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Two farthings, informally / SUN 8-23-26 / Nursery rhyme street vendor's cry / Shoe originally known as a "Weejun" / Adage promoting thrift / Demonstrate frugality, in a way / Aggressive move allowed in some forms of kickboxing / Deuce topper / Street in Liverpool that has been immortalized in song / What a crush might make you do / "It's Your Business" sloganeer, for short / Tree where the Buddha found enlightenment / Protected space for women in the Ottoman Empire
Sunday, August 23, 2026
Constructor: Jill Singer
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (actually Easy, but it might've taken some people a while to get the whole rebus angle...)
The "PENNY" rebus answers:
- "A [PENNY] SAVED IS A [PENNY] EARNED" (24A: Adage promoting thrift) / HA'PENNY (5D: Two farthings, informally) / [PENNY]PINCH (26D: Demonstrate frugality, in a way)
- "ONE A [PENNY], TWO A [PENNY], HOT CROSS BUNS" (72A: Nursery rhyme street vendor's cry) / [PENNY] LOAFER (74D: Shoe originally known as a "Weejun") / "[PENNY] LANE" (75D: Street in Liverpool that has been immortalized in song)
Penny features:
- ABRAHAM LINCOLN (32A: Image on one side of this puzzle's subject)
- U.S. MINT (50A: Where this puzzle's subject was last made for circulation (in November 2025))
- THE UNION SHIELD (112A: Image on one side of this puzzle's subject)
The 2005 act that authorized the redesign for the Bicentennial stated that another redesigned reverse for the Lincoln cent will be minted which "shall bear an image emblematic of President Lincoln's preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country". Eighteen designs were proposed for the reverse of the 2010 cent. In April 2009, the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) met and selected a design that showed 13 wheat sheaves bound together with a ring symbolizing American unity as one nation.Later this design was withdrawn because it was similar to coinage issued in Germany in the 1920s. The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee later met and chose a design showing a Union shield with ONE CENT superimposed in a scroll. E Pluribus Unum was also depicted in the upper portion of the shield. In June 2009 the CFA met again and chose a design featuring a modern rendition of the American flag. As a part of the release ceremony for the last of the 2009 cents on November 12, the design for the 2010 cent was announced.
The design chosen was the one that was chosen earlier by the CCAC. The 13 stripes on the shield "represent the states joined in one compact union to support the Federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above". The Mint also noted that a shield was commonly used in paintings in the Capitol hallways painted by Constantino Brumidi, an artist in the Capitol active during the Lincoln Presidency.
The obverse of the cent was also changed to a modern rendition of Brenner's design. The new Union Shield design replaces the Lincoln Memorial in use since 1959. (wikipedia)
• • •
The puzzle was also hampered by extremely ordinary fill. Standard, plain, unexciting stuff. Filler. That's how I felt about most of this puzzle. There was the rebus angle ... and when that proved thin, there was just a lot of cheap stuffing to fill the grid out. What is there to get excited about today? AL PASTOR tacos are pretty good, that answer was fun, and plays nicely / funnily off of AL CAPONE (54D: Notorious Chicago bootlegger), I liked that, but what else? LINE ITEM? TOOL CASE (shouldn't it be "kit" or "box"?)? WISE OFF? (62D: Say something fresh). Is that still an expression? Feels very '50s to me, somehow. I think we "mouth off" now. A wiseacre might make wise cracks (or crack wise), but I don't remember the last time any of this "wise" stuff had much ... currency. Maybe back when a penny could buy you candy. The fill just LIMPS along, never really offering any surprises or laughs or ... anything. Flat flat flat. Like a penny. Like a penny you leave on the railroad tracks. Did people used to do that? Am I hallucinating that? Nope, it's a real phenomenon. I feel (slightly) better now. About my brain. Not about this puzzle.
