i believe that Austria for short is AUT not AUS. AUS goes to Australia. https://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/ctycodes.htm
5
Had the same thought, was quite confused for a moment.
This was a dandy Monday puzzle. Not too easy or quick. It was just right. The six HIT IT theme answers were cleverly done.
Nice one, Mr. Cee!
:-)
3
First Monday I’ve needed help on in ages.
12
INURN reminded me of the last night I saw my mother.
A nurse had come to assist her walking to the bathroom. The nurse had called my mother by her first name, which I'm sure irritated her a bit, but the phrasing really got to her.
"H___, would you like to toddle to the bathroom?"
My mother drew herself up -- to the extent she still could -- replying, " 'Toddle?' I have not been immured that long."
She died less than 48 hours later, but she was not INURNed.
5
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday went by like a blur for me, but -- in case anyone is counting -- I thought it was a run of perfect puzzles, tough and rewarding. Even with lots of "never heard of's" (like RONCO as well as "Mr. Microphone") I was able -- eventually (and before the midnight chimes that break the spell!) -- to mull and muddle through.
Many thanks to all who constructed, edited, aided (Deb and Caitlin), and made me smile or piqued my interest in a comment.
7
@ADeNA
Monday should be in the list of days as well.
3
Lots of stumbles in this one: Wanted OLiver at 15A and DEBTlimit at 17A, but neither fit. Then initially wrote "did" instead of CAN, "stamen" instead of PISTIL, tAkE instead of GATE, followed with IReS, GODSENd and WailingWALL. *Plus* misidentifying the symbol in the clue for 46A as a square root!
Eventually got it together, but took about twice my fastest time.
Cute theme, and I'm (again) impressed by the abilities of constructors to come up with theme entries that are so symmetric and of the proper lengths. Kudos Mr. Cee!
4
@Ron
Same confusion on "root" interpretation of 46A. Depends on the font, more or less, as to how close they are!
1
@Robert Michael Panoff
Depends on more than that, RMP. I guess AcrossLite doesn't have the capacity for some symbols, bec the clue for CHECKMARK was "Symbol for O.K."
1
@Leapfinger
It's almost an entirely different puzzle that way! I don't think I would have guessed CHECKMARK from the AL clue!
1
Surprisingly challenging a Monday puzzle- longer than average. Nice solve though. I enjoyed the mix of pop culture.
5
Today's puzzle was a relaxing treat for me after Sunday. My solve time was 40:00, which is good for me, considering all the wrong keys that my shaky fingers strike. The good news is that I finished with a gold star, with no "almost there" to ruin the fun.
12
Deb Amlen's comment about 65A made me laugh out loud.
I question the legitimacy of unfamiliar answers as words almost every day, usually for puzzles from the "other" Times on the West Coast.
Occasionally, it happens here, too. It is why I visit Wordplay (though that in itself remains an unending struggle; don't get me started), to see others' opinions on such unfamiliar items and, usually, to learn something.
When Ms. Amlen also finds INURN to be, ahem, unfamiliar, it makes one wonder what passes for common-enough use.
I've been solving puzzles edited by Will Shortz since the first time I grabbed GAMES magazine in the late 70s, and I recall the complaints of older solvers about what were then seen as his new-wave approach to using current terminology and references. Now, I am an older solver and, in general, completely accepting of current terminology and references when they have entered the vernacular. I read enough newspapers, online and off, and consume enough other media to feel fairly well-informed.
Just as I've yet to meet a teacher who has used ELHI, I am waiting for my first encounter with INURN.
I worked in database technology for thirty years. Would anyone accept Oracle technical jargon in a puzzle? I didn't think so.
Vernacular is the key word. Let us not forget that.
2
i attendee an inurnment ceremony last month. the term was right there in the funeral program.
4
"...I've yet to meet a teacher who has used ELHI..."
That's hardly surprising: the term comes from textbook publishing, not education.
4
@Pat
I have attended several inurnment ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. They even have a special caisson which looks like a casket, and has a door which conceals the urn. That way the remains can be solemnly taken to the grave site, with an American flag draped over the coffin.
Bring tissues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQoBeqDXMc
1
"Concert proceeds" = GATE
What? I understand the connection of paying/purchasing tickets at the gate, but how does concert proceeds work as a clue for GATE?
