last-minute Christmas present and read Didion's career-making and groundbreaking novel, "Play It As It Lays." Also, I mean, it is, after all, a puzzle in The New York Times. It does not get more brie-and-Chardonnay than Joan Didion.
@Joe Dipinto 2:51 AM — Haha it's true! Tommy Roe. As a gay 8 year old boy, I was so crushed out on Tommy Row, whom I came to know through his 1969 hit, "Dizzy." I made my Mom buy me the "Tommy Roe's Greatest Hits" album, which was also a 1969 debut, and I wore out the grooves listening to all those goofy hits and staring into those dreamboat eyes on the album cover.
Nice cookies.
Tasty MonPuz.
staff weeject pick: KAT. Sterling was kinda the kraziest one, today.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Walk in water up to one's ankles, say} = WADE, say.
@RP: Next year possibility: Halloween pet pics. Tamla requests this, obviously.
Thanx for the fruits of yer constructioneerin labors, Ms. Walker darlin. And congratz on a primo debut.
Merry Christmas, @RP. And happy holiday wishes to y'all. Especially to @Muse darlin, wherever U is.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
**gruntz**
this was also sittin under the tree …
**gruntz**
For what it's worth, and for better or worse, I say "That's my jam" all the time. Usually when talking to myself out load in public, which is a thing I do increasingly in recent years. I usually use it with reference to a personality trait, like prioritizing other peoples' needs over my own, saying yes when I mean no, or failing to establish limits or maintain boundaries. This generally comes up in the context of ruminating over the demise of my historically 20-year same-sex marriage. Just sayin.
Thanks for this blog! Not only is it the go-to place for explanations when the puzzle is done and the jokes or themes made no sense--but it's also place to go to settle the question: "Was that really hard or am I just super slow today?" or "Did I just smoke that or is Rex going to say it was the easiest puzzle ever and he did it backwards only and blindfolded?" And there's always a great fact to learn, so thanks. One other question -- those cookies are amazing. Is the pattern all in the icing, or are the pieces or layers assembled? Next year's project -- cookies of "crocheted" squares to fully bring back happy family memories from the 70s, when mom and grandma took up crocheting. Happy holidays to all.
So you can guess how much I loved this puzzle. Entirely based on a lot of forgettable pop music I don't know, it omitted the one song from my era that I did know and that that would have fit the theme: BLUEBERRY HILL.
BLUEBERRY HILL was just as forgettable and sophomoric a pop hit as any of these later ones -- the only problem being that I haven't forgotten it and will now probably have an earworm of this adolescent nonsense instead of, say, "One For My Baby" or "Some Other Time".
But it's Christmas and I don't want to be too negative, so let's just say that I found this puzzle very...sweet. A Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.
@JOHN X - 8:44 AM - That was my first thought, too! Not that I don't appreciate Yoko's music. I love every second of "Double Fantasy," even the Yoko songs. And she did after all write the lyrics to "Imagine," it turns out (Christo and Jeanne-Claude much?). But, yeah, I would have clued it with something like "Peace activist and pioneering conceptual artist."
STRAWBERRY WINE was a huge hit for Deana Carter in country music, hitting #1 and winning Song of the Year from the Country Music Association. But it really didn't cross over to the pop world at all, so I'm guessing that most people have never heard of it, even in the time period when it was a country powerhouse.
Anon (8:59) -- well said! I never feel alone thanks to all of you folks in Rexworld, or, even better, alone in the best way. Merry merry to one and all.
@Andrew - love your Patrick Berry Jam!
Question: Was yesterday's SILENT N, a subtle nod to Silent Night?
Last, clue for Rear Window: Pane in the ass
@Diane Joan - 9:31 AM - I had a similar reaction to the cluing for NOBODY, but it sort of gave me a chuckle, and with Yoko being in the puzzle today, it became a tie-in with "Nowhere Man" ("Making all his nowhere plans for nobody").
For those interested in a breezy Monday-level puzzle with a riff on the holiday theme, I can recommend today’s LAT/WaPo offering constructed by Barbara Lin.
Emily Dickinson has the best thing to say about 9 Down:
I’m Nobody. /Who are you?