There were no real hard parts to this thing. I had trouble with "OHH" because of course I did, what the hell? (76D: "Wow!"). OMG = "Wow!" I have no idea what "OHH" is ... except a dupe of "OH FUN" (that extra "H" isn't fooling anyone) (99A: "Sounds like a blast!"). Speaking of dupes: STINK UP and ANTE UP. I'm much more likely to notice (and be bothered by) small dupes like this when the fill is monotonous and the theme isn't theming very well. Besides "OHH," the other answers I needed a little time to get were COCOONED (which I have never once used as a verb, even when talking about butterflies) (93D: Made cozy) and KNEEING (?) (96A: Aggressive move allowed in some forms of kickboxing). I had the KNEE part and figured the answer would be something technical, like KNEE HIT or KNEE JAB or KNEE TAP or KNEE POP or KNEE RIP, but no. Just KNEEING.
Bullets:
- 8A: What a crush might make you do (FLIRT) — I'm sorry, "make you"?? "Make you"???? [What you might do with a crush], sure. [What a crush might make you do]???? No. Even if the "crush" here is the feeling and not the person involved, no. "Make you," LOL, take some responsibility for your choices, yeesh.
- 55A: Genre for Siouxsie and the Banshees (GOTH) — I would've said "post-punk," but I see "gothic rock" listed among their genres there on wikipedia; in fact, they are the first band mentioned on the "gothic rock" wikipedia page:
Gothic rock (also known as goth rock or simply goth) is a subgenre of rock music which grew out of British post-punk in the late 1970s. The genre draws from gothic literature, nihilism, dark romanticism, poetry and tragedy. The style evolved through early post-punk bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Cure, who shifted their music toward darker gothic overtones through an emphasis on minor chords, reverb, dark arrangements, and melancholic melodies. (wikipedia)
- 112D: Deuce topper (THREE) — since "Deuce" is slang for "two," I would've expected something like "TREY" here, not the standard/formal THREE.
- 104A: Meeting that goes above and beyond? (SEANCE) — things get interestingly otherworldly here for a sec. Nice "?" clue. Definitely a highlight of the puzzle. Have you ever seen SEANCE on a Wet Afternoon (1964)? You can watch the whole thing for free on YouTube. A tense and creepy and beautiful film.
That's all for today. See you next time.
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98 comments:
Easy-Medium. It took me a little longer than it should have to catch on to the rebus squares.
* * _ _ _
Overwrites:
I have no idea what "dermal denticles" are, so I thought the 13A predator might be a SHrew (SHARK).
LAId before LAIN for reclined at 20A.
aH FUN before OH for the blast at 99A.
WOEs:
Author Tom ROBBINS at 65D.
Vince VAUGHN of "Dodgeball" (86D).
EMMA D'Arcy at 125A.
I didn't have any trouble getting GOTH (55A) from crosses, but I had to come here to learn that Siouxsie and the Banshees are one group and not two.
Instinctively plunked down Abraham Lincoln and thought oh no this one’s just gonna be about a penny what a dud.
Rex, if I give you a penny for your thoughts and then you give me your two cents, I make a profit.
i also thought the back of a penny was still the lincoln memorial, which was confusing since LINCOLN was in the other entry. it also led me to remember that as a child i thought that that image was the trolley from mr. rogers' neighborhood.
Breezy easy, and I agree the theme was a little thin, sorta like a penny. I'm no numismatist but do like looking at coins and have a penny collection my father had started us (my brother and me) on when we were very little. Like Rex, I was trying to fit in "Lincoln Memorial" somehow at 112A but knew it wouldn't work; I knew about the shield but didn't know what it was called.
I was happy to learn about BODHI (117A): There is a Bodhi Medical Group in NYC, and now I know the meaning and significance of the name.
The fill was hit-or-miss, but I thought there was some good fill here. Still, it's notable how often ASTER, ASHE, EOS, LEO, ORC, and UTE show up.
Wait, wait! Could it be? No Star Wars references?
Tough to hang your Sunday sized grid hat on the PENNY. I know it was recently discontinued so I guess it’s been in the news but whoever thought it might be an interesting topic for a Sunday should have reconsidered. That said - I can appreciate the chops to get that huge spanner with the rebus squares in there so nicely.
The Fugees
Rex covers most of the marginal fill. Huge side eye to the ROT - STINK UP pair. I’ll add RAWER to the questionable stuff.
Christine
I liked COCOONED for some reason. FRESCOES, AL PASTOR and the odd formed DISCLAIM were all fun. Not a lot of pushback anywhere in the grid.
SHA Na Na
The magnitude and scale of the Sunday puzzle is the primary determinant - the trick needs to hold up to the size - few do so this one is not alone.
