this is the first crossword that i completed without needing any clues or looking anything up🥹 and in half the time as usual. progress!!🤝🏾
@mariel :) That's great! Always feels good when that happens! Keep up the great work!
@mariel :) That first clean win is a really nice moment.
"I thought you wanted to search for fossils here!" "No. We'd be making a dig mistake." (But I went there once, looking for a dino. It was a site for 'saur eyes.)
@Mike Jur a sick punster, you know that?
@Mike Ice age, make no bones about it, it's always best to wear a mastadon some gloves. You don't know where those creatures have been.
Mike, Click here for a great shale on really old puns: ;)
@Mike I've gone on many such Trex myself.
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Minimal coverage provider? (5) 2. Like some car exteriors and hairy legs (5) 3. They'll make it up to you (5) 4. It's often rapped but never spoken (5) 5. Deposit that might gather interest? (3) THONG WAXED LIARS GAVEL ORE
@Lewis I loved your Item 2. Of course, in another era it wouldn't have passed the breakfast test. 😏
Run out of clothes? STREAK I like this clue on a Monday because it's very gettable, and yet misdirection is involved. IMO this is how Mondays should introduce newcomers to how NYT crossword puzzle clues may work. Nicely done.
After attending the jazz opera Madam Bootyfly in Soho, where he had seen Millie Fitzgerald scat her way through the closing number, James Bond put his Astin Martin in gear with a growl and flew in a streak to the casino for a showdown with the agent from LYCRA with the missing digit. Inside, a woman dressed only in a piece of cake, with oil paint mascara, gave him a sly nod and passed him a martini. "Shaken, not stirred," she purred. Bond crossed to the baccarat table. Across from him sat Monsieur Sel from LYCRA, lacking a forefinger, and on either side were two tough looking Asians who introduced themselves to Bond as Mr. Aloo and Mr. Ali. There was a fifth man at the table, the mysterious Ursa Oro: a notorious gangster they called the Golden Bear. "Well, gentlemen," Bond smiled, laying a single Euro on the table, "I can tell this is going to cost me...where's the nearest ATM?" The game commenced and Bond began losing. "What can I offer, in lieu of money?" he asked. "What's the rarest thing I have?" He stretched his open palm toward them. In it lay what looked like a dried out cherry pit. There was a lull in conversation throughout the whole room. Monsieur Sel tapped his cigar's ashes into a cup. "Your offeur iz taken." But the martini was spiked with LSD! A huge hamster lacking a digit sat across from him. "Aces" it squeaked. "Roi," announced Bond sadly, as Mr. Aloo, now a large sow, glared at him. "This won't work out well," Bond thought. "I've lost my mojos."
My favorite encore clues from last week: [Spot likely to smear] (6)(2) [Solos at a party, say] (4) ATTACK AD CUPS
Maybe digging is in our genes, like it’s in dogs’ genes. I remember that when I was a kid, the first thing I’d do after getting to the beach is dig the deepest hole I could. I did some more digging post-puzzle to determine the origin of “Hole” in “Jackson Hole”. Turns out the area named after fur trapper David Jackson, who worked the area in the 1820s, and “Hole” was a trapper’s term for a large mountain valley. Huh! I did notice that the theme nouns – HOLE, DITCH, PIT, and WELL – can also be verbs. Then I saw words that can be both nouns and verbs all over the grid. A partial list: STREAK, SCAT, SCAN, RAIL, SLAM, TANK, GROWL, YOYO. A little more digging revealed that 30-50% of high-frequency vocabulary in English can be both noun and verb, but only about 10% of all the words in the dictionary can. You’re welcome. I love the constructor mind that saw the two interpretations of DIGIT and had to make a puzzle out of that. We all owe much pleasure to Constructor Mind. A memory, a TIL, a language quirk, and a brush with cleverness – all in the box today, turning my neutral brain alive. Thank you, Dan and Zhouqin, and congratulations Dan on your NYT debut!
