Wednesday, July 8, 2026, Mason Hyunjin Lee

Today is the first day this week that I actually paid attention to my advice from Sunday. I took a little extra time to see what the theme was, and then tried to figure out the theme answers rather than just fill them in from crosses in order to get the best possible time. Turns out (at least today) that solving this way is still quick!

The theme answers are all clued with a single word whose first letter you have two options for, which can then be interpreted in a phrase of the form "blank or blank." For example (because my explanation looks pretty darned thorny in hindsight), 17A: [C/P]ause (MAKEORBREAK) is "cause" (make) or "pause" (break). The other three are just as clever:

27A: [L/C]ure (TRICKORTREAT)

46A: [M/H]inds (HEADSORTAILS)

62A: [Z/R]est (LIFEORDEATH)

I am really impressed by this theme. The only one I have any (minor) complaint about is "rest" being "death," but it's acceptable.

Mia HAMM, World Cup winner (unlike the USMNT)

Otherwise, I like how AISLOP looks in the grid (but not in real life). I smiled at 43D: First in a race? (ADAM). And TODO crossing AGENDA was a nice touch.

- Colum

Tuesday, July 7, 2026, Brad Lively

Well, I'll tell you what it's not right now, here in Albany, and that's WARMANDFUZZY. More like cool and rainy. Although I can't complain. At least I don't have to be in Italy, like some.

The theme takes that concept and interprets it literally with two word phrases where the first word is warm, and the second fuzzy, as in 20A: *Surfer girls, in old lingo (BEACHBUNNIES). The other three are HOTDOGS, SUNBEAR, and FIREFOX. The first is apt, given the contest that happens annually on July 4th. Congratulations to Miki Sudo!

Who knew the AVOCADO tree could self-pollinate? I learn something new with many NYT puzzles with the trivia clues they utilize. Another example is 52D: Number of years that George Washington lived in the White House (ZERO) - that's because it wasn't completed until 1800. Let's not think about the current grotesque expansion.

Has anyone heard of a CATIO? I can imagine what it is, but a picture is worth a thousand words so here goes:

Good clue for 30D: Start a long drive, in a way (TEEOFF). 

- Colum

Monday, July 6, 2026, Alex Eaton-Salners

It's nice to stop and appreciate the theme, but it's also fun to get the full "aha" moment by not paying too close attention. I saw the circled letters today, but I didn't bother to see what they represented until I had completed the entire grid.

The revealer is 56A: Sections of a choir ... as hinted at by this puzzle's circled letters (VOICEPARTS). In each of the long answers is one of the standard chorus voices: alto, bass, soprano, tenor, all in order but split into "parts" by scattering their letters across the answer. The theme would have been better had the parts been in order from high to low as you move down the grid, but that's a tough ask when the highest part has seven letters! I very much appreciate finding soprano inside of STOPDROPANDROLL.

Chappell ROAN

There are some lovely long down answers, including three place names (GALAPAGOS, COPENHAGEN, and TEHRANIRAN). I would like to go to two of those three places. And even the third, but not in the current climate, I'm afraid. I have been to the ALAMO, but not ANGOLA.

It's been rather HUMID around here, not like Italy, where some are. 

- Colum

Sunday , July 5, 2026, Rich Katz

BOXED SETS

Hey, folks. I'm back for another week of blogging. Kudos to Horace for writing two weeks while on a challenging slog through Italy! I'm sure we all have a lot of sympathy for his plight.

I've been really enjoying solving the puzzle lately. I've decided to take pressure off of myself and not worry about solve times, and simply enjoy the process. It's a very different approach from, for example, solving at the ACPT. Mondays and Tuesdays still go by very quickly, often too quickly to appreciate the theme during the solve, but still, being in the moment is worth it!

Today's puzzle has a really fun theme. Each theme answer is presented using the mathematical symbols for a set, and has three items in it. The relationship of these items to each other can be interpreted using a common phrase. For example, 23A: {Elijah, Ruth, Natalie} is BABEINTHEWOODS, referring to Babe Ruth between Elijah and Natalie Woods. 

They're all really well done, not a LAME one in the BEVY of answers. I particularly liked HONORAMONGTHIEVES (with Oscar referring to the Academy Awards), and POWERBEHINDTHETHRONE (AC/DC after the water closet - Hah!). 

