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Polite rejection at a dance / MON 9-8-25 / 2013 movie about an A.I. crush / 4K screen precursor / Bakery display piece / Limited releases on Spotify, informally / Hit on a vape pen
Monday, September 8, 2025
Constructor: Margaret Seikel
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (solved Downs-only—real trouble with that NE section)
Theme answers:
- POWDER PUFF (16A: *Pad in a makeup kit)
- SEAT NUMBER (62A: *Assignment on a plane)
- CAKE STAND (10D: *Bakery display piece)
- FALL BREAK (33D: *Days off following October midterms)
[not found on merriam-webster.com or thefreedictionary.com or dictionary.com etc. There are "pull tabs," and there are "pop-tops," but POP TAB ... unaccounted for]
• • •
Not a fan of ACTONE written out like that, especially since ACT I appears so often in the grid. Feels contrived. Also didn't love ROIL as the answer for 32D: Make annoyed. That answer riled me, but it did not ROIL me. You ROIL water (or the waters). I acknowledge that it can also mean "to upset someone emotionally," but I don't have to like it. My interest in vaping is zero, so I had no idea DAB was another word for toke, hit, whatever (35D: Hit on a vape pen). Thank god the crosses on that one were all easily inferrable. I stupidly (and hastily) wrote in YOUTH instead of YOUNG at 7D: The "Y" or Y.A. books. Otherwise, no real problems. Just that POP TAB-area debacle, and even that I was eventually able to work my way through.
A few more things:
- 24D: Limited releases on Spotify, informally (EPS) — I think I don't understand how "Limited" is being used here. EPS contain more tracks than a single but fewer than an album. The "EP" stands for "extended play." What is "limited" about it? When you talk about "limited releases" in the world of music, you're usually talking about physical media (like vinyl) of which there is a limited number. But obviously on "Spotify," no such "limits" exist. "Limited release" actually has more currency in the film industry. Maybe the clue today was thinking "well, EPS are shorter than full albums, so in that way they are ... limited?" But I don't know.
- 45A: 4K screen precursor (HDTV) — oh, are 4K screens not hi-def. I keep putting off upgrading my TV (and Blu-ray player), mostly because so far I don't have any pressing need. "The blacks are really black, man!" I'm sure they are. So far, I don't care.
- 2D: Higher than on the totem pole (ABOVE) — not sure why you had to bring a "totem pole" into this. [Higher than] works just fine.Maybe leave sacred objects out of your workplace metaphors.
Totem poles are sacred objects used by many Indigenous and Alaska Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest to honor a deceased ancestor or share an important event. This idiom denigrates these sacred objects. Further, the idea that the lowest figure on the totem pole is the least important is also incorrect. In actuality, the designs on the bottom are often considered the most prestigious because they are the ones that will be seen at eye level. (Forbes.com)
See you next time.
***lol of course you can “take a stand”; I blame post-COVID vax fatigue for my not thinking of that. But my point still semi-stands, in that “take the” works with both elements of CAKE STAND.
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74 comments:
That NE corner threw me off for a minute or two, even looking at the acrosses.
Had “Pop Top” in there to begin with (I share your dislike of the real answer) and, not being American, I know nothing of baseball and thought of the Olympics for 2008/12 long before your elections.
The rest was easy enough - though I never believe I’ve ever heard a dog “arf”?!
So interesting that Rex inferred "take the stand" for the stand-half of CAKESTAND. I immediately saw it as "take a stand" like expressing a firm opinion
Medium. No costly erasures but I did not know DAB, HDTV, and LILAC as they were clued.
A solid take on a classic theme, liked it or what @Rex said.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1043 was a medium Croce for me or around 2 to 3X a Saturday NYT. Parts of the center stack and the SE put up the most resistance. Good luck !
Normal easy Monday. Didn't use the theme, or even get it from the revealer. There was a movie about AI, titled "Her"? Glad I missed it.
Little Orphan Annie's dog Sandy.
