Ones in Suits

really didn't like "MAA" for the goats cry - ain't no goat i ever heard of.

All I could add was reco's for all y'all.

Cute Monday theme. Funny how changing the order of saying something results in a changed meaning. While solving I noticed only that parts of the long answers were repeated, but didn't get until afterwards that they came in exactly (phonetically) reversed pairs. I wonder what other words or phrases can be reversed to get an entirely new meaning.

A belated wow -- I didn't catch on to the symmetries until read the blog and the comments. In fact my first entry for the front (top?) of 11D was BLANK -- which got corrected shortly thereafter. (So... I drew a blank....)

I think you can make an argument for two more subtler pairs of symmetric "relatives" in addition to the others already called out: [3D and 60D], and [18D and 39D]

Feeling a little bleary-eyed from staying up to watch the Oscars (and wasn't that something?!), so thankful for this easy yet enjoyable Monday puzzle from Ms. Burnikel. There were no clues referencing the theme, so I only noticed after finishing and going back for a look. Nice word play--ya FEELME?

So, what was Georgia O'KEEFFE's deal, anyway? Did she think she was fooling anybody with those paintings?

Deb posted The Who, and knowing Bru's passion for horse-racing, I expect him to post a clip based on 1A. So instead, today we have Eddie Money, a meat-and-potatoes rock singer who enjoyed success on the charts in the late 70s and through the 80s. (Money was promoted as an ex-NYPD cop, but it seems he never made it past academy training.) The lyrically hopeful "PEACE In Our TIME," with its song-along chorus, got to #11 in 1989:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7iRe81VTq4

I didn't even see the SEE RED, RED SEA connection until I looked back at the puzzle.

Some interesting connections. MAUI is an Hawaiian island, and also a character in MOANA, a little sad to see Moana not get an Oscar. SWIM and DO LAPS are right next to each other, though I'm pretty bad at doing either.

ARP and OKEEFFE, two other notable PAINTERs get a call out in the puzzle as well.

Setting my TIMEPIECE for PEACETIME. Did Pharaoh's generals SEERED when Moses parted the REDSEA?

Ohhhh. See red! I'm new to puzzles -- obviously!!!

"Seered?" Is that slang for getting angry? Never heard it used that way.

Sometimes a puzzle goes almost too smoothly and this was one of those cases for me today. The wonderful wordplay was almost lost on me because I was finished quickly enough to almost not notice it. Shame on me.

This was a fun, light, solve that gets my week off to a great start. Thank you for a great Monday puzzle!

By the way, thanks also for the link to the Podcast "A Way With Words" - just subscribed and can't wait to start listening.

This was a delightful Monday puzzle, and I loved the addition of a very clever and funny theme.

I'm realizing that when I solve on paper, I can savor the theme. Perhaps something to do with seeing it all at a glance that just doesn't happen when solving online.

So - looking at this puzzle again - and savoring it - it is lovely, indeed.

I wasn't sure what was going on until I noticed PLAINPAPER and PAPERPLANE. Then it was fun looking around for the rest of them.
A nice, easy Monday with a twist.

C.C's take on the English language impresses me to no end. Today's look at simple words and phrases gives of five examples of creative wordplay at its best.

And on a Monday, no less!

The OKEEFFE/PAINTER opposites are sheer artistry.

Way above average Monday, way above average constructor ... brava, C.C.!

Loved it!

Apropos to Deb's blog - Replied to a FB post asking me to name something I had a member of a younger generation would not believe: $7 Woodstock ticket was my response.

NEAT Monday. Echo the C.C. praise.

One of my neighbors will bring over her goats (they say naaaaah - Wisconsinese for Ed) and sheep to MOW your lawn.

Off to the slopes for what may be the season END for my patrol duties. Hopefully I will not need the avalanche rescue training I received at ALTA.

Thank you Zhouqin.

I solved, I saw, I liked. Best to make PAPER PLANE with PLAIN PAPER. The teacher might SEE RED, and then the student might get a SEE me NOTE. Very clever construction from a pro.

I did notice the word play with PLAINPAPER and PAPERPLANE when I asked myself why PAPER would be acceptable twice in the same puzzle. Was briefly puzzled by SEERED, because it was past tense and the clue was present. Oh well a nice start to the week.

