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Lip-plumping injection / MON 12-16-24 / Tidbit in a nutritious pudding / Blingy piece of neckwear / Department handling media inquiries / Sound of an unfortunate bird poop landing / Packaging for a stack of cookies
Monday, December 16, 2024
Constructor: Ailee Yoshida
Relative difficulty: Medium (solved Downs-only)
Theme answers:
A lot of circles for very little payoff. The idea is fine, visually, but it doesn't make for very interesting theme answers (PRESS OFFICE? MISS AMERICA? Kind of meh). The grid is noticeably light on longer fill. About as light as any grid I've ever seen. Only three answers in the whole thing longer than eight letters. Bizarre. There are these banks of somewhat longer (7+) answers in the NW and SE—those give the grid at least a little bit of color and flavor. But overall, it's pretty flat. As for the coffee "breaks," they're a fine, highly representative group. Not so fond of AMERICA/NO as a themer since the "break" doesn't "break" the answer enough for my tastes. That is, AMERICA is a standalone word, not "hidden" inside any longer answer, and since it's etymologically related to the AMERICANO (AMERICANO being simply the Italian word for "American," in fact), the "break" here doesn't disguise the drink nearly enough. All the other drinks get well and truly broken and hidden inside their respective answers, but AMERICA isn't hiding at all. The other coffee name parts are all decidedly *parts*, not free-standing words like AMERICA. There's just something ... off about it. A certain lack of ELEGANCE. But on the whole the puzzle isn't bad. The concept is solid, and the execution is fair. Very averageish, I'd say.
Bullet points:
Whereas Socrates here is more "meh, whatever, I'm just gonna lie down, they ain't payin' me enough for vigilance"
And then there's Henry. What happened to the tree, Henry? You were supposed to be guarding it, Henry. Why is it so small now? What happened to the real tree? Were you off straightening your bow tie again, Henry? (A: yes, yes he was)
Here's Zack the cockapoo. Zack cannot be trusted to guard anything. Zack is only good for snuggling and decorating. That's a lot, Zack! Good boy.
And finally today, there's Bailey, looking very smart in her tartan coat. This baby belongs to frequent blog commenter Gary Jugert. I'll let him introduce her:
See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
- SPLAT / TELL (17A: Sound of an unfortunate bird poop landing / 18A: Blab)
- RES / PRESS OFFICE (22A: Hi-___ image / 23A: Department handling media inquiries)
- MISS AMERICA / NOD (48A: Competition whose winner gets a tiara and a sash / 52A: Gesture of approval)
- ELMO / CHAIN (56A: Muppet with his own "world" on "Sesame Street" / 57A: Blingy piece of neckwear)
Teddy Grahams are bear-shaped graham cracker snacks created by Nabisco. Introduced in 1988, Teddy Grahams come in two distinct shapes: bear with arms up and legs closed, and bears with legs open and arms down. Along with variations with arms up, legs together, and arms down legs apart. When first introduced, Teddy Grahams were available in honey, cinnamon, and chocolate flavors. Since then, they have added chocolatey chip as one of the four main varieties. They also had vanilla, banana, birthday cake, mixed berry, strawberry banana, and apple flavors but they have been discontinued. [...] In a 1992 New York Times article, Eating Well, Marian Burros pointed out that Teddy Grahams use more bleached flour than actual whole wheat graham flour.[2] Nabisco later increased the amount of whole grain flour used in the snack. [...] A chocolate chip, birthday cake and oatmeal variety were introduced as a cereal called Teddy grahams Breakfast Bears in the 90s however this cereal got bad reviews because it got too soggy in milk. (wikipedia)
• • •
Solving Downs-only looked like it might be a little harrowing today, what with those banks of long Downs in the NW and SE staring me ... down. As a rule, the shorter the answer, the easier it is to get with no crosses in place, so a bank of 7+ answers (when you're solving Downs-only) is daunting. But I weirdly went right through that NW corner without hesitation. I wasn't sure of my answers, but when I looked back, everything worked. Got 'em all on my first guess (UNSCREW, "SO I HEAR," ARTISTIC, AHA). After that initial success, things got a bit hairier. ATTEST for ASSERT threw a wrench in the works (4D: Declare), and CHIASEED was very hard to parse. Didn't look like any word that I knew for a while (because it was *two* words). Sincerely thought "CHIASTIC?! That is a ... high-end word for a Monday." And yeah, no, not CHIASTIC ("characterized by chiasmus; having or denoting a structure in which words are repeated in reverse order"—Oxford Languages). Strangely, the smaller NE and SW corners ended up being much harder for me today than their bigger counterparts. Even more strangely, this English professor (poetry teacher, even) had one of his biggest Downs-only struggles with ... POETIC (9D: Like lines / that rhyme / and keep / good time). Me: "Oh, that's IAMBIC." Because that clue is literally IAMBIC. When you call something, anything, POETIC, you are not referring to its meter or rhyme (as poetry is frequently neither metrical nor rhyming), but to the heightened quality of its language. So "bah!" to that clue. The other tricky one for me up there was SPLEEN, which I had as CHOLER (11D: Bad temper). So ... IAMBIC CHOLER. There's a band name for you. Also, the wrong-answer double-whammy that made the NE kind of tough.
