MONDAY PUZZLE -- New York Times Crossword editors often define the difficulty of a puzzle in terms of its cluing, with easy puzzles appearing earlier in the week. Monday clues are specific, whereas Friday clues are ambiguous. Monday puzzles have fewer clues ending in question marks than Friday or Saturday puzzles do.
As for explaining the quintessential Mondayness of today's crossword, constructed by Ryan Mathiason, I wouldn't stop at the cluing. The theme radiates early-week accessibility, too. A spate of buoyant three-, four- and five-letter entries make the grid feel open and airy. No entry debut seems out of place or overstretched. Put simply, this grid feels like a Monday in all the right ways. It's a perfect start to the solving week.
Today's Theme
A phrase synonymous with [At stake] tells us where we [may find 17-, 24-, 38- and 50-Across]. First things first: Let's find out what these entries might have in common.
At 17A, a [Fish commonly caught in the Upper Midwest] is LAKE TROUT. The [Player protecting a QB's blind side, often] at 24A is a LEFT TACKLE. At 38A, LAUNDRY is a [Household chore traditionally done on Mondays]. And the [Salesperson making unsolicited phone contact] at 50A is a COLD CALLER (a first-time entry in the New York Times Crossword).
Another way of saying [At stake] is ON THE LINE (62A): There's trout on a fishing line, a left tackle on the offensive line, laundry on a clothesline, and a cold caller on a phone line.
Tricky Clues
- 19A. Past participle or past-tense verb? This is the eternal question of clues like [Squandered, as a lead], and we generally have no choice but to experiment with both. To squander a lead is to blow it -- and since "blew" is one letter short, the answer must be BLOWN.
- 44A. Despite their frequent appearances in the Times Crossword, I have never referred to [Certain arm muscles, for short] as TRIS rather than triceps.
- 3D. Having filled in the word "poker" by using my crossings, I was tempted to finish the entry with "face." But [A smile, perhaps] is the opposite of a poker face. It's a POKER TELL.
- 34D. Third wheels are unwanted company, but a [Fifth wheel] is a driver's saving grace. It's a SPARE TIRE.
- 63D. "Nav." is an abbreviation, which means that the entry for [Nav. rank] must be one, too. The answer is ENS, as in ensign.
Constructor Notes
It's great to be back in The New York Times. If I remember correctly, this theme set came to me during a high school tennis practice. While discussing whether a ball was in or out, I probably said something witty like, “That ball was as ON THE LINE as a LEFT TACKLE.” From there, I looked for other things that could be described as ON THE LINE. I’m not 100 percent sure if this is what actually happened, but I’m going with it. Randomly, the initials of the first two theme answers are L.T., which misled some of my family when test solving. Hopefully, you avoided that unintentional trap when you got the first L of the third theme entry. Until next time, take care!
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