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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
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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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] |
 |
| [Social Alfie] |
That's all for today. See you next time.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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- Westwords (Berkeley, CA, Jun. 14, 2026)
📘 My other blog 📘:
- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)
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.
ReplyDeleteIn 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
Just saw Richard Shindell in concert!
Delete4:55 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. : )
ReplyDeleteLiked your idea from yesterday about doing a Dylan grid. You could probably pick one of the longer songs and do a Sunday with a lot of themers.
DeleteCHARD is not a salad green. It’s a cooking green. No?
ReplyDeleteI had same reaction but then looked it up and found out otherwise 🤷🏻
DeleteThat 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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"
tht, ditto on the ad-filled grid. And I also have been (mentally) mispronouncing ROUE all these years. Now I’m kinda sorry I looked up its etymology.
DeleteBut man, that Nina Simone could sing!
tht
DeleteAnnoyed with myself. You gave someone who knows French a huge hint and I still had to look the origin up!
Nice easy Monday. Didn't consider the theme until I was done.
ReplyDeleteAs 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
ReplyDelete(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:
Delete[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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Hand up for inot before TIED, jberg. I solve Mondays downs-mostly, i.e., with some peeking at across clues. Typically, I read the 1A clue, then remember that it’s Monday and I shouldn’t. Today that little lapse put a wrong answer in my head for starters. I would have had a faster solve if I hadn’t looked.
DeleteCute 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.
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteNice MonPuz. Good theme, zippy-to-get answers, and a ROO! 😁
Having BABYLO_I_N in the grid, kept thinking how BABY LOTION referred to the Code of Hammurabi. Maybe he wanted soft skin?
Dad got me a KOALA stuffed toy when I was young (maybe 8 or 9?), still have it, somewhere in a box in the closet, dang bear is pushing 50!
Not sure if this is anything, but, there's no other answer that starts with a SMALL synonym. Quick assessment, maybe I missed one or two?
The ROO count is now 6 for the year. @pablo, we need an EMMA to get you a quarter -point to get you to 2! 😁
Welp, hope y'all have a great Monday!
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Both BABYLONIAN and the Code of Hammurabi mean nothing to me - I’m woefully inept at even Monday-level popular culture. Oh well, we all have our burdens to bear, I suppose. The constructor didn’t make it any easier for me with the Jared LETO cross (no, I don’t know the dude, apparently he won an Oscar).
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the GoT answer was pretty discernible via the crosses (and the theme was apparent by the time I tried to tackle that one). It’s easier to stumble and bumble over PPP in a Monday puzzle when there are copious crosses available to help. I also learned what a MOUE is today - Rex made it the WOTD so I suspect I may not be alone on that one.
Gotta say @SJ, you made me chuckle when you refer to Babylon and the Code of Hammurabi as “popular culture.”
DeleteAn early attempt at civil law. An eye for an eye...
DeleteSouthside Johnny
DeleteTo elaborate on Beezer’s comment, I was required to take Ancient History in high school, although I didn’t want to, so Babylon was etched in my brain. Also I am not Jewish but have read about the Babylonian Captivity.
Okay Monday puzzle and cute theme, although Rex was more muted in his defense of CATS. Well, "this clue is just dumb" probably said what was needed. Enjoyed the loving follow-up and pictures.
ReplyDeleteBesides, his (expected) F-bomb rant about the hatemongering HP creator must have sated his anger. Laughed out loud at "no penalties have been assessed".
Hand up for (like @jberg) confidently entering "in ot" off the bat. That phrase gets enough play, so happily, and easily, fixed.
And what's dumber?...UCLA et al in the Big "Ten", or Stanford and Cal in the ACC, the Atlantic Coast Conference. Wait, it's about money?...yes, now I get it.
Enjoyable Monday solve and read; thanks!
Rena’s puzzle has elements that lift it above Monday-ordinary.
ReplyDelete• 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!
MINISTRYOFTRUTH would have worked.
ReplyDeleteMOUE is not a Monday word.
Or MINISTRYOFPEACE from the same novel.
DeleteI had the same reaction as both Anonymous. about Ministry of ——-
DeleteDegree of difficulty for a Monday precludes either due to the vast popularity of the children’s series vs a classic novel like 1984. Sad but inevitable.
