MONDAY PUZZLE -- Gastronomes, locavores and fans of farm-to-table dining, beware: Today's crossword, constructed by Katherine Xiong in her New York Times debut, plays on a style of eating that may be at odds with your habits. I urge you to enter into the puzzle if not with an empty stomach, then at least with an open mind. The subject matter may not be haute cuisine, but the puzzle shows off Ms. Xiong's clever sense of humor and a clear talent for construction -- things that, regardless of PALATE (34A), we all have a taste for.
Today's Theme
The [Fares at McDonald's and KFC] bear a label that doubles as [a literal description of 17-, 29- and 47-Across].
Note the speeds reflected in the names of the [Microwaveable breakfast staple] QUICK OATS (17A), the [Dorm room meal in a cup] INSTANT RAMEN (29A), and a certain [Thick porridge referenced in "Yankee Doodle"] called HASTY PUDDING (I thought it was macaroni, but I stand corrected). Quick, instant, hasty: These are all FAST FOODS (63A).
Tricky Clues
- 21A. One of crosswords' "must match" rules applies to language, so the sum of [Uno + dos + tres] is the Spanish SEIS, rather than six.
- 40A. Step one in solving the name of the [Tree whose name comes phonetically between "tee" and "vee"] is to identify "tee" and "vee" as letters of the alphabet. Step two is to remember that there's a tree called a YEW.
- 70A. I'm familiar with the LEMMA as a concept in linguistics, but I hadn't realized it was also a [Helpful theorem, in math]. (Note: This does not make it a "di-lemma." That's something else.)
- 6D. Be prepared, at all times, to encounter an entry made up of multiple words. Do not be like me and get stuck wondering why to [Complete one round of reps] is to "doaset," rather than DO A SET.
- 25D. "All for nothing" is a figure of speech, but [All, for nothing, e.g.] is asking us to identify "all" in relation to "nothing," which is an ANTONYM.
- 56D. You can assure me as many times as you like that the past tense of "weave" for one who [Made a rug, e.g.] is WOVE, but it will never sound normal to me.
Constructor Notes
I'm so excited to be making my New York Times debut! Shout-out to my friends at MIT and our crossword club group chat for getting me hooked on crosswords back in freshman year. For the record, I originally clued 3-Down as "Like MIT and Harvard," but alas, the editors had other plans.
There aren't many foods that fit the theme so it was quite lucky that they were all the right lengths. I had a lot of fun writing the puzzle and I hope you enjoy solving it!