What fun! I loved seeing Megan Rapinoe and Jesse Owens on the same playing field, and despite how strikingly unalike they are, both used their athleticism and platforms to show up the authoritarian leaders of their time. Owens later admitted that he enjoyed shaming the Nazis but that he felt more snubbed by Roosevelt than by Hitler -- no telegram or word of congratulations, no invitation to the White House, and no acknowledgment of the accomplishments of the 18 African-American Olympians who competed in Berlin. Rapinoe, who famously responded to a question about her plans that they didn't include going to the "f--ing White House," later reflected about Trump, "We are everything he loves, with the exception that we’re powerful, strong women. And he was having a really hard time – you could see in these sets of tweets: you hate us, you love us, you want us to come [to the White House] – and you are threatening us, all at the same time.” One thing they both proved is that they weren't ALL TALK. Good side dishes around the theme answers, BLTs, hog, conch and soup. Maybe if the local HEAD will give me some HERB from one of his STASHES, I'd get the munchies and pause my DIET. Henry Su will probably set me right on Sam Corbin's choice of photo. All I can come up with is that there is a pensiveness to Cybill Shepherd's expression that might cause someone (not me) to say, "Don't worry your pretty little head."
What you say about Megan may be true, but at least half of America took delight in her (way off the mark) miss in the overtime shootout at the last World Cup championship!
@john ezra -- Thank you for your kind words on my "musing" post yesterday. Every once in a while I can pop out something like that. But you, you do it every day. Et tu, emu.
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. What a clutch lacks (5) 2. Seeing sound? (3) 3. Needle on a thread? (5) 4. It's handled at a bar (5) 5. Range rover ... or something to do in a Range Rover (5) STRAP AHA TROLL STEIN STEER
I am so confused by the complaints about the GRAM clue. I live in a metric system country, and the answer was 100% obvious to me. Over here nobody except physicists distinguishes between mass and weight in spoken, and even written language - and even physicists only do it in a scientific context. In everyday, living language, mass=weight. The last time anybody insisted I distinguish between mass and weight was in the Physics course at primary and high school. Polish food products are labeled with "masa netto" (net mass), not "ciężar netto" (net weight). Interestingly, if the label is dual language, the label reads: Masa netto/Net weight Example (in small print at the bottom, near the corner): <a href="https://kupiec.pl/417-large_default/ryz-basmati-saszetki-4x100g.jpg" target="_blank">https://kupiec.pl/417-large_default/ryz-basmati-saszetki-4x100g.jpg</a>
@Andrzej Nobody over here makes that distinction, either, except physicists, and querulous Wordplayers. E=mu2
@Andrzej Since the USA is (predominantly) not a metric country most of us had the bulk of our exposure to the metric system in high school science classes, where our teachers drummed the difference between weight and mass into our pretty little heads. I'd say the answer was 100% obvious to all those who are discussing it here, but they still seem to think it was an error which could have been easily avoided. Interesting about the food labels; thanks for sharing.
@Andrzej Equally interesting is the rice in the photo - looks like it was dumped out of a can and somehow retained its canned shape! run at 'em, u flightless bird!
Rachel's back! (although as a constructor and not a columnist). Do you think that means we'll hear from Rachel's mom? Feels like it's been a while. Rebecca Goldstein's ALWAYS a welcome name to see, too.
Fun puzzle R&R! (Hope all wordplay folks are doing well and recovering from springing forward yesterday?). I'm trying to recall if a certain constructor played apples to apples in her formative years, but thinking poker and repeated missions to survive the Oregon Trail won out? An almost quick Monday for me but I'll attribute the longer time to a late west coast to east coast flight. Despite a fambam text letting me know the puzzle was out, I needed to wait for the coffee pot to finish. Now that I've finished with some smiles along the way, I can send R's grandma appropriate assistance for Gen__ or Millennial clues that I eked out with crosses ... And gram and malt ... lol.