Orwell got the idea for the Ministry of Truth from the fact that Stalin’s official party paper , Pravda, which was always full of lies, translates as Truth Also as in Truth Social.
Kodak is a film company, not a camera company
ReplyDeleteWow. Interesting since a lot of childhood photos that were taken of me was with a KODAK Brownie Hawkeye.
DeleteThey've also made cameras.
DeleteKodak Cameras
DeleteThis old timer sez me too!
Deletedid you really say that? do you really not know that it was a camera company, as well, and that every kid in the latter half of the 20th century grew up with a Kodak camera? Please tell me you are joking.
DeleteGetting BABY to start an answer is kind of a nice misdirection, especially when it turns into BABYLONIAN. Didn't see that coming. I did see all the SMALL synonyms but needed the ST of the revealer to come up with STARTSMALL, which of course made sense. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteToday's only not-a-Monday-word has to be MOUE, which I wrote in after reading the clue and thought, now where have you been? I liked the HIP/DOPE cross and my only tiny speed bump was waiting for AMIGO or AMIGA.
Speaking of cats, just saw this online--Person talking to cat--You think this house is all yours, don't you? Cat-Well, you can't spell homeowner without "meow".
Nice enough Mondecito, RC. A Really Classic example of a Monday, and thanks for all the fun.
@Roo--Yeah, I saw it, I saw it. Go ahead and start taking your victory lap.
Solving down only, the theme escaped me. Not reading across clues, I didn’t realize STARTSMALL was the revealer, and that answer and WEEDWHACKER and (sorta) MINISTRY OF MAGIC were all alliterative, so I got stuck on that — and of course it got me nowhere. Other than that, I had fun.
ReplyDeleteAs I always say about my granddaughter, Loni - - isn't BABYLONIAN angel? And if she grows up to be a registered nurse, "YEARN"!
ReplyDeleteWhen Eve asked the serpent whether she should really bite the apple, he said yes, but it was a SNAKEEYES.
Congrats, @ROO, you bounder!
WEEDWHACKER sounds like someone who really pounds the DOPE.
You know you're in for a bad meal when you ask for a CHARD salad and they bring you barbecued lettuce and tomatoes.
Real quick D.O. solve today - - Down and Out. Thanks for a teensy but really nice theme, Rena Cohen.
I admire Rex's leniency as I found this extra distasteful in not merely throwing some hokey name in the puzzle as filler it actually featured a Harry Potter element as its central answer. Pretty much disqualifying from the get-go, on both bigotry and perpetual childishness fronts.
ReplyDeleteA good Monday puzzle.It’s funny about moue. I thought it was an exaggerated lip movement when a teenage girl or young woman takes a selfie to seem sexy or coy.🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteI think that might be doing the “duck lips” face. Well. That’s what I call it. Michelle Pfeiffer has the look naturally and she was/is sexy looking, so I think it kind of goes for that look.
DeleteI agree with RP that cats are social. The thing is - it’s strictly on their terms or the whole deal is off. You just have to accept that and not expect otherwise. Looks like Alfie and Ida have trained their humans quite nicely.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking along those lines. Cats just have their own schedules.
DeleteYes. The ONLY time a cat seems anti-social is if a “loud” stranger comes in…unlike most doggos that want to see what the heck is going on and see if they can join the party immediately.
DeleteHad cheat before ASTRO, but who can blame me?
ReplyDeleteSolved this downs-only and not only didn’t notice the theme but completely forgot there was supposed to be one until I read this. Guess I was in the zone 😅
ReplyDelete"I" CARE
ReplyDelete"I"MAC
"I"MS
SO DO "I"
Loved it. Thank you Rena Cohen and Will Shortz. To quote Christopher Hitchens, “Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods.”
ReplyDeleteCan I get an amen here?
DeleteSolved as a themeless then I came here. Cute Monday, Rena, thank you :)
ReplyDelete@Rex - GOTTA LOVE THAT IDA!!!
ReplyDeleteEasy. No costly erasures but I did not know BABYLONIAN and MINISTRY OF MAGIC.
