Tuesday, June 16 2026, Brad Lively

I must kick off today's review by perpetuating the Canadian stereotype and saying "sorry" - sorry that Tuesday's puzzle didn't really do it for me.  The four theme entries are distinguishable by their circled letters - a short consecutive string and an extra circled letter on its own.  I didn't pay much attention until hitting the revealer clue spanning the middle of the grid : "Hemingway tale about an elderly fisherman, with 'The'...", at which point OLDMANANDTHESEA was an easy write-in.  And sure enough, the theme answers all contain some form of OLD MAN (in the fatherly sense), plus an extra 'C', as indicated by the circles.  To wit:

17A "Pontiff's emblem with three horizontal bars" = PAPALCROSS
29A "Amigo" = COMPADRE
42A "Crustaceans sometimes called 'mudbugs'" = CRAWDADS (I did not know this!)
57A "Open some bubbly with a bang" = POPTHECORK

All makes sense but I felt a bit "meh" about it.  To be fair, none of the embedded "old men" have a fatherly connotation in the context of the words/phrases in which they're embedded, which is a plus.  

Notable stuff in the fill : 8A "Place for the highest-scoring golfer" (LAST) was amusing.  Interesting factoid in 55D about WHO being sung over 100 times in the WHO's WHO Are You"...  Speaking of 100, there must be that many ways of cluing ORCS (here in 36D as "Green-skinned World of Warcraft characters").  LALALA (18D "Fingers-in-ears syllables") was cute too.  I still find it an effective tool in an office context, given the right audience. 🙂

My only misstep was IMEANTO for 53A "That's my next move" - quickly corrected to IPLANTO.  

That's all she wrote!  Hoping for sunnier skies (or, maybe just a better attitude) tomorrow..

-philbo

Monday, June 15 2026, Eric Rollfing

I thought this was a great Monday puzzle, and I'll tell you why.  It wasn't so much the fill, which was quite straightforward, even for a Monday.  It was the unexpectedness of the theme - I couldn't see what the three long answers had in common until solving the revealer, which made me chuckle out loud.

• "Device that helps you make a point in class?"  (PENCILSHARPENER)
• "Toy likely to be found at a pop-up store?"  (JACKINTHEBOX)
• "Revolutionary kitchen gadget?" (SALADSPINNER)

Excellent QMC-type cluing but then the revealer "Response to a series of complaints..." turns out to be SOMEBODYSCRANKY.  So THAT's what connected those clues!  Love it!!  Not for the first time, I say "who thinks of these things?"  

As noted above, aside from that lovely surprise, not much jumps out of the grid.  ESCHEWS ("Forgoes") is a grand word.  Maybe a niggle with 30A "Wished (for)" (HOPED):  Are hoping and wishing really the same thing?  With regards to 57D "Gumbo ingredient" (OKRA) - I made gumbo for the first time just recently and that was my introduction to gumbo.  I'm not sold.  It's kinda slimy.  Maybe there's a special way to prepare it.  (Anyone?)  

See ya tomorrow!  

-philbo

Sunday, June 14 2026, John Kugelman

LIMITED RUNS

Greetings fellow Crossworders!  By the time you read this, I will have completed a weekend of bike riding to raise funds for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation here in Toronto.  Thousands of us.  Millions of dollars raised.  260+ km over two days.  (Sorry, folks, that's 160+ miles 😉 )

But enough about me.  On to the Sunday crossword!  A really fun, somewhat nerdy puzzle from Sunday crossword veteran Mr. Kugelman.  The way I like to roll when not under time pressure (i.e. not at the ACPT) is (uh - here I am, talking about me again ..), I don't look at the clues for the long answers - I fill them in with the crossers and then try to deduce the theme after the fact.  It was very quickly evident that something funny was going on - the long Across answers were composed of only a few distinct letters - four, in fact (think : "MISSISSIPPI").  And lo, the revealer in 110A, paraphrased as "What a modest play has in common with each theme answer?" : SMALLCASTOFCHARACTERS.  What a coup!!  Never mind how contrived and silly some of the theme clues/answers are; e.g. "Harsh taskmaster taken to task" = DERRIERERIDERDERIDED" (YOWIE!!) - that was a large part of the fun!  I can only imagine the smile on Mr. Kugelman's face as he came up with these...

Aside from this, there was lots to relish in the puzzle.  This was my first time seeing a reference to the OG of first-person-shooter video games, at 18D "Fireball-throwing demons from Doom" (IMPS).  Ah, the wasted hours of my younger days.. Also, what do you do when you have to clue 'GAOH' into a word? Simple!  A "measure of high resistance" is indeed a MEGAOHM.  An example of excellent cluing : "Returned to air, as an old pilot, perhaps" (RERAN).  "Modern art" (ARE) - yes!! And it took me right to the end to get CDTRAY for "It can carry a tune". 

A couple of clues threw me off.  Indeed, a PHONE is a "Bad thing to take to bed, it's said."  I thought at first it was ANGER.  "Volcanic gems found on every continent" are AGATES, not GEODES.  (C'mon, Phil!)  And although it wouldn't have fit, when I saw "Needle holder" (FIR), I reflexively thought of that old crossword standard the ETUI.  "Innocent sort" isn't NAIF - it's LAMB.  

I take minor issue with 60A "Part between the shoulders" (LANE).  Clever, but it kinda doesn't work for most roads, does it?   YOWIE  ("Hoo mama, that's hot") seems a little forced on both clue and answer side.  And I didn't love "Lunged (for)" (MADEATRY).

Great puzzle overall.  Hope y'all liked it too!  OCANADA!

-philbo

Saturday, June 13, 2026, Ryan McCarty

To finish my week of reviews, the Saturday grid offered a pinwheel shape, with a chunky middle section of mostly 8- and 9-letter entries. It was a fun solve, with the hardest portion for me coming in the southwest corner.

I was delighted that MWAHAHA was correct, but even though the rest of the corner filled in fairly easily, I was stuck with a challenge exiting the corner with THE___ at 23A and AL___ at 27A. So I skipped to the top of the middle section, where SEGO and OXO, old crossword standbys, helped me out.

The great REGGIEJACKSON anchors the middle of this grid. He is 80 years old this year, working for the Astros. As a Red Sox fan in the 1970s, he struck fear into my little boy heart when he batted for the hated Yankees. I was just at a Yankees game, and a friend of mine and I reminisced about those teams. I especially remember the feuds between Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk. So long ago, now!

MAANDPA looks amazing in the puzzle. I was uncertain for a split second about those consecutive As, but reparsed and saw what I was looking for. And 19A: "Right?," in British lingo (INNIT) is a lot of fun.

IGGY Azalea

After that, I finished parts of the middle section, completed the southeast corner, then worked my way back to the southwest corner. My problem here came from a typo: I put in AMaROSO at 32D: Lovingly, in a score (AMOROSO), so 40A: Blew up (GOTMAD) was very unclear. 

Only two QMCs in a Saturday puzzle, and both are fine, not great. 38A: Show to be fabricating? (CATCHINALIE) is a great answer, but I'm not even sure the question mark is needed. 16D: Flight restriction? (SEATBELT) is pretty good.

Turning over to Philbo for tomorrow, when he'll be coming off of an extremely long bike ride for charity. Good luck!

- Colum

Friday, June 12, 2026, Amanda Winters

I like the look of today's grid, with the northwest and southwest corners cut off, and the scattered single black squares in the middle. It looks a bit like a lace doily!

