Wednesday, June 18, 2025, Eli Cotham

Well, I never played THEFLOORISLAVA, nor have I ever been anywhere where anyone played it, so this theme is not for me. 

When I do count the clock that tells the time, 

And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; 

When I behold the violet past prime, 

And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;

When lofty trees I see barren of leaves 

Which ERST from heat did canopy the herd,

And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves 

Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, 

Then of thy beauty do I question make, 

That thou among the wastes of time must go,

Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake

And die as fast as they see others grow; 

   And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence

   Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. 

ATOB (Short first step) caught me by surprise, and I liked three of the Downs starting on the top edge of the puzzle. NOCANDO ("Impossible!") was fun, BACCHUS (Wine god of myth) is always welcome at my house, and EYESORE (House with a long-unmowed lawn, e.g.) was good. But I have never been a fan of April Fools' Day jokes (IGOTYOU), and GLUMMER (Not so happy) is not so good.

It feels a little weird to see APU in the puzzle so often when he has been silenced in the TV show, and there hasn't been an SST flight in over twenty years.

- Horace 

Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Tarun Krishnamurthy

Today's theme relies on the inferior candy REESES PIECES, and finds the word REESES into three longer entries:

HERECOMESTHESUN
RENEDESCARTES
PRESSESTHEFLESH

Neat. 

As long-time readers of this blog know, I prefer themeless puzzles, and sometimes I question the whole idea of themes. I know, I'm just being ornery. Themes can be surprising and fun...

Anywhooo, I didn't know that a TEMPEST was primarily a "Windstorm often accompanied by rain." I thought it was just a general storm. And I kind of liked the familiarity of TENPAST (A sixth of the way through the hour). Interesting non-duplication with ILE (Suffix with percent) and ISLE (Tahiti, e.g.).  

- Horace 

Monday, June 16, 2025, Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp

It's a cuteness overload this morning, with a grid filled with BABY animals - kitten, joey, puppy, calf, and chick. And, of course, that old crossword babies ETUI and SKAT. It's been quite a while since I have seen either in the wild.

Interesting clue for EPEES (Swords whose points were once dipped in dye before a duel), and kind of a loopy clue for LOOPY (Like cursive handwriting, typically). I mean, I guess that's true, but I never think of it that way for some reason. And it was also interesting to posit the invention of the HOE in a clue (Groundbreaking invention for ancient farmers?). 

OFFDUTY (Not working, as a police officer) and INLIMBO (Left hanging between two stages) were nice. POPSICLE (Treat on a stick that you lick) was fun. 

A fine Monday.

- Horace

Saturday, June 14, 2025, Barbara Lin

Tough Saturday! That upper right corner took me forever! On the bright side, it’s nice to now know about the existence of the TENREC (Hedgehog-like mammal of Madagascar). There are no CROCKER grocery stores near me, and I was not turned on to TVSET (Wall hanging, maybe). Finally VENEER came to me somehow, and that broke it open.

In other areas, GALUMPHED (Moved clumsily) was fun. And “Go out in the winter?” (HIBERNATE) was clever. “Fly-by-night” (REDEYE) was cute. 

It was interesting to learn that HYACINTHS were “Flowers in the same family as asparagus and agave.” And come to think of it, I have never really thought about what the SPLEEN did. When I think of SPLEEN, I think of Charles Baudelaire. “Quand le ciel bas et lourd…” and all that.

And speaking of a low, heavy sky, that's what it looks like here in Portland. Hopefully, it's pouring rain in Washington. Happy protesting, all.

- Horace 

Friday, June 13, 2025, Evan Mulvihill

Quite the start today, with HOTPANTS and SASHAY. Let's cut right to the tape:

After that we have the trickily-worded "Light shower?" (APERTURE), and the adorable SEAOTTER (Aquatic eater of shellfish). Not bad. Not bad at all.

The central stagger-stack starts mildly with COMESOUTAHEAD (Ultimately succeeds), then ultimately succeeds with the fun and modern GOESBEASTMODE (Runs wild, in gamer-speak), and the Big Lebowski-evoking WHITERUSSIANS (Cocktails that might make for poor nightcaps). 

COINPURSE (What might be pinched for pennies) is fun, UNICORNS (Majorly successful business start-ups) is nice, and things finish salty in the South with AGEGAP (Feature of a May-December romance).

Solid Friday.

- Horace 

Thursday, June 12, 2025, Daniel Bodily

Hakeem OLAJUWON came into the N.B.A. just around the time I stopped watching professional basketball. The Celtics had just won their 16th championship, and I was headed off to college. So I vaguely remember hearing about the QUADRUPLEDOUBLE achieved in 1990, but until today, I didn't actually know that it meant recording ten in four of these five stats: points; assists; rebounds; blocks; or steals. OLAJUWON, back on that late March day in 1990, got 18 points, 10 assists, 16 rebounds, and 11 blocks. Meh.

As far as this puzzle goes, I got the feeling there might be a double-letter rebus when I hit "'Weeping' giant" (WI[LL]OW), and then all the other rebuses fell into place. To be honest, I was a little disappointed when I hit the revealer and realized that there would be no more of them. 