Amusing this was Challenging and Saturday was Easy
Estoy en una relación.
I've never heard "take a powder," but I looked it up and it's a thing it seems. I guess it's like an Irish goodbye -- you just leave. Only recently I learned there's a name for the correct way to leave a party you didn't want to go to in the first place, and now I know a second. Nice to know there's two terms for ghosting, oh, there's another.
By the way, you'll remember Octavia E. Butler in the puzzle a few days ago (maybe you won't remember as it's possible you threw the puzzle against the wall long before you reached her name), well I'd never heard of her so I checked out Parable of the Sower from the library and its first four chapters are a distopian 2024. Ha. She came pretty close to predicting our current state of affairs.
I didn't know lilacs symbolized early love. So, uh, what is "early love?" When people see what EYE CANDY I am?
That's a very bizarre clue for ABOVE. OH, it's OHO, not AHA. And HER is a good movie.
People: 3
Places: 2
Products: 7
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 1
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 21 of 78 (27%)
Funny Factor: 0 ZERO NADA NIL ZIP ZIPPO NYET NEIN 😫. Listen, just because it's Monday doesn't mean it can't be wry, right? Don't be boring on Mondays. Sheesk. We want Monday people to become Tuesday people.
Tee-Hee: NASTY.
Uniclues:
1 Zen-like moon jumper making poutine.
2 Reasonably competent female football player. (Really, there's a page on Wikipedia.)
3 Emirs.
4 Euphemism for falling off her wedding heels.
5 Invitation to mud wrestle.
6 The oxen make a baby.
7 Perused granddad's "art" collection.
8 Where I go to meet my kinda gal.
1 CALM FRYER COW
2 OKAY POWDER PUFF (~)
3 DESERT GREATS
4 BRIDE'S CURTSY
5 GETS NASTY ASK (~)
6 FARM TEAM ADDS ON
7 RIFLED EYE CANDY
8 CAKE STAND TABLE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Well, duh, that's exactly why they make them. PADDED BRA EXASPERATED ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Getaway where guests are out of fashion? (6)(4)
2. When ties get untied, for short (4)
3. Bold choice, perhaps? (8)
4. One who tries to make a good impression (7)
5. Nothing needs to be said to do it (3)
NUDIST CAMP
INOT
TYPEFACE
DENTIST
HUM
My favorite encore clues from last week:
[Traffic director] (4)
[Sound from a chicken] (3)
CONE
EEK
Highly nuanced early week theme - not difficult but well built with an apt revealer dead center. Liked CAKE STAND - but agree with the big guy that all of them work.
Bonnie Prince Billy
Overall fill teetered on midweek with some clunkers. So many 3s, 4s and 5s - hard to keep the interest up. Not sure about the angst for POP TAB. Not sure I’ve ever seen CURTSY in the puzzle.
Enjoyable Monday morning solve.
The LILAC Time
Except that “take a stand”, as in standing your ground, whether metaphorically or physically, is definitely a phrase. “Take a cake” is not.
You can “take a stand” as in take a stand against something you oppose.
Super easy for a non-downs-only solver. This was basically a themeless with a post-solve realization of what the theme was doing. CAKESTAND was definitely the outlier because of requiring ‘the’ before CAKE. Actually though, it was only CAKE that needed ‘the’. One can take the STAND, but one can also take a STAND, as in standing up for what’s right.
I have never heard of DAB but luckily because of crosses I barely even saw it.
You can, in fact, take *a* STAND (against fascism, for example, or Nazis), but you can only take *the* CAKE, so it was one out of eight that didn't work with the indefinite article. I still enjoyed it a bit more than @Rex, although I also found it more on the medium side for a Monday.
"Take a stand" is absolutely a normal phrase. Like standing up for a particular principle.
The guy who left the cake out in the rain started it by taking a cake.
I love that this puzzle starts at 1A with CALM. My first thought at the finish was how lovely the fill-in felt, and “calm” is the perfect description. It felt as if I were in an easy chair. Ahhh...
