Monday, May 25, 2026, Anthony Grubb

The week is starting off HOTHOTHOT! Which is nice, because the weekend has been pretty cool and rainy up here in "other New England," as it's referred to at the A.C.P.T. Harrumph!

Today's tidy theme, courtesy of Buster Poindexter, is three things that are hot - DEATHVALLEY, GHOSTPEPPER, and a good old R-rated LOVESCENE. Nice. Is it relevant that SALIVA is just under the GHOSTPEPPER? Or that the LOVESCENE connects with DARKNESS? Hmm... HOTHOTHOT sits ATOP OBOE and HIVE... mayyybe HIVE could work.

OK, enough on that. Let's turn now to a few of the QMCs - "Paper cut?" for EDIT was good, "De-tension center?" was cute for SPA, "Go off the deep end" (DIVE) worked in a similar vein, and "Place of buzziness" was just plain kwazy for HIVE. In non-QMCs, I was amused by the oddness of "Back of a car or front of an elephant" (TRUNK). 

I was a little surprised to see HOBO (Drifter in search of work) in the grid. (Do we still use that term?) It reminded me of when I was a college student, making my way from campus to the small town of Beloit, Wisconsin. As I passed a young boy walking with his mother, he turned to her and said, excitedly, "Look, Mom, a HOBO!" True story.

I enjoyed this one.  

- Horace