The last thing thing I expected to see on an easy, breezy Monday was a discussion on the correct meaning of GRAM. My kitchen scale has three settings: weight, milk, and water. Under weight are the following : milligrams, grams, kilograms, ounces, and pounds. It may be technically incorrect, but it's common usage. That's good enough for a crossword puzzle. :)
@Janine It may be common usage, but why choose the option that's technically wrong, when it would have been just as easy to clue it correctly? Usually, allowances are made so that the answer word is not also in the clue, or if for some reason, cluing accurately would result in a clunky or confusing clue. Here, that is not the case, and although I understand fully that "common usage" allows this clue, I'm still surprised that the more correct definition wasn't used. I'm well aware that "clues are not definitions"...I tell others that all the time. But why should a clue be intentionally incorrect when there's no reason not to use the correct one? I'm sure someone among the editors and test solvers learned in high school that GRAMS measure mass.
@Janine I wonder how useful you find that kitchen scale of yours? As a baker, I take advantage of weighing dry components (particularly flour) for most accuracy in following recipes. Flour can be sifted, fluffed up, or compressed with large differences in density. Fluids, such as milk, are difficult to compress so their density depends more on their temperature and fat content. At 20 degrees C homogenized whole milk has a density (on Earth!) of 1.029 kg/L, half and half 1.020, and skim at 1.033, vs. 1.000 for water. I can’t imagine 2.9% difference in volume is gonna make a big difference in the outcome of a recipe. Probably sells scales, though. We should hope that our professional baker in Detroit weighs in on if he weighs his water or milk!
Regarding 1A — the gram is not a unit of weight, it is a unit of mass. The metric unit of weight, or more accurately force, is the newton.
But isn't a GRAM also "the weight of a gram under the acceleration of gravity?" what is the mass of an emu?
What, no Bananagrams? That’s a favorite in our family.
@Jannicut Finally an intelligent response. Thank you!
Monday puzzles are delightfully easy and i almost always crush them but it still amazes me that someone is able to create these things. kudos to all the xword constructors out there 🏆
Great fun, as every theme game had a catchy name, and there was pop strewn around the grid as well – GLADES, SCATHE, TINKERS, BROGUE, KIOSKS, BE REAL, ALL TALK. A spate of spark pumping energy into the fill-in. AMPED UP indeed. And plenty of brainwork for me, as well, because I left the revealer blank and tried to guess what it was without reading the clue (something I have trouble with). And I indeed had plenty of trouble with that today, much to my brain’s delight. I finally started uncovering the revealer’s letters, starting with the first, and finally, after THE HU, did it come to me. Small steps. But still my brain wanted more, so I scanned the grid for serendipities, and there was: • HEAD next to CASE • The PuzzPair© of START and END • A backward MAIL to complement EMAIL • A, Boggle-style YOO crossing a Boggle-style HOO (between CANDY CRUSH and the revealer). • SIR next to TAT led me to search to find a former with the latter, and Sir Ian McKellan came up, as he got an arm tattoo as a memento for his “Lord of the Rings” stint. So, Monday, easy Monday, was brimming with treasure for me today, underscored by fun. Thank you so much for this, R&R.
For all those flexing their pedantic muscles about GRAM -- this former physics major has no problem with it. Until you start seeing kitchen scales calibrated in millinewtons, and bathroom scales in newtons, you have no valid criticism. Furthermore, I bet you have no trouble at all with the operational equivalence of the "pound" as both a functional unit of weight and of mass. The same goes for the gram. Perhaps you should all be using the slug instead, eh? Or the poundal? I mean, if you want to be intellectually consistent in your pedantry?
@CaptainQuahog This retired scientist has no problem with it either.
@CaptainQuahog Perhaps the scruple?
FYI, it is always lovely to see an appearance of my distant cousin, the CONCH, in a puzzle. They are a bit more flamboyant than we mere clams are -- we prefer to hide out and not be too conspicuous, for obvious reasons. The scarcity of my cousins in some waters is partly a result of their beauty. I think there is a lesson to be learned there. Now if we could just do something about the delectable nature of our soft tissues.
@CaptainQuahog well those cousins of yours surely don't taste as delicious...given the fact that they have to basically hammered to a pulp to become edible! I'll take a tasty clam over a conch any day.