"Farmer's squeeze?" (UDDER) was amusing, and there were a few literary entries - OWEN Wister and EDNA Ferber - but overall, this was sport-heavy.

- Horace 

Wednesday, June 11, 2025, Sam Koperwas and Jeff Chen

The MISSISSIPPI river runs down the middle of the grid, just like it runs down the middle of the country, dividing the country in half. The circled letters represent states that are separated by the river, and they are placed accurately from north to south. Pretty cool. The only downside, I guess, is that the clue for TERRE Haute, Ind. had to appear west of the river. :P DENALI, on the other hand, is accurate. 

PLAGIARISMS (Copyright wrongs) is an odd construction, but I understand that finding a word with both LA and MS must have been challenging. And as with so many early week puzzles, a lot is done in service to a theme. Here, the theme merits it, and so we tolerate the odd EKED and TTOP, and the somewhat outdated term SIAMESETWIN. 

- Horace

 

Tuesday, June 10, 2025, Zachary David Levy

It's all about the cell service these days, but who actually wants to make a GOODCALL? And when I saw GOODCALL for the first time and then looked up and saw "service" at the end of STREAMINGSERVICE I thought the theme might be a reference to tennis. I didn't see the French Open final, because I was away in a place with no TV and very few bars, but I was able to read about it after the fact. Quite a good match.

Anywhooo, this one was nice. PLOTZED (Was verklempt) will always make me think of Mike Myers, for better or for worse. And BREXIT seems a positively mild form of isolationism and xenophobia compared to what we see every day in this so-called country... sigh.

I've never heard of "Steak DIANE (dish flambéed tableside), but if I never do again it will be too soon. My brother went on and on this weekend about how his favorite thing to do is to slowly eat a rare steak with a glass of red wine. Gross.

It seemed weird to clue REARTIRE with "It helps give a car traction." I mean, sure, it does, but so do the front tires. The vast majority of compact, mid-size, and full size cars are sold with front wheel drive.

- Horace

Monday, June 9, 2025, Aimee Lucido

This one made me smile. The last words in each theme answer are LASTBUTNOTLEAST. Only the last word in the revealer is that. And there's something satisfying about the "but not" part, because it is! HEH.

"Pond honker" (GOOSE) got a chuckle. And you know what? I shared an art studio with a woman whose last name was SITAR, but until this very moment, I had not thought of her name as being the same as this "Instrument used in Hindustani classical music." Perhaps because the first vowel is pronounced so differently - "ee" instead of "ih." 

Anywayyyyy....  I will never remember that GOBAG (It's often packed during the final few weeks of pregnancy) is a thing. And the pregnancy angle threw me off even more. And I hadn't heard that the rating for PSYCHO was changed so long after the fact. Interesting.

OK, last comment - "Stretches of baking days?" (HEATWAVES) was good!

- Horace 

Sunday, June 8, 2025, John Kugelman

MEETING THEIR MATCH

Seems like a long way to go for these animal pairs. Eel and Rat, Ass and Elk, Ant and Dog... Would these things attract one another? What about Doe and Stag? Mare and Stallion? Sure, it would have been harder, but as it is, well, I don't know.

I have never run into the work BORK used to mean "Break, slangily." I looked it up and found that to some it means to obstruct, defame, or villify, surely stemming from the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork. Perhaps they mean "break" in the sense of "ruin the chances of," or something like that...

I liked FIXITINPOST (Deal with a problem later, as a filmmaker). And the plural seems a bit gratuitous in FRENCHOPENS, but it is timely. STEERTO (Point in the direction of) and LEDTO (Yielded) are a little duplicative. 

I like GLAMAZON (Tall, chic woman) as a word, and GOBANANAS (Lose it) is fun. And wouldn't it be nice if we had more use for the word RATIONAL these days? 

- Horace 

Saturday, June 7, 2025, Blake Slonecker

There are TSTORMS predicted today on the southern coast of Maine where I am today, but tomorrow promises to be sunny. Right now I am at a cafe that offers free wifi and I have to finish this review before my 93-year-old dad decides it's time to go home.

So let's see... this one is held together by eight - count 'em - eight grid spanners intersecting in the corners. The most surprising to me was ARMAGEDDONCHESS (Board game variant used as a last-resort tiebreaker). Like chess-boxing the other day, this is a new concept to me. Is it something that happens in actual chess? Or is it a different thing entirely? Ordinarily, I'd look it up, but the clock is ticking here. 

Things I liked: MAKEAFRESHSTART (Leave everything behind); RENEWEDINTEREST (What a retrospective aims to produce); "Annoyance in the middle of a season, perhaps" (SPOILER) surprised me; "Takes the field" (MOWS) was cute, as was "Leaves aside?" (PILE). "Change seats?" though, for SOFAS, might have been trying a little too hard.

My difficulty today came from guessing BEAsT for "Doozy" (BEAUT), which made SOURSON (Stops digging) difficult to see.

Overall, though, a fine Saturday. Played a lot easier than yesterday for me, but sometimes you'll have that.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

- Horace 

Friday, June 6, 2025, Adrian Johnson

Egad this was a hard one! That lower left corner nearly did me in! And really, a lot of it was not in my wheelhouse at all.