Very impressive. I can't recall the last time it took me so long to see the theme in an early week puzzle. I almost had it completed by the time it dawned on me. And it was only after I finished that I saw the REDSEA / SEERED pair.

And an hour later I was even more impressed. Like Lewis, I spent a while this mourning after the solve trying to fined other pears of similar phrases. Knot all that hard to invent sum, but necks to impossible to get any wear they are both actually in the language. So strike up the banned and lettuce prey that we seymour from si, si in the near future. Buy the weigh, I looked back at her puzzle history on Xword and she seams to have had a Times puzzle published once a month since her debut. So she is wright on thyme. Kant weight for the next won.

I think C.C. is fast becoming one of the best constructors. As has been noted this has so many layers and has a more original theme than one expects on a Monday. I was pleased that I got it before seeing the clue at 63A, so knew what that fill was going to be. A great AHA moment. Having bragged about that I must admit I didn't notice RED SEA/SEE RED, and am really impressed with the perfectly presented PAINTER/OKEEFFE pointed out by Ken E. I would give this one a POW!

This theme is very special. Look at it. Two words that switch around; one stays the same, the other changes spelling AND meaning. I've been trying to come up with alternative answers, and I've come up with a couple, but none near as in the language or puzzle-acceptable as in today's grid. Furthermore the theme takes up 50 squares, quite dense, which makes, IMO, the answers RTE/EXP/INSP/OCT/SYR forgivable. Maybe someone here will come up with more theme answers that fit the bill; we'll see.

Other homonym words in the puzzle are TIED, NEE, and, if you count names, MOW.

Terrific theme, CC, and thank you. And you too, Will, as this nice run of puzzles continues.

My add re cards:

The four suits in playing cards, clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades, collectively represent the four elements (wind, fire, water, and earth), the seasons, and cardinal directions. They represent the struggle of opposing forces for victory in life.

Seems like we have China to thank for this invention, as for so many others.

Very fine Monday puzzle. I even saw the transposed words before reading the column. That made me feel clever, as I usually miss such things.

Thanks.

And there is an extra dollop of cleverness in the 5D - 46D pair (but not transposition) of O'Keeffe and Painter.

and Elke
While three of the "word switches" were easy to spot, the fourth one : SEE RED and RED SEA were more difficult to spot , being in diagonal corners.
But there they were.
Clever , neat puzzle for a Monday- thanks.

"Aces" sparks one of my historico-linguistic notes. Deb got it right when she pointed out that the meaning and value of the ace varies from game to game.

In old Latin, "as" was a little grubby coin of small worth (puzzlers are thinking "sou" right about now...). The term came to be used for the "one spot" on a die for games of chance, centuries before playing cards came to Europe. When cards made their appearance (late 14th c. or so), the "one spot" name "as" / "ace" jumped from dice to cards, still meaning the lowliest. The 2-spot got a derivative name, Daas / Daus, which evolved into our word "deuce." In German & Swiss games, the Ace eventually was phased out and the Daus took its place, so the 2 is the Ace is the Deuce in Swiss card games.

Connection to the weekend puzzle: Aleatoric, meaning "derived by chance." The "alea" in that word is the old Latin for a die (as in a pair of dice), and might be remembered for the saying "Alea iacta est" ("The die has been cast" / "I've made my roll and will take my chances"), attributed to Caesar, having led his army across the Rubicon.

13D Get angry - SEERED. Can someone explain. On line dictionaries only indicate meanings related to prophesy. Thanks.

I also flew through this but did see the theme after it was completed. A clever little twist for a Monday puzzle.

A NEAT if not EXOTIC Monday puzzle, which I hope the newest solvers CANDO. Questions? SEE NOTE from Deb.

While keeping the ENEMY on RADAR, I would rather see PEACETIME clued as "Period *without* wars."

The clue for ACES reminds me (not to be BLEAK): It's hard for me to play contract bridge these days, since I will not bid suits.

Pleasant start to the week, fill went so fast didn't notice the clever word switching.
But maybe time to give Mr. Nye a little time off?