Re “You wanna take this outside?,” I may have related this before, so excuse me if I have. As a newish attorney, I had a high profile trial in federal court in New Jersey. I did not meet the opposing trial attorney until the first day of trial because he had not been involved in the discovery process. He was cocky, experienced and . . . pugnacious. He took an immediate disliking to me, and took great offense at my objecting to something he said during his opening statement. By the end of the day, he was steaming. After the jury and judge left the courtroom, he expressed his displeasure and said, “Go back to New York, you punk.” When I responded in a way he did not like, his next words were, “Do you wanna go outside?” This was in a federal court and the courtroom deputy was still present. When I reminded him, incredulously, that we were supposed to be above such behavior, that only made him angrier. Luckily, his associate (whom i had gotten to know and like during discovery) restrained him and they finally left. That was day 1 of a three-week trial. Needless to say, I was a bit shaken, but I managed to hold it together and justice prevailed. By the end, we had become begrudgingly cordial. A few months later, I received a call from a potential client. When I asked how he had found me, he explained that the man who had recently wanted to beat me up had referred him. Extremely fun Monday. 123 rejections! I have a tough time dealing with one. Bravo to you both!
@Puzzlemucker Great story! Thanks for sharing.
@Puzzlemucker Wow, that Is a story for the ages! Way to demonstrate grace under pressure! You obviously made an impression!
@Puzzlemucker Wow, what a story. I was held spellbound throughout the entire reading. Must have been a stressful 3 weeks. Hope you managed to get sleep. Did you? Perhaps you knew how to meditate! Anyway, thanks again. Not fhe first time I have enjoyed reading your posts! ;-)
The climactic transformation into cartoon fonts was an unexpected and welcome surprise treat.
What a delightful animation upon finishing! Made things even more fun. Enjoyed it.
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Ungulate found backward in "ungulate" (3) 2. Seattle slew? (5)(4) 3. Angular movement? (6) 4. Passage of rite? (5) 5. Not down, in a way (3) GNU RAINY DAYS CUBISM AISLE SIP
@Lewis I liked GNU and AISLE. Smiled when I solved them. 🍑🍍🍒🍓
@Lewis “Not down, in a way,” for SIP was my favorite, mainly because I had filled it in from the crosses, so when I first looked at the answer I was puzzled. Pun intended! I always look forward to your lists.
I loved this puzzle today! It really lifted my spirits as I solved it and when I reached the end--surprise: colorful cartoon-like fighting words from Batman, my favorite childhood TV show!! Thanks for the fun and the memories! I felt like a little kid again! And, I did have trouble with "SCUBA MASKS" because I was sure it was SCUBA TANKS for a long while.... anyway, I figured it out in the end! Holy Anticipation, Batman, the thrill is in the solving as the Riddler would attest to!
@Jim Casey - Yup... same here. Spend 1/3rd of my final solve time noodling over 19D, 9D and 31A because I had TANKS instead of MASKS. Feel like an idiot for taking so long to figure it out considering it's a Monday. The range of emotions that happens when an early week puzzle starts off fast and you're thinking it could be a record... then you hit a few snags and think "Oh well, not a record, but should be pretty breezy" and then the dread of getting stuck and not even being able to fill in words that make sense... on a MONDAY!! The Horror. Then you finish it and know it will shift your average a little bit in the wrong direction, but really, who cares?! Fun puzzle with some strange clues and fills... but a nice little Monday challenge to get the week started.
The only person I know who uses ESTOP in conversation is s blowhard attorney with an oversized EGO. So much to admire in this deceptively simple puzzle, including the nice clump of EI words/phrases in the NW: Seizing, One Iron, Nein and nearby Eider, the nice parings of One Iron and Even Par, of Ewe and Sow, of Oil and Silt (what a MESS). Happy to see KAPOW because Lewis just used it a couple days ago to describe an effect the puzzle had on him. Frankly, that the Daring Duo who made this puzzle submitted 123 times before getting the green light is the thing that really knocks me over. Just wow.
Sort of dozing and looking out the window, running on automatic, easing my way through this jewel of a puzzle, then, when I finished it, BAM! ZAP! BOFF! KAPOW!! I nearly jumped out of my chair! Bravo Desirée and Jeff! I needed that.
"What do you think of this scuba-themed bar?" "It's such a dive." ("Yeah, something's fishy.")
@Mike What do you suppose are their net earnings?
@Mike They would need to have some sort of bins or lockers where you Cousteau your gear while you were there.
Im so thankful you didn't give up on this puzzle, Ms. Penner and Mr. Sinnock. Had you shelved it, we would all have missed out on a veritable JEWEL. And kudos also to the animation team for the surprise ending. Throughout the solve, I had been envisioning the sound effects of the Batman fights, so to have them suddenly come to life was extraordinary. It was a bonus to be reminded of MINOLTA, the camera that I borrowed from my brother in my teens and that ended up being gifted to me. It became my darling tool for capturing life around me throughout many years. I loved everything about this puzzle. It was a splash of happiness amid a bout of the flu (which I'll now be fighting with the appropriate sound effects...) Thank you!