Calm but not boring, mind you, no, there were interesting things – the fun theme and confirming that it worked by checking out each word in the theme answers, lovely answers like LILAC, CURTSY, ROIL, and DAB, and that nailed-it revealer of I’M TAKEN.
Lovely to see the symmetrical palindromes EVE and AHA. Lovely to see the theme echo of answers in the grid that can be taken: PLEA, CURTSY, and MED.
NUMBER spurred other words ending with the er-sound that can be taken: GANDER, LETTER, PICTURE.
Fun afterward to meta the theme:
FALL BREAK – take a vacation.
SEAT NUMBER – take a chair.
CAKE STAND – take a bite.
POWDER PUFF – take a moment.
Anyway, I left the grid feeling peaceful and happy, and how sweet is that? Take a listen, please, Margaret – thank you!
It appears as though the pendulum may have swung a little too far into “easy” territory, even for a Monday. Although, I do find some humor from seeing the NYT clue a COW as an “Animal that moos”. It just lightens up the mood on a Monday. I wonder why I didn’t have a similar reaction to ARFS.
Nice job by the constructor working a very tight theme into the grid and keeping the rest of the fill nice and clean as well.
Found this beginner-friendly and very easy, he said redundantly. Hard no on POPTAB, and was glad to see OFL's rant. The revealer was in the middle, which never makes me happy, but all the themers worked, although I somehow missed the asterisks on the downs, darn it.
M&A's moo-cow easy answer today has to be "animal that moos". I mean, really.
I was really hoping the "flower symbolizing early love" would be an aster, which fit, because it's the first flower I picked on a walk on my first date with the woman who would become my wife. That was 59 years ago this October.
Nice Mondecito, MS. Multiple Smiles along the way, and thanks for all the fun.
My TAKE on this puzzle was that it was just fine. Sorry, couldn’t resist. It was easygoing and very light on the PPP. In fact, OBAMA was a help in getting POPTAB instead of POPTop. Thanks @Conrad for reminding me of Sandy and his ARF. As a kid watching my Dad do crosswords I asked how he filled in words like that so quickly since they didn’t seem obvious to me, and he said they were just conventions that all crossword makers used—my introduction to crosswordese…
Yeah, you’re right, he must have taken it first. But I don’t think I can take it—‘cause it took so long to bake it.
Hey All !
Rex, you surprised me. Thought for sure we'd get two paragraphs lambasting the only Take the phrases out of everything else being Take A. You said it added a flourish to the Theme. Lost money on that ...
Nice MonPuz. Easy, both Theme words used, Across and Down Themers, decent enough fill. Nothing NASTY about it.
I'm nominating MED as @M&A's easy-e answer/clue.
Got the original KEALOA today! Ah, nostalgia. Now, if OOXTEPLERNON showed up again ... that'd be scary. 😁
Have a great Monday!
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
What the heck does “take a powder” mean?? Never heard that phrase before in my life
Easy, breezy Monday. I liked it. Always nice to be reminded of election denier Stacy ABRAMS well as future hall of famer AARON Judge.
Croce 1043 was easy. Toughest for me were coming up with the back end of 36D and the front end of 25A.
Got a lot of this downs-only but I got stuck — yes, around the abominable POP TAB but also elsewhere — so I gave in and looked at some across clues earlier than usual.
Came to rant about POP TAB and take "the" cake. Rex has done my job for me.
If you’re a Brit, you’d say “take a cake” during tea time.
As always I am team POPTop. No such thing as a POPTAB. But they do it enough (thx, @Rex, for the specifics) that I'm on to them.
Solved as themeless, downs only kinda makes that necessary. Yes, harder that way. Full 6 minutes. Oh well it's Monday.
A perfectly fine Monday puzzle that may as well not have had a theme, it seemed so inconsequential. I'm glad I didn't take the time to try to understand it while solving!
