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Zinnia or sunflower / MON 5-18-26 / Governing body in the Harry Potter universe / Outlandishly over the top, in modern slang / Roll of two ones / Pioneering hybrid car / Stereotypically antisocial pets / English town famous for its salts / Cool, slangily
Monday, May 18, 2026
Constructor: Rena Cohen
Relative difficulty: Easy
Theme answers:
- BABYLONIAN (17A: Like the Code of Hammurabi)
- TOYOTA PRIUS (25A: Pioneering hybrid car)
- MINISTRY OF MAGIC (40A: Governing body in the Harry Potter universe)
- WEED WHACKER (50A: Gardener's tool)
Moue is one of two similar words in English that refer to a pout or grimace; the other is mow, which is pronounced to rhyme either with no or now. Mow and moue share the same origin—the Anglo-French mouwe—and have a distant relationship to a Middle Dutch word for a protruding lip. (They do not, however, share a relationship to the word mouth, which derives from Old English mūth.) While current evidence of moue in use in English traces back only a little more than 150 years, mow dates all the way back to the 14th century. Moue has also seen occasional use as a verb, as when Nicholson Baker, in a 1988 issue of The New Yorker, described how a woman applying lip gloss would "slide the lip from side to side under it and press her mouth together and then moue it outward…." (merriam-webster.com)
• • •
The Downs-only solve was a piece of cake. No sticking points, few hesitations. Took a few puzzled head-tilts to pick up GIVE IT A GO (11D: Attempt something), but SNAKE EYES (33D: Roll of two ones) was no problem, and none of the other Downs were longer than six letters, and the shorter the answers, the easier they are (typically) to get with no help from Acrosses. I say SNAKE EYES was easy, and it was, but my first thought wasn't dice. It was "A roll of two ones? That's a pretty pathetic roll." I was envisioning a roll of cash. You ever try making two $1 bills into a roll? Me either, but I imagine it would be hard. A "Philadelphia roll" is a thick roll of cash with a big bill on the outside and a lot of small bills on the inside (the idea being that you're fronting like you have a lot of money when you don't) (I just learned that the Philadelphia roll is also known as a Kansas City roll, a Texas roll, and a Michigan bankroll, so apparently lots of places came to be associated with phony rich guys). How do I know that term? Shrug, I just do. A Philadelphia roll is apparently also sushi. Sushi with cream cheese. Philadelphia cream cheese, I imagine. I did not know this.
Bullets:
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
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Bullets:
- 14A: West Coast sch. that joined the Big Ten in 2024 (UCLA) — When I was growing up, the Big Ten and the Pac Ten (UCLA's onetime division) were not just geographically distinct, but they were pitted against each other every single year in the Rose Bowl, so telling me that UCLA has joined the Big Ten is like telling me cats have joined dogs. If you say so, but ... I hate it.
- 22D: English town famous for its salts (EPSOM) — nailed it, first try (by "it" I mean the spelling of EPSOM; the printer is EPSON; the actor is EBSEN).
- 32D: Puppy school command (SIT) — for a split second I was prepared to write in SIC. Don't teach your puppy to SIC ('EM), teach it to be a loving lover who loves. It's a sweet baby, not a weapon.
- 71A: Stereotypically antisocial pets (CATS) — speaking of sweet babies, this clue is dumb. Just because cats are not needy and will occasionally or frequently spurn your affection does not mean that they are not social. Just tonight, Ida came into the room where we were having cocktails and flopped herself down on the floor between us. She didn't want to play or even interact, really. She just wanted to be where we were. That is typical. And that is social. Also, cats sit on their owners, sleep with their owners, climb on their owner's shoulders ... purr, purr, purr, social, social, social.
 |
| [Social Ida] |
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| [Social Alfie] |
That's all for today. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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11 comments:
Cute enough early week puzzle - I like the revealer and it’s generally well filled. Social activism or not - I didn’t know that kiddie lit central spanner - the crosses were fair.
In The WEE Small Hours
SNAKE EYES, GIVE IT A GO and CHARD are all solid. There’s little glue here - the grid is smooth and slick.
Enjoyable Monday morning solve. Now to face the roads without the trains.
Richard Shindell
4:55 for me, probably a personal best. I keep forgetting to try the downs only solve for Monday's puzzles, not sure why??? Anyhoo, enjoyed iti! Thanks, Rena. : )
CHARD is not a salad green. It’s a cooking green. No?
