Saturday, October 31, 2026, Erik Agard and Brendan Emmett Quigley

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope you're all getting your spook on. We are planning on seeing our daughter perform in a dance show called "Bloodbath" tonight. The name is on point, but we'll see how scary it is.

But what wasn't spooky was the crossword puzzle. I had high hopes for this week that we'd have multiple themes or themelesses dedicated to the season. Instead, it was only two. I see this as a failure of imagination. 

But I jest! We continue our run of high-powered collaborations with a themeless by Mr. Agard and Mr. Quigley. And it's a high quality product! We start with 1A: Couldn't get any higher? (RATESATEN). Only Nigel Tufnel's amplifiers go higher (Spinal Tap reference alert). 7D: El Niño feature (TILDE) did not fool me for a second, but that's because I had my Saturday solving hat firmly in place.

Senegalese TWISTS

The trio of middle long answers are excellent. Let's start with the remarkable looking rap group name WRECKXNEFFECT. This was a rap duo from Harlem. Their most popular hit, "Rump shaker" went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. KEEPHOPEALIVE is lovely, but I particularly like 35A: Store with expensive items (TREASURETROVE) - "store" here meaning not "shop" but "collection." 

The two long down answers are also very good. 3D: That's a good one! (TOTALSWEETHEART) is a great example of the exclamation point type clue, where the demonstrative pronoun refers to the answer. 12D: "There's no doubt who's going to win" (ITSNOTEVENCLOSE) is a nice colloquialism.

It's been a fun non-spooky week! I'm handing off to Phil (I think).

- Colum

Friday, October 30, 2026, Robyn Weintraub and Rafael Musa

A Friday Robyn puzzle? With Rafael Musa as well? Yes, please!

Longtime readers of HAFDTNYTCPFCAWCCFP know how much we appreciate Ms. Weintraub's offerings, and today's puzzle certainly does not disappoint. Look at 1D: First name that contains four of the first five letters of the alphabet (CALEB) and then at 2D: Macronutrient group? (AEIOU). Amazing! 

Almost every clue or answer has something to recommend it. 5D: Pieces of writing from the French for "try" (ESSAYS) elevates a standard piece of crosswordese. 18A: Aid in evaluating some calls (SLOWMOTION) is ludicrous in its careful description.

10D: Common fix for a prolbem? (AUTOCORRECT) might have slipped your notice! But the word "problem" was misspelled in the clue. 

40A: Result of keeping a lid on too long? (HATHEAD) - hah!

SHIVA

I love the way SMARTTVS and VNECK look in the grid. Such a great combo of multiple consonants.

Add to all of this the fun long answers we are used to from these constructors, such as BACKSOSOON, KEEPSHONEST, and it's a good solve. 

Almost enough for me to overlook the fact that we're not even trying to be spooky any more. Wonder whether they'll finally break down for Saturday's puzzle?

- Colum

Thursday, October 29, 2026, Sam Ezersky

Apparently not everyone got the memo when it comes to the overarching theme of this Halloweek, I guess. There's nothing remotely spooky about today's puzzle! Unless you think an EXDA shouldn't be in politics, I guess.

Instead, we get an amusing reparsing of phrases where the first word or words can be reinterpreted as verbal hesitation. Thus, the classic comparison of two people who can never get along is instead discussing two paint bases (LIKEOILANDWATER). I particularly liked 55A: It's ... (what am I trying to say?) ... it's what my dentist uses (YOUKNOWTHEDRILL). I chuckled at this one.

I'm not convinced by the use of giant commas in the grid to help us see what's going on. Are they necessary? They certainly helped me see how to solve some of the answers by showing me where word breaks in the phrases occurred. But I could have solved the puzzle without them, and maybe have found the "aha!" moments on my own. Your mileage may vary, I expect. Also, I think the NYT likes putting in visual elements now to spice up the grid, so it's become a trademark.

SALMAN Rushdie

Some fun clues today. 25D: She has a lot of young followers (MOTHERDUCK) is a nice example of this style of direct referent clue. 48A: Paper you can trip on? (LSDTAB) took so many crosses before I understood what we were looking for. But how about 57A: Cause of dog bites (LICE) - no question mark here at all! I love that the clue changes the meaning to ways in which dogs are bit.

It's a fun theme and a strong grid. Keep up the good work, Sam! You might have a future in puzzling. Now we just have to get you to accept more acceptable words in the Spelling Bee.

- Colum

Wednesday, October 27, 2026, Daniel Grinberg

Call me late to the party, but I'm now noticing a theme unifying this week's puzzles. It might have something to do with the word I saw in the Connections the other day: "Halloweek."

Today we get a theme of SCAREQUOTES - not the indicators of irony, but actual movie quotes from horror films. I've seen three of the four: HERESJOHNNY is such a classic, with Jack Nicholson peeking through the bathroom door he's taken an axe to. ITSALIVEITSALIVE from Frankenstein (or Young Frankenstein, to name a less scary version). BEAFRAIDBE / VERYAFRAID is from The Fly, a movie I did not enjoy watching when it came out in the 1980s.

