Hello,
Is it possible to remove an anomalous solve time? I started Monday's puzzle on Sunday, got called away and closed the laptop. I went back and finished on Monday only to find the puzzle hadn't automatically paused and my solve time was over 25 hours. This more than tripled my Monday average. Bummer.
Thank you.
As a poet, I respectfully demand that all clues referring to "poetic" word for, morning, evening, time past, time to come or any other damn thing should be banned. I have been insulted long enough and I'm not going to take it anymore. J'accuse!
The way you look
is the way you look at it
1
Weight, weight, don't tell me!
Was that a kind of Easter egg for the theme to throw a FIG *Newton* into the grid?
For good measure, as it were?
I liked BEE BALM cuz I have it in my garden and I liked the theme cuz I used to pore over all the Weights & Measures tables in my Random House dictionary. Always loved to have some Peas in the Avoirdupois section.
Now it's time for this GRAMma to have a vodka TONic or maybe a small DRAMbuie. Mille TONNEre!!
4
Excellent, well-clued Monday puzzle. Had to ponder a bit on a couple clues, which is a good thing for a Monday. Well done!
2
and Elke
Wow- woke to all sorts of yummy offers (still on DStime)- ranging from seder with Sophia and Linda to matzabrei breakfast with LoB (in Santa Monica,which may be closest to where we will all be). Will the brei have apricot jam as topping ?
Linda- you bid your parve/flourless chocolate roll- I'll raise you our Tante Ilonka's Walnut Torte with chocolate icing. Initially I had difficulty following her recipe instructions until I saw that her "heaping spoonful of ground walnuts" meant using large serving spoons and really heaping them high. Really, a "schuett" recipe.
So, thanks to all .Now we are all DROOLing.
2
@Robert
Just starting my recipe planning but it looks like you are way ahead of me! I must boast, though, that I have the best tasting (yes, they actually have taste) matzo balls!
Now, if I could only figure out who is actually coming. Kids here, kids there...
2
Well, I sure hope that John Lampkin doesn't eat his HAT because he looks great in it!
If you HAVE AN OUNCE OF SENSE you won't throw a GRAIN OF SALT into where there once was a POUND OF FLESH because if you do the pain will hit you like a TON OF BRICKS!
Thanks, John!
3
Having grown up with the wasp-in-the-cookie rumors, I must say that BEE is a little too close to my FIG newton for comfort.
1
Letter Boxed
J - S (5), S - Y (10)
@Mike
S-E (10), E-Y (5)
very apropos for this time of year
1
@Lou
I like yours better
1
@Mike
J - S (4), S - E (10)
Put an 'of' between the 2 words, and you have a phrase common in March-May
2
The NaCl puzzle from last week sparked the GRAIN OF SALT entry. Liked the oo's: OOF, OOPS, COO, GOO, DROOL. And some ee's: PEE, GELEE, PEEK, BEE, TREE.
Fun Fun for a Mon Mon.
6
Most of the clues in this very easy puzzle were gimmes. But there is an attempt to counterbalance the easiness with some humor. I liked the clues: "What a robber hopes to get"; "Quickly and loudly detach" (I like the "loudly"); "Skull for Hamlet..."; and "Why is a flower like the letter A?" Lampkin shows a playful approach to cluing that I hope in the future will be put in the service of a more challenging puzzle.
8
Easy puzzle with a couple of nice touches. I liked the fact that "what a robber hopes to get" and "how a robber gets caught" were side by side. The ascending order of amounts was also nice.
5
Easy puzzle with a couple of nice touches. I liked the fact that "what a robber hopes to get" and "how a robber gets caught" were side by side. The ascending order of amounts was also nice.
1
My five favorite clues from last week
(in order of appearance):
1. Focus on the road, e.g.? (4)
2. Set out on the highway? (5)
3. They're in good hands (9)
4. Fit for a sweater (4)
5. Small cardinal (3)
AUTO
TIRES
STRAIGHTS
AGUE
TWO
17
The app just told me a have a 1 day streak (yesterday was 125 or so) and the browser is telling me 71 day. I know it's all just for personal stats but I'm slightly annoyed (this isn't the first time) that my streak has been ruined outside of my control.
7
Same for me. I shouldn't get annoyed, but sometimes knocking em out before close of day is a challenge.
