Monday, July 21, 2025, Katy Steinmetz and Rich Katz

A slightly odd theme of GOTTACATCHEMALL today, with four things some people try to catch. The only one that I try to catch with any regularity is SPELLINGERRORS. Had I the occasion to try to catch TOUCHDOWNPASSES I would certainly try to do so, but THEEVENINGNEWS is something that I actively avoid. And AIRPORTSHUTTLES, well, yes, it's good if you don't miss them.

  

Sometimes a theme makes me think too much about the very nature of crossword puzzle themes. How they have come to have this fairly rigid format of being the longest entries, and how there are only a certain number of them. Four or five, usually. And how nothing else in the grid can have anything to do with them. Of course, these rules are broken occasionally, but for the most part, they hold. I've really got to try to create a puzzle someday...

Anywhoo... nice how BUTT and TUSH intersect, likewise TOUCHDOWNPASSES and PUNT. And CRANE intersects with Strands today. :) 

"What two toddlers should learn to do" (SHARE) could just as well have been "... two adults..." or "... two countries..." Sigh.  

- Horace 

Sunday, July 20, 2025, Michael Schlossberg

TEN POINT SPREAD

The "ten points" here refer to the ten theme clues, all using the format "____ point," and all needing to be thought of in a way other than the normal way. Clever. Here's my favorite three:

Fine point? - SPEEDTRAP  
Flash point? - PHOTOBOOTH
Low point? - DAIRYFARM

See? Clever! 

Some of them were so opaque to me without crosses that it played like a themeless with several unclued answers. But then I started to get the hang of them, and, well, it went a little easier. But there were some tricky clues in the fill, too, so it did play tougher than a usual Sunday.

Other highlights included "One working near home" (UMPIRE) (should probably have seen this one sooner), "Bring up the rear?" (MOON) (guffaw), "Chinese symbol of hope and prosperity" (KITE) (did not know that!), and "One of 24 in Yankee Stadium." I guessed "flag" at first for this, because I know they've won a lot but I don't know how many, but no, it was ACRE - another thing that I know exists but I don't know a lot about. Sigh.

"Common lampshade shade" (OCHRE) was weird, and MEETER (Airport sign carrier) was weak, but other than that, this was a pretty nice Sunday.

- Horace 

Saturday, July 19, 2025, Erik Agard

So, what do you think? Was yesterday's Wordle connected with today's puzzle? I don't see how it couldn't have been. 

We've got six grid-spanners today and a mini-theme of FREEDOMRIDES and CORETTASCOTT King. It played tough, but fair.

It was fun that TITILLATE (What R-rated photos may do) and STMATTHEW (Biblical tax collector) were connected symmetrically. And I take issue with the idea of an IMPOSSIBLECOLOR. I read a tiny bit about it and I think that if you can see something people call "Stygian blue" as an after effect of another action then it is not impossible. Likewise I think it is easy enough to imagine, and even create, a reddish-green. Harrumph!

"Case study org.?" (TSA) was cute. And FINN (Suomi speaker) makes me think of being half Finnish, and how things would be quite different for me today were that half, say, Moroccan or Mexican. Why? Why should it be so? We are all just humans, – mon semblable, – mon FRERE!

- Horace 

Friday, July 18, 2025, Kelly Morenus

Fairly chunky grid and lots of trickery adds up to a lovely, tough, Friday. Let's talk about it.

I'm just going to start with my favorite clue - "Congressional record?" First I thought of minutes, notes, even MEMOS (Staff notes), but no, it's SEXTAPE. Beautiful. In other areas, it gets a bit expansive - "Down" isn't just eat, it's INGEST, and "Humdingers" aren't lulus or oners, they're CORKERS. Nice.

The quote clue was high-quality too - "'____ is the most convenient time to tax rich people': David Lloyd George" (DEATH). Hah! 

"Shepherd's warning" (GROWL) (shepherd dog, not shepherd with a crook) is very good, "Receiving end?" (GEE) is classic literalism ("receiving" ends with a GEE), and perhaps the trickiest of all, "Explicit subject for her?" (ANTECEDENT) is pure high school English class. The pronoun HER needs an explicit subject to refer back to. Yowza.