2
@Kristin
It's just that. The concert proceeds are called the gate.
The concert took in $10,000.
The gate was $10,000.
3
GATE also means the amount of money they took in. I knew that meaning for some reason, but only got it in this puzzle by the crosses.
2
6. The total paid attendance or admission receipts at a public event: a good gate at the football game.
3
Ended up over average time because of the SW cluster of crosswordese and phrases that were not idiomatic. E.g., someone 18 isn’t AGE, they’re “of age” and as stated elsewhere “Godsend”, “Heaven Sent” but not GOD SENT
1
@Mark Josephson
AGE is a correct entry because the clue is going for what 18 or above is, in the context of being allowed to vote. When you say "you have to be 18 to vote," you're talking about AGE, not weight, IQ, or shoe size.
GODSENT is a perfectly acceptable adjective for that which you would more commonly refer to in the noun form, GODSEND.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/godsent
2
This may seem immoderate, but does anyone remember when you could earn your CHECKMARK here? Were they green?
1
@Robert Michael Panoff
"Were they green?"
The CHECKMARKS or the commenters?
2
@Andrew
I think the checkmarks were green, "awarded" once they trusted you to post without being reviewed by a moderator. . .
@Robert Michael Panoff,
Thanks for the clarification. Some of us here are too new to know that.
Is that what the NYT Picks are/were?
Found this one to be very tricky for a Monday. Once again over twice my average time, and plenty of googling to help. I had to look up the answer to 56D completely, as 64A wasn't revealing itself to me either.
And once again, another Native American tribe question trips me up. Thankfully I knew the crossings so it filled itself in.
Not the biggest fan of GODSENT. I've heard of things being "HEAVEN SENT" or a "GOD SEND", but never "GOD SENT".
6
The is also WALL, in WESTERN South Dakota. Home to Wall Drug as advertised on approximately 20,000 billboards as you head to SD
2
@ColoradoZ
I saw my first Wall Drug billboard decades ago in Amsterdam.
2
@ColoradoZ Thanks for bringing back memories of a cross-country drive with my parents from California to Connecticut in 1948. The Wall Drug Store signs started to appear among the various series of Burma Shave signs shortly after we left Oakland. We actually stopped in Wall on the way East. The town is aptly named --- perched on a cliff overlooking the Bad Lands. An absolutely stunning view.
3
Way cool, @hepcat8!! Sounds asif what youdid was "See the USA/ In your Chevrolet"
I've driven some parts of the States, and think my most stunning view was off Dead Horse State Park, overlooking Canyonlands. This is an unbelievable country to explore.
1
Mini (Major?) theme- movies Directly or Obliquely)
"Stan and OLLIE"
"CAN-CAN"
"Much ADO About Nothing"
"HIT IT"
'CESAR Chavez"
"FENCES"
"Heaven's GATE"
GEENA Davis - Thelma and Louise, numerous others
Edward ALBEE- Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff, others
NEWSMEN- Good Might and Good Luck
GODSENT -The Ten Commandments
TOWNIE- Breaking Away
HACKY SACK - She's All That
TAR- Anchor's Aweigh
EEK- Mickey Mouse, The Mouse That Roared, Of Mice and Men
( Full disclosure-Following are from internet search):
"L.I.E"
"PATTI Cake$"
"ROLF"
"CALL of the PISTIL"- (True dat)
"SAMOA"
"EMPTY"
3
@ColoradoZ
Editing- Good Night and Good Luck
@ColoradoZ
NEWSMEN - Network, Broadcast News, Anchorman
1
My five favorite clues from last week:
1. Button downs? (10)
2. A student might bring this up in an intro class (3)
3. Foreign correspondent, maybe (6)
4. Bad choices in it may cost you an arm and a leg (7)
5. Delightful event? (6)
KEY STROKES
GPA
PEN PAL
HANGMAN
OUTAGE
16
Ok, I'll be the pedantic one - KEYSTROKES should be one word. :)
When it comes to keyboards, it's the one word "KEYSTROKES".
I wonder though, should that have been "Buttons down" rather than "Button downs", though that would obviously give away that it's not having to do with shirts.
2
@Wen -- You are absolutely right. Good catch!
