"I'm making my own dairy again." "Did you get any butter at it?" "Margarinelly so." ("I don't understand. You'll have to clarify.")
@Mike I curd whey in with my own puns but wouldn’t want to spoil the fun.
@Mike Ewe might take a churn with a variety of creams. A cow 'nanny others you might think of, and you oaty be able to come up with a spread of products to make you richer.
@Mike -- Day after day, the kind of puns that make me "Hah!" rather than "Ugh!". You, Mr. Mike, are amazing.
@Mike Ghee, that’s really funny. 🌻☮️
@Mike And I thought you couldn't acheese it as you've aged! You fit the mold!
@Mike Yoghurt better as these puns as yoghurt older!
@Mike Ghee whiz! Come up with some new puns; you've milked this one to death.
My favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Taking charge? (3)(3) 2. Instrument associated with beans and salsa? (6) 3. Screen capture? (4) 4. Something read at a table (4) 5. Breaking character? (4)(2)(1)(5)(4) ATM FEE MARACA LINT TELL BULL IN A CHINA SHOP
My favorite encore clues from last week: [Jazz aficionado, e.g.] (3)(3) [Setting for an uphill climb] (3)(4) NBA FAN LOW GEAR
It’s a shame that this week’s Monday and last week’s weren’t swapped, as Marsha P. Johnson’s birthday was last Monday. She would’ve been 81.
Spread but no schmear? I bagel your pardon!
For me, when wondering what to spread on a pita, hummus where the heart is.
first time ever getting a gold star every day of the month. autocheck, im never taking you back! fun little blitz of a puzzle to cap off August
@sloan Congrats, I remember that was a great feeling when I first did it in May. There's about that first pristine calendar month of gold stars. And yes, in my short experience there has been no reason to go back although I did for the first time yesterday, but that's a long story. (Actually it was Reveal Puzzle after a ridiculously long period of unsuccessful flyspecking,)
Seems like a tight theme. JAM would work as a spread, but it’s not going to go in a puzzle that already has JELLY. I couldn’t come up with another that would start a compound word. (MAYO CLINIC, alas, is not a compound word.) Maybe someone here can. The revealer is bravo-worthy perfect. Serendipitiies: • A strong showing from the fauna-sphere: CAT, FISH, EEL, CALF, TOY (as in dog), HOOTS, and BAIT. • EDGES on the lower one. • A STEP up. • A rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap (LOOTS), and, if you count names, a ridiculously rare-in-crosswords six-letter one (ASSERT). • ICE crossing IGLOO. PESTLE always reminds me of the sparkling “The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.” (Danny Kaye in “The Court Jester”, 1955. All this plus quality construction – much to enjoy! Thank you, Christopher!
Getting better at the across only challenge—finished it today! This despite never using the word LUXE for fancy, and still making a face every time I see PERUSE defined as reading something carefully, because I only ever use it in its opposite meaning (yes, I know it’s legit). I loved seeing BANANASLUG along with JELLYFISH because you can certainly also spread mashed up banana on a banana and peanut butter SAMMIE. Is PROSCIUTTO really a debut? Even a nice Jewish boy like me knows about that (but doesn’t know how to spell it). Nice Monday!
@SP Question about "Across only". Of course you never read the Down clues. But I assume that when you are missing letters from an across, you look at what is filled in for the downs and try to reason out a word, right?
@SP I initially wrote "posh" for 14A and very nearly did so in pen mode rather than pencil mode.
@SP well done! I very nearly completed it but I got so stuck on LUXE that eventually i gave up. “Fancy” can mean like (as a verb or noun) or it can mean posh, but i could not think of a four letter word that word fit with the downs. I realized that 1D had to be slob or snob but i failed to think of EXIT - i was stuck on edit and emit…. So close!!
