Hall-of-Fame hoopster Thomas / MON 7-6-26 / Modern lead-in to coin or stock / Temporary suspensions / Cybertruck maker / European capital that's home to the Little Mermaid statue / Muppet with a noted feud with a pet rock / Instrument played by a Muse / Event that might include juggling, singing and magic tricks / 2009 comedy about a bachelor party and its aftermath / Steve ___, 2003 N.F.L. M.V.P.-winning quarterback / 1960s Pontiac muscle car / Serpent seen on a sarcophagus
Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners
Relative difficulty: Easy (solved Downs-only)
THEME: VOICE PARTS (56A: Sections of a choir ... as hinted at by this puzzle's circled letters) — the circled letters contain the voice parts ALTO, BASS, SOPRANO, and TENOR, respectively. I think (maybe???) the fact that the circled letters are non-consecutive is supposed to indicate "parting" in some way—like, the voices have been chopped into "parts" or been "parted" from one another (!?); otherwise, I'm not sure what the revealer is doing besides telling me something I can already clearly see for myself, i.e. that the circled letters contain voice parts:
Theme answers:
TALENT SHOW (17A: Event that might include juggling, singing and magic tricks)
BLANK STARES (24A: Looks of total confusion)
STOP, DROP AND ROLL (36A: Three-part fire safety technique)
THE HANGOVER (46A: 2009 comedy about a bachelor party and its aftermath)
Word of the Day: Chappell ROAN (37D: Singer Chappell with the double-platinum album "The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess") —
Kayleigh Rose Amstutz (born February 19, 1998), known professionally as Chappell Roan ([...]CHAP-əl ROHN), is an American singer and songwriter. She is known for her camp and drag queen–influenced style.
I was kind of high on the puzzle coming out of the NW, before I knew what the theme was. The fill felt fresh—I ran GALAPAGOS, SONGBIRD, and COPENHAGEN in pretty short order: a strong triad. But then I saw the theme, which is to say, I saw the ALTO in TALENT SHOW, and that ... was that? I had the first few circled squares of the next two themers and proceeded to just write in every voice part I could think of (without looking at the Across clues, of course):
The puzzle gave the game away too quickly. But I figured at least I might get a good revealer out of it, something to make all the non-consecutive circles make sense (non-consecutive circles that spell out things not being much of a feat on their own). What I got, by way of revealer, was VOICE PARTS, which, if it doesn't involve wordplay, is painfully literal and obvious and unnecessary (yes, those are VOICE PARTS, please tell me something I don't know), and if it does involve wordplay ... I'm not totally sure I understand it. The clue for VOICE PARTS says that it's "hinted at" by the circled letters, and "hinted" implies something more than simple literal description. But the wordplay ... what is "PARTS" supposed to suggest? That the voice parts have been broken into ... parts? That the letters that make up the voice parts have been ... parted from one another? A very unstuck landing, this revealer. So what might've been a 3-star puzzle gets dropped to 2.5 stars for the wobbly revealer. I considered raising it back to three because the fill was actually above average, on the whole, but then I was forced to take the half star back because of TEHRAN, IRAN, an incredibly dumb redundancy (10D: Capital city between Baghdad, Iraq, and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan). TEHRAN, IRAN? What else is it gonna be, TEHRAN, SWEDEN? The totally unnecessary attachment of the country at the end of that answer earned a red card from me. And sorry, that decision is final, no appeals. Also, seeing plural APRS yet again (twice in two days??) didn't help. Also, don't park your stupid Cybertruck in my puzzle and expect anything more than a middling to negative review (6D: Cybertruck maker). That's two days in a row of including that white supremacist buffoon in the puzzle. Enough already. I ignored it yesterday, but yeesh. Neither TESLA nor ELON requires you to point to that guy. Please stop.
The Downs-only solve was pretty dang smooth, aided as it was by all those free (circled) squares that the theme just handed to me. I had some trouble with TEHRAN, IRAN because wtf (see above), but not much trouble. My only real holdup was a dumb mistake: I wrote in TELE- instead of MEME at 45D: Modern lead-in to coin or stock. "Lead-in" had me thinking prefix and ... I dunno, maybe "telecoin" is a thing now. So many other dumb things are "coins," why shouldn't there be a telecoin? But the "T" and "L" from TELE really made the Acrosses lock up. Ended up with POLEL- and TCN-IR and it doesn't take a genius to see that those weren't going to work, so I looked to see which of my Down answers might be wrong and while at first I thought it might be DECREPIT (38D: Dilapidated), a second look made it clear it was TELE-. So, TELE- to MEME to victory, as MORATORIA finally fell into place (34D: Temporary suspensions).
Bullets:
15A: Muppet with a noted feud with a pet rock (ELMO) — "noted"? I see that yes, indeed, it has been noted. ELMO did not exist when I was a kid, so I still think of him the same way I think of the Jacksonville Jaguars—basically, he's an expansion Muppet. And since my daughter never watched Sesame Street (that I can remember) I've been blissfully unaware of whatever that annoyingly-voiced baby-talking puppet gets up to. But the pet rock thing has apparently been going on for over a quarter century, and there's even a book about this so-called "feud," so ... the clue is valid. Also, hats off to the EMO / ELMO cross. If you're having a "feud" with a pet rock ... yeah, you might be EMO. Ask your doctor.