Hard to decide whether something is "Heaven-sent" or whether it's "an absolute Godsend". So often, return address is not included.
Speaking of perplexity, does anyone here know what's the meaning of a "ROADJACK"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyVuYAHiZb8
There's a person I know, whenever someone says to him, 'Nice to see you', he answers 'Nice to be seen!'
Happy Monday, nice to be CEE-n
5
btw, thank you Deb, that Laurel and Hardy (ironically titled "Helpmates") absolutely hit the spot, the button and the bull's eye.
Downright allegorical.
@Leapfinger I really enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing!
2
@Leapfinger - Your first paragraph reminded me of one of the wonderful little stories in the award-winning book "Zen Shorts"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_Shorts
where such questions are opened with delightful illustrations and simply beautiful texts.
2
The SEGWAY was the instrument of choice for the TV camera man to knock down Usain Bolt on his victory lap at the Olympics
2
A pleasant Monday with jargon-free, grown-up fill and no pop culture. HACKY SACK was new to me; I've never juggled a beanbag with my feet. Don't play soccer either. I'm a definite arm-and-hand person.
For the 4-letter answer to "massage intensely", I wanted HURT, HARM or MAIM. But I did know ROLF. If you've ever been ROLFed as I have, you're not bloody likely to forget it. I walked out of the "therapist's" office with more pain than I came in with. Needless to say, I never returned. It's one of the more awful things that people allow to be done to them. "Reflexology" is another: It took my metatarsal arches (which have always been flatter than a pancake) two weeks to recover. And the guy was supposedly treating my neck. (I've always suspected he was a foot fetishist. That's not a joke, btw. I not only never went back -- I also wrote a letter of complaint).
From physical therapists...to osteopaths...to chiropractors -- there are a lot of quacks out there and you can't be too careful. If you find a good one, consider him or her GODSENT.
3
@Nancy
Osteopaths take the same state medical exams and are accredited by the same licensing board as MD's.
In some states. The American Medical Association defines a physician as someone with a degree in Medicine or Osteopathic medicine
3
@Nancy
Just to point out that some would call Issa RAE of HBO "pop culture." Along with PATTI Smith or Scialfa. GEENA Davis. SEGWAYS. CESAR Chavez. OTOH (jargon?) was in there. So maybe "pop culture" lite, but not free. :)
3
@Nancy . I had to look up REN and Stimpy because I don't watch cartoons.
3
On first reading of the reveal I thought I was supposed to break into song at the end of each theme answer. Hey, not a bad way to begin the first day of the week!
Thank you, Gary!
1
@Johanna and I thought dance. Which led me to facing the music and..... (I figure as long as we are putting our potatoes in voting for oldies to remain part of the culture why not some Astaire? And I've always loved Ginger's dress) https://youtu.be/c08wiEyVuak
3
Penned in Ernie for EXCOP (Its a Wonderful Life reference and life time pursuit to determine if cop Ernie was the model for, well, Ernie).
The other day my neighbor was grilling me on my reasons for relocating from WI to MS. Yesterday it snowed 4 hours. Defense rests.
Deb, cake please, crooned Tom (aka Gold Star) coquettishly.
Thanks Gary
2
There's no good SEGWAY from the puzzle to Victoria Day (Hello, UK/Canadian/and other Commonwealth solvers), so I'm just gonna tell Ray Davies to HIT IT.
https://youtu.be/brlLHo8fqJM
6
LETTER BOXED THREAD
I have C-S(8), S-B(8).
I bet there is a 13 in there.
I am still working on a current events solution as well.
Yesterday’s minimal solution was
PRONGS SQUALID
2
@Kevin Sparks
I got closer with B to S(8), S-R(6).
@Kevin Sparks
Same as you, I presume. I’ve been waiting to use the second word in this game for a long time! Delish.
Had shorter solution yesterday too.
@Kevin Sparks
I found my 13, using a word I don't think I've heard of before, and apparently scientists don't even know if it exists (when the box rejected the answer I hoped was a word, I just started anagramming the letters and it worked).