The hardest answer for me, though, was the last thing I got: FILLER (43D: Lip-plumping injection). When neither BOTOX nor COLLAGEN fit, I was plum(p) out of ideas. FILLER is such a non-lip-specific word, I never would've guessed. Also, IFI (!?!?!). No way I was going to infer that "F" in that position. Staring at I-I, I thought "well, ICI, that's possible ... I doubt they'd bring back IDI Amin, but maybe ... IBI seems a bit *too* Latin for a Monday ... is it a Roman numeral "three," a pasta suffix? I have no idea." PLOPS could've been PROPS (or, I suppose, POOPS). DEET came out of left field (60A: Ingredient in bug spray), as I was expecting DIET or DUET. ERR could've been EAR. Eventually, ELMO could not be denied (thank god I knew ISOMER), and E-R could be only two things, so when I toggled in "R" after putting in the "L" from ELMO, all of a sudden there it was: FILLER. Weird how an inconsequential-seeming answer can cause so much trouble.
Was slightly surprised to see ILIUM on a Monday (51D: Pelvic bone). That's an alternate name for the ancient city of Troy, so I had this moment of doubt: "Do the bone and the city have the same spelling?" They do. I had KEEN EYES before KEENNESS (37D: Observant quality). Earlier, I had UTILE for OF USE (21D: Coming in handy). I think that's it for missteps. That's plenty. The coffee stuff was super-easy today, but those NE and SW corners, they brought a little heat, and for that I was grateful today. Nice to have that Downs-only challenge, especially when the puzzle itself isn't particularly entertaining.
- 15A: What cilantro tastes like to some people (SOAP) — I feel bad for you people. Cilantro absolutely rules.Mexican and Thai food would be so much sadder without it. I like this clue—so much more interesting than [Daytime TV staple] or [Hand sanitizer alternative] (the last two clues we've had for SOAP).
- 19A: Tidbit in a nutritious pudding (CHIA SEED) — the very phrase "nutritious pudding" turns my stomach a little. It's a word-sound + imagined consistency issue. "Nutritious pudding" is my soapy cilantro. No thanks.
- 45A: Prefix with -ceratops (NEO) — just kidding, it's ECO.
- 46A: Packaging for a stack of cookies (SLEEVE) — a "stack" is vertical be def, whereas a SLEEVE is not. You put them in a SLEEVE so that they stay together in a column even when they are not vertical (as mostly they are not, in packaging and shipping etc.). Would've changed "stack" to "column" here. You get the alliteration to boot.
- 57A: Blingy piece of neckwear (CHAIN) — Potentially, I guess, though probably the vast majority of CHAINs that people wear are not very "blingy." I strongly associate "bling" with diamonds, or at least some kind of gem, and plenty of chains out there don't have any rocks on them at all.
