For those who find the NYT early week puzzles a piece of cake, Brandan Emmett Quigley offers up a challenging puzzle each Monday.  Quigley likes to use a couple current pop/rap/sports figures that can drive us old fogeys nuts, but c’est la vie.  Quigley sometimes will violate the “can you talk about it over Sunday morning breakfast with the the whole family” test of propriety, but I like that little bit of spice.  Here’s the link to his site.

Here are some hints for this Monday’s puzzle (themeless):

Britpop band with the album “13”:  It’s all hazy to me, and it’s not even New Year’s Eve yet!

Ungulate that hums:  No ungulate isn’t the thing in your throat, nor some sea creature like a clam.   In fact, a sea creature would have to go a long way to reach this ungulate.  (I like that word.  I think I’m going to start using “ungulate” as a verb every now and then, just to see if anyone’s paying attention.  Truth is, though, I know everyone’s stopped paying attention to what I say many years ago!)

Talk, finally:  3 words.  It includes ratting on somebody, but is more general than that.

Elate:  also 3 words.

E.M. Forster book whose title came for “Leaves of Grass”:  Thank goodness Emmett added the Leaves of Grass hint.  Not.  I thought Leaves of Grass was about New England.  The E.M. Forster book’s about England, in a sense, though not in England.

First AFL team to beat an NFL team:  Nope, NY Jets doesn’t fit.  If you know any teams, just try seeing which ones fit the length you need here.

If Sam Goldwyn…:  Never heard of this person, and the rhyme doesn’t give any help.  Have to get the down crosses.

Speaking of which, the answer to Numbness is 2 words and isn’t a precise parallel grammatically.

It has many picture frames:  Think cels.