A delightful and surprisingly tight theme! I think the only potential themer I saw in the comments was Bananagrams. Are there really not more? Egg toss maybe? Anywho, yesterday I was finally motivated to go get my Boolean operator's license! Yay me! But now I'm worried it might not be worth it's weight in grams.
@ad absurdum Congratulations on getting your license. Now you can code Morse.
@ad absurdum Don't you mean 'GRAHAMS'?
a. a., You're all set -- in theory! NOT EMU
I’m okay with gram. It’s technically incorrect but in common usage it’s an answer that most people will get. My problem is that there is no grain called malt. Beer is made from barley (or if you’re not a purist, wheat and other grains). In the process, those grains are malted to produce sugar. No farmer has ever grown a crop of malt.
@Wayne Harrison The very dictionary definition of malt calls it a grain: grain (such as barley) softened by steeping in water, allowed to germinate, and used especially in brewing and distilling <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malt" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malt</a> Your assertion is like saying that bacon is not a meat because it is cured pork.
The odds, as they occasionally are, were ever slash sometimes in my favor. Other than a mishap at the nickname of Elizabeth being Beth and questioning whether it should be begin or start at kickoff, picking wrongly, kept me just a few seconds over my personal best for a Monday. Okay with all that because it was a super fun and cute puzzle that I enjoyed without needing any lookups or having any real quandaries. Three fingered Rue salute to you all! Also, anywhere Sir Patrick Stewart, Picard, shows up is good news in my book!!
@HeathieJ I found it a fun puzzle, too. Yes, Picard!! I recommend Stewart's bio (in particular, the 'read and listen' as Stewart narrates.) A good start to the week!
Ok, so I’m not generally one to grouch, but ‘pretty little HEAD’? Really? I’ve checked the commentariat for back up, but there’s just a lot of ‘when is a GRAM not a GRAM’ type stuff that doesn’t bother me at all, so I’m clearly alone with my rising blood pressure. I’m going to assume that this is a cultural difference, but that sentence is a horrible, condescending piece of work, right up there with ‘calm down dear’. Always used by a certain type of male to a female. To be inserted by two intelligent, thoughtful female constructors adds insult to injury. Now, I know absolutely that no offence is implied or intended by the constructors, Wordplay or the NYT. But wow, has that pushed my buttons. I’ve said my piece; the puzzle was otherwise a delightful Monday offering, love the theme.
@Helen Wright I am very annoyed by that, too. Even the emus are not amused.
@Helen Wright The first half of your second paragraph is spot on, as all of it is exactly the case! While I never previously considered if it's only an Americanism, I can confirm it is condescending, mansplaining pap that sadly was all too quick to mind for me... I can only assume that two women as sharp and keen about language as R & R had good reason to clue HEAD in such a way. I'm sure they each have been at the receiving end of that phrase only too often! I'd like to say to all the loud GRAM complainers, "Don't worry your pretty little heads about it." 😂
@Helen Wright truth, this one should have been left on the pile - the same pile where Wordle should have put CRONE.
I guess The Zucchini Toss might be a too-niche local activity of ours. Can be lots of fun though, goal zone is the compost bin. When I got to “Don’t worry your pretty little head”, I could only imagine what top-notch zingers Rebecca and Rachel might have for anyone foolish enough to say that.
The Swiftie in me got tripped up by “Don’t you worry your pretty little” mind… but got redeemed by both ERA and its neighbour RED. . . . Karma is an emu
Liked the puzzle! Did not have issue with gram - I've seen for those in the metric system it's interpreted similar to pounds in the US where weight and mass are not differentiated in the everyday. Conch took me back to lord of the flies. Is tribalism innate in us? Or can we we band together and overcome our differences and live in harmony? These days it's challenging, but always worth keeping an open mind and treating others with respect! Having other perspectives strengthens the team and we don't have to all agree completely to get along. Am I talking about the comments section or our politics? The answer is yes :) E pluribus emus.