@Lewis I like the rabbit HOLE you fell down with all that digging. Also agree - cheers to the constructors mind! Happy Monday!
@Lewis Thanks for this and your always interesting and positive analyses. I wondered how many of the noun/verbs are derived differently and have different meanings. E.g., when you GROWL, you produce a GROWL. When you YOYO, you follow a YOYO's path. But when you RAIL, you don't produce a RAIL in its most common sense.
(Of course, they're all dead, and almost forgotten) The table talk in Washington I hear by special messenger, Is brightened by the presence there Of Kiplinger and Kissinger. The anecdotes are wittier, The chitterchat flows ripplinger, As of the moment on the bus When Kissinger met Kiplinger. "My name is Mr. Kiplinger," Said Kiplinger to Kissinger. "And I'm Professor Kissinger," Replied his fellow passenger. "You'll kindly note my g is hard," Said Kiplinger to Kissinger; "Some people call me Kiplinjer, And nothing is depressinjer." "Hard g to me," said Kissinger, "Is sentimental goo. Kissing-er means more osculant. More osculant than who?" "One dowager," said Kiplinger, "She goes beyond Kiplinjery. She dragged me to the opera To add Yseult* to injury." Kiplinger grew progressively pressinger; "Do you know my good friend Arthur Schlesinger?" Kissinger answered his fellow passenger, "No, but I know an Arthur Schlesinger. In a city named for George or Martha, How odd that we each should know an Arthur! Let's have a foursome at Burning Tree, Your Arthur and you against mine and me." --Ogden Nash *you know, the one where Tristan gets stabbed in the back, and goes on to sing an entire third act?
@Bill Oh heck, let's have one more: There is not much about the hamster To stimulate the epigramster The essence of his simple story, He populates the laboratory, Then leaves his offspring in the lurch, Martyrs to medical research. Was he as bright as people am, New York would be New Hamsterdam. (Wait! It isn't?: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg96KQYHeOI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg96KQYHeOI</a>)
I was surprised to learn that MOJOS are tangible things. And magic, no less. I thought...well actually my ideas about MOJOS were very vague and half-formed. To me, a MOJO was like an aura: When you have your MOJO, people really notice, admire and respect you. When you lose your MOJO, you are but a pathetic shell of your former self. Since I first heard the word no more than 10 years ago, perhaps I can be forgiven for my fuzzy comprehension. Re the wonderful Robert Benchley quote on OPERA -- Benchley having been a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table and a great wit -- reminds me of an incident from my own life. I'm at a book publishing party in the 1970s. I'm standing in a group of people, none of whom I know. One man -- in his 70s or perhaps even early 80s -- is mesmerizing the group. He is droll and witty, a spellbinding raconteur with marvelous stories to tell. Afterwards I ask someone at the party I do know "who that man wearing the [whatever] and standing over there near the [whatever] is? "Oh that's Marc Connelly" I'm told. The name means absolutely nothing to me. though it probably should have. I look him up the next day. I discover that he's not only a well-known playwright, but a distinguished member of the Algonquin Round Table. Does he have sparkling wit? Is he a great storyteller? Is rain wet? More than half a century later, Connolly remains the most charismatic and irresistible raconteur I have ever met in real life.
@Nancy Thanks so much for the fond memory of the Algonquin Round Table. My Monday just keeps getting better! 😊
@Nancy Great story! Thanks so much for it. This post is a terrific example of what makes this place magical. I often think about this forum being an electronic Algonquin Round Table, albeit one that occasionally degrades into a junior high lunch table.
I am a good and proper Minnesotan now. WORKED OUT WELL did not occur to me, never wood have withut crosses. Instead, I had WORKEDOUTokay. "Pretty good" instead of "well", or "excellent" every time. And we never, never, never take the last slice of pizza or the last piece of candy.
@Francis LOL -- But do you take the first one?
