.png)
British rowhouses / FRI 1-30-26 / Small branch of Marvel Comics? / Jalapeño topper / Call ahead, in a way / Mylar alternative / Switch to a shorter line, say / Leader of China? / Group of Alpha males? / Piedmont province with a namesake wine / Brand whose logo has an A-shaped caliper / Capture a moment, in fiction / Chaney of classic horror / Elicit the facepalm emoji, say
Friday, January 30, 2026
Constructor: Robyn Weintraub
Relative difficulty: Medium
Word of the Day: MEWS (31D: British rowhouses) —
A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential areas, having been built to cater for the horses, coachmen and stable-servants of prosperous residents.The word mews comes from the Royal Mews in London, England, a set of royal stables built 500 years ago on a former royal hawk mews. The term is now commonly used in English-speaking countries for city housing of a similar design. [...] Mews derives from the French muer, 'to moult', reflecting its original function to confine a hawk to a mews while it moulted. William Shakespeare deploys to mew up to mean confine, coop up, or shut up in The Taming of the Shrew: "What, will you mew her up, Signor Baptista?" and also Richard III: "This day should Clarence closely be mewed up".
The term mews is still used today in falconry circles in English-speaking countries to refer to the housing of the birds of prey used in falconry. (wikipedia)
• • •
The difficulty for me today was entirely in the short stuff. Luckily, the short stuff is mostly not ugly stuff, so I didn't mind the fight (I do resent fighting for what is ultimately a cruddy answer). Trouble with the short stuff started early, in NW, with both RADIO (2D: Call ahead, in a way) and EDIT (17A: Switch to a shorter line, say). In neither case was I imagining the correct context. I might "call ahead," but I would never RADIO anyone, as I am not a cop checking in with headquarters (or whoever else "radios" on a regular basis. Cabbies? Military personnel?). And the clue on EDIT had me thinking of checkout lines, obviously. I forgot that [British rowhouses] were called MEWS (at M-WS I actually thought "MOWS?"). A LOT was hardish to get to via 32D: Every day, say. And it went on like this, with the clues to the answers testing me, and then the long answers thrilling me. FRAT came as a total surprise (46D: Group of Alpha males?)—is there a FRAT that's abbreviated "Alpha"? I guess the Greek letter alone was supposed to tip me. I had NOTES before TONES (57A: Steps on a scale), which kept that FRAT corner tough. Without a "?" on [Jalapeño topper], the fact that it was a "letteral" clue (referring specifically to the TILDE on the letter Ñ) never occurred to me. In that same section, I wanted SINO- before INDO- (55A: Leader of China?). As for "DEEP," no way (58A: "Whoa ... that's too much for my brain to handle!"). No hope. I don't think the clue is very good. How do I know something's "DEEP" if it's "too much for my brain to handle"? Makes no sense. If my brain can't handle it, maybe it's just "CONFUSING" or "WRONG." Or maybe it's shallow and I'm just "STUPID." Is the tone of "DEEP" facetious? Mocking? Again, without crucial context, this clue did nothing for me. But it's the only toughish clue that I ended up booing at. The rest all seemed fair and fine.
Bullets:
- 5A: Piedmont province with a namesake wine (ASTI) — "Piedmont" = "wine" = four letters = ASTI. Reflex answer.
- 24A: It's -90º at the South Pole: Abbr. (LAT.) — yes I wrote in LOW and no I will not be taking any questions at this time.
- 36A: Brand whose logo has an A-shaped caliper (ACURA) — I never really thought about that logo as looking like anything in particular, but of course it's a caliper. Maybe if I worked with calipers more often (i.e. at all), that fact would've registered.
- 39A: Mylar alternative (LATEX) — again, need context! Looks like maybe ... balloons? Probably other stuff too, but there are definitely both LATEX and mylar balloons.
- 40A: Capture a moment, in fiction (STOP TIME) — "in fiction?" You "capture a moment" by ... depicting it. That's all fiction is. I don't really know what this clue is referring to, specifically. STOP-TIME is also a term from the jazz world: "a technique or effect in which the rhythm section stops playing for one or more beats each measure, usually for a chorus, while a soloist continues to play" (Collins). It's also the name of this song.
- 6D: Eggshell, for one (SHEEN) — another short one that flummoxed me. I knew it was a COLOR or a HUE, a SHADE of, say, stocking, but SHEEN, you got me there. I guess we're talking about paint.
- 28D: Florida setting for "The Birdcage" (SOUTH BEACH) — me: "ooh, I know this." me also: [writes in SOUTH MIAMI].
That's all. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️:
✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
- Boswords 2026 Winter Wondersolve (online) (Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026)
- American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration closed!)
📘 My other blog 📘:
- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
Save And Share :
6 comments:
It was fine - not as enamored as Rex and not one of RW’s finest but definitely solid all around. SPIRAL GALAXY and GHOST STORIES shine.
Less Than ZERO
Kind of like the LAT - LON pair - I’m assuming that was intentional? The majority short stuff was gluey - the entire SE corner fell flat. Maybe WEED KILLER provides the shade?
TONES On Tail
Overall enjoyable frigid Friday morning solve.
My Lonely Sad Eyes
]
Easy-Medium, but very enjoyable, for all the reasons @Rex cites.
* * * * *
Overwrites:
My 6D eggshell was a SHade before it was a SHEEN
9A: arose before goT UP before SAT UP
Plus before PERK at 13D after I fixed 9A
At 33D I had a grin before I BEAMed
Before reading either clue I had TAw (a type of marble?) for TAR at 53D and wHOS (characters in The Grinch) for RHOS at 59A
One WOE, BABY GROOT at 33A.
I had some trouble in the SE--you have to do more than just ERR to elicit the facepalm--you have to annoy or irk or say a pun or something. Hard for me to get a grip there, but I enjoyed the puzzle almost as much as @Rex and other than the SE found it easier than he implied.
Delightful puzzle as always from Robyn. I believe the Acura logo is basically the Honda logo with the top squished in, or at least it was originally?
Yes, yes, great puzzle! Robyn, you have quite a fan club here! 21 minutes for me, so medium or medium challenging--but right where it should be. Got ZERO but took forever to parse TMINUS.... It's hard to see "CMON" because your brain just rejects a word starting with 2 consonants like that, right? I thought a long time before WEEDKILLER came to mind... I kinda like Dandelions, they're a lovely shade of yellow.... I'm definitely not in the "my yard must be weed-free" category of people. I agree about REMAINing CALM while also FACing REALITY. A tough balancing act sometimes!!!!! Loved seeing BABYGROOT; SPIRALGALAXY was definitely the whooshy key to the SE. I was deceived by "enter here!" as a clue for far too long, thinking it was talking about someone walking, not someone typing. We've got FRAT on one end with Alpha and RHOS on the other end for a little greek minitheme. And always love me some STAX tracks... Promised Land and I've got a feelin' in my body or some of the classics of that album. Can't beat a little classic Elvis. Thanks, Robyn, for a wonderful Friday morning solve, as usual!!!!
Solid, clean but not very hard….except for confidently writing SPIRALNEBULA @9D which completely bollixed the SW. Ate up a couple of precious minutes while I stared blankly at the mess that created. As the sun rose and the stars went out my mistake dawned on me and everything else quickly fell into place.
Post a Comment