Tuesday, June 30, 2026, John Liber

My favorite clue today as I was solving was "Warning before your breaking point?" (ADOUT). That's a clever clue. Aside from that, though, most of them are fairly straightforward. I was briefly mad about "Easily broken" for FRAIL, because I mostly think about that adjective being used for people, but I looked it up and they gave some examples like "frail boats in a storm," and "a nations's frail economy," so I had to reconsider.

The theme of EMPTYWORDS, or "words that start with M and T" was fine. MACHINETOOLS was maybe the least "in the language," but it's perfectly cromulent. I have been meaning to sign up for an introductory class to learn to use the MACHINETOOLS at a maker space I joined, but I have not yet found the time.

I thought the upper middle was the weirdest, with its WIIU (Nintendo Switch predecessor), HOGCALLS ("Sooooey!" and "Here, piggy, piggy!"), and OUGHTTO (Really should). And can you look at GODARK (Suddenly cease all communication) without seeing it as "God ark?"

OK, I need to get on the road. Today's seven-hour drive from Rome to the Veneto will be a test of just how many espressos one human body can endure. 

See you tomorrow! Hopefully.

- Horace 

Monday, June 29, 2026, Ginny Too and Rajeswari Rajamani

A smile-inducing, reduplicative theme today. The only theme answer that I have heard in normal conversation is SPARRINGRING, but the others are all valid, at least in a crossword puzzle valid kind of way. 

DEVICEVICE - Screen addiction, e.g.
SPARRINGRING - Where boxers trade jabs
INTELLIGENTGENT - Clever chap
NOBELISTLIST - Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Linus Pauling, Martin Luther King Jr. and so on
FELINELINE - "Meow, meow, meow!," e.g.

OK, FELINELINE is borderline. And speaking of, my niece's son is trying to get us to a cat cafe today. It's his last day with us in Rome, and the two items on the agenda are getting into the Pantheon, and getting to the cat cafe. And then if there's time, maybe the Appian Way. 

Doesn't it seem like a cat cafe would be a better fit in EGYPT? 

ROUE (Hedonistic sort) is a bit of an outlier on a Monday, and I wasn't sure whether they'd want ISLES or islas for "Majorca and Minorca," but things worked themselves out. 

A breezy Monday. I think Frannie takes over tomorrow, and I'll see you in a few.

- Horace 

Sunday, June 28, 2026, Rebecca Goldstein and Christina Iverson

DOWN IN THE VALLEY

Remember Valley Girl speak? When was that? The eighties? It always makes me think of Moon Unit Zappa, I guess because her father had that hit song about it... Anyway, I hope you do remember it, because the theme today relies on the use of the word "like." It's like, in every theme answer, but then it's like a normal phrase that's, like, clued to make it like, totally mean something different. 

Let's like, check them out.

"Was an employee at IHOP, in Valleyspeak? SOLDLIKEHOTCAKES
"Fanned some Egyptian royalty, in Valleyspeak? SHOOKLIKEALEAF
"Did some birding, in Valleyspeak?" WATCHEDLIKEAHAWK
"Hitchhiked with a hangnail, in Valleyspeak? STUCKOUTLIKEASORETHUMB
"Made some outfielder errors, in Valleyspeak? DROPPEDLIKEFLIES
"Prepared some new pet fish, in Valleyspeak? BUILTLIKEATANK
"Performed some witchcraft, in Valleyspeak? WORKEDLIKEACHARM

Fer sure, those are all totally bitchin'. I shouldn't be surprised, though, when I look at the byline. Rebecca Goldstein and Christina Iverson are like, crossword superstars or whatever. And there's hardly any grody fill at all. Nothing to be SOREAT or LASHAT, and LOTSOF C/APs to LAUD like "One acting on impulse?" (AXON), "They shine during the day" (SOAPSTARS), and "Time to give up?" (LENT). 

Finally, I will say that it was nice to see PAX in the puzzle, because I don't think I've mentioned lately that we are in Rome, birthplace of the PAX Romana! I used to have a t-shirt when I was younger that I bought out of the back pages of Soldier of Fortune magazine that read "Peace through superior firepower." I wore it ironically, but it's kind of like, true or whatever. 

- Horace 

 

Saturday, June 27, 2026, Adrian Johnson

WHATATREAT to get two good themeless puzzles back-to-back. That NW stack is so good. DESERTISLE, ONEPOTMEAL, and the fabulous HOWABOUTNO ("What if we just ... didn't?"). I'm guessing Adrian Johnson was pretty happy when that came together. 