19A: ___ wave (summer phenomenon) (HEAT) — topical. Maybe too topical. NYC had a record-setting HEAT wave just this past week. The added presence of HUMID today (47D: Like sticky summer weather) made it feel like the puzzle was just rubbing it in.
39D: Instrument played by a Muse (LYRE) — had my typical LUTE/LYRE confusion here, which made the SE section (already gummed up by my TELE-for-MEME error) even dicier.
35D: Basic skateboarding trick (OLLIE) — this was a gimme; it's in the crossword all the time. But today, perhaps because the puzzle was so name-y, I noticed how OLLIE was clued as a trick and not a name, and then I thought about how, before it was a skateboarding trick (first clued that way in 2011), OLLIE used to be clued as either one half of the comedy duo Laurel & Hardy (Stan Laurel and Oliver aka OLLIE Hardy) or as one part of the comedy trio Kukla, Fran & OLLIE (OLLIE was a dragon—also, a puppet, as was Kukla; Fran was just a regular human lady). OLLIE Hardy appears now only sporadically (as Stan's partner) and we haven't seen OLLIE the puppet dragon since 2015. Both old comedy OLLIEs were before my time, but ... I dunno, I kind of miss them. Skateboarding shmateboarding, I want my puppet dragon and/or bowler-wearing big guy!
[Did Tootsie Roll MINTEES ever catch on???]
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd] ============================= ❤️ Support this blog ❤️:
Solved it as a themeless. Nice puzzle, but as a long-time choir singer I share Rex's discomfort with the clumsy phrase "VOICEPARTS." "Vocal parts" would be better. "Parts" (alone) is better still.
Also a singer and I've heard the term VOICE PARTS all my life. I actually think "vocal parts" would be used only to distinguish those parts from instrumental parts.
As a bass, I stand among the other 3 VOICE PARTS when I sing. Not that I've ever heard them called that, but it is what they are. I also solved this as a themeless. I habitually ignore those stupid little circles.
Did it mostly downs only (sometimes I see one or two across clue by mistake.... definitely saw 1 across before I gained control of my visual joy-stick). The voice parts definitely helped me.... couldn't actually think of what "PARTS" was going to be for a long time, until I filled in the parts, so the ends of SOPRANO and TENOR helped me get more traction into that SE corner. I think @REX is pretty on target on the puzzle. It's a big city puzzle with COPENHAGEN and TEHRAN, and there's urban decay.... MORATORIA on construction in the DECREPIT, HUMID cities. Hardly an EDEN! Take me instead to New Delhi and at least I'll get some NAAN with my SMOG.... Thanks, Alex! : )
Overall fill was fine for early week - the big guy summarizes nicely. Little bit of a geography lesson but I liked both COPENHAGEN and GALAPAGOS x PLACID. Lots of names and trivia - nothing too obscure.
I still embrace all of the clues, even on Mondays, so I had crosses available to help with the Disney characters and other proper names. It’s hard to believe that whole Air McNair phenomenon is almost a quarter of a century behind us already. That was before we had MEME’s for basically everything (and AI Slop basically everywhere). Anyway, having the crosses available was especially helpful with longer downs today - I don’t think I would have come up with MORATORIA if I had been left to my own devices, for example. Still, an enjoyable way to kick off the week.
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance):
1. Bass player (6) 2. Choking cause, with "the" (4) 3. Word that becomes its opposite when its first letter is removed (5) 4. Blade runner? (10) 5. What has flatter feet? (3)
Lots of lovely longs today (11, significantly more than a typical Monday) – my favorites being MORATORIA, SONGBIRDS, DECREPIT, GALAPAGOS, COPENHAGEN, BLANK STARES, and STOP DROP AND ROLL.
My favorites among them are the sweet sing-song MORATORIA, so fun to say, and SONGBIRDS, which are gloriously singsonging as I type.
Add to that the rare-in-crosswords five-letter palindrome (SAGAS), the crossing rhymes GRAZE and AMAZE, and anagrams in which both words are also palindromes (NAAN/ANNA), and I’ve been put in a right good mood.
I sing in many choirs. “Voice parts” is the term of choice there, designating the tessitura. ‘Vocal parts” are those distinguished from instrumental lines, and can occur in any human range. Thus the revealer is correct and apt.
Anonymous 10:20 AM I think Easy Ed and Rex are.saying that having the clue requiring the city & country as the answer was silly and unnecessary. like Tokyo, Japan. But I think Rex but not Easy Ed overreacted. A constructor has to do what they have to do to make a puzzle work. Anyway,, sometimes we do say the country of famous cities for emphasis.
Two athletes I’ve never heard of made this harder for a Monday. Breezed through everything until those names brought the SW corner to a halt. Had to fight for every letter of MCNAIR. Apparently he was so good at throwing a ball 23 years ago we are all supposed to know his name.
McNair was not especially greatvat passing. He more than good enough but it was above average arm and supberg legs that made him a mint. His outsized libido made him a corpse.
I give up. A first DNF Monday in all these years. Being 81, I tripped on the SE. Never heard of MEME as a lead in to coin or stock, Not familiar with a POMELO. Guessed LOES for LOEB, Didn't know the Frozen princess was ANNA, and there's no such word as VOCAB. I feel deflated.
