Monday December 24th 2018, NY Times Crossword

Time: 6:12

Monday Average: 8:31

Best Monday: 4:10

I didn’t really understand the “Taboo alternative to beef,” but maybe that’s because my travels in Central Asia have made me a bit less Eurocentric on that particular subject. I have fond memories of waking up in a yurt in Mongolia after a night when vodka bottles and cigarettes seemed to emerge on their own from the steppe and being offered a steaming bowl of rice and HORSE MEAT. It was maybe the last thing my hungover body could have desired, but what choice did I have but to SAY OK and chase it with a bit more vodka.

We can categorize the HITCHING A RIDE theme under the barely noticeable variety, but as you can see, the word “ride” is split between a couple words, hitching them, so to speak. So we have HYBRID ENGINES, KALAHARI DESERT, and GENDER IDENTITY. I have been appreciating The NY Times having its heart in the right place in its clueing for the latter on a fairly consistent basis. After all, crosswords are one way in which we define our modern lexicon and that’s why, you could argue, they’re important.

We have our Christmas celebration a day early today, so I’m off to spend time with the family and the SULKY dogs. 

I don’t know much Spanish, but maybe we can add BESO (kiss) to the short lists of words that I can remember. 

I hear the OWLS are not what they seem.