Too many naticks for a Monday. Neal crossed with rama? Cbgb? Fine for a Wednesday, maybe even a Tuesday. But not a Monday. Very punny though! Good theme.
@Morn I liked the puzzle, but was one of the hardest Mondays for me in a while.
0 @Morn This ain't no party, this ain't no disco This ain't no fooling around This ain't no Mudd Club, or C.B.G.B. I ain't got time for that now --Talking Heads "Life During Wartime"
@Morn Yeah I had a bit of trouble with IONE / ROUE
@Morn the "roue" and "Ione" intersect got me. Surprised so many have never heard of CBGB, though. I thought that was coming knowledge enough for a Monday but I guess not.
NEAL / RAMA and IONE / ROUE got me
@B_on_keys. ROUÉ, I knew, RAMA was somewhere in the back of my mind.
I don't need to say a meowthful to tell you cats are purrfect, but I'm feline like I could. (In fact, I'm paws-itive.)
@Mik Manx a lot, Mike, you’re a national Cheshire.
@Mike I’m not lion when I say Abyssinian you soon. 🌼☮️
@Mike When it comes to cat pun, Siamese-y going. In fact, I’ll take the whole kitten kaboodle.
@Mike Tabby honest, i couldn’t think of a good pun so i decided to just post an M-O-G 🐈 (I should have used an AI thingy, like Clawed)
@Mike I Felix you're right. I calico think of a negaive cat.
@Mike I manxious about coming up with a reply today.
@Mike Where were you yesterday?? I had to post in your place!
@Mike I can't begin to compete so I'll just post a link to SNL's "Whiskers R We". <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzcSJ1setd0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzcSJ1setd0</a>
Off topic, but here goes. Happy Birthday to Mel Brooks, who turned 100 Sunday, June 28 (today or yesterday, depending on when you're reading this). He's been in puzzles going back 40 years or so. Here he is talking about Heddy Lamarr, also no stranger to crosswords. <a href="https://youtu.be/ZEQ3OxYL2Co?si=N5gDyRX5mXbAtNSC" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/ZEQ3OxYL2Co?si=N5gDyRX5mXbAtNSC</a>
@Vaer Happy birthday to Mel Brooks—although since his 2000 year old man bit started in 1950, that should put him at least at age 2076. I would link to one of those bits but there’s so many, just look them up if you want, nothing cracks me up more.
@Vaer Continuing OT -- I have to think there are a lot of readers here, I recommend Mel Brooks's autobiography "All About ME! My Remarkable Life in Show Business!"
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Mickey Mouse (7) 2. Biggest restaurant size that nevertheless is often topped? (5)(5)(5) 3. Bar of note? (4) 4. Current affairs? (15) 5. They shine during the day (4)(5) TRIVIAL EXTRA LARGE PIZZA FRET ELECTRODYNAMICS SOAP STARS
"Roue" and "Ione" are nuts for a Monday. Had to resort to the alphabet game when I had the letter where they intersect as my last blank square.
@James I have to admit only learned “roue”, and only saw it used for the longest time, in “Sound of Music” <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK_WOXjfc0&ra=m" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hwK_WOXjfc0&ra=m</a> Still, it’s a useful crossword word.
CBGB was a very famous club in NYC back in the day, which of course doesn’t make it any less obscure for a Monday crossword. But NYers of a certain age would consider it a total gimme, while others would find it to me a headscratcher. The initials stood for “country, bluegrass and blues,” which was an odd name for what was essentially a punk rock club. I guess the original intent went out the window when more money came through the door with punk.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4h49ll?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4h49ll?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
That was bracing for a Monday. I liked it.
Monday pun day, so good to me. Thanks, Mamas.
Welp, you had me at CBGB, Ginny and Raji and sealed the deal with GIMLET, though make mine with Vodka, please. I'm even willing to overlook, the misspelled SchMEAR. :) Loved your themers with FELINELINE perhaps my fave. I did get a little kick out of the ....LIST, thinking about someone who really, really wants one.
Vaer, SMEAR has appeared 227 times before, never once clued to cream cheese. Last month, Lipstick blunder. Last year, Mascara mishap. Daub, politics, etc., etc. Never food, much less cream cheese.
@Vaer Yes calling cream cheese on a bagel a SMEAR is a crime. Maybe cream cheese on an English muffin…
I thought the inclusion of ‘ECHO’ fit well with the theming on this puzzle. I enjoyed it!
