Shimmer

Crossing two Italian words (TUTTO and COTTA) seems like a bad idea in an English crossword.

I had _UCK for the word repeated in children’s games and was worried about modern kids for a moment.

A football screen pass isn't typically quick. The quarterback usually waits to throw the ball, so the offensive LINEMEN have enough time to form a screen in front of the receiver.

That was quite clever! I was ready to rebus NEW into a single square to make NEWAGERS, but I couldn’t get the cross to work. Somehow, the “NE” eventually rang a bell and then I understood why the next answer was COCKNEY instead of COCKY. Very satisfying.

How many NAENAEs have been performed in ODEA? Solving that cross certainly made me want to dance.

CEE for “2.0” is a bridge too far, especially on a Monday.

At first, I thought reviewers hATED movies, but then I realized they just RATED them.

I had so many wrong guesses that at one point I had to just wipe out an entire quadrant and start again. DEFERS and DELAYS instead of DETERS. Some sort of KEN doll from the Barbie movie instead of ZOOLANDER. EMBELLISH instead of EMBROIDER, LEAVE instead of SPLIT, EBBS instead of SAPS, WANTED instead of LONGED, AWE instead of AIR, etc. I’m halfway convinced that there might actually be a consistent alternative solution possible if I had kept looking.

“Physics research centers” would have been a much better clue for NUCLEI. Chemistry has almost nothing to do with atomic nuclei.

“since toilets are sometimes called ‘thrones,’ flushing one could be ROYAL” Hah, no! This refers to a royal flush in poker, but we appreciate your attempt to explain it your own way!

Just wanted to mention that in that 1970 hit, Lola was actually a man: “But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man. And so is Lola.” Would’ve been interesting to clue it way.

CAROUSEs/xEsY defeated me. Even after I looked up the last letter of NEZPERCE, I still couldn’t crack EEsY.

SAUTERNE crossed with TWPS? No, thank you. Also, Heaven and Eden aren’t synonymous, so “EDEN on Earth” is clunky at best. It’s always been on Earth.

ORALE is virtually impossible to solve on its own. Since KOnA and KOLA are both nuts that are a source of caffeine, this intersection was a solution killer for me.

The painful fill in this one took away from the somewhat fun theme. NAH, OOH, SOO, BADU: Boo.

ORBED is barely a word, and it definitely doesn’t mean “encircled”. Other than that and TEENTSY, Mrs. Lincoln enjoyed this play.

How is SYN an abbreviation for "lust for life"? How are CEES a "pair of accessories"?

Smooth solve right up until I forgot how to spell VIGNETTE and thought the Nobel Prize winner could be OLnA.

I was testing every letter from A to Z in SE_TOY and was about to give up when X saved me at the last moment. I then had to reread the clue and literally did a double take when the penny dropped. Well done!

This was a skosh harder than most Mondays. Crossing INDRA with CAITLIN, and CHALUPAS with OAHU required some backspacing for me.

EELIER is a word that only a crossword constructor could love, especially when naticked with the inventor of the microphone.

ASAHI x THISBE = NATICK

I am apparently the only one bothered by “ordered cards” actually being just a FLUSH, but not necessarily ROYAL.

Yesterday’s puzzle seemed more like a Tuesday, so I guess it makes sense that today’s puzzle seems more like a Monday.

How is LEND a good answer for “Impart”, which means “convey” or “communicate”?

So much for the “Crosswords must not have unchecked squares” rule.

Sallie Mae is not a loan program. It’s a company that specializes in private student loans. Even back when they originated and serviced federal student loans (10+ years ago), Sallie Mae wasn’t a loan program itself.

I like this puzzle, but AONE for “Tops” is super lame. It is never written this way in reality, and thus not a valid crossword answer IMHO.

Am I the only one who had never heard of an EWER before? That one held me up for a long time.