ENCASE (Keep from being touched, in a way) made me chuckle, because one of my friends is the head of a library, and we used to joke about him making lucite cases to enclose all the stacks so no one could access the books. Not really all that funny out of context. Or maybe even in context...

I wanted ARTSzone for "Cultural draw of Shanghai's M50 district" (ARTSCENE), but DEVILRY (Some Halloween mischief) made that pretty much impossible. I tried "tee" for "Culture center?," but it was LAB. And who knew a "Flavor enhancer in many pho recipes" was BONEMARROW? Remind me not to eat any more pho...

UPANDLEAVE (Split without warning) was what I did toward the end of the party last night. And SLOPPYKISS (Overly warm welcome, maybe), while slightly amusing, seems unlikely. I mean, who does that?
 

- Horace 

Thursday, June 5, 2025, Timothy Gaetz

In today's offering we need to keep in mind that there are NOIFSANDSORBUTS in any of the theme answers. So to "*Confirm to be true" is not to "verify" but VERY, "*Armed thieves" are not "bandits" but BITS, and "*Someone who knows how the sausage gets made?" is not a "butcher" but, simply, CHER. Come to think of it, she might also know. 

Clues like "Companionship?" (ARK) and "L'il belly" (TUM) seemed of a slightly different style, and I welcome them. There was a nice pairing of "Supporting" (FOR) and "Not supporting" (ANTI), and it still managed to get in some solid crosswordese with ATRA and OSLO.

Overall, I liked it. I didn't count to check whether there were equal numbers of words without if, and, and but, but it hardly matters. 

Nice Thursday.

- Horace 

Wednesday, June 4, 2025, Danna Rosenberg

There were a few things that I disliked in this one. OSAKAN (Resident of Japan's third-largest city) is reaching. Isn't every documentary an OPDOC? And BACKATYOU (Remark that may immediately follow an insult or a compliment) is something I've only heard used in a positive way. 

And that NW corner is just so ... ugh. AJAR, ALAMO, TINCT, ATIT, TEL...

HALFASS (Done without much care, informally) should probably be half-assed, but who would notice? 

And so we are made to MAKELEMONADE from the lemons found hidden in the theme answers. Here's one thing I liked - learning that the OPAH is the "Only known warm-blooded fish." They do not maintain a constant temperature, like humans, but are able to maintain a body temperature slightly above whatever water they are in. Additionally, they keep the temperature of their brains and eyes at a temperature slightly above that of the rest of their body. Weird and interesting.

- Horace 

Tuesday, June 3, 2025, Boaz Moser

Hmmm.... would you have been happier if the bedding strata had been positioned accurately? With the cushion on the bottom, the sheet in the middle, and the cover on the top? I would have been. But as it is, all three "light" theme answers contain elements of a traditional bed, so it works as a theme.

It's odd that three of the longer, non-theme answers are things that would not benefit sound sleep at all -ARMAGEDDON, PANICROOM, and OSCARSNUB. And I can add to that "Mean" STREETS, a DOGPARK with its CHORUS of barks, and the noise and excitement of an ACTIONHERO movie. Am I taking this too far? Yes, definitely. 

I did appreciate that both ASSES and HELL were included in the grid. LOLS.

- Horace

Monday, June 2, 2025, Anthony V. Grubb

04:52

Interesting theme today of expressions that include an article of clothing. 

EATMYSHORTS
PUTASOCKINIT
SUITYOURSELF

Each, a CLOTHESLINE, as it were. Not bad.

I was not familiar with KIRBY (Pink Nintendo character from Planet Popstar), and I was not expecting COHABIT (Live together) to be missing the "ate" at the end, but the crosses were fair. 

We saw a production of "The Odyssey" recently, so CIRCE (Greek sorceress who took the phrase "men are pigs" literally) went right in. And do you think there is an unwritten challenge in the crossword world to come up with new clues for things like "Erie" and OREOS? Well, today's clue for the latter "It's nearly impossible to split their creme equally, per M.I.T." was a new one. So congrats there.

So what else... "'Explosive' expletive" (FBOMB) was fun. I chuckled at "Like the name Parker, for a valet" (APT). And little trivia bits like "Only U.S. state whose capital has a three-word name" (UTAH) are always welcome. Solid Monday.

- Horace
 

Sunday, June 1, 2025, Sam Brody

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

The title says it all, as usual. The clues for the theme entries must be arranged - anagrammed - into new words, and that new word and a modifier meaning "arranged" will form the answer. As in:

LEGAL NICETY - GENETICALLYENGINEERED
RESIST - TWISTEDSISTER
and
ROYAL PERMIT - TEMPORARILYOUTOFORDER

It's a common idea, and it's done well here.

"Aid-de-camp?" was a cute QMC for TENTPEG, and "What you will" was an excellent non-QMC for ESTATE. Also cute: "Desirable formation for ducks" (ROW). Heh. 

Fun Sunday.

- Horace

Saturday, May 31, 2025, Adam Aaronson and Ricky Cruz

26:34

Of course, when I have to leave the house before 6:00am the Saturday puzzle is a bear. 

I liked the start of the Downs - KIBOSH (Nix), but I don't often think of it as a stand-alone verb. It's always "put the KIBOSH on" something, not "KIBOSH" it. But maybe that's just me.

