My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Criminal records? (8) 2. Green vehicle? (4)(4) 3. Break in? (10) 4. Galactic scale? (5) 5. State lines? (3) BOOTLEGS GOLF CART STAYCATION LIBRA ACT
Started The NY Times Crossword during the pandemic. Today marks my 52nd Monday solve in a row. I’ve been able to solve every day of the week - my first Saturday solve was a couple weeks ago but looking at the comments it seems this was an easier Saturday than usual. My favorite day of the week is Friday, which I began solving with regularity about 2-3 months ago. Other than Saturdays, Thursday rebuses continue to trip me up. :)
@Decker Much congratulations! I think I only started doing them regularly (and trying to) more recently - at least without using autocheck, and like you, I've only just started to be able to clear the Saturdays... although I'll admit to sometimes asking my partner for a bit of help now and then on the tougher ones. It's a great hobby, and the comments section is always nice to check out. Interestingly, Thursdays are unquestionably my favourites - the most 'puzzley' ones of the week, and I have to admit that I rather enjoy rebuses. The variety and ways in which people work puzzles and wordplay into crosswords is always something I like looking forwards to.
Any inexperienced person might be informally be called a newb(ie) in many contexts, but feel like the version specific to gamer subculture is usually spelled “noob” or “n00b” rather than “newb”
@Charlie Savage It most definitely is, which misled me in today's puzzle - I am a gamer. . . . . Em00
Top quality Monday puzzle, IMO. Why?: • Tight theme. Not many common birds-and-bees answers besides those in the puzzle. • Monday-easy but not an embarrassingly easy clue set. • Despite the paucity of common theme answers, they made for two pairs of equal length answers to meet the demands of grid symmetry. I would love to have seen Jake’s face when he realized that this was possible. • Junk-lite answer set, including beauties PHENOMS, STYMIE, and MEMENTO, despite a theme that takes up a sizeable 51 squares. • Two places where theme answers cross! I would love to have seen Jake’s face when he realized that this too was possible. • Monday-uncomplicated yet very clever theme. So, I’m crowing here, not grousing. You expertly crafted one fine Monday, Jake, one brimming with spark. Thank you, sir!
@Lewis We see what you did there.... No harm, no fowl. Emus, begone! Emus amuse
I'm glad Caitlin mentioned the 65D with the blind man because I never saw that particular clue. It was filled in by the crosses and I would have hated to miss it! Love it! Also glad that Caitlin mentioned the second part of the revealer being about the bees. I quickly caught onto the birds but never even noticed the poor Bs that followed them. Maybe I need someone to give me the talk again... 🐦🐝 Speaking of other creatures, in our first year of dating, my now husband showed at my door proudly holding a rainbow TROUT. He looked like the pet cat who lovingly drops a dead mouse at your feet.... Well I love fish and he knew that but I was aghast! It was a whole fish! The head was on it, the tail was on it, there were bones in it! Eek! With a nod to Sunday's puzzle, it was SCALEd WELL, but it was whole!! Instead of the expected love and adoration, I was more,"Ewwwww!" I was like, can you take that away and come back when it's finished!? One of the many moments that could have been the end of us back in the day but here we are 24 years later! And I can tell you that he has brought very many more rainbow trout home for us since, but they are all promptly filleted, though I have learned to be much more tolerant of whole fish when we visit his country of origin every year, where that is the norm. 🎣 Happy Monday, all!
@HeathieJ this reminds me of the old (and obviously outdated) personal ad that says: WANTED Good woman who can cook, clean fish, and owns boat and motor. Send photo of boat and motor.
@HeathieJ -- Are you willing to reveal your husband's country of origin? (I'm sort of thinking Sweden or Norway -- though I have no idea why I'm thinking that.)
I usually let caption errors slide but I’m a fly fisher. The picture does not contain rainbow trout. The fish are brook trout. Rainbow trout have lighter skin with black spots. Brook trout are really char; they have dark skin with light spots.
@Steve is right. Brook trout, and Brookie hybrids, are the only trout with light spots on a dark background.