Oh, and "Mixing board" (PALETTE) is not about audio recording, it's about painting!  

Really fun, really good Friday.

- Horace 

Thursday, July 17, 2025, Sam Brody

MATRYOSHKADOLLS. I'm pretty sure I've heard this name before, but do I have it on the tip of my tongue? No. 

The trick of nesting the clues and answers is cute, and I like that all the theme answers are standing tall, like the dolls. Let's break one down - 

(Bucks' (lady's (roadside stopover) title) mates) - DOMAINNAMES (do (ma (inn) am) es)

See! Nothing to it. :)

I liked reading 31 and 33 Down as "I see" and "I sit." Don't know why, just did.

Favorite clues: "Top tier" (ATTIC), "It has its ups and downs" (SEESAW), and "Manner of speaking" (ACCENT). Nice.

- Horace
 

Wednesday, July 16, 2025, Jasin Cekinmez

It's mid-week, and time for a TEABREAK. Four teas are hidden in longer entries, each with a break partway through the word. This is definitely a theme that required shaded squares. I had never heard of "mate" tea, but one of the reasons I enjoy crossword puzzles is that they frequently introduce me to people and things I had not yet run into. The other three - oolong, boba, and assam - were familiar.

BSMETER (Detector of absurdity, in slang) and BADASSES (People you do not want to mess with) were a tad surprising. HEATERS (They radiate warmth) was amusing in its straightforwardness. 

Paired clues like "See 11-Down" and "Chance to get 8-Across" always get my dander up, and when I see "Like Detroit vis-à-vis 29-Across" in the same puzzle, well, I don't like it.

- Horace 

Tuesday, July 15, 2025, Daniel Britt

DELTABURKE and DANNYBONADUCE are real throwback references, aren't they? I can't picture either one of them, but their names are floating around in my memory. DREWBARRYMORE, on the other hand, I can picture. I can picture her in E.T. and in Charlie's Angels. She's always been a favorite. And then there's DAVIDBOWIE. He's got to be the most famous of the four, right? And maybe he's the most likely to have introduced himself by saying IMDB. But probably not. 

Philbo would be sad that I did not immediately know that OTTAWA lay on the banks of the Rideau River. Sigh. I probably know more about SATURN than I do about Canada. 

WIREMESH (Latticed metal used in construction and fencing) - is that just chain link? And aren't there Gentlemen's clubs that aren't NUDIEBARs? Another thing I know very little about...

This felt like it played hard for me but was over in six and a half minutes, so I guess it's still right in that Tuesday range. How'd you like it?

- Horace 

Monday, July 14, 2025, Christina Iverson

If you know this blog, you know I like goofy, so this play on HARRYSTYLES name is a-ok with me. :) Ms. Iverson gives us four hairy styles at the ends of BASKETWEAVE, PRETZELBUN, THEREDPONY, and MONOBOB. And what's more, it's in sort of a pinwheel shape, going both across and down, which I also enjoy. So thumbs up on theme. Very LIKABLE.

It's Monday, so the fill can't be too fancy, but we get a few more interesting words like COWER (Crouch down in fear), IONIC (Like some chemical bonds), KHAKI (Color for some business casual pants), and ROBUST (Vigorously strong). "We are family!" (KIN) was amusing, and I enjoyed the quaintness of GOSHNO contrasting with NUDE and INHEAT. 

Fun Monday.

- Horace 

Sunday, July 13, 2025, Brandon Koppy

This is one of those tricks where it looks like the puzzle is "wrong," in that there is a complete disconnect between East and West, but then, of course, answers are revealed at the end by revealing hidden letters under the black squares. And these letters, as luck would have it, spell out "the doors." 

While the eight "bonus clues" seem anti-climactic, the hiding of the hidden words is pretty clever in some spots. BEET and OVEN turning into "Beethoven" is nice, and DISHON as two words, combining with RING to make "dishonoring" is pretty good too. The change from HONE and TWOMAN to "honest woman" is marred by the very clue and answer themselves. "New bride, quaintly." Ick.

The other two pieces of theme material are the Doors song BREAKONTHROUGH TOTHEOTHERSIDE and the phrase HOLESIN THEWALL.