Sing me a song for the dreamers
Sing me a song
For Bobby
Chacon, and AL CAPONE
And the boys
Sing me a song for the dreamers
Slogging through a big, easy puzzle. Sigh.
The best part today was Rex’s reminder of putting a penny on the railroad track. I had forgotten about doing that as a kid a million years ago.
I’m surprised that Rex didn’t like the puzzle. I thought it was easy and fun to solve. The clue for seance was especially amusing (I think Rex might agree with me).🎈🎈🎊🎊
I agree with Rex that today’s puzzle kind of just ran out of steam and turned into a bit of a snoozer at the end. The theme concept would probably hold together better if the constructor pared back the ambition and designed it for a Thursday, although that would blow away her grid-spanning answers and send her back to square one, so it’s not a practical alternative (speaking of Square One -that was at one time a great restaurant out in San Francisco - owned by Joyce Goldstein), it’s now long gone though.
You could probably ding this one a half a star just for the really distasteful crossing of two propers. The first one (the Emil dude) is from literally a hundred years ago. And he’s crossing LENA OLIN, who pops up in crosswords from time to time, but that is all I know about her.
So a noble effort from the constructor, and as Rex mentioned, there isn’t much that is inherently bad about it - the puzzle just ran out of gas.
Hey All !
The good ole PENNY. At Walmart, they now round up or down to the nearest 5 cents, although a couple of times I needed 5 cent change, out pops five pennies! Make up your mind, Walmart, either stock nickels in your tills, or don't put pennies in there. I mean, come on.
I was an avid coin collector in my youth, sort of waned in my old(er) age, although I do enjoy watching the coin searching videos on YouTube. A lot of newer coins out, the 2026's, e.g., that are considered collectable already.
Anyway, the puz ... Liked the concept, why not an ode to the PENNY? Didn't like the seemingly endless partials. ICAME, STINKUP, NOSALE, HOVLANE, CCLEF, OHFUN, GETAT, ANTEUP, SNAPIN, IWILL, ASNEEDED, APTESTS, USEON, WISEOFF, AANDE, TDPASS, HITME. Did I miss any? I get you need to fill the puz as you can to make cromulent fill, but it seemed avalanchish.
But, overall pretty good, despite my nits. I have to admit, SEANCE got me. I was down to _EA_CE, and just could not figure out what in tarhooties the answer was. The Downs not helping. ISE could've been ITE, INE, IRE, IDE, who knows with those crazy Brits. NICENE should've been easy, but the ole brain wanted either LICENE or RICENE. Silly brain. So I came here, shamelessly looked at the answer, and filled it in to hear the Happy Music. Ah, me.
Need to pay my mortgage payment soon, my company is PennyMac! (But it's way more than a HAPENNY.)
Hope y'all have a great Sunday!
Four F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
Only trouble spots for me were TOOL belt instead of CASE (case, really?) and the SHRANK/SHRuNK Natick at the cross with an unknown to me Indian yogurt drink.
I forgot about a favorite poem, about pennies and ha'pennies:
Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!
What's a penny?
This solved smoothly, and I’m glad. I feel like the subject – the penny – should get the main attention, rather than other aspects of the puzzle. This puzzle struck a chord in my heart – the penny, after all, has been a constant feature in our lives since we’ve been born, and suddenly (as of last November 12), it is no longer being made.
Sigh. I will miss you, penny. All the times I made change with you. The various designs that have shown up on your back side, such as the stalks of wheat and the Lincoln Memorial. I remember putting you in rolls.
Anyway, this puzzle allowed the penny to shine, and its design was clever, and it made the penny integral to the perfect and smile-producing revealer. Thank you for making this, Jill!
Such straightforward cluing. With such a basic theme, the puzzle really needed some fun clues to jazz it up. Also, WOW is not equal to OHH.
Being “numismatically inclined,” this puzzle did NOT make me “snooze”’. 😎
Seeing two lanes in the grid really stunk/stank.
Penny Marshall is the best thing about this.