31D: Eagle's nest (AERIE) — We saw three bald eagles yesterday! Sorry, I got excited there. It's not *terribly* unusual to see them here, along the Susquehanna or Chenango, but three in one day, man, that was exhilarating. One flew by pretty quickly before ascending to a high tree top over the river and perching. Watching. Waiting. Hunting. The other two were just hanging out together in a bare tree right near the side of the highway on our way to Owego. Two giant bald eagles just sitting on different branches, having a wee chat. My wife: "They don't even know they're bald eagles." I knew exactly what she meant. So happy to live in this probably brief window of bald eagle recovery. When I was a kid, and indeed the whole latter part of the 20th century, they were endangered. But then Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, DDT bans, etc. etc. and here we are, with three bald eagles flying around my absolutely ordinary Sunday. Amazing.
[not my eagles, but a
good likeness]
Let's do some more Holiday Pet Pics now
We got a handful of tree guarders today. Two cats who seem to be approaching their jobs with varying degrees of seriousness. Fifi here is alert, attentive, present, hello...
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| [Thanks, Christine] |
Whereas Socrates here is more "meh, whatever, I'm just gonna lie down, they ain't payin' me enough for vigilance"
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| [Thanks, Alan] |
And then there's Henry. What happened to the tree, Henry? You were supposed to be guarding it, Henry. Why is it so small now? What happened to the real tree? Were you off straightening your bow tie again, Henry? (A: yes, yes he was)
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| [Thanks, Mary] |
Here's Zack the cockapoo. Zack cannot be trusted to guard anything. Zack is only good for snuggling and decorating. That's a lot, Zack! Good boy.
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| [Thanks, Uma & Christian] |
And finally today, there's Bailey, looking very smart in her tartan coat. This baby belongs to frequent blog commenter Gary Jugert. I'll let him introduce her:
This breathtaking specimen is our New Mexican cattle dog Bailey. She is deaf. She is 14. A couple of years ago she needed most of her teeth removed. She sleeps about 20 hours a day, loves her afternoon walk, and is rather bossy about treats. She moved in with us when my mother-in-law began her struggles with Alzheimer's. Bailey might not win the Christmas beauty pageant, but she is a sweet little heart worm, and makes life here lovelier.
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| [Thanks, Gary] |
See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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54 comments:
Liked it a lot more than @Rex did. A very tasty Monday morsel.
My only overwrite was at 44D: (confidently): ISOtop ... Oops! Must be ISOMER.
... and an eagle in a bare tree
I too had choler before spleen - tho looking back I can't think how I could have since I alternate crosses and downs. Probably had a handwritten "typo" PCC instead of PCS ( I seem to do that sort of thing increasingly, along with banging my hands into things and dropping things I think I have a normal grip on - ah O.A.)
And I had "keen eyes" which slowed me way down in that corner since I'd never heard of Teddy Grahams.
I enjoyed the 2D and 27D variation on "word on the street" and liked seeing "spot" lined up under "stop".
"IFI" does look a bit strange, but somehow fun, to me.
CHIASEED and FiLLLER didn't look right, but the music sounded anyway. Medium difficulty sounds right for a Monday.
Bailey HAS won the the Christmas Pet Parade & so have you @ Gary for including sweet Bailey into your lives which surely is a blessing - for you all.
With love to you, your family &, of course, Bailey from Janine, Cinnamon's Mom :)
When I moved to Vermont some 30 years ago, bald eagle sightings were extremely rare. Nowadays they’re not exactly common, but at least a couple times a year I spot one with my KEEN eyeS. (Another hand up for that error.) Still, three in one day — that’s awesome!
TRI ceratops??
Phil Simms won one Super Bowl. As usual, no credit to Jeff Hostetler for winning a super bowl when Simms was out injured.
In a single day we go from one of the best themes we’ve ever had to this … thing. If there is anything less interesting in this world than cars, it is coffee. The execution is fine, though.
Harmless - early week puzzle. Theme really didn’t add anything - not a fan of the circles. Liked the revealer - longs were fine.
Syd Straw
Well filled - no pushback in this grid. CHIA SEED, ELEGANCE, CALICO all solid entries. Didn’t we see LEAF recently as a Nissan? SUAVE x BALDS is not very nice to those of us follicly challenged. Two F’s in STUF?
Kate Wolf
Pleasant enough Monday morning solve.
Murder by Mistletoe
PCs are desktops. Laptops, although they are computers and personal are not PCs.
I enjoy reading Rex’s daily critique of the themes. Sometimes I don’t even grasp the theme and need to come here for Rex’s explanation - not only does he explain it, but he also dissects basically every syllable to ensure consistent grammar, words either split up or hidden properly, etc. Usually a fun read.
