Thanks for yet another delightful Monday, Lynn Lempel! N.B. This is NYT XWP #104 for Ms. Lempel, and her 75th Monday. She made her debut in 1979.
@Barry Ancona That’s an impressive stat. Thanks, Ms. Lempel.
@Barry Ancona With stats like that, it is surely not long before “Lempel” becomes an entry in its own right, a Natick admittedly, in an NYT crossword? I shall look out for a clue along the lines of “Setter with a 1979 debut” (I am assuming - perhaps wrongly - that Ms Lempel’s record is unusually long. Maybe there is a greater Methuselah out there?)
@Barry Ancona you can tell. Perfectly pleasant Monday in my opinion
This was the puzzle that completed my 5 year Monday streak! I posted a comment for my 1 year streak as I was at the start of medical school and I'm now on my final placement in Vanuatu :)
@Sinéad Bravo! Do you know where you'll be next year?
@Sinéad Congratulations -- so impressive!
@Sinéad, Wow!! Well done! You’ve been together with Mondays all through med school, then?
Thanks, Lynn Lempel, for this jaunty little Monday puzzle. Finishing it completes my 1-year streak!
@Jim Nice--quite the effete! (sorry--just a 60D to 42D)
@Jim, Congratulations!! 🎉🎈🍾 🥂
"You thought I was planning to go to the airport?" "Oh, yeah, that's plane to see." ("Actually, I'm just winging it.")
@Mike I was an early venture capital investor in an international air travel company, but I’ve had to put some extra funds in. This is what we financiers call “re-seeding airline”
@Mike Another flight of fancy!. You're always up in the air about something, you goose. Down, I say.
@Mike I believe you accidently tripped on the tarmac...
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Extremely well-liked? (8)(6) 2. Exchanges blows? (3)(6) 3. Building that shouldn't have running water? (3)(6) 4. Where idols go head-to-head (5) 5. Paired chips with dips? (6) INTERNET FAMOUS AIR KISSES ICE PALACE TOTEM RHYMED
My favorite encore clues from last week: [Book reviewer, for short] [Part of an underground network] CPA ROOT
@Lewis loved all of these too, especially “Extremely well-liked?” Additional special mention for the clue that immediately followed it: “Personal opinion?” (4-6). Not sure if this one was original or not, but the two of them in a row really made me smile. SELF-ESTEEM
Once again I’m asking the editors to discover what an igloo actually is, if they’re going to use it as regular glue. An igloo is a temporary shelter used when you’re out hunting. It’s basically a camping tent. Nobody lives in igloos and they aren’t “homes.” As an Inuk I don’t mind igloos being used as clues at all, but I wish they weren’t always used for this vaguely racist picture where Inuit don’t have houses.
@Pedanto Good point well made! You’ve also broadened my knowledge by making me look up Inuk, so I’ve learned that too. But most of all I love the fact that a person named Pedanto is battling to regain the semantic high ground over igloos in Denmark, presumably Greenland, when that entire island seems to be under threat of seizure from a crazy neighbour! I hope you win the battle over words and the threat to your land never materializes! My best wishes to all Inuks - and please feel free to keep schooling us non-Inuks so we are not so dumb about your culture!
@Pedanto Or maybe if they use it as a regular 'gloo? :) I never knew that about them. Still, I would consider a tent a (temporary) home myself.
Pedanto, Please speak to the folks at Wikipedia... <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo</a>
@Barry Ancona Funny you should say that, because the clue for "tents" in this same puzzle is "backpackers' shelters," not "backpackers' homes."
@Pedanto It's in the same category as NEST for "Birds' home"....
@Pedanto @Barry Ancona Now I have to decide whether Wikipedia or a native Inuk living in Denmark is the more trustworthy authority. Against @MOL's advice, my money's on Wikipedia. From Wikipedia: "The smallest-sized igloos are constructed as temporary shelters. They are usually used for one or two nights, and therefore, are easier to build. On rare occasions, these small types of igloos are used during hunting trips which are often on open sea ice. "Intermediate-sized igloos were for semi-permanent, family dwelling. This was usually a single room dwelling that housed one or two families. Often there were several of these in a small area, which formed an Inuit village."