Grrrr
@Brian & @Steven
Reach out to the Puzzle Support team (reached by scrolling down to the menu at bottom of puzzle pages and picking "Support") to tell them the system messed up your streak. They'll likely be able to fix it. When I "earned" a totally erroneous 2:22 time on a Wednesday puzzle (not even close to my best time) they re-set it no problem. Good luck!
1
Nice puzzle. Smooth solve.
Kind of interesting answer history search today. Three of the theme answers appear for the first time, and even OUNCEOFSENSE has appeared only once before. I decided to see how many times they had appeared embedded in a longer answer.
Of course, as has already been noted by other commenters, WITHAGRAINOFSALT was in yesterday's puzzle, and that was making its second appearance. AGRAINOFSALT appeared once before, and that was a kind of fascinating puzzle. More on that below.
OUNCEOFSENSE? Once before as noted above, but never in any other form.
Apoundofflesh appeared once before, and that's it for that phrase in any form.
TONOFBRICKS? Nope - never before in anyway shape or form.
Back to AGRAINOFSALT. That was in a 1988 themed puzzle, which had 'Skeptic' in some form in all the theme clues. The other theme answers were: DOUBTINGTHOMAS, ("Tell it..)TOTHEMARINES, and my favorite: IMFROMMISSOURI.
I'll shut up now.
4
@Rich in Atlanta
Did you count last week's "Grain of NaCL"?
1
@Robert Michael Panoff
If by 'last week' you mean yesterday, then yes - I mentioned it in paragraph 3.
@Rich in Atlanta
Ah, I missed that since yesterday I had entered it as NaCL not as SALT. Was SALT an option?
1
Excuse me, "community monitors," but I thought my comment you deleted on the 51A clue and entry in the puzzle was both on topic and quite topical. Or don't you read your own paper?
3
A victim of our fear of “controversy”?
2
I made a brief reply to Rob about 3 hours ago and received an email saying that it was approved, but it hasn’t appeared
What we need from our senior government officials (I hesitate to say leadership) is a grain of truth.
I guess I finally found the “EASY Button”.
This one was a quick “SOLVE” and I set a new PB record for Monday (this year).
No complaints!
Just a question. Mr. Lampkin refers to a revealer. I found none. Missed the theme altogether - but didn’t need it for any of the theme answers.
Wow! I just looked at my “Archives” and can see what devastation my peripatetic activities have wrought in the last month. I have some considerable catching up to do. (See what I mean about how UNimportant “streaks” are? I’ve skipped several puzzles - - - and “nobody died”!)
PeterW,
Mr. Lampkin wrote:
"I originally submitted this puzzle in reverse order, moving from the heavy to the light, using CRASH DIET as the revealer. Will suggested eliminating the revealer and reversing the order to make a Monday-suitable grid with cleaner fill."
(He followed Will's suggestions.)
2
When I first moved to Saint Paul from Manhattan (circa 1971) the relatively (outside of NYC) unknown NY Dolls played at the State Fair. I asked one of my dorm mates, Carol, to attend. I did not mention that I had photographed the Dolls several times. Not sure Carol, whose taste in music was more Loggins and Messina, enjoyed the music but was impressed when David J. Bounded of the stage clad in spray painted white construction boots, etc. exclaiming: “I never imagined I would see you among the hay bales!”
Wool gathering aside. Fastest Monday on record (mine) according to the NYT app. Laughed at SALT in the grid after yesterday’s puz.
Aspen in the summer is a great spot. The Aspen Institute is located just outside of the village and is an example of what your college dorms could be, if designed by Bauhaus.
Thanks John
2
VERTEX
Usually not much to say about Vertex (other than to curse when it makes you start as a beginner), but the title of today’s puzzle would generate a fair bit of controversy and comment had it been the title of Sunday’s Xword puzzle: “The doctor is away.”
(So thankful that the health professionals in the national spotlight are acting like true health professionals rather than political hacks.)
1
Would some like to hazard a guess as to how many times EKES has been used in NYT crosswords? I’m accepting estimates in increments of 5,000.
19
@Nobis Miserere LOL! It does appear a lot, although it also allows the odd 'K' to appear in difficult places. I came here to mention my delight in the return of my old chums ULEE and ERLE, and in the same puzzle no less. I cannot remember the last time I saw either...they used to be so ubiquitous.
3
@Nobis Miserere
It is used a lot! However, the stats are:
EKES = 232 times (all editors)
EKED = 196 times (")
EKE = 353 times
There is also:
EKED BY
EKE BY
EKED OUT
EKES OUT
EKE OUT
Total of all of these is less than 50.
