My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Windy location of myth? (9) 2. What you might get at the gym (2)(5) 3. Fashion items that may be a bit steep (9) 4. What may go to waste? Nope! What waste may go to (7)(3) 5. Pack of dogs? (7) LABYRINTH IN SHAPE STILETTOS COMPOST BIN WIENERS
Silent performance artists often select the same beverage. Great mimes drink alike! (And they don't wine about it either.)
Mike, AHH ISEE ALOUD NOGO (emus' exes)
@Mike What a nice gesture. Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcel Marceau would give the nod to that one.
I am newer to crosswords so Monday is my favorite day of the week, only day I can always solve. I am in college so sometimes the references go over my head... DRINKS ON ME was easy though and is music to my ears. This one was super fun!
@Kiran Welcome to the NYT crosswords! That's how it starts out, but pretty soon you'll get the hang of lateral thinking, puns, misdirects, rebus et al, and the love of the game will only grow. Let us know how it's going and if there's ever anything we can help you with! This is a brilliant, kind, and generous community whose tips and explanations have been instrumental in getting me past Mondays, and will do the same for you. Best wishes to you. Onward and upward!
@Kiran Thursdays are akin to a 400 level college class.
This theme triggered the memory of an unforgettable moment of my life, probably the longest moment as well. Ages ago I was working as a waiter in a steak house, and on this night, I was serving a four-top of men in suits. Everything had gone smoothly through the main course, and they were sitting with coffee. I came around with a carafe to top up their cups, and was behind one of the guests when my to stubbed against a crease in the carpet and a dollop of steaming joe spilled out and landed on his shoulder. Nobody saw this happen. Now this scalding liquid had some distance to go before reaching this guest’s shoulder. It had to soak through the jacket, shirt, and perhaps an undershirt as well. This was that longest moment, that agonizing wait, two seconds probably, that felt like an eternity. I was frozen, speechless, helpless, not knowing what to do. Oh, the burn came, I saw a moment of confusion on his face, then he rubbed his shoulder with his hand, quickly stood and looked at me, jaw dropped, as I profusely apologized. It all ended well (I paid for having his suit cleaned), but what I will never forget is that moment of waiting, waiting, waiting for the coffee to travel through the layers. These are the moments that add texture to a life. Now I laugh about it. It makes for a good story, and thank you for triggering it, Joe, with your DRINKS ON ME theme!
Oh, it was a lovely puzzle as well, with the sparkling I KID YOU NOT, HE’S A KEEPER, and NAMASTE. And I liked seeing the “footing the bill” theme echoed with SPATS, UGG, and SUEDES. This fun solve and the memory it triggered made for a rich start to the week for me – thank you again, Joe!
@Lewis I was at the other end of the spill a few summers ago. It was a gorgeous Wisconsin summer (yes, they exist), and we were sitting outside at the garden tables. I was wearing white jeans. Oops. The waitress brought our drinks, and mine was a red sangria. The table was of the iron variety, with an openwork makeup. I could see the problem before it happened; the bartender had filled the drink to the rim, in a martini-style glass. As she put it down, her hand shook oh-so-slightly. My white jeans were now red. All five of us...four at the table and the waitress...let out an audible "oh no!" I spent the rest of that meal trying to eat my delicious lunch while the waitress, manager, and bartender each brought me a solution (Try this club soda, here's some baking soda, get them dry cleaned and send us the bill...) as I in turn tried to reassure them (it's okay, don't worry about it, I don't blame you, it happens). I did get them cleaned (and did not turn in the bill), the stain remained. They were Chicos, and I loved them, but they weren't new, and today, they would no longer fit me. It's just fabric, and it really wasn't her fault. But when I saw the theme, I thought of this episode as well. It was a fun puzzle, nonetheless. I love Mondays.
A fun, lively puzzle to warm me up for finishing the last few days worth of puzzles, which I had to miss because of traveling for family things. I tried to squeeze doing some puzzles in here and there but given they were all end of week puzzles that I'm not as speedy on yet, I didn't get very far. Glad I don't really care about streaks yet. Loved HE'S A KEEPER! And the clue for PEAS, little spears in a pod, especially made me smile! Everything came pretty quickly but it was fun to go through! And I've been dramatically improving my Monday through Wednesday averages. Huzzah!?