My cynical brain wants to think that the controversial clues for GRAM and MALT were intentionally used to stoke the comments on a Monday puzzle. I know a gram is a measure of mass, everyone knows a gram is measure of mass, but here on Earth, it also serves as a measure of weight. Malt is made from grain. But to refer to it as grain seemed out of place for Monday cluing.
@Jim Your post made me chuckle.... I'm starting to buy into your conspiracy theory! GRAM didn't bother me, but even though I entered MALT the clue did give me pause. I knew it was the right answer but just thought it was one of the mysteries of brewing alcohol that I know nothing about.
This puzzle definitely wasn't DORKY; just perfect for a Monday and even enlightening for me. I feel more settled into Washington now that I know PICKLEBALL is the official state sport. And any puzzle with Captain PICARD, SIR, in it...well...let's just say that I used to watch Next Generation, oohing and aahing. It was a bad CASE of a crush which my girl friends then fessed up to suffering from as well. Many thanks to R & R, a dynamite duo, for a breezy puzzle that was a great start to the week, with a bonus of making more of a Washingtonian out of me and, oooh, aaah, melting my heart all over again. ;-)
@sotto voce Picard and Sir Patrick Stewart are both absolutely the best! If you happen to follow him on Facebook you probably know this already, but in 2020 shortly after the lockdowns, he began videoing himself reading a Shakespearean sonnet every day and would share it. It was a dream! He's the best captain and seems an incredibly fine human, as well! Which reminds me that I need to buy his book!
All the good quibbles have already been taken, it seems. GRAM, MALT, and isn't EMAIL 'so yesterday?' Ha ha, just kidding! ELLY (usually ELLIE) is short for ELEANOR/ELINOR. Elizabeths go with LIZ (LIZZY, LIZA), BETTY (BETS), BESS (BESSIE,) or BETH ...or just insist on ELIZABETH/ELISABETH. One of my brother's Exes, named 'Cornelia' remarried, but her new husband insisted on calling her ELLIE. Why not 'NEELY'? We don't know; guess he just did not like her given name, which one admits is not euphonious. There is never much to say about Monday puzzles (other than 'over too soon.') How 'bout that Jimmy Kimmel? We never watch The Oscars, but got hooked when we tuned in fairly late. Not having changed the clock in the LR, I accidentally stayed up way late past my bed-time, and now DHubby has accused me of being a lazybones, sleeping in until 8:30. Oh, the shame!
@Mean Old Lady first Oscars I've watched in years. The clock change combined with the earlier start time was serendipitous. Enjoyed Jimmy's quips, especially near the end. The speeches were meaningful, and the dresses were gorgeous. Not a wasted evening.
I suppose good old fashioned squash wouldn't have worked, would it?
Nice to see a puzzle from Rebecca and Rachel with a crunchy theme. LIAM Hemsworth was in The Hunger Games movies.
I was about to leave a scathing comment about 42D when I thought it better to spend a second or two doing some research before hitting SUBMIT. Turns out "scathe" is indeed a word, although one online dictionary calls it "archaic". As a near archaic myself (claiming the first use of this word as a noun), I'll admit that I never came across its use as a verb. I can always count on learning something new from doing the Times crossword. Thanks for that.
Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Rebecca and I wrote a (slightly) expanded constructors' note on XWord Info for those who want to know more about our latest crossword project! <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/11/2024" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/11/2024</a>
Hi Rachel, As long as you're up, did Rebecca write the 63A clue (you said you wrote the Downs) or did that one come from the editors? Hope you saw your mom earlier! But no emus
What, no Bananagrams? That’s a favorite in our family. Emus should spend more time playing games and less time blocking short comments!
@Jannicut As per the exhaustive discussion just above, I would like to be sure that everyone here understands that the avoirdupois equivalent of a “Bananagram” is the “Bananaslug”. 🤗 — — — — — — — —
Enjoyed engaging with this puzzle and, although it took me a little longer than usual for a Monday, my efforts were not futile. Bonus points for the best darn captain ever beaming in for a cameo!
@Horsefeathers Picard's my favorite captain, too. I smiled when I saw the clue. (I like all the Trek captains, but Picard's at the top.) This was a fun puzzle!