Overall, not a bad theme, I just had a few issues with it. But maybe that's just me.

What else? HADLUNCH (Took an hour off mid-day, say) seemed a bit random. INPAWN (Traded for cash) - I am familiar with pawn shops, of course, but "in pawn" isn't something I hear. On the other hand, SCHISM, ECHELON, TADPOLE, TUSHIE, SCOURED, and ATELOCAL - all strong.

- Horace 

Saturday, July 12, 2025, Katie Hoody

WHATABLAST. This is the second time I have seen Ms. Hoody's byline, and it's the second time I will be giving her a rave review. 

Clever cluing was everywhere today: "Skipping music, say" (ABSENT), "Adjunct faculty?" (SIXTHSENSE), "What might be seen around a star" (POSSE), "Spot for newborn care" (NEST), "Period ender" (HORN) (think: hocky game), "Wit's end?" (NESS), and my personal favorite - and the one that took me so, so long to see - "Rush to find a mate?" (SPEEDCHESS). So good.

Then there were the connected "Waste" clues for DEBRIS and BLOW, the interesting trivia clues like "Kind of spider believed to spread to distant areas via railway" (HOBO) and "Its official languages are Chamorro and English" (GUAM). 

ICONOCLAST (Convention challenger) is a lovely entry. LINGO (Terms of a trade) and RIGAMAROLE (Series of hoops and hurdles) are fun. Overall, just a really solid Saturday. WHATABLAST indeed.

- Horace 

Friday, July 11, 2025, James McCarron

I admit it, I prefer themeless puzzles. Sure, sometimes there's a really clever idea, and sometimes those clever ideas are well done, but there's nothing quite so enjoyable than working through a themeless. Clues like "Tales are related about them," that seem so opaque, suddenly bring a smile when enough crosses allow you to see CAMPFIRES. Or "What might come with a twist or two," which gets you thinking about cocktails, but really refers to BALLOONANIMALS. And then there are clues like "Colonial group" are old standbys, but still maybe take the beginning A to remind you that they want ANTS. 

And then there are the answers like "You're warm" where you know what they mean, but you're not sure if it's going to be GETTINGnearER or GETTINGCLOSER.  

It's always nice to get an OGDEN Nash quote "The cow is of the bovine ilk; / One end is moo, the other, milk." I think the first Nash I can remember learning, back when I was under ten, was "If called by a panther / Don't anther." Which I see now comes from a slightly longer poem:

The Panther is like a leopard,

Except it hasn't been peppered.

Should you behold a panther crouch,

Prepare to say Ouch.

Better yet, if called by a panther,

Don't anther.

 

So anyway, I don't have a ton of time this morning, but sitting in this cafe doing this puzzle gave the day an excellent start.

 

- Horace 

Thursday, July 10, 2025, Emily Biegas and Sala Wanetick

Today's forced theme is four playing cards interpreted as clues. The ace of spades is used for MASTERGARDENER. That's cute. Then we get TIGERWOODS, who hasn't been the king of clubs for many years now. The queen of hearts is a MATCHMAKER, and then the jack of diamonds is, apparently, JACKIEROBINSON. Hmm.

"Curve that gives one pause?" is a cute clue for COMMA, and likewise "Big race that's no longer around" for DINOSAURS. 

After I got "CO..." at the start of "Urban housing option," I thought there must be a rebus because "condo" wouldn't fit. I guess I'm not much of an urbanite, because COOP didn't come to me for quite some time. Hah.

Is DEUCE bonus material?

- Horace 

Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Desirée Penner and Jeff Sinnock

Kind of an odd, positionally-clued theme today. The top row clues all included the word "top" in them: "Top dog?" (MUTT), "Top hat?" (LID), and "Top gun?" (PISTOL). And the sides all included the word "side" in the clue: "Side dish?" (PLATE), "Side kick?" (PUNT), etc. And likewise at the bottom: "Bottom feeder?" (TROUGH). I thought the weakest were "Bottom line?" for RAY and "Side plank?" for BOARD. What is a "side plank?" Oh wait... unless it's a yoga move... Anyway, EDGES serves as a highlighter, of sorts, in the very center. Nice.