P-S(6), S-Y(7)
SPELLING BEE Grid
48/169, 1 Pangram
By 1st Letter:
Ex5, Gx7, Hx5, Ix1, Lx7, Mx11, Tx12
By Length:
4x24, 5x12, 6x10, 9x2
∑ 4 5 6 7 8 9
E 5 1 2 1 - - 1
G 7 3 2 2 - - -
H 5 3 - 2 - - -
I 1 1 - - - - -
L 7 2 3 1 - - 1
M 11 8 1 2 - - -
T 12 6 4 2 - - -
∑ 48 24 12 10 - - 2
43
@Evan
Today’s bee is on the long side, but Queen Bee is pretty attainable. The word list is pretty basic, unless you avoid vodka.
@Liane I am grumbling about Lethe, though.
2
@Evan
Geez yesterday it was the Big Number that eluded me and today it’s the numbers again.
1
Decent Monday puzzle - one of those where the theme is more of an after-the-fact thing, but I'm fine with that. A bit on the slow side for me. Yes, I had INTER before INURN but it didn't take long to fix that. General SW area (ROLF, LOWERDECK, CHECKMARK, GODSENT, etc.) is what took me some work. Interesting to see OTOH crossing OTOE.
Today's coincidence involves 45a - DEBS - and again also involves one of my sons. There are two basic ways to clue that, though each with a variety of phrasings. The other one still pops up, though now more often in late week puzzles.
Anyway, yesterday one of my sons read me this quote from Eugene DEBS, upon his sentencing to prison in 1918:
"Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."
11
Thank you for the quote.
4
@Rich in Atlanta
Here's another way to clue DEBS:
Whose column is it anyway?
7
That hit the spot for a fun Monday puzzle. I had a few more no knows than usual on a Monday, didn't know the NEWSMEN @21A, never heard of a HACKYSACK, and having never seen even one episode of SNL didn't know KATE. ( Lack of SNL knowledge is often a problem for me in solving). I also had Wailing and inter, but managed to sort that out.
Fun theme and good start to the week.
6
@suejean
Just curious, if the newsmen had been Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow, would you have known them?
1
@vaer
Yes to both. I spent my first 40 years in the U.S.
@suejean
Yes re Conkrite, mostly from nostalgic comments in opeds and TV programmes. Nope for Murrow.
2
Answers I liked: HACKY SACK, WESTERN WALL, TARTARE.
Mini theme I liked: OLLIE / PATTI / TOWNIE / OGEE / ALBEE / EMPTY. And if you pronounce it like we did in college, you could add ROTC.
4
Speaking of ROTC, I was not a fan of this organization when I was in college. I wrote a column for the student newspaper back then, and in one of them (I now recall after many decades), I wrote the following valentine: To the ROTC / In their defense I speak / They require short hair / Only one day a week .
6
@Lewis
I was in NROTC (some pronounced 'neurotic') at Notre Dame, and we were expected to be "presentable" 24/7. We had classes (in uniform) 3 days a week, and drill another day. So there was virtually no down time.
1
@Lewis
My father was in ROTC at Harvard, which had a cavalry division, although I'm not sure "division" is the right word, but they rode horses. He lost a $5 bet boasting he could ride a "goldbrick" away from the herd. (This was at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester, VT.)
1
Seven themers (including the reveal) and no garbage fill (IMO). What a great way to start the week! Just the right amount of crunch to make it fun. Thanks Gary and Will!
3
I got hung up momentarily on GODSEN"D", "WAILING"WALL, and IN"TER", but overall it was pretty easy, and really needed no hints. Unlike SUNDAY, where a hint or two would have been most welcome.
But I REALLY HATED yesterday's "fish" puzzle, which was about as "out there" as you can get while still being in English.
1
@BW
If one is solving on a phone or tablet, the Sunday puzzle's title does not show as it does on paper or on the website. One has to click the Info (i) icon to get the title (and the link to Wordplay). The title yesterday (Hook-Ups) was a major help for figuring out the gimmick.
2
@BW
I'm betting that a lot of folks had that same combo of errors... I sure did! :)
2
Drove home from Kansas City today—took the more direct route, which involved a lot of slower roads—so it was a long day. Glad the Monday puzzle was quick and entertaining. Bitten for a bit by INURN, as many others appear to have been. I liked the theme answers, however, I didn't get the theme until getting the revealer.
4
@JayTee You took the road less traveled?
Did it make much difference?
