Wednesday, August 19, 2026, Kareem Ayas

Let me not be known as one who BURIESTHELEDE. At least not today. Today's puzzle hides berries in the leading word of the theme answers. Gooseberries, elderberries, strawberries, blackberries, and even burberries (also known as "barberry"). Getting that last one in is a real coup, in my opinion, and might well have been the impetus for this theme in the first place. If I ever meet Mr. Ayas, I will ask him.

In the fill we have some nice moderny things like IMNOTOK (My mood is pretty low), UNSEE (Wipe from one's memory, so to speak), and AVA Max. I like the long Downs: CURRICULUM and LOSTCAUSES, and I like the paired clues "Drop" for LOWER and DIP, and "___ Minor" for ASIA and URSA, but I do not like "'A drop of golden sun,' in song" for RAY. It's "re" she sings, and we must interpret it as the homophone. When it's written as "ray" it takes all the fun out of it.

Finally, I had not heard of BLACKBART before, so I looked him up. Apparently, one of the two authenticated poems he left ran as follows:

I've labored long and hard for bread
For honor and for riches
But on my corns too long you've tread
You fine-haired sons of bitches.

 I also found this:

Upon his release from prison in January 1888, Black Bart was asked by reporters if he planned to resume robbing stagecoaches, and he replied with a smile on his face: "No, gentlemen."  Then another reporter asked if he would write more poetry. He laughed and said: "Now, didn't you hear me say that I am through with crime?" 

 

Nice. 

 

- Horace 

Tuesday, August 18, 2026, Jeremy Venook

Today's MUSICOFTHENIGHT theme collects four SONGS, all having something to do with the night in their title. MOONLIGHTSONATA (Classic Beethoven piano piece) (and a song of a sort), CITYOFSTARS (Academy Award-winning tune from "La La Land"), SWEETDREAMS (1983 Eurythmics hit whose full title includes "(Are Made of This)"), and the revealer/title itself, from "The Phantom of the Opera." That last, by the way, I had never heard of, but luckily, I didn't need a DEUS ex machina to figure it out. 

Doesn't UNICEF (International aid org.) always make you think of Halloween? Do kids still go out with those orange boxes the day before Halloween collecting change? I'm guessing the answer is no, but I wish it weren't.

I loved the clue for ACORNS (Nuts whose shells look like they have little berets). I hadn't ever thought of them in quite that way, but now I won't ever think of them otherwise. Hah! And "What gossipers and tall buildings are full of" (STORIES) was fun. And I can't let this puzzle go without mentioning the cross of LUBE and SEXY, and the added bonus of BITEME.

OK, that's probably enough outta me. See you tomorrow.

- Horace 

Monday, August 17, 2026, Zhouquin Burnikel

To this theme, I say YESANDYES. Ms. Burnikel has found entries in which foreign equivalents of the word "yes" appear twice. Such as:

DAPPERDAN (Well-dressed guy) (Serbian, and others)
LOUIELOUIE (1963 Kingsmen hit with a repetitive title) (French)
JAMJARS (Containers for fruit preserves) (Dutch, and others)
SITEVISITS (On-location inspections) (Spanish, Italian, and sometimes French)

Nice theme. What else? I had MARINARA sauce a couple nights ago at a restaurant, not as a "Sauce for mozzarella sticks," but for arancini. But then I thought about it, and the arancini were filled with mozzarella... and sure they have a little rice, but it's pretty much the same thing. Mozzarella sticks, mozzarella balls... it's all good.

And speaking of food, it was interesting to learn that the HABANERO was named for Havana. It seems obvious once you know it. Like so many things, I suppose. 

And speaking of "not food," since when are people tossing PETALS at newlyweds. I am so old as to have been pelted with rice! And speaking of old, are they still making TROLL dolls?

Lastly, love "Lengthy rants" being called SCREEDS, but don't want to make this into one. See you tomorrow!

- Horace 

Sunday, August 16, 2026, Sam Brody

TAKE THE EDGE OFF

Fun theme today that was part definition, part rebus. Take the first one, 23A, "_ATSO_ and _EKYL_." You might know that the missing letters spell Watson and Jekyll, two doctors without the first and last letters of their names, or DOCTORSWITHOUTBORDERS, and that answer is, itself, an international organization. Classic crossword puzzle theme, that. And it continues with all the other theme answers. NEEDSNOINTRODUCTION (_RAVES), and HEADLESSHORSEMAN (_NIGHT) are probably my favorite two.

In fill today, I like the word VALISE (57D, "Travel bag). It's just a nice word, isn't it? I've got to start using it more. "Yes, I'd like to check my VALISE, please." "Oh, I handed my VALISE to the redcap. It's the one with ATONOF stickers on it from various travel destinations..."

Seems almost wrong to call GONGS "Suspended musical instruments," doesn't it? Musical instrument... I suppose every bell is a musical instrument, but to put one in the same category with, say, a piano, seems odd. But I suppose it's no odder than putting me and algae in the category of "things that are alive." 

Where was I? I suppose we might as well just remove the S from BICEP once and for all. And I looked up "Granita." It's about a guy named "Umberto Umberto" who lusts after older women. An amusing parody idea. 

Favorite clue today: "Chemistry test?" (SPEEDDATE). Heh.