"Underline?" was an amusing - and tricky! - clue for SEWER. See also: "Leaves the rest?" (AWAKENS); and "Minor key?" (ISLET). Good QMCs, all.

The idea of a CHESSBOXER was new to me, and the Wikipedia page strikes me as something that could have been put together as a gag to support this entry. But then, there seems to be a 12-year-old video by the Wu Tang Clan called "The Mystery of Chessboxin'," with 59 million views, so... maybe it's real? 

In other news, the other side of the partnership with LAY, the "Chip maker in a 1961 merger" was the Frito company. And speaking of words that start with F and end with O, the "Most populous California city with a one-word name" for (FRESNO) was very clever. 

So much in here... who knew there was ALOE juice? Or that CAPTCHA stood for "Completely Automated Public TURINGTEST to tell Computers and Humans Apart?" And how about ALLEYOOP (Two-person shot)? So good.

I gotta run, but this was a helluva Saturday puzzle. I hope you enjoyed it too.

Ya EBOY,
- Horace

 

Friday, May 30, 2025, Rafael Musa

10:00

This one went right along. Everything seemed kind of straightforward. Not DUH, exactly, but because it was a Friday, and because of the clue (DUH) I guessed GOL (Shout during a Real Madrid penalty shootout), then GAYBAR (Establishment that might host a drag brunch) seemed obvious, and SWEARJAR (Something that's filled with bad words), too, went right in. That kind of thing. The answers were more complex, or more unusual, in a way, but they were not exactly challenging. Like ROCKBAND (The White Stripes or Deep Purple), for example, RESALE (Thrift store transaction), and even the grid-spanner DRIVERSLICENSES (Things checked at checkpoints).

My favorite answer was SLAMDUNK (Sure thing). And "She's a believer" (NUN) was the best clue.

Frannie called out DAZING (Stunning) as feeling forced, and that crossword darling the O.E.D. agrees with her, telling us that there are fewer than 0.01 occurrences of the word per million words in modern written English.

Some days are just days, and some crosswords are just crosswords, but a rose is a rose is a rose.

- Horace

Thursday, May 29, 2025, John Kugelman

Today I finished the puzzle without understanding the theme, as is sometimes possible, and it took me a minute to figure it out! 

The revealer, TEASEUP, is to be taken for what it sounds like "Ts up," and it explains that in the answers to the clues with asterisks, like "*Two sure things," the Ts will be up one row. So 54-Across isn't just DEA, it's DEATHANDTAXES, but the Ts are above the black squares. It's a nice little trick. And who knew Mensa was a constellation? Probably all those Mensa nerds, that's who.

I thought "Insect named for the Virgin Mary" (LADYBUG) was interesting. Wikipedia tells me that it was so named for its color - because Mary was often depicted wearing red in old art. Of course I googled "Mary in old art" and what do you know, she often has a red dress on. She also usually has a blue garment on over the dress, but yeah, red. Interesting.

SNOOPS (Nosy parkers) and AMSCRAY ("Make like a drum and beat it!") is a solid top row. "Certain seasonal workers?" (REINDEER) was cheeky. "ALL hat, no cattle" and "Over-the-top dramatic" (FULLDIVA) were fun. 

Finally, I learned the word "Dissemble" (LIE) from Pinafore, so why not end with a little more G&S -

Though to catch my drift he's striving,
I'll dissemble – I'll dissemble;
When he sees at what I'm driving,
Let him tremble – let him tremble!

Tho' a mystic tone I borrow,
He shall learn the truth with sorrow;
Here today and gone tomorrow.

Yes, I know.
That is so!

- Horace 

Wednesday, May 28, 2025, Peter A. Collins

An impressive grid by one of the Old Masters of the NYTX world, in which circled letters rising and falling in the shape of the Sun's daily arc spell out "sunrise, sunset." As the words dawn and set they cross the entries GOODMORNING and NIGHTYNIGHT, and there's a bonus/revealer/additional element of FIDDLER (Musical featuring the song depicted by this puzzle's circled letters, familiarly). Very nice.

I'm not sure what, if anything, the black squares represent. At first I thought there might be a stylized violinist in the center, but now I just think it's all just normal left-right symmetry blocks. I might make it into a T-Shirt design ... don't all the black squares, taken together, look something like a super hero emblem? (Mr. Wednesday!)... and it makes me wonder if there would be any concern about rights... Probably not. If that's not a transformative use, then I don't know what is. But Mr. Collins - I'll send you one if I ever end up doing it. :)

Anywhooo, where was I? 

I overthought things right at the start, wanting a rebus to fit "bebop" into 1-Down - "Genre for Count Basie or Charlie Parker" (JAZZ). I even took out JIB (Small foresail) briefly! But ZENO (Philosopher known for paradoxes) set me straight again.

I guffawed at "Terse admonition" (DONT), and, honestly, I love the little squares of crosswordese threes in the West and East - ABA/NAV/EYE and TVA/EEG/RTE. I feel it's totally worth it in a puzzle as elegant as this. And besides, you still get nice fill like ACUMEN (Astuteness), POINTA (Starting place), AVERTED (Turned aside), and GURGLED (Sounded like a brook). Doesn't that last one always make you think of Pirates?