PaBear I am not much behind you in age but vocab first appeared IN PRINT in 1835. You might not call it a word but it is. Like exam. You might not like it but that’s standard fair in crossworld
Good Mondays and Tuesdays are accessible to novice solvers, don’t require knowledge of obscure crosswordese arcana, and generally solve as themelesses with a cute revealer that is entirely unnecessary to the solve.
This had all of those, but the revealer wasn’t wordplay cute, just a regular phrase.
Newbie solvers, the intended audience for Monday puzzles, will enjoy it. 4.5 stars.
No, there were two sister princesses, Princess Anna and Princess Elsa. Anna is the primary princess protagonist while her older sister Elsa is crowned Queen of Arendelle early in the story.
@Anonymous 8:35 AM Frozen in Four Letters -- for Crosswords: ELSA: Ice queen. ANNA: Long suffering little sister. OLAF: The snowman. SVEN: The reindeer. Interestingly, the bad boyfriend is HANS, but I don't think I've seen him in a grid before.
Yes - Anna was also a Frozen princess. My granddaughters were obsessed with Frozen when it first came out and my then one year old granddaughter constantly corrected me when I pronounced the character's name as "anne-uh" and said in a loud voice - "No, it's Ah-nuh!"
A perfectly fine if somewhat tame Monday. Like @Lewis said, many very nice long ones for an early week puzzle. And Like @Rex, TEHRANIRAN was a bit much. The revealer had me guessing for a quick second, I immediately threw in VOCAL for the first part and was a little disappointed that it just *had* to morph into VOICE. But the crosses made it easy and I guess VOICEPARTS is a legitimate phrase. HUMID and HEAT wave - too soon??? Yes!! At least for this New York/New Jersey guy... But timely fill is always cool. SMOG crossing HUMID kinda rubbed it in even more... I need to come up with some kind of mnemonic to keep Disney characters who came into being any time after the '90's in my head (even though they appear countless times in The NYTXW!) and why oh why do I always have the hardest time spelling ISIAH??!! Good news is I finally remembered OLLIE from crosswords. Funny how some things stick and some things don't! My favorite part of today's experience may be @Rex referring to ELMO as and expansion Muppet ala the Jaguars - great stuff!🤣 Thank you, Alex for a nice Monday! And now on to Hugh's Monday Haiku:
ONO, a HEAT wave! The TAR on my driveway melts Trees SAG AS I do
I loved all the geographical material, and I'm a bit of a Chappell Roan fan so that was nice. Revealer would have been better if the voices were just split in two, such as BAllet claSS or TENnis majOR. But I can't come up with anything reasonable for 'soprano', so that may not have been possible.
Rex, would you say there has been a rise in the use of corporate brand names in the NYTXW over the years? (If anyone knows I guess it is you, the Professor of Crosswords.) I find it interesting that the appropriate Monday clue for ALAMO is "Hertz competitor".
And the gratuitous reference to the Swasticar™ -- yes you are right. No thank you!
Rex admittedly restrained himself yesterday, but had his "Popeye moment" with TESLA today; as clued...come on, really? Ugly AF vehicle, in two senses. @Michael, you appropriately named/trademarked it.
@DavinHOP. Kudos to @Michael for using the correct term for the vehicle but I'm pretty sure he didn't coin it. Swastikar has been around for quite a few years. I wonder if @Rex would have okayed it if it was clued that way.
About TESLA truck. Agree that Musk is a fascist. But in addition that vehicle is ugly! And a market failure. Ironically, Trump’s attack on all things environmental has hurt Tesla sales in the US. However, Tesla sales in Europe are way up ( not the truck) despite many Europeans’ hatred of Musk. Also the rise in gas prices caused by Trump are starting to help Tesla here. I. just wish Musk would sell the company!
Re: corporate brand names, I have been out of the NYTXword game for a while. Has HOKA showed up? That will destroy people's grids if it's just clued as "running shoe", but everyone wears them at hospitals in NYC!
I guess they're giving up on decent themes? I mean those circles aren't "hinting" at anything. They're telling you straight up. I mean these should definitely be ordered high to low (right?) with a reveal that does more than tell you the facts. I dunno, maybe INSIDE PITCH, or BREAK OUT IN SONG, or CIRCLES MAKE SOME SOLVERS SAD AND SO WILL THE ARIAS SUNG BY THESE BROKEN VOICES.
So many names, so many circles, so much gunk, and not a single hint of a sense of humor and from a very experienced constructor. What is happening? C'mon guys, Mondays are supposed to be cracking.
❤️ DECREPIT.
People: 13 {on a Monday? or EVER?} Places: 5 Products: 4 Partials: 4 Foreignisms: 0 -- Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 26 of 74 (35%)
Funny Factor: 0 😫
Uniclues:
1 Fire baton twirler. 2 Chewing tobacco for church. 3 If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
1 TALENT SHOW HEAT 2 AMEN COPENHAGEN 3 SMEAR MORATORIA
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Game played with a $2000 rubber ball by the children of glamorous parents. RODEO DRIVE FOUR SQUARE .
I ended up getting TEHRAN, IRAN before I saw the clue for COPENHAGEN. Since they are similarly clued ([Capital city between…], [European capital that’s…]), I was assuming the answers would be in the same format, and tried to come up with a European capital/country combo that fit in a mere 10 squares. So yeah, including the country in the answer was not only unnecessary as Rex points out but it also created an internal inconsistency.
