A warm welcome to Caresswords!  Let's get straight to my apology.  I admit to you, dear friends, that I was consumed with a particular video game.  This "entity" arrested my concept of time and space, like a preternatural beast hunting.  It took from me, albeit temporarily, that one precious gift that is my honor to share with you all, a good night's sleep.

In tonight's puzzle, we switch over to the New York Times (NYT) crossword puzzle behemoth.
We shall begin our NYT puzzle series with a Monday difficulty.