Shh... ITSASECRET. Well, it would have been, had they left out the circles. Or the revealer, I guess. :) But luckily, we have both, and we are able to see that hidden between two words in each long answer are secret things. At first, since the word secret is kind of implied in "stash," I did not realize that the word "secret" could be added to every circled word (or, "word made by the circled letters," as I'm sure the NYT would have it ...), and I thought, "Well, yeah, I guess that grown-ups are supposed to keep the true identity of Santa a secret from young children ...," but then with "agent," I realized what was going on. And finally, when I got to "menu" I was a little unsure again, because I'm not sure that I'm all that familiar with secret menus. Perhaps my very unawares-ness of them proves their existence? Is that possible? (No.)
A couple of spots that could have gone different ways - SNAPAT (5D: Get testy with) could have been snip at, and I actually had "roam" in for ROVE (50D: Wander about) for a while, but luckily noticed before the end.
I'm sure that frequent commenter, Huygens, will enjoy the inclusion of PRIMENUMBER, and I always enjoy the appearance of Latin in a grid, especially when it's unabbreviated, i.e. IDEST. I'm also a big fan of NOGS, but this isn't really the season. And speaking of seasons, I thought GAVEL was a little too soon. Sigh.
<rant>Lastly, I'll add that it's been nearly a full ten years during which I have not taken a single BAG at a grocery store. It's not just the eco-conscious who should be doing this, it's everyone. The answer to paper or plastic is always "Neither."</rant> (See what I did there?)
A ROSY debut for Mr. Kalish, and a fine start to the week.
- Horace
5:23
ReplyDeleteNice time, Horace! Yes, I did enjoy PRIMENUMBER. But of the themers, I liked PASTASHELL not so much. And although I'd heard of it, I needed a few crosses to remember TELNET. Nothing too difficult in here. My last entry was WANDA, nicely clued with one of my favorite movies.
3:44
ReplyDeleteA fine puzzle. Although I agree... secret menu? What even is that? I don't get it. Otherwise, pretty fine.
6:35 (fast for me).
ReplyDeleteHave none of you heard of the secret menu at In and Out Burger? Google seems to imply "secret menus" (or, as http://www.in-n-out.com/mobile/not-so-secret-menu.aspx calls it, "just the way some of our customers like their burgers prepared") are largely a thing at fast food restaurants, so I guess that's why it isn't really an everyday term for me, but I have heard it.
I was surprised to see TELNET. I mean, that's kind of restricted to Nerds of a Certain Age. No comment on whether I fit that demographic.
In the food department we have HERB, ZEST, ACAI, COLA, PASTASHELL, HAM, PANINI, ALES, and even HOPS (although not clued as such). This is making me hungry!