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Cereal with "marbits" and a leprechaun mascot / MON 11-24-25 / Dog-napping spot? / Dad's noncommittal response to a kid's request / Desert plant with many uses / Toy that comes out of a spray can / Casually talk about one's connections to celebrities
Monday, November 24, 2025
Constructor: Zhou Zhang
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- SITTING PRETTY (20A: Comfortably well-off)
- LUCKY CHARMS (32A: Cereal with "marbits" and a leprechaun mascot)
- SILLY STRING (42A: Toy that comes out of a spray can)
Marbit refers to a bit of dried marshmallow that is often pressed into a colorful shape and included in some sweetened breakfast cereals. (merriam-webster.com)
• • •
So there's a predictive search preference for "dog," but not much of one. I've certainly heard "lucky duck," and its currency is attested all over the place, so there's no actual problem here. Curiously, both LUCKY DOG and LUCKY DUCK are brands of beer ...
[Why are the mascots of kids' cereals so often (well, at least twice) antagonists? I mean, Tony the Tiger is a coked-up people pleaser who's happy to push Frosted Flakes on anyone who'll listen (yeah, "they're grrrreat," Tony, we get it), but Lucky here tries to thwart the kids' pursuit of their morning sugar high, and the Trix Rabbit ... well, he's not really trying to deprive the kids, he just keeps committing fraud in order to get Trix because he's jonesing so hard, but then the kids thwart him by discovering he's a rabbit and lecturing him about species-appropriate behavior. I want a mascot that puts these damn kids in their place. "You're gonna eat your mush and like it, you obnoxious brats!"]
Solving this one Downs-only resulted in two problem sections, the first much more serious than the second. Up top, I completely whiffed on all of the short Downs from 5 to 8. No idea where the dog was supposed to be napping (5D: Dog-napping spot? = CRATE), thought [Muggy] was MOIST (!), had "C'MON" for 7D: "Let's do it!" ("I'M IN!"), and had both PINE and ACHE before LONG (8D: Yearn (for)). That's a lot of whiffing. And yet, since I had the SIT- and managed to work out the -ETTY, I was able to infer the entirety of the phrase SITTING PRETTY, and that gave me the letters I needed to get HUMID and LONG and the rest of them. The second, less tough trouble spot was in the south, where I had CACTI before AGAVE (48D: Desert plant with many uses), and didn't know if it was supposed to be ZONK or CONK at 54D: Fall asleep, with "out" (CONK). I also found "ASK MOM" very hard to parse (45D: Dad's noncommittal response to a kid's request). I guess referring the questioner to another person is noncommittal, but I really wanted something equivalent to "maybe." But again, being able to infer the long answer (the revealer) made all the problems down there disappear.
Bullet points:
- 33D: Alvin and his back up singers (CHIPMUNKS) — I'm culling my LP collection and one of the records that's going is Christmas with the CHIPMUNKS. It's an appealingly kitschy piece of music history, but I can't imagine voluntarily listening to that much chipmunk voice. Novelty wears off real quick. The only CHIPMUNKS Christmas song I know well and the only one I care to know (sorry to start playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving ... I'm usually pretty strict about this):
- 9D: Casually talk about one's connections to celebrities (DROP NAMES) — this reminds me of the time that Anne Hatha- ... sorry, I mean: this is definitely a real phrase and yet has been supplanted, largely (at least in my vocabulary), by the verb "namedrop."
- 3D: Flabbergasted (GOBSMACKED) — the big winner of the day. Such a pleasure to get this in my NW corner as opposed to the dense assortment of garbage I've been getting of late. The grid occasionally gets a little thick with repeaters (that OER ETNA ENNUI ERS patch, e.g.), but mostly it holds up very well. No wincing today. And GOBSMACKED—mwah!
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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39 comments:
Fun, breezy Monday. I've always wondered - I feel like this is about the third ATV in as many days, and is it a conscious editorial decision to reinforce the crosswordese, or just there's only so many AYOs so there's little choice ?
Very easy, even for Monday. Never heard of DUCKDUCKGOOSE, but it made for a sensible theme.
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Place for a castle (5)
2. Medium for some ephemeral art (5)
3. Boos (7)(4)
4. Foreign exchange? (4)(3)(3)
5. Cab driver? (4)(6)
BEACH
LATTE
SWEETIE PIES
QUID PRO QUO
WINE SELLER
My favorite encore clues from last week:
[It may bring out the kid in you] (8)
[Departed unceremoniously] (6)
CESAREAN
ELOPED
Everything ~RP said.
Nothing to be gobsmacked about, but cutely silly, professionally crafted, with some colorful Downs and a punny revealer.
