Joe Marquez treats us to a clever Monday puzzle.
Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
MONDAY PUZZLE — In 2017, a Styles article in The New York Times examined the cultural backlash to Venmo, an app that people in the United States use to pay one another for various services. The article argued that, rather than simplifying transactions and encouraging magnanimity among friends, “the app arguably promotes the libertarian, every-user-for-himself ethos of Silicon Valley.”
I’m inclined to agree with that assessment (though I continue to rely on Venmo, to my eternal chagrin). So I was delighted to discover that the theme of today’s crossword, constructed by Joe Marquez, hinged on an expression of generosity. I hope that solving it brightens your day — and that you go brighten someone else’s afterward.
Today’s Theme
The New York Times takes the use of the term literally seriously. “When literally is used correctly,” our stylebook reads, “it is often unneeded.”
The puzzle editors, however, have made an exception for today’s crossword, in which the phrase “I’m paying for this round” is described as “a literal hint to this puzzle’s theme” (59A).
The figurative expression DRINKS ON ME is made literal through both the use of gray-shaded squares — inside 17-, 28- and 46-Across — and pairs of circled letters, such that the words VERMOUTH, WINE and SAKE sit squarely over the letters M-E.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