9
@Rich in Atlanta
About 2½ hours... but it was worth it—hardly any traffic, and a stop for some Disney history in Marceline, MO, where he grew up.
I'm a bit irritated—I'm sort of a traditionalist, and they repainted the almost faded out original Coca-Cola sign; I imagine it looks close to the original, but I think it would have been better if they'd left the original and put a clear protective coat over it.
They also removed the Autopia ride from the Walter E. Disney Park and are reconstructing it near the museum. The ride is the only Disneyland original ride that has been (allowed to be) built at any other location. More people will see it at the new location, and they may be able to do something more with it than they could at the park.
3
@Rich in Atlanta,
Your comment reminded me of singing an arrangement of "The Road Not Taken" in high school choir. I was surprised at how much of the poem I remembered. I found it and re-read it today and it made me cry.
"Still moves me after all these years ..."
2
I’m familiar with INURN (and plan to go that way eventually), but my quibble is with the presence of “bury” in the clue. INURNment refers only to placing cremains into a container where it is intended that they will remain, regardless of what then happens to said container. The urn and its contents may wind up on a mantelpiece, or in the back of a closet, which I wouldn’t call “burial” myself, as opposed to being placed in a niche in a crypt or in a below-ground burial plot, either of which I’d say qualifies as “burial” of a sort.
3
"Place in an urn" is the second meaning of "inurn." The first is "entomb," or bury.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inurn
1
@bratschegirl
I had the same thought... and it didn't help matters that the more well known (at least to me) wailingWALL caused all sorts of confusion with my original INter. But hey, great to be challenged on a Monday! :)
@bratschegirl
Cremains always reminds me of craisins.
3
Any hands up for clueing 18D as 'see 5D?'?
4
@michael
LOL yes... it's funny how during solving my mind makes small comments on certain answers even as I'm moving on to the next. My comment on the clue/answer for 18D was "Not anymore..."
6
As an avid bicyclist for 50+ years, TOWNIE brought to mind the 1970's bicycling movie "Breaking Away".
18
@ColoradoZ Yeah, me too! That's EXACTLY what I was thinking.
1
@ColoradoZ. Great movie! Now I want to see it again!
2
Great Monday puzzle. Liked it.
3
Wounds all licked
Ruffled feathers regruntled
Let us tiptoe
Towards Tuesday
11
@Mike R
Cool info on the MW website about Gruntle. It was actually coined *after* disgruntle!
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gruntle
1
I am thankful that this vanilla Monday puzzle will only have minor nit-picking in the comments, not the dislike and hate expressed for the Sunday puzzle.
The Monday puzzle? Fun, fast, nice theme, good fill. Easy peasy as a Monday puzzle should be.
7
@Ron O.
I agree. At least I didn't see any dislike for the Mini - although there might be repressed hatred not displayed.
1
@Ron O. I demur, I found the mental exercise demanded of the Sunday puzzle challenging. I have been doing the NYT too long to be more than bemused by an ultra easy Monday puzzle. One of the reasons I quit doing USA today and Tribune puzzles. Though I will admit I am impressed to find a connection between Clam Sauce and Debt Ceiling. Of course I hit my debt ceiling due to lack of clams.
15
@Ron O.
Really! There were some persnickety comments yesterday. Must have been a disturbance in The Force...
1
The picture of Gustavo Dudamel reminds me of when he made a guest appearance on Mozart in the Jungle, not as the conductor, but as the stage manager. So funny!
I enjoyed this puzzle. For me, it was a little tougher than a usual Monday, which is good. A few misdirections, learned a few new things. The theme was cute, and well-applied. Prood that Mondays don't have to be boring just because they're easy.
9
@Stephanie
Just wanted to say that I appreciated your comment yesterday. You noted that you didn’t enjoy the puzzle and you said why in a meaningful way. I wish your critical review had received more recos than the “Ew! I hated it” ones. However, my therapist (dog) has told me to get over it and move on. She also advised me to increase the amount of chicken in her dinner to promote my healing. But just wanted you to know that my brush might paint too broadly but it still has a few working bristles.
2
I started reading the Comments about a year ago. During that time someone explained INURN and INTER. To whoever it was “thanks”. You saved me some time today.