When the enterprising burlar's not a-burgling
(Not a-burgling)
When the cut-throat isn't occupied in crime –
('Pied in crime,)
He loves to hear the little brook a-gurgling –
Brook a-gurgling
And listen to the merry village chime –
Village chime.

Well, it does me. 

- Horace 

 

Tuesday, May 27, 2025, Ginny Too

The HOLYTRINITY is represented today by three theme answers:

WHOLLYOWNED - Like a subsidiary with only one parent
HOLEYCHEESES - Swiss and Jarlsberg
HOLIFESTIVAL - Colorful Hindu celebration

A tidy little Tuesday theme. 

Loved that today started with "Puccini heroine who 'lived for art, lived for love'" (TOSCA). How'd that work out for her?...

BADASSERY (Acts that are tough, rebellious and cool, in slang) was fun, and its symmetrical counterpart IMALLEARS ("Tell me") was nice and colloquial. The clue: "Caaaaaaar, you might say" had me stumped for quite a while (LIMO) (lmao). "Helps out a friend, purr-haps?," on the other hand, wasn't hard, but was a cute clue for CATSITS.

How about "Lines of communication" for CABLES? It could work many ways.

Overall, a decent Tuesday.

- Horace

Monday, May 26, 2025, Ari Halpern

The theme seems a little weak today. It's MOVIEOFTHEWEEK, and there are three movies that have a day in the title. They are out of order (if you follow ISO 8601), and there are only three of them. I know that it's impossible to get all seven in a weekday grid, and so, ok, fine. Also, the clue for hte revealer is "1070s-'80s TV staple ..." but two of the three movies are from 1999 and 2003. Is that weird? Of course, there's the 1976 version of FREAKYFRIDAY too... why not reference that one?

BRAINSTEM (Body part connecting the cerebrum to the spinal cord) and NERDALERT ("Look at this guy spouting useless trivia!" are fun ones. CUSP (One of four on most molars) is a tough one for a Monday. And I tried the perhaps rather too obvious "god" for "Topic for an evangelical preacher" (SIN). Who knew?

LENGTHENS (Stretches out) and ESCAPEKEY (Aid for getting out of a computer jam) seemed a little meh, but CIRCA (Around, as in dates) and CAVERN (Stalactite site) were fun.

- Horace

Sunday, May 25, 2025, Dylan Schiff

TRAVEL BUG

If you have been going to the A.C.P.T. for many years, you will understand me when I tell you that this puzzle gave me a little P.T.S.D. from an infamous Puzzle Five that used the idea of recombinant D.N.A. as a theme. In that puzzle, however, there were no helpful, color-coded circles to guide you. Sigh...

But that was then, this is now, and here, the combination of rebuses and WORMHOLES that work in both the Across and Down clues are really quite a lovely achievement, and an unusually complex Sunday theme. Beautiful, really. Not that that Puzzle Five wasn't also beautiful... probably...

I will not give theme examples today, but instead will leave it to you to untangle it all. I am reviewing, after all, not providing answers.

And speaking of reviewing, do I NEEDTO question whether the inclusion of CATHETER (Angioplasty tube) passes the "Sunday Morning Test?" Or is that test now OBSOLETE? And I suppose SODOM is ok because it's biblical... but then we can't just fill the grids with nothing but TREACLE. Gotta elicit a GAH or two with a little OLE POP. 

OK, enough of that. What about EMUOIL (Wellness product derived from an Australian bird)? Who knew?

SOLID puzzle. I DIG it.

- Horace

 

Saturday, May 24, 2025, Gene Louise De Vera

Fifteen extra squares and a mini-theme today in this 16x15 Saturday grid. 

All starts well in the NW with PSYCH (Course on behavior, for short), HEIR (Mary 1, to Henry VIII), PECOS (River that once marked the boundary of the Wild West), and SPAWNPOINT (Location where a video game character starts (or restarts) a level). All solid. And on the other side, there's RIGAMAROLE (Song and dance), which makes me think of a co-worker who likes to call out "rigamaroo."

Having eaten out yesterday (and split the bill) I smiled when I got MYTREAT (Nice thing to hear from one's dining partner). And speaking of money, I enjoyed the slightly anachronistic PURSES (Places for change). I was surprised when I finally got SHAQ (Magic center, familiarly) - Gotta get that brain a little more plastic! And speaking of - I'm not sure I fully understand ALIENQUEEN (Xenomorph who can produce humanoid offspring). Is that just general fantasy, or is it referring to a specific sci-fi book or movie? 

The mini-theme involves CAUTIOUSOPTIMISM (Feeling described as "hoping for the best, but fearing for the worst") and PLEASANTSURPRISE (Positive result of having 18-Across, perhaps). Nice. And there are loads of other solid C/APs today: "Shelters from the heat?" (SAFEHOUSES); "Not recommended" (ILLADVISED); and "Exposed" (OUTED), to name just three.

Solid Saturday.

- Horace

 

Friday, May 23, 2025, Kate Hawkins

Were you as surprised as I was to see KISSEDBUTT (Sucked up) in the grid today? Hah! 