The upper left corner gave me fits to begin with. I tried "trite" at 3D: Passé (DATED), but took it out after putting SRI in. That gave me DUDS, and allowed me to bypass the various possibilities at 2D: Cab alternative (UBER) - could have been "Lyft," could have been "rosé" or "asti," etc. But what should have been a gimme wouldn't come at 12A: Children's book title character in a green suit (BABAR). So I moved down the middle of the puzzle.

15D: Site of America's first roller coaster (CONEYISLAND) is lovely. 31D: Quality establishments (INNS) is a great hidden capital. These brought me straight down to the bottom of the puzzle.

From here, I worked the southwest corner. 49D: Do business? (SALON) was nice, and 63A: Cone holders (RETINAS) is a great example of misleading non-QMC. I don't particularly like UPTURN crossing UPTOPAR, but I appreciate PORTLANDOREGON as an answer, and as a shoutout for independent booksellers - Powell's Books, in this situation.

At this point I worked up the east side of the puzzle. MAGGIE Smith was a treasure, and I'm happy to say I saw her play Rosalind in As You Like It in Stratford, Ontario, in the 70s. I don't remember that much about it, but I hear she was wonderful.

ICECREAMPARLOR echoed the other business clue. I finally figured out 34A: Style with spotty coverage (POINTILLISM) - hah!, and then GENETICLOTTERY got me back in the Northwest, where I finished off the puzzle. 

Lovely themeless. It's been a great week so far. Let's hope Saturday doesn't disappoint!

- Colum

Thursday, June 11, 2026, Nikhil Bailey

So much fun this Thursday! A clever theme, fun clues, and good entries.

Let's start with the theme. Take standard phrases, and reinterpret the first part as if it were written in Roman numerals, and replace that part with the English version of that number. 

Simple, right?

Okay, okay, we can do an example. The phrase "aye, aye, Captain!" can be reinterpreted as II Captain, or TWOCAPTAIN if the II were translated from Roman numerals to the English word.

So HUNDREDLEGS is "sea legs," FORTYSHEETS is "Excel Sheets," and FOURLEAGUE is "Ivy League." Very nice!

For clues, I enjoyed 33A: Met someone? (OPERAGOER). It's been too long since I saw an opera at the Met, but our friends recently saw Eugen Onegin. I am envious!

17A: It might have many sides (MENU) is a lovely example of a non-question mark clue (non-QMC, per our glossary, see side pinned post). 

CHLOE Kim

I'm not convinced by OPTICLOBE. As a Neurologist, I would instead refer to the Occipital lobe, where visual information is processed. The closest equivalent to the amphibian optic lobe is the superior colliculus, a tiny bump on the dorsal surface of the midbrain which helps reflexive eye movements get to where they need to get to. As such, it is not the human "mind's eye," but I get what we're trying to do here.

Dang, a lot of Neurologic information for a Thursday post! But that's what you get when you ask a Neurologist to review the NYT Xword. I blame Horace and Frances.

Anyhoo, a lot of fun. See you tomorrow!

- Colum

Wednesday, June 10, 2026, David J. Kahn and Ethan Quigley

The World Cup is coming to North America! It's first games were in 1930, and have been happening every four years since. So it's astonishing to find out that only eight countries have joined the exclusive club of WORLDCUPWINNERS. They are represented by their country code in the circled letters, each hidden in an answer that crosses the central spanning 8D answer. The first was Uruguay, and the most recent Argentina, with Brazil the most winningest club, with five victories. Germany and Italy each have four wins.

And to top it off, there's a bit of crosswordese that actually is theme related at 56D: Only player on three victorious teams in this puzzle (PELE). Nice!

I wonder if the USA will ever make it onto this list. I doubt it!

Museo REINA Sofía, in ESPaña

I find that when a puzzle is this dense with theme material, the clues for the non-theme entries tend towards the straightforward. I can see why that would need to happen: it can be challenging to find your way into a puzzle like this, and on a Wednesday, which is meant to be more difficult than the early weekdays but not to the level of a tricksy Thursday, it's important to give solvers a chance.

So I will overlook the questionable entries (TYS, I see you!), and note 45A: Cousin of a flugelhorn (CORNET) - very nice - and The Marvelous MIRIAM Maisel. I also look fondly on NOWISE, which reminds me of Pogo and of Foghorn Leghorn.

On to The Turn!

- Colum

Tuesday, June 9, 2026, Rebecca Goldstein

I was slowed down in my understanding of the theme by entering RUBSRed at 21A: Chafes excessively (RUBSRAW - a much more apt answer), but when that was corrected I saw the connection between the theme answers. But I still chuckled when I entered the revealer at 58A: Prediction of a negative outcome that is true of 21-, 28- and 47-Across (THISWONTENDWELL). That's a great twist, that also, incidentally, completes the progression of how done you like your meat.

Sadly, I FWOE'd today's puzzle. 64A: Sound of a cartoon hit (BOINK) I entered somewhat confidently BOINg. I don't think I've seen the actual answer much in a cartoon, but the other meaning of the word is likely too blue for the NYT!

LANA Del Rey

Funny that the "carnivorous cinematic alien" is the BLOB, a creature I haven't thought about in decades. But then I couldn't fit "xenomorph" into four squares.

I am always happy to see GNU in the grid. 

BYENOW!

Monday, June 8, 2026, Tom McCoy

Now this is what I call the ultimate in excellence in a Monday puzzle. What we're looking for in an early week grid is straightforward fill, smoothness of solve, and a clever but not too clever theme. 

Let's take the last first: the theme is revealed at 50A: Of the highest importance ... or, when parsed differently, what each bracketed number in the clues indicates? (PARAMOUNT). And then, when you look at 18A, 23A, and 41A, you find the numbers in the bracket increase from 1 to 3, indicating the number of "PAR" in each answer. Thus PARCHEESI, PARALLELPARKING, and PARTYPARTYPARTY. Nicely done!

An Inuit KAYAK

The solve flows nicely through the puzzle for the most part. The NW and SE corners are somewhat isolated, but the answers and clues in those regions are very straightforward, so it's not a problem. Outside of AGER, I don't find much of anything to complain about.

On the other hand, some lovely fill includes 43D: What misers take to an extreme (THRIFT), which always reminds me of Hamlet:

"Thrift, thrift, Horatio. The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables."

What an amazing line.

Also, the fact that Bert Lahr was a LEO. Apt. Apt! 

And 13D: Characterize? (SPELL). Hah!

- Colum

Sunday, June 7, 2026, Adam Wagner and Simeon Seigel

 SPLIT SECONDS

While some are whiling away time in what seems like sunny Italia (if the pictures on Horace's BeReal are anything to go by), I have to make do with New York City in the early Summer. It's nothing to sneeze at! Unless you are dealing with allergies, like some bloggers. Ah well, there's alway the New York Times Crossword to take your mind off of sniffling.

Today we have the ingenious idea of a series of three answers which can be reparsed into two answers by putting them all together and then split them somewhere in the middle. So 22A (GATECH - that's Georgia Tech), 23A (ANGELIC) and 24 (ENSURE) can be split into GATECH/ANGE and LIC/ENSURE. 

I am impressed with the way the words recombine in these creations! SOLI/STEN and CHES/STABLES is nice in the way the T changes from a silent sound to a sounded one. The reverse happens with the C in CHIAS/MUS and CLEMEN/TINES. We even lose a syllable in THEREST/IME and then regain it in ANTIT/HEFT.

