Double Trouble

Alas and ALACK, Tuesday brings us broken hearts and on Wednesday, we GRIEVE (unless of course we incorrectly filled in ROI instead of REI for the "King, in Portugal," clue, in which case we spend some downtime wondering what it is to GRIOVE ... yes, yours truly did that!

The theme is all about shifting gears, for all you licensed drivers out there, and there is quite a bit of shifting to do. If the clue is "nada" and you're already entered ZI for a 5-letter word, you'd naturally think of ZILCH, wouldn't you? I would and I did. Sorry -- think again! Likewise, the three-word entry for "For Shame!" is not TSK and the 3-letter "monk's title" is so not FRA. Think a Jaguar is a CAR, especially in a driving-themed puzzle? No, no, no. Likewise, gnats are not PICKY (that would be nits, not gnats), even though 3 of those 5 letters are correct. Given _ A _ E R, would you say a "hoops player" is a LAKER? Nahhhhh, too specific!

Keep your hand on that gear shift while you go for a ride in this puzzle, a NYTimes debut, I believe, for constructor Susan Gelfand. I'll be keeping my eye out for that name -- 'cuz in spite of the grieving and that Dickensian cry, this puzzle was *fun* !