AKEE (Fruit that grows on Jamaican beaches) put the song "Jamaican Farewell" into my head, and it's one of those times that learning something new made another thing that I had long heard as only sound suddenly make sense. This time it was the line "AKEE rice, saltfish are nice are nice, and the rum is fine any time of year." I have sung that many times, but I always just glossed over the first word." 

The top left gave me a lot of trouble at the end of my solve, mostly because I held fast to what I thought was a clever answer to "Dining at Chipotle or Panera, e.g." - hAuTCASUAL. I guess FASTCASUAL must be a thing, but what's "slow casual?" Or is that just "casual?" FASTCASUAL strikes me as a little like festina lente. And speaking of Latin, nice bit of trivia in "Fish bred by Roman nobles" (EELS).

Lots of fun clues in this one. "Watch this space!" (WRIST) took me forever, but I guffawed when I finally got it. And "A lot can be made of these" (ACRES) was cute. "Place for a cabin" (SEMI) was tricky. "Check for pieces, say" (FRISK) was clever.

Finally, always nice to see TOM in the grid. :)

- Horace

Thursday, May 22, 2025, David J. Kahn

This is a complex theme. MONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING is the multi-answer revealer, and it explains, in a way, that the word "all" (EVERYTHING) in the theme answers is changed into the currency of the country in brackets in the clue. Let's look at the themers:

*Be brave and proud [Iran] - should be "stand tall," but replace all with rial and you get STANDTRIAL
*How some medications are taken [Jordan] - ORDINARY (dinar)
*Luminous meteor [South Africa] - FIREBRAND (rand)
*Ubiquitously [Korea] - WONOVER (won)
*Ones on your side [Costa Rica] - COLONIES (colón)

See what I mean? Complex. 

Luckily, the rest of the answers were, at least on the left side, for me, pretty straightforward. On the right side we had things like EZER (1990s Israeli president Weizman) and DEDE (Film editor ____ Allen). 

This one was all about the theme, in my opinion, and it was pretty impressive.

- Horace

 

Wednesday, May 21, 2025, Ilana Levene and Scott Hogan

Today's theme is fun, exhortation-style re-cluing of common phrases or things:

CHEESEDOG - "Smile for the photo, dude!"
DELIVERYMAN - "Work on your enunciation, bro!"
TWISTEDSISTER - "That is messed up, girl!"
BLOCKBUSTER - "Protect the quarterback, buddy!"
WILDHONEY - "That's unbelievable, love!"

This one made me smile. 

I also enjoyed the twin "Fragment" entries, SHARD and SLIVER, and the not-so-directly-paired-but-still-similar PORTENT (Omen) and BODES (Seems to point to). And I guess we have the "outdated" pairing of SIDE (One of two on a record) and PPS (Afterhought's afterthought: Abbr.). Or maybe not... vinyl has been having a nice resurgence lately, and I just wrote PPS in an email not long ago...

Can I call out CIA (Org. whose officers train at Camp Peary) and FBILAB (Forensics HQ in Quantico, Va.)? Do I need to call out pairings at all? What even is a reviewer?

- Horace

Tuesday, May 20, 2025, Rena Cohen

The theme today appears to be cluing common-ish phrases in a novel way. I say common-ish, because I am not familiar with WEASELWORDS, and might have thought of "Mink, ferret, stoat, etc." before thinking of words that are intentionally false or misleading when seeing the phrase. CATCHPHRASES ("Eye on the ball," "Get under it!," "I got it!," etc.) and FINISHLINES ("Ta-da," "All done," "There you have it," etc.) were both fine. And SIGNLANGUAGE is what? Common words that are also used on signs? (Yield, Stop, Dead End, etc.) Seems odd, but ok.

I liked ONMESSAGE (Consistent with party policy), "Somme friends" (AMIS), and "Consumers of hogwash" (SWINE). The clue "What 'America runs on,' in a franchise slogan" makes me wonder just how far DUNKIN has grown. 

It might not surprise you to learn that I just looked that up, and I am way behind the times! Since starting right here in Massachusetts (Quincy) in 1950, Dunkin' Donuts (now just Dunkin') has grown to have approximately 14,000 locations in 39 countries, with South Korea being its biggest overseas market. I feel I should balance all this Dunkin' talk by saying that I would never get anything from Dunkin', and I can't remember the last time I was ever in one. 

Lastly, GALL (Chutzpah) is a good word.

- Horace

Monday, May 19, 2025, Kiran Pandey

An OG theme of four entries that are all OHGEEZ, in that they are each two-word things where the first word starts with O and the second with G.

OLIVEGARDEN - Casual dining chain with unlimited breadsticks.
OLYMPICGAMES - Event whose symbol is five interlocking rings
OPERAGLASSES - Theater binoculars
ORANGEGROVE - Starting point for Tropicana or Florida's Natural juice

Two things about the theme answers - One of the parties I was at this past weekend was catered with Olive Garden food, and those breadsticks are kind of terrible, and at that same party, someone joked about getting orange juice somewhere and commenting "Weird to have straight mixer, but ok." Hah.

I have often heard the question asked, "Do you consider yourself an artist or a craftsman?," so to see ART clued with "Crafstmanship" is interesting... I know, I know, the crossword clue world is one where meanings are merged, not carefully separated, but still.