I also had a little trouble in the spots that have already been mentioned (like FILLER, ILIUM, . . ), but all-in-all a pleasant Monday solve.
I did my version of Downs only today and it went pretty well, I gotta admit it’s hard to “not see” the across” when you are doing it on the NYT app but I did my best to focus on the highlighted clue. (they show the across right above it!). Didn’t always work. I did not like SPLEEN. That’s a tough one when you are doing downs only. But I got it eventually. Had trouble in the same bottom left corner as Rex but for different reasons, finally looked at the clue for IFI and that helped! Fun way to solve a Monday. Love the pet pics.
If cars and coffee aren't interesting, what is, kitshef? As I verbalize this, I am guessing it is a "kitchen chef" I'm dealing with ... so, yes, he probably deals with a lot of more exotic stuff. But nothing tops coffee in my mundane little world.
Much confusion, about anatomical terms ILIUM and ILEUM. The name of the ILIUM bones (plural: "ilia;" adjective "iliac" as in "iliac arteries") is derived from the Latin "ilium" meaning "flank" but whose plural "ilia" confusingly means "intestines" in Latin. The ILIUM bones constitute most of the pelvis on both sides.
The other ILEUM is apparently derived from the ancient Greek "eilios" which is how the ancient Greeks termed an intestinal obstruction, and indeed doctors, especially in Europe, still often call an intestinal obstruction an "ileus," irrespective of its anatomical site. The ILEUM itself is the distal (more distant) 10-12 foot long part of the 20-foot long multi-looped small intestine, coming after the proximal [nearer] parts of the small intestine (the duodenum and the jejunum). The ileum connects at the right lower corner of the tummy to the pocket-like cecum (from the Latin "caecum" for a cul-de-sac), to which the blind-ended vermiform ("worm-like") appendix attaches (who knows why?). The cecum is the beginning of the ascending segment of the three-segment large intestine (ascending; transverse; and descending) better known as the colon, that frames the tummy like a big "n," and which attaches sequentially at the left lower corner of the tummy to the medially directed 15 inch looped sigmoid (looks like the Greek letter sigma) , which connects in turn to the central ("straight") rectum leading to the anus, source of ANAL, so loved by crossword designers.
Hey All !
Drinking my morning COFFEE while doing a puz about COFFEE. Some sort of meta hoodoo there. I usually grab a COFFEE at work (in the cold months, not usually when it's 100+), but it's not a BREAK, per SE. I take it back to the desk and drink it whilst continuing working.
YesterComments, OK, I succumb to the Ford Model A being Ford's first car. A deep dive that only a handful of people would know without Googling. I'll throw an apology out to the PuzWorld.
Decent puz today, Theme-full, considering the Themers are across two answers, plus the Revealer, which nets you essentially 9 Theme pieces. And F's hanging out in pairs. 😁
Have a great Monday.
Six F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Since choleric" had been mentioned, it's worth knowing that the term comes from "chole," the Greek term for " bile" that features twice among the four ancient "humors": Hippocrates (480-370 BCE) wrote there are four "humors" (body fluids) which determine a person's disposition according to whichever humor is predominant. The four putative humors are:
*yellow bile," found in people who are "choleric" (i.e., have an angry disposition).
*"black bile" (Greek "melaina chole"), characteristic of people with a sad outlook on life (the source of the English word "melancholy').
*"blood" -- predominant in people with a cheerful temperament.
*"phlegm"-- predominant in people with a "phlegmatic" (i.e., unexciting) character.
The humoral theory is devoid of any scientific basis, but was sanctioned by the renowned Greek physician Galen (129-216 CE), and consequently remained a pillar of western medicine until at least the 1500s.
The physician-philosopher Maimonides (1138-1204) alluded to the theory in his advice for depression:
"A person who is afflicted with black bile [Hebrew 'marah shechorah;' still a common modern Hebrew term for feeling "down"] can rid himself of it by listening to music or to singing, or by taking a walk through a garden." (Maimonides, "Eight Chapters," 5:2).
Correction - The length of the sigmoid is 15 cm (i.e., about 5 inches), not 15 inches My age (83) must be getting to me.