I still remember being 12 years old, puttering around in my room one evening, and I could hear my parents talking downstairs. Occasionally I heard my name, but couldn't really make anything out. Then there was silence. I kept puttering. If I remember, I had attached with tape some copper wires to the anodes of some bigger batteries and was about to thrust the wires into a little bead of mercury, a little plumper than a lentil, I had obtained by breaking open a thermometer. I wanted to see what would happen when you electrocute mercury. Then I heard my father shouting up to me. "John Ezra, you wanna hear about the birds and the bees?" I thought about it for several seconds. "Not right now," I called down, "maybe in a bit, I'm a little busy right now." I could hear my father laughing awkwardly and moving away. He never brought it up again and I never did learn. The mercury bead after repeated zapping developed a grayish mottled skin on its surface, like the surface of the moon, which disappeared when I stirred it with the tip of a loose copper wire. Which prelate did the Pope recently demote? Cardinal Burke. What did the burglar use to pry the window open? Crow bar. Aspiration of many a boyscout? Eagle badge. Younger superhero and his mentor? Robin, Batman [and for extra credit, slightly off topic}: Where does that new hotshot Cambodian pitcher warm up? Phnom bull-Penh.
@john ezra Not to be competitive, (heh, heh), but I did complete the first leg of my New Year's resolution. The Two Gentlemen of Verona is an Early Comedy that is comparatively easy to follow if one can remember which servant answers to which of the gentlemen. There is at least one video of a full production freely available online. Other scenes from Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) can also be found. All of them are played openly for laughs. That comes as a shock at first as the plot deals with betrayal of love and friendship as well as political banishment. Spoiler: All is happily resolved. Anecdotes and still photos from 20th century RSC productions are also to be found. Trivia: The cast includes a non-speaking role for a dog, a device that the Bard never used again.
"Nobody's ever seen a penguin move quite like that!" "Wow. This really is uncharted waddles." ("And to think I once thought some other birds were related. Auk-ward!")
@Mike If I had thought of a pun that fits in, Adelaide it on you. Do emus waddle, too?
Fun one! True story- my first young love was a really sweet hippie with a cute face. Ticked every box, but he wasn’t terribly…clever. He often used to say, “ ‘I see,’ said the blind man as he picked up a hammer.” I asked him what it meant and he just shrugged and said, “Dunno! Just a thing people say…” Finally, ages later, I heard someone add the last two words. I told him. (And finally told him all the peace ☮️ signs on his walls, tshirts, car…we’re actually the Mercedes logo.) Didn’t marry him. But he gave me countless anecdotes for dinner parties.
@CC But wait! I still don't get it! Wait.... I asked the DHubby. He says it's a joke for 6-year-olds. Doh!!! I think he's referring me for testing....
@CC: in our family, the line goes like this: "I see said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw."
I give an A to the BIRDS and the B's. Nice one, Jake. Off theme: Is TEMPEH in Arizonah? Emu Bounty
No doubt it will be just a matter of time before someone in this community once again bemoans the ubiquity of the answer OREO in the NYT crossword puzzles. (I am speculating that it is due to the crosses facilitated by a four-letter word that has this many vowels.) While it may be common knowledge south of the border, I was fascinated recently to hear about the history of the OREO cookie; particularly that it was a knock-off of an earlier cookie comprised of intricately embossed chocolate wafers sandwiching a sweet white filling. The original was a cookie that went by the name “Hydrox”. The story is engagingly told by a former advertising man, Terry O’Reilly, in a weekly radio program on our Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) called “Under the Influence”. The story is told in written form here: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/the-best-selling-cookie-in-the-world-is-a-copycat-brand-1.7080582" target="_blank">https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinfluence/the-best-selling-cookie-in-the-world-is-a-copycat-brand-1.7080582</a> But O’Reilly is such a consummate story-teller on the radio, I would encourage you to listen to him in a podcast of this particular episode from January 11th. In fact, you would enjoy all of the episodes of this radio program that has been on the air for many years.
@Strudel Dad I remember Sunshine Hydrox cookies very well from my childhood. I never understood what "Hydrox" meant. It sounded to me like a cleaning solution—anything but a cookie.
@Strudel Dad I grew up in Los Angeles in the 50s. We were a Hydrox family but I knew Oreo families too. It's kind of like Beta/VHS. The better product doesn't always win.