FAE (Race of mythical beings, in fantasy fiction) was new to me. I understand it means "fairies," but is slightly broader. 

Nice patriotic mini-theme with TEN (Number of amendments in the Bill of Rights), "We hold these TRUTHS to be self-evident," and HONESTABE. And an even minier theme of the crossing EROTICA and TUSH. GAH.

- Horace

Sunday, May 18, 2025, Garrett Chalfin

HALVING THE LAST WORD

Fun theme today of doing just what the title says - splitting the last word in the theme answers and reinterpreting as two separate words, then cluing appropriately. As in:

MAKINGANIMPACT (Casting a total brat in the school play?)
SALESPERSON (Metric in a competitive family business?)
TAKEOFFICE (Remove from the champagne bucket?)
and the most absurd
LOVEHOTELS (Be crazy about Chicago trains with broken A.C.s?)

The long Downs were good, with COFFEEOCLOCK (Time for a pick-me-up, humorously) and the difficult to spell CONNOISSEURS (Arbiters of taste). Continuing with the french, we have BEAUCOUP (Much in quantity) and DES (French for "from").

What did you think of CAPE (Where the Pilgrims first landed in the New World)? Seems a little spare. I would have expected either the full Cape Cod, or else maybe "The Cape"? 

On the other hand, I loved CHAOS ("The score upon which reality is written," per Henry Miller). Ain't that the truth. I feel like I have been living in a tornado recently. Since yesterday morning I've driven about 500 miles, attended a luncheon, a graduation, a reception, a graduation party, a group breakfast, and a Eurovision party. And now I am writing this review. And then I will collapse. 

- Horace

 

Saturday, May 17, 2025, Ryan Judge

Tough grid today with rare diagonal symmetry. I didn't exactly notice it during the solve, but I didn't exactly not notice it either. The fifteens of KIMSCONVENIENCE (Sitcom set in a corner store run by a Korean Canadian family (2016-21)) and SAMEDAYDELIVERY (Prime choice) (Wean yourself from Amazon. It's not hard.) were balanced by a wide open SE corner, and the middle was relatively open and free-flowing.

ANYADVICE (Tip line?) took me forever, and it wasn't helped by my mistake of AfC (Miami is in it, for short) (ACC). And I don't say "DIAL" up, so "Turn (up)" took a while too. 

REDGIANT (The sun, e.g., in about five billion years) was hopeful, in that by then all of the problems on Earth today will be long gone. Of course, I will be too, but still...

Love any nod to Poe - (N.F.L. team whose name is a literary reference) (RAVENS), and I like the trivia in "Chain whose name came from a Boston hotel whose sign was too expensive to remove." It had been a hotel, but it was the third hotel bought by a pair of people who eventually used that name for their entire chain. The holding company eventually became the Sheraton Corporation of America, and was the first hotel chain to be listed on the NYSE, in 1947.

- Horace

Friday, May 16, 2025, August Lee-Kovach

Fun nine-stacks today. My favorites among the longer entries are:

SPACESHIP - One shooting for the stars? 
ICANTEVEN - "Words fail me ..."
NERDALERT - Sarcastic reply when someone quotes "Star Trek"
FORTHEWIN - Announcer's call before a potential buzzer beater
and
LOSEATURN - Tough draw

And, of course, any mention of the DOOMSDAYMACHINE brings to mind the single greatest comedy and anti-war movie of all time:

In other news, AGEISM (Certain hiring bias) went right in. *ahem* But I don't have to worry about that, since I will never be applying for another job again. This sweet, payless blogging gig is all I need.

- Horace

Thursday, May 15, 2025, Simeon Seigel

Cute theme today playing with DOUBLENEGATIVES, where two "no"s make a "yes." The two most interesting examples are:

TIED[NO][NO]HIRTS - Some colorful apparel
and
HAWKE[NO][NO]TATE - Des Moines's domain

I got some of the "no" rebuses on their own, and I think it was with R[NO][NO]EED (Certain grain source) that I finally got it. The top left was where I finished today, with the biological trivia SETAE (Small, clingy bristles on a gecko's foot) crossing the still-unclear-to-me ESP (Unnatural sight, in brief). When I think of ESP I think of extra-sensory perception, which isn't really a "sight." What am I missing, Kelly? :)

Of the C/APs I did understand, I liked BFF (Close one, for short), "Call for delivery?" (PUSH), "Establishment where things are cut and dried?" (HAIRSALON), and the "charger" pairing of ELTORO (Charger in una corrida) and DAS (Chargers in courts, for short).

A fun Thursdsay.

- Horace

p.s. It's fun that IMPALA shows up in the puzzle and in Strands today. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2025, Rebecca Goldstein and Adam Wagner

Boy, this played really tough for a Wednesday. "Do a spit take?" for SWAB was just so far from me. I get that you could be said to SWAB a baby's (or your) chin to "take" spit away... and for me, CRAB (Sea creature whose name doesn't rhyme with 1-Across, weirdly) isn't really all that far in pronunciation from SWAB. It all started out so weird. 

And then there's the theme. The second word in each theme answer is made to describe letters in the first word. As in, the two Os in the word "mood" are "rings," and the two Cs in "character" are "arcs." Kind of cool, I guess.