Not directly related to the puzzle, which I enjoyed but found crunchier than the usual Monday (not saying it was too hard, just observing that it had some words that I’d expect to see later in the week, e.g. ROUE), BUT: I happened to be driving in Massachusetts this morning, Imagine my excitement when I saw an exit for Natick! I had to explain its Crosslandia meaning in to my fellow passengers, who listened politely. And then informed me that it’s apparently pronounced “NAY-tick”, not “NATT-ick”, as I’ve been saying for years. The word “endonym” came up in the ensuing conversation. Anyway, nerdily exciting for this midwestern Xworder.
@CrispyShot, you're in my neck of the woods! I'm a bit south of Natick, close to Cape Cod.
@CrispyShot, you're in my neck of the woods! I'm a bit south of Natick, close to Cape Cod.
@CrispyShot Then how come it isn't spelled NAY-tick?
@CrispyShot I can't believe you didn't suddenly veer off for an epic road journey that would surely change your life forever! Or ending up sailing off of a cliff, followed by the coppers, and ending in certain doom. Either way, adventures galore, life changed forever!! 😏 But seriously, folks, thanks for sharing the correct pronunciation. I said it, mostly in my mind, as you did. Good to know!!
@CrispyShot Hope you didn’t get stuck going for miles in the wrong direction because of that route nine barrier in the middle of the road!
@CrispyShot love this. I have a lot of family in the area including Framingham, so I've known the pronunciation since childhood, long before i associated it with crossworld. My family keeps a list of words we first encountered in print and then mispronounced when we tried to use them in conversation--calliope, haphazard, etc. There are a lot of geographic names in there,including Mojave and Puerto Rico.
@CrispyShot one more thing. Driving in MA did you encounter "Entering [town name]" signs? I had the pleasure of working on a show which featured the song "Entering Marion" by John Forster. you're welcome. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lw8ADKeaOM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lw8ADKeaOM</a>
I’m surprised to see so much pushback on CBGB, which for me was a true gimme. Which just goes to show that everyone has different knowledge bases. And why I sometimes have a hard time with a so-called “easy” puzzle. But overall, I don’t know why anyone would have a problem with this one. A themed Monday; what’s not to love? I thought it was an excellent recreation creation.
@Heidi The only reason I know CBGB is because I've only seen it in NYT Crosswords previously. Kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
@Heidi I was very surprised that CBGB was not an immediate gimme for everyone. Silly me. I guess I was being NY-and-age-centric.
@Heidi Hey like I, totally got it on the crosses, fer sere. But yeah, I didn't know it but, it didn't gag me in with a spoon.
@Heidi This is the NYT crossword. This ain't no party. This ain't no disco. This ain't no foolin' around.
What fun! I don't expect either this much challenge or wordplay that's this entertaining on a Monday. By the time I was past SPARRING RING, I had the theme and wanted to see how many I could get with few or no crosses. I got INTELLIGENT GENT off just the IN, but I didn't get either NOBELIST LIST or FELINE LINE (adorbs!) without lots of crosses. NOBELIST LIST had me completely baffled: What was that scientist (Linus Pauling) doing in there with all those world peace activists? So that was a nice surprise. Also liked the clues for EATEN and PET PEEVES. I originally had PaTP because I always think that that IONE actress should be IONA. Well, shouldn't she be? IONE sounds like a vitamin. An unusually good Monday. More like this, please.
[Source for Bacchus's libations] DIVINEVINE (I mean grapes from the divinewinevine, of course.)
Lovely Monday for me, crunchy but devoid of hiccups. I was completely on the wavelength, but can see where trip-ups might occur. I should write an ode to the legendary CBGB, but I'll spare you and instead just do a shout-out to the M*A*S*H T.V. series intro music: <a href="https://youtu.be/GIGYLBVjYZA?is=CSteqfd3zDPorsr7" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/GIGYLBVjYZA?is=CSteqfd3zDPorsr7</a> (I remember when we still watched real-time T.V.. We'd hear the music from another room and come running...) Thank you, Ginny and Rajeswari. This was a great puzzle!
CBGB crossing GMC on a Monday was one of the most Naticky Naticks in recent memory. The theme was… fine, I guess. But I just kept hitting too many speed bumps for it to feel like a typical breezy Monday. It made me frown into my morning coffee, which is never a good thing on Monday.