Couldn’t align and agree more with your comment! I was also busy with family things this weekend and didn’t get far with the weekend puzzles (but it’s NBD since I am not speedy/dedicated enough to keep streaks (yet)). Love the weekdays though, especially Monday & Friday puzzles! PEAS made me smile, and the common phrase is how I described my two similarly-sized dynamic-duo rescue dogs on a W-A-L-K at the park earlier today. They take a stop-and-sniff approach, typically trotting in unison, ears flopping, tails wagging, hip-to-hip while zigzagging across the sidewalk towards the next tree or curiosity. As small, scruffy terriers with profoundly fascinating personalities and tendencies, I KID YOU NOT they are two of my favorite things on this planet.
There's something about doing Monday puzzles on Sundays that I love. Maybe it's the gelling of the mellow Sunday vibe with the breeziness of Monday puzzles. Easy, but more in the sense of laid-back. This puzzle did it for me, fitting right in with the quiet Sunday I'm enjoying. Mr. Marquez lets us know that there aren't any debut entries, but the cluing was so good, you could have fooled me, I KID YOU NOT. I can honestly say that, as a constructor, HE'S A KEEPER. And plus, he said it and I quote: DRINKS ARE ON ME. Well, thank you, Mr. Marquez! Let's celebrate, then, your return to the NYT xwords with a round now that you're of legal age. This reminds me of something I told my niece when she turned 21 a few years back (because being the aunt instead of the parent makes me somehow worthy of being heard???) "Just because it's legal, doesn't mean you have to or need to. Some things are best when they're occasional and treated like a delicacy." (Which is why I never buy the take-home Swedish meatballs from IKEA. If I could have them every day, what would be the point of going to IKEA instead of ordering online?) Mr. Marquez, this was a charming puzzle that put a smile on my face! Thank you!
An inebriated baseball player is a catcher in the rye.
This one hit that sweet spot for me - easy and fun, but couldn’t just sleepwalk through it. 👍🏻👍🏻
Intriguing subtheme: Japan in WWII with Enola (Gay), the B-29 that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima, Iwo (Jima), the month-long battle exactly 74 years ago, and while the B-29 was a four-engine plane, the B-25s and B-26s used over Japan were twin engine planes -- with Japan as one of the AXIS powers, and at the other end of the diagonal axis: Utah, as in Utah Beach, where the Allies engaged the Germans at Normandy. The proximity of Exes and Axis tickled me; there is indeed a band called Exes of Evil (thanks, google). Also, did you know that kamikaze pilots performed a special ceremony before flying including drinking SAKE and eating rice? Hasta la vista! I wonder whether any of Henry VIII's wives could be called EXES. At least two of his marriages were annulled, and he only had two of his six wives killed. Anne Boleyn was beheaded (she is one of Henry's ...axes) as was Catherine Howard, but there is compelling speculation that Catherine of Aragon, whose marriage to Henry was annulled but who died very young (36) by no apparent cause, was poisoned. In any case, if Henry VIII bellied up to the bar, got out his royal wallet, turned to any of the women in his vicinity, proclaiming aloud in the sudden subdued silence, "Drinks on me," this would cause quite a bit of UNEASE in the crowd. If you bought him home to dine with the folks, saying, "Mom, dad, this is my fiancee, Henry, he wants to make me his queen!" no mother will afterwards whisper in your ear "He's a keeper!"
Sorry about my bad math: Iwo Jima took place from Feb. 19 - March 26, 1945, so the heart of the battle was 79 years ago today or tomorrow or the next day.... And may the battle of Emu Jima never take place.
@john ezra. Wikipedia says Cathrine of Aragon was 50 when she died. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon</a>
Fine Monday puzzle, Joe! On some Thursdays, we see squares that are not conventionally checked. With this Monday, we have squares that can be double-checked: conventionally and by theme. A good way for new solvers to be extra sure without look-ups.
If I ever need to spell UTAH for anyone, I shall henceforth say, “A as in AGOG,” apt as it is to describe how I feel whenever I go home. And for a bit of trivia—there’s a Mt. GOG and Mt. MAGOG in the Beehive State.
A merciful Monday crossword, providing some extra attentive coddling, for short.