I have nothing to say about the puzzle. However, I just realized I don't know the Polish word for PESTLE. The meaning of the name for the bowl of the thing is the same in both our languages - it's "mortar" in English and "moździerz" in Polish. Just like in English, the Polish "moździerz" means both the heavy kitchen bowl for grinding stuff and a type of cannon (and both words share the same, Latin etymology, from "mortarium", a vessel for grinding). Yet we don't really call the pestle anything. Dictionaries say the name for it is "tłuczek", but I've never heard this word used in the context of a mortar before. "Tłuczek" (related to the verb "tłuc", to hit very hard), to me, refers only to a meat tenderizer or potato masher (tłuczek do mięsa/tłuczek do ziemniaków, respectively). When a Polish person uses a mortar and pestle, they just say they used the mortar (Użyłem moździerza by utrzeć kmin rzymski - I used a mortar [and pestle - this bit is missing in the Polish sentence] to grind cumin). I also wondered if the name Marsha (which I suppose is a variant of Marcia?) has a Polish equivalent. It does! It is Marcja [Marts-yah], but I've never met a person called that, over here. The name pretty much only comes up in Ancient Roman contexts. We have no direct equivalent of the name Mabel though. However, the names Amanda (extremely rare over here - I've never heard of a Polish Amanda) and Miła (also very rare) have a similar meaning (Loveable).
@Andrzej Marsha is a more phonetic spelling of Marcia. Both names are now out of fashion and indicate an older woman, but I suspect that in 10-20 years will be in vogue again as people name their girls after their grandmothers. Mabel is another old lady name that is coming back into vogue.
@Andrzej, as a Polish American, I enjoyed your post quite a bit!
Welcome back, Mr. Youngs, and thank you for a fine and mellow Monday (and "mellow is a compliment!) Reading your notes about how you have no recollection of creating the puzzle, I would say that you were in Zen flow, at one with the artistry, and that's a beautiful thing. It happened to me once in ballet class when I was a teen. During the choreographed exercises, the teacher stopped the class and said I was the only one doing it right. She asked me to show everyone how the movements were done. Everyone laughed when I coyly said "I'm sorry, I don't remember" and blushed. It was years before I learned about Zen flow and understood in retrospect what I'd experienced. For some music today, here's Roxy Music with AVALON – <a href="https://youtu.be/sPt8EvpZWF8?is=gxUEYqe2_HrAKlRC" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/sPt8EvpZWF8?is=gxUEYqe2_HrAKlRC</a> But because the album is also called AVALON and is phenomenal all the way through, here it is for those in the mood for mellow music (as mellow as the puzzle) – <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lDfrGf2fZKK7Qwr8f8uCXj8uYbtF07yZY&si=GJCfKiEUV36lWPmK" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lDfrGf2fZKK7Qwr8f8uCXj8uYbtF07yZY&si=GJCfKiEUV36lWPmK</a>
@sotto voce My favorite song off the album is More Than This, but AVALON is clearly the go to for the puzzle. Fun fact: Brian Eno was a member of Roxy Music for a few years, but left well before this album. But I bet you knew that
@sotto voce I just scored Avalon on vinyl! A pristine album, in every way, and I am so stoked!
@sv I'm soooo glad you shared this, so I didn't have to ;-)
AVA and ANA and MARSHA and MABEL went down to walk along the shore, but there were too many JELLYFISH, so they went to the bar, RAN A TAB, got a little TIPSY and ordered some PROSCIUTTO crostini with a swipe of BUTTER to accompany their beverages and let OTIS serenade them, with ELMO and IRA as backup. <a href="https://youtu.be/rTVjnBo96Ug?si=FortkrKYAOyyPkqY" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/rTVjnBo96Ug?si=FortkrKYAOyyPkqY</a>
Quick but interesting Monday. Though I will always cringe with the use of the cutesy SAMMIE. At least it wasn’t SANDO.
Fun bio factoids of the day: JELLYFISH aren't really fish. BANANA SLUGS aren't related to bananas. HONEYMOONs have little to do with bees. Usually. That is all.
Things to SPREAD on your SAMMIE. Nice cross of the two words. And Isn’t it funny how SAMMIE appeared for the first time in the modern just yesterday, and now here it is again today. What are the odds? Kudos on the debut of PROSCIUTTO. A fine Monday puzzle.
@Anita the odds are 100%. It happened 😀 The only way that expression makes any sense is “What were the odds?” :)
Having never heard the term SAMMIE before, but here we have it, two days on the trot. It’s a sarnie in the UK, last time I looked, but you do you. A nice breezy Monday offering, with a cute theme. Could have done without the mollusc though. Yuk. And yes, it’s still raining here.