I'm finding it difficult to understand how people in the U.S. are finding it difficult to come up with the first letter of _MC with the clue [Big inits. in pickup trucks and vans]. (And the last vehicle I owned was a '69 Mustang.)
@Edward IONE / ROUE is natick-ier. I got it, but it was one of those answers that felt wrong as I wrote it, particularly on a Monday.
Can’t remember the last time I did a Monday. Not even sure what compelled me, other than I ‘accidentally’ did a Wednesday last week, and it was clever. I found it pretty easy, and surprised to see the comments. But I have no basis for comparison. But it seemed Monday to me. Regarding CBGB. Having lived in the ‘god forsaken’ city for part of my life, it was a gimme. Since I went there quite a few times. That withstanding? I got zero issue when the paper based in NYC throws a bone to its locals. Okay, you live in Ohio or Bangalore. And have never seen the thousands of wannabes wearing that CBGB tee. Understood. I don’t remember NOLITA from Bowery from LES. But I ain’t mad if it’s in the grid. But sure. I’ll admit it is a bit tough for those solvers starting on their nytxw journey. But as I write this, i realize I have no idea how to judge a Monday. But maybe at least, I’ll be spurred on to do the puzzle every day. I don’t know if the commenter is still around, but “I done did this puzz”
@Weak Now that I think about it. Even if you don’t know CBGB. Every cross was very accessible. I think? Even for Monday. Isn’t spelunking common knowledge? GMC isn’t some niche car manufacturer. General Motors? It’s like not knowing Ford. The letters for ta-ta? Thorny patch? IONE Skye. I don’t know what to tell you. Just learn it. She is way more popular in the grid than she was as an actress. But if you are of my generation, one of the most iconic moments in film was John Cusack holding that ‘boombox’ while Peter Gabriel “in your eyes” was blasting into ione Skye’s bedroom window. I realize this comment can read as arrogant. Or “wheelhouse”. But at least for CBGB crosses, I don’t think so. and as for IONE. Just file it next to ANI defranco, Brian ENO, HEDY Lamarr, the Swiss River AARE, etc
This was a super-fun Monday! To be honest, I'm usually a little bored by early-week puzzles, so this is high praise from me. The theme was cute and the fill was interesting. Legitimately shocked so many people don't know CBGB. It was a legendary club back in the day. It's definitely not just a "New York thing," as I first learned about the club while living in a small town in South Dakota.
@Katie Aw, darn it! A drawback of pen and paper--undetected error! CBDB and DMC worked for me! A deadly crossing... I had no clue about the ?nightclub, and sorta remembered there were 2 Bs... And then DMC had the ring of familiarity! But alas, it's not related to cars and trucks... it's a brand of embroidery thread (really nice thread in various sizes and colors, great for needle tatting should you feel like taking it up! Easily mastered! Honest!) Dhubby won't have anything to do with GMC cars or trucks. So...not "Big inits." that come to mind.
Sure, it starts with the FELINE LINE. But then morphs into an aria, soliloquy, or address to the stockholders. In other news, my PET PEEVE of the moment is that the emus ate my yesterday comment even though I am, like, a genuine native Californian.
@Cat Lady Margaret Maybe it has been done already, but having regard to this particular community, I would be interested to hear language-based pet peeves from anyone out there who would care to offer them. At or near the top of my list are: 1. Mis-pronunciation of “nuclear” as if it had two “u”s and no “e”. (I recall being surprised that George W. Bush was guilty on that count.) 2. Mis-pronouncing “February” as if it had only one “r”. 3. Using “different than” instead of “different from” — that the latter is correct is, IMHO, easily established by considering what follows the verb “differ” — and yet, the use of the former is so widespread, even among writers who should know better, I expect someone to argue that it has become correct through common usage.
Nice one. Always interested in what winds up on the cutting room floor, which led to the discovery that there is a website of that name focused on video game developers: <a href="https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor" target="_blank">https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor</a> This may or may not be lying there: [Handwritten diary] ANALOGLOG
A great deal of synchronicity for me on our last morning in Scandinavia. We’re here in Stockholm, where we ate the traditional “Swedish dish” (the entry that ended up on the cutting room floor) of meatballs with lingonberry dressing, and where we discussed the NOBELIST LIST (although ultimately deciding not to visit the Nobel Prize center). Two puzzles for me today, as we’ll be on NY time by tonight.
@Steve L Re Sunday's puzzle, you referenced the two Norse gods. The third thing you were thinking of might have been Olav.
