My close friends and I drink steeped beverages together. They're my best-teas! (I would meet more, but I'm a bit chai.)
@Mike I bet youlong to get together with them. Sounds cozy. Time to bag it, emus.
As someone who constantly has to avoid it in local restaurants, I confidently filled in "sweet" for the Southern variation rather than "peach." The sweet tea here can be aggressively sweet and a shock to the system if you are not prepared for it. Loved the movie title and phrase that framed the theme. Tea for Tuesday.
@JBW I'm not a big tea drinker but do occasionally enjoy an iced tea when I eat out, and have to be very careful when traveling too far south. Shock to the system is an accurate way to describe my feeling when that stuff hits my taste buds. Funny thing is that I travel to Canada fairly often and have also had this experience there on multiple occasions, so it seems to be a far north phenomenon as well!
@JBW I’ve lived in the Deep South for 45 years, and I’ve yet to understand how anybody chokes down sweet tea.
@JBW Pro tip from a lifelong southerner: lots of us actually drink it “half and half.” (Half sweet, half unsweet.)
Oh, I very much liked the quirky theme, a blend of movie title, three random tea types, and a punny phrase that all together landed just right, IMO. That teacup in the grid also looks like a smile, and this theme filled me with a smiley mood. But what sealed the deal about the loveliness of this puzzle, to me, was the beauty outside the theme, gorgeous answers: ALCOVES, PRECEPT, SHAM, LAYETTE, WINNOWED, STORIED, AMBIANCE, THAT’S THAT. That is, a complete feel-good solving experience. Smiling at the theme, plus oohing and aahing everywhere else. Sparked by lovely serendipities. A rare-in-crosswords five-letter palindrome (SAGAS), ATE crossing ATE in the SW corner, and the theme-echo coda (TEE). Let me add a standing-O for the STEVE clue that also fit the answer “Short”. Brava on coming up with that! Intelligence, humor, and quirkiness – lots of personality here from you on your debut, Kelly. I’m eager to see more from you … please! Congratulations, and thank you for your sweet and day-brightening creation!
Finally. Twenty-five years ago, this Swedish-American had to give up coffee. Coffee! It was so much more than a beverage. It was joy. It was gathering, an afternoon fika…*sigh* Not that I can’t fika with tea, but it’s just not the same. So I learned to love tea. I have at least 50 varieties and I’m a mad scientist with them- a dash of this, a handful of that… But as a morning solver, my white tea doesn’t give my brain a caffeine boost, so I solve a bit blurry-eyed. My puzzle is my caffeine! But this one flowed like a babbling brook of tea through the woods of my brain that was sound asleep 26 minutes ago! Lovely. A sparkling debut. Really didn’t even notice the fill, only the fun AMBIANCE of it as a whole. Thank you Kelly! 🫖
For those who were, like me, confused: "Fika is often translated as "a coffee and cake break", which is kind of correct, but really it is much more than that. Fika is a concept, a state of mind, an attitude and an important part of Swedish culture. Many Swedes consider that it is almost essential to make time for fika every day." @CCNY Tack så mycket for the TIL.
When I saw the PEACH atop the PEKOE atop the ASSAM, it looked for all the world like the three teas were being served in the same cup. As a coffee drinker, I have no idea whether PEKOE would mix well with ASSAM, but I was pretty sure that the PEACH would be an outlier. "I would never drink that concoction," I said to myself. So that when NOT came in at 51A, I immediately thought: "OMG, the answer is NOT MY CUP OF TEA!!!" And I laughed out loud. What a delightful, original, and funny puzzle! I absolutely loved it! The grid is no slouch either -- filled as it is with grownup non-Tuesdayish words like ALIENATE and WINNOWED and AMBIANCE. And there are almost no names. Here's an optimal choice for a puzzle I would give to a newbie solver whom I cared for and respected. (You should know that my newbie solver might be new to crosswords, but she's no dummy.) I think that she'd solve it without too much trouble, but that it would hold her interest throughout, and that it would give her a nice chuckle at the end. It would make her want to come back for more puzzles in the future, which is the whole idea. This is a superior early week puzzle -- and I wish there could be more like it.
28D: Pig of children’s cartoons I can’t be the only one who put down PORKY instead of PEPPA.