No junk and an amusing theme that I did not see coming, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1114 was an easy-medium Croce for me, with the bottom half a bit tougher than the top. Good luck!
While "first word" themes are pretty ho-hum, I must say the theme answers were all pretty unique and interesting, a good mix. And they were consistent with the small starts in that they were all part of a bigger word. Not that I noticed this while solving.
ReplyDeleteRex's comment about not teaching your pet to sic 'em reminded me of what happened yesterday at a birthday party for a 5-year-old boy, my great nephew. Some idiot gave him a plastic gun that shot some sort of projectile. After being pointed at people a couple of times, it was taken away. (Our niece assured us that it would be made to disappear after the party.) My mother-in-law (95 years old) walked over to the birthday boy and told him to never point a gun at a person, only point it at animals. My sister-in-law and I, hearing this, were horrified, but it was so awful we laughed for about 5 minutes. I can't even...
Rena Cohen, thanks for a well-made Monday puzzle!
Good story on the birthday party…and your mother-in-law! My tag on to yours…when my BIL and now ex-wife visited us with our niece and nephew (they are now 38 and 33) my husband’s sister and other brother (in there 30s) started playing with Nerf guns given to the niece and nephew…chasing each other around and shooting Nerf projectiles at each other. My ex-SIL was beyond horrified (and angry) and basically banned the Nerf guns. Flash forward to a holiday season gathering when niece/nephew were in their early twenties and my NIECE wanted to go to…a shooting range! So. As far as I know…NO ONE in our immediate family owns a gun. My point? Who knows. Everyone can gather their own conclusions. I just know that my husband and I (nor OUR children) were involved in the kerfuffle, and we were very happy not to be.
Delete@Beezer, I’m sure the birthday boy will eventually be subsumed into the hunting tradition shared by my husband's side of the family. But my mother-in-law seemed to be giving carte blanche to aiming at the family dog or the neighbor's horses or any poor rodent on their property, not what I think she was “shooting” for.
DeleteExcellent story! My experience was similar but for some reason, since pointing guns was banned, my little posse might be the reason that the very dangerous “Jarts” toy was discontinued. Sure, let your imaginations run wild. Thankfully, we never actually impaled anyone.
DeleteStraightforward Downs-only solve. I had the same experience as Rex re: the BABY starter.
ReplyDeletePHILADELPHIA ROLL would be a solid themeless seed (in an oversized grid), with the "money" cluing angle. The Stumper would probably bewilder solvers with a clue like [The ones inside of it are hidden].
Monty Python's brilliant Ministry of Silly Walks would have been a much better choice.
ReplyDeleteBABYLONIAN: Mommy Lonian's little girl. [Low-hanging fruit. Hi egs!]
MOUE: What cows say in France.
Horror film for vegetarians: "Celery STALKs at Midnight."
KODAK: What defensive linemen seek to do to QB Prescott when playing the Cowboys.
Our cat, Philly, named after Ochs, wasn't anti-social: She was just afraid of anyone outside the immediate family. She'd run down to her safe zone in the basement whenever we had visitors. It presented her with quite a quandary when someone like a plumber came over who had to work in the basement.
Broccoli stalks are also the best part when peeled, sliced and whatever. I prefer my Swiss chard sautéed. I'll always take Nina one more time.
ReplyDeleteLiked 3 out of 4 of the SMALL STARTs OK. But then we have WEED, which is clearly an outlier:
ReplyDelete1. It's a separate word, unlike all the other "small" themers.
2. Not all WEEDs are small. Check out our backyard flower garden, f'rinstance ...
3. Actually, MINI also gets some slightly low marks, for bein part of some no-know Harry Potter org. M&A don't speak Potter-ese.
staff weeject pick: CYA. M&A also don't speak text-style. But, but ... great alternate clue: {With a runt-roll westward: Blue shade} = CYAN.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Veni, ___, vici} = VIDI. M&A does speak Latin.
A few MonPuz hard spots: RAMEN [not back in my dorm days; might be popular at the RAMADA, tho]. LETO. CYA. Rememberin whether it's EPSON or EPSOM. UCLA in the Big Ten [Big 10 has gotten pretty weird, since my Illini schooldays: Now has 18 schools, from coast to coast. 18 is sorta a really "big" ten, I guess? Wouldn'ta flew in my Illini Math Dept., tho].