To top it off, we get a revealer in the middle at 66A: Amount that "ain't bad," so to speak ... or what to make with six sets of answers in this puzzle? (TWOOUTOFTHREE).

A classic SCONE

It was fun to figure out what was going on with each set of answers, which drove the enjoyment of the solve. But we had room for some fun clues as well! How about 7D: Lofty pitches (HIGHCS) - challenging to see that clearly! And 112: Chest beaters? (HEARTS) was nice. 

I'll also give a shout out to SONOFA, and to PHOEBE, who I hope can enjoy a good Sunday puzzle even as she's dealing with an unwell pet.

- Colum

Saturday, June 6, 2026, Daniel Bodily

Although I was a little daunted by the sheer volume of white squares when I first looked at today's grid, I got going like a hot ICESAW through butter, even with a quantity of unknown-to-me items like MOMALA, NCISLA, EMILIANO, LUISE Rainer, and INTELSAT. However, I came to a grinding halt in the top left. This, despite the fact that I confidently entered UHAULVAN for "Moving day rental" right off the bat, and guessed what I thought was the tricky - and fun - SCHMEARS ("Spreads out in the morning?). The Stravinsky quote took me a while to figure out, I am unfamiliar with MUNSHI ("Hindu clerk"), the tricky QMC "T-slots?" for ARMHOLES stumped me, and I didn't rub up against the idea of ROSINED right away. I was on the RAGGEDEDGE for some time, but eventually, I was able to BURNSAGE and cleanse the negative energy in that quadrant. 

Fill-wise, I enjoyed CORNCRIB, WAYFARER,  and ERSATZ. In addition to the kickoff QMC mentioned above, I also liked "Religious right?" (AMENDMENTI), but my favorite C/AP today was a non-QMC "Ce n'est pas du fast food" ESCARGOT. Ha! 

~Frannie. 

Friday, June 5, 2026, Kelly Morenus

I could blame it on any number of things – a slightly drugged state, lack of sleep, jet lag, or the fact that I’d just landed in Rome – but one thing is for sure, I had a tough time with today’s puzzle. I looked at clues at random (see drugged state above) and found none that I could drop right in and very few that I had a guess for. I’m not complaining – it is Friday after all – just describing the situation as I experienced it. About the third time through, and after a caffè ristretto, things began to look up.:)

Loyal readers of this blog know I don’t favor “quotation” clues and we have two grid-spanning whoppers almost right out of the gate (not to mention another one in the bottom half). I chipped away at the crossing Downs and finally made some enough headway so I could guess the answers. The S from EMTS forced me to consider SIS for “Gal pal” but, as something of a woman myself, and a sister several times over, I found that an odd clue/answer pair. Also, DIAPERS must have been upgraded some since I last changed ‘em. My only experience was with pins and tape, not snaps. And GRR for [Get away]” was odd, unless it was vocalized from the point of view of a dog, maybe? 

Anyhoo, here are a few of the clues that lead me down the garden path: “Lecture setting” (DAIS) - I had hall - “Round striker” (PEEN), “Something you could see right through” (IRIS), Not so rich, so to speak” (LITE), "Fjji, e.g." (REDAPPLE), “Kind of figure” (PLANE), and “Summons” (HAILS). Also odd-to me was the clue “Destination” for AIM. Add all that to the variety of “fact” clues that I didn’t know (CAVA, the so-called Champagne of Spain, ROALD Hoffman, ANNA Arnold Hedgemen, etc.) and you have a recipe for disaster, at least until this reviewer GOOSES themselves up with some strong coffee. 

I did enjoy Where 22-Across is” (HERE). Heh. Also “Canal entry” (EAR) because ERIE. Ha. I thought the QMC “Coat on a tip?” POLISH was trixy.

I’ll close with a shout out to local Clover restaurants in the Boston/Cambridge area. Their last day was  going to be Thursday, May 28 due to financial difficulties, but we learned yesterday that due to an outpouring of support, they REOPENED this week. 

~Frannie

Thursday, June 4, 2026,

Four squares in today's grid are larger than the rest. What does each one represent? A BIGBOXSTORE. The name of a nationwide retail establishment is to be entered, in rebus form, inside each big box: ALDI, LOWES, IKEA, and GAP. I particularly liked the minimalist 11A: "Last over the line, say" that needed to add only two letters to LOWES for S[LOWES]T. Also fun that the composer of "The Four Seasons" contains an ALDI (VIV[ALDI]). Except for those two answers, the store names bridge the other two-word phrases, which I think is neat. I thought all the two-word phrases worked L[IKEA]CHARM. Its partner STR[IKEA]POSE and the pair ME[GAP]LEXES and YO[GAP]OSES were good. 

While the theme answers anchor the puzzle, there's a lot more to look at elsewhere in the mall - I mean grid. I enjoyed "Middlemen in illicit transactions" for FENCES, "Become enamored with" for TAKETO, "It's a matter of degrees" for ANGLE, and "Disguise in a way" for ENCODE. I was pleased to see that Shakespeare and his signature ACTV showed up again today. :) And who doesn't love a Bob ROSS reference? 

For the first time ever, I think, there was a directional clue that I could figure out and enter instead of just waiting to see how it filled in: "Montreal-to-Boston dir." (SSE). A small, but satisfying personal victory. :) OTOH, "Nursery purchases" for SOILS really threw me for a loop, even when I had S_ILS. I was rocking the wrong cradle on that one. 

I enjoyed the French-leaning ALACARTE, SOIREE, and EST ("Part of the conjugation of être") and fill-wise CHASM, SERAPHS, and SMARM are excellent. My favorite QMC clue was "Soft rock?" for MAGMA, but I've got to give a shout out to what I think is a fun non-QMC clue "Small square" (ONE). Mathtacular!

~Frannie.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026, Jiahe Men

Today's theme revealer is TRIPLE THREAT, and one could say that today's puzzle is, itself, a triple threat, as the theme is multi-faceted. I looked it up and "triple threat" is defined as "highly skilled in three distinct but related areas," which I think is a fun fit with the "EGOT contender" element of the clue. Additionally, the puzzle has six theme answers in which one letter appears three times in a row. Add to that the fact that the tripled letters in each of the shaded areas spell out OR ELSE, a threat of its own and there you go, a trifecta. The theme answers were all good, although I personally prefer the term "Tree Book" to DEADTREEEDITION, but that would in no way suit today's theme. 

Solve-wise, I found this puzzle more challenging than the average Wednesday. It included a lot of people and things unknown to me like SADIE Sink, Linda PERRY, negitoro roll, SHAKA and, PADSEEEW, but, fortunately, still enough stuff for me to make a tri-dent. 

I noticed a welcome number of female references, the two referenced above, plus RIOTGRRRL, CARLY Rae Jepson, MAAM, and Tu Youyou, discoverer of a lifesaving treatment for MALARIA. I thought for a minute that there might be no "male" answers in the puzzle, but we do have IAGO, and NYY is clued by referencing Mssrs. October and November. Still, WOOT! :) 

I enjoyed the idea of a "dank" or "deep-fried" MEME, even though I'm not 100% sure exactly what about a meme would engender either of those descriptions. Perhaps because IMTOOOLDFORTHIS. I was amused by the reality check on transport options in the CARS movies that don't really make sense if "everyone" is a car. Heh. In a nice crossover event, we have AHAB intersecting with SHIP. My favorite C/AP today was "Give a makeup test?" for ASSAY. Ha! 

