Monday, August 10 2026, Nate Cardin

The notable thing about today's puzzle is that Mr. Cardin has managed to incorporate six theme clues into the grid, including the revealer, which does double duty as a theme answer itself.  Great construction, and I do love me some good recursion!!

It wasn't hard to see what was going on.  As I worked my way down the grid, gentle even for a Monday, I encountered SIDEBYSIDE ("Next to each other, like many washers and dryers"), PLAYBYPLAY ("Detailed, real-time description of events") and then STEPBYSTEP, apparently both a 1990's sitcom title and a New Kids on the Block hit (I knew neither of these) - so it was clear what the pattern was.  Sure enough, the revealer "Many an off-road vehicle..." is of course FOURBYFOUR, which describes the theme perfectly - two four-letter words side by side - and is also pleasingly self-referential.  Big kudos from me!

Not much to report otherwise.  I did not know that Anne Lamott recommends tackling big writing projects BIRDBYBIRD.  Seems kind of weird but I'm sure there's some sort of case-in-point, or metaphor, underlying it.  And "Foggy mental state" (HAZE) made me sad as that's the state of the air in our westernmost province right now.  My brother's there, trying to cope and helping out however he can.  Thoughts and prayers, for what they're worth...

Anyway.  Fun, easy Monday puzzle with a great theme.

-philbo

Sunday, August 9 2026, Erik Agard

Howdy out there in Crossword-land!  Philbo here, back for another week of blogging - and what do I get right out of the gate, but a rare themeless Sunday puzzle authored by Erik Agard, who absolutely slayed at this year's ACPT!  And a chunky puzzle it is, with a paucity of black squares, two grid-spanning double-stacks at top and bottom and a big fat block of intersecting long answers occupying the centre of the grid.  Somewhat intimidating out of the box!

I needn't have worried, though.  Thanks to really fair cluing and nothing terribly obscure, this turned into a pleasant, gentle solve on my sun bench, with family helping out with a clue or two.  At the top of that chunky centre block, LIFESPAN was my way in ("Up to 150 years, for a tortioise" - what else could it have been?).  I worked my way downwards to the very amusing and excellently-clued BEESTING ("Honey boo-boo?" - who can forget that reality show from a decade+ ago?).

Aside from entering AWOKEN instead of ARISEN for "Up for the day", my only real problem was with the very first grid-spanning clue "Swimmer's invitation" (COMEONINTHEWATERSFINE) - I had it ending with WARM, and then NICE, until the crossers finally came to the rescue, one of which was another great QMC - "12 letters?" (XII), and another - AFROMAN - a rapper of whom I've never heard. Much messy scribbling in the NE corner!

I feel like I'm not able to do this puzzle proper justice here - there are just too many satisfying moments, especially in the longer clues, to enumerate.  There's no "trick" or gimmick to explain - just a solid, satisfying experience top to bottom. If you're reading this, I hope you can relate to what I'm saying.

Just one little nit at the bottom.  I'm pretty sure there should be an extra 'D' in "ODS bodkins!" as a bygone oath, although the the search I did on alternate spellings was, admittedly, somewhat cursory (see what I did there?).

Off to enjoy the sunny day, tempered somewhat by the fact that the western end of my country is on fire right now :(   Back atcha tomorrow!

-philbo

Saturday, August 8, 2026, Kameron Austin Collins

Ooh! Any time I see Mr. Collins' byline, I know I'm in for a fun solve with interesting choices of entries and clues, in a chunky grid. And today does not disappoint!

I found myself drifting through the grid, filling in what I could to get a more solid entry. I found my stride in the fourth corner I worked to in a clockwise fashion, the southwest, and then worked my way back around counterclockwise to finish up in the northwest.

The very fun 21A: Summertime top (SLEEVELESST) was one of the challenges for sure. That last ____SST just didn't make sense for a long time. 18A: Slippery slope (WATERSLIDE) is my favorite kind of clue, the non-QMC, tricky but not with the obvious signifier of a "?". SERIESE is another tough get at 5D. Two answers in the same region with a single letter word!

PENG

Finding EVITAPERON crossing SPANAKOPITA is just lovely. And how about 36A: They're taken off for boudoir photos (LENSCAPS)? Another great non-QMC, teasing at a blue answer but veering off to the literal instead.

The pair of French answers in the southwest are just as pretty as the BELLEAMIE referred to. ENPASSANT has entered the English language in its own right.

STEEVE is an unusual word, which remains in the term "stevedore," the person responsible for loading or unloading cargo on a ship in port. I questioned it initially, but accepted it to complete the puzzle.

Fun week! Philbo will take over the blogging. 

- Colum

Friday, August 7, 2026, Jesse Cohn

Let's start with the great clue at 2D: Cuisine with the #1 dish in a CNN "World's 50 Best Foods" poll (THAI). Not that I would complain - I just had Thai food last night, and it was great. But what is this poll, and how does it have the authority to show up in a Friday NYT Xword? 