Not sure about the clue for OPTED. Wouldn't the equivalent of "Chose" be OPTED FOR? You can't just substitute OPTED for Chose, and I thought that kind of substitution was what good cluing should be about, no?
I’ve never heard of”take a powder” in my 50+ years, but always called pop (soda) can openers “pop tabs”. Back in high school we had a whole thing about them and you saved them for your significant other and could cash them in for kisses. If you got the tab off with the swivel piece intact, that was worth more…
We got the KEALOA, but I thought you could actually know the difference today, having driven to the MAUNA !!!KEA!!! observatory. It is the famous one with a visitors center, and when I looked up Mauna Loa observatory to see if there was also one there, google had pictures of the one on Mauna Kea.
Easy working not downs only.
Nice Les S. More late story yesterday about the chair and CDilly explanation of the shortened form of city. (Trying to avoid spoilers for other days…)
Another day, another chance to discuss LLBean return policy, or recent lack thereof:)
Did anyone else take off the pull tabs, separate them and use the curled part to send the pull ring spinning off like a frisbee. Part of my pre-phone childhood. The trash created and sharp metal parts led to the pop top that stayed with the can.
Having grown up in the Midwest, where pop = soda, I googled "'poptab' soda can Midwest" and found this explanation online: "In the Midwest, 'pop tab' is a regional term for the pull-tab on a soda can. The term refers to a collection program by Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), where these aluminum tabs are recycled to raise funds for families with sick children. While 'pop' is a Midwestern term for soda, the 'pop tab' collection is a nationwide effort by various RMHC chapters to support their local communities."
Pop tops were originally designed to be removed from the can as a tab I remember some kind of charity drive to save the tabs this was in the 50’s or 60’s
Pop tabs video from yesterday: https://youtu.be/HCUe_AK2XSE?si=OnImBr6FT3G3gVmM
I have been a student in two universities, taught in two more, and sent children to 4 others; none of these has had a FALL BREAK after midterms. They all had a Thanksgiving break, but that was WAY after midterms; these days it is almost time for finals. So I guess "way after" is still after, but it's awkward.
As for the theme, I didn't pay much attention to it, in part because I had trouble seeing the asterisks (about 80% through the solve I realized that the ambient light was low, and moved to a more well-lit seat in the kitchen. Great improvement!) And having the across and down themers, a nice touch, made it hard to notice them by position.
My only other issue is "on the totem pole," which adds absolutely nothing to "Higher than" (3-D). I guess it's legitimate misdirection, though.
Yeah, right now rank and file Democrats are clamoring for Chuck Schumer to TAKE A STAND!
I'm guessing it will be COW.
Taking a powder is sort of like going on the lam.
Jimmy Buffett calls it a pop-top, and that's good enough for me.
I know the expression "Take a powder." I think that I got it from old-time gangster movies.
Yes, it's always nice when you can make both words in your theme answers work. And there's very little junk in the grid as well. So it's a perfectly pleasant and smooth Monday puzzle. I just wish I could get more excited about it.
Re: Taking the stand
New Yorker cartoon:
The lawyer is saying to the jury: "Ladies and gentlemen, does this look like the face of an embezzler?"
On the witness stand, the defendant is covering up his face with his hands.
After the POPTAB discussion, take a POWDER has aroused some interest in this blog. The amount of research that has gone into discovering the origin of this saying is amazing—from medicinal cures to gunpowder explosiveness and from learned works to hobo expressions. I knew it from noir novels and movies, where someone was advised to disappear, a least temporarily, maybe for good, even if it was just a lady advised to go powder her nose while the tough guys talked. Apparently this was just the last meaning into which that combination of words had morphed.
I opted to take a powder. I chose to take a powder.
I've seen POP TAB often enough to have left the last two letters open for crosses to confirm. It's a kea-loa. Speaking of which, with the cross of ALL, today's Moana LOA was obvious.
I liked this puzzle. Going back post-solve and checking out all the "takes" was fun. Thanks, Margaret Seikel!