Ran into the revealer early but I had already seen what was going on by then so no surprise there. Not much pushback today, I'm with OFL on the FILLER thing and found out about CVS receipts, but any three-letter pharmacy is going to be CVS for me.
Hello to old friend AERIE. Home for the holidays?
I'm one of those people who has the genetic quirk that makes cilantro taste like SOAP, and believe me it doesn't take much. I can spot a speck of cilantro in a bowl of salsa and Rex is right that it eliminates a lot of Mexican and Thai food that I would otherwise enjoy. Phooey.
Pleasant enough Mondecito, AY. Are You planning to do other days of the week? A little more crunch would be appreciated, but thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Harmless theme that you probably won't notice unless you go looking for it.
I do applaud the almost complete lack of proper names. The two that I noticed are two of my all-time favorites in two different fields of endeavor: NORA Ephron and Phil SIMMS.
A gratuitously unappetizing clue for SPLAT that flunked my "breakfast test". No, it's neither funny nor cute -- just unappetizing.
A word about AVOCADO, one of my favorite foods. Predictions are that Trump's tariffs on Mexico will launch a trade war that will make AVOCADOS, over 90% of which come from Mexico, a luxury item. Like caviar or champagne? Please say it ain't so.
I just heard the news yesterday that coffee bean prices are 70% higher because of climate issues in Brazil and Vietnam; this before any possible tariffs. The millennials will have a tough time with the avocado toast and coffee breakfast this year:)
Rick Steves, who many of us learned about in a recent crossword, is featured in an extended interview for The Daily podcast from the NYTimes.
Bobson Dugnutt! Life is worth living. I'm guessing -- first base?
Thought this a fun breakfast puzzle though not a lot of sparkly answers. Cross of SOIHEAR and CHIASEED was last to fall. Really wanted PRESSpolICE for some spice. And first had ILIac instead of ILIUM. Am not a fan of cilantro but don’t recall it tasting like a punishment for bad language…
Medium.
Costly erasures: POETry before POETIC and KEENeyes before KEENNESS. Both of those went in before reading the across clues. Haste wastes nanoseconds.
I did not know CHIA SEEDs are used in pudding.
Reasonably smooth grid, solid Monday theme, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #966 was a medium-tough Croce for me with the top half tougher than the bottom. I’m still not sure about 6d. Good luck!
Can someone please explain Bad temper = SPLEEN? I dont get it . Loved the purse, love coffee :)
The elements of the alimentary … I had forgotten the term ileus. The bane of belly pain. Thx
It seems that the puzzle editors define PC as either "runs Microsoft" or "not Apple".
Pausa para el café de Senorita América.
AERIE is my 8th favorite word.
Every summer as a kid I was forced to go to the FARM and my main memory of it is how mean and gross chickens are, and how nice barn cats are if you just take the time. I spent lots of time hiding from work in the barn and petting cats like you'd expect a city slicker would. Out west here, U-Pick 'Em farms aren't very common because they grow boring crops like wheat, and corn, and soy beans on enormous acreages, so I stared at that answer forever wondering if U-pick was a tractor or some type of modern equipment.
Like lines
that rhyme
and keep
good time
-- by Ailee Yoshida
Our poetic adventure begins asking us either to compare lines, or perhaps simply enjoy them and we are reminded of the multitude of ways lines appear in our lives. Parallel, grocery, cocaine, and poetry to name a few. The author's deliberate choice to follow with the always clanky word "that" immediately pulls us from our sonorous line musings and PLOPS us resolutely into rhymes, which doesn't rhyme, and we're in the vast expanse of will-it-or-won't-it threaten the foundation of poetic convention. She withholds our breathless answer through the following line, dare we say she keeps it from the reader like infinity keeps the merge point of parallel lines from us too. Only the double edged sword of a good time brings us to the good time of a satisfying two-four rhyme scheme, and yet we lament in our joy for Canadians, New Englanders, and Australians who can't seem to rhyme anything with the way speech sounds emerge from their faces as if wadded up gobs of gum are stuffed therein. They suffer under the onus of poetic keenness.