In other areas, my favorite entries were LEGOBATMAN (Toy adorned with a tiny rubber cape), THROWBACKS (Homages to a prior era), and "Dancer's restraint?" (REIN) (hidden capital!). I could have done without WARCABINET (Defense council?) and RAJ (British ____ (colonial rule of India)), but it's all just words, right? 

And I loved the straightforwardness of "Out" (NOTIN). And I've never heard "Cock-a-hoop" (GLAD) before. Where did that come from?

Looking forward to being able to say I ATE a HEN when I get back to the States. :)

Ciao for niao! 

- Horace 

Friday, June 26, 2026, Spencer Leach

OKSO, all week I've been saying that I have been enjoying the themed puzzles, and I've been thinking maybe I should stop saying I prefer themeless after all, but then I do a puzzle like today's and I'm back where I started. This thing was great right from the start. The paired 2- and 3-Down - "Expert on cosmos" (MIXOLOGIST) (a great clue on its own) and "Expert on the cosmos" (ASTRONOMER). Laying those side-by-side, and then running the Scrabbly XMAS and EXTRALARGEPIZZA (Biggest restaurant size that nevertheless is often topped?) (Very nice) through them is a real coup.

It got a little computer-nerdy with "Logic gate that is only on when neither input is in" (NOR) and "Unlikely scenarios, in techspeak" (EDGECASES), but then I really liked "Current affairs" (ELECTRODYNAMICS), so I shouldn't complain too much.

I really have to run, because we are going to get to St. Peter's as early as possible this morning to try to beat the torrents of tourists swarming in Rome despite the 90+ degree weather. I know, I know, I'm part of the problem... but still... I'm not sure WAYMO exists in Rome, so we're taking a local train one stop, from Trastevere to San Pietro. Wish us luck.

Seriously, though, this was great. Thanks, Mr. Leach. I'll be watching for your name in the future.

- Horace 

Thursday, June 25, 2026, Tarun Krishnamurthy

Wasn't I just talking about how I marvel at new theme ideas? Well you can add this one to the list. INSIDER TRADING is re-imagined to mean exchanging the positioning of groups of letters within an answer to form another acceptable entry. As is often the case, it's easier to see than to explain, as in:

*They may result in people wrongly being sent to jail - BRAP|ADS. In order to get the correct answer, "bad raps," you need to swap the positions of the underlined letters on either side of the pipe. 

There are five more such theme answers, and I am left, once again, asking myself how people come up with this stuff!

Aside from the theme, there were many good features of this one. GAWK (Get an eyeful) is an excellent word, "Get a lode of these!" (ORES) was cute, and RUNUP (Preceding time) was a nice alternate to the more commonly seen "eve." My last square was the B of ROB (____ blind) and BLEEPS (Removes a curse?) (Excellent), both of which surprised me.

Lastly, I feel I should really mention that I have seen quite a few ESSO stations over here in Italy. :)

Fun Thursday!

- Horace 

Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Kevin Curry and Zhou Zhang

I was disappointed early in this one when my initial guess at 1-Down (Kind of pants worn on a rainy day, perhaps) "floods," turned out to be incorrect (PAJAMA), but things quickly picked up, and I smiled at each and every one of the theme answers. And what was that theme? WALKIETALKIES!

"Sleigh's loaded and ready! How are you feeling, Santa?" JOLLYROGER
"I'm at the bakery - what kind of doughnut do you want?" GLAZEDOVER
"What's tomorrow's chemistry exam about again?" CARBONCOPY
"Before you go, what animal crosses the road in that old joke?" CHICKENOUT

You know, I often say that I prefer themeless puzzles, but that's a pretty funny set, and as usual, I marvel that people keep coming up with these clever ideas! 

GMOS (Pinkglow pineapples and GloFish, for short) and SPUN (Like cotton candy) made me think of the "cotton candy" grapes I had recently. They were green grapes, but they really tasted like cotton candy! And so, ok, I just looked it up, and after taking a little sip of water, the AI told me that cotton candy grapes are not genetically modified, but are the result of traditional cross-breeding. So you can feel good about it when you go get some to try. 

Another thing I looked up was TAEBO (Workout program that's a portmanteau of two different sports). Turns out it was invented by a guy named Billy Blanks, and is a mash-up of Taekwondo and Boxing. Later, it was acronymized, and then it also stood for "Total Awareness Excellence Body Obedience." I'm not sure it was worth coming up with that.

I feel like this review is getting long, and I only really adressed things in the top half! Well, I will quickly add that I liked PICANTE (Very spicy) and PRBUZZ (Marketing team's goal with a new product launch, informally), and I didn't know that Paul SIMON had been inducted twice into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 

Fun puzzle.

- Horace