J Mo

Fun one, Sunday appropriate. I think the first time I’ve seen a rock climbing clue, CRAG for a “rock climber’s handhold.” I was excited, as I’ve been a climber for over 30 years. Apologies in advance for the sport-specific pedantry, but this is just wrong. In the climber’s lexicon *and in the dictionary* (Merriam was the one the internet gave me), the crag is the entire cliff face. I found no dictionary entry supporting the meaning given in the clue. There is a detailed lexicon in climber speak that differentiates the many kinds of handholds and how to use them (crimp, sloper, jug, pinch, etc., too many to list). This is probably too inside baseball for a good Sunday fill, but the clue with this fill could have been made accurate by changing one word in the clue to “rock climber’s playground” or something without going too deep in the weeds for a sport that pretty much everyone from Hollywood to the news to now the NYT crossword gets wrong.

Tough for a Wednesday for sure, but not that far above my average in the end. Some of the trickier clues and answers - COMMODORE is a pretty deep 1980s computer geek cut - I could get behind and had that little flash of pleasure when the clue answer materialized. But … ESPIAL? I got it on the crosses, but … ESPIAL? On a Wednesday? I’m not usually crotchety or pedantic in my responses, but … even though that word is technically a part of English, neither I nor anyone I know has heard, read, or said that word, ever. So yes, I got it, but it wasn’t fun, more an ESP-EYE-ROLL.