@Pedanto TIL there are glass igloo resorts in Scandinavia, ideal for viewing the Aurora Borealis while tucked up in bed, sipping aquavit. My own experiences with the Northern Lights involved a sleeping bag and a chaise lounge, so I can appreciate that.
Monday puzzles can be amusing, but I rarely expect to learn anything from them, because the clues and answers are geared to greater simplicity. But, thanks to @Sam Corbin, today I learned that the words "EFFETE" and "FETAL" are etymologically related. The origin of "effete" has to do with being worn out from childbirth, and hence no longer fertile [ex + fetus = no longer childbearing]. From there the word came to mean "no longer capable of effective action" as in "effete aristocracy" or "effete intellectuals". And from there to our "overly refined" or "affected". Interesting stuff! Thanks, Sam!
@The X-Phile You're not old enough to remember "EFFETE intellectual snobs" and "nattering nabobs of negativity"???
Lots of echoes of Emily Dickinson's "I heard a fly buzz when I died" here. Tempted to write a parody using some of the entries, I reread the poem and was so moved by it that it would have seemed a desecration to attempt such a thing. And there are other, ancillary entries in the puzzle that speak to the modern experience of flying, the KNEE whose EDGE digs into your back from the fellow behind you, the ORDERS to deboard because your ATTIRE, which you thought CHIC, was deemed inappropriate by the flight attendant because the HEM was a little high and didn't HIDE enough. As you walked back up the aisle all EYES were upon you and you felt like curling up in a FETAL position from sheer embarrassment. Even the PATROL MAN LEERED at you. Maybe you can hide in the bathroom, like STOWAWAYS of OLD. Or maybe if you seek COUNSEL you can SIOUX the airline and recover some of your ASSETS. And blimey, the ennui of travel these days! Will you ever arrive in Rome? I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air - Between the Heaves of Storm - The Eyes around - had wrung them dry - And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset - when the King Be witnessed - in the Room - I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away What portion of me be Assignable - and then it was There interposed a Fly - With Blue - uncertain - stumbling Buzz - Between the light - and me - And then the Windows failed - and then I could not see to see -
@john ezra Ah, truer words . . . if only my frontal lobes would ignore those wild hairs. A tug of the forelock to your self contol, and another delightful observation from E.D. - I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you — Nobody — too? Then there's a pair of us! Don't tell! they'd advertise — you know! How dreary — to be — Somebody! How public — like a Frog — To tell your name — the livelong June — To an admiring Bog!
My resolution? Why yes. More travel down those side roads . . . Gonna HIDE my pencil, solve in ink tonight Gonna grab that gold star delight My PENNAME it ain't real but "When it's right, it's right" Why DWELL on a BYLINE in a solving fight? Let's TAKEOFFROMWORK we NEED a holiday And hope no dang oreos TOUCHDOWN in the grid today! Thinkin' of ADOBO woke my appetite Lookin' forward to a little spicy food tonight Sendin' ORDERS on the phone made the grub ARRIVE But the the buzz of STOWAWAYS got this girl to fightin! FLYSWATTER in flight WOE to bugs tonight WO O O O OH OH OH OH OH WOE to bugs tonight! Started out this puzzle' feelin' so polite I always thought an IGLOO would be colder than a TENT inside But that bug a-waitin' in my TBONE, it just aint right Like a BOARDROOM of ATONAL fleas and mites! FLYSWATTER in flight WOE to bugs tonight WO O O O OH OH OH OH OH WOE to bugs tonight! Be waitin' for me, COUNSEL, when I come around We can SIOUX the cook, send the PATROLMAN 'round!
@Whoa Nellie - Greetings from Bill Danoff. Puzzle was an evening delight.
@Whoa Nellie Wow can’t believe you did that. I was like “omg is this…?” I tried it on the piano and I couldn’t get it to TAKE OFF but I think I like it.
