alarm system monitor
We are probably stuck with it until there is a change of the guard at The Times. This also sheds some new light on Rex's pretty much daily ranting and ravings which in some respects are a public service. As an advanced beginner at best myself, I frequently wondered why the NYT puzzles are so consistently, well dumb. Now I know. This feels like an offshoot of Sunday's puzzle with common phrases reimagined as expressions of a certain trade or activity. The choices here do seem old fashioned, as if they were lifted from a "Highlights for Children" magazine, but I enjoyed the fact that the grid was a bit crunchier than the usual Tuesday. Write overs included "adage" before MORAL, "adieu" before ADIOS, "am too" before IS TOO, and "hemp" before HERB. VROOM appears for at least the second time in recent days as does ATHOS, SEL, PEP, and the ever recurring, ever irritating APSE. Interesting that today's pan from Rex is offset by a top rating POW!from Jeff Chen. In my opinion, neither is accurate. This is a typical early week puzzle which was pleasant to solve and easy to forget.