Hi Xword fans!  Monday’s the day I put in the most tips for those just getting started on NYT crosswords.  Monday’s the easiest of the week building up to Saturday (Sunday’s bigger but its clues are about Wednesday/Thursday level.)

Monday puzzles always have “themes.”  The long clues have something in common.  In this case, we’re talking about 17-, 25-, 34-,  50-, and 59-Across.  In this case it’s just kind of a “cute” word play, nothing fancy, but once you get one of these, you’ll see the pattern for the others.

Dynasty vixen:  The first 4 letters of this woman’s name is usually a man’s name…or a woman’s

Whole bunch:  No, not a TON, but close

Soccer star Mia’s meats?:  Or what Mia does if she overacts?

Sgt. for one:  A very common xword answer.  3 letters.  Remember that sgts don’t go to officer training school.

Theme:  Well, not too inspired, as themes go.  Worth trying to get one of the long (across or down) clues because it’ll help with the others.

(In case you don’t know: Question marks mean wordplay is involved.   This puzzle fits the most common type:  Well-known phrases are altered in some consistent way throughout the long answers.  The clue accurately defines the actual answer rather than the well-known phrase.)

I got “Prince’s pottery equipment” last.  More common to think of the well known phrase as associated with a king rather than a prince.

Only other across theme clue/answer is 104-Across.  3-Down, 14-Down, 36-Down, & 58-Down  are the othertheme-related clues.  Unusual to have so few Across theme clues.

Other hints on the theme:

Stop proceeding in the maze when you reach the end?:  Boy is this a stretch for a small amount of word play!  You’re not going to get your $200. this way!

Strategy employed by a Siberian Hansel and Gretel?:  Since they wouldn’t have bread crumbs, what would they use?

Haymakers?:  The “phrase” in this case, is quite appropriate for this Sunday, if you follow this category of event.

Other hints:

Like some church matters:  Various forms of the root of this word are very common in xwords.  Remember that not all church matters are matters of the church.

Dr. Moreau’s creator:  He’s also the creator of xword-land’s favorite human species of the future, the ELOI.

It can be shocking: Well, EEL is too short.  No matter how shocking this is, it can’t electrocute you.

Ginger Spice’s first name:  It isn’t Ginger?  What if you had to make a girl’s name out of Ginger but could only use 4 letters.

Good-sized musical group: What’s a good size?   Depends, doesn’t it.  For a symphony, this wouldn’t be “good-sized” and the answer, ironically, sounds like it doesn’t have anyone in it at all.

Det. Bonasera on CSI: NY  — In my mind, I hear Marlon Brando calling to her now.

“The Player” director — One of the most well-known Hollywood directors.  He’s famous also for his famous Hollywood actors per movie ratio, but his most well-known movie takes place a couple thousand miles east of LA.

Feats of construction:  Ah, the agony of da feat!  Really, calling these constructions “feats” is a bit overstated.  We’re not talkin’ pyramids, here, something much more mundane.

Hawker:  Most commonly, of fish.  As in “fish ______”

Ten, for openers:  Sometimes you’ll see a question mark after clues like this.  It’s not about an ANTE, what it “opens” isn’t a game or a door.

If you enjoyed these hints, bookmark this page.  I try to post every night (the on-line puzzle comes out the night before the printed puzzle).  And while you’re here, check out the rest of the site!  

Rose on stage:  the “on stage” might throw you off.   It’s true, but most people associate this person with a particular kind of stage performance.  No, not a striptease, Gypsy Rose Lee died long before this Rose rose to fame.

What goes before that goes?:  Three words.  Think of “What goes before” as though it were a ________.

Period of radio silence:  Well it can’t be the dark side of the moon, but it’s in that same general arena.

Needlework?:  Lots of needles, but no thread.

Measure of progress:  How many hours of modern of life are spent watching this measure inch along?

Reason to end an engagement:  This one deserves a question mark at the end, IMHO.  Anyway, it doesn’t have to do with love and marriage, at least not literally.

Alpine stream:  Well, more commonly Alpine river, and actually a specific river that appears not infrequently in xwords.

Jerks:  The NYT continues to get a little more liberal about what can be an acceptable puzzle word.

Carleton College rival:  This one looks very weird if you get 29-Across first.  Think Scandinavian.