Thanx for the start-ling puztheme, Ms. Cohen darlin. VIDI y'all again, soon.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
The SMALL START of WEEDWHACKER is WEE, not WEED.
DeleteM & A
DeleteThink WEE.
@JC66 - Thanx. Clearly I didn’t eyeball @RP’s theme explanation close enough. Now I’m intrigued to think of themers that woulda started with a r-u-n-t- …
DeleteM&A
p.s. Ahar! RUNTHEGAMUT! runtastic.
@M&A
DeleteI thought you were joshing about the WEED. It's kinda funny you didn't see the WEE, since you're so fond of weejects.
I guess the ole brain works in mysterious ways!
RooMonster Often Faux-paher Myself Guy
The Harry Potter reference certainly tainted an otherwise enjoyable puzzle. But we've had to endure Idi Amin clues for years, and running interference for transphobic bigots is kind of a New York Times specialty, so I guess it's to be expected.
ReplyDeletereally?
DeleteBill I have to disagree ll am anti Trump and never voted Republican on the national level in my whole life (I am also gay FWIW) But I don’t want a newspaper to turn into a “progressive” equivalent of Truth Social or Fox. That the Times does not ban opinion contrary to the progressive party line is a plus, not a minus. The fact that the anti Trump press is not party line like the MAGA press shows that Fox et al are the true fascists supporting a fascist president.
DeleteAlfie and the Rumble Ponies shirt reminds me of the Chesapeake & Ohio's Chessie.
ReplyDeleteA very nice, tidy Monday. Clever theme and a revealer that did it's job and was fun to parse.
ReplyDeleteThe themers are elegant and properly long and the perfect difficulty level for an early week puzzle. However, like @Rex, I'd be all too happy not to see a Harry Potter reference again, but ya gotta admit, the phrase MINISTRYOFMAGIC is really excellent crossword fare and, in another world, seems like a good organization to be part of.
Managed to spell AIOLI right the first time (I may be alone but I *never* do) and other than that, no real big challenges.
This is one of those Mondays that would be just as fun for a seasoned solver as well as a beginner. Great stuff, Rena! Thank you!
And now on to this Monday's Hugh's Haikus:
Never close to TIED,
Sixers bid ADIEU this year
The Knicks DEALT the loss.
As a tennis player I have a nit with 39D. An unreturned serve occurs when the receiving player cannot legally hit the ball back after a serve. So most unreturned serves are not aces (they are missed shots). Also the clue for sack is just wrong. A sack requires tackling the QB for a loss of yardage. Tackling the QB after an 80 yard run is not a sack
ReplyDeleteTrue about an Ace. I had the same thought. But your thought was better than mine, and your also demonstrated that a tennis player's knowledge extends to the pseudo sport of American football
Delete¡Una cucaracha!
ReplyDeleteYikes. Not much to love here. Too gunky, too not funny, and an anemic theme.
HARRY POTTER IS #1. As you might imagine, the author SKEWS to the wackados, so nothing particularly great goes on at the MINISTRY OF MAGIC. When you're relying on a 17-year-old boy to save the world from a tyrant, you might as well be living in America.
❤️ WEED WHACKER.
😫 MOUE.
People: 3
Places: 3
Products: 12 {on a Monday}
Partials: 6
Foreignisms: 3
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 27 of 78 (35%)
Funny Factor: 1 🤨
Tee-Hee: DOPE.
Uniclues:
1 Best place to rent a car for a car.
2 Those times in history when soaking your feet ruled the world.
3 Bear ready to bear it.
1 BABYLONIAN AVIS
2 EPSOM ERAS
3 GIVE IT A GO KOALA
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Two Years Ago: Get busy. LEAVE CELIBACY.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Really nice Monday! Fun even on the phone!
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/XW8MwFSU6kA?si=Dmq7L633GVnSyffA
ReplyDeleteA Philadelphia roll is sushi with cold-smoked salmon (Nova), cream cheese, scallion, cucumber, and possibly avocado. Sushi purists consider it an abomination. I consider it a guilty pleasure.
ReplyDelete