SECOND CHANCE
TOLL CALL
FLIGHT RISK
There was a theme?
For once I disagree with Rex's 'Relative Difficulty Rating' of Medium-Challenging since I solved as a themeless & found it to be pretty easy..
Is there still a thing called a Powder Puff in make-up kits for women? I don't think so - ?
Cool MonPuztheme. I was taken by it.
yep. POPTOP before POPTAB.
staff weeject pick: EPS. Plural abbreve meat. Plus, don't really know what exactly Spotify is, cuz I'm old and set in my play-yer-own-45s ways. [snort]
fave thing: TUTU. runner-up: CURTSY in a TUTU.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue = @pabloinnh: yep. {Animal that moos} = COW. Gotta be.
Thanx for all them double-takes, Ms. Seikel darlin. Great job.
Masked & Anonymo3Us
... now, here's a runtpuz rarity, as implied by its title ...
"Raising the Bar" - 7x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Liveprof's quote reminds me of a line from Get Smart. Smart is defending a woman accused of murder. She is wearing a short skirt and sitting on the witness stand. Addressing the jury, he gestures toward the woman and says, "Are these the legs of a homicidal maniac?"
This "both words" theme type, as @Rex terms it, is one I find particularly appealing. Like @Teedmn 10:48, I find it satisfying to go through the entire line-up and see how they work. I didn't see that the reveal was in the center until I already had the M from FARM TEAM; otherwise I'd have set myself the challenge of guessing it at the end. As it was, after I'd seen that POWDER, PUFF, CAKE, and STAND were things you can take, the very helpful M made the "polite refusal" easy to get. Loved the inclusion of [take a] POWDER, though I appreciate it might not be known to the youngsters here.
Yep, that's right. Thanks!
DAB isn't really clued correctly unless the constructor only vapes concentrates. Regular vape wouldn't be a dab. Yes stoners do the crossword daily.
👍👍
Finished in the SE where both long acrosses were icky. About 2X a Sat. NYT.
Late to post because I’m sick. Didn’t sleep very well.
Fairly simple downs-only solve except for three longish ones:
° 10D CAKESTAND. I knew it was going to be CAKE something. I could picture it in my mind, but for some reason couldn’t immediately summon up STAND. Got HDTV and then NIT and from that ND combo got STAND, which helped me get OBAMA which supplied the terminal B for the infamous POPTAB.
° As an art major, I never really had “mid-terms”. Maybe an art history slide quiz. Maybe the bona fide serious academic types got a break but I just kept working in the studio without any part-timers or instructors to get in my way. So 33D FALL BREAK was a big white hole for a bit.
° 40D EYE CANDY also remained blank for a long while until I got the Y in OBEY, and then it was game over.
Good puzzle with some nice long downs, including the 3 I’ve just mentioned as well as 5D FARM TEAM, which I just plopped right in near the beginning, giving me a real confidence boost.
I'm very surprised how many of us have never heard of TAKE A POWDER! I've heard it many many times from way back in my early childhood to now. Here is Google Ngram's graph of usage in the last 200+ years... it's as popular now as ever!
I tried doing downs only but gave up. I seem to lack the patience to see it through most weeks lately. I'm sure I would never have gotten the theme without reading the 39 across clue anyway.
I thought Stacey ABRAMS was a singer?... oh, it's Gracie Abrams!
Hi Gary, Think monster ala James Cagney in a Night Club with his doll, and a "business associate" comes to the table. He very well might say, "Hey Doll why don't you go and take a powder" as in nose. Watched far too many gangster movies as a child!
I liked the juxtaposition of 6D RIPE and 7D YOUNG. I'm well into the RIPE end of that scale, as in "very mature" (at least chronologically speaking).
There's such a thing as FALL BREAK? When I was still in the talk and chalk trade, I thought Spring BREAK was so disruptive to the flow of the class that it was clear evidence that institutions were not serious about higher education.
With _I_F_ED in place, I had SIFTED for 9D "Hunted (through)". Don't think I've ever RIFLED through anything.