18A reminds me of the silliness of still referring to a main course as an "entree" in North American English. The original French word, entrée, literally means "entry" and refers to a starter course, not a main course. The etymological history of this linguistic mishap is kind of comical. At least in Canada I've seen restaurants thankfully start to replace entree with "mains."
I flew through this one, right past the flightless PENGUIN and the clumsy TURKEY, and all those BEEs—it went BOWLing along with very few BUMPS. A lighthearted puzzle, just right for a Monday. One for the BOOKS, I'd say. Thank you, Jake Halperin.
@dutchiris I enjoyed your job history from yesterday! Sent you my kudos, but I got to the puzzle and comments late, so probably no one will read it to commiserate with my own diverse career path! 😟
Personally I found this surprisingly unpleasant for a Monday puzzle, mostly because I am not American I suppose. I needed the column to get DOVE BAR, PHENOMS and TURKEYBOWL. Tempeh I guessed, I had no idea what trait the fisherman's wife possessed (of course it had to be something bad, after all she was a woman and as it turned out we were dealing with a typically mysoginistic Grimm fairytale), I did not understand the clue for MER (whenever I see an abbreviation in an American context my mind freezes up), and AW GEE was just ridiculous. Also, I did not understand the theme, and not knowing the expression BIRDS AND BEES did not help, either. I know folks prefer positive comments around these parts, but this puzzle did not merit one of those, not from me anyway.
@Andrzej My Slovak husband still doesn’t get most of the idioms, either. Kudos to you both for continuing to try. Think of how much you are learning! Forgive me, but seeing a half-full glass is another American tendency.
@Andrzej The 'Fr.' thing always means French BUT it took me a while to get that stuck in my head. It's also a bit counter-intuitive because usually if the clue includes an abbreviation then the answer is abbreviated but not in the case of foreign language choices. I know that phrase as 'The Birds and THE Bees' so even filling that in took a second. Dove exists here but I don't think we call it 'dove bar' as even though you'd say 'a bar or soap' you wouldn't apply it to a brand like that. Anyway, yes a lot of clues here seemed slightly off for me for a Monday. Not sure why.
Today I discovered that I have been spelling “Memento” wrong all of my life (“Momento”)! You learn something new every day…!
@Chris Yup, when I finished the puzzle but didn't get the music, that was the one letter I had wrong 😄 .......................................................
Loved thus puzzle’s theme. Love rainbow trout too. Also love Penguin Books. The founder’s secretary came up with the name, penguins are “flippant yet dignified.”
@Ann As pointed out by another astute observer, those fishies are Brook Trout.
Cute and clever, As a birder, enjoyed all the birds.
PENGUIN, DOVE, TURKEY, GOOSE. Yes, but where are the BEES? Oh, now I see. The first letter of the second word! Cute. Clever. Droll. This lively, playful Monday succeeded for me in all aspects. Interesting, colorful clues (GREED; PHENOMS; SEE; OPEN IT; ROMEOS) that don't assume the Monday solver has a LOW IQ. And a grown-up, un-junky grid with, I think, only two proper names. Very nice indeed.
I'm in Houston today attending some meetings. The entree selections at the restaurant where we all ate dinner reminded me of one more Monday-appropriate themer. *Something rarely seen nowadays bone-in, skin-on *** CHICKEN BREAST Okay, one more themer: *Comment catching code *** EMU BOT This was fun, Jake.
@Henry Su Ha, I was thinking along the same lines. Good for what ails you? --- CHICKEN BROTH Short comment? --- EMU BAIT
I finally commented on Yesterday's puzzle in the (extremely belated) wee hours...having my routine derailed by the coconut-whole wheat pancakes. Today I'm right on time to compliment yet another excellent puzzle! First themer was DOVE BAR, and with the Reveal, I thought I had BIRD-DOVE and BAR-BEE (Barbie! How clever and funny!) But it was not to bee. That's okay ....B-words were plenty fun! 66A ....oh, dear. So many reasons not to rely on a standardized test in assessing intelligence! Beginning with poor educational opportunities, learning disabilities, and anxiety.... Test scores are predictive of ....more good test scores. Even actual IQ tests can be unreliable (and often overlook areas of strength.) Students were placed in my classes based on IQ testing.... but in actual practice, the students referred by the school for testing were "behavior problems" that were thereby placed in my room...at the far end of the longest hall. Oh, the puzzle....nice one, Jake. Nice to see you again. Come back soon!