@Francis We never take the last piece of anything!!
@Francis Dose Minnesota have a Museum of Last Pieces? It would have to be pretty cool.
second monday crossword solved! loved the asians clue. its easy to forget that the middle east is asia, even though i live there. 66 across was a little frustrating bc it couldve been either lyres or lutes, with only 2 letters different. it messed me up for a short while
@cmm i always guess wrong the first time with lyre and lute.
Lovely past clues listed by Sam for STREAK. Another I've seen is [Take off and run]. One that I've haven't seen but might work on a Saturday: [Go without?]
This puzzle was not a one-trick pony. (Sly nod?)
Fun, fast, and amusing puzzle and it looks like we have a terrific new constructor in our midst. This was a respite from the tough (for me) offering yesterday, which I finally finished late last night before falling asleep. I got some chuckles from today’s theme, and my first chuckle came from the Robert Benchley quote about OPERA 😂 Thanks to the whole team for giving me something to chuckle about. Life is very busy these days and worries abound. I need all the opportunities for joy I can get.
Well, I've tried posting my Five Favorite Original Clues list twice now, but it's been emued, apparently. They will probably both show up in the fullness of time (and I apologize in advance for the dupe!). Could have been the word THONG that did it, an answer last week, who knows?
When I got to the NE, I noticed that the French condiment was going to be SEL, but I was working the across clues, so I figured I'd just hold the L in my mind for when I got to the answer that crossed. When I got there, I saw that I'd have gotten MILLIE Bobby Brown without any crosses, so retention of the L in my mind turned out to be unnecessary. I felt the same about the theme. The answers filled in so fast that I got all those long ones easily without even understanding what they had to do with 40A, the clue of which I stopped reading after "Finger or toe"...that's a dictionary definition of DIGIT. Eventually, someone will tell me they used the revealer to figure out JACKSON HOLE or CHERRY PIT, but that was not my experience tonight. Random notes: The OPERA clue was a riot. Reminded me of Andrzej's opinion of musical theater. SLY NOD struck me as sort of "green paint" (for those not familiar, this means a multi-word answer that isn't a set expression in the language; "green energy" is, because there's no pink, purple or orange energy, but "green paint" isn't.) YOYO--[Toy on a string that's not a kite]? Isn't "Toy on a string" enough? It's almost like "Feline pet that's not a lynx" in my mind. On the other hand, I got 64D on crosses. Would I have known it? No WEI.
Steve, (1) Since I like to savor the puzzles while solving, I read the second half of the revealer clue (after entering DIGIT from reading the first half), and [CHERRY]PIT and [WORKOUT]WELL went in faster as a result. (2) SLY NOD *is* an expression (you apparently have not heard or read). (3) Re: YOYO. It's Monday; kite is also four letters. (4) I'll bet CC didn't have to Google 64D. (5) Please pass the salt.
Caused a flashback (not at all drug related, just a normal memory)… “You dig? Cool, I dig. Far out.” Wearing bell bottoms and a head band. Like we all did.
I'm part of a mountain biking chat group: MAMIL, middle aged men in 32A. I'm a bit past the MA part of the acronym, but you're as young as you feel! Enjoyed the puzzle! Keep cranking 'em out!
@Call Me Al I always wonder how much LYCRA actually helps a biker. Has anyone done a study comparing the difference in speed or efficiency with and without the LYCRA. I might think that without the LYCRA, you'd really be STREAKing!!!
Monday NYT Crosswords are hit or miss. Some are amazing, some are just okay. And this one, in my opinion, is both. The theme for this one was relatively unique, and it’s also kind of fun to have the grid design allow for across and down theme entries. Good clues - Messages on which you might be cc’d; Gesture suggesting “I see what you did there”; Half of a train track. But then there’s the “miss” section. All relatively minor perspectives I’ve taken against this puzzle on the whole. For one thing, SOHO is a relatively difficult answer for a Monday, but could easily be gotten from context without LYCRA directly on top. Filling in that part of the puzzle was the hardest section. Not that it was too bad, but for a Monday, it felt unbalanced. Also, ASTIN intersecting with NEILL was a bit challenging, considering I wasn’t sure on either of the references. Overall, more good than bad. A nice collaboration by the constructors. That’s my two cents.