Had a little beagle named SAMMIE a long time ago. She was not named after a sandwich though did like to steal sandwiches and every other kind of food. Always like to her name in print regardless.
Well, it’s been a very long time since I have had a personal best, but I did today. I’m guessing that I won’t be alone.
@Cindy I was 15 seconds slower than my personal best, probably because I tried ATTEST instead of ASSERT and CAPOCOLLO (which didn't fit) instead of PROSCIUTTO.
@Cindy I had a PB today and got under 3 minutes for the first time ever!
@Cindy Not a personal best, but had the timer running while I was interrupted, and was surprised to find that I’d come in faster than my Monday average anyway.
I know it's a Monday but one and done, no lookups. Yea!! Here's another one: [Bunch of cool cats getting together] JAMSESSION. You're welcome.
Fun, fast and made me smile. An ideal Monday.
Here is a Monday puzzle that should take most solvers more than three minutes: <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/crossword/2026/08/31" target="_blank">https://www.newyorker.com/puzzles-and-games-dept/crossword/2026/08/31</a>
@Barry Ancona I always do the New Yorker puzzles on Monday and Tuesday. Love seeing what used to be some NYT regular constructors there.
@Barry Ancona et al. And check out this Weintraub Friday from 11/1/19 if you're up for the cruciverbal equivalent of walking around barefoot on cool, dewy grass of a crisp Connecticut autumn morning.
@Barry Ancona For another Monday challenge: <a href="https://brendanemmettquigley.com" target="_blank">https://brendanemmettquigley.com</a>/ I got tied up in the NE for quite a while.
Easy peasy (it's Monday after all). Just a little 30-second hitch with SPREADTHENEWS instead of SPREADTHEWORD.
For the very first (and possibly only) time: too easy!
@Jane Wheelaghan That is awesome coming from you! I'll bet this is only the first Monday of many to come that will see you saying "too easy!"
@Jane Wheelaghan Try doing Monday puzzles without looking at the down clues. This one was still easy (under 9 minutes).
Nice Monday puzzle. A bit on the slow side for me, but things fell together from working the crosses. And... puzzle find today: A Sunday from June 23, 2002 by Eric Berlin with the title: "Components." Just a lot of cross-referenced clues in this one. One example: 23a - "69-across component" (THREEOFAKIND) 9d - "69-across component" (PAIR) 69a - "23-across plus 9-down" (FULLHOUSE) 68d - "114-across component" (FELIX) 104d - "114-across component" (OSCAR) 114A - "68-down + 104-down)" (THEODDCOUPLE) And there were a few more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/23/2002&h=112a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/23/2002&h=112a</a> ....
Please… no more baby talk answers. I’m looking at you SAMMIE, two days in one week.
@Tradcarp, not exactly baby talk. Some adults actually call them sammies. Still not my favorite clue...
With the limited number of words to play with, i often write poems that use repetition of a word or phrase to make a list of variations off that word or phrase… a/ once was i the owl shaped by the sounds of sleep once was i the worms dining on fancy things once was i a house the only one on the street once was i an ark intoxicated at sea once was i the d/ whale forsaken on the beach that time you called to a/ agree
Every time I open today’s column and see “One who regularly drops things” my mind reflexively quotes Angie Jordan from 30 Rock: “As you know, my single ‘My Single is Dropping’ is dropping.” To which Liz Lemon says “Your what now?”
Nice Monday, and quickly done. BANANA SLUG is memorable, because it's the mascot of UC Santa Cruz, and "UCSC athlete" was the clue for it's first appearance in the puzzle in 2012, and I believe it was mentioned in the discussion regarding its second appearance as well. Fun puzzle, thanks, Cristopher!
Perpendicular universe has these themers: Oleomargarine Marshmallow Fluff Vegemite With the revealer: Keep a lid on it!
@JohnWM Or "Run the other way!"
First puzzle that I’ve completed in under 3 minutes (2:59 to be exact)!
@Wendy That's pretty impressive. I can't think fast enough to ever hope to do that, except on the mini.