Poll might be a strong word here. It seems it was the travel staff of the CNN website who came up with this list. It's an odd one: buttered popcorn is #50, and poutine is higher ranked than potato chips. Donuts are ranked higher than croissants (very questionable). Anyway, Massaman curry takes the top spot. Hmmm. It was fun reading, anyway!

Meanwhile, the puzzle has a lot of fun colloquial phrases, like CATSOUTOFTHEBAG, AREWEATHING, IHADNOIDEA, and ABITETOEAT. 

TOONS

1A: What suggests relief is at hand? (STRESSBALL) is a great way to start the puzzle. I love the literalism of the "at hand" here. 42A: Opportunity on Mars, say (ROVER) is a good example of a hidden capital. 

It's a smooth themeless puzzle, and I always enjoy that. 

- Colum

Thursday, August 6, 2026, Dena R. Verkuil and John Kugelman

What a fun theme today! The revealer comes at 60A: Chock-full ... like three squares (and foods) in this puzzle (JAMPACKED). There are three rebus squares for the letters JAM, which in the across answers simply are part of the phrases. In the crossing down answers however, the JAM just becomes a filling for the food items. Thus 11D: Temptation for Homer Simpson (DOUG[JAM]HNUT). 

Two points why this is such a good theme. First, the rebus square is in the center of each food item, just where the filling ought to be. Second, in the across answers, the JAM is in no way related to its meaning in the down answers, its just those letters in the correct order. For example, 48A: Pillow fight setting (PA[JAM]APARTY). Nicely done!

AIMEE Lou Wood

I'm a little split in my mind about 36D: "OK, that makes sense" (AHIGOTCHA). I love how it looks in the grid. On reviewing the puzzle after the solve, I had to remind myself how to parse it. On the other hand, I have a feeling that the clue should somehow indicate the alternate spelling for "got you." I'm not sure how to accomplish that, to be fair. But I recall when solving thinking it was going to be AHIseenow, or something like that.

8D: Short blue person? (DEM) is hilarious. So much better than using "abbr." or such like. I also enjoyed 59D: Nickname that drops "hard" (RIC). Just an odd clue.

- Colum

Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Daniel Bodily

Well, we know what Wednesday is for. It's for puzzles that don't fit into any other day. Today's is an odd 15 x 14 grid, where the theme is... two word phrases split into separate answers, where the second answer is clued in reference to the first. And it's carried down all 14 rows.

I think I would find this more rewarding if there were a revealer theme somewhere along the way. But there's no real reason for these phrases being chosen in particular. And the very large number of black squares needed to make the grid work means that the puzzle is extremely segmented as well, making the solve not terribly smooth.

I like CARBON / STORAGE and WESTERN / SAHARA. In my book, BOOLEAN usually goes with logic, not ALGEBRA. But it "searches up" better than logic, although that might be due to the large number of searches today for answers to the puzzle.

I would more typically look for INDIANA / HOOSIER(s) in the plural than an individual. 

ABIE's Irish Rose

And sadly, the fact that the solver is so reliant on the down answers to figure out the split across answers, the cluing is on a very straightforward level. LON is a cute "apt ____ name" clue. And 56D: Word that becomes its own synonym when "p" is added to the end (GOO) is an amusingly large number of words to clue a 3-letter answer.

I really don't like 50D: Pen letters? (BIC). I was thinking AKA or some other sort of initialism. It would work if the name of the company was an acronym, but in fact it's from Marcel Bich, the entrepreneur who monetized László Biró's design. He dropped the H to make a more pronounceable name for his company.

Ah well, they can't all be designed for my pleasure. What was your mileage?

- Colum

Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Vasu Seralathan

Today's theme is an amusing concoction of puns based on words from the Indian subcontinent. It turns out that "sari," "Holi," and "Delhi" are all Hindi words with Sanskrit origins, while "naan" comes from Farsi. Etymology is fascinating!

It's amusing that the puns start with SARINOTSARI and end with NAANAPOLOGY.  It's also cute that all four answers relate to a wedding, so that they tell a little story from choosing a wedding gown, to planning the reception, to the ceremony itself, followed by a minor catering failure at the reception. Hah!

How many different ways can we come up with to clue the humble OREO? An enrobed version just means chocolate or fudge covered. We have them in the US as well. But the cookie will stay with us crossword solvers forever, given its forgiving collection of vowels. 

DUMBLEDORE

Would you argue that 25D: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vis-à-vis "Saturday Night Live" (ALUMNI) is incorrect? Should the male gendered word be available to refer to all genders? Should we care? Perhaps it is fine to move away from gendering, and it is certainly problematic to use "alumni" for mixed-gender groups but "alumnae" for female only. What do you think?

- Colum