- Horace 

Saturday, August 15 2026, Blake Slonecker

Hello all!  Rounding out my week of blogging is a real cracker of a Saturday crossword, with a clean supersymmetric grid bisected both horizontally and vertically by stacks of long answers, and content that came THIS close to breaking me in two separate places.

A bit of a soccer theme was detected, with French soccer star Kylian MBAPPE making his NYT crossword debut (as far as I can recall), and reference made to ENGland's national team the Three Lions.  It reminded me that I did enjoy this year's FIFA World Cup, despite the off-the-charts corruption of its organizing body and (ahem) other related entities...

Back to the crossword!  A fantastic new word was added to my vocabulary today : AESOPICA ("Fabulous collection")!  I needed all the crossers to make any sense of it.  It didn't help that I originally had OPENED in 1A ("Began") instead of DAWNED.  I'd also never heard of OSAKA being referred to as "Japan's kitchen"... But my real near-nemesis was the NE corner, where I blithely wrote in ORAGEL as a "Toothache care option" and then wondering how the devil "7/" could be GUL.  The penny finally dropped with ORAJEL and JUL - phew!  

I loved the factoid about the Statue of Liberty's second TOE being longer than its first one.  I'm looking at an image right now and yes, so it is - and also, there's only one foot exposed so the singular reference in the clue makes sense.   

HOLLA as "Say 'Hey', say" was new to me, though I liked the terse symmetry of the clue. And I smiled at the clever and oh-so-familiar "Oil wells?" (PORES).  

Much else to say .. e.g. my take on bullfighting, unfamiliarity with the TEXASTWOSTEP, ETCETERA.. But I have a vacation to pack for, so you're own your own.  I now leave you in Horace's more-than-capable hands..

-philbo

Friday, August 14 2026, Zhou Zhang

A nice solid Friday themeless today, with an interesting layout (more long Down answers than Across), great cluing - and, a mere Q and a V away from pangram-dom, which would have been two NYT puzzles in a row.  I assume Ms. Zhang was aware how close she was, and I imagine it might have been tough to resist the temptation to force those two missing letters in there..  

With no theme to describe today, I'll go scattershot around the grid, highlighting the points of special interest - starting with the beautiful IRIDESCE at 35D ("Shimmer colorfully").  Not that it's the clue of the year or anything - I just find the word so evocative.   Two great C/APs side by side on the right - CONFABULATE ("Shoot the breeze") and OCCAMSRAZOR ("Philosophy of 'Keep things simple', in a sense").  Occam's Razor is a great tool to have in one's philosophical belt, I think - if we all embraced it, about a million conspiracy theories would vanish overnight.

AYCARAMBA carries the indelible whiff of The Simpsons, and right below it, BREAKUPSEX is about as lascivious as these crosswords ever get.  Speaking of Simpson, IMEANCOMEON was a phrase often used when discussing the guilt/innocence of O.J. back in the mid '90s.  I liked the brisk imperative "Scratch that!" (ITCH), and "Guard for some time?" is a clever QMC for RENTACOP.

"Huddling, as teammates" (INCLOSE) and "Good places for a deep dive into research?" (SEALABS) seemed a bit contrived to me.  And is THATSMYJAM a generational thing?

Well, that concludes my "drunkard's walk" (look it up!  It's related to how stars shine, amazingly) around the Friday grid.  Hope you enjoyed the solve as much as I did!

-philbo

Thursday, August 13 2026, Killian Olson

A delightful puzzle today, with a clever theme that was opaque to me until the revealer made it all make sense in the end.  Going through the Across clues, we encounter four in italics, straightforward enough except their (evident) answers either don't match the crossers, or don't fit the available squares:

• 17A "Mafia members, e.g." should be MOBSTERS but it's LOBSTERS
• 26A "Alimony recipients, say" should be EXSPOUSES (too long!) but it's ESPOUSES
• 41A "Drinks at a pub" should be ALES (too short!) but it's AXLES
• 53A "11th of a noted 12" should be AQUARIUS but it's AQUARIUM

I had all this written in by the time I encountered the revealer "Evaluating, as an opponent", whose answer SIZINGUP makes the above make sense - the 'M' in MOBSTERS is 'sized up' to 'L' to make LOBSTERS, and so on.  Very neat, and the idea to include XS and XL as 'sizes' is downright brilliant!

The very first letter of the grid is a 'Z' (say it with me : ZED) and of course, that gets the ol' antennae quivering - and sure enough, the crossword is a pangram!!  Always impressive and I didn't find it forced at all.

No big snags to report here, aside from some initial theme-related confusion.  I had a false start with ZIPPO at 1D for '0' (it's ZILCH) but other than that, everything flowed nicely.

Elsewhere in the news:  We've all seen the RICOLA commercials, right?  Is that really yodeling? .. I got a kick out of the clue for PBJ ("Sandwich that may be a bit crunchy.." <-- emphasis on MAY, for those of us in the smooth-PB camp). This, by the way, joins BRRS ("Verbalized shivers") as the Vowelless Answers o' the Day.  And there's EKE again, this time clued as "Pull (out), as a narrow victory"!  We need some sort of bureau of standards to weigh in on this word, finally.

Signing off till tomorrow..

-philbo