Monday, April 20, 2020

Monday, April 20, 2020, Lynn Lempel


Today's theme answers are made up of two words, each of which, when paired with the word BOY from the revealer (BOYOHBOY), make another word. For example, from BALLGAME (Something to "take me out to," in an old song) you get BALL BOY and GAME BOY. My favorite was HIGH BOY. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, the "BOY" part of the name for a tall piece of furniture is a corruption of the French word for wood. I guess we have to admit that sometimes bois will be boys.

I did get a little hung up in the middle east. I had erroneously entered ILIa Nastase (of 1970s tennis) so when I got to 42A I had _OWBaLL, which tempted me to drop in the letter L. The corresponding down,"1950s Coummunist-bashing grp. in Congress," was no help. Fortunately, however, I stopped to consider why lOWBALL would be a "Means of locating one from the herd," and nothing came to mind, so I LOOPed back to consider the theme and was able to get more COWBELL into the puzzle - like everyone likes!


I thought LATEEN "Triangular sail" was a little esoteric for a Monday puzzle, but I was happy to see it as a reminder to write in to the creators of our other daily word game, "Spelling Bee" to try to get the word "luff" accepted.

There was also fun fill like JOSTLE, JUMBOTRON, TOOLUP, and YOYOS. And I enjoyed the references to some favorites like CARL Sagan, ALEC Guinness, and ACADIA National Park.

There was a lot to like about the puzzle. It had that nice clue precision I enjoy and for most of the grid, I read the clue and was able to type the answer right in. I particularly enjoyed STUFFS for "Fills tightly" and ROUT for "Crushing defeat."  You could say that this one is a poster boy for a good Monday puzzle. :)



  1. LATEEN brings back fond memories of a sailing school or reference work or the like with an illustrated list of the names of different kinds of boats (ketch, gaff, and all that stuff). Probably too obscure, as not everyone has the same style of (mis?)spent youth as me.

    I too had my eye caught by "high boy" but I sort had it all jumbled up with "high ball", probably because the puzzle also had a "ball boy". Not jumbled in a bad confused way. Just a nice enjoyable jumble of words.

  2. 5:22
    Any mention of sail types always brings fond memories of reading "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" which went into great detail on how to sail larger ships with numerous masts and sails, how to tack the coast, when, exactly, one should raise the mizzenmast, etc. Probably not many people read that particular biography any longer. As a side note, I once took the neighbor's sailboat out and attempted to tack the coast of our little lake, drawing from my memory of descriptions of how Columbus did it, and I failed utterly, having to row the craft back to shore. Anyway, any puzzle that mentions CARL Sagan gets a thumbs-up from me, of course, but I wish it hadn't also included BREECH births or ROMCOMS; both are BADNEWS in my book. Typical Monday time.

  3. 4:21
    I found this puzzle to be a bit on the harder side for a Monday. But it's really a well constructed grid. I especially liked JUMBOTRON and ACADIA.