MONDAY PUZZLE — We’re lucky to have Lynn Lempel, aren’t we? Constructions like today’s are what make Mondays fun for those of us who have been around the block a few thousand times. And I envy solvers who are just starting out and get to attain theme nirvana without having to clamber through a daunting set of late-week clues. Solving a Lempel Monday is like pulling off the highway for a quick convenient bite and stumbling onto a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Tricky Clues

It will be very hard for anyone to top the clue for DOGNAP this week; SPY was also terrific. I don’t think there were any really difficult names or places, and just a little bit of vocabulary like DISCERN, NADIR, ENDOW, REUP and the like.

47A: Someone who grudgingly repays a debt is said to have “coughed (it) up”; I had always thought that PONIED up came from the racetrack, where lithe and loopy thoroughbreds get escorted or “ponied” to the gate by stouter, saner horses. However, it could actually be from a Psalm, of all things.

41D: A freelance reporter usually aspires to a “scoop,” but this clue allows for someone writing an opinion piece, or OPED.