Sunday, October 4, 2026, Katherine Bale

10-4

I like to learn something new from a crossword, and today I learned that October fourth is TRUCKERDAY. And why should that be? Because of the famous sign off on a CB radio - "10-4 Good Buddy," of course. Ahh... the Seventies. Good times. 

To commemorate this momentous day, Ms. Bale has created a puzzle using only ten and four-letter answers. It's a remarkable achieveMENT, and it has made for a very pleasing grid. So symmetrical! And believe it or not, it's remarkably clean. So let's get into it.

The clue for the first ten-letter answer is, appropriately, "10-4" (UNDERSTOOD), and it sits symmetrically opposite the revealer. The other Acrosses in that top section are all good: CREAMPUFFS (Profiteroles, by another name), SUITTOATEE (Fit perfectly), and REDUCEDFAT. INDISPOSED (Busy with something else) is solid, TOETHELINE is good. Sure, ABUDHABIAN (Resident of a Mideast capital) is a little unexpected, but I'll allow it. 

Elsewhere, ADAPTORDIE (Maxim about surviving in a rapidly changing world) reminds me of a different approach, "Let go or be dragged." Hah! 

OLDERPIPES (Drawback to a brownstone) is entirely too soon. I believe Colum referenced a certain bathroom renovation, and let's just say older pipes were just one of the problems encountered. I would CUSS but this is a family blog.

TRUCKERDAY itself may be little known and little celebrated, but if this review can do anything to promote and praise this puzzle, then I will be happy.

10-7 Y'all.

- Horace 

Saturday, October 3, 2026, Kameron Austin Collins

We had a lovely night last night celebrating our upcoming 30th wedding anniversary, at Sid Gold's Request Room, a live piano karaoke bar. We were joined by our daughters and Cece's boyfriend, and everybody sang and had a great time! Hope and I got everybody singing along to "Happy Together." Good times!

So things started a little slowly this morning. But I can't blame that for how long it took me to solve Mr. Collins' latest masterpiece. This is a brilliant Saturday NYT Crossword, showing his classic mix of clever clues, innovative answers, and a wealth of reference to Black cultural and historical touchpoints.

1A: Five-note jingle for "The Gift That Grows" (CHCHCHCHIA) is a perfect example. I had to work my way around the puzzle to complete this section, and even after I recognized the pattern, I was still uncertain what I was looking at. The item referenced in the clue is the classic Chia Pet, but the collection of eight consonants in a row is crazy looking in the grid. This sort of answer allows for other fun words like HALCYON and CRIKEY. I also love IRENEPAPAS next to AESOP, a Greek corner.

13D: Something you may be willing to hold? (ESTATESALE) is a loopy clue, riffing on inheritance. I was amused by 18A: To: Abbr. (ATTN), because having the abbreviation be longer than the reference clue word is silly. 

In the Black American experience area, we get a number of answers, such as the SAVOY Ballroom in Harlem, Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal WOMAN," ERMA Franklin, Aretha's sister, UPPERVOLTA (now Burkina Faso in West Africa), and the fact that DIANFOSSEY is buried in Rwanda.

Welp, that's my week done. I think Horace is subbing for Philbo this week, but you'll find out tomorrow!

- Colum

Friday, October 2, 2026, Joe Marquez

Steady does it, was my feeling on finishing today's puzzle. No great bursts of solving, but a even-keeled pace of figuring things out, leading to a solve time just slightly slower than my typical for a themeless. I really enjoyed the easy-going nature of many of the answers today, leading to a grid filled with colloquialisms.

The seeds for this puzzle must have been the two grid-spanning answers, WHENCANYOUSTART and LETMESAYMYPIECE. Two great 15-letter entries, with somewhat opposing tones of voice! Other fun answers in the same style include IFEELGREAT and 14A: Sugar substitute? (SWEETIEPIE). That's a great QMC.

3D: Written posts? (EPILOGUES) evaded me until I had almost all the crosses. The clue is nicely misleading, I wasn't certain where I was being asked to go. 

SOFIA

What are we to make of 23A: Whose fault your mistake might be (NOONES)? Are we being facetious? After all, it's already recognized that the mistake was yours! I chuckled when I put the answer in.

Epictetus is, as is typical, pithy when he says that WEALTH comes from needing little. Hah!

Overall, I found this puzzle to be entertaining and smooth, with good entry into the areas that are more cut off (like the NW and SE sections). 

- Colum

Thursday, October 1, 2026, Jill Singer

Rabbit, rabbit!

Happy October all. And yes, I've managed to do it - solve the puzzle the night before and have the review ready to go first thing. I'm so proud of myself.

