17 Across

NYT Daily ? September 18, 2025

Meditation chant, in a sense

Answer:

TOOMUCH

Hint:

Think of a playful way to describe something overwhelming—like a phrase that’s the opposite of minimalism.

Explanation:

This clue plays on the phrase "too much" as a slangy way to say something is overwhelming or excessive—like when someone jokes "That’s too much" to mean "That’s a lot to handle." The answer "TOOMUCH" also sounds like "to om," where "om" is the classic meditation chant, so it’s a pun tying the idea of chanting to the feeling of being overloaded. Think of it as blending the literal chant with the expression for something being over the top.

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General solving tip

Location/language tags (in Paris, in México, in Roma) often want an answer in that language. Try the basic word in French/Spanish/Italian, confirmed by crosses.

More tips → General Hints