MONDAY PUZZLE — Well, hello again, solvers! I’ve missed you all (yes, even you), and I’m glad to be writing about the daily Crossword again. It’s a relief to come back because, without column deadlines to spur me on, my solving rate was getting abysmal. On more than one occasion I came to the comments section after struggling with a particularly tough nut of a puzzle, only to find others calling it easy. But let that remind anyone who needs reminding — newer solvers, especially — that every day is a new day, that everyone’s experience is different and that even the people who do this for a living get stuck.

Today’s puzzle was constructed by Anthony Grubb, his third for The New York Times. Though it’s still early days for his Times Crossword byline, Mr. Grubb already seems to have settled into a groove with his themes, which I’d say achieve the Goldilocks standard of wordplay. They’re not too cerebral, and not too silly — just plain fun. Let’s ladle out a taste together, shall we?

Today’s Theme

Many of you will recognize the [1980s hit with the lyric “Me mind on fire, me soul on fire”] once you hear the chorus, which is also [how one might describe 17-, 30- and 48-Across?]: HOT HOT HOT!

The song was written by Alphonsus Cassell, a Caribbean soca musician who performed under the stage name Arrow. You may also be familiar with the ultracampy American cover in the video above, which was performed by David Johansen (as his stage alter ego, Buster Poindexter).

Tricky Clues

14A. This [Paper cut?] would be painful only for a writer who has trouble taking criticism: It’s an EDIT.

55A. To [Bring dishonor upon] someone is to BESMIRCH that person’s reputation. The earlier verb was “smirch,” which meant to dirty or smear, though I had to laugh when I read the Oxford English Dictionary’s citation from an explorer’s journal in 1615 — “By chance his dog … smerched his lips with the tincture” — because my dog smirches me on the lips all the time.

3D. Figuratively speaking, to [Go off the deep end?] is to lose one’s wits. But focus on the water metaphor, and you’ll get to the answer: DIVE.

8D. There are two ways to spell the term for [Experienced during sleep]. Are you in camp “dreamed” or camp DREAMT?

28D. I know almost nothing about armadillos. But thanks to Mr. Grubb, I know a little more than I did yesterday: A [Piece of armadillo armor] is a PLATE. (These plates may also be known as scutes. I welcome additional trivia in the comments, and/or invitations to hang out with armadillos.)

Constructor Notes

I’m delighted to have my third puzzle published! It also happens to be my third Monday. I guess Monday puzzles are my SHTICK?

I was kicking around the concept of a HOT-themed puzzle but couldn’t settle on a fresh angle. Then I started filling out a crossword book and saw OLÉ, OLÉ clued as [Repeated chant in “Hot Hot Hot”]. I liked the idea of someone reading three themed entries one by one and figuring out “Hot, hot … hot!” Of the countless definitions of “hot,” I chose three that I thought best represented the word: sensual, spicy and sweltering.

Fun fact: GHOST PEPPER is likely a mistranslation! It comes from the Assamese words for “Bhutanese” and “ghost,” which are near-homonyms, so the intended meaning might have been closer to “Bhutanese pepper.” But considering how scarily spicy ghost peppers are, it’s no wonder the name stuck.

Improve Your Crossword Solving

Work your way through our guide “How to Solve the New York Times Crossword.” It contains an explanation of most of the types of clues you will see in the puzzles and a practice Mini at the end of each section.

Gone cold? Subscribers can take a peek at the answer key.