But I’ll echo Lewis in being impressed on the whole with the fill in this puzzle. Lots of interesting answers beyond the theme and very little gunk. I was making my way through it quickly enough that I didn’t pay attention to the circles until I got to the revealer, and as a Monday-easy themeless, it holds up.
When I saw TALENTSHOW, I thought the long answers were going to have something to do with VOICE PARTS—as in, Places where you might hear them used, But no. So it seemed like a pretty dull theme. But I agree the fill was pretty solid for a Monday.
Unlike Rex, I didn't bother to look at what was in the circles until I got to the revealer in order to guess the theme. So the theme wasn't spoiled ahead of time. It's a Monday, so the theme is bound to be rather basic. I think the long answers in the puzzle more than make up for the theme.
I'm not a fan of bro type movies so I probably never saw THE HANGOVER. (I say "probably" because I often see things peripherally, not really paying attention, when my husband is watching). It's not on my must-see list.
STOP, DROP AND ROLL. Are we taught that in school? Is it from a PSA of old? My first urge was STOP, look and listen but that's not fire-related.
Probably the easiest AES puzzle I've done. I was surprised he would make a Monday puzzle. Thanks, Alex Eaton-Salners.
The TEHRAN, IRAN answer may be a bit redundant, but the clue definitely made TEHRAN, IRAN the correct answer (unlike the COPENHAGEN clue, which didn't imply COPENHAGEN, DENMARK):
The capital city between Baghdad and Ashgabat is TEHRAN.
The capital city between Baghdad, Iraq, and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan is TEHRAN, IRAN.
To me, this seems pretty clear: just like a past-tense clue matches a past-tense answer, etc., a [capital, country; capital, country] clue implies a [capital, country] answer not a [capital] answer.
I too solved as a themeless and it was on the tough side for me.
MCNAIR was kind of a WOE in that I sorta recognized him after some crosses.
No costly erasures but I did need some crosses to help spell a couple of the long downs…GALAPAGOS, MORATORIA…
Smooth grid, solid Monday theme, liked it.
Croce Solvers. - Croce’s Freestyle #1127 was a medium Croce for me. The SW and NE corners gave me the most resistance although, the SW was more due to my mild dyslexia than to anything particularly difficult except for maybe 60a. Good luck!
Couldn't complete as a Downs only; did in by not getting MORATORIA (wanted an "S" somewhere) or DECREPIT. The horizontal crosses in the SE didn't make themselves apparent.
6D next to 7D either makes you chuckle at the thought of the Minnesota congresswoman driving in one of those things, or angry by one of the two answers, based on their political polarization.
The Circles in a MonPuz. Not unusual. Puztheme was nuthin earth-shakin, but I was impressed that he found somethin to splatz them SOPRANO circles into.
staff weeject picks: EMO & IMO cousins. If only AMO had gotten a slot...
other fave stuff: Wide open puzgrid. SONGBIRD. DECREPIT. Traveler's subtheme of: ANGOLA. TEHRANIRAN. GALAPAGOS. COPENHAGEN. M&A's traveled to one of em.
TESLA, tho? I coulda sworn the prez had renamed it to TESLER.
Thanx for your voice-over performance, Mr. Eaton-Salners dude.
I didn't solve it as a themeless - after seeing ALTO and BASSI, I thought we might be on our way to a theme about voices breaking - but think the rather lackluster theme reveal almost gets in the way of what a good puzzle this is. Along with the solid first four long Across phrases and the four outstanding long Downs, we get PLACID, SONGBIRD, and DECREPIT. I thought it was a feast of a Monday.
Ollie was the dragon. His full name was Oliver J. Dragon. I remember the show from its earliest echoes (late 40s TV), when my neighbor in Winnetka, IL was Fran Allison's colleague on the radio (Don McNeill of "The Breakfast Club").
I think the cluing for TEHRANIRAN demanded the inclusion of the country, since both cities referred to in the clue were accompanied by the names of their countries - unlike the cluing for Copenhagen.
Anything featuring VOICEPARTS is aces with me. My only objection was not having TENOR listed first, where it belongs.
No real no-knows. I missed the clue for Ms. ROAN entirely, she sounds interesting. Remembered MCNAIR eventually. Fun fact-my college roommate was a MCANIR from Hanover NH. It was he who introduced me to my wife, for which I am eternally grateful.
Nice enough Mondecito, AES. Good call on VOICEPARTS As Every Singer knows. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Missed yesterday as it's been wicked hot here in the NE and despite all the warnings to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, I did not, and so ended up in the ER yesterday where they did a bunch of test to make sure I hadn't had a stroke or a heart attack (I hadn't) , it was only severe dehydration. They pumped in a couple of liters of saline solution and sent me home. This is not a good way to spend most of a Sunday. At least they didn't test for stupid.
I'm still reeling from the revelation that Rex's "daughter never watched Sesame Street." Is that even possible? It seems so unlikely that I'm wondering if that observation can be confirmed by other family members.
My kids are older than Rex's daughter, but Sesame Street was omnipresent during their childhood. I can't recall knowing anyone whose kids didn't watch that show. Well, except for a couple of years when we lived in a small Wyoming town that had no TV reception at all
The reveal was also a let down for me. If it is depending on each letter of the VOICE PARTS being PARTed from each other as its reason for being, then AL, OP and AN being united is a big ugly fly in that ointment.
