Saturday, September 19, 2026, Hannah Slovut-Einertson

0:20:53

You know it's a Saturday because you have learned there's something called a GUITALELE (Instrument also known as a ukitar), and that Siva SAMOA is a (traditional dance named for its country of origin). And speaking of learning things, who knew that a sawtooth shark is actually just called a SAWSHARK? Or that there's a narrative device called RETCON? It's short for "retroactive continuity," and I'm guessing it comes from tweaks to the timelines of franchises like Star Wars or X-Men. 

Interesting to find the full TEEHEEHEE ([Giggle]) in the grid instead of just a "tee" or a "hee." Speaking of, there are a lot of "spoken" answers today: GODHELPME (Request for assistance from a higher-up?), IMEANYEAH ("Sure ... that's true ..."), LIGHTENUP ("Just relax!"), LETS ("I'm in!"), SHAPEUP ("Behave!"), ORELSE (Intimidating words),  SMARTMOVE ("That's good thinking"), and ILLSHUTUP (End of a rant, perhaps). And are the answers TALKSENSE and OSCARSPEECH related to all this somehow? I suppose I'm the reviewer, I should be able to DECODE it for you, but, again, speaking of talking - I am sitting in a room full of people who are all talking, and it's hard to concentrate on writing this, so I may MISS things. Like how SETS is equivalent to "Goes down." 

I'm either an EMPTYSUIT or a PEON full of HOTAIR, but I hope you get the GIST.

- Horace 

 

 

Friday, September 18, 2026, Ryan Mathiason

D.N.F.

The NW was my undoing today. I stared at it for five minutes and then decided that I had to get on with my life. I like it, though, with its IQS (Brightness measures, in brief), ITSHOT (Server's warning at a restaurant), and TREERING (Element of a dating profile?). Cute. I don't think HORDE is just right for "Mass," and I was never going to get TED (Sci-fi writer Chiang) or TRAE (Four-time N.B.A. All-Star Young), but that's the way it goes sometimes.

I found some old MADLIB pads while cleaning out my old family home recently. They're really not all that funny. At least not when you read them forty-five years or so after they were filled in. Sigh. 

 

Two of the stutter-step thirteens went in off the clues - UNITEDNATIONS (Country club?) (the question mark gave away too much today) (see also: "Ones catching the rays, perhaps?" (ORCAS)) and GOALLINESTAND (Defensive effort in the red zone) (what else could it be?). SPLITDECISION (Not everyone agrees on this) was the best of the lot. 

 

Can't spend too much more time on this, as I have to get going, but I'll be back tomorrow, when hopefully we can have a more leisurely chat.

 

- Horace 

Thursday, September 17, 2026, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano

0:10:42

Today the em dashes found across the entire top row of Down answers are explained by the revealer, INFINITESCROLL, telling us that we should imagine the puzzle as being able to scroll such that the bottom row becomes the top, over and over again. That would have been a fun visual component to add after solving, like yesterday's Utah drawing, they could have made the puzzle scroll. Ah well, maybe it's more complicated than I realize. Many things are, it turns out.

So how was the solving experience? For me, it was more fraught than usual - dashes are never my favorite trick device - but in the end, it took me a little less time than yesterday's, and there were some clever clues to enjoy along the way. "Promising places?" (ALTARS) was clever, HOCK (Pawn) was tricky, and my favorite was "Inspired stuff" (AIR). Hah!

I am not really sure why MACS is equivalent to "Buds," and the EVO tournament is new to me. How'd you enjoy it?

- Horace 

Wednesday, September 16, 2026, Peter Gorman

0:12:20

Tricksy Wednesday! I didn't see it coming, and even once I came to the revealer - "State whose outline can be made by connecting the seven particular squares in this puzzle" ([UT]AH), I didn't use that information to place what was then for me the only remaining rebus square in the NE. I blame the fact that I was out at a show last night until about 11:00 and then walked most of the four or five miles back to my house. But we've all got our reasons. La chose terrible sur cette terre, c'est que chacun a ses raisons, as Jean Renoir put it. Sigh.

Anywhoo, it's a pretty nifty feat to have the state abbreviation rebus squares positioned as the corners of the featured state - one that can be drawn with all straight lines. (I don't think it's a coincidence that the answers in the Mini today use only letters that can be made with straight lines.) 

In addition to the rebus and the cool drawing, there were plenty of quality entries. TOPPLE, with it's confusing clue "Fall or fell" was tricky, PROTOTYPES (Early models) is strong, "The remotest of remote jobs? (ASTRONA[UT], was fun, and NECTARINES (Fruits named after a mythical drink) was interesting. I have never heard of a BASENJI (Small hound that doesn't bark), but it's nice to find out about, and I have heard that for some anyway, folding a fitted sheet is not an ORDEAL. 

