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.