4
@Nobis Miserere
Eek!
Which is worse: the virus that hits you like TONOFBRICKS, or the one that extracts its POUNDOFFLESH? Hoping we all can stay healthy!
Enjoyable Monday puzzle romp. A bright spot in a sleepy, dark morning!
4
@Ann
If we had an OUNCE OF SENSE, we'd take it all with a GRAIN OF SALT. :)
1
LOVE the New York Dolls! Thanks for the clip!
2
By the way, can someone please explain how this early burglar alarm in the picture works? Thank you.
@Lewis It looks like a wire/pulley system is attached to the (outwards opening) door. The door opens, the wire/rope is tugged and something happens. Is that a bell suspended near the other door? Or a contraption out of sight of the viewer.
1
Mary,
From what I think I see, opening either door causes the clock to chime.
1
I see others have unsurprisingly mentioned this already, but surprised @Deb had no comment on GRAIN OF SALT/NACL appearing as answers on consecutive days, and as part of the theme both times no less.
Certainly unexpected of the NYT puzzle, but especially for a longer, distinctive answer. Even shorter, common answers like ASHE or EKE don't typically appear close together temporally.
7
@Rob -- I'd like to think Will does this with a twinkle in his eye. I recall a good number of times in the past when a word would show up even more than a couple of days in a row, and I thought the same thing -- something to tie the puzzles together, something to smile at.
4
Rob,
Caitlin writes the columns for the Saturday and Sunday puzzles. Perish the thought, but Deb may not have even looked at the Sunday puzzle.
3
In the App I often find that the puzzles suggested from the archive have some answers in common with the latter puzzles in the week. It could be coincidence but I feel like it’s there to help prep for the week.
1
I laughed at MY HAT because I hadn't heard that in so long. I would have thought it had shown up in many puzzles in the past, but no, only three times (including today) and all since 2015.
I did mark down ATRA, ULEE, ASTA, and ELO as Classic Crosswordese and thought it was a good intro of these old friends to new solvers, who will surely see them again.
Six double E's, five double O's, generating rhymers PEE BEE COO GOO. Say that five times fast.
Overall, 'twas an enjoyable bit of fun, a piece of cake, by a man of many words. Thanks, John!
8
I know it’s Monday, but this one should have never escaped the pile. The only sparkle came with “Flabbergast,” and that was in a clue. Also, the grid is clogged with 22 Terrible Threes, over the maximum for an acceptable puzzle.
4
SPELLING BEE GRID
R A H L M N O
WORDS: 30, POINTS: 109, PANGRAMS: 1
First character frequency:
A x 4
H x 10
M x 8
N x 2
O x 1
R x 5
Word length frequency:
4L: 14
5L: 10
6L: 5
8L: 1
Grid:
4 5 6 8 TOT
A: - 3 1 - 4
H: 4 3 2 1 10
M: 3 4 1 - 8
N: 1 - 1 - 2
O: 1 - - - 1
R: 5 - - - 5
TOT:14 10 5 1 30
Two letter list:
AL-1 AM-1 AR-2
HA-2 HO-8
MA-3 MO-5
NO-2
OR-1
RO-5
60
I forgot daylight savings. We don’t get it in Japan.
5
Thanks (as always!) for the grid. I did however get a slight difference in mine today (I got 3 6 letter HO).
2
@Cooofnj
I got QB with two H6 words.
Thanks Doug and Kevin (needed hints for two of the H5s)!
2
Got a personal best on this one even though I was stuck for a moment on AT STUD. AWAY was actually the first clue I filled in, but definitely not what I first thought until I saw it was four spaces!
1
**S P E L L I N G B E E H I N T S**
30 words, 109 points, 1 pangram.
7
Hints:
Clock that wakes you
Unethical & ethical (2 words)
Knight’s metal suit
Pleasant smell
Forbidden by Islamic law
White frost or hair (usually an adj.)
Shout of joy
Jewish circle dance
Adj. for 60 min., NOT the above dance
Body control chemicals, adj., pangram
Scary film genre
Landed country estate
Archaic teacher nickname
Adam Levine band
Back tooth
Othello’s nationality
Before noon, in poetry
Idiot
Usual (2 words)
By mouth
Mixed-color horse
42
@Kevin - I don’t know if you mean it or not but the order of your hints is an extra hint.
6
@Doug It's just easier for me that way and also helps readers.
