Monday, August 14, 2023

Monday, August 14, 2023, Simon Marotte and Trenton Lee Stewart

How about a little math for your Monday puzzle? It almost felt like a Wednesday instead of a Monday puzzle, both in terms of unusual theme and higher than expected difficulty.

Or maybe I just shot myself in the foot in the NW corner when I took out LAPS and put in "saga" for EPIC and "each" for APOP. Ah well. 

So, if you follow the instructions in order, you get GOTOELEVEN (11), PLUSONE (12), TAKETEN (2), and HALFOFF (1), leaving you with ONEANDDONE. Very nicely managed. All of the answers are common usage terms, and the order works perfectly.

If that weren't enough, the clue at 67A: You could tell how old it is if you saw it! (TREE) might be my winner for best clue of the year. And on a Monday!

Home to a SCOT or two

I struggled with OVERLOOK (wanted OVERview) and TEAMGAME (wanted TEAMsport but not enough letters). Otherwise, I liked THRILLRIDE and HIGHOCTANE is pretty good too. Strong puzzle overall. Did you immediately catch the hidden capital at 23A: Diamond with gold and platinum certifications (NEIL)? 

Good stuff.

- Colum

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