Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Erik Agard

0:05:20

Today's puzzle comes to us from the reigning champion of the A.C.P.T., Erik Agard. I was in attendance when he won this year's final by more than a minute and a half over the second place finisher. His time in that puzzle, incidentally, was more than a minute faster than my time on his puzzle today, and that final was not a Tuesday-level grid.

But let's get to the puzzle - a tribute to the legendary album SONGSIN THEKEYOFLIFE by STEVIEWONDER. The song SIRDUKE, especially, from that album, makes me smile every time I hear it. Next time it's on, listen during the last runs to hear Stevie shout with joy, and then I'm pretty sure he yells "Down with the love!" just before the final descent. I challenge you to find a more joyful and exuberant moment in pop music.

In other news, how have I missed that TUESDAYS are "popular times for tacos?" Is it simply the alliteration? I suppose I might have paid more attention if I ate tacos with any regularity. Me, I'm more prone to eating foods flipped with a SPATULA. You know, galettes, ployes ... those sorts of things. Also, "Vase with a base" seemed odd for URN. "Vase with a cover" might have been more appropriate, no?

And speaking of ARENAS, you can still get a ticket to see the 50th anniversary tour for this album at Madison Square Garden. The cheapest seat I found on StubHub was $1,089.00 - Oy VEY!, but it might just be worth it.

- Horace 

 

Monday, September 21, 2026, Alexander Liebeskind

0:04:05

An ODE to the FORTIES, or, more to the point, "the four Ts." Four theme answers are strings of four words each, and all the words start with the letter T. In cases like these, Colum often likes to rank the entries, so today I will do the same.

TOOTIREDTOTHINK (Mentally pooped) - This is my favorite because it is where I am right now.
TOTELLTHETRUTH (If I'm being honest ...) - Even though the TV show of the same name debuted in the decade after the forties, this one is still very much alive.
TEACHTOTHETEST (Deliberately give instruction in a way that targets an exam) - This one needed too much of a clue, and who wants to think about taking a test?
TAKESTWOTOTANGO ("A fight requires more than one person") - Again, the clue is a bit forced, and the expression often includes a fifth word, "it."

So there's the ranking, what else? I liked TROPE (Familiar narrative device), USEME ("I'm available to help"), and even RADIOAD (Commercial that may come with a jingle). But what did you think about "Any Olympian" as a clue for ATHLETE? Don't they have skeet shooting in the Summer Olympics? Can we call someone who fires a gun an ATHLETE? Oh, what do I know, I'm just sitting here on the couch.

- Horace 

Sunday, September 20, 2026, Tracy Gray

RISE TO THE POWER

This puzzle answers the question "How can math be entered into the crossword solving experience?" Five answers include a BASE and an associated EXPONENT that must be put together to make the proper answer. For example, SWEETTWO works with FOUR to make "sweet sixteen" (March Madness tournament round), and WHENIMFOUR and THREE working out to "When I'm Sixty-Four" (Beatles classic with the lyric "Will you still need me / Will you still feed me"). My favorite of the theme answers was the unexpected NINEARMEDBANDIT and ZERO adding up to "One-armed bandit."

I liked learning about TONETAGS (Online forum qualifiers such as /j ("joking") or /s ("sarcastic")), and RICOCHET (It's off the wall!) was nice. I don't use the term TOPFLIGHT nor its clue "A-one" very much. TAKEARAINCHECK (Reschedule, so to speak) was good, and I like the expression ITSFORTHEBIRDS, but is "Don't pay any mind to this" the right clue for it? "Tables," on the other hand, was perfect for PUTSASIDE.

Tricky clues included "Things that drivers sometimes leave behind?" (TEES), and "Sped or bled ... or led" (RAN). 

I liked this one.

- Horace 

Saturday, September 19, 2026, Hannah Slovut-Einertson

0:20:53

You know it's a Saturday because you have learned there's something called a GUITALELE (Instrument also known as a ukitar), and that Siva SAMOA is a (traditional dance named for its country of origin). And speaking of learning things, who knew that a sawtooth shark is actually just called a SAWSHARK? Or that there's a narrative device called RETCON? It's short for "retroactive continuity," and I'm guessing it comes from tweaks to the timelines of franchises like Star Wars or X-Men. 