When I can I'll solve the puzzle at the beach. Of course, I always take things "littorally". Nice puzzle. Thanks. At the bar, it was "Your money's no good here!"
@John - As one who live in the littoral and sublittoral environment, I approve of this comment! Emus rarely enter the intertidal.
My fastest time yet! Mondays give me the confidence for Thursday I KID YOU NOT! when I finally do conquer Thursday, DRINKS ON ME! Sorry if this was cheesy ;)
Nice variety of entries, and a fun theme . “Drinks on me” is a great way to start the week in my opinion.
I’m at the grocery store. A round for everyone? Why not? DRINKSONME (Picking up the Tab now.) cc: emu handler
Nice Monday puzzle. Across, down, across again and... I finished. Cute theme and a smooth solve - not quite a record time for me, but close. First answer history search today was for RIVERMOUTH. Two previous appearances and... both times it was also used to imply VERMOUTH. In one puzzle it was paired up with: extravirGIN and diaperservICE, with the reveal being DRYMARTINI. Then the other puzzle - a quite amazing Sunday from March 9, 2008 by Patrick Berry with the title: "Splits and mergers." Tough to describe the amazing trick in that one. Here's one try: 79d: riV (with the clue being - "See 90 across" with the V crossing 90a at: dryVermouth And the clue for 90a: "Martini ingredient / Delta site [merger] " A couple of other examples: Down and across with the crossing letter in caps: down: foreS (so the implied answer is FORESTRANGER) across: dontbeaStranger across: notificAnhelpit down: Ation (so the implied answer is NOTIFICATION) A couple of other pairs: down: cleAnslate across: trAnslate across: eventhOrizon down: eventhOugh Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/9/2008&g=79&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/9/2008&g=79&d=D</a> ..
Re 67A, "lone star" is also the state's rating. 😉 Clever theme! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sam, I think "LITERAL" in this case refers to definition 2 below: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literal" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literal</a> The letters ME sit below the three drinks in the puzzle, so the theme is LITERAL. Literally so.
No Beer ME? TUT, TUT The emus will never go for that. No can do.
@Vaer You've never heard VERMOUTH ME?
Penned in HESAKEEPER and looked at ko while she eye rolled. However, we learned that an eye is swoon the other so..... all is well cooed Tom, contentedly. Thanks Joe. A fine start to the week.
What an adorable theme. But I made it harder for myself when trying to guess the revealer because I considered the rather obvious DRINKS [ARE] ON ME to be a no-no. You can't use ME twice, once in the grid and once in the revealer, can you? I thought. So I eliminated ME in my mind and substituted "I". I'M UNDER the what???? Nope, can't be UNDER; we've got an UNDER in UNDERGO at 10D. Moving right along. I'M BENEATH the what??? I'M BELOW the what??? The booze? The liquor? The alcohol. Meanwhile I'm slowing my solve down to a crawl so I'll figure it before I get to the revealer. Too fast. There's the revealer, obvious as all get-out, hiding in plain sight. With a repetition of ME. So more guessable than I expected. But still a very cute puzzle. It went down nice and easy. Hic.
Quite an odd menu of DRINKS, is it not? My first take on looking at the puzzle as I printed it out (one for me, one for PhysicsDaughter) was to think, "Jon Marquez! Oh, joy! Is it the actor who portrayed the feckless Constable Penhale on "Doc Martin"? Then I saw this is, at best, JOE, his younger brother.... and likely not even a relation at all. But I digress. Like all Monday puzzles, this was over too soon, so I used the extra time to check the Constructor's Note.... interesting to read this was accepted before he "could legally drink," which doesn't exactly mean he wasn't getting up to something despite his age.... We are expecting a Blessed Event: a pair of House Sparrows are nesting in the bluebird box. It took me a week to get a good enough look through my binoculars to identify the male. He is so 'sturdy' that he has to struggle and wriggle a bit to get out of the opening, while the sylphlike female slips in and out easily. These 'imports' are larger than native sparrows... The bluebirds and the chickadees that were investigating the box are out of luck for this round. You snooze, you lose.
@Mean Old Lady In our backyard, we have a small pond (a galvanized stock tank partially set in ground). This morning, for the first time in a while, we had a red-tailed hawk hanging out there for 10 or 15 minutes. Enjoy your baby sparrows.