OTOH, perhaps because the constructor had to tri so hard to get the all the theme material in, the grid was a little choppy, with a prevalence of three- and four-letter answers. More specifically, I was tripped up by the clue for 34A. I get that one might want to make a trickier clue for crossword stalwart EDAM but citing a Czech dish for a Dutch cheese seemed like not such a gouda idea. 

~Frannie.

Tuesday, June 2, 2026, Rich Katz

Got off to OSLO start today so it took me a minute to grok the theme of this puzzle, but once I did, I let out a cheer. The first words of four theme answers are homonyms of 2-4-6-8 which lead up to the big finish at the end of the puzzle: WHODOWE APPRECIATE. The C/APs for the theme answers were entertaining, especially "Gets a pooch to attack" SICSTHEDOGON, although, that's no good when you think of it FORREAL. :(

Overall, the clueing was clean and precise, by which I mean my progress through the grid was pretty much, read a clue, enter the answer with very few hesitations or skips, and no incorrect entries. Now that's something to celebrate!

In clues 38A and 42A, I liked the pairing of seemingly disparate entities that share a common feature. A house and a mouth (38A) both have a ROOF, and both shoes and bras (42A) can have LACE. Also, perhaps coincidental but fun, 7D: WON ("Was victorious") crosses ATWAR (5A). 

There were a couple of QMCs that brought a smile, including "Babies that are supposed to be up all night?" (OWLETS) and "What helps you get a leg up?" (HEEL). "The decline of Russia?" for NYET was my favorite. 

Extra points to this puzzle for supplying me with some new information. I learned that UBERPOOL was the original name of Uber, that a baseball infield is about 8,100 square feet in AREA, that glycol spray is used to DEICE an airplane wing, and that all of Shakespeare's 37 surviving plays have 5 ACTS. Winning!

And, on ANEW tangent, I'll state here that, although I don't watch much football, I APPRECIATE ROMO as a commentator when I do watch a game. Go team!

~Frannie.

Monday, June 1, 2026, Kenneth Cortes

Today’s theme answer, CAMEOUTONTOP, ("Emerged victorious ... or what this puzzle's constructor did, as indicated by the shaded squares") is one literal way to summarize what the shaded words, MOM DAD IM QUEER, each of which occurred at the top of a two-word phrase in the top half of the puzzle, might literally represent - an apt way to OPEN Pride Month. 

Nice that we didn't have to SETTLE for the same OLD grid format today. The grid pattern broke out of the usual mode and featured some fun longer Down answers like the theme answers as well as SEASONPASS, HATSTAND, and the amusing CLAPOMETER.

Overall, a Monday puzzle that wasn't TUTU difficult, but I did make one ERROR as I completed the grid. I first entered APtest at 14A “High school assessment scored from 1 to 5” but, when I got to 17A “Despise” and figured the answer had to be DETEST, I realized that two "tests" couldn't rightly ABUT each other. Fortunately, I was able to RYES to the occasion and correct APtest to APEXAM. 

Clue-wise, I thought “archaically” in 21A ("'You,' archaically" (THEE)) could, and maybe should, have been extended to 23A “One taking office dictation” (STENO). In today’s world, the real answer would probably be Siri or Claude, or some other such means of automated transcription of the spoken word. I was amused to think that people find "lifelike dolls" to be CREEPY. In the QMC category, “Filing job, for short?” (MANI) was clever, and I enjoyed both the clue and answer for 37D “Give a tut-tut, e.g." (ADMONISH). Fill-wise, SPREE, DYSTOPIA, and OCULAR were a good TRIO.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the Wales village with the world's longest NAME (58 letters). Here it is for your viewing pleasure: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

~Frannie.

Sunday, May 31, 2026, Jeffrey Martinovic and Evan Park

TARGET PRACTICE

After a bit of a slow start, this one won me over. The shaded arrow and bow aim nicely at the rebus apple on the right edge. And one can imagine that the backwards L of black squares that the apple rests on is someone sitting with their back against a tree. All in all, it's a pretty nice construction.  

And in addition to the theme, there are a few 4-star clues, my favorite of which is "Appointments that may lead to better contacts" (EYEEXAMS). That's very good. Others that got a chuckle were "Apt name for a lawyer" (SUE), "Bucket list item?" (MOP), and "Help wanted letters" (SOS). Hah! And it took me forever to realize that "Gets lost" had to be SCATS. So tricksy!

Lots of theme, the best of which, I think, is "What WILLIAMTELL did before and after this puzzle's feat?" (TAKEABOW). That's nice. And I didn't remember that it was ROSSINI who wrote the WILLIAMTELL overture. 

A solid Sunday. Frannie takes over tomorrow, and I'll see you in a few weeks!

- Horace 

 

Saturday, May 30, 2026, Malaika Handa and Erik Agard

We did indeed get a good, hard Saturday puzzle today. I have never heard of OVENBAGS (They hold roasts), and I guess maybe I've heard BREADANDROSES (Old political slogan of the women's suffrage and labor movements), but it did not come to mind until I had almost all of it in place. I think more about the "bread and circuses" that the Romans (and others...) used to keep the population superficially pacified. 

As far as cluing goes, "Vet's report" for WARSTORY was very good, and "Perpetual homebody?" was a cute way of getting to SNAIL. And then there's the "You've learned something" type clues like "Mutual aid event that originated in 1920s Harlem" (RENTPARTY) and "Fabric debuted by DuPont in the 1940s" (ORLON). And I knew neither LYDIA Ko nor Jessie REYEZ, so I learned something with those, too.

Overall, I guess I didn't love it though. I mean, it was good enough, and it was hard, but entries like STU (Music recording space, informally) and NODSAT (Acknowledges, in a way) left me a little cold. What'd you think?

- Horace 

Friday, May 29, 2026, Hemant Mehta

And so we come to the themeless portion of the week. This was a breezy one. Got off to a good start with CESAR ("Oscar" of the French film industry), and it was off to the races.

I don't usually enjoy paired clues where the second part appears in the puzzle before the first, but in the case of HOP LINDY today, I thought it kind of worked like a dance.

There were some missteps - I had LINTfilter before LINTSCREENS (Traps in a laundry room), and HOLYMOlEy before HOLYMOSES ("Yowzers!"), and I guessed Apnea before ALARM for "Dream interrupter," but overall, this didn't put up too much of a fight. Clues like "They're cut to defuse an explosive" (WIRES) and "Gas brand whose name sounds like two letters of the alphabet" (ESSO) seemed almost too easy for a Friday. WTF?

"Cue ... or queue" (LINE) was beautiful, "It might be a lot" (ACRE) was cute, and it took me ages to get "They're filled with bacon" (ATMS). I briefly considered "pigs." Hah!

Sometimes an easier-than-usual Friday leads to a killer Saturday. Here's hoping!

- Horace 

Thursday, May 28, 2026, John Kugelman

This was a fun one. How to describe it? Take a word that ends in "or," break it into two words, the last being "or," find a phrase that contains those two words, then clue it so the original word works with the last part of the phrase and the "or" is absorbed again. Something like that. It'll be easier if I just use examples.

Walking-around money for Pavarotti? - TENORTWENTY
Preacher's gift? - PASTORPRESENT
5 and 8 go into 42, for example? - FACTORFICTION
Local leader is prohibited? - MAYORMAYNOT

Impressive and amusing. I laughed out loud at the absurdity of the third one. 