@Steve L Oooh… Meatballs and lingon. Hope you had a few small potatoes on that plate? My grandmother (my “mormor” which means mother’s mother) was a saucy, spunky rule breaker. Sometimes, even a law breaker. She made her own lingon and filled two large tubs of it, tried to hide them in her suitcase and came to visit us. Going through customs, they opened her bag and it looked like a bloodbath. Leaked lingon looks like a murder scene. Took extra-long to make it out of there. Luckily, they didn’t speak Swedish or they’d have heard the curse words and name-calling. She was a firecracker!
That was HARD! I had to resort to google for New York Clubs but given I am two long haul flights away from it I feel I can be forgiven.
I'm feeling a little bit sorry for us solvers that we missed out on the MEATBALL BALL. I'm guessing that my invitation got lost in the mail.
That was cute, but was fairly meaty for a Monday. I'm guessing someone will now post stats going back to the beginning of time to argue that this was somehow the perfect Monday puzzle.
@Sean Oh, sir, you don't just wear us out with your cynicism (and even sometimes belligerence and rudeness). You exhaust us. I do, however, have hope that the dark cloud that hovers over you will lift and you'll be able to interact here with greater amiability.
@Sean it was fairly meaty for a Monday. Your post would have been better had you stopped there.
@Sean This is, BY FAR, the friendliest forum I've ever seen on the internet. And yet we are CONSTANTLY accused of being mean to people. To those same people who are often quite rude to the constructor and editors. I, for one, have about had it. I could read yours as playful, and if that was the intention, I apologize in advance.
So, the Francis Conjecture almost came into play today, and on a Monday no less. CBGB is a a mystery to me; I guessed GMC but still not sure why they are particularly a big name in pickups and vans more than any other type of automobile; and I had to run the alphabet in my mind for the M in ARMY, since I thought it would be something particular to BTS (which remarkably I did know, but again lots of bands have fans called an ARMY, I think). No shade, because I don’t mind getting a little stumped even on a Monday; alas, this boomer would have gotten ARMY a lot faster if it had been connected to M*A*S*H rather than a Korean boy band. Sigh; that’s the ropes when we get older. Before anyone gets upset about too much Hebrew again, I think as spelled LEILA is more Arabic or Persian than Hebrew, but intelligible to either speaker, I think. So unless you have an issue with foreign derivations of any sort in your crosswords you shouldn’t have an issue. I enjoyed, and this is not a “too hard” complaint, but more evidence that the NYT is willing to add a bit more beef to their early week puzzles even as they may be making their later week puzzles more vegan. I’ll take what I can get. Thanks, Ginny and Rajeswari!
@SP I, too, thought of how apropos that silly conjecture was as I was thinking I was going to blue star a Monday. Would have served me right. CBGB was a complete mystery to me.
<a href="https://www.cbgb.com/pages/cbgb-history" target="_blank">https://www.cbgb.com/pages/cbgb-history</a>
@SP I wish FRANCON, which sounds like a cosplay thing where we all dress like how we think he looks and carry binoculars around, would figure out the ideal number of Hebrew words to include for each day of the week using barometric readings, sanscrit, higher mathematics, and the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
@SP The word for night in Hebrew is pronounced like the name Lila, not Leila. Jus’ sayin’.
@SP You've probably looked it up by now, but GMC is the sub-division of GM that specializes in pick-ups and SUVs and such. GMAC used to be the accounting arm of GM, but TIL that it has been re-branded as Ally Bank. GMC and CBGB were both gimmes for me. Which just goes to show that... YMMV. [Is that the Francis Conjecture?]
Wow, I’m so surprise that this seems to have been a tough Monday for some. When a grid is on your own wavelength I guess you assume it’s because ‘everyone’ knows the answers. I couldn’t fill this in quickly enough; absolutely not bragging, this happens to me so rarely it’s a true red letter day. I’ve never been to New York but CBGB was a total gimme. I recall it as a legendary breeding ground for punk bands. Isn’t it where Blondie et al got their starts? ROUE/IONE also felt straightforward. The first isn’t an everyday word sure, but I suppose as a BA Lit grad I’ve read enough classic literature for it to seem a normal phrase. The second I know only from the crossword, though I have a habit of spelling it like the island, with a final A. Well, I reckon I should buy a lottery ticket, this clearly is my lucky day. Though I expect the double poo pick I’m about to start in the Alpacas fields will drop me back down to Earth. Nothing quite like the smell of ammonia as they put a fresh deposit down right where you’ve just cleared to remind you of your true place in the cosmos.