As they say in some parts of New Hampshire,
Thanks for all the fun ZZ, Top work!
It’s good to see that GOBSMACKED was invited to the party. I’ve always thought that was a cool word.
I hadn’t thought about the CHIPMUNKS in years. I know I had their albums back like 60 years ago. Other than the fact that one of them was named Alvin, everything else about them is a distant memory. I probably moved on pretty quickly on to my “Speed Racer” phase - although I don’t recall too much about him either (he had a cool theme song though).
A fun Monday, and a nice write-up this morning by OFL.
What a Monday should be - easy quick, fun. A sweet reminder of childhood birthday parties playing DUCKDUCKGOOSE, going NUTs with a can of SILLYSTRING, having LUCKYCHARMS at your friend’s house because they were never allowed in your own.
Ha!!
Because, by its very nature (in folklore), a leprechaun is mischievous and elusive. It's what they are. For an "Irish" themed cereal, I suppose you could have a snake as a mascot (as in St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland), but who would buy it?
As for the silly rabbit, his deviousness is a play on the name of the cereal - Trix. I suppose an alternative mascot would be a sex worker turning tricks, but I suspect you would run into some trouble marketing that to kids.
But better to keep these addictive sugar bombs away from kids, anyway.
A great Monday puzzle, btw.
Hey All !
Pretty neat Theme idea. Fun to discover.
This is a rewrite, as I accidentally closed this page on my phone! Phooey.
Liked the puz, nice Themers, plus four nice Long Downs.
Nice to see ENNUI again, it's been a while since last seen.
Nary an F, but if you change SE corner, you could get one.
GOOSE
___PROF
___AIDE
___MEOW
Just sayin'. 😁
Have a great Monday!
No F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Solving Downs Only, got hung up for a while over GOBSMACKED, a word I use with nearly daily frequency. Tried GOne Mental at first pass. Also, CRATE (Couch wasn't working, so what the HELL is it?). An across had _UMOR but HUMOR there didn't seem to be working. So those were the two really sticky spots for me. The rest wasn't too bad, except that I did have some trouble by wanting to put in the too-short "namedrop", before the obvious rectification occurred to me.
Although I don't feel I have time to linger over both a Downs Only solve and review the acrosses and the rest of it post-solve -- the day ahead beckons -- it did look like a nice assemblage of words and phrases. I'll trust that Rex's 3.5. is on the money.
I'll see you all later.
In her notes, Zhou (the constructor) illustrates how crosswords bring ancillary pleasures aside from simply successfully filling in the box.
Isn’t that the truth? In her case, it brought her new friendship and bolstered her connection with her best friend.
Crosswords have garnered me new friends as well, but I see its ancillary gifts almost every time I solve a puzzle. It pings sweet memories I haven’t visited in ages, and broadens my knowledge. The cleverness and constructing skill lift my mood. The brain workout enlivens me.
Then I come here and experience wit, new knowledge, wisdom, banter, different takes on the puzzle, and tales from the lives of others – a slice of reality that is ever fresh, every day.
Oh, crosswords are not the meaning of life, but what a sweet supplement, no?
Thank you, Zhou, for a fun solve today, where I had everything from a “Is ‘silly duck’ a common phrase?” moment, to Alvin the Chipmunk’s voice, to coming across a lovely quartet of words (DAPPLE, KNAVE, GOBSMACKED, ENNUI).
You have had three NYT puzzles, all upper-tier, IMO, and I’m hoping for more. Thank you!
Down Only, I solved the entire puzzle except 13D, so this is Best Monday Puzzle Ever. Somehow, I got all those short downs that Rex says he initially whiffed on. I could be wrong, but I think Lucky Duck may be something that kids were more likely to say (maybe way back when), and Lucky Dog may be more the adult version. But I definitely hear kids saying Lucky Duck in the deep recesses of my mind — Lucky Dog, not so much.
I have to seriously question DuckDuckGo as a search engine if the first result for "lucky d" is Lucky Dube. Not that he was not noteworthy, but he's been gone for twenty years now and I'm pretty sure never had a hit in the US.
You beat me to it.
Well said, as usual, Lewis. ZZ has had only three NYT puzzles so far? They have all stood out to me as exceptionally good—I assumed she was an old hand whose name I had only recently noticed. May her puzzles keep coming!
Fun puzzle.
Didn’t the Toucan mascot for Fruit Loops also play around in the same vein as the Leprechaun?
As long as the DUCK and GOOSE don't end up on the ROTISSERIE tied up with SILLY STRING, we'll all be SITTING PRETTY. What a fun puzzle! And maybe my fastest Monday ever. Easy, breezy, delightful. Thanks, Zhou Zhang!