@Mean Old Lady We have friends who regularly spend winter in the Florida keys. A few years ago, they returned to Maryland in April to find a sparrow and her eggs in the ivy trellis over the front door and on the INSIDE. They stuck to their side door for months and heaven help any visitors who forgot.
@Mean Old Lady My bluebird nesting box was a stunning success last year - four young 'uns. I haven't seen any yet this year, but it's still a bit cold. The chickadees are getting nosy about it.
A mouth-watering puzzle at the end of my dry February! rUm ME
4D Fine leathers, ok, I SEE. But she's not wearing suede. I would have liked to see Jerry Seinfeld in his suede jacket from the episode The Jacket. The one where Lawrence Tierney plays Elaine's father. Nevertheless, that is a great photo!
@Roberto in the show, she dons the jacket when she decides she must “go bad” (18D) to get the guy; she’s also blonde (33A). So while the jacket might relate to 4D, I don’t think it needs to for the photo choice.
Slick as a sidewalk in Truckee without spikes on your boots. The wee pup BB skates off with an ARF, sliding away in a Dopplerian red cadence. The other problem with Venmo is that it puts money into the pockets of those who are troublesome for our society. The new Spinoza biography has gained attention from the popular media, astonishingly. That brave genius at the heart of The Enlightenment put it simply: those of us in this intellectual class serve well when we promote justice, loving-kindness, and education shared across the generations. He was not named Benedict (Baruch) for nothing.
I FINALLY broke the 4:00 barrier! I was starting to think I could never do it 😂
@Jacob It’s fun when you do that, especially when you don’t expect it.
@Jacob That's incredible! To think I was about to brag about finally breaking the seven and a half minute barrier ...
What a charming puzzle for Monday. The ease of the fill didn’t detract from the wit and skill of the construction. Although I’ve seen and enjoyed the film ENOLA Holmes, the name always starts the ear worm of Enola Gay by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark; a catchy song with dark material as its base.
@Helen Wright So that's why I played that album today! I forgot it was in the puzzle until I read your comment.
I wanted propENGINE, which threw a brief wrench, but otherwise smooth and sparkling (wine) for ME!
A new Monday record for me! A fun and well-executed theme. HESAKEEPER was a treat. I like IKIDYOUNOT but I filled it in completely from the crosses.
Excellent Monday- quick fill and several fun clues, like HESAKEEPER and ELIDES. Great work!!!
Today's word found in both the WaPo and NYT crossword puzzles is "Urdu".
Thank you for the fun Monday puzzle, Joe Marquez! Here's to you! emu food more emu food
I KID YOU NOT (30D) immediately evokes memories of Jack Paar, Johnny Carson's predecessor on The Tonight Show.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. I thought it was really clever! I have heard that it is just as difficult to create an easy puzzle as a hard one, though. Very fun for Monday.
I wondered if there was another layer to this: around SAKE, with GLENN on top: NAMESAKE. But it did not appear to be the case with the other clues.
@DRC424 Close, but no cigar... !!! !!! !!! !!!
Kudos to Joe on his second NYT crossword under the age of 21! However, at age 67, I must admit I've NEVER heard anyone order VERMOUTH. I know it's in many other drinks (e.g. a Manhattan, my departed parents' fave). Vermouth Me! Wine Me! Sake Me! Quite the stretch!
Brian, You may not have heard anyone order VERMOUTH, but surely you remember the ads for Martini & Rossi Vermouth on the rocks? <a href="https://lipolounge.com/a-classic-cocktail-for-any-occasion-the-martini-and-rossi-on-the-rocks/#google_vignette" target="_blank">https://lipolounge.com/a-classic-cocktail-for-any-occasion-the-martini-and-rossi-on-the-rocks/#google_vignette</a> Emus prefer extra dry
@Brian Monahan I rolled my eyes a bit at VERMOUTH being a "drink." Not to worry, there's GIN in 28A.
