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

Monday, August 3, 2026, Willa Angel Chen Miller

Yesterday I mentioned the flexibility of the English language. Today we get a demonstration where the word CHILLING is interpreted three different ways: first as relaxing, as a BEACHBUM might do while idling along the seashore, second as making something grow colder, as one might do with an ICECREAMMAKER, and finally as sending an eerie feeling through your soul, as might occur while watching a TRUECRIMESHOW.

I did two of those three things while on vacation in Delaware last week! Well, I didn't make ice cream, but I certainly devoured it. I'll let you guess which of the other two I did.

I started out slow with 1A: What's paid (COST). I tried "bill" first, but ODIE put paid to that (see what I did there?). I had to fill in the rest of the corner to get the obvious answer. Sometimes you can overthink things, I suppose. 

MILNE

Even in a Monday puzzle, you can find character and pizzazz in cluing. My two examples today are:

26D: First two syllables of "I am what I am," aptly (IAMB). Apt!

49A: Surgery that leaves the patient looking better? (LASIK). Hah!

Very nice Monday.

- Colum

Sunday, August 2, 2026, Ralph Sharaga and Doug Peterson

GOING FOR A SPIN

Hello, all you NYT Xword solvers! And others who have stumbled onto a blog looking for collaborations between Latin poets and Boston cooks? I'm back to pen a week of reviews, after a lovely vacation on the Delaware beaches. We had it all! Tornado warnings, impressive full moons, and mostly sunny days battling jellyfishes in the warm Atlantic waters.

But what a Sunday puzzle to come back to! The theme is silliness - an exercise in misleading adspeak for a broken down hooptie (a word we learned from the Urban Dictionary in years past), where each characteristic is represented in glowing terms. Thus, the fact that the car was found in a ditch gets it called an OFFROADVEHICLE. I particularly liked 82A: "... and the broken door locks?" (KEYLESSENTRY), and 110A: "... and finally, the missing front tires?" (REARWHEELDRIVE). Fun stuff, especially with the bonus clue at 37D: How the car in this puzzle's theme would be sold (ASIS).

Beyond the theme, though, there were a plethora of fun clues, befitting a punny style of grid construction. 1A: Pen name (BIC) starts us off in the right frame of mind. Take nothing at face value! Or, with 9D: What someone flat-footed lacks (ARCH), take it exactly at face value. 

19A: It's right around the present (WRAP) is a great example of how the English language lends itself to misleading clue writing. 97A: Safari destinations? (URLS) is a nice hidden capital. I was also amused by 117A: Legend who occasionally used his head to achieve greatness (PELE). 

Maybe my favorite clue is 45D: It has a rind but supposedly no rhyme (ORANGE). It reminds me of the great late Tom Lehrer, who came up with this:

Eating an orange
While making love 
Makes for bizarre enj-
Oyment thereof

Can't beat that, and so I end my review there. See you tomorrow!

- Colum

Saturday, August 1, 2026, Zachary David Levy

Color me surprised that I was able to finish this puzzle. When I started, I had only VAGUEIDEAS and a growing sense of unease as I read clue after clue. It wasn't until I got to 38A and its call for a Rabelais character that I could get started with any confidence. In hind sight, I should have known 20A off the clue ("21-time Emmy nominee for 'All My Children'" (SUSANLUCCI)), but I hadn't thought about soap operas in so long that I skipped that one without really thinking about it, assuming I wouldn't know the answer. Anyhoo, after putting GARGANTUA to bed, things went more smoothly. From APSE to ELSE, by way of the fun AMAZEBALLS, I METPAYROLL, which made me think I would be able to complete the solve and helped settle my grid-based DYSPEPSIA. :)

But, I still had to go back to the beginning. On the second pass, I took a little more time with each clue and was able to make sense of the tricky and clever "Dis/cuss?" for TRASHTALK, "Precipitous?" for RAINY, and its neighbor "Source of some classic rock bands" (AGATE) - all of which required a little mind shift for this solver. I guessed that "Result of bad service, maybe" related to tennis, but without anything to go on, I had too many five-letter options to commit to one. I was hesitant to enter KAMASUTRA at 9D because it was just in yesterday's puzzle, but eventually that was the only possible option.

I had the most trouble in the north- and southeast. I didn't know the 'Island of a Thousand Temples' label for BALI. I was totally stumped by the clue "Bugling game." which turned out to be ELK - I have the Across answers to thank for that one. "Base unit" in the southeast was another such clue. I had to get all the Downs to fill in COT, which made sense only after I thought about base as in army.

Overall, it was a nice mix of tricky QMC and non-QMC clues and quite a dense grid with only 29 black squares, including two grid-spanning entries and lots of other big and unusual fill like DANGERZONE, ABRUPTNESS, PATCHWORK, and RIVERAS.

Saturday signals the end of the cycle. I know without ADOUT that you'll be in better hands next week with our friend and co-blogger, Colum. Until next time, dear Readers.

~Frannie.

Friday, July 31, 2026, Rafael Musa

This solver found today's puzzle fun but less TAXing than some Friday puzzles, and I don't think it's because I'm a SMARTYPANTS but maybe because there were some straightforward entry points into almost every section including 2D: "Assenting chorus" (AMENS) in the northwest, "Style secured with a scrunchie" (PONYTAIL) in the northeast, "___ incognita" (TERRA) and "Denial in Aberdeen" (NAE) in the southeast, and in the southwest "Formal pause in a line of poetry" (CAESURA). :) 

That being said, there were many clever, trixy, and entertaining Clue/Answer pairs throughout. In the Question Mark Clue (QMC) category we have the amusing "Withholding something? (TAX) and "Where to be above all the drama?" (OPERABOX), with best in class - in MIME opinion - being "Sex work?" (KAMASUTRA). In the non-QMC category, I enjoyed "It'll pass!" (FAD), "Cry when shaking hands" (DEAL), and "Change for a bill" (AMENDMENT). Two highly ambiguous clues took their TOLLS on my time: "Make one" (FUSE) and "Rings" (TOLLS). Challenging for me was "Genre for Logic" until I actively noticed the capital L and realized Logic referred to a human entity known for RAP. Then I was ALLSMILES.

The puzzle also featured an ACRE of fun fill like PETNAME, SERENASLAM, XANADU, and SLEEPOVERS. I am always happy to see a nod to Pride and Prejudice, in this case, the youngest Bennet sister, LYDIA. I was less happy to consider the highlighted ingredient in the salad yum khai mod daeng (ANTEGG). My POV on that one is ICANTEVEN. 

In sum, a fun and fast Friday. YAYME! :)

~Frannie.