Fun one! And I set a new personal best of 5 minutes flat. But wait, I am not a person who shares times, why do I share my time today!? Well, that's because I only achieved it after accidentally resetting my completed puzzle that took a few minutes longer than five. Proving what I've known all along, that even knowing all the answers, there's no way I could type fast enough or typo free enough to get the really short times that people report. I have no issues with that at all, but what always amazes me is just the ability the speedy solvers have to fill in so fast without fat fingering it. Anyhow, now I have a new personal best that I can probably never beat even if I really wanted to. Whoohoo! Freedom!! Even on the first go through, it almost completely filled in on its own from the acrosses, except that at 9A, I put in idea before coming back and changing it to HALO. I rather like my, err, idea, but even if it could manage to be a good clue it wouldn't be a Monday clue. Very pleasant puzzle with a nice theme. Even though claustrophobic me is not a fan of flying, it makes me doubly want to be somewhere Caribbean warm, colorful, and sunny again... Oh, dear. Unwarranted, the thought of my beloved Caribbean just made me sad... Okay, me, this is a puzzle forum, moving on!
@HeathieJ I will attest that my fastest times are achieved on a desktop. Using a phone, iPad or even a laptop slows me down. I think credit is due to my eighth grade typing teacher, Mrs. Hirsch, who certainly has departed this mortal coil by now. But touch typing is the key, a skill that, like cursive writing and telling time on an analog clock, is rapidly disappearing.
Typing lessons? At school? Yet another thing that's different in our countries. Nobody taught me to type at school. My parents took care of it themselves.
@HeathieJ it took me 12 minutes on my phone. And yes, I had to think about some answers... imagining experienced solvers that do a saturday in 5 minutes in horror at that notion lol.
@HeathieJ The same thing has happened to me more than once, that I push a button and my puzzle disappears into the aether, and I have to re-enter all my answers. As a result, like yours, my "personal bests" are pretty meaningless. And, like you, it takes me more than 5 minutes to re-enter the answers. Hats off to those who can do it faster, but I never expect (nor particularly desire) to become one of them. Wishing you warm and sunny ideas and HALOs.
@HeathieJ I often wonder if the fastest times are achieved by those solving on paper. We all can scribble a few letters quite rapidly if we need only to make the words recognizable to ourselves.
PATROLMAN is sexist. Lots of women officers have their beats. Time to toss that term in the bin. Officer works just fine for both. - Daughter of a fallen patrol woman.
@Red Carpet Yup, but it's being used as a historical word. In the past it wasn't considered sexist
The answer is fine, but dated; the clue should reflect that, as, say [Former title for a police officer]. Even the PBA finally changed its name: The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (PBA) is the largest police union representing police officers of the New York City Police Department. It represents about 24,000 of the department's 36,000 officers. The PBA was originally called the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. On January 14, 2019, it changed its name to the gender-neutral Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Benevolent_Association_of_the_City_of_New_York" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Benevolent_Association_of_the_City_of_New_York</a>
@Red Carpet agreed.. thought it was Patrol Cop at first...surprised by the man part.
I’ve been doing a rewatch of Mad Men, and in the episode I just saw, Bert Cooper was doing the NYT crossword. He stopped and asked aloud, “What is a 3-letter word for a flightless bird?” A wink from the writing staff, I presume. Some things never change…
@Heidi I love that scene, especially when Burt asks Mrs. Blankenship for a "3 letter word that starts with..." I forget the 1st letter he gave her, but it wasn't E, to which she responded, "The hell it does" knowing it was EMU / started with an E. There is no limit to how many times I could rewatch Mad Men.
Filial... when ever I see this word, I am thankful I don't live in a Filial State and like to point out to others this danger: Filial Law & Long Term Care Filial responsibility laws are state statutes in about 30 U.S. states that can legally obligate adult children to financially support their indigent parents, often for nursing home or long-term care costs, stemming from old English Poor Laws. While rarely enforced for daily living, they become relevant when parents need public assistance (like Medicaid), triggering potential lawsuits by care providers or states against children for unpaid bills, especially if parents transferred assets or children signed agreements.
I had no idea so many were familiar with the career arc of MR T. Congrats to Ms Lempel on her 75th Monday.