In all my days as a gym-bunny, never have I ever heard anyone speak of "pull-down day." one doesn't do any more REPS of pull-downs than, say, seated cable rows, one arms dumbbell rows, or T-bar rows. Certainly not a whole day devoted to them. But if one did devote a whole day to them, it would probably be a Monday. Since I linked OMD just a short while ago, here's a little cover of a song by Elle King, which you--and a good friend--can play along with: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOv3s69Vmyo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOv3s69Vmyo</a>
@Bill I, too, have never heard of a “pull-down day,” but my clue (iOS app) reads “Muscles worked on a ‘pull day,’ informally”. That I have heard of. Don’t know if the text was corrected in the two hours between our comments. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Shoutout to the Hoosier Dome! Lot's of great memories there!
Fun, brisk puzzle to get the juices flowing Monday morning...thanks!
Perfectly reasonable for a Monday puzzle, but the theme seemed a bit weak to me. RIVERMOUTH sounds odd, unlike, say, riverbank. Yes, it contains VERMOUTH, but feels a bit forced to me. Really wanted another themer in there somewhere. The GIN in TWINENGINE missed by one letter, and even a drink above the ME in the revealer would have worked. VERMOUTH, WINE and SAKE seem a bit underwhelming as drinks go. That said, the fill was good, with ADVANTAGES, IKIDYOUNOT and NAMASTE being especially interesting long verticals.
Xword Junkie, Does RIVER MOUTH sound better to you as two words? It seems rather routine to me. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_mouth" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_mouth</a> Are there emus on The Banks of the Ohio?
I spotted another pattern that didn't quite work out. Two-by-two squares in the theme words spell out MAKE and MINE as in "make mine vermouth" or "make mine sake". But the third such square, which I expected to fill out the phrase, say, to "Mike, make mine verrmouth" unfortunately reads MMOE.
In to complain about 4D - there should only be one, true, acceptable answer here and that is “Corinthinian” (said with apppropriate ‘r’ trilling and syllabic emphasis, of course). That is all.
@KidA Aww, Ricardo Montalban RIP! <a href="https://youtu.be/E_HMIN0nGl0?si=HsaM9T4ZmvDsBHsy" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/E_HMIN0nGl0?si=HsaM9T4ZmvDsBHsy</a> I had to go back and look at 4D to understand your "nit" (lol), and I got it immediately. Thanks so much for that memory! (At the time, I was a snobby teenager who thought Montalban wasn't edgy enough - but nonetheless would watch Fantasy Island when I was babysitting! Hahaha)
Hi, sorry if this has been previously addressed. I live on the West Coast and work the crosswords on my morning and evening commute. But if I return to the puzzle after 4 p.m., it’s often switched to the next day. Grrrr! What time does it advance to the next day? Is there any way to revert to the previous day’s unfinished puzzle? Thanks in advance for any advice.
@Dru Sefton At the bottom of the cross word page, select crossword archive. On Sunday, the next day's puzzle is up at 6pm Eastern time. On other days, it's 10 pm.
@Dru Sefton On the West Coast, the Monday puzzle drops at 4 p.m. on Sunday (weekdays, the next day's puzzle drops at 7 p.m. the previous day.) Go to Archives to retrieve your unfinished puzzle. Hope that helps. Let us know if you need further help.
So this was what I posted in answer to the person on The Other Blog who thought there was too much wine and wanted to see some multi-lettered cocktails embedded in the grid: gramMAR TINIest thROB ROYal AuSTIN GERmans MiaMI MOSAic How would I clue them? I haven't the foggiest idea. That's probably why they're not there.
@Nancy Nice find. I did an extensive search on Xword Info for each of the embedded string of letters and there is NOTHING for any of them that doesn't imply the basic meaning. They just can't be divided into anything else that's in the language. That's it. ..
Had the NYT ever considered running cryptic crosswords? Of course, they take some tutoring to get acquainted with how they work, but they're a lot of fun to solve and very clever once you get the hang of it.
@Mary The NYT sometimes publishes cryptics: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/SelectVariety" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/SelectVariety</a> You might have to solve them on paper (in the magazine) or on xwordinfo.com. I’m glad you enjoy cryptics. I have found them to be more frustrating than fun.
@Mary - They do run them, but you have to have a dead-trees subscription to get them. I figure it's about one per month.
A small nit regarding an otherwise clever Monday puzzle: Apart from the revealer, there shouldn't be any other MEs in the grid besides those that are circled. ah, but there's EMERGE at 21A ...
All 49 comments loaded