@Liz I have a grand-daughter who is fanatical about Peppa, but the key was that I already had _EPP_ by the time I read the clue.
@Liz Porky was my first thought, but my second was, no, Porky's too old, it's gotta be PEPPA. Helps that I'm located fairly close to Legoland Florida and the PEPPA Pig Amusement Park. Grandkids might have watched it; they were 1 and 3 when it started.
@Liz You're not the only one! I had to change it too 🐷🤗
"Their" is a possessive adjective, not a pronoun. The pronoun form is "theirs." A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun, e.g. as in "Our language is English; theirs is Spanish." "Their" cannot be used as the subject of a sentence or clause, ergo it is not a pronoun.
@Fact Boy Our language is English. Their language is Spanish.
@Fact Boy You're certainly not wrong about it being a possessive adjective, and some dictionaries label it a "determiner". But the definition of "pronoun" is not always so narrow and literal, and some dictionaries do in fact call it a pronoun.
@Fact Boy “I see Sally & Tom’s cat”, “I see their cat”. (Or, of course, as a singular, “I see the neighbour’s cat”, “I see their cat”). “Their” replaces the nouns on both those sentences. It is a possessive pronoun. The full declension is “they, them, their”, nominative, accusative, genitive. A pronoun does not have to be a subject: “him, her, us” are all pronouns, but they are accusative (function as objects).
I’ve always spelled it AMBIENCE so this was not NOT MY CUP OF TEE. I hesitated as to whether THEIR was really a pronoun, even though the entry seemed obvious. Fact Boy addresses this issue. I prefer coffee.
@Andrew yeah I thought that must have been a US/U.K. thing till I googled and it’s ambience both sides of the pond, with ambiance an alternate spelling. I’m not fond of alternate spellings to the norm being crossword solutions.
@Andrew Whenever we use the word AMBIANCE in our house, we pronounce it with a haughy accent and raise our pinkies, so the A spelling seemed right. As for THEIR as a pronoun, if someone says: "I just found a plumber I really like." and I say "I'm looking for a plumber, what is their name?" isn't that a pronoun?
Premise: SOMELIKEITHOT is the funniest movie ever made. I first saw it before it was released, a friend’s father was a distributor and brought it to our summer camp. L
Any puzzle with ARIADNE in it is okay by me. And kind of fitting as she's the one who helped Thesuus escape the Minotaur's maze. Another Toughened Up Tuesday, with something for everyone and where not everything can be entered on autopilot. Congratulations on your very lively debut, Kelly.
@Vaer These days I always think of this beautiful, haunting song by Asaf Avidan that was featured in the show "Dark" when I see the name ARIADNE: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiL9ItjmHRw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiL9ItjmHRw</a>
@Vaer Poor Ariadne, who renounced her family to run away with Theseus, only to be abandoned by him - and for her sister, Phaedra. Theseus was a helluva bastard.
As a tea drinker, I found the proposed mix of Pekoe, peach, and Assam as horrifying as the puzzle was fun. Definitely both not my cup of tea and my cup of tea.
Today I learned that a nice 7-letter gift for a newborn is a “Layette”, and apparently not “Tequila”, “Airhorn” or “Spiders”.
Had to brute force the cross of CAYS and LAYETTE. Probably old hat answers to crossword veterans but dramatically higher difficulty to this newbie.
@Adam Well, I wanted "atolls" before I got the C in CUP, and was at a complete loss for the gift set. But I did get CAYS after the aforementioned C, plus the lowly farmer... So somewhere from the back of my brain, the term emerged. I'm fairly convinced I only know LAYETTE from historical romance novels -- but that can't possibly be right, because what's a baby doing in a romance novel! And while I may recognize LAYETTE as a word, I'm realizing I always pictured whatever-it-might-be as a bassinet. Whoops!
@Adam CAYS I had, but AMPLE had me guessing (I did get in on the first guess, though).
"Probably old hat answers to crossword veterans..." Adam, I've encountered CAYS and LAYETTE more frequently in real life than in crosswords. ###
The second A in ALCOA crossing the second A in ASSAM was a bit naticky for me… but running the alphabet sure didn’t take long. Fun puzzle. Great debut. Thanks and congrats, Kelly Richardson.