@Helen Wright Sounds like my dogs.
@Helen Wright One doesn't even have to have resd classical literature to know ROUE. Every duke or earl in romance fiction set in a certain time starts out as a ROUE before meeting the woman who tames him. :) IONE Skye was in a very popular 1989 movie called Say Anything, which also starred John Cusack and John Mahoney (who went on to become Frasier's dad on tv). You may also know she was Donovan's daughter.
@Helen Wright This is the first time I'd ever encountered CBGB. I assumed it must be wrong and spent a while going over that part of the puzzle but eventually realized I'd misspelled NEAL.
Nice Monday puzzle. Typical slow start for me, but finally tumbling to the theme was a big turning point and that's always a nice touch. And... puzzle find today - a Sunday from July 24, 2022 by Jessie and Ross Trudeau with the title: "Going Somewhere?" Not easy to describe this one, but a couple of examples: Down answer PENNYLANE with the E at the end crossing the across answer: AERODROM(E) And... down answer RODEODRIV(E) crossing ETHANFROM(E) And... down answer EVERGREENTERRAC(E) crossing IMPOSTERSYNDROM(E) And....down answer PENNSYLVANIAAVENU(E) crossing the 'reveal' ALLROADSLEADTOROM(E) And there were more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/24/2022&h=115a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/24/2022&h=115a</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta Oh, and one more puzzle find. A Tuesday from January 7, 2003 by Peter Gordon. Five 15 letter grid-spanning answers. One clue and answer example: "Bedouin at a major waterway?" PANAMACANALARAB And the other theme answers: RAMADACATAMARAN ALABAMAMAHARAJA BANANARAMASAGAS BABAWAWASAVATAR Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/7/2003&h=39a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/7/2003&h=39a</a> I'm done. ....
Lucky guess at IONE/ROUE. Always nice to learn something new. I’ve noticed a few of these trickier Mondays lately. Wonder if they’re trying to flatten the weekly difficulty curve. Mondays were beginning to feel like a test of how fast I could type on my phone, so I think I like the change (although that race was a fun transition from the end-of-week puzzles). Crosses like the above might put off new solvers, though.
@Joe you might be onto something. Now that we have the mini and the midi, newer solvers have options. I like your choice of the word "flatten"; I don't see them getting rid of the curve, but perhaps they want to make it more appealing to the widest audience. It would sadden me if that were true. I still need at least one or two real challenges each week.
@Joe it's not an encouraging feeling to fly through a crossword and come on a cross like this... Time to go through the keyboard!
Thank you both for a fairly straightforward, fun puzzle! Keep up the masterwork work!
My only look-up was CBGB, to confirm spelling. Otherwise, it was a bit sticky, but Mondays can be pretty mind numbing sometimes, and I appreciated the fun of a real solve. Pretty snazzy start to the week from a debut duo. I'm looking forward to a Saturday version. Thanks, Ginny and Rajeswari. We'll be waiting.
@dutchiris You could remember that it stands for Country, BlueGrass, Blues Or you could just memorize the lyrics to Talking Heads' "Life During Wartime". The full name was CBGB & OMFUG where OMFUG stood for "Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers" (often spelled "gourmandizers")
ROUE crossing IONE on a monday? cmon. thankfully i took the right guess on NEAL / RAMA because i almost left it as NEIL / RIMA, otherwise running the alphabet to find that friggin O wouldn’t have worked. i’m down to learn a new word, but when it’s an obscure word that looks more like a typo of another word (ROGUE, who could kinda vaguely count as a ‘hedonistic sort’) then it’s particularly frustrating. crossing it with a very unusual name i’ve never heard of anyone having … what gives
@Nick. Sound of Music: Sixteen Going on Seventeen:…: “roués and cads”
@Nick I’d plop IONE in your pocket. Her vowel-heavy name makes her a frequent visitor on the grid.
@Nick You've described the exact reason why I missed a gold star today. Total bummer. Oh well. Cheers. And congrats to the Canadians!!! Heck of a game.
@Nick ROUE is not an obscure word just because you don't know it.
@MOL Still half-asleep, but just reread your comment to my comment yesterday about painting our fence. (And then Huck FINN was in the puzz!) I responded, but had not read carefully, so I missed the joke! Technically, hubby was the one using Tom’s trick. He called it a “painting party” and I bought it. But it does look beautiful. And even better… it’s done!