@Mean Old Lady “Standardized” tests are useful only for measuring against a standard/average/typical model - and they certainly are predictive of future performances against that same model. But that doesn’t mean they are useless. I decided I’d like to be a high school teacher - at the tender age of 60 - and ended up teaching Algebra, Geometry, Physics and assorted other classes as required - for five years at a Boarding School in which all of the students were euphemistically described as “learning different,” We didn’t use “IQ” tests - but I’m sure we would not have produced a standard “bell curve” had we done so. Many were “diagnosed” as ADD or ADHD or OCD or other of the disabilities and abnormalities so often OVER-diagnosed. But, in my experience almost all had unique strengths hidden somewhere. (Only two were acknowledged as complete wastes of time and resources. Both were the spawn of uber-rich parents or grandparents who just didn’t have time for them.) My job was to find those unique strengths and work with them. It was an experience I would not have missed for the world - but it was also an experience I would not choose to repeat for the world.
Quick, fun solve. My best friend and I used to say 65D to each other all the time, so that brought back memories of elementary school. And 51A is my favorite author so it always makes me smile to see him in a puzzle. I have copies of nearly everything of his that is translated into English, including a book of fairytales.
@Rachel One of the rewards of this pastime is the way certain words and phrases awaken personal memories and associations. One of the benefits of this forum is the ability to share and read those unexpected stories. They often inspire some of the best conversations.
Nice puzzle and a cute theme. Nice 'oh, ok' moment when I finally caught on. Had to work the crosses in multiple places but... that's how this is supposed to work. I enjoyed it. Puzzle find today was absolutely one of the most remarkable pieces of work I've ever seen. I will put that one in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday puzzle from April 1 (!), 1984 by the legendary Frances Hansen with the title: "!PU SMOTTOB" Four theme answers - all 21 letters: LOOFLIRPAEHTSEMOCEREH YAWYMNOMIEMROFTIAWUOY ELURDROWSSORCAKAERBOT YADOTDIRGEHTPUGNIOGMI Just... amazing. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/1/1984&g=47&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/1/1984&g=47&d=A</a> ..
Felt a little harder for a Monday - Opuses / tempeh / hesse / Vera - I felt clueless on, did not know Opus referred to music. Hopefully I remember that for next time. Liked the theme! Shout out to all the workwomen out there as well! Good luck to all you on your Monday!
Jon, I think we're still permitted to use WORKMAN as an answer as long as the clue is also gendered (as it is). It would have been fun -- but not Monday-like -- to echo 20A's PENGUIN BOOKS clue by cluing WORKMAN as "American publishing house founded in 1968."
I note the appearance of OPUS the PENGUIN in the NW quadrant. (Although he did look more like a puffin with that beak.)
Was OPUSES a reference to Bloom County? Especially as he appears under Penguin Books. There's a pun that should have been made there. Great, Great puzzle.
A bird theme, nice start to the week. Guess I need to scatter some emu food.
Fun and breezy. I noticed the birds but only saw the B's when I got to the reveal. Instead of emu food, Dire Straits with ROMEO and Juliet: <a href="https://youtu.be/R9j_M3JwFos?si=ZCH2TrQXuRt-a3td" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/R9j_M3JwFos?si=ZCH2TrQXuRt-a3td</a>
@Nancy J. What about THEBIRDSANDTHEBEES on a Sunday?
@Nancy J. Indigo Girls did a great cover of Romeo and Juliet. Here's Amy Ray performing it in Central Park this past summer. IG concerts are the the best sing-alongs ever. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqvXEqfSIE8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqvXEqfSIE8</a>
Fun puzzle. Is it ARE SO, AM TOO, NEWB or NOOB - I’m learning. I liked the “rainbow” fish clue. @Caitlin with nothing but appreciation for your column, the picture of the fish is of brook trout not rainbow trout.