Speaking of amusing, I also laughed out loud at 11D - "Answer to 'Why's your report card in the trash?'" (OHNOREASON). Hah! 

Interesting trivia about the ASTROS (Baseball team formerly known as the Colt .45s), and I didn't know that the PINACOLADA was the "National drink of Puerto Rico," or that Dr. Pepper was invented in WACO.

I'm sure Ken Jennings will get a laugh out of 16A "Long-handled gardening tool or immoral pleasure seeker, per contestant Ken Jennings on 'Jeopardy!' (incorrectly)" (HOE). That's quite the pointed clue! :) 

OVERARM (Throwing style) seemed a tad unusual - isn't "overhand" more common? - TERTIARY (Third in order) was odd, and SENSATE (Perceptive) seemed forced, but really, there's not much junk at all.

Best clue: Blue stop sign? (SAFEWORD), but the non-QMC "Bit of a lark" (WING) was also very good.

Overall, I quite enjoyed it.

- Horace 

  

Wednesday, May 27, 2026, Dario Salvucci

File this under "They have to keep coming up with things." Today we have three entries that each make up a PARTOF[a]SPEECH. The first, FOURSCOREAND, is, as you know, the start of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The second, ASKNOTWHAT, is drawn from the last portion of Kennedy's inaugural address. And the third, HAVEADREAM, is a part of a part of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech given, at the Lincoln Memorial, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 

Rereading these three speeches today is a sad endeavor. Even in their hopefulness, they cannot help but highlight the problems that have plagued this country from the beginning. The world is not so very different now. Though on paper this nation may have been conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal, freedom does not ring from the mighty mountains of New York, nor every hill and molehill of Mississippi. If only we really had been unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed... If America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

The world will little note, nor long remember what I say about this puzzle, but here goes anyway. 

Misstep: GOTAlight before GOTAMATCH (Question from one smoker to another).     
New to me: ROBOTSUMO (Engineering competition with two "battling" devices).
Favorite clue: Superman is one, notably (ALIEN). We think like to think of him as one of our own, a good citizen, but he cares about justice and truth and fairness, so really, how could he be an American.

Sigh. 

Kennedy did not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation, but sometimes I wonder.

- Horace 

Tuesday, May 26, 2026, Brad Lively

The revealer today is BODYOFKNOWLEDGE (What the answers to the starred clues are, collectively?), and it refers to the following entries:

SHARPTEETH - *Aids for biting
KEENEYE - *Attribute for spotting what others miss
WISEASS - *Cheeky sort
SMARTMOUTH - *One given to insolence 

The thinking is that the first parts of all the theme answers - sharp, keen, wise, smart - are synonyms for knowledge, and the second parts are all parts of the body. OK. And three of the phrases are in fairly common usage. SHARPTEETH is just kind of a random thing, and the last two - WISEASS and SMARTMOUTH - are synonyms themselves, and these things muddy the waters a bit for me, but still, it works on one level, and it's Tuesday, so let's move on.

When I do an early week puzzle, I will often try to get the first three Across answers and then move immediately to the Downs that run off of them. This worked well today until I got to 5D - "Spot to keep a passport while traveling." I had the H, and so I entered Hippocket without a second thought. It took several crosses to get me to realize that they actually wanted HOTELSAFE, which is pretty much the polar opposite of my original answer. For the record, I have never put my passport in a hotel safe. I leave for more passport travel in a little over a week, and I will update you if I end up doing so.

Best clues today: "A little sun?" (DWARFSTAR) and "Number not representable by Roman numerals" (ZERO). 

Overall, I liked it.

- Horace 

Monday, May 25, 2026, Anthony Grubb

The week is starting off HOTHOTHOT! Which is nice, because the weekend has been pretty cool and rainy up here in "other New England," as it's referred to at the A.C.P.T. Harrumph!

Today's tidy theme, courtesy of Buster Poindexter, is three things that are hot - DEATHVALLEY, GHOSTPEPPER, and a good old R-rated LOVESCENE. Nice. Is it relevant that SALIVA is just under the GHOSTPEPPER? Or that the LOVESCENE connects with DARKNESS? Hmm... HOTHOTHOT sits ATOP OBOE and HIVE... mayyybe HIVE could work.

OK, enough on that. Let's turn now to a few of the QMCs - "Paper cut?" for EDIT was good, "De-tension center?" was cute for SPA, "Go off the deep end" (DIVE) worked in a similar vein, and "Place of buzziness" was just plain kwazy for HIVE. In non-QMCs, I was amused by the oddness of "Back of a car or front of an elephant" (TRUNK). 

I was a little surprised to see HOBO (Drifter in search of work) in the grid. (Do we still use that term?) It reminded me of when I was a college student, making my way from campus to the small town of Beloit, Wisconsin. As I passed a young boy walking with his mother, he turned to her and said, excitedly, "Look, Mom, a HOBO!" True story.

I enjoyed this one.  

- Horace 

Sunday, May 24, 2026, David Steinberg

NEXT, PLEASE!

It's Sunday, and we have a puzzle with the theme of advancing one letter in a phrase one step, alphabetically. The affected letter is circled, but the change only happens in the Across answers. The original phrases vary from good - "controlled chaos" and "give me one reason" - to mundane - "contact lens" and "first class mail," and the converted phrases and wacky cluing vary similarly. The best are, maybe, FIRSTCLASSNAIL (Good name for a salon specializing in mani-pedis?) and GIVEMEONESEASON (Exasperated television producer's plea?). 

There were some bright spots in the fill - FORE (Warning after a slice), CAST (Musical group?), and LIPREADERS (Experts in body language?). And ONTHEAPPS (Using Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, etc.) was nice. But I took issue with the awkwardly clued AGO (Earlier), the rando DISK (coin, commonly), and "Stance that resembles a ballerina on one leg" (DANCERPOSE). I mean, isn't a ballerina standing on one leg a person in a DANCERPOSE? And yes, I know it's yoga.

Oh, I don't know. I got up on the wrong side of the bed, maybe, and this puzzle didn't do it for me. The theme answers all work fine, and the changed letters spell out "plus one," which is a nice touch, but somehow it just didn't sing to me. I won't say IHATEDIT, but I did say EWE a few times. At least it GOTDONE, and now I'm GUANACO on to tomorrow. See you then.

 

- Horace 

Saturday, May 23 2026, Kameron Austin Collins

Love the  layout today!!  A chunky solve, especially in the middle of the grid, where a full dozen long-ish clues intersect.  Very impressive construction - though the price paid is the almost-orphaning of the top left and lower right corners.

Right off the bat in that top corner, there's misdirection afoot with "They might be settled atop stools" - BARBETS, after a moment's thought. Just below that, "A boxer's might knock you out" did not fool old ex-boxer-owner me - DOGBREATH.    Those answers helped with a Down entry  RIGVEDA ("Ancient collection of Hindu hymns") that was a learning for me.

Other learnings - German novelist Theodor FONTANE ... MARLSTONE as an ingredient in cement ... the SANDSNAKE which preys on lizards in Africa ... Edward GOREY's "The Gashleycrumb Tinies" - what a fabulous book title!!

38A "Sugar ____" was a write-in for me, who grew up in the Eastern Townships, home of the world's best MAPLE syrup.   Raised my eyebrows at MATEINONE as a "Chess puzzle challenge, maybe".  Stress the "maybe" - it's hard to make a one-move chess puzzle that is much of a challenge!  "Walk on water?" (GANGPLANK) was amusing :)

Finally, how many of you wrote in TIC instead of SEA for "Tac preceder"?  (I did!)