Backwater, in Australia:  Remember Waltzing Matilda?  If not, pray you get enough down clues to help you out.  Could be the invoice you produce when you sell a particular piece of “paraphernalia”

It’s worth 8 points in English and 10 points in French:  This was the last answer I solved.  Forget the “in English and 10 points in French” and it might be easier.   This isn’t something many of us mere humans have ever tried in French (or seen tried, for that matter).

Another Friday killer.  Maybe doing these late at night isn’t the best idea I ever had.  Anyway, here we are, Friday and themeless, with some giant long answers, very few obvious answers, but at least none the long answers is hopelessly obscure.  It could be worse!

Key target of resolution:  Think problem, not photograph

Last single blasts:  Think young men, but not baseball players

Unlikely to develop clothing lines:  I kept thinking it would be something like a synonym for nerd, but it’s not about the fashion scene

Pirate: 2 words.  Think the noun, not the verb

Reaches, as a vacation resort:  2 words.  I expected it to be something like flies in or takes a cruise ship, but it’s more general than that.

Does some flattering:  and might help those aching bones, too.

Relaxes:  Figuratively.  It’s a 4 word phrase, and not the most common expression for this either.

Like many new couples:  They probably aren’t ready for 16-Across yet.  3 words!

Eschews the draft?:  Don’t over think this one, we’re talking draft like SSS and ONE-A, not air currents.

Relative of a fjord:  And one of the few overused crossword-ese answers in this puzzle!

Crop killing caterpillars:  2 words.  When you figure it out, you’ll realize they do sound like they could do some damage on the ground.

Line to wrap things up with:  If you don’t 28-Across (that answer, by the way, is a word I’ve never heard before), you’ll probably heave a big sigh and say this.

Oh, boy, they want you do it on paper.  Afterwords, I went back to check if I got it all right by plugging into Across Lite.  I actually think it would have been easier to do that way, though you lose a bit of the visual effect.

Anyway, we find the “key” clue at 62-across.  I think I began to be able to say [the answer to 14-Across] (“gotcha” in this case denotes understanding, not some kind of scam or joke) when 39-Across “Preparing to be shot, say” came into focus.

Remember there are many kinds of tubes that might contain warnings.  Some of them, including these, aren’t very close to these shores.

Lots of trick clue/answer combos here.  What I’d call misdirection.  Often your first association to the clue isn’t the meaning the puzzle writer is using.  Some have question marks to alert you to the word play, many don’t.  Ring, Capital of Australia (note the spelling of capital), Shipwreck cause, lightly roast and a couple others fit this description.  So don’t get too hung on a particular meaning of the clue, there may be others.

Private business, in slang:  or “in a phrase”

Knock on wood, say:  Think the sound you make, not the superstition

Face seen on many tee shirts:  If it was 3 letters, you’d know it right away, right?  Same face.

500, e.g.:  As in the ______ 500.

Medical subject of Time magazine:  Note the years, particularly the first one;  2 words

Échecs pieces:  Ok, it’s French.  It’s a game that has pieces.  Each of  these pieces have names you’re familiar with.  The French word here is a very common one.

Melancholy, say:  or joy, you could also say.

Food with an inedible center?:  Very clever.  The puzzler’s right, you can’t eat it, but once you’re done eating, it will be gone!

Very clever, tricky puzzle.  If you had trouble with it, don’t fret, it’s definitely trickier than an average tricky Thursday puzzle.

This afternoon I found myself reading some advertising supplement that cam with the daily newspaper.   I found myself reading a snippet about Barbara Hale, the actress who played Della Street in the Perry Mason TV series.  I found myself trying to memorize this factoid.  Something similar happens at the checkout line in the grocery store (they move much too fast these days to really read anymore!) picking up the Star to see if I might pick up a couple names of who plays who in what TV show.

Why on earth am I trying to retain this information?

…because it might come up in a crossword, of course.

As if, in a lifetime, I haven’t stored up enough useless information!

I can’t write any more now, I have to go watch The Simpsons re-runs ’cause I’ve forgotten Grampa’s name.  Abe, right?

Theme:  This is one of the those themed puzzles where it pays to look over the clues to see if there’s a “key” clue, one that tells you something about the other theme clues.  In this case, it’s 28-Across (hint to the meaning of the bracketed clues).  This puzzle is loaded with theme clues.