9
It is such a strange sensation going from an oversized and complex Sunday puzzle to a basic Monday puzzle on the same day. This one still had a surprising number of retakes for me. ENSURE before ASSURE, STAMEN before PISTIL, INTER before INURN, and WAILING WALL before WESTERN WALL.
Nice to see KATE and OLLIE back together.If you don't know REN and Stimpy, count yourself lucky. I was looking to link a sample of that disturbed show, but I couldn't find anything that would pass the breakfast or any other kind of test. There was a tie-in with FENCES available but... just no. For comedic duos, definitely stick with Laurel and Hardy.
An interesting choice of picture for today's column. I would venture to say that the words "HIT IT" are not his way of getting the music started!
7
Though Ren & Stimpy was definitely not for the faint of heart, I believe it’s now considered a pretty influential program. (As far as off-color cartoons go, at least!)
This clip is at least not breakfast-spoiling, if not exactly breakfast-appropriate. (It’s a classic! Delightfully retro-seeming, while also spectacularly dumb in a very funny way.) https://youtu.be/-fQGPZTECYs
3
@Andrew
I *LOVE* Ren and Stimpy!!
But then again, as the youngest of three boys, I was tortured quite a bit by my older sibs, so YMMV.
@Andrew
I remember Kate & Allie as a very good sitcom from the 1980's. It starred Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin.
I don't recollect any KATE & OLLIE. Care to elucidate?
It seems to me the consturnation over INURN is somewhat unurned.
But maybe I am inured to it.
Maybe I should turn in.
32
Kevin,
You've urned your reco's.
9
@Kevin Sparks
Your comment was spoken in urnest.
3
@Kevin Sparks
Spoken in urnest.
This was pretty tough for a Monday puzzle! Isn't it a dirty trick to have AUS for Austria, when that's the standard abbreviation for Australia (Austria is AUT)? Inurn also through me off, like so many others.
10
Ian,
No dirty tricks, IMO. It is a *cross*word puzzle, and the crossing words keep it clean, even for a Monday.
While I've been know to throw the shells, I don't call doing so a CLAM TAUSE.
And INTER was quickly disinterred without requiring a fourth down punt. (Sorry it threw you.)
3
edit:
...I've been known...
[I've also been know, but that's another story]
@Ian
The clue for AUS would have been better as “Sydney’s home: Abbr.”. Or Melbourne, Perth or Adelaide.
3
Very fun!
It was exactly what I needed to distract me from waiting waiting waiting for episode 6.
1
Did anyone else have SACLAMUCE for 11D?
Oh wait - I'm still in Sunday mode.
15
@Andrew Hook it UP.
8
@Andrew
OMG, you did that too??
2
@Steve Faiella
Yes. After fishing all day yesterday I decided to go digging for CLAMS.
3
Agree with Deb about ROLF not being massage, having experienced both. A ROLFing practitioner needs a whole other set of training and certification.
Also agree about INter before INURN (double ugh), and definitely about GODSENd. Otherwise this was a swift Monday.
Note to Puzzlemucker - if we all liked the same things, or were not allowed to express disagreement, it would an exceedingly boring world.
2
@Kathy
I agree.
1
@Kathy
ROLFing sounds like a nasty thing that might happen to one in Central Park after dark.
@Steve Faiella
Indeed. ROLF was my last fill, even though I was sure of all the crosses, simply because I couldn't believe such an awful-sounding word was real, let alone in the puzzle.
2
Can someone explain the "hidden layer" for the Across clues with today's Mini Crossword? I am missing it. Thanks in advance!
7
Me,
Read (just) the FIRST WORDS of the Across *clues* (not the entries).
7
@Barry Ancona, thanks! I "see" it now!
1
@Barry Ancona
I thought that the "Me" of your reply was an answer to the question "Can someone explain...". Then I saw the poster's user name and I understood that you were addressing him/her.
1
TEC? Who’s slang is that?
Doug,
It's American and British slang going back more than a century. Look for it in hard-boiled fiction.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tec
3
@Doug I had to laugh when*finally* I ran across TEC used in a detective novel. It was the first Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L Sayers. First and only time.
9
@Doug
NYT crossword slang....see it far more here that I've ever seen or heard it "in real life."