The family saying here is LUCKYDUCK when referring to the grandchildren who are unabashedly spoiled by us, as in, another sleep over for you, you LUCKYDUCK. Dog wouldn't work so well when referring to children.
CRATE had me think of a dognapper putting Fido in one, ICKY. Also had OFL's ZONK before CONK, which led to an unlikely string of letters, Easy fix.
Alvin is famous but let's not forget Simon and Theodore. Alvin would never have made it as a soloist.
Really enjoyed your Monday offering, ZZ. @Karl Grouch has already claimed my ZZ Top reference, so I'll just say Zesty, Zippy, and thanks for all the fun.
Fun puzzle and fun write-up. Had only two write overs as I pecked my way through. Initially entered “tease” for Kid, and “z” for “c” you know where. I thought this was a well-arranged puzzle filled with delightful words and phrases.
Hah, thanks Karl! Maybe when I retire I should open a store called “ZZ’s Tops”! Alrighty, I’ll see myself out…
@Andy -- I'm guessing you're thinking of Zhouqin Burnikel, who has had 83 NYT puzzles, beginning in 2012 -- a different constructor than today's.
He must have thought Toucan play at this game.
My excuses for overstepping;)
I enjoyed this one, but a couple of repeats seemed unnecessary: SKY and SKIED as answers, and “toy” in a clue followed by TOYED as an answer. Seems like lazy editing.
@Liveprof: You get a red card for that AND a five puzzle suspension
No way that the past participle SKIED of SKI counts as a dupe or repeat of SKY, since SKI and SKY are entirely different words.
A partial dupe between an answer and a clue to which it is not paired seems less grievous to me. I'm not sure to what extent the rules of yore applied to this situation.
Really? Never? where are you from?
A game where small children sit in a circle, whilst one child walks around the circle tapping heads saying, duck. At one point the circling child taps a head and says, “goose.” At that point the designated “goose “ jumps up and chases the tapping child, who tries to get round to the now empty spot. The tapped (goose) child is the new goose. And so it goes until recess is over.
Huh, gray duck didn't fit at the end of 51A.
Rex is correct about the CHIPMUNKS and how much one can tolerate of that sound - I made it 27 seconds into the video.
Marbits, well, it's true that it's a lot shorter than "marshmallow pieces".
It's "lucky duck" for me - why wouldn't you go for the rhyming pair instead of "lucky dog"?
I love the clue for PRUNE, "It's plum dried out!" I didn't see it while solving, too bad.
Great little Monday puzzle, thanks Zhou Zhang!
Christmas with the Chipmunks was one of the very few records we had when I was a kid. As an adult I found one at Half Price Books. I bought it and I'm keeping it. :) That doesn't mean I listen to it more than once a year...
Exemplary Monday… I chuckled out loud. And lucky duck was More common than lucky dog when I was a kid
I had the same snags as Rex in the north (downs-only): CRATE, HUMID, the PINE/ACHE/LONG conundrum. The bottom half was easier mostly because the long Downs CHIPMUNKS and ROTISSERIE were straightforward. GOBSMACKED required -O-SM- from AXON SITTINGPRETTY RPM (RELIT and PRUNE were easy). I wanted NAMEDROP at 8D, saw that it didn't fit, and was expecting it to be a different kind of ----DROP that was unfamiliar to me. Not the case.
Easy & Monday go hand-in-hand. Easy & enjoyable is what the constructor has given us today. Thank you ZZ & hope to see more from you again soon :)
BTW - "Dog Napping Spot" is - although it doesn't fit - LAP.
I was also surprised, but maybe the children's game is less widespread than I thought. In the interest of keeping it constructive: Duck, duck, goose. It does go back a ways.
Wasn't gobsmacked by this puzzle but I liked it. Lots of good clues and the themer was very apt. 4 stars easily.
My heart goes out to those unlucky dogs who have to sleep in a CRATE. Let them have the sofa they LONG for.
Back in the day, you were really cool if your car had a tachometer to show the RPMs; I guess they are standard equipment now, but I did hesitate a moment before writing it in.
I liked the ICKY/INKY pair, and only yesterday I was reminded at a concert that the nearest EXIT was behind me. And the microscopic "building blocks" mini-theme.
I'm not very horsey, but while I've hear a horse called a DAPPLE gray, I've never heard just DAPPLE. Probably that's just me.
Easy, no WOEs and no costly erasures.
No junk, amusing theme, some fine long downs, liked it a bunch or what @Rex said!
Croce solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1064 was medium Croce for me with a fun center stack. Good luck!
Nice Fine Young Cannibals choice (pun intended)!
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