@sotto voce I was pleasantly reminded of MINOLTA, too. It was the first SLR I ever had, bought while I was still in high school. It’s still in my closet, along with several lenses acquired over the years. But I haven’t shot film in decades.
Hmm. Yesterday’s title of Wordplay — “Punch lines” — would have been equally apt for today’s.
Strudel Dad, I don't think it coincidence that this puzzle was selected for this Monday. ladle some punch for the emu
Two days in a row in which incredible constructor perseverance results in getting puzzles published. Yesterday, Daniel Grinberg revealed in his notes that it took 22 iterations of his Sunday puzzle before he landed on the one that the Times accepted – 22 iterations of a Sunday puzzle! Just making one is a prodigious task, trust me. Today we learn from the constructors that the NYT team rejected 123 of their puzzles before accepting one. That is, even after being waved off 122 times, they went for another! Well, if that isn’t a paradigm of tenacity, what is? Color me inspired. As for today’s puzzle, I liked how the fighting words were vibrant not only because of their onomatopoeia, but also because of their use of higher-value Scrabble letters. I liked seeing the anagrams WEE and EWE. And I learned that BOFF is a legitimate cartoon fight sound effect after learning that in the 120 episodes of TV’s “Batman”, that word flashed on the screen in 24 of them. Mostly, though, I come away from this puzzle inspired to stick with things when I feel like giving up. Thank you, Desirée and Jeff for that, and for a puzzle with verve!
That was a lot of fun. Adam West would have loved it!
What a world! We went from PUNCH LINES to FIGHTING WORDS in just 24 hours. Sounds like someone couldn't take a joke. Fun puzzle, and nice enhancement post-solve, so thanks to Desirée and Jeff for the construction, and the Time graphics team for the illustrations!
🎵🎶 Whennnnnn... you're down by the sea and an eel bites your knee...🎶🎵
@CaptainQuahog When I was growing up, my father always sang it as 🎵When the eel swimming by / is as big as your thigh… 🎶 How fun to hear another variation on the theme! 🎵 When your post doesn’t show / Or it’s going real slow / that’s an Emu 🎶
I had scuba tanks and the rest of the puzzle done but for two downs and an across based on the t and n of tanks. I thought I was going mad - was I really going to stumble on a Monday? Thanks to that - way over my average and this puzzle delivered me a THWACK
@Chris At least you weren't running on empty. ° ° ° ° ° °
@Chris Same, had tanks at first! It didn’t slow me down too much this time but definitely have had weeks where something like that happened on a Mon/Tue when I expected to just breeze through.
@Chris I did the same thing. Even when I realized that the circles held FIGHTING WORDS, I failed to notice that BAt, while theme-related, didn’t work as part of a theme answer. I managed to come in one second faster than my average, but still, that T and that N ate up some time.
Shout out to my dad who, throughout my childhood, was always singing or humming snippets from old fashioned songs and nursery rhymes, including both “Ta-RA-RA-Boom-de-ay” and “That’s Amore”. Lately he inadvertently terrorized my toddler, who now thinks that blackbirds will peck his nose off. Maybe one day he’ll be able to pull that nostalgic knowledge out to solve a crossword.
Yep. Them's FIGHTIN' WORDS. I've heard *that* all my life (mostly in jest, I think. It was one of my Dad's favorites...) BOFF? BOFFO is an adjective; BIFF is the word used to deliver a SOCK. Whatever happened to WHAM? POW is the strike of a fist; KAPOW is what you hear when a weapon is discharged. I don't understand why it's so hard to pin down these details; I'm only an e-mail away, for the lord's sake, if you don't have Popeye's number. Congrats to our (new?) constructors, no matter how combative. Loved seeing INKWELLS. "I'm hiding, I'm hiding, and no one knows where..." Can't remember my passwords, but I still know that one by heart--a beloved part of bedtime for our children....who are now in their Forties. Go ahead--judge me if you like. My children were adorable...and as adults are some of the nicest people I know, I'm glad to say.
15 Down reminds me of my favorite joke: "By day, she's a hard-charging District Attorney, but by night, she's queen of the music halls! Tune in tonight for a new episode of "Tara Raboom, D.A."!
Fun! Loved the cartoon punches! POW! Also liked ESTOP and AESOP parallel with each other.
This was a fun puzzle with a cute pay out at the end. Thank you Jeff and Desirée, for the puzzle and for being teachers! Many thanks!