Well, you know we all enjoy a good rebus puzzle here at HAFDTNYTCPFCAAPTF (that's getting a little unwieldy even in acronym form). I particularly like it when the squares are unpredictable, adding a little flair to the solving process. Today I figured out only one of the three squares prior to being forced by crosses to get it.

Our revealer comes at 55A: Obstacles ... or a hint to three squares in this puzzle (STUMBLINGBLOCKS). And indeed, in three squares we have a synonym for stumbling! Thus PLEDGEO[FALL]EGIANCE, PAY[SLIP]SERVICE, and MAGNETICS[TRIP]E. I like the first two better than the last one, because the hidden word crosses multiple words from the original phrase. But they're all excellent entries, and you wouldn't get the first one in a standard 15 x 15 grid without the rebus!

Some great clues here on our tricksy Thursday, as well. 16A: Features of gathering clouds? (AEIOU) is outstanding. 38A: It's just a state of mind, to some (AGE) is pretty good advice for most of us, I'm sure. I even get one of my all-time favorite composers mentioned at 41D: French composer who refused the Legion of Honour in 1920 (RAVEL). Apparently he declined all state honors from the French government.

A fun Thursday, if a touch too easy.

- Colum

Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Joel Woodford

My apologies for the late review today. I mean every day to get in the habit of solving the night before and having the review ready to go, and then forget! Habits can be hard to form, it turns out.

Today's theme is a winner in my book! We start with noting that each of the theme answers (written in italics) ends with an exclamation point. In standard clue parlance, this means that the clue is instructing the solver to imagine doing the clue to the answer. Thus, the clue "Beat it!" might lead to the answer "drum."

But none of the clues have "it" in them. But actually they do! The "it" is hidden inside of the clue word. For example:

17A: Market! (EXAMPAPER) - should be reinterpreted as "Mark it!"

24A: Ticket! (CHECKBOX) - should be reinterpreted as "Tick it!"

Very nicely done. I especially like SURPRISEPARTY in the middle of the grid.

Any puzzle that finds room for GIBBOUS is impressive, if you ask me. And the symmetric answer has PANACHE. What flair! And then to have 24D: Collection of dishes? (CUISINE) cross over FOODIE is well done.

Also, we often have SULU, but how often do we get

SCOTTY

- Colum

Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Hanh Huynh

This sort of theme used to be quite common - common phrases which can then be split into two other common phrases by the addition of a shared word across the puzzle. I had heard that the NYT Crossword team had tried to move away from these themes, unless there was a great revealer. Well, I think this puzzle has one.

58A: Wedding officiant's directive ... or what both halves of 17-, 25-, 35- and 50-Across do? (JOINHANDS). Thus, if we add "hand" to the front and back of the theme answers, we get new common phrases. 17A: Where some monster home runs land (UPPERDECK) gives us "upper hand" and "deckhand." Nice call back to yesterday's puzzle, by the way!

Explaining 5D

Fun to have 9A and 10D crossing each other: similarly clued, but with a key difference. 9A: British John (ELTON) has a capital letter, while 10D: British john (LOO) does not. Later in the week these would have both been clued "John in England" and you wouldn't have the giveaway of the capital letter. Interesting how these sorts of things work!

It's not that remarkable that GREENDAY's American Idiot has gone platinum six times over. Do albums do that any more? Has streaming removed the meaning of the term? A quick Google search tells me that it's still in use, but now refers to a combination of downloads, physical album purchases, and streaming. A sogn/video has to be streamed 1,500 times in order to match a purchase of an LP/CD. The most recent album to go platinum was Cardi B's "Am I the Drama?"

- Colum

Monday, September 28, 2026, Helen Chen

Take me out to the ballgame ...

Ms. Chen is inviting us to enjoy the upcoming playoffs, with a LEADOFF / HOMERUN. The theme has us reinterpreting the first word in four common phrases as slang for a dinger. Thus, BOMBSHELL, TATERTOTS, BLASTZONE, and JACKFRUIT. It's a fun idea, and it's supplemented by non-theme entries such as 43D: Like the score going into extra innings (ALLTIED), 63A: San Francisco ballplayer (GIANT), and 17A: Solid baseball hit (LINER).

I note that my interpretation of 37D: Complete series (BOXSET) was biased by all the baseball lingo. I couldn't fit "three/five/seven games" into the space allotted, however.

Greta GARBO

I've always been amused by the saying "Time flies like an ARROW; fruit flies like a BANANA." The play on different meanings of the word "flies" is great. I am reminded of the great Groucho Marx saying: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

Otherwise, it's a smooth and enjoyable Monday puzzle. I realized as I was solving that I was moving down the West side of the grid, which is unusual. When I solve quickly, I tend to move from NW to SE. But this grid has the diagonal line of black squares blocking that flow.

- Colum