Interesting to find the full TEEHEEHEE ([Giggle]) in the grid instead of just a "tee" or a "hee." Speaking of, there are a lot of "spoken" answers today: GODHELPME (Request for assistance from a higher-up?), IMEANYEAH ("Sure ... that's true ..."), LIGHTENUP ("Just relax!"), LETS ("I'm in!"), SHAPEUP ("Behave!"), ORELSE (Intimidating words),  SMARTMOVE ("That's good thinking"), and ILLSHUTUP (End of a rant, perhaps). And are the answers TALKSENSE and OSCARSPEECH related to all this somehow? I suppose I'm the reviewer, I should be able to DECODE it for you, but, again, speaking of talking - I am sitting in a room full of people who are all talking, and it's hard to concentrate on writing this, so I may MISS things. Like how SETS is equivalent to "Goes down." 

I'm either an EMPTYSUIT or a PEON full of HOTAIR, but I hope you get the GIST.

- Horace 

 

 

Friday, September 18, 2026, Ryan Mathiason

D.N.F.

The NW was my undoing today. I stared at it for five minutes and then decided that I had to get on with my life. I like it, though, with its IQS (Brightness measures, in brief), ITSHOT (Server's warning at a restaurant), and TREERING (Element of a dating profile?). Cute. I don't think HORDE is just right for "Mass," and I was never going to get TED (Sci-fi writer Chiang) or TRAE (Four-time N.B.A. All-Star Young), but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I found some old MADLIB pads while cleaning out my old family home recently. They're really not all that funny. At least not when you read them forty-five years or so after they were filled in. Sigh. 

 

Two of the stutter-step thirteens went in off the clues - UNITEDNATIONS (Country club?) (the question mark gave away too much today) (see also: "Ones catching the rays, perhaps?" (ORCAS)) and GOALLINESTAND (Defensive effort in the red zone) (what else could it be?). SPLITDECISION (Not everyone agrees on this) was the best of the lot. 

 

Can't spend too much more time on this, as I have to get going, but I'll be back tomorrow, when hopefully we can have a more leisurely chat.

 

- Horace 

Thursday, September 17, 2026, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

0:10:42

Today the em dashes found across the entire top row of Down answers are explained by the revealer, INFINITESCROLL, telling us that we should imagine the puzzle as being able to scroll such that the bottom row becomes the top, over and over again. That would have been a fun visual component to add after solving, like yesterday's Utah drawing, they could have made the puzzle scroll. Ah well, maybe it's more complicated than I realize. Many things are, it turns out.

So how was the solving experience? For me, it was more fraught than usual - dashes are never my favorite trick device - but in the end, it took me a little less time than yesterday's, and there were some clever clues to enjoy along the way. "Promising places?" (ALTARS) was clever, HOCK (Pawn) was tricky, and my favorite was "Inspired stuff" (AIR). Hah!

I am not really sure why MACS is equivalent to "Buds," and the EVO tournament is new to me. How'd you enjoy it?

- Horace 

Wednesday, September 16, 2026, Peter Gorman

0:12:20

Tricksy Wednesday! I didn't see it coming, and even once I came to the revealer - "State whose outline can be made by connecting the seven particular squares in this puzzle" ([UT]AH), I didn't use that information to place what was then for me the only remaining rebus square in the NE. I blame the fact that I was out at a show last night until about 11:00 and then walked most of the four or five miles back to my house. But we've all got our reasons. La chose terrible sur cette terre, c'est que chacun a ses raisons, as Jean Renoir put it. Sigh.

Anywhoo, it's a pretty nifty feat to have the state abbreviation rebus squares positioned as the corners of the featured state - one that can be drawn with all straight lines. (I don't think it's a coincidence that the answers in the Mini today use only letters that can be made with straight lines.) 

In addition to the rebus and the cool drawing, there were plenty of quality entries. TOPPLE, with it's confusing clue "Fall or fell" was tricky, PROTOTYPES (Early models) is strong, "The remotest of remote jobs? (ASTRONA[UT], was fun, and NECTARINES (Fruits named after a mythical drink) was interesting. I have never heard of a BASENJI (Small hound that doesn't bark), but it's nice to find out about, and I have heard that for some anyway, folding a fitted sheet is not an ORDEAL. 

If you were here on Sunday, I mentioned that I liked the clue "Chilling" for the answer ATEASE. Today that same clue appears, for an answer in almost the same spot in the grid, but this time it clues ONICE. Nice.

Lots to like today. Really solid Wednesday. What'd you think?

- Horace