Well I liked this a good deal more than OFL--he may have considered the fill stale but I found it remarkably gunk-free. Knew the proper names with the exception of Mr. VAUGHAN and Ms. EMMA , bonus points there. My only side eye was to TOOLCASE--I have used lots of tools but never called what I put them in a TOOLCASE. Plus we have Diego Rivera's FRESCOS, and a taco ALPASTOR, with ASADA on top, which could be considered muy RICO, which is another way of saying "tasty". Throw in one of my favorite authors, Mr. ROBBINS, and I'm happy enough.
Didn't try to write CENT in my little boxes, I made a C with a line through it and congratulated myself on this obvious solution.
I had a very nice time with this one, JS, but I'm Just Someone who enjoys a breezy Sunday every so often. Thanks for all the fun.
I’m from the Midwest. Is WISEOFF a regional term? Never heard it before.
I remember my Mom, Grandma's, and Aunts playing nickel dime poker. Penny ante. There was more chit chat than poker and they had fun.
Getting the rebus seemed the easiest part of this puzzle. When I was a LAD our family summered in a small cabin north of New York City and my Dad who worked in the city used the train to spend week-ends with us, so we squished a lot of pennies over the summer. Odd thing is I can’t find any of them now and we are notorious hoarders of that kind of thing. But memories of that steam engine hooting and roaring as it came into the station will always be with me.
Needed most of the crosses today. Happy to finish without cheating
thanks for that.
Hand up for Tom Robbins!
Lots of overwrites today. SWOON before FLIRT, SNAPON before SNAPIN, SOFUN before OHFUN, and the brutal discovery that AP(ENNY)FOR YOURTHOUGHTS has the exact same number of spaces as PUTINYOURTWOCENTS. Ouch.
This was the easiest Sunday for me in many years, mostly because I caught on to the rebus early.
I liked this rebus! Except for BODHI it was a romp & a very pleasant surprise for me. Thank you, Jill :)
SHRuNK/SHRANK ugh.
If you're in a college class and you don't know the angle variable answer, ask THETA.
I don't know about any triple boast, but at my age ICAME is about it.
Number 932 on my bucket list is to hear @Gary Jugert PLAYA tune. (not a song, for you nitpickers) on the ukulele.
When the guy running the Russian taco stand said he'd likely be able to make mine with roast pork I said I'll take that ASADA.
My masseuse accidentally used creamy habanero sauce instead of massage lotion on my backside, leaving me with HOTCROSSBUNS.
I've got to admire a constructor who can take a well-known 32 character phrase and use it succesfully in a single row of a puzzle. It was worth every PENNY. Thanks, Jill Singer.
This was a fine Sunday Xword. It was smooth and fun. Early on I thought maybe we would be doing sides of different coins, title being "small change". But just one coin. OK. The penny is still very much in circulation. A quarter showed up in the 109D clue.
Once again, hard disagree. I thought this puzzle was breezy and fun, if not particularly challenging. I thought the revealer was spot on, the rebuses were solid, as was the fill. And the fact that the penny is being discontinued makes this a very relevant homage that will stand the test of time. Pleasant 24:34 start to my day.
Fully agree with @SouthsideJohnny: if you insist on using such obscure proper names in your mix, they had better be fairly crossed. LASSI is a complete foreignism. I call natick! Otherwise I thought this puzzle was fairly cute, but not cuddly.
LINEITEM seems anything BUT a "specific" invoice charge.
Kinda liked this. Revealer was spot on. Also liked that there were a lot of abbreviations.
Sat in a coffee shop on PENNY LANE doing today's crossword. Is there a term for this kind of serendipity?
Amen!
To get the Congratulations, I had to run the alphabet twice on LASSI, once with SHRuNK, then with SHRANK. H ... I ... J ... K ... L, Happy Music, at last.
Am I the only one who got Naticked by LENAOLIN, LASSI, EMIL Jennings crossing? Got the whole puzzle save for the two Ls
Who ever thought knowing the hot cross buns rhyme would come in handy in adulthood? That was the highlight of this puzzle for me. And as Rex mentions, the clue for SEANCE.
I thought Diego Rivera was known for his murals but that didn't fit. ACerb before ACRID held up LIBYA, making it hard to guess who holds camel races.
Jill Singer, thanks for the easy Sunday puzzle!
I came for the xword review, I stayed for the Henny Youngman act. Will you be here all week? (Seriously, I enjoy these, thank you.)