Remembering Salinger's "A Good Day for BANANAFISH," I almost wrote that in. But even on Mondays, I usually wait for at least one cross, so I didn't. I've never heard of a BANANA SLUG, for which I'm very grateful. It sounds...unappetizing. I might have complained about the MABEL/MARSHA cross. But since it couldn't be TABEL/TARSHA or BABEL/BARSHA or GABEL/GARSHA or anything else, I'm fine with it. I'm not fine with SAMMIE. "Which awful slang word for sandwich are they going to use today?" I wondered. So ugly and infantile. My only comment is "Dammie!" But other than that, a perfectly pleasant Monday puzzle.
@Nancy The banana slug is the mascot of UC Santa Cruz
@Nancy Interesting to see how much the aggravatometer moves for SAMMIE. Why? I can't see it as worse than many other abbreviations for food items, cutesy-pie or just short versions. I don't recall using it myself but I've certainly heard it from people of all ages. So why all the grief?
From the Midi - Today I learned that I have been misspelling "Froot Loops" for 63 years. Almost as long as I have been misspelling misspelling.
I know that Lewis has already mentioned this, but no discussion of the word “pestle” could ever be considered complete without seeing this; <a href="https://youtu.be/TJ9f2rnjB84?is=9QjCJoWFnCoEDowH" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/TJ9f2rnjB84?is=9QjCJoWFnCoEDowH</a>
@NYC Traveler Ha! That's great!! Thanks for sharing!!
@NYC Traveler Well, does he get it right in the end? I need to know! :-Ð
@NYC Traveler Without clicking, I know that this must be Danny Kaye discussing where the poison is with Mildred Natwick. I'm smiling already.
I was stumped in the SE until realizing that "SPREAD THE news" wasn't the only thing the revealer could be. I'd read the column but only skimmed the theme section (perhaps because I felt put off by it condescendingly acting like this was the reader's first time ever solving a themed crossword, even though that could just as easily be the case for any Monday). Guess I had Frank Sinatra on my mind. (A possible reason for me to have Sinatra on my mind: the reason 62A is quite appropriate this time of year.)
Cross Road blues yesterday, HONEY MOON Blues today. <a href="https://youtu.be/Tf_vg7eTSXE?si=6W0jfAnA-vw4j-H5" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Tf_vg7eTSXE?si=6W0jfAnA-vw4j-H5</a> Robert Johnson died in the month of August (1938) so I feel like this is a tribute to him. Sadly, he was the first member of the 27 Club.
@Nancy J. Well, not really the first of course, but you know what I mean.
@Nancy J. Joplin, Hendrix, Morrison. Those are the ones I at least think I know, but something tells me there are others? The INXS guy? Keith Moon? I think the Rolling Stones guy (Mick Taylor?) would have been younger than that. Syd Barrett?
Banana slugs are pretty common in and around Santa Cruz, CA, so it stands to reason that the UCSC athletes are know as the Banana Slugs. Imagine the crowd shouting "Go Slugs!"
@Laura It’s spelled just like it sounds … Italian is essentially phonetic. ;-)
Laura, That’s funny, it took quite a spell before I bit any prosciutto :)
I really enjoyed in finite, with a very important space :)
I’ve noticed for a while that some solutions are being repeated in quick succession. For example, two of yesterday’s solutions appear again in today’s crossword. This is not a criticism of the setters but I am wondering about the rigour of the NYT editing process. Or I might be in a minority of one?!?
@Catherine Nope. I’m with you on that. I’m sure they are coincidences, but it does stand out when that happens.
@Catherine That's been happening for decades. Partly just the nature of pop culture and zeitgeist, what's in the air at the time, and partly deliberate by editors. It's part of the feel and flavor of the puzzles, why NYT puzzles have a different character than the puzzles in USA Today or the ones in the New Yorker. Different answers repeated in different puzzles. I doubt the editors have any rules or formulas for allowing the repetition. It's more a matter of familiarity, "oh, I saw this word the other day and it could work here to tweak today's puzzle. Maybe our regulars will remember it." I just look at it as lagniappe, a little extra bonus for regular daily solvers of the puzzles.
@Catherine This has been a thing for years. I always considered it to be an Easter egg.