This was a really great Saturday puzzle on which to end a week of blogging.  Horace takes the reins tomorrow.  Enjoy your weekend everybody!

-philbo

Friday, May 22 2026, Gene Louise de Vera

A pleasant, not too difficult themeless Friday puzzle that just seemed to flow from top to bottom, with a somewhat unusual 16x15 grid bisected vertically by a pair of long entries side by side.  (What do we call "stacks" when they're vertical?)  One of these really piqued my interest : Beethoven's MOONLIGHTSONATA, clued at 7D as "an inspiration for Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu".  I'd not heard that before, so as I write this, I am listening to the Chopin piece with that in mind.  It's lovely, but do I hear echoes of the Moonlight Sonata in there?  I dunno.  Maybe I need a better musical ear.

I particularly liked a couple of the other long entries as well.  18A "Qualifier to an embarrassing question" (ASKINGFORAFRIEND) made me smile; I use that phrase all the time.  And the other long Down entry 8D "Kepler-22b or Kepler-186f, e.g." (EARTHLIKEPLANET) tickles my science-y fancy.  Amazing that we can make that determination from impossibly far away!

Other nuggets in the grid .. 15A "Footnote phrase" is ETALII, which one rarely sees in its unabbreviated form.  I was a little Shocked at the 65A QMC "What some streakers are charged with?" (TASER) - I definitely did not expect that!  A bit of unusual construction in the lower left corner, with CLOT and CLOY side by side.  Neat!  I also had to do a double-take before accepting MEANS as the answer to "Is" at 26D.  

Finally, a shoutout to William of OCCAM, he of the eponymous Razor.  In the spirit of simplicity, I shall end here.

Cheerio!

-philbo

Thursday, May 21 2026, Zhou Zhang and Mallory Montgomery

A fun rebus-y theme in this Thursday's puzzle, with four Across clues clearly requiring a bit of lateral thinking:

• 20A "timiL" = BACKWARDSCAP
• 35A "Golfer's suppor-" = CUTOFFTEE
• 42A "Evade" = MINISKIRT
• 55A "P | u | n | c | h | e | s" = STRIPEDSOCKS

I like the clothing motif, and until I reached STRIPEDSOCKS, thought there was also a bit of a punky thing going on.  These are all cute and fun, and I only wish the trailing dash had been left off the clue for CUTOFFTEE, to make it less explicit and leave the solver wondering if a typo could have crept its way into the puzzle!  

Theme aside, the puzzle didn't put up much of a fight, although the top right corner was problematic with a term that was new to me (AO DAI - "Traditional Vietnamese garment").  Good thing the crossers were all knowable - at least once I realized that the "Pineapple Isle" is LANAI and not KAUAI, and the animal that spits when angry is a LLAMA and not a KOALA (really, Philbo??).  Still in that corner, I don't love AIS for "ChatGPT, Claude, etc."  Doesn't seem right.  But I shrug and move on.

Down in the lower left, I thought "Increase, as interest" (PIQUE) was very clever, especally as I had the 'U' early and was sure it was going to end in 'UP'.  And 3D "'Bingo!'" (EXACTAMUNDO) brought back vague memories - was that something the Fonz used to say?  (resisting the urge to just Google it, here)  Oh and I don't believe I've ever seen GOOIER in a crossword before..

All in all a pleasant, gentle Thursday solve.  On to rougher waters tomorrow!

-philbo

Wednesday, May 20 2026, Kathleen Duncan

I gotta say right up front, I loved today's puzzle.  Really fun and just the right amount of crunch for a Wednesday. The well-disguised theme turned out to be quite SPECIAL!  To wit - the first three long Across clues all looked ordinary and had straightforward answers, but they all had something in common:

• 16A : "Nontraditional time for voting someone into office" (OFFYEARELECTION)
• 26A : "What a waiter might offer to start you off" (SOUPOFTHEDAY)
• 44A : "Bit of movie magic" (VISUALEFFECT)

Unclear until the revealer at 58A : "Condescending rhetorical question" (ISNTTHATSPECIAL) brings it together - the theme answers are all "special" things; in fact, you could replace their leftmost parts with the word SPECIAL and they would make as much sense.  I think this is neat, and a very worthy idea as a theme.

The revealer, incidentally and as many of you surely know, was the catchphrase of Dana Carvey's recurring Church Lady character on Saturday Night Live some years ago.  And in that sketch-comedy vein, a reference to Monty Python's "Fish-Slapping Dance" was a creative way to clue John CLEESE, whose piscatory antics with Michael Palin were great silly fun.  I was a big fan of the Flying Circus as a kid!

Elsewhere...I had difficulty getting an initial toehold, thanks to the opaqueness of the opening clue at 1A "Establishment that serves zombies, perhaps" (TIKIBAR), and, right below that, the great term HATERADE that I'd somehow never heard of ("'Drink' for vocal critics").  Not helping matters was 3D "Gets hyped", which I originally had as AMPSUP, instead of KEYSUP. 

 I liked the circular references in 26D and 27D (SEAL and ORCA, ocean prey and predator).  And I must take issue with 38D MOLASSES, as to be an "epitome of slowness", of course it must be IN JANUARY. 🙂

Finally, the perennial crossword favourite EKE for the very last clue "Just get (by)".  I've been putting EKE into crossword grids since time immemorial, without really knowing its definition.  It basically means "to supplement", which is rarely how it is used in common parlance.  So I think about that now, whenever I see the word.

And on to the themelesses tomorrow (the stretch I believe we refer to as "the turn")!  See ya then

-philbo

Tuesday, May 19 2026, Brad Wiegmann

Just for fun, I printed today's puzzle out and solved it the old-fashioned way.  So much slower this way!  And no catchy little jingle at the end.  But ultimately quite satisfying - I should do it more often.

Working down the grid, it quickly became apparent what was going on.  The four longest Across entries each have two letter groups highlighted with heavy borders, and the first one, "Standard musical progression", revealed itself as PENTA[TONIC]SC[ALE] (brackets mine). Next was "High court judge?" (my favourite clue today!) as [CHAI][RUM]PIRE.  And so on.  Clearly there are drinks embedded in these answers!  By the time I reached the revealer "Requirement at some comedy clubs", the answer was a write-in : TWODRINKMINIMUM.  Hah!  I suppose this makes sense, to make the crowd more receptive, though it might have the same effect on belligerence.  And surely you wouldn't see much CHAI at a comedy club?  What do I know.  Haven't seen a comedy show in decades.

It's a mixed bag in the rest of the grid.  There are five all-consonant answers (CCCP, KGS, MTN, TBS and TCBY), which seems a bit much.  Interesting wrinkle in 39D "Term of friendship for a French woman" - MONAMIE looks weird, with the masculine possessive in front of a clearly feminine word, but that's what you do when the word begins with a vowel.  (Try saying "MA AMIE"!)  I'd never heard of the term "gut course" to describe an EASY A.  I think we used to call them "bird courses", back in the day.

Back atcha tomorrow!

-philbo

Monday, May 18 2026, Rena Cohen

Up here in this part of Canada, Monday is a holiday - "Victoria Day" - a shoutout to our English roots, also known as "May 2-4 Weekend" - a shoutout to our irresponsible youthful days.  You get your Memorial Day, we have this day.  But enough stalling - on to today's puzzle!

