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