I will also OPINE that TEHRAN IRAN is redundant. Yes, the clue uses both cities and countries. But that doesn't justify or rationalize the redundancy. Grid entries, especially for non-theme related fill, go in first and then clues are written accordingly. So TEHRAN IRAN went in first and a clue written afterward can't change the redundancy. This point is reinforced by the city-only COPENHAGEN at 28D. No Denmark needed. Regardless of how that might be clued, it also would be redundant.
Spelled 38d DECREPID at first. Still sounds to me like it should end with a D rather than T.
Anoa Bob About decrepit. The reason you thought of a d at the end is because that is the way most Americans say it, usually unconsciously, or in the middle of a sentence.
It was an easy puzzle but as usual I liked it better than Rex. Well he does so many more crosswords than me that ones like whe finds a bore. That’s understandable Anoa Bob. the reason you wanted to put in a d is that’s how most Americans say it , especially in the middle of a sentence. In spoken English, the t is often very awkward to say and people unconsciously change it. I am sure I do it too
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Solved it as a themeless. Nice puzzle, but as a long-time choir singer I share Rex's discomfort with the clumsy phrase "VOICEPARTS." "Vocal parts" would be better. "Parts" (alone) is better still.
ReplyDeleteAlso a singer and I've heard the term VOICE PARTS all my life. I actually think "vocal parts" would be used only to distinguish those parts from instrumental parts.
DeleteChoral parts
DeleteHave done choral singing for fifty odd years. VOICEPARTS sounds right to me.
DeleteAs a bass, I stand among the other 3 VOICE PARTS when I sing. Not that I've ever heard them called that, but it is what they are.
DeleteI also solved this as a themeless. I habitually ignore those stupid little circles.
Did it mostly downs only (sometimes I see one or two across clue by mistake.... definitely saw 1 across before I gained control of my visual joy-stick). The voice parts definitely helped me.... couldn't actually think of what "PARTS" was going to be for a long time, until I filled in the parts, so the ends of SOPRANO and TENOR helped me get more traction into that SE corner. I think @REX is pretty on target on the puzzle. It's a big city puzzle with COPENHAGEN and TEHRAN, and there's urban decay.... MORATORIA on construction in the DECREPIT, HUMID cities. Hardly an EDEN! Take me instead to New Delhi and at least I'll get some NAAN with my SMOG.... Thanks, Alex! : )
ReplyDeleteSolved as a themeless - the circles are useless. Like the center spanner and BLANK STARES.
ReplyDeleteEmmylou
Overall fill was fine for early week - the big guy summarizes nicely. Little bit of a geography lesson but I liked both COPENHAGEN and GALAPAGOS x PLACID. Lots of names and trivia - nothing too obscure.
Pleasant enough Monday morning solve.
EARLY Morning Riser
Hey All !
ReplyDeleteThat Revealer sounds like it clanks to me. VOICE PARTS. I'm sure it's a thing, but sounds like EAT SANDWICH (minus the A). Anyone else?
Fill pretty decent today. Puz played a skosh rougher than a regular MonPuz. No writeovers, however.
Got a Z, but no F. STOP, DROP, AND add some F's! 😁
Hope y'all have a great Monday!
No F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
I still embrace all of the clues, even on Mondays, so I had crosses available to help with the Disney characters and other proper names. It’s hard to believe that whole Air McNair phenomenon is almost a quarter of a century behind us already. That was before we had MEME’s for basically everything (and AI Slop basically everywhere). Anyway, having the crosses available was especially helpful with longer downs today - I don’t think I would have come up with MORATORIA if I had been left to my own devices, for example. Still, an enjoyable way to kick off the week.
ReplyDeleteFast and fun puzzle. One hesitation at meme/ pomelo. 🎈🎈🎊🎊
ReplyDeleteMy five favorite original clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Bass player (6)
2. Choking cause, with "the" (4)
3. Word that becomes its opposite when its first letter is removed (5)
4. Blade runner? (10)
5. What has flatter feet? (3)
WOOFER
YIPS
THERE
HELICOPTER
ODE
My favorite encore clues from last week:
Delete[Pros in Washington] (4)
[Makes a return that hits the net?] (6)
YEAS
EFILES
Lewis unerringly distills the best clues - a weekly highlight. Last week's list is a bit lackluster.
DeleteLots of lovely longs today (11, significantly more than a typical Monday) – my favorites being MORATORIA, SONGBIRDS, DECREPIT, GALAPAGOS, COPENHAGEN, BLANK STARES, and STOP DROP AND ROLL.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites among them are the sweet sing-song MORATORIA, so fun to say, and SONGBIRDS, which are gloriously singsonging as I type.
Add to that the rare-in-crosswords five-letter palindrome (SAGAS), the crossing rhymes GRAZE and AMAZE, and anagrams in which both words are also palindromes (NAAN/ANNA), and I’ve been put in a right good mood.
That’s a gift, Alex – thank you for making this!
I sing in many choirs. “Voice parts” is the term of choice there, designating the tessitura. ‘Vocal parts” are those distinguished from instrumental lines, and can occur in any human range. Thus the revealer is correct and apt.
ReplyDeleteVoice parts should be in proper order from top to bottom: SOPRANO, ALTO, TENOR and BASS.
ReplyDeleteEven with IRAN kinda over-doing it, there was lots of good long fill in the puzzle. I did really want VOCAL though!