In a puzzle like this, you’ve gotta start with the non-theme answers before going after the theme.  Since the bracketed numbers are relatively short, you will probably need to get a few of them before the long hint clue will come into focus.  Once you do get the idea, you’ll probably find it  smooth sailing after that.

Some clue hints:

Sporty auto, for short:  Keep in mind that it’s letters or a nickname (“for short”) and think brand not type of car.

Couldn’t help but:  2 words

Feudal lord:  I always though this guy was lower than a lord, on bended knee, I apologize, my  ________.

Climber’s goal:  Yes, I though it was PEAK at first too.  Same idea, different word.

Combine name:  No, not a portmanteau. (Sorry, I just like that word!)  They make lots of stuff that you find nearby the combine, if you had one.  You know the name.

Garden pest genus:  Don’t get thrown by “genus,”  it’s not a weird scientific word you’ve never heard of.  Just one letter (pssst, it’s the last letter) is different from the more familiar common name.

He and she:  Don’t think too deep  about this one.  If he and she went, then _______ went.

Like some checking accounts: yeh, I thought JOINT, too, but this one is two words.

Faux fat:  Faux?  Give me a break.  It’s synthetic, not French.

I hope you get a kick out of this blog.   I noticed recently that lots of people were reading my hints for a week after I published them.   That surprised me.  So I suspect, for one thing, that biggest of all search engines, that of the corporation-that-shall-remain-nameless, isn’t indexing me as quickly as I might hope.   Which is just to say, if you like this site occasionally, bookmark it and just come directly, ’cause I do like to update the site every day, sometimes more frequently.

I hope I don’t give away too much in my hints.   All I can say is that I try not to give the answer away entirely.  I admit that sometimes my hints are even more obscure than the actual clue; sometimes they are to give another way to look at the answer after you’ve figured out.  I know that’s not fair, and I apologize, but I hope it sometimes brings a snicker if not a smile.

This blog is a thread within the much larger world I’m trying to create on this site, so pause to look around a bit while you’re here.

Theme:  Notice that 65-across ties everything together;  “Hidden” in a clue usually means that there’s a word inside the long answer that you normally wouldn’t notice.  Often this is a word that combines the end of one word with the beginning of another.  Often you don’t get any of the long answers until you get a number of crossing answers.

Specific hints:

Shortest paths:  well, STRAIGHT LINES doesn’t fit, but something very similar does.

Surfer girl:  Does it help to remember that what part of the 50 states has the biggest waves of all?  Well, this word comes from there.

Igor, for one:  …or: “Dog trainer?”

Slugger Mel:  If you didn’t know this one, check out Words Every Solver should know.  Very common puzzle name.

Baseball taps:  Well, I’m not sure it’s exactly a “tap.”  Anyway, don’t think to deep on this one, it doesn’t have anything to do with playing taps, or something like that.

How losses appear on a ledger & futile:  sometimes things are so bad it takes more than a word to describe them, well, approximately

Père  – a français king, évidement.

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If you’re looking for Monday NYT hints, go down to the post below this.  Brendan Emmet Quigley posts a seriously hard puzzle each Monday that I also often gives hints for.  

First, full disclosure, I couldn’t have completed this puzzle without doing “check” in Across Lite several times.  I made mistakes on 4 letters before finally straightening things out.   This is a hard puzzle.

Quigley has a knack for a few things, most of them in evidence here:

1.  A word you know (“Where Bjork was born”), but can’t possibly spell.  But it is familiar, so don’t panic.

2.  A word that’s part of modern internet lingo (aka, a meme) that may not make any sense to you once you do get it.  Remember the puzzlers code:  Never google while solving a puzzle, always google after solving.  If the dinosaurs had followed this simple code, they’d probably still be around!  Any way, the idea here is that a common internet expression, in this case one involving the supreme deity, is transformed as though one were trying to enunciate while wearing a retainer.

3.  An answer that’s easy but a clue that’s all but impossible.  (Houthi Rebellion republic) — I never trusted those Houthi, whoever they were.  Even when I got it, I didn’t know where it was when it became clear the answer to 26-down (3-Down’s region) didn’t refer to the continent it’s in.