@Peter My apologies in advance, but "relatively unique" makes me wince a little. Either something is unique, or it isn't. "Unique" means one-of-a-kind, but it's rapidly becoming just a synonym for "unusual." Yes, I know the specific meaning of words tends to blur when their definition is assumed from context, but I hate to see that happen.
I'm admittedly not "Mr. Pop Culture", but the three intersecting proper nouns (14A, 15D, 30A) seemed a little obscure for a Monday. And the cluing to 29D (clue: "Iraqis and Iranians", answer: "Asians") seemed a little weird and unsatisfying. Other than that, a fairly run-of-the-mill Monday.
@Andrew Kennelly --- "asian(s)" with its lovely vowels, N and S pops up a lot, so constructors have to get a bit creative to come up with original clues for it. It also lends itself well to the kind of misdirection where you imply something more specific than the eventual more general answer, which is what we have here. Those get me every time!
@Andrew Kennelly "Weird and unsatisfying"...certainly just a gut reaction on your part. It's a completely fact-based clue.
Nice Monday workout. Just a bit on the slow side for me, but things fell together pretty smoothly. And... didn't catch on to the them until I was almost done. That's always a nice touch. Puzzle finds today were inspired by ESAU. Here's one - a Sunday from June 12, 1994 by the great Frances Hansen with the title: "About Miss Daw." Four 21 letter grid-spanning theme answers in that one, each just clued as "Start of a verse", "More of a verse," etc. Here those are: MARGERYMETALEPRECHAUN WHOSAIDHISNAMEWASESAU ALOTOFHERAPLOMBISGONE SINCESHESAWESAUSEESAW Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/12/1994&g=106&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/12/1994&g=106&d=A</a> I'll put the other puzzle in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Thursday from February 8, 2011 by Manny Nosowsky. Three grid-spanning answers: "Where God is King of Kings?" ROGETSTHESAURUS "Wine-flavored espagnole" BORDELAISESAUCE "Tongue-twister phrase hinting at this puzzle's theme" ISAWESAUHESAWME Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/8/2001&g=35&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/8/2001&g=35&d=A</a> I'm done. ....
On second thought and after examining a map, I reluctantly conclude that these countries fit into “Asian” better than any other designation. Istanbul is famously the city where you can walk across a bridge from Europe to Asia and scarcely break a sweat. HOWEVER, thats where clarity ends. If we agree to fold in “the Middle East” to Asia, we have a unit that stretches from the Bosphorus Bridge across the Himalayas from Pakistan to India, and onward to Ho Chi Minh City? Singapore? Jakarta? Manila? And north through China, Japan, Korea and only ending at the Bering Strait? Do Russians agree that they are Asian? If you go East from Europe, are you of necessity in Asia? Or is there a carve out for Russia? Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics are European and Russia is Asian? It’s all very confusing to one whose geographic knowledge mostly comes from concert tours, and reading about wars and famines, but it made for a fun hour with my maps this morning! And, I’d rather hear answers from other puzzlers than Wiki or Google!