@Vaer Few who have been enthralled and left almost breathless by the range and nuance of Mr. T's acting abilities can imagine such a versatile thespian was once a wrestling ruffian. I, for one, am grateful he somehow made his way from the mat to the matinee.
@Vaer I pity the fool who doesn't respect his oeuvre. How else would we work DC CAB into the puzzle?
I hope there are no STOWAWAYS aboard. Remember the golden age of aviation when passengers wore CHIC ATTIRE to travel? Those were the good OLD days. Worried about in-flight ENNUI? Bring along some reading material to PERUSE, or maybe you can watch a KEANU movie. Hopefully you will NOD off. Take heart, the flight will have been WORTH it when you ARRIVE in ROME.
@Anita, I should have read your post before writing mine, which seems very FLAT in comparison. Well done!
@Anita and @John Blimey, had to check me pulse - felt a bit of a bot after both your cheeky posts! 😉 Thankfully, litigious behavior was outlawed after the NYT Emu Riots (circa 1870s).
Nice Monday puzzle. Fairly smooth solve, but I didn't tumble to the theme until I was almost done. That's always a nice touch. Puzzle find today - a Tuesday from October 22, 2019 by Saul Pink. This one was all in the clues; thought it was a cute theme. "Comedian who's make a good pyrotechnician?" GEORGEBURNS "Supermodel who'd make a good broker?" TYRABANKS "Activist who'd make a good valet?" ROSAPARKS "Rapper who'd make a good barber?" SEANCOMBS "Actor who'd make a good dry cleaner?" JEREMYIRONS Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/22/2019&g=35&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/22/2019&g=35&d=A</a> I'm done. ....
Speaking of Emily Dickinson, here's a great poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. One of my favorites and perfect for making-resolution time: FEAST I drank at every vine. The last was like the first. I came upon no wine So wonderful as thirst. I gnawed at every root. I ate of every plant. I came upon no fruit So wonderful as want. Feed the grape and bean To the vintner and monger; I will lie down lean With my thirst and my hunger.
@lucky13, Thanks for this I'm not familiar with her, but I liked it. In a somewhat similar vein, check out Emily Dickinson's poem that starts: "I taste a liquor never brewed..."
@lucky13 Thank you. As an English teacher, it is a treat to come upon a fascinating unkown-to-me poem when least expecting it. My eleventh will be reciting and interpreting it next term.
Always appreciate one from "the queen of the Mondays", Lynn Lempel. This is her 75th Monday puzzle, out of 104 total. All but 10 of her puzzles have been early-week. She has a knack for striking a good balance for Monday puzzles, with them being neither too difficult nor too easy, and this one was a typically excellent puzzle. Thanks, Lynn!
TIL that “parer” is the occasional pen name for a pencil sharpener (in Ireland at least, according to Wikipedia). After touch down, remember: TIS better to have luggage lost, than never to have luggage at all.
I’m not too proud to say that within seconds of having hit ‘submit’ I wished I had written: “TIS better to have lugged and lost, than never to have lugged at all” (and having missed that is much worse, believe me :)
@JohnWM And now TIL that parer is an Irish thing when it comes to pencils.
I don't recall seeing @suejean in a while, but I miss a lot. Maybe she is on holiday? I hope all is well.
Curious to know if anyone else found that 41A triggered a recollection of an entirely different dueling pair. I’m thinking of the old TV series, “Perry Mason” from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Starring Raymond BURR as defence attorney, Perry Mason, and Willian Talman as his nemesis, district attorney, HAMILTON Burger.
@Strudel Dad Yes, thought of those two - just missing Della Street Thought the DA was more hamburger than not. Did he ever win a case against Mr Mason?
What a fun way to start the week - a real short and sweet one that epitomises the best of a Monday puzzle! It also gave me a personal best of under 9 minutes - which was a great relief after disastrous attempts at Wordle and Connections today. My first morning back at work after the Christmas break definitely needed this win!
@Kate Palmer Go in peace... PhysicsDaughter had a long holiday vacay ("use it or lose it") and was bemoaning the impending Back to Work yesterday... probably means she was OFF too long and got used to it, eh?