4.  Slightly “off color” clue/answer combos.  But none in this particular BEQ gem.

More hints:

Viper with distinctive bands:  Two animals in one!

Pool stat? — Pool, as in swimming?  No.  Pool, as in a game played in a seedy parlor? No.  Pool, as in genes? No.  Still one more to go.

Mariscal Sucre International Airport City:  People are quite sweet on this hero’s name in this part of the world.

Chief’s home:  No, not indian chief.  If it said “The Chief’s home” would that help?

Theme:   Remember that a quick scan of all the clues often reveals one that is a hint to several others.  Here it’s  56-Across “Apocalyptic Warning or a hint to 20-, 33- and 42-Across.”   In this case the answer to 56-Across is literally true of 20-, 33- and 42-Across.  For 56-Across, think the cartoon stereotype of a crazy guy on a street corner.

A couple specific hints:

________ Pieces:  Mmmmmmmmm.

Smallest Great Lake:  smallest in letters too; no other 4-letter Great Lake.  ARAL was great, and was freshwater, too, but now it’s drying up to nothing.  Remember it, though, it’ll keep showing up in puzzles long after there’s no water in it at all.

Like the street grid of Midtown Manhattan:  Well, I like to think of the answer as “a tessellation by rectangles or parallelepipeds that are not, in general, all congruent to each other,” but maybe that’s just me.

Mail to the wrong address:  The answer sounds like a word someone thinks should mean send to the wrong address, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone actually say this.

Bar next to butter, maybe:  More often, instead of

Pioneer’s direction:  Think American pioneer.

Suggest: 2 words

Munitions depot:  I thought this was a European football team.

Like the Contest Puzzle of this past December (Bypassing Security), we have a closed square in the center.  Hopefully since it isn’t a contest, it won’t be a killer.  Here we go…

Trying to remember what a Magic Square… 36-across fits the theme but doesn’t tell us much…119-across is the key.  It directs our attention to 98-across, 34-down, and 48-down.  These clues just refer back to 119-across, so we’ve gotta get many crossing answers to get anywhere.  23-across, 17.- down (and there must be one more of this trio,  Ah, there is, 67-down) also must be part of the theme answer.  Once you land 119-across and any one of 98-across, 34-down or 48-down, the other two should be relatively easy to figure out.   Similarly, If you can work the arithmetic out, then 23-across, 17-down. and 67-down fall into place fairly straightforwardly.   For one more theme hint, go to the bottom of this post.

Individual answer hints:

Mollify:  As in Neville Chamberlain vis a vis WW II.   Note the connection to 58-across.

11-down: Pitcher’s datum:  Note that clue isn’t an abbreviation and is singular not plural.  So the answer must be also.

12-down Friendly introduction?:  This what you’re doing this puzzle on.  Or not, if you’re looking at a physical newspaper.

Company closing?:  No, not .com.  The word pre-dates even our friendly introduction.

Division politique:  Note that it’s a French word.   The U.S. ones are United.

H.S. Senior’s exam, once:  A close cousin of a H.S. exam that is still very much the bane of seniors everywhere.

Newspapers:  Well, I’d think you could say “,once”  here.  Do they really still call newspapers what this answer says?

Parisian schools:  And you thought all they had was ECOLES.   You’ve probably heard this word even if you know little French.

File extensions:  no, not like the one’s in 110-down.  Remember, this puzzle plays some little tricks with internet-age vs. pre-electronic.

Rotating surveying tool:  The answer to the question:  Why do you landscapers have to keep so even-tempered?

“Big” theme hint:  It isn’t really magic, you just have to remember that your keyboard doesn’t just have letters and symbols on it.

Hopefully, once you’re done, you will, like me, finally remember what a magic square is!

Themeless, of course.  Hints for “They might make a dog run” and many others.

They might make a dog run:  A slight trick here.  Consider that some words are both nouns and verbs.

On-air hobbyists:  No CB-ERs won’t fit, but similar.  I thought this was something of the past, apparently not.

Select: another one to be open minded about verb vs. noun

Portrayer of June in “Henry and June”:  Since Henry is Henry Miller, you can bet the actress is hot!

Pico Mountain innovation in 1940:  and now a Bunny Hill standard.

Not nervous at all:  5 words, well, 4 if you don’t count repeats.