The final quote is from Saw, which I hear is a good movie, but I do not enjoy torture scenes, so I have never approached it. Nonetheless, IWANTTOPLAYAGAME is classic.

Bonus theme material: OSCAR Isaac as Victor Frankenstein

The grid is supersized today, a massive 16 x 16, in order to fit the two long theme answers. For all of that grid, we don't get many tricksy clues. Two of them have a slightly blue quality, with 22A: Top choices? (BRAS) and 4D: One chasing the big bucks? (DOE).

Nice shout out to constant crossword friend, ABBA, acknowledging the delay between albums. Will we have more Halloween themed puzzles before week's end? I'd bet the answer is likely yes.

- Colum

Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Jeff Chen and Bharati Hemmady

Getting going a little earlier this morning! Today's puzzle confused me, unusually for a Tuesday. It took me quite a while of staring at the theme answers to understand what was going on.

Our revealer is FLYBYNIGHT, and we're told it's a hint to the ends of the theme answers. Usually, this means the final word, but in this case it refers to the ending letters. At the ends of each answer is hidden a nocturnal flyer. First, in MOCKCOMBAT, there is a bat; then in WOOLLYMAMMOTH, we find a moth. There's an owl in PROBOWL, and most amusingly in BAITANDSWITCH we find a witch!

That's a cute twist at the end, and fitting for the season.

The great and lamented lost Catherine OHARA

11D: Words said with reservation? (SAVETHEDATE) - nice question-mark clue. I chuckled as I entered the answer. And speaking of chuckling, 25D: "Laughing" birds from Down Under (KOOKABURRAS) is a great long answer. I had never heard of ANKE Huber, so I second-guessed myself for an instant, but there was only one possible letter to go in there.

Lastly, 67A: Biology class? (GENUS) is very nice.

Hope your Tuesday goes well.

- Colum

Monday, October 26, 2026, Kevin Christian and Andrew Carla Michaels

Late post today because we were out late last night at a show - an all-lesbian Radiohead cover band called Labiahead! They were absolutely brilliant, performing two entire albums of intense challenging incredible music. But I got back way too late to do the puzzle and write the review.

Today's Monday puzzle offers four theme answer phrases with the letters S-H-O-T in order, spread out. The revealer is SCATTERSHOT, a literal description of the process. I had thought that there might be another layer after the first one (SQUASHCOURT) where you take a shot by hitting the ball around. I suppose JUSTTHISONETIME is similar to taking a single shot, but the other two (SMASHMOUTH and PSYCHEDOUT) don't follow the concept, sadly.

TALIA Shire

Do you ever get surprised that an answer will take up as many letters in the grid as it does? I had that experience with DISTINCT. Somehow the eight letters available seemed way too many for the answer.

The other thing I noted today was the sudden ubiquity of the answer HYENA. These things feel like they go in cycles for me. I'll notice one entry making appearances regularly for a while, then another answer will catch my attention. I'm not sure why that is.

LITHUANIA, POESY, HYMN - some very fun answers today. Overall a smooth and fun Monday.

- Colum

Sunday, October 25, 2026, Dylan Schiff and John Kugelman

RELATIVELY SPEAKING

Hola, all our loyal readers! After a week suffering from the actual influenza, I'm happy to have my health mostly back, and the opportunity to review more New York Times crossword puzzles! Kudos to Frances for another fine week of pun-filled reviews.

Today's theme takes phrases of two words where the first word ends in -ER and pretends that those words are actually comparative adjectives. Reclue in humorous ways, and wackiness, as they say, ensues. These are, in fact, silly in lovely ways.

Take 24A: Peridot vis-à-vis jade? (OLIVERSTONE) - one stone is more olive than the other, you see! Just the idea of "oliver" as an adjective makes me chuckle. I suppose that's partly because one of my dogs has that name for himself.

I also laughed at 63A: Zipper up vis-à-vis zipper down (SHUTTERFLY) and 111A: "OMG THIS IS AWESOME!!!!" vis-à-vis "good job i guess"? (HYPERTEXT). 

I am not convinced by BOMBERJACKET (is a blazer supposed to be more dope than a windbreaker? I think that depends on the windbreaker). 

Hilary Duff as Lizzie MCGUIRE

In other unknown areas of knowledge, what are UVTATTOOS? Looking them up, this seems like a pretty niche thing. How often will you be showing your tattoos under UV light? In my world, never. That's how often. But I also don't have any tattoos, so I'm probably not one to talk.

Also, who knew NEWTS had gone on at least six different space missions? Nice clue to spice up our frequent crossword puzzle visitors (at least "eft" has gone the way of the "dodo").

18D: Cover letters, say? (TEACH) required all of the crosses to get. What an unexpected twist the clue takes! 

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the chutzpah of crossing SIGN and SEGNO, as well as UHNO and OHOK. It's rare that a Sunday puzzle can SATISFY, but this one's pretty good.

- Colum