NESB is Still thinking

@Mike and @Petro et al., On behalf of my Dad who was King of the Puns, I hereby award the Dad-Pun Joke Award to this Thursday’s puzzle constructor Kevin Curry for: “When does a joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent!”

Dear @Jane Wheelaghan, While we’re complaining about word choices, “ignorance” is not a word I would associate with someone as wise and thoughtful as you. 😊

@JS Thank you for confirming my understanding. And even though these are “clues,” not definitions, it read like a definition. On the third hand, can’t some outliers be naturally occurring edge cases?

@abelsey Mom used to refer my sister and me as “the kids” when we were in our 40s with teenage kids of our own.

Dear @Puzzlemucker, As I likewise mused in a Wordle comment: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tu049?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tu049?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> “Unfortunately, social media is barely into its toddlerhood, and so is prone to self-centered tantrums.” As I am now enjoying very late in life my first grand-toddler, I try to rouse some compassion for these often ill-informed, childish ranters. And being cooped up indoors again by the late wintery weather probably didn't help either. ❄️ Just keep reading Whitman or whatever soothes your soul, I guess. ❤️

@Mark For future reference: You can solve Wordle or Connections or any game a day early by going to settings on your device and changing the time to a minute or so after midnight of the current day.

@Kathryn Also, the primary/secondary color scheme of the BOX/SQUARE/CELL hats is known to lift the mood of the viewer — something needed these days. ❤️🩵💕💛🔹♦️💜🟡💚🔸🦋

@Ron et al., Since such goofs are atypical here, I'm guessing RSV (aka "a bad cold") is to blame. 🤒🤧😮‍💨😓 Hopefully all will be better soon.

@Barry Ancona But will there still be a NATO alphabet?🥺

@John But these are, by definition, clues, not definitions. — like the game of Password.

Aww, @TomS and @Gregg, The iconic, award-winning, usually comic-relief character of CJ Cregg played by Allison Janey on The West Wing is worth the price of admission — which is currently free on Max and $1.99/episode on Prime and Apple. Here’s a sampling: <a href="https://youtu.be/dYuv86il3Pk" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/dYuv86il3Pk</a>

@NESB is Still thinking is back after the "peek at the answer key" revealed that it was TEA in the bag, not a cat — and here I am sipping my tea made with a tea bag 🙃 — which cleared up that whole NW corner. But what I *really* want to ask: Are ECARDs still a thing? I remember in the 90s when I convinced my lonely, elderly Mom to get a computer and internet (thinking she'd engage with online book clubs) she almost single-handedly supported the emerging ECARD business. But haven't ECARDs gone the way of the dinosaur?

@Stephen These clues were easier than usual for me. Could age be a factor? (early 70s)

@Max Off and on for about 60 years. More since 2015 when Dad passed and I started doing them with Mom, and more regularly after Mom passed in 2020. Now mostly just Mondays and Tuesdays; sometimes Wednesdays. Mom and Dad did the NYT Sunday puzzle together for at least 30 years.

Dear @HeathieJ, Please wish your husband a future happy next birthday after the midterms from all of us — and many, many more❣️ 👨🏻‍🌾👩🏾‍⚕️👩🏼‍🏭👧🏻👵🏼🇺🇸👨🏽👩🏼‍🦱👨🏾‍🍳👩🏻‍🦰👨🏻‍🦳

Dear @Deb Amlen, Except for Mondays and some Tuesdays, I always need to follow your advice to step away for a bit when stuck and come back later with a fresh perspective. Today I needed to switch platforms (from phone to laptop) to fill the last bit. Usually it's the other way around, since the phone allows me to see the Ds horizontally. <3

@Adam I supposed Marshal with one L more completely introduces himself as: Marshal with one L and Herrmann with two Rs and two eMs.

@Deadline I'll never get sports either. Or opera (a frequent Jeopardy! category). Did Mathew Perry et al. used to say DONEZO on Friends?

@Kate The distinct smell of wet wool is not "foul" to me either, even though wearing it next to my skin gives me hives, as do any skin lotions containing lanolin. Mom knitted a lot, long before acrylic yarns became available. I love the smell of linseed oil, used in oil paints.

I had the same objection to YEAST as @Patrick Ryan, and then admitted to myself the same point made by @Bruce. It's comforting to know others reach the same conclusions as I do, even if not any single individual does.

@Marshall Walthew I used to make MIXTAPEs in the 1960s before they were called that, recording my favorite top 40s off of my transistor radio. Mine are long gone now, but maybe one of your old lovers still has a tape you made in the back of a drawer. I not only still paint portraits in this era of phone selfies, but I do it in watercolors. "The medium is the massage"

@Zach Not my area of expertise, so: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_(character" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_(character</a>) 🤷🏻‍♀️ Happy to learn why it's inaccurate in case it comes up while watching Jeopardy!.😉 Nevertheless, these are just "clues" rather than definitions.

Dear @Steve L et al., The OED's first citation for this definition of SHIP is from 1996, but the OED's first citation from the NYT for "ship" was 2002, which might justify the cluing of "modern parlance" in today's puzzle (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3844224094" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3844224094</a>). I'm in my 70s and saw SHIP first used this way around 1999 on the fanforum message boards. I've tried using it a few times over the years, but it's not a term that ever quite made it into the general zeitgeist as far as I've noticed. Maybe it's making a comeback among the new generation? Quick Googling indicates China has its own slang based upon its own languages. "Ship" derives from the English "relationship" so it wouldn't translate directly to Mandarin or other Chinese languages.

@Chungclan Just like Will to make a soft landing on a Monday when some of us are more likely to skip the column and comments because we don’t need help. [as if I know Will]

Dear @Tim Carey, Is it Jeff Chen’s fault that this puzzle appeared on a Monday? I should probably look up the process of puzzle day placement, but I’m not.😉 Perhaps it was supposed to be a Wednesday but Monday’s puzzle author asked for a couple of extra days due to the fires or some other unexpected issue, illness, accident, etc. Or maybe there were some last minute edits by someone who was under duress. If so, hopefully Will Shortz is okay.❤️

@Austin and @JGinDC I wonder if the constructor was just teasing clue constructors? ;)

@Crab Do they use “DINGUS” in Saskatoon?

@Joya, Likewise, my parents lived in Kona Hawaii for 30 years, where the only flight home was a red eye, so it was not a choice.

@George I too had PLEB before PEON — which I thought was sometimes used as a slur, but apparently not here, anyway? 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Xword Junkie I’d heard of Mel B, so I deduced there was a MEL C.