Monday puzzles, by design, don't generally put up too much of a fight, and this one was no exception, though I did stumble out of the starting gate at 1A ("Like a game that has gone into a penalty shootout") with INOT instead of TIED.  That sorted out, I made my way down a fairly straightforward grid and only afterward looked back to see what the theme was.  The "revealer" at 63A - "Advice for the overambitious" - is STARTSMALL and sure enough, the four theme answers all "start small", or with synonyms thereof.  What makes it neater is that none of them are words as such; for example, 50A "Gardener's tool" is WEEDWHACKER, which indeed begins with WEE but not the word "WEE".  If you see what I mean.  (An old physics prof used to say that.  Sometimes I did see.  Sometimes I didn't.)

Elsewhere ... 41D "Distorts, as data" caused a hiccup - I entered SPINS, not SKEWS.  I liked the fun facts sprinkled throughout; e.g. 54D reminds us that a KOALA is not a "bear"; 22D points out that there is an actual English town named EPSOM, whence the salts.

I have a CAT, and can attest to the accuracy of 71A "Stereotypically antisocial pets".

Ciao for now!

-philbo

Sunday, May 17 2026, Derrick Niederman

Greetings Earthlings!  Philbo here, back on the blog after a hiatus that seems to have lasted forever.  Bear with me, willya, while I find my stride...What a great puzzle to start back with!  Among the Across clues we have 11 that are italicized - short and punchy little QMCs, familiar phrases, all of them.  But at first glance they don't match the grid.  Or do they?  Look at 65A: "Yellow submarine?".  A Beatles reference?  Not at all - it's another seemingly unrelated phrase CHICKENSANDWICH.  But look!  It does make sense - the clue DOES describe the answer, just in a whole different way.  (Hence the "Double Meanings" theme.)

This is so brilliant!  Mr. Niederman's managed to do this almost a dozen times.  They're not puns...it's just really clever wordplay, and it really tickled my funny bone.  I won't enumerate them here - you'll discover them for yourself and I hope you experience the same delicious "aha" moments that I did!

There were other nice touches too.  I liked the double "Intl. group formed in 1945/1949" (19A and 106D), and "Iconic role for Harrison Ford" (6D and 10D).  HAN and INDIANA - first names - nice touch!  A couple of misleading food references were amusing : 74D "Packed like sardines, say" (INOIL) and 81D "Experienced a bit of turnover?" (ATE).  

I was going to take issue with 18A "____ polaris" (AURORA), thinking "surely that's not right" - but no, "aurora polaris" is a general term referring to both aurorae, "borealis" to the North and "australis" to the South.  File that under "old dogs, new tricks"!  

On that note, I'll sign off till tomorrow.  It's great to be back!

-philbo

Saturday, May 16, 2026, Byron Walden

One should be on his or her toes (their toes? what's the better modern construction here?) upon encountering Mr. Walden's byline. And indeed today was a challenging Saturday, which I FWOE'd (finished with one error). 

It's filled with tricksy clues - see, for example 24D: Trigger hair (MANE), playing on hair trigger, and the fact that Trigger is a classic horse name, with the hidden capital. And also please see 22A: Matches with forensics (DEBATECONTESTS) where the presumed verb at the start of the clue is actually a plural noun. Here, "forensics" is the art of public speaking, namely speaking in order to convince a group of people who will judge based on the evidence. It has latterly come to apply to forensic science, where evidence is treated scientifically in order to convince in a court of law.

In follow up to yesterday's exclamation point clue (and Horace, I agree in retrospect with your analysis of that clue), today we have 39A: Don't start with me! (SECONDSTRINGER). So much better! The "me" here is the answer, and it is literally true. Love it.

Cynthia ERIVO

I loved 38D: They're concerned with feeding kits (VIXENS), where kits is the name for juvenile foxes, and the answer the name for their mothers. But who's ever heard of the word ZARFS? It comes from Arabic. But it's nice to know what to call the sleeves around your coffee cup.

My error came at the intersection of WATTLED and INTWOACTS. I had INTrOACTS, a real stretch, but I imagined these individuals getting their break on Broadway by opening for the more popular headliner. The actual answer merits the question mark. rATTLED seemed as likely as anything else, I guess.

Well, that's my week done and dusted. I turn you over to the capable hands of Philbo, starting tomorrow!

- Colum

Friday, May 15, 2026, Maddy Ziegler

Let's start with the really lovely combination of BANANASEAT above APECOSTUME. A great pair of answers, both fun and interesting, and with an unexpected connection. You know you're going to have a good time with a puzzle that has that pairing, and certainly this puzzle does not disappoint!

All of the long answers here are strong. Several great colloquialisms, such as LETMEATEM (with the bonus here that if you're not careful, it looks like "let meat em"), IMALLEARS, and ITSUPTOYOU. 

SMASHCUT intersects with SEGUE. NEEDLEDROP and SHEEPLE.

I also enjoyed the cluing on 28D: Competitor of the early Chevrolet 490 (MODELT). I was unaware that Chevrolet was that old! In fact, the company was started in 1911, and the car mentioned was first produced in 1915. Its name referred to the price of the auto. The Model T, meanwhile, went for $495.

50D: Food item whose name comes from the Greek for "turn" (GYRO) was another good trivia clue. I put it in without even thinking of the etymology, but in retrospect it should be obvious.

I'm not fully convinced by 7D: Here goes nothing! (VACANTLOT). The exclamation type clue defines its answer by literally explaining it. In this case, I don't exactly see how the lot "goes" at all. Thoughts?

Other than that, it's an outstanding Friday. Seems like I picked a good week to start reviewing again!

- Colum

Thursday, May 14, Simeon Seigel

"Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink."

So goes The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. And likewise goes the Thursday puzzle. 

Here water is represented by its chemical formula, correctly displayed in its bent shape in the grid four times, with one O and two Hs, each diagonally displaced. I have read why this is the case, and I have been reminded of the complexity of chemistry. You see, the Oxygen atom still has two pairs of electrons which must take up some space in the space surrounding the nucleus, pushing the Hydrogen atoms into their characteristic locations.

As Tom Lehrer said, "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer."

There are eight answers in the puzzle that either end or start with WATER, but is replaced by the H of the water molecule. Thus, 19A: Prime breeding environment for mosquitoes is STANDINGH, and 20A: Impression on some fancy sheets is HMARK. Nicely done!

1A: Cliff formed by a fault (SCARP) is a tough outset. Close to Albany, we have the Helderberg Escarpment, which typifies this geologic formation.

And how about 4D: September to April, in the oyster industry (RMONTHS)? Challenging corner. 

I liked having ALLA and NAAN clued through their cuisine's menus. ICHING and KITHARA were lovely answers. Overall a fun puzzle. Here's looking forward to our themeless puzzles!

- Colum

Wednesday, May 13, 2026, Brian Keller

What a clever theme! And odd as well, befitting Wednesday, the hump-day red-headed stepchild of the week's crossword puzzles. A theme that is too challenging for Monday and Tuesday, but not tricksy like Thursday.

Today we must press the SHIFTKEY in order for the answers to the starred clues to work. Thus, instead of "equals" for 17A: *Peers, we get PLUSSIGN. Instead of "Slash" for 47A: *Guns N' Roses guitarist, we get QUESTIONMARK. The grid spanning OPENPARENTHESIS is the icing on the cake. I particularly like that Mr. Keller chose to use non-numbers for two of his answers.