@Judith Nelson When I am in Israel, I am told it is Asia, but when I turn on the television, it says CNN Africa. (Or maybe it wasn't CNN, but that's not the point.) Looking at the map, it's the teeniest tiniest piece of whichever continent it is. The confusion is not just mine, that's for sure! <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-continent-is-israel-in.html" target="_blank">https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-continent-is-israel-in.html</a>
@Judith Nelson Here's what constitutes Asia: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Asia" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/place/Asia</a> The boundaries are arbitrary (some cultures consider all Eurasia one continent, which is scientifically more accurate). But generally they are topologically (rivers, mountains, lakes) rather than politically based (national borders). Thus, Russia, some of the Caucasus Mountain and other former Soviet countries, Turkey, and Egypt are transcontinental nations. Iraq and Iran, however, are clearly wholly in Asia. Some MENA (Middle Eastern/North Africa) designees are Asian, some are African. The US Census Bureau muddles things by making some categories continent-based, and some ethnically-based. A friend of mine with Israeli citizenship, who identifies as Jewish and white, almost put "Asian American" on her daughter's financial aid application because technically, it was true. But we don't usually think of Israelis that way, and neither does the Census Bureau, apparently.
@Judith Nelson At some point in recent history, the clever Johnnies who write the style guides decided that Middle East and Far East were too "Eurocentric" and replaced them with Southwest Asia and East Asia. Oriental will get you sent to HR.
Thanks for a terrific start to the solving week, Dan and Zhouqin! I loved the theme and DUG your mix of clever clues! Happy Monday, everyone!
Starting the week with Robert Benchley means it's going to be a good week. 💃🏻
@Molly in Wake Forest Where does Benchley appear? I've gone through clues and solves and can't find any trace.
@SBK/@Jacqui J I think of the 1980s western Silverado directed by Lawrence Kasdan starring, among many, many others, Kevin Kline, Linda Hunt and Brian Dennehy.
The puzzle was great! Not an issue at all! Laughed at 24A when I figured it out! Keep it up, guys! ;)
Fun theme, but crossing actor last names (14A/15D) is always a natick for me, and a HOHUM natick at that.
I can dig it, he can dig it, she can dig it, We can dig it, they can dig it, you can dig it Oh, let's dig it. Can you dig it, baby? Today’s fun theme made me think of “Grazing in the Grass” by The Friends of Distinction, a group founded by none other than Jim Brown, the football player. Adding to the discussion about Sean Astin, in his youth his mother (Patty Duke) told him that Desi Arnaz Jr. (son of Lucille Ball) was his father. She had been having an affair with then 17-year old Desi Jr. (much to the dismay of Lucy) and two other men at the time of Sean’s conception. As an adult he learned the identity of his biological father through DNA testing. Patty Duke’s life story is fascinating and sad in many ways. Well, this puzzle certainly brought me back to the 70s.
@Anita So much interesting info in your comment 😊. I remember Patty Duke well but had never heard that story. Most days I don’t take the time to read very many comments here, but I’m glad I saw yours. Hope you have a great day.
Oh my goodness, for some reason I put Texas into 13A immediately. Like, first thing that popped into my head was Texas! What!? I did think of it as a compliment about the toughness and resilience of Texans. Still, weird! I already had MADAM, but I thought it might be some kind of mountain at 1D. 😆 Fun puzzle! Loved the clue for STREAK at 24A. Classic! I DIGIT!
@HeathieJ Ok, I'm going to consider this a golden opportunity to repeat a joke I wrote earlier, but it was late in the comment cycle, and I don't think anyone read it. A Texan was ashamed that he came from the second largest state in the union. So he went to Alaska, walked into a bar as asked what he needed to do to become an honorary Alaskan. The old-timers saw this as an excellent opportunity to have some fun with this guy. So they told him, "Sure. You first of all need to strip down to your underwear and climb Mt. Eagle just outside of town here. Then you need to find a grizzly bear and wrestle him. After that, you have to find a woman and have relations with her. So the Texan headed out into the blizzard in his underwear. Several hours later, he reappeared at the bar, and was a bloody mess. Huge claw marks, bite marks, just a disaster. And he says "Ok, where's this woman I'm supposed to rassle?"
