Like a Centaur or Faun

Sometimes you just don’t get it when it’s staring you in the face. I completed the puzzle, but was still puzzled by IMANAGE for 44D. I kept trying to read it as “I’m an age” and couldn’t figure out what that might mean, I’d never heard the expression (though I had heard “I’m OF an age” or “lady of a certain age”, neither of which seemed relevant). Only when I read someone’s comment that referred obliquely to a not-so-humble manager, did I see the phrase was actually “I manage.”

My online puzzle does not recognize when I complete all squares. It used to tell me “Congratulations” or let me know that all squares are filled but there is one or more incorrect letters. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Just wanted to come here to say, somewhat selfishly and self-congratulatorily, that after *mumble-mumble* years, I FINALLY SOLVED IN UNDER 4 MINUTES!! 3:56 – take that, Monday puzzle! *ahem* Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go and dance around like a PARTyANIMAL now!

Hi all, Just popping in to deliver the news that (Surprise!) they're having some issues with the commenting system. I don't know exactly what they are, or when they will be fixed, but we do appreciate your patience, and I am putting through comments as often as I can.

A hearty welcome to the sibling UTEs on their arrival in the constructors' stable. Not only a nice friendly Monday with all the animals, but two bonuses: First, it's a rare but happy occasion when the themers are both horizontal and vertical. Second, I didn't notice until after I was done (and had stepped back to admire the animals) that the second half of each themer was an ANIMAL PART, so second Aha! I didn't know the name of that ugly hair style (or that it even had a name). To me a RATTAIL is a comb with a skinny handle. Didn't know AMIDALA. Saw the first "Star Wars" when it first came out (c. 40 years ago) and don't remember much about it. So Congratulations Lauring Bros. on a fine debut. We'll be looking for your sophomore outing.

Has anyone else been bombarded with confirmation emails after commenting on here today? I've had the same "Your Comment on Like a Centaur or Faun" email sent to me no less than 30 times since I commented 3 hours ago. I get several in a row, about a minute or less apart, and then there will be a break for a while and then another barrage of several in a row. I wrote to the Feedback people a couple of hours ago, but it's still going on, filling up my inbox. Hopefully it will end soon! For this new comment, I have unchecked the "Email me when my comment is published" box. Anyway, I'm just curious if anyone else has been experiencing this or if it's just me.

Toothy puzzle for a Monday -- interesting. And this time quibble worthy: 6a: I always thought X was a Roman numeral and ten an English number. Did that change? 27a: When I was growing up it was pigeontoed. In a pigeon only one toe on each foot is involved. 44a: It's not humble if the speaker really is a manager, isn't it? 48a: Doesn't have the dipthong of the clue words. On a brighter note: all the letters in the fill for 20a are in the word used for the clue.

Wonderful debut.

Congrats to the brothers Lauring on a fine debut puzzle. Any puzzle that pays tribute to the YANKEES is OK in my book (when do pitchers and catchers report to spring training?) Cute theme answers, but the BEESKNEES was just the...well, you know... Is the NARC searching for the LSD hiding in the SW corner? The funky "SNAKE EYES" by the Alan Parsons Project charted in the lower half of the Hot 100 in 1981: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8OX5ckqO38 "ENGAGE." (Capt. Picard voice)

Let me tell you how I MANAGE to be Lauring the boom on a Monday. First, there's that SILENTP, which reminds me of a favourite story, which may surface later. Follow that with a plethora of P's -- does 6 in the upper half constitute a plethora? -- some split (PEP), but most not, which made me suspect a PEA-related theme. May I suggest Mendel's GENETIC experiments support this theory? I even went so far as to consider that O-RATE alphabetically precedes P-RATE. Needles to say, I felt like a NUT when I finally focused on the asterisks and discovered I was awash in ANIMAL PARTs. So congratulations to the Lauring Bros, not only on a stellar debut, but on cleverly make me feel a happily fooled PeaBRAIN. Y'all did a lot for my AMygDALA. Pleasantly thought-provoking, but not hard, with my only write-over being PIGEONTOEd. I also suspected a body would need a powerful thirst before drinking TIRADE. Thanks to Max for sneaking in the ELI, where I was in the plain old Biology Dept before finding a home in Pharmacol. Happy memories of 333 Cedar St and assorted acid spills, hood fires and isotope contamination. Those were the days, my friends. Lastly, COULD I suggest going on with a classic 20 Questions series? After ANIMALPARTS, there's a reasonably good start for VEGETABLEPARTS with CARROTTOP, PUMPKINHEAD, POTATOEYES, BEANPOT, CORNROW, OKRACOKE, and, of course, PEABRAIN. Y'all are on your own with MINERALPARTS. Thanks for the Chick-FIL-A and EGGO, boys, but I'll have the STRUDEL.

Most impressive debut, especially in its consistent quality: not a weak spot in there anywhere. Congratulations, Max & Benjamin. Come back anytime!

Fun, fun ... dense, dense theme! Brilliantly done, Max and Benjamin. ! Bask in your glory today. (It would've been cool to give some pizzazz to PARTANIMAL like PARTYANIMAL. But it wouldn't make any sense!) I'm really looking forward to seeing your names at the top of the puzzle again!

Passion for Peaches you really know dog-speak.

Lots of fun comments today. I enjoyed the puzzle, too!

Since my question got lost in a little to-do, I will ask it again... Has there been a NYT puzzle constructed by a pair of siblings before this, or is this a first? Inquiring minds want to know.

Congratulations to the Lauring brothers and to all the young constructors who have found their puzzles accepted by Will Shortz. My father was the puzzle solver in our family and I began with 'skeleton' puzzles at about age 10, graduating to the Times at about age 21. I've never been the least bit intrigued with trying to construct one but I'm certainly grateful for all the newbies honing their skills. It guarantees that we won't witness the demise of this wonderful pastime.