Curious to know the original TA RA RA BOOM DEE AY. What I remember is: We are the glamor girls. We wear our hair in curls. We wear our dungarees Rolled up above our knees. We wear our fathers' shirts. We wear our brothers' ties. And when we want a guy, We take him by surprise. Tararaboomdeeay Tararaboomdeeay Tararaboomdeeay Tarara BOOM! Talk about showing my age!
@RozzieGrandma From grade school days: Ta rara boom de ay, There is no school today, The teacher passed away, I threw her in the bay.
@RozzieGrandma -- I remember it as "And when we kiss the boys, We take them by surprise." Also, since we sang it at Camp Pinecliffe, we sang it as: "We are Camp Pinecliffe girls, We wear our hair in curls" Everything else was the same as what you remember.
What a super fun puzzle! The comic graphic upon completion was the cherry on top. Happy Monday! .....................................................
When a fish bites your heel and it looks like an eel, that's a moray. Where was I? Oh yeah - fun puzzle and just a bit of a workout for me. Had to ponder the crosses in a couple of places and came in a bit above my Monday average. Noticed that this was the second puzzle for this pair and went and looked at the first one. Sort of a similar theme with the reveal: "Where your eyes might stay during a suspenseful scene … or the only place you'll find the "eyes" in this puzzle" GLUEDTOTHETV And then all of the theme answers had ITVI embedded in them. e.g.: transITVIsas. Kind of amazing that the only I's in any of the across answers were in the theme answers. Looking forward to more from this pair. I'll put a bit more in a couple of replies. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Likewise for me, this was slower than average — 13%. I wonder if it had anything to do with me watching the Grammys while working on the puzzle. Hadn’t planned to watch it, hadn’t watched it in years, but was at the mother-in-law’s when it came on. Tracy Chapman’s appearance was awesome.
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First puzzle find was inspired by the theme of this puzzle. A Wednesday from October 9, 1996 by R. Hughes. Four theme answers in that one and the clue for each of them was the same: "Fightin' words." And, two 15 letter and two 14 letter theme answer, all of them quite familiar phrases and only one of them ever appeared in another puzzle. The theme answers; LETSSTEPOUTSIDE PUTUPYOURDUKES YOUWANDWHATARMY WHOSGONNAMAKEME More in another reply. ..
More challenging than a typical Monday, as even with crosses there were a few unfamiliar terms for me- all the better for increasing my vocabulary! The end graphic was simply delightful- I'm glad I'm on the only one in the office this early, as I laughed out loud. This was a great theme, thank you!
Thank you for a funny Monday finish. The kapow etc really made me laugh!!!!
Congrats to the constructors on a fun and delightfully themed Monday puzzle and kudos for sticking it out 123 times.
Same Bat time… Same Bat channel! Kudos to the dynamic duo for this fun Monday grid.
I didn't see the colorful joy at the end until I read the column, so I went back. Delightful! A few entries were outside my wheelhouse, but they were easily filled in by the cross clues. And that's what I love about puzzles...I learned something new. Today is ER volunteering day so I have to wrap up and get going. Just a reminder: don't go to the ER if it's not an emergency. Please.
Umm, boff is actually the opposite of fighting. Unless I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.
@Dan that made me (literally) laugh out loud.
@Dan Wellll… maybe it was a double entendre, but Batman did use “boff” as one of the many fight words. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=75&v=10lnyw0Qleg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=75&v=10lnyw0Qleg&feature=youtu.be</a>
@Dan - Oh, MYYY! (That is what the George repeatedly exclaimed as he read Fifty Shades of Emu.)
That was fast and fun! My only complaint is that I did it on Sunday night and now I can't do it on Monday morning! And if those are FIGHTING WORDS, they're directed at myself because I think it would have made a great fun start to my day tomorrow... But, my need for instant gratification overwhelmed me and here we are. I was mildly concerned at first though, when the first two words at 1A and 4A were two such frequently used fill words (ETS and APED) but my alarm didn't last long—it was definitely a stone embedded in a crown of a puzzle! Loved the very enjoyable and fun surprise at the end! It was kind of a crummy weekend and that was a very real brightener! Thanks so much, dear constructors!
Adored this puzzle 😍 Totally pictured Adam West as I solved. Holy animation Batman!! And what a testament to perseverance…123 rejections is mind blowing 🤯 Thank you for continuing to submit. It was well worth the wait.
Very cool effects! I haven’t heard of Ta-___ Boom-de-ay but managed to make an educated guess with a certain duck. The lowest number of iron I can hit reasonably well is five. If you can hit ONE IRON, you ain’t playing with me!
@Andy K "If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron." -Lee Trevino
@Andy K EIDER you knew it, or you needed the crosses. (Ducks and runs.) No relation to emus.