Okay - late puzzle find, absolutely the strangest I've ever encountered. A Sunday from April 25, 2010 by Elizabeth C. Gorski with the title: "Monumental achievement." Can't imagine having any kind of a chance at filling this one in. Six across answers for which the clue is just: [ ] And some of the answer to those clues: CHEERLEADINGFORMATION IMAGEONADOLLARBILL YOGAPOSE THELOUVRE CARDGAME THREEDIMENSIONALSHAPE But one of them actually had a clue after the [ ]. That was: "[ ]: that was the creation of an architect born 4/26/1917. And that answer was: GLASSDESIGNBYIMPEI And... then there was a shape implied connecting several highlighted squares with the letters: P Y R A M I D Here's the link to that puzzle if you want to go take a look: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/25/2010&g=66&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/25/2010&g=66&d=A</a> Might re-post this tomorrow. ...
Sam, CTO is usually Chief Technology Officer (not Technical).
To wit: <a href="https://www.nytco.com/person/jason-sobel" target="_blank">https://www.nytco.com/person/jason-sobel</a>/
@Barry Ancona Usually, but there's nothing wrong with the column. <a href="https://digitaldefynd.com/IQ/chief-technical-officer-vs-chief-technology-officer" target="_blank">https://digitaldefynd.com/IQ/chief-technical-officer-vs-chief-technology-officer</a>/
This was a great one for the “only use the Across clues” challenge. I managed it in 13:00. No Downs! Great crossword!
@Petrol That's amazing. I don't think I could solve even the easiest of puzzles like that. I almost always need a letter or two before I can pull the answer out. For example, I don't have any confidence in my ability to think about [Gesture suggesting "I see what you did there"] and coming up with SLYNOD. That seems extraordinary to me.
@Petrol a level of self discipline not to look at all at the right-hand column is required which i simply do not possess.
@Petrol Now do one without either the down or across clues. (seriously though, I never understood self-imposed challenges. I like easy wins too much to make things difficult for me :D)
@Petrol I am impressed. The longer solves must have made that even more challenging.
@Andrzej Your facts are correct, but your tone is not what I usually encounter in these forums; most interactions here are enjoyable/humorous and leave both parties laughing. Yours, sadly, projects a condescension that casts a pall over the happy interest either which I posed this question. This also goes for other responses of yours which I see in this column. I’m certainly not the comment police, but belittling your fellow puzzlers see seems to run counter to the basic aim of games: to have fun.
@Judith Nelson I am somewhat sorry about my tone but my question was valid, was it not? If you thought Iran and Iraq were not in Asia, on what continent did you thing they were located? Also, the aim of *games* is to have fun, but the aim of the *comments* is to comment. I have received flak for many of my comments. I can't see why you should be exempt from it. I am condescending, on occasion. It's one of my many faults. For faultless positivity, look to Lewis.
@Judith Nelson Judith, I find it is easy to misinterpret or overexaggerate the implied tone in some of these threads. I know I have misinterpreted some, and some of mine have been misinterpreted. Yes, Andrzej’s initial comment may sound a little condescending but I think it’s more humorous than anything else. And in general, yes, he’s irascible and a curmudgeon but he’s also thoughtful, occasionally self-deprecating, and interesting. He also is careful to emphasize that his criticisms are always his own personal opinions which may not be always mainstream. I usually find his posts refreshing. Last, here’s why some of us get a bit annoyed, and take it as some respectful feedback for you. Often people post implied criticism of clues without doing their own research. Type “are Iran and Iraq in Asia?” in Google and you get your answer. You might still feel like commenting—“I didn’t realize that they were in Asia” or even “Interesting how Asian has a connotation that doesn’t usually include the Middle East”—etc. etc. Your first post came off as a little flip. If you had just posted your second I don’t think you would have gotten the same response. It happens, I’ve been guilty of it myself—posting about some incorrect fact that I thought was true without researching it—and have gotten called out on it, sometimes condescendingly. But the original fault was mine and I tried to admit that graciously.
