Monday, April 20, 2026, Freddie Cheng

Kind of a funny theme today where NATURECALLS are hidden in theme answers. As in:

T[WOOF]HEARTS - Low red card in a deck
CHOOC[HOOT]RAINS - Locomotives, to kids
T[HISS]UCKS (!) - "The worst!"  
MET[ROAR]EA - City and its surroundings
NOTROU[BLEAT]ALL - "Don't mention it – it was easy"

BLEAT is a nice word, isn't it? 

Continuing one of my hobby horses since restarting the blog, there are several entries that might not have passed the Sunday Morning Test a decade or so ago. First is the theme entry THISSUCKS. It's a little crass, but times have changed. ASS has been in puzzles for a long time, but usually clued with something like "donkey," not "____-backward." And I'll also include EARWIG in this category, because they are such disturbing creatures. EWW! And really, the revealer itself, with its "I need to use the bathroom" clue... OK, I know I'm coming off as something of a prude (and as someone who uses the phrase "something of a...") but I am just doin' my job! (ITRY).

And here's another thing... I love the word TRAIPSE, but never have I thought of it as meaning "Walk wearily." Sure, the AI summary will support this clue, but if you look in Merriam-Webster it just says "To go on foot: Walk," and "to walk or travel about without apparent plan." This is more how I think of it, and how I use it. I like its lighter meaning. And sure, I know that it's fair game to use third and fourth level definitions, but this one has such a nice primary definition, why not use "Wander," or "Meander?"  

But apart from that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

- Horace 

Sunday, April 19, 2026, Michael Lieberman

NUCLEAR FUSION

It's a Sunday puzzle with a rebus, but I'm not exactly sure what the rebus is doing, or why the puzzle is titled "Nuclear Fusion." A first, with ISLAN[DH]OPPED (Traveled from Syros to Naxos to Mykonos, say), I thought, OK, the center two letters are fused into one square, and that idea sort of still works with IFEE[LG]REAT ("That was rejuvenating!"), but it's three words instead of just two, making it a little less elegant. But then we look at the Downs that run off the rebuses, and we find that they are all four-letter, two-word answers, with rebuses at both ends and the same two letters in the middle. As in: [DH]EA[DT] (Race that's too close to call) (to be read as "dead heat"). Maybe this is the real theme? The nuclei of both Down words are fused? But then what of the Acrosses? They are just working in service of the Downs. (And yes, I am fully ready for there to be some beautiful explanation that I just didn't GET on this early Sunday morning, and if you know what that explanation is, please tell me in the comments.)

So, the theme is a little hard to figure out, at least for this rusty blogger, but taken as a themeless with a ton of variable rebus squares, it was a lot of fun. So we're all HAPP[YC]AMPERS, right? Or was it HOHUM?

"Locks up?" (HAIR) didn't quite work for me. I would have preferred something like "coif." Hair just seems to general for that "up" in the clue. On the other hand, I did like the aha moment when PRISM (What might be found at the end of a rainbow) came clear. Nice one.

PALISADE (Defensive fortification) is a lovely word, isn't it? I prefer the plural version that doesn't have anything to do with conflict, but still... and just after that in the puzzle was a word I did not know: FAE (Winged beings of folklore). I see from xwordinfo.com that it has appeared three times before this, in puzzles that I probably completed, but I did not remember it. Perhaps this time I will. 

And finally, another word I don't remember hearing before, but that I enjoyed learning: PROMPOSAL (Elaborate invitation from a senior, maybe). Hah!

Overall, I enjoyed figuring out the rebuses, and there were some fun entries. What did you think of it?

- Horace 

Saturday, April 18, 2026, Jesse Cohn

What was I just saying about large areas of white in a Saturday puzzle? This grid features stacked thirteens and fourteens with a nice nine-letter entry dead center. Not the chunkiest, but not bad at all. For me, the top went a lot easier than the bottom, and I ended in the SE, where I knew neither DWADE (All-time scoring leader for the Miami Heat, familiarly) nor MARTIN (Mathematics writer Gardner), but was saved by three fine clues - "Cutting stuff" (SATIRE), "Cuts a line?" (EDITS), and "It takes two hands to show" (TEN). Hah!

The long entries were all solid. Interesting, but not surprising, to learn that the CALIFORNIAROLL is a "Dish purportedly invented in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo neighborhood." CROCODILETEARS (Make-believe sorrow) is as close to a gimme as you're going to get on a Saturday, but ROOKIEMISTAKE (Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe) took a few crosses, and got a smile when it finally came clear.

More evidence of the bar for acceptable words and phrases being lowered over the past decade in SAFEWORD (Term in the bedroom, maybe). When that topic comes up, ODDS are you can RESTEASY, and you know you're INFOR "a treat." Ahem.

My favorite clue today was "How people get into a swimming pool, typically." It made me think of things like "all at once," or "little by little," but no, it was BAREFOOT. Hah! "Silky-haired toy," tricked me too, although I don't know why, as "toy" is used so frequently to mean "dog." Anyway, that one is MALTESE, not Barbie, or anything like that. And finally into the "false start" category I put "Breakfast dish that might go over well?" I dropped in FlapjackS off the F in SPINOFF ("The Jeffersons" or "The Simpsons," notably) (OK, that was also a gimme...), but no, the answer was FRIEDEGGS. 

