New York Times, Monday, September 23, 2019

I love playing with the onomatopoeia-ness of words like BLABBERMOUTH, TATTLETALE, etc. As a matter of fact, TATTLETALE was in the first version, Will and Company loved the idea of the puzzle theme but felt it didn't have the same ring as the other three. The dictionary lists it as a synonym, but who am I to argue?!

SO, all I had to do was come up with another ten-letter word that was fun and an exact match to the others and rewrite the whole puzzle from scratch!

LOQUACIOUS is indeed ten letters, but, alas, an adjective not a noun like the others. Complete credit to Sam Ezersky for suggesting not-on-my-radar TALKAHOLIC!!!

And for those who don't know BLATHERSKITE, well, neither did I. Learn something new every day ... even on a Monday!

They also pushed back on the word CALOR for a Monday. Spanish 1, everybody! Reminds me of course of the old joke: What do you call someone who speaks three languages? TRILINGUAL. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? BILINGUAL. What do you call someone who only speaks one language? AMERICAN.

Yak yak yak … yak! Four colorful words describing a person (or in this case, a crossword) who runs his/her/its mouth makes for an interesting Monday puzzle. BLATHERSKITE stood out, such a curious word, something a cranky old man might say.

Okay, I admit it, I'm that cranky old man.

Masterful gridwork today, ACME peppering the puzzle with strong bonuses. Just two long entries in CREVICES and LECTURES — both fine, albeit not outstanding — but check out the sizzle she injected into her mid-length fill. MALAWI, SAHARA, THWART with its delightful THW start, TRASHY! Cap it off with NAME IT and SEZ WHO. The mid-length fill stands head and shoulders above the average Monday puzzle.

ACME used a clever constructors' trick in her grid layout. Look at the SE corner — it's fairly well connected to the rest of the puzzle, three different points allowing for entrance / egress, which allows for passable solving flow. But when you drop in the last three themers, you can construct the SE corner in near isolation!

It's a great balance — enough solving flow, while also making for easy construction. You can try out pairs of words where LECTURES and CREVICES sit, and once you settle on two that you like (and that test out well), you can work on the grid in three separate pieces. Divide and conquer!

With just a bit of SHLEP (I'm used to "schlep") and ATIE, it's such a clean overall product; so accessible for newbs.

Tying the theme clues aptly together amused me enough to give some POW! consideration. If there had been a turnabout punchline to the joke — some funny entry like ENOUGH ALREADY at the end — that would have been as satisfying as storming up to that one annoying person who's loudly talking on his phone, so no one in the coffee shop can work and DOING A HULK SMASH!

You know you want to. Said the cranky old man.