Keeylay Tehran

My Dearest Crosswording Compatriots, I wish to register a complaint. 114D -- a G.I.'s rations -- is plural. You can see the S at the end for yourself. In English, that means plural. You can therefore imagine my surprise -- nay, shock -- upon learning that the solution (MRE) is not pluralized. Oh, and before you respond with some sort of pedantic nitpick (e.g. "MealS ready to eat, so the plural is unnecessary), you should know that the internet consensuses around MRE being the noun and therefore the plural being MREs. And even if I were wrong -- which I am not -- the clue still could have been "ration" with no S, and avoided any confusion. Yours truely, K. T., Reno, NV

Dearest Fellow Crosswordians, After perusing the NYT Crossword Submission Guidelines, wherein it states, "Avoid... partial phrases longer than five letters (“So ___” for BE IT would be permissible, while “So ___” for IT GOES would not.)", you can imagine my shock upon arriving at 34A, where the partial phrase "Come on, ___!" requests a SIX LETTER ANSWER. Now I don't know whether six is greater or fewer than five where you come from, but you here in Reno, Nevada, it most certainly is. Frankly, I demand an explanation for this! Perhaps Mr. Shortz's recent ___ (medical event: 6 letters) has left a ___ (gaping maw: 4 letters) in the staff. (Note: the latter partial phrase would be acceptable while the former is not.) I mean: COME ON, PEOPLE! Yours Truely, K.T., Reno NV. Source cited: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/submit-crossword-puzzles-the-new-york-times.html#link-18b4d122" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/article/submit-crossword-puzzles-the-new-york-times.html#link-18b4d122</a>

I wish to register a complaint. 31D is "Lead-in to -pod" [note the hyphen before "pod"] while 56A is "Lead-in to pod" [no hyphen]. This formatting led me to believe the answer to 31D contained a hyphen while the answer to 56A lacked one. So you can only imagine my surprise and disgruntlement when, after solving this here crossword in record time, I googled the answer to 31D and learned it does NOT contain a hyphen. I would have expected better from our world's paper of record. I humbly request either a) a formal retraction, or b) indication as to where Your Humble Narrator's logic may be incorrect. Yours truely, K.T. Reno, NV

My dearest compatriots, My confusion deepens. How rare. How rare that I would complete such a wondrous puzzle as the New York Times Tuesday Crossword And then To my surprise Find a word Mispluralized. For you see, Mes amis, In "LEIS" (29D) The clue is single But the solution plural. Unless "neckwear" is plural. Which I doubt. Yours truely, K. T., Reno, NV. P.s. I googled it and the plural of "neckwear" is "neckwear". Please disregard this above comment.

Dear Joel Fagliano, I wish for assistance vis-a-vis a complaint. 20A, [Trial figure] was STENO. However, STENO is a shortening of of STENOGRAPHER. The clue should have indicated this in some way, such as by [Trial fig.]. My partner and I were stuck in the upper left corner for much too long due to this editorial oversight. Assuming I am correct, I would have expected better from the New York Times. Please reply post-haste with either an apology or an explanation. Yours Truely, Keeylay Tehran, Reno, NV

As a resident of Reno, Nevada, I found the references to New York in "Five Burrows" -- the alternate title to this crossword -- both confusing and surprising. After all, moles create several holes that act as entrances to just a single burrow.