Brothers Lauring, At your age I was taking pictures with a SLR Nikon with film. Rough equivalent of doing math with a bit of coal by the fire. Denied my Gold Star by a software glitch. But I will solider on. Thanks boys

Congrats to the Lauring Bros. Your family must be very proud of your many accomplishments, not to mention a debut puzzle. Like how Max got himself in the grid with ELI. It took me three tries to parse I MANAGE. Interestingly, AGE comes up in four answers -- COTTAGE/I MANAGE/AGE/ENGAGE. Another set of repetitive letters is TEN which comes up three times -- TEN/TENTPEG/TENN. I expect to see more from the Lauring Boys, and probably not just in puzzle construction!

Very nice debut. Congratulations to the brothers Lauring. Smooth solve and I liked the theme - I went through a couple of levels of appreciation of it. At first I just thought it was phrases with animals in them. Then realized it was animals plus body parts. And finally noted the consistency of the theme answers as I noted in a reply to PfP below. I sort of see the reveal as PART/ANIMAL describing both halves of each answer. As usual I went back and looked at clue histories. I checked HAREBRAIN and then HAREBRAINED and that led me to a January 30, 2000 Sunday puzzle by Peter Gordon. Somewhat similar theme but if somebody could go look at that puzzle and explain the numbers in brackets (years?) in the clues for the theme answers I would really appreciate it. I can not figure out what's going on there.

This was Puzzle #1 for the 7th Annual Arlington (Va.) Puzzle Festival on Saturday (04 Nov). Nice start to the tournament, I finished in 3:48 with no erasures. Started to suss out the theme with RAT TAIL. Found the revealer a bit awkward but passable. I have to thank my Star Wars fan son for knowing AMIDALA. I usually get tunnel vision when solving for speed, and I forgot to check the constructors. In this case, I wouldn't have known them anyway! I agree, impressive debut. Perennial finalists Rob and Mike were there, as well as a lightning-fast young guy named Matt. Stay tuned for how it turned out (or just Google the results!).

Congratulations, you two, on the debut. Eight theme answers in symmetry, and two times a theme answer crosses another two -- impressive construction. I like the seven double E's, the LSD/NEURONS cross, and the lovely unusual-for-Monday clever NEURONS clue. Cute theme, combining human and animal, just right for Monday. I'll count TAIL as a human body part (as the other theme answers have) because in yoga we call the tailbone the "tail" all the time, and trust me, we talk about the tailbone all the time.

Loved it, guys - good start to my week. Looking forward to your second!

Congratulations, Lauring Brothers on your NYT debut. Nice job!

It's great to have so many theme answers, and vertical as well as across fills. Perhaps it could have been a bit harder as I almost missed the BEES KNEES. Having said that I had two errors, TOEd instead of TOES ( didn't notice DGT at 29D, and also PLoT at 3D; I've never heard of PLAT, so learned a new word on a Monday. Great debut and like others hope to have many more from the lads.

and Elke Here's my YARN : I am 'eagle-eyed' enough ,that by the light of my 'goose-neck' lamp, I can discern some 'crow's-feet'...(OK-more than 'some'; anyway they are laugh lines ). But I MANAGE not to be ANGERED. I will just express my felicitations to the Lauring brothers , both ELI and not . They are 'lionhearted' in tackling constructing a puzzle ,and then submitting and having it published in the NYT. That must be a real boost to your psyches. Encore, please.

Is "I'm an age" a thing??? I googled it, and nothing came up.

Could you please have just one crossword puzzle without a Star Wars reference for a clue? Just one time? That would be fantastic.

Congratulations on the debut. Please give us some more. And of course “0.77 of my average solve time” is more interesting than just saying it was easy for a Monday. Quants unite!

Tom in GR: are you out there? Was my prediction right or what? Go Green.

I got the sense that the clues today were even simpler than usual for a Monday, like Will is trying to lure new solvers in and hook them. Hope it works.

"...at the tender ages of 22 and 17..." "What were you doing when you were their age?" Time for a song (for 17): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn8-4tjPxD8

"And, at the tender ages of 22 and 17, only one of them can legally pop open a cold one to celebrate." I don't know whether either of our constructors drink beer, Deb, but I believe the younger one may legally do so in his and your home state on private, non alcohol selling premises (or for medical, religious or educational purposes).

I’m charmed by the story of two brothers coming up with this idea while sharing a car ride. Nice work! Your talent with crosswords must be GENETIC. I’ve always said a person was “pigeon toed,” not that they have PIGEONTOES. Perhaps that is a generational difference? (A note about the photo of the day: that is not a friendly greeting. The dog on the right has a forward stance, has ears forward, head up, and eyes giving a hard look right into the other —submissive — dog’s eyes. Not just saying hello, in other words. Something to be aware of when walking your dogs.)

I laughed at “hoarse voice,” given the theme!

Thank you gentlemen for a fine first puzzle. I look forward to seeing more of your collaborations in the future. Great theme and a fine Monday puzzle. Very enjoyable.

A nice smooth enjoyable debut! Good work, guys! And you got a lot of theme material in there. I really liked the clue for 38D.

Well done! Tasty morsel for a Monday. Thank you!

Congratulations on the debut - I wonder how many pairs of siblings have done a puzzle together here? Is this a first? I looked up whether bee's have knees, and sure enough, they do! No kneecaps, but knee joints. 0.77 of my average Monday solve time

Nice debut. Some clever cluing and an overall theme well-suited to a Monday but neither boring nor irritating. Well done Messrs. Lauring.