Perhaps my favorite clue today was 32D: Flatter feet? (ODE). How to make this bit of crosswordese fresh again? With an outrageous pun, that's how. It will always win me over.

I also enjoyed 89D: You won't actually die of it (BOREDOM). 

Otherwise this was an enjoyable Sunday grid, and a lovely time spent with the puzzle. See you tomorrow!

- Colum

Saturday, July 4, 2026, Kareem Ayas

I don't usually talk about solve times, but this week The Turn went in reverse order for me: Thursday took longer than Friday, which took longer than today's. And the odd thing is that this one felt the hardest at the beginning, but then things started to fall into place.

In the NW, I did not know the word OCEANARIA (Expansive marine exhibits), but I guessed that it would start with "ocean," so that helped. And although I thought "Grand Tour, e.g." was a bit of a stretch as a clue, after a few downs it sure looked like it would be BIKERACE. I would prefer to have seen the name of an actual race, rather than an umbrella term, but hey, it's Saturday.

Over in the NE, I broke in with "Peacock's home" (NBC), and CEL (Piece of cartoon memorabilia), before the long Downs started to res in. GREENBERET came to mind immediately, but I didn't realize that it was only a nickname. The real name is United States Army Special Forces. Oh, and speaking of trivia, Montpelier is smaller than PIERRE (Second-smallest U.S. state capital by population (about 14,000 people)), but Vermont is only second in the least populous state category, to Wyoming.

I liked the Wilde quote (LIFEIMITATESART), and it was interesting to learn about CREAMSODA (Soft drink originally made with egg whites). 

Colum takes over tomorrow! Until then, happy puzzling!

- Horace
 

Friday, July 3, 2026, Barbara Lin

Welp, I was wrong about the hemiquincentennial and themed puzzles. Aside from PRESIDENTIALRUN (Race to the top), there's nothing particularly patriotic about this one. And I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, because, duh, Friday and Saturday are themeless. Ever find yourself in a situation where you forget everything that you've been talking about for ten years and SPEW out some CANARD, only to realize it the next morning? Well, IKNOWTHEFEELING. 

So, Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the puzzle? Well, some of clues seemed straightforward ("Accepts accolades onstage, say" (TAKESABOW), "Opposite side" (FOE)), and some are that type which can be contorted to make sense, but which are less satisfying (N.A.A.C.P. member?: Abbr. (ASSN) (the abbreviation ASSN being a "member" of the shorter abbreviation), and "Play pieces?" (SETDESIGNS) (Sure, they're part of the construction of a play, but are they often considered "pieces?"). I know, I know, it's a game and part of the game is that the constructors and the clue writers try to trick the solvers, but sometimes it works better than other times. I have gone back and forth a bit on "Makes a return that hits the net?" (EFILES), because it's a fun tennis decoy, but agreeing that "hits the net" is normal to mean "travels via the internet" is ... well, is it a SRSLY? situation or is it a YES?

On the other hand, I did enjoy "Item that's not on the list, say" (IMPULSEBUY), "Shelling" (MORTARFIRE), and "Claims not to have known" (PLEADSIGNORANCE) (although I first wanted "feigns" here), and the puzzle as a whole was satisfying. What did you think?

- Horace 

 

Thursday, July 2, 2026, David J. Kahn

The semiquincentennial is starting early! Today we have the postal code for all thirteen original colonies in rebus form scattered throughout the grid. I caught on to the trick on the BE[NJ]AMIN (10 Hamiltons) / [PA]T[RI]OTS (American Revolution heroes) line, and really, it might have been [PA]ULA (Comedian Poundstone) that really forced my hand, as there can only be one answer to that, and it doesn't fit in four boxes. In other places, like 3-Down, I was able to answer "Ordinary" with PLAInold instead of PLAI[NJ]ANE.

I like how Mr. Kahn was able to include so many bonus, America-related words, like [MA]DISONS, [DE]LE[GA]TIONS, ELE[CT], U[SC]ENSUS, SENATOR, and even IOWA. And for good measure, and I'm sure because I am in Italy, he also threw in PIZZA and CANNOLI. Thanks, Dave! :)

I look forward to two more 'Murica-related puzzles on Friday and Saturday, and maybe even a big, colorful one full of fireworks on Sunday, but if that happens, it'll be Colum who gets to talk about it.

See you tomorrow!

- Horace