Monday, December 11, 2023, Luke K. Schreiber

ITSMEAGAIN! Today it's all about me, me, me. Wait, no. Just me, me. Each theme answer begins with the letters "me" and then the combo appears again later on. As in MEATTHERMOMETER and METRONOME. METACOMET (Wampanoag chief of the 1600s also known as King Philip) was the most surprising entry. Maybe not exactly Monday fare.

It's a little unfortunate that MESAS (Small plateaus) appears in the puzzle, as it starts with "me" too. MESSI (Soccer's Lionel ____) is here, too, but at least that's a Down answer. And while we're mentioning less-than-perfect things, I will just say that STAIRSTEP (Unit in a flight between stories) is poor both in clue and answer. It's the kind of thing that makes me think constructing must be pretty hard.

On the brighter side, I liked learning that OPAL is a "Gem whose name comes from 'upala,' the Sanskrit word for 'precious stone'," and I chuckled at "This is a test!" (EXAM). Not much more to say about this one. 

- Horace