Overall, a fun, challenging puzzle with very little slop (I'm looking at you, LIM and GEOS).

- Horace     

 

Friday, April 17, 2026, Rachel Fabi

A solid Friday puzzle pinned by two grid spanners running through the middle. ONAPOSITIVENOTE ("Bad news aside ...") is, well, positive, but I have never heard anyone use the term DARKESTTIMELINE (Worst of all imaginable chronologies). That could well just be me, though. Speaking of, I'm not sure I run with a crowd that uses DEADASS (Seriously, in modern slang) either. I'm getting up to the age where people are more likely to be talking about PARTB (Medicare subsection covering ambulance services). But before we get off of the topic of ass, if you haven't already seen it, this is pretty funny.

But back to the puzzle. The clue for ORCA (Sea creature known to mourn its dead) is troubling, isn't it? Elephants do this too, and crows. More and more we are made to realize that we are not the only animals on Earth who have emotions. And while this should not be surprising, since we sometimes act as though other humans have no emotions, every time I hear it, it makes me emotional. 

I thought the clue for REOIL (Start to season, as a skillet) didn't work well, but there were several others that were clever and/or fun, to wit, "Sticker that usually comes in sets of three or four?" (PRONG), "Get to the point?" (TAPER), "Stop being such a baby" (GROWUP), "What's going around?" (GIRTH), and the classic "Student center" (DEE). Ahhh ... crosswords.

- Horace 

Thursday, April 16, 2026, Rafael Musa and Sala Wanetick

What better day to return to blogging than a Thursday? It's the start of The Turn, as we call the Thursday-Friday-Saturday string of puzzles, and it's a perfect one for our restart, because I get to mention Bruce Haight again. He created a puzzle with two large black-square Is in 2016, and I gave it a not-very-positive review. I met him in person a couple months after posting that review, and we discussed that puzzle, my review, and the whole idea of "stunt puzzles." It gave me a better understanding of the constructor's art, and it made try to be a more balanced reviewer. So, thanks again, Bruce.

 

Now then, on to today's T-ridden grid. You'd think after all this time that I'd take a look at the shape of the grid right away. And to be fair, sometimes I do, but it's usually on a Saturday, when I marvel at huge swaths of open space. Today, I was so bent on finishing quickly so I could start the review (he offers as an excuse), that I just tried to get a foothold anywhere I could. When I finally realized what was going on and widened my view to see the six bold Ts staring out at me... well, I felt like an idiot. 

So what am I talking about? The revealer, DOWN TOAT explains that fifteen (!) Down answers use those large black-square Ts to complete the answers. And all the entries are valid and mostly normal. Some are quite good, even - "Source of a deal with The Devil?" (TAROT), and the nice geologic clue "Igneous rock that makes up most of Venus's surface" (BASALT). Sure, I can come up with that quickly, but could I remember that TOPAZ was number 8 on the Mohs Scale at the A.C.P.T? Not until it was almost too late! ... grumble grumble... 

Sorry, sidebar. 

OK, so the best clue today was "This isn't working!" for LEISURE. That's beautiful.

- Horace 

We're Back!

 

Hello Dear Readers, our break is now over. We got together at the A.C.P.T. last weekend, and much to my surprise, we all missed the blog a little more than we had expected to. And so, with barely any more fanfare than there was when we started this thing way back when, we're back. 

First off, before we get into the daily grind, I want to say that my favorite puzzle of the past few weeks was Alex Murphy's FLIPTHEBIRD from Thursday, March 26th. Such a clever trick, and very well executed. In talking with constructor Bruce Haight at the A.C.P.T., I mentioned this puzzle, and he told me that he had pitched a very similar idea ten or twelve years ago, but was told that it didn't pass the "Sunday morning test," or whatever they called their "good taste" filter. I'm not surprised that he didn't get to do it back then, or that it was published now. Certainly in the decade-plus that we've been doing the puzzles and blogging about them, things have loosened up a lot. I think it's a good thing, overall, and if it brings in solvers of a different mindset, then so much the better.

If you're reading this, thanks for checking in on us every once in a while, and I hope you'll continue to read and comment. And if you like us, tell someone about the blog. We'd really appreciate it. 

Thanks for reading,

- Horace 

Thursday, August 21, 2025, Simeon Seigel

I have been dealing with a family issue for the past few weeks, and have not blogged, but today I will, because I thought this was a very clever puzzle.

The revealer WHATGOESUP (Start of a popular saying about gravity ... or a hint to completing the answers to the starred clues) went in easily, but it wasn't until after I finished the puzzle that I realized what was going on. Let's take 19-Across "*Wildlife parks" as an example. The answer appears to be GAMER, but the true answer is "Game reserves," and to find that, you have to go to the R of GAMER, then go up and down, using the letters of 9-Down, SERVES to complete it. Pretty slick.

And this trick works for all six of the theme answers, which are all valid entries on their own. Very impressive.

I was not familiar with the game ZORK, despite playing video games in the very beginning of the video game era. "Fictional character with a famous opening line" (ALIBABA) was funny, and I thought it was convenient that "faucet" fits in where SPIGOT is correct for "Tap." Tricky.

Just a really good Thursday, I thought.

Horace