I placed pennies on railroad tracks into adulthood. It's fun, possibly dangerous.
Hear, hear! Anyone unfamiliar do yourself a favor and read two pages of a Tom Robbins novel. Not for everyone, certainly, but faith restoring for some.
kitshef. What *would* be equal to OHH? What exactly is OHH? Why isn't it ooh or aah?
I liked it! Sure not especially difficult but a nicely done theme. JoePop approves!
I certainly wouldn't think of Siouxsie and the Banshees as goth. More like early punk/ garage band. Very much a unique niche
Easy. I caught the rebus early and it was pretty whooshy from that point on.
Fun Fact - The xword favorite flower, the fall blooming ASTER, can also be clued as director Ari.
Me too for not knowing THE UNION SHIELD was on the back of a PENNY. Apparently I haven’t looked closely at one since 2010.
OK Sunday, liked it more than @Rex did.
“Plate of shrimp,” from the cult classic movie “Repo Man.”
I agree, or tend to think of a TOOLbox for storage OR if you have tons of tools, a cabinet.
Agree Lewis!
Taco natick. I hate mexican food and that cross requies a correct guess.
You and I were on the same page with Rivera…so I just looked up and found something from the Tate….I just copied the last line of it…
All frescoes are murals, but not all murals are frescoes.
I learn something new every day…
Also dnf because of the “unfair” crossing of little known property names in the NW.
Aside from that, puzz was ok but way too easy as I figured out the rebus early on.
Even Lewis has to work hard to find a way to praise this puzzle (because every puzzle must be praise!). Not too much to praise about the puzzle, but he likes pennies.
I just came here to say that I enjoyed the puzzle and thought Rex’s rating and commentary was a bit harsh on both the theme and the fill. Having figured out the PENNY rebus early, my solve was more than 6 minutes faster than most Sundays, but I care not.
Hah! My only side comment is that a B+ is good, but not great. Does this have to do with grade inflation? Back in the day (oh Lord, I’m saying THAT) F=fail, D=Poor,C=Average, B=Good, and A=Excellent. I’d posit that B+ IS great. Of course, that leads me to wonder whether a B+ and A- are both “great” but whatever. I pronounce that they are BOTH great and both exceed the term “good.” Feel free to put in your two cents (see what I did there) about this blather from a non-teacher…
I just came here to say that I enjoyed the puzzle and thought Rex’s rating and commentary was a bit harsh on both the theme and the fill. Having figured out the PENNY rebus early, my solve was more than 6 minutes faster than most Sundays, but I care not.
Hah! My only side comment is that a B+ is good, but not great. Does this have to do with grade inflation? Back in the day (oh Lord, I’m saying THAT) F=fail, D=Poor,C=Average, B=Good, and A=Excellent. I’d posit that B+ IS great. Of course, that leads me to wonder whether a B+ and A- are both “great” but whatever. I pronounce that they are BOTH great and both exceed the term “good.” Feel free to put in your two cents (see what I did there) about this blather from a non-teacher…
I just daid plate. Them shrimp….
Les - OOH would have been much better for WOW. OHH is 'now I get it'.
@Beezer, thanks for that fresco tidbit!
Hand up for enjoying this puzzle! It’s making me a nostalgic for the penny despite having fifty million of them around the house in rolls, a giant China piggy bank, pockets, cracks and crevices. They will join the lira, franc, escudo coins scattered in drawers I never open. I still thought the sheafs of wheat adorned the penny’s back so I’m not very monetarily current. Who uses cash anymore, anyway? The penny is WISE to leave the party early.
Back to the puzzle. It was accessible and cute, a beach read for a summer Sunday.
7D hardware components PLUG IN, even termed plug and play
Was on a plane, clue was something like "nimble aircraft". The crosses gave me STOL??? Asked the flight attendant who asked the pilot. Means Short Take Off & Landing. Seldom do I visit Arby's. While working on a puzzle and a beef'n'cheddar, the clue was "dining option with a cowboy hat logo." Almost choked!!! It happens!!!
"Blush" would be a much better answer for 8A
One a penny, two a penny? How many would buy one if you'd get two for the same price? Oh...wait...a soft pretzel vendor in Philly offered 'em for a quarter each or...THREE for a dollar and folks bought 'em.
