Deb, I'm so glad you're back! The crossword hasn't been the same without you.
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Thanks, jaded! It's great to be back!
I know it's not really important in the bigger picture, but for NYC-area Jeopardy! watchers, the show will run at 2:05 AM due to extended news coverage at its regular time.
Thank you, Jimbo. If I'm awake, I'll try to find it, maybe on ch.7?
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Yes, Ch. 7. I set my DVR. I'll make it a double-header on Tuesday.
This would have presented a great opportunity to have BFTSPLK as a clue. (OTOH the GenXers probably wouldn't get it.)
Very good puzzle, and welcome back Deb!
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Except that all of the clue letters are in alpha order...
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I'll get to puzzle comment, but first things first:
Celebration! Today is my remarkable, wonderful, and thoroughly beloved Jessica's tenth birthday! Extra treats for my sweet one.
Celebration #2! Deb's back. All's right with the crossworld.
Celebration #3! Deb's fillers-in were all up to the job, meeting Deb's high standards and adding their own spices. They took very good care of us in her absence.
The puzzle: Nice fresh theme. Did NW and saw that 23A would be LETTERsomething. Climbed up FEMUR, filled in that sector, and saw that 18A would be MUSICALsomething. And that the other themers would doubtless parallel those entries. The rest was (mostly) candy.
Question: Is the magazine no longer called "U.S. NEWS and World Report," or has it been shortened?
Paused between HANSEL and Gretel when I had only the EL part.
SCAR before SCAB.
Is it just me, or did Jeff Chen over-complicate a very straightforward theme in his column? I didn't understand what he was on about.
Absolutely horrified by today's news. Again.
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Re today's Mini: Salt is hardly a garnish for margaritas. That role is reserved for lime slices.
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I had "lime" firmly in mind while typing in "salt," which I knew was the expected answer!
Lime in mind too, but they're both garnishes, according to the dictionary if not the bartender.
4. something placed around or on a food or in a beverage to add flavor, decorative color, etc.
A refreshingly nice Monday puzzle with an intriguing theme. I, too, started with MUSICSCALE, but quickly saw the error of my ways and ran through the rest. Thanks, Mr. Charlson, and although I'm fairly new here, I'll join the chorus welcoming Deb back.
Loved the VARIETALS of Martin, Caitlin and Sam, but it's great to toast Deb's return home.
For 3D, I doubted SHOT_TO_ with a more alliterative ending, so settled for SHOT_TO_BITS. What fresh HELL is this?
'Strands in a cell' has possibilities besides DNA. With enough blocks: PLACES IN SOLITARY
Always like FROST/NIXON, even moreso after CD's suggestion, and VET is well-placed next to SOLDiER.
Altogether novel and tight. Very nicely stated by Trenton(NJ) Charleson(SC).
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Must admit to feeling more than somewhat discombobulated. Does anyone remember how appalling the Texas tower shooting seemed back in '66? Quo vadimus?
SKEWs me for the OT vent.
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It doesn't seem to me that we're going anywhere on this particular subject, Leapy, and that's just too damn bad.
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My first thought for 3D was, I think, the same as yours Leapy. Then thought of two possibilities, both starting with HE.
My thought for [Strands in a cell] was refused to post bail.
Yes, I remember the Texas Tower and how unthinkable it was at the time.
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Welcome back to the helm of the good ship Wordplay, Deb! And thanks to Martin, Caitlin, and Sam for steering us so ably over the past few weeks.
Today's puzzle provided some nice, welcome distraction after waking up to the latest horrific news. Smooth, error-free solve and I figured out a couple themers once I figured out where the letters were pointing us. I like HIP across from FEMUR, which shares some squares with FERMI.
Like pop-rock singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw, one of my favorite pastimes is "Rockin' Around in NYC":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZW_OqAx59o
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Jimbeau, head-slap moi for missing the HIP/FEMUR connection, so thank goodness you were there to socket to me!
I'll go out on a limb, and show you what a little searching turned up in the Southeast corner (with a few directional liberties). No 'Head and shoulders', but there's:
A RIST, ANKA,
NEES and HOES,
NEES and HOES
... and the little ones chewed on the bones-o!
Not as easy as ABC but a fine way to start the week.
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Yes, a splendid Monday all the way around. Certainly _not_ SHOTTOHELL.
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That was my favorite answer until I turned on the TV this morning. Eerily forboding.
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Eerily foreboding, indeed. I wrote my first post before I had looked at the news.
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Welcome back Deb. Nice Monday puzzle and a great theme.
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A B C D E F G J L M N Q R S W
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Subway lines in NYC?
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After an earlier incident, Z service has resumed with delays.
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G?
Isn't it GG? Or has it been renamed?
Nice job Trenton.
Echo the praise of others and it appears my yogurt has softened up the muesli just so. Habaneros and blueberry yogurt: not for the faint of heart.
Our thoughts are with those suffering in Nevada and elsewhere.
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It was good to have such a lovely Monday and to have Deb back on the same day. Many thanks to Martin, Caitlin, and Sam.
FROST/NIXON left the germ of a theme in my head and, since I will never take it further, I will put it out there for someone else who might -- DEFROST/NIXON: get a smile out of an ex-president.