When I later add clues that I've forgotten, such as for yesterday's laggy & lallygag, people often don't even see them.
The ideal solution would be the ability to edit or delete posts.
12
Ha! I caught that little GRAIN OF NaCl RED HANDED, clinging like a barNACLe to our little corner of puzzledom.
6
Fun and clever Monday puzzle, with a few glances over the shoulder at salty puzzles past
6
and Elke
Deb- Thanks.
Loved the theme- spec.as increasing personal weights ARE in the offing. Upcoming FEASTS-- Passover SEDERS (in a month or so) and a Purim seudah in two days--have me readying my elasticized waist clothing :))
Am DROOLing at the thought of hamantaschen which I prefer to FIG newtons (IMHO).
Noted that Mr.Lampkin caught the emu mob off guard- we got both PEE and TAKE A PEE(K).
All that's left to do is finding ROUTES on how to get to our SEDERS. Country of destination is closing its air borders and we are in the "high-risk" age group (80 yrs.+)
Somebody may suggest re-enacting the original Exodus- via the desert...
Fun puzzle and good reminder of non-metric weight measures.
8
You come to my house for your Seder. My favorite meal of the year.
5
and Elke
Sophia- thanks for your sweet offer, but not this year.
Actually our fallback place is in the LA area with the LAbrats (who are now preteens, Leapy )and who now will stay home and prepare for a whole bunch of us.
Really feel bad for the tourist business- airlines, hotels, event planners etc.
5
@Robert and Elke
We're only 400 miles away. Have dessert here and help the kids find the afikoman.
4
more NACL I see
7
I just finished the Mini and was stumped by “MLB player in a 2020 cheating scandal.” I thought the clue was looking for, you know, a PLAYER, not a team member.
9
An easy, fun and solid puzzles. Congrats!
1
Much better than average time for a Monday as GRAIN OF SALT takes a second bow in two days.
7
Not to stoke old and divisive debates, but shouldn't 59D be clued as (cake)?
2
@Jay
I’m very tempted to flag your comment. I am offended on behalf of cookie-eaters everywhere. But in the spirit of unity and conciliation which these turbulent times demand, I would agree to (cakey cookie).
7
Does anyone else give a FIG?
4
@Barry Ancona
It’s a matter of some gravity.
4
All-time record for me today!
5
@Steve L that's great!
I can never beat my all time fastest because it was that April Fools puzzle that had the same letter going all the way across the grid, I think 3 Times. That just got typed in faster than if i have to type in different letters.
1
Same! My fastest Monday is 4/1/19. I can’t get close!
1
Puzzle had a personality crisis, not in a bad way. GELEE, TO STUD? On Monday? AWAY slyly clued. Yet, so much of the puzzle was so Mondayish (e.g., “Red __ Beet”), with enough glue that it could have been sponsored by Elmer’s. When I saw DOLLS UP, I thought of the cross-dressing 1970s punk rock band, the New York DOLLS. Here’s they are live via 1973 with “Personality Crisis”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctg5FCS1wCM
8
@Puzzlemucker
DJ's early band was the Vagabond Missionaries which appeared in The Forgotten Borough.
2
Living in close proximity to French Canada. My reaction to 18A was “TaberNACLe!”
5
@Andrew
I got what you’re referring to, but I doubt one in 100 Americans would. But I certainly noticed the bleed over too.
Those Québecois curse words are really strange!
3
@Steve L I only do because of Louise Penny's crime novels, where one character says it frequently (at least in his younger appearances). But I had to look it up the first time I encountered it.
@Andrew This seems a handy primer to similar words but I leave it to a Canadian to confirm or deny 🙂 https://www.tripsavvy.com/french-swear-words-2392225
I fell in of with this puzzle.
(If you solved it, weigh to go!)
5
I sure wish that my laptop had come with a CDDRIVE. I carry an external around in my bag. It's not fully compatible, but gets me by. I believe the big problem is that the laptop makers believe thin is more important than functional.
6
@Kiki Rijkstra Curious what you use the drive for (photos?). I bought an external drive about 4 years ago and can't remember the last time I used it.
@Mary Walsh
Most common task has been ripping CDs. Second most would be view xrays. The only option for two labs has been CD and that's been recent.
8
That was short and sweet. My only problem was that NACL did not work in 18 Across.
38
During this tax season, 46 across resonates with me!
5
Really like 18 across in light of Sunday puzzle.
15