Lovely Monday grid, Lynn Lempel -- thank you! Here's to safe travels for everyone, whether by land, sea or air~
Nice puzzle! A good one for my “across clues only” challenge. I finished in 10:42 without looking at any down clues. A good use of insomnia. Next up: counting sheep without looking at any of the downy ones, only cross-breeds…
An elegant Monday, though I needed Sam to explain the theme to me.
A flight of fancy. There's no place like dome, Sam.
For the last few weeks I've been getting a warning in the Games App that I need to upgrade to newer version. But it won't let me because my iPad is too old! New Games App requires iOS 18. I'm on 16.7, and can't upgrade, just because Apple says so. They want me to buy a new one. Now today I can't use Games App at all!! I hate all this 'planned obsolesence!' Yes, iPad is 7 years old, but it works just fine. I can do everything on it I want to do -- except Games App. I did find a work-around. The NYTimes App has a Games link. That one still works. I don't like the crossword layout as well -- font is smaller for my old eyes. And it doesn't have a link to Wordplay column. I had to go to Sections and do search. Nuisance.... I have a cross-stitched plaque my sister made me: "Use it Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without" and that's the way I live. I drove to work today in a car that is 70 years old! 1956 T-bird my Dad bought new, and when I stop driving I have a son who will keep it running. I work for a school district with about 2000 Chromebooks. 6 years ago Google decided Chromebooks should only work for 4 years -- no more system upgrades, even though they worked fine. We had to replace them so we could still do the Calif standardized testing. Los Angeles Unified had 80,000 useless Chromebooks! I guess they all went in the landfill? There was a big, big fuss, and the new ones we bought are good for 8 years, which is better, but still too short.
@Sue Capitalism at its finest. Keep up demand through planned obsolescence. I remember car batteries would instantly die *exactly* when the warranty expired. Nothing like having a several pounds of lead, lead oxide, and sulfuric acid to dispose of.
Another fun puzzle! Loved it. Enjoyed the theme. Just full of good stuff! Thanks, Lynn. Happy Monday, y’all!!
A perfectly lovely Monday puzzle. Cute theme, easy enough for beginners, and no Star Wars of sports clues! Thanks, Lynn, as always.
Fun past couple of days. Today: A gem. Yesterday: Brilliant construction and was fun trying to guess those "done wrong". But still plugging away on that Saturday Stumper!
Very enjoyable puzzle! Thank you Lynn Lempel , I always love your puzzles, though admittedly I didn't get the theme until I read Sam's commentary! Oh well c'est la vie!
Thank you for the puzzle! I enjoyed it :) A quick heads up, on history, Crazy Horse was a member of the Lakota Nation. Indigenous people do not use the word “Sioux” as it is insulting. Settlers adopted the name when a rival nation was asked what they were called.
@Autumn Germany and the Germans are called Niemcy in Polish (and other Slavic languages). "Niemy" means "mute". When my ancestors encountered the ancestors of Germans over a thousand years ago, they couldn't understand them, unlike their Slavic neighbors. Thus, they considered them effectively mute - unable to speak, at least understandably. In turn, Slavs are called Słowianie. "Słowo".means "word". Słowianin is literally one who has mastered "the word" - that is one who can speak.
@Autumn This is really interesting, thank you. I’ve spent some time reading up on this, however (peer-reviewed literature, not Wikipedia etc.) and, while Crazy Horse was certainly Lakota, a couple of thoughts on your post: (1) The Lakota people are a subgroup of what we call the Sioux, so referring to the broader term in the clue is not incorrect (I’m looking at this from a linguistic perspective—forgive me if there are others that would counteract this); (2) the claim that the French (if I may jingoistically point out here that it *was* the French and not we who arrived at the name*…) called the Ojibwe people and language ‘Sioux’ or ‘the enemy’ based on an Iroquois term for them belongs in folk etymology. There are other theories, and theories they will remain—including the one you’ve cited—as something as abbreviated as the monosyllabic /ˈsü/, with its etymological history mostly oral, based on centuries-old accounts by settlers who were not linguistic scholars, will never be sufficiently attested. Modern English and its speakers certainly don’t think of the Sioux as ‘the enemy.’ As @Andrzej and @Ιασων point out, many demonyms stem from less-than favorable impressions of first contact, yet they persist. After centuries, they no longer retain the initial taste of misunderstanding or conflict (no one thinks of the Berbers as barbaric, the Poles don’t think Germans are mute). The clue may be broad for Crazy Horse’s people, but it’s not meant to insult. *[smile]
After the solve the elegance of the theme was evident. Superb. Being a Monday the solving was too quick to need the theme. Thanks for a great first Monday puzzle of the year.