It's odd that CORNBELT "Midwestern agricultural swath" and GNU should appear two days in a row, isn't it? And have you ever thought of that "Bit of equipment in a dentist's office" as an XRAYCAMERA? I guess it is, but I have never called it anything but an x-ray machine. 

As you can see, something set me off this morning. I hope you had a better experience with it.

- Horace

Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Joe Rodini

I love this theme. It's a FOODFIGHT with food and food-related things reinterpreted as actions:

FRUITPUNCH - Ladled party drink
CORNBELT - The Midwest states, agriculturally speaking
LAMBCHOP - Bone-in cut whose name became an endearment
BANANASLUG - Bright yellow creature that moves about 6.5 inches per minute

The speed in that last clue is a weird flex, but ok. 

There's a nice contrarian mini-theme with "Voting against" appearing twice (ANTI, CON), and maybe "Use a scope" (AIM) is also related? 

I loved the clue "One of a salty septet" for SEA. And it's especially nice that it's followed by the evocative "Blanket draping a mountain at dawn" (MIST), because my family's beach cottage is named SEA MIST. :)

CAPER, ADDLE (Bewilder), GNASH, and CRUMBLE are all good words. And although 'Two pools of light, a mirror bright,' in generative A.I. poetry" (EYES) is nice and modern, the idea of A.I.-generated poetry makes me sad.

- Horace

Monday, May 12, 2025, Christina Iverson

Hah! Four theme answers that are very ANDY:

BRANDYALEXANDER - Dessert cocktail with crème de cacao
CANDYLAND - Classic board game with the Peppermint Forest and Lollipop Lane
HANDSTAND - Move from an acrobat or breakdancer
SHETLANDISLANDS - Scottish archipelago west of Norway

Cute.

I did not understand 40-Across at all until I put the entire clue into Google and discovered that "Inside Out" is a movie. And what an unusual clue for MOSAIC (Art with tiles in fancy styles (that might produce smiles)). Odd.

I love a MALT. mmmm.... And I also love SALT. 

- Horace

Sunday, May 11, 2025, Brendan Emmett Quigley

POWER GRID

Yowza! Quite a grid today. A super-chunky, open affair that sets a new low for black squares in a Sunday grid. And as far as I can see, the only theme is Mr. Quigley's mastery of open space. Power Grid indeed.

B.E.Q. always challenges this solver, and it started right away in the top left, where I could find entry only with the gimme "Fictional character who says 'Here's to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick'" (ROMEO). The next Down clue "Mechanism that controls a camera's aperture" seems a little off to this photographer, whose answer would be either "f-stop" or "shutter." IRIS isn't a word that I have heard used when referring to a camera. Of course, maybe videographers use it... 

Moving on, I liked PROMISEME ("Pinky-swear?"), and on the other side of the top I liked both MOTHEREARTH (Nature personified) and MUSICALNOTE (Step on a scale?). 

And I appreciate the disturbing clue "Fish that passes the 'mirror test' of self-recognition" (MANTARAY). Ugh. Sometimes it seems like humans are the only creatures on this planet without a consciousness... 

This puzzle was also notable in that it contained two of the most obscure entries I have ever seen - IMMIX (Amalgamate) and MIDINETTE (Shopgirl in a Paris boutique). Never heard of either. The crosses were ok for those, but I had to guess both As in TARAROAD (1999 Maeve Binchy novel) which crossed ARIE (____ Crown Theater (downtown Chicago landmark)) and YOLANDA (Reality TV star Hadid). Luckily, it all worked out.

- Horace

Saturday, May 10, 2025, Shaun Phillips

I didn't have much time today so I bore down on this one and ended up finishing it in 8:26. I started with sLOP for "Unappetizing food" (GLOP), and then was helped greatly by LETSGOFLYAKITE ("Mary Poppins" tune that begins "With tuppence for paper and strings / You can have your own set of wings"), which must have been a gimme to anyone in my generation. And speaking of my generation - the ELDERS, the HOMEOWNERs - I think we can probably all relate to "Didn't make it through the late show, say" (NODDEDOFF). Hah!

DEBUSSY (Pioneer in musical Impressionism, despite rejecting the term) wasn't exactly a gimme for me (it probably was for Colum), but it wasn't hard to guess once I had the ending "ussy." 

The jokey OTTO (Apt name for a NASCAR driver?) was fun, and BONES (Ribs, e.g.) was amusing and unexpected, but I found IMISSED (Sad remark at a carnival ring toss booth) somewhat bizarre. 

Loved "Someone will pay for this" (TAB), and hey, it's been a while since poetry was FOISTEDON you by my hand, so let's end with this:

Scorn not the Sonnet

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned, 

Mindless of its just honours; with this key 

Shakespeare unlocked his heart; the melody 

Of this small lute gave ease to Petrarch's wound; 

A thousand times this pipe did Tasso sound; 

With it Camöens soothed an exile's grief; 

The Sonnet glittered a gay myrtle leaf 

Amid the cypress with which Dante crowned 

His visionary brow: a glow-worm lamp, 

It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land 

To struggle through dark ways; and, when a damp 

Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand 

The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew 

Soul-animating strains—alas, too few!

- Horace