ReplyDeleteThe clue was city/country city/country so EYE-RAN was req'd
DeleteAnonymous 10:20 AM
DeleteI think Easy Ed and Rex are.saying that having the clue requiring the city & country as the answer was silly and unnecessary. like Tokyo, Japan. But I think Rex but not Easy Ed overreacted. A constructor has to do what they have to do to make a puzzle work. Anyway,, sometimes we do say the country of famous cities for emphasis.
Two athletes I’ve never heard of made this harder for a Monday. Breezed through everything until those names brought the SW corner to a halt. Had to fight for every letter of MCNAIR. Apparently he was so good at throwing a ball 23 years ago we are all supposed to know his name.
ReplyDeleteMcNair was not especially greatvat passing. He more than good enough but it was above average arm and supberg legs that made him a mint.
DeleteHis outsized libido made him a corpse.
I give up. A first DNF Monday in all these years. Being 81, I tripped on the SE. Never heard of MEME as a lead in to coin or stock, Not familiar with a POMELO. Guessed LOES for LOEB, Didn't know the Frozen princess was ANNA, and there's no such word as VOCAB. I feel deflated.
ReplyDeletesame struggles
DeletePaBear
DeleteI am not much behind you in age but vocab first appeared IN PRINT in 1835. You might not call it a word but it is. Like exam. You might not like it but that’s standard fair in crossworld
Good Mondays and Tuesdays are accessible to novice solvers, don’t require knowledge of obscure crosswordese arcana, and generally solve as themelesses with a cute revealer that is entirely unnecessary to the solve.
ReplyDeleteThis had all of those, but the revealer wasn’t wordplay cute, just a regular phrase.
Newbie solvers, the intended audience for Monday puzzles, will enjoy it. 4.5 stars.
The Frozen Princess was Elsa
ReplyDeleteNo, there were two sister princesses, Princess Anna and Princess Elsa. Anna is the primary princess protagonist while her older sister Elsa is crowned Queen of Arendelle early in the story.
Delete@Anonymous 8:35 AM
DeleteFrozen in Four Letters -- for Crosswords:
ELSA: Ice queen.
ANNA: Long suffering little sister.
OLAF: The snowman.
SVEN: The reindeer.
Interestingly, the bad boyfriend is HANS, but I don't think I've seen him in a grid before.
Yes - Anna was also a Frozen princess. My granddaughters were obsessed with Frozen when it first came out and my then one year old granddaughter constantly corrected me when I pronounced the character's name as "anne-uh" and said in a loud voice - "No, it's Ah-nuh!"
DeleteA perfectly fine if somewhat tame Monday. Like @Lewis said, many very nice long ones for an early week puzzle. And Like @Rex, TEHRANIRAN was a bit much.
ReplyDeleteThe revealer had me guessing for a quick second, I immediately threw in VOCAL for the first part and was a little disappointed that it just *had* to morph into VOICE. But the crosses made it easy and I guess VOICEPARTS is a legitimate phrase.
HUMID and HEAT wave - too soon??? Yes!! At least for this New York/New Jersey guy... But timely fill is always cool. SMOG crossing HUMID kinda rubbed it in even more...
I need to come up with some kind of mnemonic to keep Disney characters who came into being any time after the '90's in my head (even though they appear countless times in The NYTXW!) and why oh why do I always have the hardest time spelling ISIAH??!! Good news is I finally remembered OLLIE from crosswords. Funny how some things stick and some things don't!
My favorite part of today's experience may be @Rex referring to ELMO as and expansion Muppet ala the Jaguars - great stuff!🤣
Thank you, Alex for a nice Monday!
And now on to Hugh's Monday Haiku:
ONO, a HEAT wave!
The TAR on my driveway melts
Trees SAG AS I do
This was me, Hugh, if you couldn't guess...😊 Every once in a while I show up as Anon??!!
DeleteWait til you hear there was another Isaiah Thomas also did pretty well for a few years in the NBA about a decade and a half later.
DeleteI loved all the geographical material, and I'm a bit of a Chappell Roan fan so that was nice.
ReplyDeleteRevealer would have been better if the voices were just split in two, such as BAllet claSS or TENnis majOR. But I can't come up with anything reasonable for 'soprano', so that may not have been possible.
An impetus for the Beatles disbanding: SOANDSONO?
DeleteAlabama safety drill: STOPDROPANDROLL TIDE
ReplyDeleteAfter Saturday's parade my car had so much crepe all over it that I had to DECREPIT.
Apprentice: Sir, how does one become successful in the theater?
Actor: How? Hard work and TALENTSHOW.
I solved downs only while watching the incredible England v Mexico game. Still only took 8 minutes plus stoppage time. Thanks, Alex Eaton-Salners.
Haha 8 minutes plus stoppage time! 😄
DeleteRex, would you say there has been a rise in the use of corporate brand names in the NYTXW over the years? (If anyone knows I guess it is you, the Professor of Crosswords.) I find it interesting that the appropriate Monday clue for ALAMO is "Hertz competitor".
ReplyDeleteAnd the gratuitous reference to the Swasticar™ -- yes you are right. No thank you!
Rex admittedly restrained himself yesterday, but had his "Popeye moment" with TESLA today; as clued...come on, really? Ugly AF vehicle, in two senses. @Michael, you appropriately named/trademarked it.