LEVITATE (Get off the ground?) is a fun one. And I didn't realize that D.F.W. taught at POMONA. Someone I know when to POMONA around the time he could have been there. If I ever see her again I'll ask whether or not she had a class with him. 

What else? My brother Rich used to say YOUDIRTYRAT in a bad Cagney voice when I was little. And it's funny that MOOLAH is in again today.

The second and second-to-last lines today strike me as very crosswordy - EPEE ETE OCTOPI and NANANA ATO AGES. 

Happy Wednesday!

- Horace
 

Tuesday, July 8, 2025, Jesse Guzman

OK, this was clever. APLUSWORK explains "a guard," "a barber," "a chef," and "a miner," all hidden within longer theme entries. Brilliant. And all split across two words. Really, it's quite something. APLUSWORK!

And on top of that, we have some nice longer Down entries - TRUTHIS ("To be honest ..."), LESSEREVIL (Better choice, given the options), MAKESPEACE (Lets bygones be bygones) (if only!), and MOHAWKS (Spiky hairdos).  

"Cheddar, dough, bacon or cabbage" for MOOLAH brings to mind that widely circulated Native American quote: "Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten." 

Sigh. 

But at least we have bread and circuses. And crosswords.

- Horace 

Monday, July 7, 2025, Daniel Raymon

The theme is STILLONTHETABLE, and on that table are a pitcher, a plate, and a bowl. Interesting. Since I had no idea what was going on as I was solving it, it played almost like a themeless. 

IOBJECT ("That's not fair, Your Honor!") and AMSTEREO (Band for news radio?) look odd, don't they? It's kind of fun when you look back and can't remember what the heck something is. Also, what does that even mean, "Band for news radio?" Well, it might mean that the failed experiment that was AMSTEREO has been repurposed to talk news stations that don't even use the stereo component, but is that a Monday clue? Does anyone who hasn't just spent a few minutes on Wikipedia even realize this? Am I missing something else? Probably...

It took me a long time, even after knowing the nursery song "FRERE Jacques" and knowing French, to realize that the first word was actually FRERE. Because in spoken French, FRERE is one syllable, but in the song, it is given two syllables. The same is true for Jacques. But then the next two words are spoken normally (dormez-vous?). Language is weird.

See you tomorrow. 

- Horace 

Sunday, July 6, 2025, Zhou Zhang and Kevin Curry

I filled in everything but the lock in about 13 minutes, but then I couldn't figure out the lock, so I let Frannie look at it. She realized that FOURSQUARE could point to the square with the four in it in the puzzle, and put an X into the second spot. Once that was in, she knew it was EXIT. Then we went back to figuring out why.

Working from the end, DOESNTHAVEACLUE refers to 76-Across, TEE, which has only a dash for a clue, so that's the T. UNDERTHESEA, phonetically, refers to the only C in the grid, and under that letter is an I. For ENDOFTHEROAD, all we could come up with is the "Famed street in Beverly Hills," RODEODRIVE, which ends with an E. And there you have it.

The puzzle starts strong with the MARX quote "The bureaucracy is a circle from which no one can escape," and it's interesting to learn that ELPASO is the "Only major Texas city not in the Central time zone." "Lover of Shakespeare" is a cute clue for ROMEO. Likewise "Fruit picker of old" for EVE. 

I never was a fan of the switch from TAN to blue in M&Ms. TAN is just a better color for food, especially a chocolate food. There, I said it.

- Horace 

Saturday, July 5, 2025, Tracy Bennett

This is just what we want in a Saturday puzzle. Misdirections like "It's a straight shot" (NEATVODKA), "Uniform shade" (CADETBLUE), and "Alley oops" (GUTTERBALL) (think "bowling alley) totally worked on me. And I did not know that QUEERTHEOLOGY was the subject of "Jonathan Loved David" and "Take back the World." Nor did I know that UNCANNYVALLEY was an "Eerie phenomenon when a robot seems too lifelike." A solid challenge.