Then there’s a pair of us/ Don’t tell./ They’d banish us, you know.
Not being familiar with Frodo I didn't know GAMGEE, but worked it out.
Enjoy your cookies, Rex & Merry Christmas to all!
@Mike (10:28). With cellphones, it's no longer unusual for someone to seem to be talking to him or herself in public. I was on the subway Saturday and this fellow near me started a bit of a rant. I said to my wife: If that guy's not on the phone, we're moving.
Just last night had appetizer with sour cherry preserves, goat cheese and proscuitto -- delish. Bought the sour cherry preserves after reading the wonderful Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.
I am certain there was an absolute hat-tip to you in today's grid: in the "Across" clues, so you would not have seen it, "Hawaii's Mauna ___"!!! I saw it and laughed aloud, feeling as if both it's inclusion and it's placement in the across section on a Monday HAD to be deliberate!
Merry Christmas.
Teacher: JOAN, would you stand up and ad lib a stanza of poetry?
Didion: YOUBET, I'll RISKAVERSE.
I love that movie where Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly watch as their neighbors pile up a lot of unpaid debt: ARREAR WINDOW.
Shouldn't Chuck Barry have made an appearance somewhere in here?
Pleased to say that it was an easy peasy downs only solve for me. Enjoyed it a lot. Thanks, Amie Walker.
@JOHN X and @Mike in -- I also inwardly seethed when I saw the ONO clue. But calling her a musical "artist" somehow seems even more egregious than calling her a musician. It would be interesting to count how many times the NYT has called her an artist. Even once is too often, and they've done it many, many times, I think.
I love "Rear Window" too. A truly great Hitchcock. But not his greatest, I'd argue. I'd pick "Notorious" for that honor.
Well, Holy cow. I just got QB in the SB!!! Talk about your Christmas miracles!
I only have limited time I'm the AM to do the SB, my goal is to get Genius, if I can get more, all the better. Today, no work, extra time, and got it! Wow, rarity here, unlike some of y'all where it's old hat. 😁
RooMonster I'm The Queen Today Guy
Nice Mondayish Monday, but was wishing for a clever xmas theme. Few smiles, few good clues, solid.
Jae clearly not a country music fan: It would be a rare weekend out here in the heartland that STRAWBERRY WINE didnt play a few times on the radio or in the bars. Think of it as a '70s Taylor Swift song
Merry Christmas to all!
Cherry jam or preserves are near the top of my list, after raspberry and blackberry. I first heard Raspberry Beret sung by Warren Zevon, and later found out that it is a song by Prince. For some reason, this is my favorite line:
"And if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more."
But @Nancy (10:31), "One For My Baby" is Harold Arlen. You don't like Harold Arlen. :-)
It's interesting that with all the favorable comments about "Rear Window," nobody has mentioned the actor who played the villain.
It was RAYMOND BURR, later defense counsel to the needy who never lost a case.
The movie was great, but I'd rate it just behind "Dial M for Murder" and "North by Northwest," in a tie with "Vertigo" among Hitchcock classics.
Is there a year end appeal?
Physicist Ernst MACH (1D) was a major figure in 19th century physics, philosophy and psychology. He is probably best known for his MACH number for the speed of sound through air. He was also part of a group that studied the relationship of physical stimuli and our sensations and perceptions of them, an area known as psychophysics.
He discovered that our visual system exaggerates the contrast between the edges of lighter and darker areas to enhance object detection and illustrated this with his MACH Bands illusion.
@bobmills - I know what you mean. I looked it up and the Webster’s online definition is neutral, saying “expressing emotion,” but commentary mentions that the word is often (usually?…..) used in context to indicate overacting. And their examples mostly reflect that bias.
I solved a Tim Croce archive puzzle from February 2019 earlier this week that had “This is my jam” as an answer. “That’s my jam” sounds better to my ear but close enough for a bit of déjà vu while solving today. The Croce puzzle is themeless, so no fruit involved.
I don't think I've heard of cherry jam either, Rex. I'll be sure to look for it now.
Merry Christmas
All the kitty pics have made Rex the new (wait for it, and give extra credit for the Christmas timeliness of the pun) the new, (because this homophone sounds like Jolly St. Nick), the new…
SANDY CLAWS!