I almost missed the fist in the face graphics because they didn’t show up before the app told me I’d successfully completed the puzzle. Luckily I went back to take a look at the puzzle and there they were, bold as life. That was the knockout blow for a punchy puzzle. I have to say I never would have imagined Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails appearing in the same puzzle as Bobbie Gentry’s Ode To Billie Joe. I only became familiar with Nine Inch Nails through Johnny Cash’s late in life version of Hurt. In yet another example of the wonkiness of the stats widget, the app credited me with a PB on Sunday’s puzzle of under three minutes, when, in fact, the puzzle had taken me more than 30.
@Marshall Walthew I thought of Johnny Cash too. That song gets me every time. For anyone who missed it: Johnny Cash with Hurt: <a href="https://youtu.be/8AHCfZTRGiI?si=7FDBHkU_J3AErytF" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/8AHCfZTRGiI?si=7FDBHkU_J3AErytF</a>
More color! More fill in for the filler! How 'bout an animated puzzle that does your taxes, cleans your house, and fixes all the big aches and pains that this blue marble can throw at us? Oh wait, ain't it us two-legged critters that brag, cuss, cheat and fuss and can't sit together without proving something? Guess all those explosive words affect the ability to use our ears without putting up dukes ....heck, them's . . . @#!*!
ta-RARA-boom-de-ay feels a bit too esoteric for a Monday puzzle, maybe. But ESTOP is definitely not Monday material.
Nick, Is there anything wrong with learning a new word from a Monday puzzle? Which of the letters of ESTOP could not fill from the crosses?
@Nick The legal term ESTOP is one of those words I only see in crossword puzzles, like embar for imprison. I automatically parse it as E STOP (E for Emergency) because that's the big red button you push when there's a jam on the conveyor belt.
That was so much fun and totally unexpected. I loved the reveals. Made my day!
First of all, I take issue with the spelling of the reveal. “Them’s fightin’ words!” is the correct phrase, as heard in many a movie Western. This puzzle was fun and cute even before the fun and cute graphics were added. TANS for SUNS and SCUBA TANKS instead of MASKS were early errors, but that didn’t last long. The worst part of this puzzle? NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA BATMAN! is on autoplay in my head. I sure hope that sharing this with all of you doesn’t spread the ear worm infection. MWAH HA HA 😈
@Kris T I could live more easily with a “Batman theme” earworm than one of “That’s Amore.” I actually filled in PIZZA PIE without reading the clue because nothing else could have gone there. It wasn’t until I read the review of the puzzle on Diary of a Crossword Fiend that I saw what the clue was.
@Kris T Not my favorite puzzle but I'll defend the constructors with respect to 37A. Had it been clued as "What Yosemite Sam might say to Bugs before demanding a duel", you might have a point. However, "fighting words" is well worn in less idiomatic contexts, to say nothing of the legal doctrine which speakers tend to cite within the bounds of proper grammar: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_words" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_words</a> Furthermore, the clue made no mention of fictional dialogue, let alone Westerns.
@Greg Chavez Where did I say it did? I thought it was clear that my tongue was firmly in cheek, but clearly my attempt at humor was too clumsy.
Best puzzle in quite some time. I’m three years old once again watching Batman and Robin on tv and totally delighted with them fighting words. Lol.
Had to come and praise the dev team for the graphics. I almost missed them as I was headed to Wordle after completing today's puzzle.
I love it when some entries change on a correct solve!
Loved this puzzle and it very accurately described what the emus do to my posts. .. .. Take that emus.
Yes! Cartoon colors! I love it! More, please!
Fun puzzle! Loved the graphics upon completion! Thank you constructors for your perseverence! 123 times!! I grew up watching Batman which probably started my obsession with crime shows!
Thank you for the great fun amazing graphics at the solve!
I suspect a number of people would recognize the song “Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay” without knowing it by name. It was a staple of vaudeville, slapstick, burlesque, minstrelsy and music hall from its origin in the late 19th century until talkie movies. As with much of that repertoire, it then passed into being common in cartoons and Saturday morning kids’ programming. Still, I doubt that many people under the age of forty would have ever encountered it. Most under sixty probably didn’t know it by name. Here’s a link to a 1933 use of it in film. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QQTTF7DltTo&pp=ygUUdGEgcmEgcmEgYm9vbSBkZSBheSA" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QQTTF7DltTo&pp=ygUUdGEgcmEgcmEgYm9vbSBkZSBheSA</a>%3D
@David Connell Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay was so well known that it would have been part of any kid's arsenal of childish songs: "_______ is a friend of mine, he resembles Frankenstein, when he's walking down the street, you can smell his dirty feet." It was also the theme of Howdy Doody.
@David Connell Thank. So the version I learned in the 1950's and posted earlier derived from this one (same tune). I'd never heard the original.
A puzzle within a puzzle. Within a conundrum. Within an enigma. Who could ask for anything more? Or less!