@Catherine I think it's a way of getting us used to a new term/usage/slang expression. We experience it (pause for cries of outrage or whatever) and then not long after, there it is again! And we think, "AHA!" It's the ole One-Two before the JAB. But sometimes they have gone too far; no one ever followed up on CLOTBUR. (Yeah, yeah, I know it wasn't in the crossword....but close enough.)
Why is the clue for 23 across not "The:English::___:Français"?
@v Good point. If the answer is in a particular language, the clue is supposed to be, as well.
NanuNamu, No, the clue must *signal* a particular language (which it clearly does), it doesn't have to be in that language.
Sammie again? How about "Sinners Character" or "Buddy Guy character" or even "Bewitched witch fondly" as alternative clues? Or "Ike's wife twice scrambled?"
Today, a first for me: I completed an entire month, on time, with no hints or outside references! All gold. Except, well, not quite.😏 On vacation overseas, I started the daily submission too late and began the month with a single blue square!😣 Ah well, on to September! Happy puzzling y’all!
Sam asked for SAMMIE recipe suggestions. I highly recommend cheese and BANANA (and hold the SLUG)
@Petrol Munster cheese, obviously, right? Bread with a hot feta spread is always nice. Here is one of the recipes: <a href="https://www.themediterraneandish.com/tirokafteri" target="_blank">https://www.themediterraneandish.com/tirokafteri</a>/ Muhammara (walnut/roast pepper spread/dip) works great on bread, too: <a href="https://www.themediterraneandish.com/muhammara-recipe-roasted-red-pepper-dip" target="_blank">https://www.themediterraneandish.com/muhammara-recipe-roasted-red-pepper-dip</a>/
No less than 5 proper nouns crossing in the center left got me hung up, but ultimately I just took a stab and figured MARTHA was only real possibility for a name ending in ARTHA, and that unlocked it for me.
I was unable to comprehend many of the comments...for example, what did 62A have to do with Sinatra? I got both 28A and 28D, but not because I knew the role or the activist. And of course SAMMIE was meant to alert us to The New Word in Town (even though it's hardly new in general...just new in the NYT puzzles.) A quick solve, light on themers (where's the PEANUT BUTTER? It makes a great SAMMIE with BANANA.....my fave lunch when expecting... On wheat bread, of course--though bread was noticeably absent in the grid.) I have an eye appt this afternoon, so my 11-year-old NYT "Challenging Puzzles" crossword book goes with me. It's pretty dated now--some clues are true tests of memory. I rate the medical offices by number of puzzles completed during the wait...
@Mean Old Lady I think@Morgan Wick meant 51 A. They thought the revealer was SPREAD THE news and it reminded them of Sinatra's New York, New York.
Always a good day when there is AVA and ANA in the same puzzle as I still have to pause a bit each time. Nice one. Thanks.
Yes, I realize that deep dish pizzas are made in a pan. But, today's clue seems a bit off to me. Pans are typically not deep (pots are deep).
"Deep-dish" was hyphenated in the clue, a clear reference to said pizza and not to the actual depth of the "vessel."
Not much to say about a Monday puzzle, apart from Marcia Marcia Marcia!
One more puzzle find, inspired by a common old phrase into my head. Anyway - a Sunday from November 17, 1963 by A.J. Santora with the title: "Words a la mode." Some answers with clues: JENESAIS - "quoi" "Fait" ACCOMPLI "Tete-" ATETE And some other answers: LAPLUMEDEMATANTE EAUDECOLOGNE LESETATS ENFANTTERRIBLE VINGTETUN And a pair.... REPONDEZ SILVOUSPLAIT And there were more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/17/1963&h=16d" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/17/1963&h=16d</a> ...
The long, protean career of IGOR Stravinsky can be divided into several phases--from Russian nationalist romanticism (Firebird), through Russian brutalism (Rite of Spring), and on to neo-classicism (Dunbarton Oaks Concerto, et ALII). But only at the very end of his career did he eschew key signatures altogether, and fully embrace ATONAL music. It's thorny stuff, and not to everyone's taste. Here is his last completed work, for soprano and piano, from 1966--a RACY TALE of a rather unorthodox HONEYMOON: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6DawDM0bhw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6DawDM0bhw</a> (2'40". You can handle 2"40" of thorny atonality, can't you?)
@Bill - The Rite of Spring and the Firebird suite are two of my all-time favorite compositions.