That was quick. The puzzle was fine, if a bit commercial in places (TOYOTA PRIUS, RAMADA, and before you get to the RAMADA, would you like to rent an AVIS?). Wasn't showing off, got the job done -- all in all I liked it, Rena Cohen.
I learn something from every puzzle, and today the thing I learned is that I've been mispronouncing MOUE all these years. Not that I've ever pronounced it aloud -- it was all internal -- but I just assumed from the look that it rhymes with "roue", where the French put an acute accent over the e. With two syllables. But no, it's make like a cow and say "moo". [Like the time Joey Tribbiani says a "moo point" (not moot point), because it's a cow's opinion: it doesn't matter. It's moo. Great little eggcorn.] Today I also learned the truly grisly origin of roué: I had vaguely thought it was connected to "rogue", because that is roughly what it connotes, but no, it's so much worse than that. In fact I'm not going to spell it out here, beyond the hint that it's "medieval" (and that's probably enough of a hint for many of you).
I've mentioned before in this forum how I dislike I CARE. It just sounds syrupy and phony. What's the expression in writing class? "Show, don't tell." Zactly. Don't say "I care", just get in there and care!
Oops, look at the time. "CYA"
Nice easy Monday. Didn't consider the theme until I was done.
As a long-time cat owner I'll echo Rex's comments. Cats are self-sufficient; independent without being antisocial.
My five favorite original clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Strains to hear? (5)
2. Here goes nothing! (6)(3)
3. They're concerned with feeding kits (6)
4. Trigger hair (4)
5. Don't start with me! (6)(8)
SONGS
VACANT LOT
VIXENS
MANE
SECOND STRINGER
My favorite encore clues from last week:
[Races against the clock] (4)(6)
[Give a hand?] (5)
TIME TRIALS
SHAKE
This one won me over with the first entry, which fooled me into putting in crossword staple "in ot." I just realized I should not have been fooled, since a penalty shootout is not "overtime," but I was fooled, so good for you, puzzle. Nice head fake.
I also liked the theme. I could see the revealer was likely to be START SMALL, but it still took me a few nanoseconds to see that MINISTRY had a hidden mini, etc. That and BABYLONIAN were especially good, since they changed their pronunciations.
Reading Rex, it occurs to me that this sort of theme can be easier to get when you solve downs-only, because the theme elements are likely to emerge before the concealing elements that follow them. I don't think I'll try it, though.
I went to the U of Wisconsin, and stopped following sports 20 years or so after I graduated; so I think it was either the NYT crossword or the Jerry Sandusky rape scandal that first made me aware that Penn State had moved into the Big 10. I was horrified, of course; but now it has gone overboard. Nothing to do with geography or other elements different schools may have in common, everything to do with money from TV sports. Cal and Stanford are now in the ACC; what sense does that make? Also, the big conferences have grown so large that they can't all play each other in football. Oh, right, that's why I quit watching sports. (Full disclosure: my wife's grandson just finished his last year in Ivy League baseball, but I held these views before all that began.)
But that is not to take anything away from the puzzle. In fact, thanks to Rena Cohen for reminding us of this strange development--and for a wonderful Monday puzzle.
Cute theme—gotta like it. And glad @Rex stood up for the affectionate side of the feline universe. Cats may exhibit a lot of independence and feistiness at times but they definitely have a warm side as well.
I had same reaction but then looked it up and found out otherwise 🤷🏻
Rena’s puzzle has elements that lift it above Monday-ordinary.
• Originality. While it’s a common theme type (“What do the starts of the theme answers have in common”), it’s a new iteration, I believe. Terrific idea!
• Pop. Three of the theme answers are NYT debuts and the fourth (BABYLONIAN) is a once-before.
• Elegance. The theme is very tight. There aren’t many synonyms for small, and far fewer that can be hidden at the beginning of words.
• Skill. Those “small” synonyms are very well hidden in the words that encase them.
• Entertainment. There are two theme riddles that can be cracked, to great satisfaction. First, spotting the “small” beginnings, and second, guessing the revealer, which often is very hard to do, but today it’s within reach.
• Junk-be-gone. The only glue in the grid is GLUE.
Your puzzle, Rena, as all your grids, had a sweet feel to it, but the added notes of competence and talent made it high quality as well. Thank you for a splendid outing!
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