Delete@DavinHOP. Kudos to @Michael for using the correct term for the vehicle but I'm pretty sure he didn't coin it. Swastikar has been around for quite a few years. I wonder if @Rex would have okayed it if it was clued that way.
DeleteAbout TESLA truck. Agree that Musk is a fascist. But in addition that vehicle is ugly! And a market failure. Ironically, Trump’s attack on all things environmental has hurt Tesla sales in the US. However, Tesla sales in Europe are way up ( not the truck) despite many Europeans’ hatred of Musk. Also the rise in gas prices caused by Trump are starting to help Tesla here. I. just wish Musk would sell the company!
DeleteRe: corporate brand names, I have been out of the NYTXword game for a while. Has HOKA showed up? That will destroy people's grids if it's just clued as "running shoe", but everyone wears them at hospitals in NYC!
DeleteTímida como una violeta en contracción.
ReplyDeleteI guess they're giving up on decent themes? I mean those circles aren't "hinting" at anything. They're telling you straight up. I mean these should definitely be ordered high to low (right?) with a reveal that does more than tell you the facts. I dunno, maybe INSIDE PITCH, or BREAK OUT IN SONG, or CIRCLES MAKE SOME SOLVERS SAD AND SO WILL THE ARIAS SUNG BY THESE BROKEN VOICES.
So many names, so many circles, so much gunk, and not a single hint of a sense of humor and from a very experienced constructor. What is happening? C'mon guys, Mondays are supposed to be cracking.
❤️ DECREPIT.
People: 13 {on a Monday? or EVER?}
Places: 5
Products: 4
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 0
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 26 of 74 (35%)
Funny Factor: 0 😫
Uniclues:
1 Fire baton twirler.
2 Chewing tobacco for church.
3 If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
1 TALENT SHOW HEAT
2 AMEN COPENHAGEN
3 SMEAR MORATORIA
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Game played with a $2000 rubber ball by the children of glamorous parents. RODEO DRIVE FOUR SQUARE .
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Gary, thumbs up for INSIDE PITCH(ES?) as a far superior revealer, with opportunities for a much more colorful clue.
DeleteI ended up getting TEHRAN, IRAN before I saw the clue for COPENHAGEN. Since they are similarly clued ([Capital city between…], [European capital that’s…]), I was assuming the answers would be in the same format, and tried to come up with a European capital/country combo that fit in a mere 10 squares. So yeah, including the country in the answer was not only unnecessary as Rex points out but it also created an internal inconsistency.
ReplyDeleteBut I’ll echo Lewis in being impressed on the whole with the fill in this puzzle. Lots of interesting answers beyond the theme and very little gunk. I was making my way through it quickly enough that I didn’t pay attention to the circles until I got to the revealer, and as a Monday-easy themeless, it holds up.
When I saw TALENTSHOW, I thought the long answers were going to have something to do with VOICE PARTS—as in, Places where you might hear them used, But no. So it seemed like a pretty dull theme. But I agree the fill was pretty solid for a Monday.
ReplyDeleteThe first "Steve" QB who came to mind for me was Steve YOUNG, and he was at 31D.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Afghan war, cessations in the fighting at Tora Bora were Tora Bora MORATORIA.
It took some time for the great Spanish TENOR to calm down after a grueling performance and become PLACID Domingo again.
Hands up for MALAPOP YOUNG as my QB
DeleteUnlike Rex, I didn't bother to look at what was in the circles until I got to the revealer in order to guess the theme. So the theme wasn't spoiled ahead of time. It's a Monday, so the theme is bound to be rather basic. I think the long answers in the puzzle more than make up for the theme.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of bro type movies so I probably never saw THE HANGOVER. (I say "probably" because I often see things peripherally, not really paying attention, when my husband is watching). It's not on my must-see list.
STOP, DROP AND ROLL. Are we taught that in school? Is it from a PSA of old? My first urge was STOP, look and listen but that's not fire-related.
Probably the easiest AES puzzle I've done. I was surprised he would make a Monday puzzle. Thanks, Alex Eaton-Salners.
The TEHRAN, IRAN answer may be a bit redundant, but the clue definitely made TEHRAN, IRAN the correct answer (unlike the COPENHAGEN clue, which didn't imply COPENHAGEN, DENMARK):
ReplyDeleteThe capital city between Baghdad and Ashgabat is TEHRAN.
The capital city between Baghdad, Iraq, and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan is TEHRAN, IRAN.
To me, this seems pretty clear: just like a past-tense clue matches a past-tense answer, etc., a [capital, country; capital, country] clue implies a [capital, country] answer not a [capital] answer.
ReplyDeleteI too solved as a themeless and it was on the tough side for me.
MCNAIR was kind of a WOE in that I sorta recognized him after some crosses.
No costly erasures but I did need some crosses to help spell a couple of the long downs…GALAPAGOS, MORATORIA…
Smooth grid, solid Monday theme, liked it.
Croce Solvers. - Croce’s Freestyle #1127 was a medium Croce for me. The SW and NE corners gave me the most resistance although, the SW was more due to my mild dyslexia than to anything particularly difficult except for maybe 60a. Good luck!
Croce 1127 was easy for me.
DeleteCouldn't complete as a Downs only; did in by not getting MORATORIA (wanted an "S" somewhere) or DECREPIT. The horizontal crosses in the SE didn't make themselves apparent.