Oil deposit problem:  Not the kind of oil deposit you’d likely think of at first

Be in the can:  Boy, does can have a lot of possibilities.  For most people, it’s the second one that occurs to you that’s the right one here.  And no, this is not an example of the NYT getting more risqué.

Fit of the road:  Another word twist.  It doesn’t mean what you’d think it does at first.  Not about one’s readiness for the the road, but something else entirely.

Pair in a cage:  No, not lions…or any other animal.  A very specific pair of something’s that are always in a particular cage.

Body image:  Not an image of the body, like a CAT Scan, but an image…

By Friday, we’re beyond tips, unless it’s to warn new solvers that Fridays can be pretty rough.  For a while I challenged myself to do Fridays in print form in pen, trying to keep the it all as cleanly done as possible.  I’d come back to the puzzle several times in a day before I’d finished, rarely without having to write over something I’d screwed up.  That can be a fun way to challenge yourself.   Today I use Across Lite addict, and on Fridays I put my answer in using the “pencil” option.

I have a gripe with one clue/answer:  It’s possible to figure out the “key discovery of 1799” once you’ve got a few letters, but “Jersey Shore”  co-star is completely un-figure-out-able if you don’t know it already.  So it’s all about solving the crossing answers without the down clue not helping at all.  Anyway…:  It’s two words, but  not really a person’s name.  Don’t ask me why an actor is named this way;  beats me.  (After I did the puzzle I googled it:  “805 million results.”  Guess that shows me just how out of it I am.  Ok with me, but please don’t make the centerpiece of a crossword!)

More hints:

Bars:  think army

cubes: think verb, not plural noun

pets named for their British Isle origins:  2 words.

print:  think noun, not verb, and think ecologically

Hatchery supply:  not OVA surprisingly, but close

Concert momento:  I’ve saved quite a few, you probably have to, check to pockets of a coat you haven’t warn in a long time.

Brooklyn player:  must have taken the wrong train from Secaucus.

Complementary robe provides:  But don’t try to walk off with it, your credit card will be charged

Thursday is usually the most fun day of the week for most people who do NY Times puzzles frequently. (I enjoyed Wednesday’s, btw.  I like when the answer makes you smile once you figure it out.)  Fridays and Saturdays are themeless, so they rarely have an added twist or tickle.

A possible solving strategy:  Work you way through the acrosses and downs seeing what you feel fairly confident about.  (If you’re starting out, this number will go up as you keep doing puzzles.  I can definitely remember the days when I could go through an entire Saturday or even Friday puzzle and only have a couple answers solidly written in.)  As you then go through the down clues, particularly look out for things that seem pretty definite but contradict earlier guesses.  Erasing a wrong answer (keeping in mind it could yet prove right!) is even more valuable than putting in a good guess.   Then find the spot that seems that looks like you’ve got the most filled in and see what you can do with that area.

Theme hints:  OK, a quick browse of the clues tells us that 4-down, 9-down, & 36-down are related to each other.  With 42-across and 25-across also linked.  Are they these combo answers linked to each other?  Maybe not.  But, let me warn you, this is a clever one.  Truly Thursday appropriate.  (Sadly, Across Lite makes you write in the very thing you shouldn’t in order to get Mr. Happy Pencil.)

Specific Hints:

It’s a mystery:  This is what I call a “literal.”   It’s a direct synonym of “mystery,” not a famous mystery or any other kind or example of a mystery.

I call Foul on 41-across (Title figure in a Mitch Albom best seller) crossing  29-down (Pacific Nation).  I’m sure there are lots of people, maybe you’re one of them, who know one of those two answers, but I sure don’t.  If you don’t know them, there is no way you can do anything but guess what’s in the square where they cross.  I know I only give hints and not answers, but I’ll tell you this much: the crossing square is a letter between Q and S in the alphabet.  That doesn’t give it away, does it?

Many a  “Today” show sign:  If you watch the show this is obvious, if you don’t remember that the audience is outside in the street, not inside in a theatre, so it’s not a sign like “APPLAUSE” they show studio audiences (in case they forgot what they’re there for!).

Moravian capital:  Remember how those Moravian’s hate their vowels and love jamming their consonants together!

Black:  Yeh, I thought EBON, too, but there are other words for the same thing it seems.