Since PENNY LANE is one of the rebus answers, it felt like HOV LANE shouldn’t be in the puzzle.
And I’m with Rex on not knowing anything other than the Lincoln Memorial had been on the back of the penny since the wheat pennies back in the day. And in fairness to both of us, I don’t think THE UNION SHIELD pennies circulated much. My brother took his girls to Greece this summer and sent an adorable video of his five-year-old daughter at the Acropolis explaining that it was the penny (she clearly was thinking of the Lincoln Memorial), so that’s clearly the image people will remember, even people born after the apparent change.
Fill-in-the-blanks easy. Got the trick at ha’penny and just cruised from there. I don’t remember being tripped up until 112A, having never seen a UNION SHIELD penny. Truth is, I haven’t seen a penny in about 10 years. We ditched ours about 2012 and they just quietly disappeared in the next few years. It’s so much better. Merchants just round up or down when you pay in cash. So if my bill comes to $25.42 I give the cashier $25.40. If it comes to $25.43 I pay $25.45 cash. Somebody, somewhere has probably tracked this, but I think it might work out pretty even in the end.
Most of us don’t even use cash. If you use credit or debit cards, or payment apps you will be charged the exact amount, to the PENNY.
I was going to say BODHI was a snag, but the crosses were dead easy.
One other difficult spot was the W in WSJ crossing WISE OFF. That’s a new one to me.
***************
@dgd, from yesterday. Thanks for the clarifications. I have seen PG on movie ads but just didn’t know what the P and the G stood for and, quite frankly, didn’t ever care. It could be rated G or R and still be a good or bad movie. Can you tell I don’t take kids to the movies much?
As for MEATBALL SUBs, I wondered if they might be using Italian for American-Italian (or Italian-American?). I know some former New Yorkers I think do that. Your explanation nailed it. Thanks.
I'm with those who thought this one was a treat - I had fun putting the pennies in their slots and loved the center billing for HOT CROSS BUNS, the bakery world's complement to crossword puzzles. And getting the entire refrain to fit so nicely across the grid? For me, this was a very enjoyable Sunday outing.
Hey Rex - where do you note how long it took you to solve??
No you are not!
Agree with both @Kent and @Beezer. I have more tools than you can count but I don't think I have any TOOL CASEs. Tool belts, yes. Tool boxes, also yes, but they have mostly been superceded by tool bags (about the size of overnight bag type luggage but constructed of heavier material), and tool buckets (standard Home Depot buckets with a heavy duty cloth-like inserts with pockets inside and out, sometimes called a Bucket Buddy). The bag is better if you have to go up and fix something in the back pasture because you can strap it over your shoulder to walk. The bucket can be cumbersome but tool are more easily found in it.
When I buy a new socket set or maybe a new set of drill bits, they come in plastic cases - boxes with lids that lock closed. I don't call them TOOL CASEs, but the NYTXW lawyers could probably make a CASE here.
Fear not, Lewis ... here in Canada we haven't used the penny since 2013 and although we remember it with fondness, we haven't really "missed" it. Our economy didn't crash (quite the opposite actually) and we all learned a bit of arithmetic. Win-Win!
Never learned to play one, but "Hot Cross Buns" is the classic tune for beginning ocarina.
Hi Beezer, retired prof here. Many’s the time I had to console a student distraught over getting a B+ on an exam. “But a B+ IS a good grade,” I’d say, unconvincingly.
What a disappoinment after yesterday! Too easy - got the rebus answers right away - and the other theme answers? - geez.
I got the rebus pretty darn quick... I think reading the clue for 24 across gave it away. The timer says it took 22 minutes but it felt like a lot more. Mostly pretty easy, but as Rex said a lot of dull fill. Read the clue, type in the answer, move on. Not an unpleasant slog, but still a slog.
And of course: way too many names. On Sunday, if the constructor starts leaning on the names, they pile up pretty fast. For instance, 103, 91, 65, 54, 75, and 60 down are jammed together, and are all names!
And boy that upper left was mucky... I knew EMIL, but I had GATER at 37 across, and at 43 across -ASSI I could not remember the first letter. so 19 down was LENA E-IN... I guessed ERIN and then ENIN and then a couple more before trying an L and then realizing: oh it's OLIN crossing GATOR!!