Funny
@Roo
SB congrats!
Rear Windows is a great movie but I agree with @Nancy—Notorious is the best of the Hitchcock films : Superb performances by Raines, Bergman and Grant ; and, one of the all-time great movie scenes where Madam Sebastian, played by Leopoldine Konstantin, lights a cigarette.
Tonight on TMC
8:00 PM Vertigo
10:15 PM Rear Window
12:15 AM The Man Who Knew Too Much
I grew up in Door County, Wisconsin, where cherries were the main crop, we had a Cherry Blossom Queen every year, and we would have been the world center of Montmorency cherry production except that they grew about ten times as many across the lake in Michigan. So, yse, there is cherry jam. Right now my morning jam is cherry-ginger conserve from Nervouse Nellie's Jams and Jellies in Stonington, ME, soit's not just an upper midwestern thing, either. So yes, Rex, there is cherry jam.
I didn't know any of the songs, and, like @Nancy, was looking for Blueberry Hill (though the full title was too long to fit), but that was OK. The crosses were fair enough, and most things were inferable.
But ARREAT? I looked it up in Dictionary.com, The definiton begins "plural noun," and gives severl examples were the word is "arrears." Maybe ot
s a variant, but a pretty obscure one.
On the other hand, I've Probably read The Lord of the Rings 12 times, so that was a gimme. I do realize that's not true for everyone!
@JC66 – Those are the first three Alfred Hitchcock films I ever saw, back when they were on TV in the early 1960's.
@Joe D -- So if I hadn't come back late to the blog, I might never have found out that Arlen wrote "One For My Baby" -- which I love.
Perhaps I didn't know Arlen wrote it because the song doesn't depress me. I thought everything he wrote, even his happiest songs, depressed me. Anyway -- very observant of you, Joe.
@ccredux -- I don't remember that scene in Notorious. Is that the same scene where (SPOILER ALERT)...
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-Claude Rains says : "Mother, I'm married to an American agent!"?
A Hitchcock movie lines quiz. You won't see this tonight, but I'll send you all Hitchcock fans back here tomorrow. (I'm quoting from memory, but it's close enough for you to recognize.)
1)"He was looking at HER face, but he was strangling ME!"
2) "That's the problem with latch keys -- they all look the same."
3) [Holding up his hand] "Are you sure you don't mean THIS one?"
4) "Mother, I'm married to an American agent!"
5) "Do nuns wear high heels?"
6) [Written on a matchbox] "They're onto me. I'm in your room."
Answers on tomorrow's blog. I'll post them late-ish.
CHERRY sticks out like a sore thumb. Needs to be blueberry. And this puzzle ran on Xmas day. Where is the Xmas theme? Bah humbug!
PS - BLUEBERRY as in Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino. Yeah, it’s 13 letters long but fit it in somehow or this just does not work.
Add me to the list of those who don’t know about Deana Carter or STRAWBERRYWINE>
LOAN SOME
JOAN IS SO HOT THAT she EMOTED,
"THAT'SMY EGGS THAT I have TOTED,
NOBODY ELSE took the RISK I made,
EVENSO, where IS ROE versus WADE?"
--- KAT AMES
Merry X-Mas SyndieCats! And X marks the spot of my last letter to fill in this Monday Holiday puzzle.
Now...I suppose it's on to the New Year's puzzle, eh?
Diana, Lady-in-Waiting for Crosswords, and 2024 in PuzLand
That was Christmas? What a let down for real-timers. At the time RASPBERRYBERET came out DQ was offering a RASPBERRY parfait, so . . . MOSS in the corners.
Wordle par.
So, on a Monday, we couldn't have Mellencamp for CHERRYBOMB? Oh well. Also, non-residents of Bag End will have trouble with GAMGEE.
I like me all of those JAMs, and Rear Window as well. Some of the side stories: the composer, Miss Lonely Heart, the hot ballerina with the pipsqueak boyfriend, and the honeymooners were sad/hilarious. Who but Princess Grace could be DOD? Honorable mention, of course, to XENA. Birdie.
Wordle bogey.
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