Monday, October 19, 2026, Michele Govier

Today, the SUN, from its place in the top left corner of the puzzle, shines down on three items, an AWNING, a TREE, and a HAT, creating SHADOWBOXES, one row below and one square to the right, that contain "shadows" of the items above within a longer answer: FAWNINGOVER ("Giving excessive praise and flattery"), STREETWEAR ("Urban casual fashion"), and THATSRIGHT ("'You are correct'"). Looking at the grid just now, I thought another approach that might have been cool would be to have corresponding black squares appear under each of the shade-generating items, but maybe that would just be throwing shade.

Overall, the puzzle was a mix of light and dark. Bright spots include the SUN, obviously :), the Question Mark Clue "Made some waves?" (PERMED), and "Floats in the breeze" (WAFTS) - not to mention some fun fill like SERENE, NEAPOLITAN, and the always entertaining OAF. 

OTOH, I thought it played on the easy side, even for a Monday, with an array of gimmes like "Clear, as a chalkboard" for ERASE, "Uses oars" for ROWS, "Month with Mother's Day" (MAY), and, my least favorite kind of clue/answer pair, "180° from SSE" for NNW, where I feel like the clue is equivalent to "enter these letters." Also, what's the deal with SINEW muscling in on every grid of late? Is that a trend, or mere coincidence? I WANDA.

~Frannie.