SANSA Stark, a boon to Crossword constructors

The Northeast corner is delightful. I entered into with 24A and 30A already in place, and I saw that I had ____MT at 10D. How could that work? In one way only, with DREAMT. Then, 11D: Toothbrush handle? (ORALB) is very good. And how about 19A: Order to relax (ATEASE)? So good how the first word of the clue could be either a noun or a verb, confusing the solver.

With SAKE and a COSMO in the mix, it's a puzzle that helps to take the edge off.

- Colum

Tuesday, May 12, John Ruff

I fell down a rabbit hole after finishing this puzzle. Why does US and UK spelling differ on this particular point - O vs OU? It's a separate question from why British spelling is in general so insane. "Wriothesley" pronounced "Risley." "Auchinleck" pronounced "Affleck." And so on.

This interesting article has some great examples of early inconsistency in the First Folio edition of Shakespeare. It then posits that Samuel Johnson's monumental undertaking of his dictionary standardized spelling in strange ways: why "humour" but also "humorous?" Why "honourable" but also "honorary?" Can you imagine the challenges in creating cryptic crosswords? Or maybe that's the point!

In America, Noah Webster quite properly suggested easy simplifications for the English language, which were adopted. Let's face it. That U is doing nothing helpful.

OGEE, look what I found!

Regardless, today's puzzle has a clever twist on this: OHYOUAREBRITISH, spelling out the circled letters from the other three theme answers. Is it a misdirection that all three cities referenced in the clues have counterparts in the US?

Meanwhile, I could do without STYE as an answer, but I fear that ship has sailed. It's too useful a combination of letters. And I'm sure Mr. Ruff could not have forseen the current issue with Hantavirus when he put OUTBREAKS in the puzzle. 

On the other hand, I love a sackbut, and TROMBONE is another fine instrument. As a Neurologist, I also like seeing ABDUCTORS in the puzzle. It is the lateral rectus muscle that abducts the eye, while the medial rectus adducts it. Useless information is my specialty.

- Colum

Monday, May 11, 2026, Joel Woodford

Well, hello everybody! How exciting to be back. I certainly didn't expect to be writing these blog posts any more, but after the ACPT, and the pleasure of reconnecting with the community of NYT crossword puzzle enthusiasts, it was hard to resist. With a quick glance back, I see my last post was nearly two years ago exactly, on Friday May 24, 2024. 

And now I have returned to review a Monday pangram. I wondered when I hit the middle western section with that Q and Z, and then the J in the lower western corner. It's rare to make a puzzle with every letter of the alphabet represented that is as smooth as this one is. Congratulations, Mr. Woodford!

The theme is a cute reimagination of OHDEAR (45D: "Goodness me!" ... or a phonetic hint to 17-, 31-, 39-, and 55-Across). In each of these four long answers is hidden the letter O and then a synonym for that four-legged woodland creature. Handy-dandy circles tell the discerning solver where they are.

How useful it is to have memorized all the countries of the world

BILLBOARDCHARTS is the least cromulent of the four, only because of the necessary -S at the end. Otherwise, I do love an HORSDOEUVRE, and DROPINTHEBUCKET is very good.

In the fun clue section of the review, I have to recognize 30A: Take fowl foully (POACH). I also liked the duet of 4A: Animal that ranges around Peru (LLAMA) and 8D: Peruvian mountains (ANDES). The fact they intersect makes it more delicious. We also get MER and EAU in another pairing.

Thanks to all who have come back to read our posts again. It's nice to see the readership bounce back. Happy solving all!

- Colum

Sunday, May 10, 2026, Rachel Fabi and Adam Wagner

COME FULL CIRCLE

A Sunday with a trick! The title and the grid art both hint at the solution, which is to complete the circle - turn those Cs in the italicized answers into Os, and then things start to make sense. For example:

32A Wild cats becomes "wild oats," and is answered by YOUTHFULINDISCRETIONS. Likewise 39D Bic filler is not "ink" or anything like that, because the clue is really "bio filler," which is LIFESTORY. Tricky, but you are clued in that something is going on by the italics, and once it becomes clear what that something is, things get easier. 

That said, I still had some difficulty in the middle, where that central, black square C also needs to become an O, and that is done by way of three rebus squares into which the word "block" is entered. So the answer at 64-Across, which is clued with "Large summer delivery, in past times / N.F.L. linemen, at times" turns out to be ICE[BLOCK]ERS, the two answers being both completed and separated by the creation of a black square. Interesting, and kinda cool. And I love how 65-Down is just clued literally, with what needs to go there. Hah!

Even with all the trickiness, my last square was the A in SICARIO and RAMOS. I knew neither the Emily Blunt thriller nor the Philippine president, but while a U seemed plausible in the thriller name, it seemed less so in the human name.  

I don't know that I've ever heard ADNOUN for an adjective used as a noun, and I didn't remember that East Asian fiddles were ERHUS. And what do we think of the clue "Get ad-libby-dibby while singy-ingy-inging?" (SCAT)? Is it just the ZANIEST clue you've ever seen, or is it CORNIER? Honestly, I think it is corny, and I think "Less freshly funny" isn't the right clue for that word. But what do I know, I'm not the funny one at this blog. :P

OK, I think Colum will start up tomorrow, but I'm really not quite sure. We haven't really gotten this thing ironed out again yet. 

Thanks for reading!

- Horace 

Saturday, May 9, 2026, Katie Hoody

This puzzle was chock full of AHA and OHO moments - not in the fill, but in the solve, which is a favorite feature of mine. I love a twist! When you read a clue and have no idea what the answer might be, or sometimes even what the clue means, then, either you figure out what's going on, or the answer is revealed by other answers in the grid, and then you get it. To quote the mother from the show, Miranda, "Such fun!" 

End-of-the-week puzzles often have C/APs that are not in my wheelhouse ATOLL. When, oh when, will there be a puzzle showcasing the ruling houses of France from the Capetians to the House of Bourbon? I'm guessing I'll probably have to construct that one myself. Anyhoo, just looking at the grid with its multiple long entries and sparse black squares gave me ARIL qualm, especially after yesterday's DNF debacle. Fortunately, though, there were enough clues here and there (ALOO & PANEER FTW!) that helped me make a start. Then, it seemed one answer would LEED to another, and before I knew it, Bob was my uncle.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pomegranate_fruit_-_whole_and_piece_with_arils.jpg

Right out of the gate, at 1A, we get the excellent QMC, "Gold meddlers?" for ALCHEMISTS. Ha! That winner was followed by "One making calls on the fly?" (BIRD), "Weighty subject for some children's books" (BABAR), and "Bath seat?" (ARSE -lol), and "Event at which you hope to get good deals?" (POKERPARTY) - I'm sure Horace can relate to that one. Not to mention 38A: the grid spanning "List of qualifications?" (KINDASORTAMAYBE). Triple ha!

Elsewhere, other cluing challenges awaited. Several clues were open to multiple interpretations, like "You or me, e.g." for MEREMORTAL, "Reached new heights" for GREW, "Like something no money can buy" for FREE, and "No time like the present" (YORE). And in the re-evaluate-your-first-semantic-category category, how about "Portable retirement option" (COT)? Maybe the SLYEST non-QMC C/AP of all was "Setup for an extra point" (ALSO).

Add to all of the above the hilarious "Great find in the candy aisle, by the sound of it" (SKOR) and the delicious "Parlor treat typically served with the first five letters of its name" (STRAWBERRYSHAKE) and you've got a puzzle that's a real delight. 

~Frannie.