Hi, Judith. You'll probably enjoy the comments more if you skip the posts of certain people. That's what I do.
@Francis, Hey, would you mind taking a crack at explaining @Andrzej to Judith? I see you as our resident expert. And maybe we’ll all learn something 😄! Thanks in advance.
@Judith Nelson I'm with you on your assessment of Andrzej's posts. They are definitely an acquired taste. But once you clamber over the mound of broken glass in which he embeds himself, he can say some interesting things. You'll have to decide for yourself if he's worth the trouble. Remember, you can always just scroll on.
Iranians and Iraqis will be shocked by 29 down. As an Arab, I am. They would also be shocked to be grouped together.
Got a little slowed down by close but wrong fills (Arabian and Come Out Well) but it was fun and the theme was cute!
@Caitie That's a common error - Iranians may be Muslims, and Arabs may have been the ones to initiate the spread of Islam, but Iranians are mostly Persians, not Arabs.
2:30 under my Monday average. Nice puzzle. Got slightly hung up on Roi and wei. My brain wanted rei for both. Fun puzzle
@Megan Yeah— that tripped me up too; I’ve never seen ROI in the Times, just REI and REY
@Steve L But ROI is usually clued as Return on Investment if my recent memory serves me well. How many times has it appeared as this meaning?
ASHES and OAKS are right next to each other, and not cross-referenced. I love a good cross-reference. I don’t know— that’s just my two cents.
@Peter How are they related? Unless you're thinking of a country singer duo.... Ducking and running...
Nice debut/collab for Dan. STREAK was brilliant. I liked the play on DIGIT/DIG IT. Numbers also come to mind for DIGITs. While I was waiting for my plane home today, I was scrolling Instagram and I saw several reels asking “what’s Jenny’s number?” or “what are Jenny’s DIGITs?” As each person was asked the question, it displayed the year they were born. I sang the answer in my head immediately 🤣 Of the ones I watched, the vast majority born in the 60s to 70s got it right away. A few born in the 80s got it, two from the 90s and one from the 00s. All three of my kids would know the answer!! <a href="https://youtu.be/6WTdTwcmxyo?si=SIEbKAiJxnCUq1EZ" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/6WTdTwcmxyo?si=SIEbKAiJxnCUq1EZ</a>
@Jacqui J Ah, those 80s videos. And I laughed at the first comment visible. - Anytime my kids say 67, I'm gonna sing this song. Or something like that.
@Jacqui J Can't load the video - can't think what it could be about - who is Jenny? Please?
@Jacqui J It was the theme of the (Wednesday) Jun 30, 2020 puzzle: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/30/2021" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/30/2021</a>
Any puzzle with Sam NEILL in it is okay by me. And it's fitting to find him in a puzzle featuring various types of DIGs. Always a pleasure, CC (Zhouqin) and Dan.
@Vaer Good catch on Sam Neill's role in Jurassic Park(in his Indy-inspired hat).
@ad absurdum And there's another nod to Jurassic Park at 46 Down, IAN (Malcolm), Jeff Golblum's character.
@Vaer I saw Jurassic Park in our local second-run, $5 movie house, in double feature with Jane Campion's The Plano, you know ,that one where Holly Hunter gets chased across the beaches of New Zealand by a velociraptor . . . Definitely $5 well spent!
@Bill I never thought of Harvey Keitel as a velocitaptor before.
Enjoyed this one. Took a hot second to process the theme. 🤦🏻♀️ Thanks, Dan & Zhouqin! Y’all have a wonderful Monday!
@Terry -- What are the chances of two Ashevillians posting in a row?
There were a few misdirects, and I just want Dan (congrats, I take it you're new) to know that I fell for each of them! 2D Not together: ALONE, of course! 26A Like an envelope that's ready to be sent: STAMPEdang! And so on and so forth. It did add some nice spice to the puzzle, Mondays being....well, Monday-easy. Now, about 56A: Is a NOD a "gesture"? NODs are overt; how does one manage a SLY NOD without arousing suspicion? (I really need to know this....because I've been using a WINK, myself.) I mean, you have to sneak it out if you want to be SLY. Things like NODding and raising one's cup are kind of obvious, wouldn't you say? Please sneak your answer in below.