9
Like Liane, I had INTER for INURN and needed to flyspeck to see the problem. Fun Monday. Hope some of Sunday’s passionate critics will return today or soon with the same passion to actually extol a puzzle’s virtues, Like others, their “hateful” comments HIT A NERVE with me. We’re alive, we’re able to solve crossword puzzles by people who do this for love rather than money. Hating a puzzle seems a waste of an emotion best saved for things that are actually hateful. To me anyway. Descending from soapbox now.
The theme and themers HIT THE HIGH NOTES and the lower half once again kept me humble. Not just INURN but NENE, GODSENT rather than SEND. Still slower than Erik Agard’s Sunday avg of 5:00 (if what Will S. wrote about him a couple of months ago was accurate).
11
@Puzzlemucker
After all the comments from the Sunday puzzle, I need to hit THE SAUCE and then the SPA.
5
@vaer
I enjoy interesting give and take about a puzzle’s merits and often get a kick out of an “I hated it” comment immediately followed by an “I loved it” comment. Given the way I solved Sunday’s puzzle — sporadically on my phone during stolen 15 minute intervals while traveling — I did not really appreciate its charms while solving. I was just focused on finishing. But to see so much uninspired bile (IMO) heaped on it (and “liked” by so many others) upon returning home was disheartening. I’d say I’m going to HIT my THERAPIST but I don’t have one other than my dog and I’d never hit her. Besides, she probably would have hated the puzzle, too. She prefers her wordplay much more straightforward, like “Snausages!”
8
@Puzzlemucker
But there was fish! Does she not like fish? Obviously deboned.
1
What I like about puzzles like this is filling in theme entries and having no idea what links them together. And then either gradually getting that idea, or getting the revealer and seeing how they work. This one, I had to get the revealer to see it. But the theme entries were all interesting; it was cool that so many of them were first-time uses.
I knew INURN because when I wrote up my father's obituary, I used "interred" and the funeral home person corrected it to "inurned" to be accurate. I see that autocorrect doesn't like it either!
9
Hi Deb,
Re: 55A
You (and the rest of us) may be more familiar with "heaven sent," but I trust we're also familiar with -- and some of us may have first wanted -- "GODSENd."
9
@Barry Ancona Yes, I thought GODSENd at first, since it seems more familiar, but then I realized that the word "like" seemed to imply that they were looking for an adjective.
2
@BarryA
I know. Mea culpa.
Save yore sweet self the trubble.
Tartare!
Mince salmon very fine. Combine with 1/2 of a red onion minced very fine, 3/2 T. capers, 1/4 cup mint chopped well, 3/2 T. vodka, 1 T. quality olive oil, & fresh lemon juice. Chill in a glass bowl, covered, until cold. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve with simple crackers and ice-cold vodka.
Fences!
I saw the premiere performance at the Yale Rep in 1985 - Lloyd Richards directing, James Earl Jones, Mary Alice, Courtney Vance...unforgettable.
Spa...and Bath...have an interesting relation. The town of Bath in England is named for the mineral springs there, while spas as we know them trace the origin of their name to the Belgian town of Spa (which was most likely originally named after mineral springs, but in the long-forgotten past).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spa,_Belgium
8
@David Connell
Present for you.
https://youtu.be/K_kGtQmvrVI
I've never seen Fences, but I've seen Seven Guitars, Jitney, King Hedley and maybe a couple of the other August Wilson Pittsburgh Cycle plays. Amazing writer and some amazing performances.
1
@vaer - being in New Haven during those Lloyd Richards years meant being treated to a regular flow of brand-new plays from August Wilson and Athold Fugard, and many wonderful revivals, all with stellar casts mixed up from world-class talents and students on their way up in the world.
Thanks for that clip!
As a voice & wind person, I have to say watching James Earl Jones' diaphragm working during that scene was an inspiration.
@David Connell - (of course I know how to spell Athol Fugard's name, whether it showeth or no)
2
Spent a minute looking for my mistake and still came in well below Monday average. My mistake shows one of many reasons why you should always read the up and down clues together -- INURN (who knew? not me) not INTER.
Solving mostly across alone meant it took extra time to find the mistake that I would have avoided had I just scanned all the clues in that zone. Still, INURN would never have jumped out of my brain . ...
4
Return to normal-CEE.
6