A pleasant stroll of a puzzle for a Tuesday. A fine debut, indeed, Kelly. As for 21D, obviously it depends on the legal system by which one is governed. In Canada, the only plea that waives a right to a trial is “Guilty”. A plea of “No contest” — or “Nolo contendere” — is not permitted under our Canadian Criminal Code. As for “SOME LIKE IT HOT”, it’s one of my favourite movies. The closing scene with Jack Lemmon and Joe E. Brown is unforgettable: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHhr-aaLnI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHhr-aaLnI</a>
@Strudel Dad Interesting fact about Canadian law, since both our legal systems derive from British common law. I was watching an episode of Shetland last night, and was surprised to learn that Scotland had done away with"double jeopardy" in 2011.
I was surprised to read Sam’s comment about the difficulty of the puzzle. I’ve been finding the Tuesday puzzles difficult for quite a while now, but not today. And I really dislike tea. The long gimme at 14A helped a lot. And I loved the grid. A really fun puzzle, come back soon, Kelly.
@suejean I also thought it was particularly easy, but I still managed to almost botch it--never heard of a layette. But a lot of coffee and a little trial & error won the day.
Very enjoyable puzzle. A lot of things I wasn't getting just from the clues, but working the crosses was just enough for answers to dawn on me all over the place. A nice workout and a lot of fun. Can't help but wonder how far north in Michigan our constructor is from. I used to be a Yooper. Ms. Richardson - you too? Oh - and of course an answer history search, inspired by SOMELIKEITHOT. Searched for SOMELIKEITCOLD (nope), SOMELIKEITINTHEPOT (nope)... and so forth - no results, but did stumble across a Sunday puzzle from 1988 with one answer being: PISAPORRIDGECOLD and some other... 'unusual' answers. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/7/1988&g=102&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/7/1988&g=102&d=A</a> I'll shut up now. ..
Surprised to see this was a difficult Tuesday for many, as I found it very easy! Just goes to prove, you know what you know. (And Google takes care of the rest.) I got the theme very quickly, as the first Marilyn Monroe movie that occurred to me happened to fit. I’ve never had peach tea, though. My first guess in that slot was “lemon”. Funny, Martin Short never even occurred to me. If STEVE hadn’t fit, I’d have been very confused!
Lovely debut puzzle. (I wish I could do that). Once I got the correct Martin, the puzzle went down smoothly. All subjects I know well, card games, southern drinks, baby shower gifts and wonderful Marilyn Monroe films. Thank you Kelly Richardson for a fun puzzle that gave me a warm and cozy feeling, like a nice cup of chamomile. Cheers from Texas. Stay cool y'all!
Woo! I was able to do the best I've done in a long time! Thanks for a great puzzle that made me feel smart tonight!
Hope all of you solvers got a chance to read the lovely story about the "mystery" fossil that people thought was a jellyfish till one scientist had the bright idea of turning it upsidedown and found it is an ancient SEA ANEMONE. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/15/science/upside-down-fossils.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/15/science/upside-down-fossils.html</a>
For a Tuesday, this had a diverse and interesting vocabulary. Lewis is bound to love "Smedstorp"...and I admiit to trying it out backwards just in case it was a gag. Only (brief) slow-down was the question of GRIT or GUTS...? Got ARIADNE off the -DNE. Pscyh! As the kids would say. I like TEA (Oolong being my fave) but the caffeine is now an issue, so it's mostly herbal. It's time to set forth...people keep wishing me luck. It's a little disturbing; I hope the hand surgeon is more into skill than luck.
@Mean Old Lady Enjoy those happy meds! Looking forward to hearing you’re through it and feeling better post-haste! They went to 32 years of med school for this. You don’t need no stinkin’ luck. …
@Mean Old Lady wishing you a smooth procedure and both a smooth and swift recovery!
@Mean Old Lady I also said PROTS DEMS and thought, yeah I'm one of them -- I'm a Dem and I go to prots a lot (what the cool kids might call protesting. As in "John Ezra, you going to that prots against Aileen Cannon?" "Sure am! See you at the prots!")
This puzzle had me sweating at first. (The cup of tea was too HOT!) But as I sat with it, it cooled and became quite drinkable. This tea drinker (usually green or white tea) loved it. Thank you!
Like yesterday's, a very nice debut puzzle. Good solid fill, and a nice visual element (the cup of teas) in the center of the grid. And having TEE at the end was a cute touch. Congrats to our constructor!