Mr. T wrestled in high school, so technically 21A is correct, but his career trajectory went as follows: bodyguard, bouncer (he prefers the title doorman) featured in "America's Toughest Bouncer" (note: his bodyguarding and bouncing careers overlapped), movie star ("Rocky III"), TV star ("The A Team"), and only then wrestler. Also, he only wrestled professionally one time, as I recall--the main event of Wrestlemenia I. He appeared in Wrestlemania II as well, but this time as a boxer.
@Jeff Z It’s poor rationalization though, citing his high school wrestling stint; he also played football in HS and college but no one would call him a football player turned actor.
I was one letter short of getting this from only the down clues. I didn't know how to spell adobo. I guess I should have known GOO was more likely than GAO. 🫤
I especially enjoyed today's crossword. No complaints. Loved the overhead light clue! Cheers to the cruciverbalist for a job well done.
Nice puzzle. Fill was easy, and due to my inexperience of traveling, I didn't get what the theme meant until I came here. Whoops! Anyways, happy new year! :)
@Maxwell Edison, I have to ask … Did you pass your 21-D?
My fastest solve on record!
Just a quick note: Mr. T wasn't a wrestler-turned-actor, he was an actor-turned-wrestler.
RP, Scroll down to join the conversation!
Clever and breezy. Thank you Ms. Lempel.
So, this puzzle of Ms. Lempel's is a flight of fantasy? Nice. (Except that TAKE OFF is two words as clued and entered/read, which is a slight blemish.) Since I solve bottom to top, my first two entries designated in the Reveal clue (TOUCHDOWN and FLY) would seem to be "scoring accomplishments" or some such, even if "Gridiron" was a poor fit. Any time we get suckered into guessing like that, we end up getting SWATTed down. Nice sequence, clever puzzle. P.S. I don't remember EWAN McGregor in the movie...and we've never watched the TV spin-off. Should we?
@Mean Old Lady Ewan McGregor, plying twin brothers, was a lead in Season 3 of Fargo
@Mean Old Lady He wasn't in the movie. I believe each season of the TV show has a different cast and premise.
Good puzzle overall, but the revealer made zero sense to me until I read the column. Even now that I understand it, I still find it to be terrible and too weird for a Monday puzzle. The only thing it added to my solve was confusion. In my opinion, it’s the worst part of the puzzle and would be better off replaced by a non-revealer clue. Other than the revealer though, I did quite like this. I didn’t get everything right away, but the answers kept coming as I made passes through the puzzle. It’s rare for me to find one where I can maintain momentum like that.
Good morning Tuesday When you travel by plane: - BOARD - TAXI - TAKEOFF (the noun is one word; verb is two) - FLY - TOUCH DOWN
Tuesday, You may not be well suited for a Monday...
Anyone else have deja vu on this one?
@dutchiris I don't mean that the answers don't seem fresh, I mean that I remember working the puzzle, and not that long ago. Of course, that's the essence of deja vu, but I didn't have to read a lot of the clues to know what the fill was going to be.
Great Monday puzzle! Very nice theme, took me 3 times to read the sequence b4 it caught, aha!
Not too bad today, though for some reason I got stuck on ROSA not realizing it was referring to Rosa parks' last name and wondering what in the world type of national park would end in OSA...
A near perfect Monday puzzle! Theme was cute if a little unnecessary, IMO, but if it helped someone solve, then all the better. Happy Monday!