"Swell" for NIFTY was tricky. RINKYDINK (Small-time) was fun. "Oil smugglers?" (ARTTHIEVES) was cute. ... but I thought that "Keeps greasing that squeaky wheel?" (REOILS) was a little weak. I mean, oil and grease are different things...

But if that's all we have to suffer for a challenging Saturday, then that's fine with me.

- Horace 

Friday, July 4, 2025, Colin Adams

A breezy Friday that has nothing to do with the Fourth of July. Unless, of course, we consider CORPORATE (Like many higher-ups), MUSCLECAR (Mustang, for one), and OXES (Oafs). 

FRUITBAT (A flying fox is actually a type of this) was interesting, "Major for someone who can correctly distinguish between Manet and Monet" (ARTHISTORY) was fun, and the double "Vibe" clues for ATMOSPHERE and MOOD were good. And speaking of the vibe, it's definitely off for me today. Go have a veggie burger and try to think about something other than the state of the country today.

- Horace 

Thursday, July 3, 2025, Adam Wagner

Clever BLINKERS theme today, where two letters in each Across themer and one in each Down blink on and off to make different answers. As in the answer LOVERDONE (Friend or family member / Clichéd) - in the first case, the R blinks out to make "loved one," and in the second the L steps out of the way of "overdone." And in the Downs, the L is involved in IDEAL (Perfect / Concept) and the R is in RANDRY (Was exhausted / Lustful). It's a lot to keep track of, and an impressive feat.

Aside from that, let's see... I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to guess what a "back tire burn" might mean in a drag show. See, I didn't read "drag race" correctly, and didn't get that they meant a literal back tire of a dragster. But I feel like I should write to RuPaul and ask him to turn it into a thing. "Make that back tire burn, girl!"... sigh. The things my mind gets up to.

 

They got me on "City on the Seine." I knew it wouldn't be Paris and it wasn't, but I still put it in and then had to change it to ROUEN. FORREAL. And speaking of France, ENGARDE (Them's fighting words!) was fun. And yesterday we had "saboteurs," today we have MARAUD. Are they trying to start something?

 

- Horace 

 

Wednesday, July 2, 2025, Dan Caprera

Very nice theme today.

PUBTRIVIA - Did you know?! The most common bar name in the U.K. is The Red Lion
GRAPHICDETAIL - Did you know?! The oldest known porno movie is the 1907 short film "El Satario"
FUNFACT - Did you know?! Engaging in leisure activities has been shown to reduce stress levels by over 30%
RAWDATA - Did you know?! Before mastering fire, cave men ate uncooked meat for the first million years of human existence
BANKSTATEMENT - Did you know?! America's first chartered money supplier opened in Philadelphia on January 7, 1782
HARDTRUTH - Did you know?! Diamonds are 58 times more resistant to pressure than rubies or sapphires?

So much text! I feel like I may have crossed the "free use" line...

It's fun to imagine the discussions in the NYT Games office as they were trying to come up with a way to say "bank" without saying "bank." "Chartered money supplier..." Makes me wonder what "chartered" means...

Anywhoo, it was fun wasn't it? And absolutely packed with theme. And still there was room for more amusement - "Creator of a lot of buzz in the music scene" (KAZOO) (Hah!), "One who gives a hoot" (OWL) (guffaw.), and "Room for growth?" (WOMB). 

And speaking of PUBTRIVIA, "Official currency of Ecuador and Guam" (USD) and "Cabinet department since 1913" (LABOR) might be worth stashing away.

A fine Wednesday.

- Horace

Tuesday, July 1, 2025, Adam Aaronson and Michael Garbus

Fun and clever theme today, and it's especially nice that HORSERADISH and CRABAPPLE are right on top of each other. I guess, come to think of it, that no fill word has to cross more than two theme words anywhere, but still it's cool that the top two worked out that way.

Speaking of stacked entries, I also like STOMACH (Handle, as a tough piece of information) and PIRANHA (Omnivorous fish of the Amazon) together. Both are interesting enough on their own.  

"There might be a fork in it" was an amusing clue for ROAD, and it was fun to know NOCAP ("Dead serious," in modern lingo) thanks to my nephew Scott. (Hi Scott!) 

This was a fun Tuesday.

- Horace