Next time you’re invited to a baby shower they need either size one diapers, size two diapers, or a gift card to target.
@Red Carpet Sure but the tatoos were DIFFERENT , no? Still fond memories of a shower I attended some 10+? years ago because (a) men were invited; (b) grandpa-to-be brought a dish (his signature grilled chicken); (c) papa-to-be took turns with present-opening and on the umpteenth cute onesie said "This kid is gonna have more outfits than I do."
Another nice debut! Can we go for three in a row? I didn't have any trouble with this very nice Tuesday, which WAS my cup of tea. When I wasn't sure of something, the crosses took care of the issue. Nicely brewed, Kelly, and hope we see more from you.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Ms. Richardson! Nicely done!
Congratulations on your debut, Kelly. I did flinch a little at the mention of saddle shoes in the 1D clue. It generated a flashback to additional methods of torment in Catholic grammer school. That must be what started my lifelong preference for comfortable shoes.
@Nancy J. Weren't saddle shoes comfortable?
I really enjoyed the unconventionality of the theme. I can definitely see a cup in the grid design, but this type of symmetry(left-right symmetry?) always seems to suggest some sort of face. [Sheets and a onesie hung out to dry] Layette on the line. For some reason I'm remembering Gertrude Stein proofreading a manuscript once, saying "Oops. There is no "their" there."
AMBIENCE, ambience! Avoid the problem and just write “atmosfere”. !!! Emusfere, don’t interfere!! !!!!!
Unlike Sam, I thought this was straightforward and not difficult for a Tuesday at all. Well under my average, though a bit too slow for a PR. I can try to blame that on the fact that it's oversized (16 rows), but the truth is that I stumbled when SHORT wouldn't work for 6D (I had watched a Jiminy Glick video immediately before doing the puzzle).
Struggled playing this one from the UK - most of the US-specific clues were ones i could eventually work back from, but it made for a tricky Tuesday. CAYS/LAYETTE completely stumped me though!
@Andy. That’s okay, I’ve never heard of a layette, and I’m a US dad.
Without thinking, I enter Alcan instead of ALCOA, EVERY TIME!!!! Any Canadians with me or am I alone in my foolishness? :) Great Tuesday puzzle! Thanks!
Got to wondering about the source of the phrase . . . . . . "This expression has is roots in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. However, before that, at least as far back as the mid 18th century, the affirmative version was already in use. Actually, as a «cup of tea» meant acceptability, it was the name given to a favored friend. " <a href="https://www.britenglishschool.com/words-power/idiom-of-the-week-not-my-cup-of-tea" target="_blank">https://www.britenglishschool.com/words-power/idiom-of-the-week-not-my-cup-of-tea</a>/ Another cool link: <a href="https://grammarist.com/idiom/not-ones-cup-of-tea" target="_blank">https://grammarist.com/idiom/not-ones-cup-of-tea</a>/ Another great NYT debut, well done.
That was a very nicely designed puzzle - thank you, Kelly! I was surprised at how quickly I was able to get through it too; I had completed most of it within 10 minutes, though a few of the clues really stumped me. I struggled with PEKOE, ALCOA, LAYETTE and AMPLE. I couldn't say I'd heard of any of those in their respective contexts, but I was able to fill it in with some educated guesses. I really enjoyed it, though!
The less common spelling of AMBIANCE in 40D definitely threw me off. I had the far more common (and far more accepted in the English language) AMBIENCE in there and it was making things a little problematic.
@James Interesting! I'm waaaaay more familiar with AMBIANCE. In hindsight ambience deriving from ambient makes sense, but if I were writing it before today I would have chosen the A version.
Kudos to Kelly, a fellow northern Michigander, for a fun & lively puzzle. I'm sure that she knows, that Canadians aren't the only users of #65 Across. Fellow citizens across the Mackinac bridge, AKA, Yoopers, frequently finish a comment with an ever-present 'Eh!
@Charles I yoosta be a yooper. Oh yeah, eh! Nice to hear from youse guys. ..