@Mean Old Lady Clue for SLYNOD from a Tuesday puzzle in 2022: "Subtle signal that might accompany a wink" ...
Congratulations on the debut! I'm not sure I've run 10 miles over the course of my entire life.
I've always wonder how much LYCRA actually helps a biker. Has anyone done a study comparing the difference in speed or efficiency with and without the LYCRA. I think that without the LYCRA, the biker would really be STREAKing!!!
@The X-Phile Well, I've biked in lycra and nude, and the latter option clearly wins every time. For style, anyway.
@The X-Phile Wow, I step away for a few hours and this is what happens? Anyway, loose clothing flaps in the wind, which is annoying. I wear Lycra gear for that reason alone, as I'm not really worried about my drag coefficient, just keeping up with my sister. (She's a triathlete.) I do remember that guy in "Breaking Away" shaving his legs.
Tied my All Time Speediest Monday
Pretty normal Monday, I didn't get the theme until reading this because I thought when they meant "If read as two words" they meant the four other answers. Took me a little longer than average for a Monday just because two specific squares in the cross of NEILL/MILLIE/SEL. Actor names and foreign language words not from Spanish or Japanese are often weaknesses of mine. (Thankfully by now ESAU is getting used so often I think of it immediately for any four letter Bible name.)
@Chris I thought that too about the theme! And you’re right with ESAU, it’s certainly a sort of failsafe for constructors at times.
@Chris I must have gotten SEL on the crosses alone. I didn't even realize it was there until I read your note. But 'gettable via crosses' is the whole trick of this game.
@Chris Better add ENOS, son of SETH, to that list.
@Chris NOAH is no stranger to puzzles. After returning to our puzzle after a six-month needed break, I am finding that my times are improving (with the help of Google late-week). Perhaps they are trending easier. Been playing off and on since LBJ was president. I filled this one rapidly, and after completing it, I discovered the clever theme. My new streak is at ten, but I am sure it will be broken soon enough. Sometimes after a couple of go-rounds, I can’t find that one letter in error, and I throw in the towel.
I nearly finished without look-ups but was scuppered by names I had never heard of - ASTIN, NEILL and also CTO. And 22A - I know a PISTON is part of a motor but what is a "hipster"? Otherwise, I enjoyed this and I like the theme.
@Jane Wheelaghan Jane, you have encountered Astin - he's been an answer here multiple times, and quite recently, too. Of course, if you haven't seen anything he was in (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of the seasons of Stranger Things, among other things), there is no reason you would remember him.
@Jane Wheelaghan Hoopster = basketball player The PISTONs are the NBA team from Detroit.
@Jane Wheelaghan Sean ASTIN is the son of 60s TV star Patty Duke and the adopted son of her husband, 60s TV star John Astin. Duke had a self-named sitcom in which she played dual roles as a down-to-earth teenager and her posh "identical cousin"; John Astin was Gomez in the original Addams Family series. I don't know whether you ever got either of those shows in the UK, but they were both quite popular here. Knowing all this makes it easy to remember Sean, even if you're unfamiliar with his work.
@Jane Wheelaghan CTO??
A fun Monday, to be sure. Took me a minute to understand the theme, and then a good chortle. Congratulations on the puzzle, and having CC as your co-constructor! Why not start with the best!
Cute Monday. Had to cheat and look up ORO to get MOJO. For some reason just could not see APART, though was pretty sure of JACKSON HOLE just based on letter probabilities.
No dugout 🤔 A good Monday afternoon puzzle. The actor crosses maybe could have been avoided but they caused little trouble. Thanks