I thought OHH with OH FUN just below it was a bit dodgy.
Some tools do have cases, usually fitted & blow molded. I have never seen a pair of pliers come with a case & I own dozens & dozens of specialized types.
I agree tool belt, box or rollaway
I’m not sure, but for reference I’m a Gen Xer from the northeast, and WISE OFF sounds like something one of my crotchety old teachers likely said when I was in elementary school. So maybe regional, but almost certainly old?
Rex, you should look at Riz Chast's cartoon in the latest New Yorker. It's crossword themed
SAME
I don’t know EMIL or LENA OLIN (though yeah, starting to get used to her name in crosswords), but I thought the L was still inferable. But I agree that unfamiliar names crossing each other is in poor taste.
Andy and Beezer, yes indeed—I’ve had students who feel like they have failed if they see an A-.
There are so many Indian restaurants all across North America now, that I'm kinda surprised to be reminded that some people might not know about LASSI. I thought it was even more of a gimme than tacos AL PASTOR. All in all, a very, very easy puzzle.
Very much agree here. I had to run through all the words I have connected with tool with a mom who is a general contractor (tool box, tool belt, tool cabinet, tool chest, etc.) and never came up with TOOL CASE. Had to find it with crosses.
A much worse dupe than the UPs is PENNY LANE and HOV LANE.
How did this one get approved for publishing? The NY Times get hundreds of submissions a week. And this one made it to the top of the pile? Really?
Re: Penny on railroad tracks. As a kid we got 3 cents deposit on empty milk bottle, put the pennies on the trolley track and when flattened took them to the end of the elevated train station with no attendant and usually found one of the three that would substitute for a nickel and two of us would squeeze through the automatic gate and ride the trains for the day
I was so on her wave length I was entering a lot of letters without reading the clue. But I had a bad start with "rad." When's the last time anybody said "rad" for "awesome." I put it in there because it worked, but ....the clue should have acknowledged it as old.
I agree with Hack mechanic: I have torque wrenches that came in cases, but pliers typically don't. The closet pliers come is that Vise Grip/locking pliers are often sold in sets that come in a roll (think kind of like the knife rolls you see chefs using, there's a slot for each pair of pliers to go in, then you can roll/wrap the whole thing up: https://www.globaltestsupply.com/product/irwin-vsg-538kb-locking-pliers-set?msclkid=85fa9fa670621c9912d7f52d2a3e2b68&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=029%20-%20New%20Customers%2035%20(USA)%20(PMAX)&utm_term=2329384104970579&utm_content=GTS%20-%20INSTRUMENTS)
Easy one for me today! I'm from Liverpool so seeing the city in a clue had me zeroing in and subsequently catching the rebus immediately; with that done I absolutely flew through the rest.
I enjoyed the long rebus answers but could have probably done without the US MINT. It felt a bit redundant at that point, just thrown in like a fact sheet - one side of the penny is this, the other side is that, and here's where it's made - it sort of made the theme feel a bit banal. I'd have rather seen a third comparatively whimsical adage than three ontological penny statements, I think.
I had blush filled in at first.
I love The Beths.
Except that the theme entries needed a big fat Sunday grid, I thought the puzzle would have made a made a sparkly early week puzzle. After getting all the themers, the puzzle became a bit of a dry slog. Single highlight was the clue for SEANCE. Otherwise, I think everyone’s said all there is to say.
pabloinnh
Int reaction to this puzzle was similar Anyway, I was interested in coins as a kid I don’t see why people say the theme doesn't hold upThere was an old friend (always liked your term)ASHE who hasn’t been around for a while.
LASSI is not a proper name.
It’s the NEW YORK Times, not the London Times. Yeesh.
I took "crush" as the feeling and not the target of the feeling. So sure, the feeling makes you flirt in the same way that feeling hungry makes you drink. I don't think it needs to imply any sort of abrogation of responsibility
He no longer times his solves, he has noted from time to time.
They have coffee shops on Pennie’s lane? Not tea?
Dr Pants—- if tge phrase is from another region and unfamiliar, why do yiu assume it’s old?
It has to tickle the fancy of someone in editing. A lot of good puzzles fall by the wayside
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