Now that's what I call teamwork. Thanks to the constructors for a glimpse into their collaborative process, and congrats on a fun-filled Monday!
Tennis has been around, like, forever, whereas PICKLEBALL arrived about ten minutes ago. So anyone who's picked PICKLEBALL over tennis as their "State sport" will never be chosen as my "State State." I'm looking at you, State of Washington. But at least I've heard of PICKLEBALL. I've even watched it. Had it arrived at an earlier time in my tennis-playing life, I probably would have taken a stab at playing it. I didn't know any of the other games. Not that that spoiled this smooth and lively puzzle for me. A word about APPLES TO APPLES. Rex explains it well and it sounds like a lot of fun to play. Especially for us word-loving types. Once again, something that arrived really late in my life. Quick question: Is there ever going to be a RAP face-off between the all the "DA"s and all the the "LIL"s? Just asking for a friend.
@Nancy pickleball was invented by two men in Washington State back in 1965, trying to amuse their bored families. I suspect the legislature chose it as a nod to that history. <a href="https://usapickleball.org/what-is-pickleball/history-of-the-game" target="_blank">https://usapickleball.org/what-is-pickleball/history-of-the-game</a>/
With apologies, late, very weird pair of 21 letter answers that dawned on me, vaguely inspired by 4d ('Grain used in making beer'). Mostly, I'm just curious as to whether this is even familiar to any of our readers. When I was a kid the local station had a long part of the day playing polkas (and associated music), so I've always remembered this one. Anyway... INHEAVENTHEREISNOBEER THATSWHYWEDRINKITHERE Just curious. .. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Yeah, that's an oldie. Those two lines are all I remember! Emus, you don't need to polka into this.
Whew. This one was well out of the wheelhouse of this boomer (sooner), with most of the theme answers being unfamiliar or only vaguely familiar. Managed to get them all from some crosses. That just made for a nice challenge and a long workout. Answer history search today was inspired by CONN. Wondered if it might ever have been used as a jokey substitution for CON as a prefix, and that led to a couple of the most remarkable puzzles I've ever encountered. I'll put those in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First puzzle was a Wednesday from July 1, 1998 by Fred Piscop. In that one, state abbreviations were substituted for common prefixes. The clue/answer that got me there: "Mystic painter? :" CONNARTIST The other theme answers: MISSPRINTS ARKWELDER TENNSPEED PENNPOINT And then... a Sunday from March 3, 1985 by Jeanette K. Brill with the title: "Star tricks." The answer that got me there: CONNGAMES Some other themers: TELLYVISION PEETEMOSS BOONEDOGGLE HEIDENGOSEEK LOUDONCLEAR TITOTALER PAARTICIPLE Here's the Xword Info link to that one: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=3/3/1985&g=68&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=3/3/1985&g=68&d=A</a> ..
Personal best! 4:28. I think that I can crack 4 minutes if I can stop fat-fingering my smartphone keyboard.
@David Impressed you can type that fast on a phone keyboard! I got a personal best today too but can only do these speedily on a real keyboard.
Mass and weight are not the same thing
The odds, as they occasionally are, were ever slash sometimes in my favor. Other than a mishap at the nickname of Elizabeth being Beth and questioning whether it should be begin or start at kickoff, picking wrongly, kept me just a few seconds over my personal best for a Monday. Okay with all that because it was a super fun and cute puzzle that I enjoyed without needing any lookups or having any real quandaries. Three fingered Rue salute to you all! Also, anywhere Sir Patrick Stewart, Picard, shows up is good news in my book!!
Even the Mondays are getting more difficult for me, but I did manage to correctly guess the last couple of names correctly to start my one day streak. I don’t know any of the games.
As a homebrewer, I have used malted barley and malted wheat at times. I was actually going to complain about the 4D clue, but, upon reflection, I have no problem with it. When I place an order for brewing grains, I regularly talk about the malt I want, and there are different types. For example, my most recent batch used UK Pale, UK Medium Crystal and UK Dark Crystal to make an ESB, a type of British ale. The malts all happen to be barley, but I referred to them by the names listed above and never said the word "barley" when placing the order. My supplier knew exactly what I wanted.