There goes Caitlin, playing with the captions again! The museum knows trout. <a href="https://www.echovermont.org/animals-exhibits/animals/#gallery-1-9" target="_blank">https://www.echovermont.org/animals-exhibits/animals/#gallery-1-9</a> They have no emus.
Concerning OPUSES: Traditionally, Opus numbers (now, doesn't that sound better?) were assigned by publishers, not the composers. As such, they often inaccurate as concerns completeness or chronology. For instance, Vivaldi wrote hundreds of concerti (along with operas, sacred music, etc.), but only a few dozen were published in twelve opus-numbered collections. As far as chronology, the symphonies of Dvorak and Bruckner are particularly messy. And if a composer dealt with more than one publisher, things could get very confusing. A better system are the catalogues done by musicologists for most major composers--more complete, more accurate, and besides, you get to name the catalogue after yourself. Thus Hoboken XXI:3 (*The Seasons*, by Haydn); Schickele 1/2tsp. (*The Seasonings*, by Bach)(RIP). But even these catalogues present problems--musicologists are constantly revising the scholarship, new manuscripts are discovered. And the rivalries!: in the case of Dominico Scarlatti, there are *four* competing catalogues! At least in academic discussion, no musicologist would use the term "Opuses"--the plural is "Opera"--abbreviated "Opp."--as in "Opera omnia", an edition of the complete works of a composer. Ah, Musicology! No wonder HESSE imagined it as the best preliminary study toward mastering The Glass Bead Game! (But then, he didn't know about Wordplay.)
No problems here, although there were a few words that probably required crosses for some of us (me included) but the crosses were generally quite fair and the solve was quick. Themers were not difficult, although …BOWL was not a term I'd heard used, although I actually went to one eons ago at KC Municipal (long since gone). Fun puzzle; thanks, Jake!
Blasted through but had NOOB til the very end. Learn something NEWB every day.
@Libby To your credit, nobody who actually plays games spells it NEWB. Or says it at all anymore, for that matter, but it’s always been NOOB!
@Caitlin -- Oh, terrific writeup! I especially loved the "Well, honey,..." paragraph and the background information on the theme answers. Brava! - - - - - - - Et tu emu.
@Lewis I agree! Thank you, Caitlin for sending me down Richard III’s grave. Shame on you, Bill Shakes, for buying into the Tudor propaganda as much as you did.
For once, being bird-brained on Monday mornings was helpful! Emus are bird- brained on Mondays, too.
One way to get around “the talk,” consistent with 56A, would be STORK BUNDLE.
I’m usually not anti crosswordese — and maybe I’m just cross because I went over time looking for the error — but AWGEE doesn’t do it for me. I liked the revealer all the same!
Mmm. Couple of things: ‘It is I’ is grammatically incorrect. ‘It’ is the subject therefore the object pronoun ‘me’ is required. And the plural of opus is really opera. So that clue should have a ‘commonly’ at the end
Jonathan, "It is I" is still perfectly correct if now used primarily formally. The formerly incorrect "It is me" is now accepted. In another language, opera is the plural. In English. it's opera or OPUSES. Just ask an emu.
@Jonathan Baldwin I guess IT IS I who will have to comment that this is grammatically correct, but the opposite should correctly be NOT I. And as for pluralizing OPUS, imagine the confusion when stating that Beethoven wrote 138 opera, but only one opera.
@Jonathan Baldwin Come on emus. What’s wrong with “C’est Moi C’est Moi Tis I?” Emus don’t like camp. Try again. .. .. .. <a href="https://www.tcm.com/video/1200867/camelot-1967-movie-clip-cest-moi" target="_blank">https://www.tcm.com/video/1200867/camelot-1967-movie-clip-cest-moi</a>/
Lovely smooth Monday, and a fantastic debut puzzle! I'm a bit surprised at the lack of constructor notes; I was rather looking forward to reading them.
Evan, This was Jake's tenth Times puzzle. He doesn't say very much about himself or his constructions when he does write notes. <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Jake+Halperin" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Jake+Halperin</a> Perhaps emus know more about him...