@CCNY Ah, well... one sprinkles little florets hither and yon, and some please the eye and others are unseen. LOL glad you enjoyed it ultimately.
Happy Birthday to the 100 year old man, Mel Brooks!! The duplicated words in the 'theme' helped get me through some of their crossings. Creative twists to the clues.
@Call Me Al My favorite moviemaker of all time. I adore Mel Brooks.
If there were super-clever clues, I missed them, because so many segments filled via crossings, without benefit of hints or attention.... I started with 63A, climbed upward, filled in the NOBELIST LIST and Boom, zipped through the rest of the puzzle....and...Now what am I supposed to do with the rest of my coffee time?? I did have to change SHOO to SCAT... (we never use "SCAT!"...not sure why that is.) Have a good start to your week, everyone!
@Mean Old Lady, I also had to adjust from shoo to scat!
@Mean Old Lady I guess you are not a SCATologist.
[London franchise of a NY punky place] Cute. Fun. So ECHO wasn't the revealer? CBGBGB They're everywhere when you're looking for them, right? ESCAPE CAPE SCAT CAT FEELER EELER EATEN TEN EGRET ET
@ad absurdum CBGBGB -- Very clever!
It's easy to see why constructors like words like IONA and IONE ROUE.. and OREO and A-ONE and... For future reference, If it's a New Rochelle (New York) school or a Scottish island, it's IONA; If it's an actress, whose only noteworthy role was almost 40 years ago ("Say Anything", 1989), it's IONE. Apologies to Ms. Skye, but I just checked you out on IMDB, and you know it's true. But, as earworms go, I'm happy to have Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" in my head... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8OJAOMbPg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8OJAOMbPg</a>
@The X-Phile It's true, IONE Skye never did much of anything after her big splash.
@The X-Phile @Grant Read up a little bit about IONE after and it seems she was busy living her life and not in the best way for quite a few years, which interfered with her career.
@Vaer I figured it was something like that, lifestyle-wise. I thought maybe she was in "Less than Zero," but that was Jami Gertz. Talk about polar opposites.
Strychnine nine, ermine mine, plane lane...and the list goes on. Thought the puzzle was fine. Then again, I am just a rookie around these parts.
@Daniel Welcome aboard. Are you new to this forum or to the NYT crossword puzzles?
@Daniel We're all just rookies, kid.
Just to add to the discussion about 6A CGBD, I was heading for two days in a row without lookups. But I had CGDB. I remembered hearing about the club and it was in the news when it shut down a while ago. Someone in the comments below informed that the name stood for "country, bluegrass and blues." Good to know. I didn't know if DMC made sense for vehicles. I had ARMY for the BTS clue, but I didn't know why. Still don't. So I had to go to Google to look for pickup truck and van manufacturers. There I found GMC. Eureka! Done. Gold star, anyway.
I can thank specific songs for help with two of the answers in today's crossword: 6A. CBGB is mentioned in "Life During Wartime" by Talking Heads: "This ain't no Mudd Club or CBGB / I ain't got time for that now" (The next verse also mentions my hometown, Pittsburgh PA, where I first saw the Heads' outstanding concert film, Stop Making Sense.) 30A. ROUE is mentioned in "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" from the classic musical/film, "The Sound of Music": "Eager young lads and roués and cads / Will offer you food and wine"
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen, I ALWAYS think of Liesl when I see or hear the word "roué". And I knew the club anyway, but that song passed through my brain too! I often associate music with certain words, events, and clues.
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen for me lyrics are definitely the gift that keeps on giving.
Only tangentially related to the crossword today, but I thought I'd point out that some people erroneously pronounce habanero with ñ because of jalapeño. This is called hyperforeignism. Some other examples you might hear are pronouncing cache as cashay, coup de grâce as coup de gras (grah), or chorizo as choritzo (like Italian, though it's Spanish in origin).
John, And the department store formerly known (formerly in Canada at least) as Target (Targé). There is actually a furniture store in Canada called Leon’s (traditionally and correctly pronounced as LEE-ons), that ran a tongue-in-cheek ad campaign in which customers bragged to their friends that they had bought their luxurious livingroom set (or whatever) at “Lay-ohn(z)” (with full French nasal accent on the second syllable).
@John Have to admit for the longest time I was calling the women’s sports/leisure store LuLu leMON.