If you were here on Sunday, I mentioned that I liked the clue "Chilling" for the answer ATEASE. Today that same clue appears, for an answer in almost the same spot in the grid, but this time it clues ONICE. Nice.

Lots to like today. Really solid Wednesday. What'd you think?

- Horace 

Tuesday, September 15, 2026, Nate Cardin

0:03:27

A thick theme today of six "blank-R-something" answers that rely heavily on television shows, some very old. I never watched, but have have heard of HRPUFNSTUF, and I watched and remember JREWING, but I needed several crosses for "Many characters on 'The Pitt'" (ERDOCTORS). So it goes.

 

The C/AP "The 'R' in R.I." (RHODE) got me wondering about the etymology of that name. From the RI.gov website I can tell you that RHODE Island "was named by Dutch explorer Adrian Block. He named it 'Roodt Eylandt' meaning 'red island' in reference to the red clay that lined the shore. The name was later anglicized when the region came under British rule." Interesting! At least for those readers not native to the Ocean State. :)

In other clue-related trivia, Paddington, who comes from deepest PERU, was inspired by the only bear native to South America, the Andean, or spectacled bear. Strangely, Paddington doesn't retain the spectacled look, but has a more general teddy bear coloring.

And why are PEP rallies called that? It's short for "pepper," which has been used since at least 1847 to mean "spirit" or "energy." The first attested use of "PEP rally" is from the "Daily Review" out of Decatur, Illinois in 1915, according to the crossworder's favorite reference, the OED.

And so ends our daily review.

- Horace 

Monday, September 14, 2026, Andrea Carla Michaels and Dena R. Verkuil

0:03:14

Well, Dear Reader, Frannie and I spent the weekend with Colum et uxor, and I unloaded on them about all the things that have been worrying/bothering/upsetting me lately. I won't go into all of it with you (You're welcome), but I imagine that they will now be checking this site for proof of life, so I'll be trying to get the posts up early. :) ( :( )

 

Happily, the puzzle week starts with a fun one. GOBANANAS is the revealer, and it reveals that the word "banana" can precede the first word in all the theme answers:

BOATHOUSE - Crew building
BREADBOX - "Is it bigger than a ____?" (Nice to hear this phrase again)
SPLITDECISION - Close boxing match outcome
and
SLUGFEST (All-out boxing match) (Banana slug ... gross)

SLANG (Word hidden, aptly, in "teen's language") was an interesting find, and IBEFOREE (Lead-in to "except after C") is one of the strangest entries I've seen in a while. And did you notice that EGGS lit up when you were on 62-Down "Things traveling through fallopian tubes" (OVA)? That was a nice little Easter egg. 

Let's see, what else? There's a nice old-timey crossing of EVA Gabor and Dale EVANS, the poetic, long-distance pairing of ERE (Before, in poetry) and ANON (Soon, in poems), and my favorite C/AP today - Pinocchio's are easily exposed (LIES). Hah!

- Horace 

 

Sunday, September 13, 2026, Henry Lin-David and Frank S. David

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

Greetings, Readers! It's Horace, here, back for another week of talking with you about the puzzle. I hope you have all been happy and healthy. Me, I've been busy with a lot of things, primary among them, cleaning out my old family home in preparation for selling it, which will, of course, be traumatic. So let's talk about the puzzle instead.

Today we have a puzzle within a puzzle - a totally walled-off 4x4 square in the very center - and the clues for those eight four-letter words are answers within the grid, which must first be filled in as answers to the original clues. It's not a style of crossword that I particularly like or enjoy, but today's went smoothly enough. Is there a reason for the walled off square? Do the central answers make any sense on their own, or give an extra level to the whole thing? STEM, TAXI, AKIN, YETI, STAY, TAKE, EXIT, MINI.... no. None that I can see. 

So it's a stunt puzzle, and I've already told the story of how Bruce Haight made me appreciate them more... and I do. I appreciate the fact that it's a technical feat, but I am writing about the solving experience - mine in particular - and when appreciation comes after the fact and not during the solve, well, ... I've said plenty already. 

There were some cleverly ambiguous clues, like "Pole, e.g." (SLAV), "Chilling" (ATEASE), and "Over" (ATOP). It's interesting to think about an OAR as a "Nautical lever." I like the idea of MONKMODE (Distraction-limiting lifestyle trend), and I'm storing away the fact that VIRGO is the "Largest zodiac constellation." 

See you tomorrow!

- Horace