I need to stop doing Mondays on my phone. Too many typos and too distracted by a fun theme. Plus I got caught on OPUSES - I had led with ETUDES and did not catch my error until it was too late. NEMADS? What are NEMADS????
@Aaron P. Opuses always sounds and looks wrong to me. I don’t know what other spelling I would use to make a plural, but I don’t like that one. Oh, and NEMADS are cousins of neriads, but always angry.
@Aaron P. Depends on who wrote those opus works. It would have to be opi by octopi. And opu by emu.
What a fresh and fun puzzle! A bit off-kilter for a Monday, but in the best way. Enjoyed this one a lot.
Was surprised to learn that BIRDSANDBEES is a NYT debut. You'd think someone would have come up with that before. LOWIQ was used once before, clued as "Oligophrenic's problem". (Now there's a word). No GOOSEBUMPS but a fun start to a chilly Monday. Many thanks.
Sometimes, usually on Mondays, I get all the across clues in a section and don’t need the down clues to solve but I feel like I’ve cheated myself out of half the puzzle. I’m wondering if anyone goes through just to read all the clues.
@Katie I always go to xwordinfo after I finish for 2 reasons. First, to make sure I had an error-free completion, and second to look at the list view so I can see the ones I solved from the crosses. It's much easier to see them in that format, and sometimes I see some real gems I never would have noticed otherwise.
@Katie Exactly my issue. I just finish and then read the down clues so I don’t miss anything fun or new. … Eeemoooo
@Katie ...and very once in a while it turns out I had an error because I zipped through the puzzle and DIDN'T check the Downs/read all the clues. And often there are fun/funny clues, too, and one doesn't want to Miss Out.
I’m embarrassed that I cannot spell mEmento. Damn you Hermann Hesse.
@Mike The root is the same as reMEMber. It's not related to moment.
@Mike I'll never forget how to spell this, due to a Perry Mason episode where that misspelling revealed the killer (on the stand, of course).
Well this was a delightfully tasty little morsel to start a Monday! Bravo, Jake, thank you for the chuckles and perfectly Monday-crunchy clues. Impressive construction! And kudos also to Caitlin for your laugh out loud commentary. Stay warm and safe, xword friends!
I finished quickly but I have an error I just don’t see. Reviewed this puzzle a zillion times. I can’t believe a Monday is stumping me.
@Pani Korunova Lots of O's in here. Check for 0's (zeroes).
@Pani Korunova Second attempt. Emus, go away. How about the French sea? People sometimes confuse it with the Spanish version. Fifth theme clue: It causes short answers to be held up. EMU B(OLONEY).
@Pani Korunova If you have The NY Times Games app on your phone, choose List View. It gives you the clue plus the answer in a list. It is much easier to spot typos that way. —Signed, the solver who had a typo in TYPE a few days ago
Breezy, light and fun. But “OPUSES”? No. No, no and no.
I was reminded of a display of Penguin Books in Heathrow. They had them sorted by color with a heading for each column, e.g., travel. Singing "Lets fall in Love." Thank you Jake
OK. I've been reading the comment section on these puzzles for a while now but I still can't figure out all the EMU references. I feel a little stupid asking but will someone please clue me in? Thanks.
@Allen Electronic Moderation Units (EMU) filters out comments that the robots deem too short. Or offensive. Or potentially…who knows..? So we add words. Like I’m doing now. So the emus don’t eat this comment.
@Allen I have never had a problem with a short comment. I think EMU food is beyond its expiration date.
Enjoyed digging a little deeper than the usual Monday. Nice puzzle, Jake.
My inevitable late puzzle find today: A Sunday from November 21, 1982 by Katherine Gould and Chris Remignanti with the title "High Jinks." Don't recall ever seeing anything like this before, especially regarding the relationship of the clues to the answers. Anyway - a couple of examples: Clue: "Read between the lines." Answer: THEREADLINES Clue: "Backward and forwards." Answer: SDRAWROFDNA Clue: "Run on sentence." Answer: SENTENCEEEEE And I'll let you guess the answers to a couple of others: Clue: "A shot in the dark." Clue: "Rally round the flag." Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/21/1982&g=95&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/21/1982&g=95&d=A</a> ..