This was an easy puzzle for me, close to my record time for Tuesdays. Maybe it's because I love tea; I start each day with Irish Breakfast, which is a blend of Ceylon and ASSAM. <a href="https://funcrunch.medium.com/life-sucks-but-at-least-theres-tea-e4e1fe0b5398?sk=5dc03f4a1e2182e64f7d94113999c3b3" target="_blank">https://funcrunch.medium.com/life-sucks-but-at-least-theres-tea-e4e1fe0b5398?sk=5dc03f4a1e2182e64f7d94113999c3b3</a>
We loved this puzzle, but as a southerner - PEACH as clued should have really been SWEET. :)
Some tough Tuesday clues, but they all had a crossing I was pretty sure of, so I went with my GUTS, and got the yellow square without much trouble. 7 minutes
Loved it, thanks. Answers popped out on the second trip around and no lookups.
While tea, in general, is not my cup of tea, this puzzle hit the spot (pun intended)!
Beautifully conceived, constructed, and clued, Kelly. Brava, donna!
I have a ceramic 20 oz. Starbucks mug and used to brew and drink 4 of them a day, dark roast coffee. To say I'm not a tea drinker is putting it mildly. Oh, once in a while I'll have a cup of chamomile. I'm now down to only one, rarely two of those 20 oz. beverages a day, but I do also know some teas, thanks to those red treasure-chest canisters we used to have when I was growing up. Can't remember the brand, but I still have one of them packed away somewhere. My fellow olds will know what I'm talking about. But getting the movie, the revealer, and the center tea blend very quickly still made this a relatively challenging puzzle for a Tuesday.
@Times Rita I'm sure any true tea aficionado is going to tell you to dump those old canisters as way beyond stale. but I also hold onto mine for the occasions [rare] when I prefer tea to coffee. Nice puzzle! I abhor all sweet drinks except occasionally hot chocolate(would like that Aztec style if anyone offered it] so have to watch out for SWEET TEA and New England REGULAR coffee.
I had never heard of a LAYETTE in my life and had to guess at the Whitman quote for my last bit of fill, but that's more than made up for by the immense satisfaction I got by being able to fill in SOME LIKE IT HOT as my very first answer. Cute puzzle!!
@IL I defintely knew LAYETTE - but when I had my children neither I, nor my family and friends, had the money to provide such things. I had a lot of second-hand stuff. Guess what?! Baby didn't care as long as they were warm, loved, and well-fed.
Happy to see a crossword by a fellow Michigander! It was a delightful solve!
Lovely and quick, another near record time and a clever debut. I first thought it was going to be a martini and i was bummed, and then delighted to find it was tea! Never had peach tea when i was in the south, but did learn that if you want your tea hot you have to say so.
@Crevecoeur I was thinking and hoping for martini, as well! And was drinking one when I first looked at the puzzle last night. 🍸🍸
Unsurprisingly I’m quite the tea drinker. I think it’s the law here in the UK; thou shalt drink tea at all hours and under all circumstances, up to and including death. Love ASSAM, never tried PEKOE but I think it’s quite smoky? Which would put me off. Black chai with anise a particular favourite, grabbed whenever I’m in France. Now, the quiz; a nice breezy Tuesday, nothing too stressful. I know 2 Marilyn films; this one and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, so a bit of a gimme. Absolutely ate up Only Murders In The Building. Not sure if there was a third series as I ditched the Disney account. I’m not prepared to fork out for multiple internet channels of top of the mandatory tv licence, so I stick to the two big ones. Onwards to Wordle now.
@Helen Wright If you have the chance, the third season was magnificent!! I loved all three but the third one soared to number one for me! I frequently sign up for a new streaming service just to watch one or two things but then cancel it immediately so they don't auto charge and I'll still have it for a month. When the fourth season comes out, I'll do that with Hulu again.
As a dedicated coffee drinker, I've never liked hot tea, not even when I was living in China. But here are some fun (and related) Chinese idioms: One who "likes to drink flower tea" enjoys the company of prostitutes. "Drinking black coffee" is synonymous with suffering. An official who is forced to resign, but not necessarily sent to a prison camp, is asked to "have a cup of tea."
@Grant Thanks for this. Another one for the "Where else but Wordplay?" folder.
@Grant (unrelated) I did a summer abroad in China and one day we were riding along and I spotted a pizza joint called Adequate Pizza. It was hilarious on so many levels.
Turns out it was my cup of tea today. Thanks Kelly.