Propers: 4
Places: 3
Products: 3
Partials: 9
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 22 of 74 (30%)
Funnyisms: 0 😫
Uniclues:
1 Why my belly is a popular choice at the bagel shop.
2 Navajo PR department.
3 Dew.
4 The only way to prove you're the prettiest one.
5 Puts your brand of prettiness on the sofa.
6 Mistakenly believe it's a cork.
7 Creative compound.
8 The moment you realize OHO is way funnier.
9 What goes well with your honey facial.
10 One about to rot in 30 seconds.
1 CHIA SEED OUTIE
2 RES PRESS OFFICE
3 LEAF PEARLS (~)
4 MISS AMERICA NOD
5 PLOPS ELEGANCE
6 IMPEDE UNSCREW (~)
7 ARTISTIC ISOMER
8 AHA STOP SPOT
9 SPA FETAS
10 CALICO AVOCADO
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Cousin of a Catholic school girl outfit. LUTHERAN PASTIES.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Liked it much better than Rex. A good Monday.
SPLEEN I assume comes from the phrase “to vent one’s spleen”, meaning to express anger. It is still an odd and questionable thing however! Off to google …
From Dr Google:
The phrase "vent one's spleen" originates from ancient Greek and Roman medical theories known as humorism. According to this theory, the spleen was believed to be the organ responsible for producing and storing black bile, one of the four humors or bodily fluids. This idiom may be used in various occasions, such as during heated debates, arguments, or discussions where individuals passionately express their discontent or dissatisfaction. It can also be used in personal settings, such as venting frustrations to a trusted friend or family member, or even in written form, like venting through social media posts or blog entries.
Phil still has two rings though
:(
@Alic Pollard - spleen (n) bad temper; spite. You may only know it from the phrase 'vent your spleen', which means to vent your feelings of anger (not your internal organ).
It's a fun theme, and putting the revealer in the middle makes the puzzle appropriately Monday-easy. I got it, and immediately went back to fill in ESPRESSO, and the others were just as easy. It would be fun to do the same thing with varieties of coffee bean, rather than of coffee-shop orders, but JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN would be too long. You could have good lucK ON A dare, though.
My only difficulties were wanting ISOtope before MER, and questioning whether BALD is a word. The present participle form, "balding," certainly is, but otherwise I think not. "I have BALDED for many years?" Minor problem, though.
Under what definition is a laptop not a PC? It’s a portable PC. Now, over the years there has been semantic drift as to PCs referring to those computers that run a Microsoft OS, but, technically, even Apples are a PC by the original definition. I have never heard laptops excluded from being PCs, though.
It’s a metaphor for anger, like the expression “to vent one’s spleen.” That’s a common idiom in my experience, but it sounds like you’ve never noticed it before.
Swooshed through this without seeing the theme. Now that I've come here, the theme was cute! A very easy Monday. And enjoyable.
Thank you, Ailee :)
Good catch.
Excellent job on the uniclues. :)
thank you kitshef and anonymous. I am in my mid 60s and NEVER have I heard that expression. You learn something every crossword - as my dad used to say.
Cool ... a dark coffee break puz. Not the first "break" puztheme in the NYT puzhistory, but nice Monpuz-level theme.
staff weeject pick: [NO]D. Once again, luvly themer respect for the little runtwords.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Like the direction of this answer} = ACROSS.
some other faves: ARTISTIC & POETIC. AVOCADO. SOIHEAR. ODOR & STOP clues.
Thanx, Ms. Yoshida darlin. Good job.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
and ...
"Common Sense" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Hand up for a "Solid Monday" rating on this one but it's hard to get much ELEGANCE in the FILLER with 42 black squares.
Agree with @Nancy that the clue for SPLAT was anything but SUAVE. At least we didn't get a scatological clue for 53A PLOPS.
Don't think I've ever seen KEENNESS in the wild. I tried KEEN EYED at first.
Bet you can't eat just one CHIA SEED. Unless it's with a bowl of FETAS.
Isn’t the isn’t 45 across Tri?
Solved down only diagonally SE to NW, then went down only diagonally SW to NE.. Then filled in the blanks...