Today's puzzle and bee will meet at the MALT shop.
If I may--ahem--weigh in for a minute: MALT really bothered me, for the reasons discussed below; GRAM not so much--when I measure out 200g of sugar, I don't count out the individual molecules of C12H22O11*, I flick the switch on my digital--ahem--scale from lbs. to gms. and dump it on. But then, I hate using those European recipes. [Ozs. and ozs.] could be QTS--anyone considered that? *Which, depending on its structure, could be sucrose or--ahem--maltose. Chef's tip: when measuring out corn syrup or other maltose-rich liquids (or honey), spray your measuring cup with pay-spray first, and it won't stick. Unless you're making meringue, which the oils in the pan spray might adversely affect. In any case, I prefer to weigh out 200g of corn syrup than use a liquid measure--about 150ml for corn syrup, as it has a much higher density than water.
@Bill 2nd INERT in, what, three days--looks like a good week for the noble gases. (Oh no, now the chemists are going to come after me!)
@Bill I just measure out the oil in the recipe first, then the sticky stuff.... My little scale just calls them 'g's. When the doc hits me with a major antibiotic, why is it 1000 mg and not 1 g?
I had such a hard time parsing EPIPEN, for some reason I was reading it as "E-PIPE IN" like... a digital peanut gallery. Back to the coffee! Nice to see a themed Monday :)
I don't know if the various game editors talk but the game "Strands", which is now in beta, is awesome! I hope it becomes permanent.
@Alan Parker I found the first few Strands games to be very easy, and I doubted that I'd be adding it to my game-playing routine. But once last week, and again today, I needed a hint to get what the theme was. So I think I will stick with it for now.
@Alan Parker I found it through Google but it doesn't seem to be on my NYT Games page. How do you find it? Same with the timeline game, @Eric Hougland. When I remember, I Google for it but that relies on me thinking of it.
Minor pedantic quibble on 1A: gram is the SI unit of mass, not weight The metric unit of weight is the Newton (The pound is a unit of force, not mass. The Imperial unit of mass corresponding to 1lb of weight [force] is the 'slug')
@David Seems I'm at least 24h late to the debate. That'll teach me to not search the existing comments before adding my own.
This puzzle had some tricky parts that I really enjoyed- Elly and Epipen for two. Thank you
I really got misdirected. 5A, I went with WAKE at first. For 5D, WTs seemed to fit. Close only counts in horseshoes... BOOM, there went my Monday average
The answer used in the puzzle is not a form of Elizabeth. Someone at the Times puzzle section might think so - even perhaps from their own experience - but it simply isn’t so. It would be as if someone named John had the nickname of Sid. Inexplicable.
Desert Dweller, I'm trying to follow the reasoning here. Even if the editors had examples of ELLY being one nickname for Elizabeth, or if readers were to provide cites supporting that contention, it simply would not be so because you say it isn't so? I agree: inexplicable.
@Desert Dweller It's a stretch (and, to be honest, "Bessie" is extremely anachronistic; "Libby" almost as much so). I believe the modern defaults are Liz/Lizzie/Lizzy, Betsy, and Beth, with the also anachronistic Betty still hanging about. Still.... somewhere out there, there will be an Elizabeth called Elly/Eli. It's more getting Jocko or Jax out of John than it is getting Sid.
@Desert Dweller. After last Thursday's "way one person misinterprets 'The Road Less Traveled,'" i've been in high dudgeon. And here we are. I wasted almost 3 minutes googling nicknames for Elizabeth. Elly makes zero appearances. Ellie is there, though in "Up" that was short for Eleanor. At least they didn't rely on "nickname fir Elizabeth, var." which is shorthand for "it's misspelled." I get it, the time change throws everyone off. And shame on Washington, and pity the fans of whatever sport pickleball replaced.
New Monday record for me today, which I fully credit to being from Washington and therefore knowing the state sport (and living in the town that actually invented the sport), which made the other theme clues come together which made everything else fall into place quickly. Hooray!