ReplyDelete6D next to 7D either makes you chuckle at the thought of the Minnesota congresswoman driving in one of those things, or angry by one of the two answers, based on their political polarization.
Another problem with TEHRANIRAN is that there are 2 capital cities and only Tehran has the country. Not difficult, just inconsistent.
ReplyDeleteThe Circles in a MonPuz. Not unusual. Puztheme was nuthin earth-shakin, but I was impressed that he found somethin to splatz them SOPRANO circles into.
ReplyDeletestaff weeject picks: EMO & IMO cousins. If only AMO had gotten a slot...
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {The Yoko in "Dear Yoko"} = ONO.
other fave stuff: Wide open puzgrid. SONGBIRD. DECREPIT. Traveler's subtheme of: ANGOLA. TEHRANIRAN. GALAPAGOS. COPENHAGEN. M&A's traveled to one of em.
TESLA, tho? I coulda sworn the prez had renamed it to TESLER.
Thanx for your voice-over performance, Mr. Eaton-Salners dude.
Masked & Anonymo2Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Thank you! I don't want to start my day with even a hint of the destroyer of democracy.
ReplyDeleteI didn't solve it as a themeless - after seeing ALTO and BASSI, I thought we might be on our way to a theme about voices breaking - but think the rather lackluster theme reveal almost gets in the way of what a good puzzle this is. Along with the solid first four long Across phrases and the four outstanding long Downs, we get PLACID, SONGBIRD, and DECREPIT. I thought it was a feast of a Monday.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Kukla the dragon?
ReplyDelete
DeleteOllie was the dragon. His full name was Oliver J. Dragon. I remember the show from its earliest echoes (late 40s TV), when my neighbor in Winnetka, IL was Fran Allison's colleague on the radio (Don McNeill of "The Breakfast Club").
Ollie was the dragon.
DeleteI think the cluing for TEHRANIRAN demanded the inclusion of the country, since both cities referred to in the clue were accompanied by the names of their countries - unlike the cluing for Copenhagen.
ReplyDeleteOf course the clue demanded it, that’s obvious. That doesn’t make the answer itself any good.
DeleteAnything featuring VOICEPARTS is aces with me. My only objection was not having TENOR listed first, where it belongs.
ReplyDeleteNo real no-knows. I missed the clue for Ms. ROAN entirely, she sounds interesting. Remembered MCNAIR eventually. Fun fact-my college roommate was a MCANIR from Hanover NH. It was he who introduced me to my wife, for which I am eternally grateful.
Nice enough Mondecito, AES. Good call on VOICEPARTS As Every Singer knows. Thanks for a fair amount of fun.
Missed yesterday as it's been wicked hot here in the NE and despite all the warnings to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, I did not, and so ended up in the ER yesterday where they did a bunch of test to make sure I hadn't had a stroke or a heart attack (I hadn't) , it was only severe dehydration. They pumped in a couple of liters of saline solution and sent me home. This is not a good way to spend most of a Sunday. At least they didn't test for stupid.
good one, spoken like a real TENOR.
DeleteDang, pablo! Drink!
DeleteWater is always good, but you can also get the stuff with electrolytes. Refreshing and hydrating!
Stay moist. Har.
Roo
@pabloinnh 1:04 PM
Delete🤓 TENORS!
Glad you had no long-term trouble. Water, cool, clear, water.
AURAA? Isn’t the plural of “aura” auras or aurae?
ReplyDeleteThe correct answer is AURAS (crossing AAS)
DeleteThe clue for the small battery is plural, they are AA, hence AA(s), not a singular AAA, ergo it's AURAS.
DeleteRoo
@Anonymous1:06 PM
DeleteTry putting in Double-A batteries and your remote should work.
CHOIRLOFT might have been a good revealer for this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm still reeling from the revelation that Rex's "daughter never watched Sesame Street." Is that even possible? It seems so unlikely that I'm wondering if that observation can be confirmed by other family members.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are older than Rex's daughter, but Sesame Street was omnipresent during their childhood. I can't recall knowing anyone whose kids didn't watch that show. Well, except for a couple of years when we lived in a small Wyoming town that had no TV reception at all
The reveal was also a let down for me. If it is depending on each letter of the VOICE PARTS being PARTed from each other as its reason for being, then AL, OP and AN being united is a big ugly fly in that ointment.
ReplyDeleteI will also OPINE that TEHRAN IRAN is redundant. Yes, the clue uses both cities and countries. But that doesn't justify or rationalize the redundancy. Grid entries, especially for non-theme related fill, go in first and then clues are written accordingly. So TEHRAN IRAN went in first and a clue written afterward can't change the redundancy. This point is reinforced by the city-only COPENHAGEN at 28D. No Denmark needed. Regardless of how that might be clued, it also would be redundant.
Spelled 38d DECREPID at first. Still sounds to me like it should end with a D rather than T.
At least it wasn’t a rebus!
ReplyDeleteAnoa Bob
ReplyDeleteAbout decrepit.
The reason you thought of a d at the end is because that is the way most Americans say it, usually unconsciously, or in the middle of a sentence.
It was an easy puzzle but as usual I liked it better than Rex. Well he does so many more crosswords than me that ones like whe finds a bore. That’s understandable
ReplyDeleteAnoa Bob. the reason you wanted to put in a d is that’s how most Americans say it , especially in the middle of a sentence. In spoken English, the t is often very awkward to say and people unconsciously change it. I am sure I do it too