I write this comment while reeling from the latest horrific act of violence. We can't go on like this.
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I loved this theme ! More please !!
NYMSTLSFGLAD
NL TEAMS
Count me as another member of the choir. Really nice to have a theme that is indecipherable at first but still ends up being Monday easy. Two very nice long downs as a bonus and clean fill elsewhere. Great job.
I kind of wish I had stopped to think about each of the theme clues before they started becoming evident from the down crosses, but I don't think I would have gotten them all anyway.
I feel like I ought to have some say in the cluing for 38a. Deb, please let Will know that I prefer 'estuary.' And welcome back. Great to see your byline again.
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I feel like I ought to have some say in the cluing for 38a. Deb, please let Will know that I prefer 'estuary.'
Really? Many estuaries are wide.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/estuary
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The Kennebec's estuary is pretty wide, about 1/2 mile where we are (and we are not at the widest part). Some definitions of estuary talk about their calm waters. The water in front of our house boils and audibly gurgles when the tide turns, and both downriver and up- there are what they call "chops," very treacherous looking stretches of never-calm water. A far cry from the turgid middle Mississippi of my childhood!
This quote from Kenneth Roberts' *Arundel* hangs on one of our walls here:
"To my mind there is a serpentine beauty to the Kennebec: dappled with ledges and islands; twining gracefully among rolling meadows, towering forests, and rock-strewn mountains; slipping smoothly across levels; plunging headlong over falls; coiling quietly in pools. There is something about it that captivates those who gaze upon it: something that brings them back to stare in fascination; to dare its perils; to listen at night to the dry rustlings, the chucklings, the intermittent rattlings with which it flows along its rocky bed."
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Excuse this PS, but the Abenaki believed there was an immense serpent in the Kennebec whose movements corresponded to/created the turnings of the tides.
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I'll join the chorus of praise for this great Monday puzzle. It somehow manages to have really interesting fills, an innovative theme, seem a bit difficult at first, but ends up solving like a Monday puzzle should.
I loved the clue for GREEK, which took me a while to get. I'm certainly looking forward to more from Trenton.
I'll also add my welcome back to Deb.
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Loved this--especially because I had no look ups and had to work at some of them. But the themed entries were just waiting to fall into place.
Oh wait --I lie! Haven't memorized the Greek alphabet so I had to confirm PSI. Sigh.
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and Elke
First of all, welcome home , Deb. We' ll try to behave (for a while). So I won't be SASSy and type out 3D. Let the emus sleep.
Had to really wrap my head around this theme. Some letters were abbreviations and others were stand alone. Would HOMES (which includes our favourite Erie) be in the theme ?
Anyway, found 40D : AUDI's ''Truth in Engineering'' clue a bit ironic. AUDI , (as well as VW ) , were caught with pollution control, emissions-cheat devices .....
To see ECO right beside AUDI elevates the irony.
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This felt crunchier--and more interesting--than many Mondays. Nice to have a fresh theme. I tried MUSIC SCALE on the first pass, and SILOS (thinking, "nah, it's probably LOFTS") so I had to go back and fix that. CHEMICAL SYMBOLS came from the crosses. I actually knew ALONSO; for Shakespearean characters, they usually run together and I have to wait for crosses, but not today. Quite a lot of fun.
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I too got off on that same out-of-tune entry at 19A. Great minds think alike ...
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Welcome back, Deb. Nice theme and a tight puzzle.
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"Rev up your brain cells, sharpen your pen and dip your pencil in that inkwell."
Deb is back, and that's a good thing.
Nice of you to bring a fine Monday puzzle with you, Deb; please keep it up at least until November, when we get to savor the fruit of your recent labors.
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Welcome back, Deb (and Mr. Charlson). This was FUN! And Thank you Martin, Sam, and Caitlin for filling in for Deb so admirably.
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FUN, OUI?! And welcome back Deb!
I always start solving the acrosses and just skipped the theme entries until I started filling in the downs. And then, AHA!
A solid Monday!
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Welcome back, Deb! It's amazing how grumpy this room can get, but you always make me smile!
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Nice, satisfying Monday after a not so pleasing Sunday puzzle. The only themer I got without a lot of help from crosses was BLOODTYPES. Was this puzzle FUN? OUI!
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Woohoo, second puzzle I've ever finished flawlessly! Thoroughly enjoyed the theme, too!
I have a probably novice question about the write-up:
> Ideally, the shared possible letters for each pair of theme entries would be some combination of A, B, C and D, so that the revealer MULTIPLE CHOICE could be used.
I'm trying to understand that sentence, what's a "revealer"?
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A revealer is what tells you what the theme entries are about. It's usually one of the theme entries. The puzzle didn't work out the way he wanted as a Schrödinger puzzle, which would mean there could be multiple possible answers for particular answers. And therefore MULTIPLE CHOICE would reveal that information to the solver, giving you a hint about the theme entries.
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Welcome, Ron, and yay you!
Wen answered your question about revealers, but the main thing to know about this puzzle is that there isn't one.
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Congratulations, Ron.
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Good Monday puzzle. Fresh entries like Deb said. and interesting theme. 'Twas fun. Agreed with William Innes.
Welcome back Deb.
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Welcome back Deb! We missed you!
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Solid.
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