I rate it easy-medium
@jae - I'm guessing you mean Croce 968, as 966's 6D was pretty straightforward. Under that assumption, I would call 968 mostly easy, but harder up north and particularly that 6D/15A cross. 6D makes no sense to me at all, and 15A I can kind of get somewhere close, but the link between the clue and answer seems to be at best tenuous.
For @Nancy:
Birdie, birdie in the sky,
dropped some whitewash in my eye,
I don't fuss, I don't cry,
I'm just glad that cows don't fly.
@SharonAK, SPOT and STOP are part of one of my favorite anagram groups. It also includes POTS, TOPS, POST, OPTS.
Another group is LIAR, LAIR, RIAL, LIRA, RAIL
@kitshef, You might not like this show but it is quite entertaining. His conversations with other comedians are interesting.
"Comedians in Cars with Coffee"
Comic Jerry Seinfeld is the creator, executive producer and host of this unique series that features vintage cars, funny conversations and a lot of caffeine. Jerry picks up each guest in a special car -- including the likes of a 1977 Volkswagen camper bus, a 1978 AMC Gremlin, a 1964 Studebaker Avanti, and a 1970 Ford Mustang -- and heads to a cafe or restaurant. While the guests are typically comics, one episode features a drive around the White House grounds with President Barack Obama in a 1963 Chevy Corvette Stingray.
Solving down clues only, this was agreeably challenging, but I ended stuck in the mud in the lower left with IMPAIR before IMPEDE for "Stand in the way of". That led to AMMO, I BET, and RUR for the crosses, which unfortunately made the lip treatment FIRMBU!
@kitshef - Yes I did mean 968 and I agree with you about 15a. I also needed a couple of erasures before getting 7d right.
I was a little disappointed that the revealer gave away the theme before I'd seen all of the different coffees but otherwise this was a fine Monday puzzle.
I didn’t think a laptop would be a PC so I threw in HPS (my brand new laptop is an HP Chromebook and I love it). With the H in place at 9D, I tried to turn the POETIC lines in a Haiku but that failed effort led me to the PCS answer.
Eagles, they're everywhere in Minnesota nowadays. Like Rex, I remember when they were endangered and when I see one now (once a week if not more often, it seems), I still have wonder at their amazing comeback.
Thanks, Ailee Yoshida!
“Not so fond of AMERICA/NO as a themer since the "break" doesn't "break" the answer enough for my tastes. That is, AMERICA is a standalone word, not "hidden" inside any longer answer…….All the other drinks get well and truly broken and hidden inside their respective answers, but AMERICA isn't hiding at all. The other coffee name parts are all decidedly *parts*, not free-standing words like AMERICA. There's just something ... off about it. A certain lack of ELEGANCE.”
Ha! This is the type of comment I was expecting yesterday regarding the two “unbroken” art names. Not the same kind of break but similar in the inconsistency. So a day late but in fine form - I’ll take it. Oh, and I was not so fond of AMERICA/NO either.
Had a malapop from yesterday show up in the clues today with “Eagle’s nest” since I wanted Eagle for the “Hunter on high.” Cool thought from @Rex’s wife, “They don’t even know they’re BALD eagles.”
Have to admire a grid with ELEGANCE and PEARLS. Very SUAVE.
Wanted rice for the pudding tidbit. Never had pudding with CHIA SEED.
EE’s abound: RUPEE, SEED, SPLEEN, SLEEVE, COFFEE, KEEN, DEET
Excellent “tree guarder” photos. But that Fifi - not sure she isn’t saying, “Ornaments? What ornaments? I haven’t seen any ornaments. There were no ornaments here.”
Lovely Bailey story, @Gary.
Bailey is quite a beauty! I’m gonna email you a picture of the hearing-impaired 14-year-old I recently inherited.
Joining the fray at my usual late hour! Liked this a bit more than Rex. While not thrilling I thought a solid Monday. Agree AMERICANO was a tad weak but the others mostly did the trick. Also appreciated the very few propers. Got the revealer with no letters filled, mostly cuz what else would timeout at work be? Then the themers fell pretty easily.
The fill had just a bit of resistance which I like in a Monday and no real groans.
I like all the pet pics but will put in my vote here for Bailey as this blog’s Pet of the Year!
Not a psychologist by any stretch, but isn't SUPEREGO the counterpart to ID? I thought Ego was the balancing act between the two.
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