Constructor: Kelly Richardson
Relative difficulty: Medium
![]()
THEME: NOT MY CUP OF TEA — how I feel about this theme; there's (only) two tea-related puns, three stacked entries inside black squares that resemble a teacup (although I was hoping the grid art here would be something to do with martinis, given the shape closer to the top)
Word of the Day: SKIES (22A: "Blue ___", classic Irving Berlin tune) —
Theme answers:
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: NOT MY CUP OF TEA — how I feel about this theme; there's (only) two tea-related puns, three stacked entries inside black squares that resemble a teacup (although I was hoping the grid art here would be something to do with martinis, given the shape closer to the top)
Word of the Day: SKIES (22A: "Blue ___", classic Irving Berlin tune) —
"Blue Skies" is a popular song, written by Irving Berlin in 1926."Blue Skies" is one of many popular songs whose lyrics use a "bluebird of happiness" as a symbol of cheer: "Bluebirds singing a song/Nothing but bluebirds all day long." The sunny optimism of the lyrics are undercut by the minor key giving the words an ironic feeling. [wikipedia]
• • •
Hey hi hello and howdy, Christopher Adams here filling in for Rex for the first time in (checks watch) too long. Good to be back, wish it was with a puzzle I liked more than this. Didn't dislike it, but again, not my cup of tea. I can absolutely see why some people would really love this; I just found it hard to ignore how minimal the theme was (only two punny entries plus a little bit of grid art around three short entries), especially when parts of it didn't fully connect with me.Theme answers:
- [1959 Marilyn Monroe film ... or what can be said of the drink featured in today's puzzle?] SOME LIKE IT HOT
- [What someone might remark after drinking the blend at the heart of this puzzle?] NOT MY CUP OF TEA
- I'm not typing out the clues but PEACH PEKOE and ASSAM are all clued as teas (w/r/t to their origins) and stacked inside the teacup at the center
That said, the idea of mixing three different types of tea in one cup...bleargh. Makes sense why you would say "not my cup of tea" after drinking that, but that's a bit stretchy because it is your cup of tea, you made it, and why would you mix those all together unless you knew you liked it? And if you didn't make it, then the reaction's more "no thanks" or "disgusting" or something else. IDK, I'm maybe definitely overthinking this terrible pun, and plenty of people will like it and find it fine and not think about it for anywhere near as long as I have. But not me; like the cup of tea at the center of this puzzle, it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
![]()
KNICK [New York basketball player]— Misread that as "baseball player" at first, saw it was five letters, and was like "oh god, not NYMET, that's awful fill and also dupes the clue" before realizing the error. Anyway, I'm wearing this shirt while writing this; let's go Mets baby love da Mets.
On the other hand, the Marilyn Monroe themer hit home perfectly for me. Yes, some people do like it hot, while some prefer to drink ice(d) tea**. Wish there were more theme clues that were this solid. Even if there was only one more themer like this, I'd like this puzzle a lot more. But when there's only two punny theme entries outside of the grid art, they've both got to be super spot-on.
**Include or delete that D as you see fit in reading this; I'm not discussing whether it's ICE TEA or ICED TEA, but feel free to make your opinion known in the comments, and know that there's one (1) correct answer to this debate.
In the end, only one good theme clue isn't enough to make me like it. But that one good clue, plus two theme entries that would be great assets in a themeless, as well as a few other entries like HOUSE CAT and THAT'S THAT—that's enough for me to not dislike it. And YMMV—like I said, it's somebody's cup of tea, but not mine. I suppose my take on this puzzle is like a cup of tea that's sat out too long—in the end, neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm.
Olio:
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]
- STEVE [Martin of "Only Murders in the Building"] — I think it's well known that Martins Steve and Short are both in the show and share that part of their name; why I'm including this here is my habit of solving the first row and then immediately switching to the downs to solve a bunch of entries with starting letters already in place...and even having the first letter in place didn't disambiguate this.
- TRICK [Group of cards in hearts or bridge] — I don't know why "group" bothers me so much here; perhaps it's how vague it is, although at the same time I don't know what word I'd replace it with (short of rewriting the whole clue).
- OVERSLEPT [Didn't wake up in a timely manner] — I know the NYT is pretty lax on dupes between clues and entries in the grid, but the overlap here with AWAKEN at 11A is too much to ignore.
- THAT'S THAT! ["End of discussion!"]— And that's that for today's writeup!
[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]