Okay, a Monday that made me sweat a bit. The whole CBGB crossing made me very quesy about the upper midwest. But it was the A in NEAL that had me flyspecking. Good Monday!
Can’t wait to read the hate tomorrow over this one… Not a horrible puzzle, just bad for a Monday. Waaaaaaay too much obscure answers… Rating: 5/10
@Darren So just checking do you also complain when end of week puzzles are too easy? Because if we can’t have our fun on Saturdays, why should you have your fun on Mondays? If you do then I humbly withdraw my comment, because at least you are consistent.
Darren, Did you miss the "hate" already posted this evening? Some people found it a bit more difficult than recent Mondays. Nothing to write home about. <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-06-29" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-06-29</a>
@Darren - Obscure answers? I had only three look-ups: the NYC club, if jalapeños were the right heat level, and the Leila name. A couple other unknowns were revealed by crosses - that author, for one. About par for a Monday. The NYT puzzle has to have a little bite. You can get a book of Super Easy Crosswords at the grocery store.
Lovely Monday for me, crunchy but devoid of hiccups. I was completely on the wavelength, but can see where trip-ups might occur. I should write an ode to the legendary CBGB, but I'll spare you and instead just do a shout-out to the M*A*S*H T.V. series intro music: <a href="https://youtu.be/GIGYLBVjYZA?is=CSteqfd3zDPorsr7" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/GIGYLBVjYZA?is=CSteqfd3zDPorsr7</a> (I remember when we still watched real-time T.V.. We'd hear the music from another room and come running...) Thank you, Ginny and Rajeswari. This was a great puzzle!
@sotto voce Sometime you may explain CBGB to me (what it stands for, why it's legendary...where it is, even! I assume NYC...)
@sotto voce I hadn't realized how long "Suicide is Painless" is; I only knew the first two verses. Probably time to watch the movie again. I had forgotten how gory the OR scenes were. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xy-LoDi94&rco=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0xy-LoDi94&rco=1</a>
@MOL Country, BlueGrass, and Blues...the music that the club's founder had planned to feature.
Really? People think this was too hard? It did take me almost to my average, but don't we come for the challenge?
@Jack McCullough This week took me twice my best time, but still well below my average. Not super hard.
@Jack McCullough I think many people who mentioned the hardness were commenting specifically because it was a Monday.
My first time looking up statistics... "The word "ROUE" (meaning a licentious or dissolute man) has been a popular staple of crossword constructors, appearing in the New York Times crossword 72 times during the modern era (starting from the Will Shortz editing era in late 1993, and over 120 times throughout the entire publication history)." I figured most solvers would consider it a gimme, but I guess that for a lot of people today was their first encounter.
Bruce, ROUE appears in The New York Times in places other than the crossword. It should be known to good readers even if they've never done a NYT Crossword. Also see RAMA.
@Bruce This was definitely my first encounter that I can remember. I was very confused when I had OUE and thought it must be wrong so I doubted MUTT was right. I was also tripped up by the spelling of LEILA, so I was having a lot of trouble with 40A.
Roue and Ione…?!? Not appropriate for a Monday crossword. Those are Tuesday/Wednesday clues.
Those are answers, not clues. Any day of the week.
@Kevin, roué is not that obscure. Have you seen The Sound of Music? Ever read a Victorian era novel?
Sorry, but if you've never heard of CBGB, we can't be friends. The same goes for NEAL Stephenson, although that was a brutally minimalist clue. I'd lend you my copy of "Snow Crash" but Matt never returned it.
@Grant Can we be friends if I promise to learn about both of them? Actually turns out Neal and I are both Boston University alums and overlapped—he graduated in 1981 and I in 1984.
@Grant Have you heard of the Agora in Cleveland?
@Grant Sigh! Does this mean we have to be sworn enemies though? I just have so many already... But I can add you to my list, if I must.
@Dan Collins Nope. The one time I went to Cleveland was to see David Bowie at the Richfield. I saw plenty of shows at the Ohio Theater, though.
One more puzzle find. A Thursday from December 5, 2002 by Joe DiPietro. There was no reveal in that one, but, one note at the top that said "Missing (Q W Z). Anyway - some answers from top to bottom, with appropriate letters highlighted. arABCDrom epicdEFeat buGHIJinx caLMNOvice PoKeRSTUd So, Q W and Z were all missing. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/5/2002&h=34a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/5/2002&h=34a</a> ....