Earlier Jimmy Buffett fans mentioned it so here's the relevant part of "Margaritaville":
I blew out my flip-flop (how?)
Stepped on a POP TOP
I broke my leg twice, had to limp on back home
God, I still feel pain
I wish I had some cocaine
But that's been gone since early this morn' (long gone)
Sun Volt
Your Link to Lilac Time made me think of the source. A poem I first read in high school by Alfred Noyes. Go down to Kew in lilac time As in Kew Gardens. , outside of London.
Re the "take a " take the" discussion. I just looked ove3 the puzzle again. and I see a consistency not noted before . Both of the down theme answers start with a word that might come after "take the". I think I've head/read "take the fall" as often as "take a fall".
Thanks Lewis for your list of favorite clues. Asnusual I got a smile out of rereading them.
@Anonymous 1:31 PM
I'm trying to think if I've ever seen a gangster movie. I skipped all the Godfathers, and while I know who Cagney is, I've never seen one of his shows. I mostly watch comedies and my wife is into arty-farty stuff, so "Hey doll, take a powder" misses our demographic.
Long time reader but never commented before. I took midterms to refer to elections and thought congress took a
short Fall Break after the elections
FWIW Kitshef
Rex pointed out that take the cake was an exception but it was the opposite of a rant. He liked it
I think he missed that it could be either with stand.
Anonymous 11:55 AM
You canceled your own comment when you said “only vapes concentrates”. Crossword answers don’t have to apply to all situations. As long as it applies to some uses thee answer is fine. A crossword is a puzzle with clues not a dictionary after all.
I get the CAKE STAND being sort of an outlier, but while take “the” STAND was my first lawyerly inclination when I was evaluating the theme post-solve, I’ve also gotten back to my 1968-9 roots lately and have found myself out with my placards taking “a” STAND for a myriad of reasons. Reasons for my STAND taking run the gamut from foolishness through pure evil these days. Said reasons do indeed take “the CAKE” (although that’s giving good cakes everywhere a bad rap). Solid Monday theme; well executed.
My one nit is the same as @Rex’s and caused similar problems. Took me way too long to decide that POP Top was wrong. Then it took me about half that long to figure out POP TAB.
In fact, I feel about POP TAB as so many felt about TWP yesterday. As an aside, if anyone wants to revisit the TWP, yesterday, I posted after everyone other than west coasters was sound asleep with some history about how the TWP abbreviation (and many other land record abbreviations) came about.
Overall the fill today held my interest more than many Mondays. I enjoyed this one.
CDilly
I read your explanation of the origin of the abbreviation for a municipal term yesterday with interest. I am a retired attorney and over the years I did some land records work. Rhode Island where I did most of my work established its land record system in the colonial period, well before the township, system, which I only know from law school. Because each municipality has its own land record s ( yes an island town of 1,000 people has its own land records office!) my state has been much slower in modernization the records. So I remember less than 15 years ago going to the town hall vault to look at the books with the same old book smell to find the source of an error in the chain of title. I simply drove 2 miles from my office to the town hall vault. As far as I know each city or town is keeping those old books in the old vaults to this day.
I got in a bike wreck two days ago, I turned my wheel and my light fell off and got stuck in my wheel. I was only going three or four miles an hour, so I just skinned my knee a little.
And for trump to take the stand
Stars Joaquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson. I’ve heard it’s excellent. Won best screenplay Oscar and nominated for a few others. It was in the news recently because Johansson sued an AI company for allegedly using her voice for it
I thought it was take a puff
I, for one, liked it. (See what I did there?) Spanners that didn't seem forced, some vagueness in the service of misdirection, not too much b.s. short stuff, and no themer that seemed trivial, forced, or dumb. What's not to like for a Tuesday?
I actually thought NE corner was quite easy. 31 across had me through a loop as I thought 32 down was something completely different and had the entire puzzle filled in and honestly had to guess every letter one by one until it said solved lol
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