Wednesday, April 29, 2026, Joseph Gangi

Another amusing theme. Is it just me being happy to be back blogging these puzzles? Or have the themes been extra fun lately? Today’s is a cute play on dot coms, with normal words beginning with “com” being clued wackily to make them sound tech-related. As in, “*Assurance from an internet company?” (COMPROMISE), “*Exposure for an internet company” (COMPRESS), and my personal favorite, “*Illustrative story from an internet company” (COMPARABLE). Hah! 

In the fill, there were two entries that made me feel it was Wednesday – SPARGE, which is, apparently, to “Rinse with water, as grain in the brewing process,” and CABERS, the “Poles tossed in a Highland competition.” I vaguely remembered the second, but not the first. In my paper Webster’s from the ‘90s, it just gives “to splash or sprinkle,” from the Latin spargere, which means the same thing. I suppose it makes sense. I’m more familiar with the non-S variety, parge, which means to apply a thin coat of plaster or mortar to seal a wall. Interesting, right? This is what keeps you coming back to this blog! :)

To the list of things I didn’t know you may add the fact that Yoko ONO wrote something called “Mrs. Lennon,” and that Mao Zedong’s successor was named HUA Guofeng. Hopefully, I will now remember both. All.

Best clue: “Where seeds might be placed” (TOURNAMENT). But "Trait for a good waiter?" (PATIENCE) was also good, and funny, I'm guessing, because it's true.

- Horace

Tuesday, April 28, 2026, Hal Moore

This theme amused me. I smiled at CLOSEENOUGH (Not perfect, but acceptable) before I had any idea what was going on, and I laughed again at the revealer – “Like children, ideally, in an old adage … or a hint …” (SEENANDNOTHEARD). Hah! And upon further inspection, the word “seen” can be seen in the three long theme answers. What will they think of next? 

In the fill we have some nice entries in STRINGENT (Rigorous), GRAMMAR (Linguist’s concern), and PAPAYAS (Ingredients in some tropical smoothies). And a quality clue for the quaint word CANST (“____ thou not minister to a mind diseased?”: Macbeth). I recently saw a fantastic production of Macbeth at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. They really played up the dark side of the Scottish play.

It feels odd to see ARREAR (Overdue debt) in the singular, but there’s nothing wrong with it, I suppose. Everybody seems to like ARREAR. And speaking of - BRAS was a surprising answer to the innocent-sounding “Some supports.”

Speaking of clues, “Sink-or-swim competition?” was cute for WATERPOLO, if a little too much.

Had a couple little missteps, guessing TApaS instead of TACOS for “Some cantina fare,” and seeIN in place of ASKIN for “Welcome at the door, say,” but nothing that wasn’t fixed up in a jiffy. 

The amusing theme was good enough for me today. Nice Tuesday. What'd you think? 

- Horace 

Monday, April 27, 2026, Neville Fogarty

Four two-word answers where the first word starts with V an the second with R anchor the puzzle today, all lit up by the revealer answer VRHEADSET (Device worn by a video gamer ... or a hint to ...). I'm not all that familiar with the "Spinoff of 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'" (VANDERPUMPRULES), but it is a Monday, and the crosses were all fair, as long as you remember that ELON is that North Carolina university.

I was actually happy to see the "dubious medical advice" ("Feed a cold, STARVE a fever"), because I think about that phrase every time I have a cold, and I can never remember which goes with which. I think usually I think about it as though it were alliterative and ending with "feed a fever," but I never actually do either, so I'm not sure why it rattles around in my head at all. Sigh.

Lots of classics today - EKE, UGG, ERMA, OHARE, RAVI, ITSY. A nice cozy Monday.

- Horace 

Sunday, April 26, 2026, Rebecca Goldstein

WELL-SUITED

Clever clues are given to normal phrases, most of which are not actually clothing-related, making them sound like things you could wear. KIDGLOVES, of course, are actual articles of clothing, but the phrase has become generic, and the use of the word "nanny" in the clue makes this one extra punny. I especially liked DUSTJACKET (Fashion item for an aspiring housekeeper?), and MARKETWATCH (... for an aspiring grocer?), but they're all pretty good.

I enjoyed ICETRAYS (Freeze frames?), and the fact that there are 14,000 species of ANT was interesting to learn. ATSIGNS (Name tags?) was cute, and "One clicking with an audience?" got a little guffaw.

I'm pretty sure I've never used the word DUAD (Pair), but maybe, just maybe, I have uttered OCTAD before. And I guess I just wasn't wowed by the fill in general. TITER, ESTA, TERABIT, INKMARK, INRE, YULES... 

Any mention of Tom LEHRER is good, though, and the theme did make me smile several times. So let's call it a wash.

SEEYA! 

- Horace 

 

Saturday, April 25, 2026, Sam Ezersky

OK, so, if you bend your head to the left and look at this grid sideways, you can almost imagine that it is meant to represent an IOMOTH (Showy insect with dark eyespots on its wings). 

See what I mean? No? Harrumph. VERYWELLTHEN!

"Start of an old request for advice" (DEARANN) was tricky, and I was fooled, yet again, by "Driving necessity" (GOLFTEE). And how about "feel seen" debuting yesterday, and FEELHEARD (Be validated for vocalizing one's opinion) debuting today! Nice. 

Personally, I prefer the word "murse" to MANBAG (Guy's carryall), but I am not, sadly, the one who gets to name everything. 

Remember LEGGS eggs? Mom used to knit covers for them and make them into Humpty Dumpty-like characters. 

What else? I don't know from DOCOCK (Spider-Man foe with metal "tentacles," familiarly). Oh wait, is that short for Doctor Octopus? Who comes up with these things? Oh right... the one who gets to name everything.

I keep seeing PRAGENCY (Image editor, informally?) as some weird misspelling of "pregnancy," and INFLIGHTWIFI (Air traveler's connection) never works for me. Of course, I never pay for it ... maybe that has something to do with it. And finally, "Helpful pointer, say?" is cute for SEEINGEYEDOG, but they're usually German Shepherds, aren't they? 

Still, a fun, challenging Saturday. Just like we like.

- Horace 

Friday, April 24, 2026, Andrew Spooner

Fun Friday. I LOL'd when I finally sorted out "Acrobat's display" (PDFFILES) to finish this one off. Whew! 

Interesting that Orwell enjoyed STILTON. Or did he? That "The best cheese of its type in the world," could be somewhat backhanded ... but I don't know the whole story. I guess it's more likely that he actually did like it, because it's a pretty damn good cheese. Anywhooo...

There were some nice gimmes in "Oscar winner for "The African Queen" (BOGART), and "Surname of a Tolstoy heroine" (KARENINA). VINNIE (Role for John Travolta on "Welcome Back, Kotter") should also have been a gimme, but it took me too long to remember Mr. Barbarino's first name. Sigh. 

I'll tell you what wasn't a gimme - DAFFODIL (It has a light bulb). Sheesh. And "Low volume?" was a tricky way to get to TEASPOON. But overall, things came clear pretty quickly. I even guessed BIRTHS off the clue (Once-in-a-lifetime events), although I realize now that "deaths" would also have fit. But BOBSLEDS went right in after that, and I was off and running.

There are three entries today that remind me of "The Great British Sewing Bee," which is all Frannie and I have been watching for weeks: OHISEE is something that host Esme Young is wont to say; FIT is what it's all about in the "Made to Measure" segment, and DRESS, well, that's obvious. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I suggest you watch an episode or two. (Esme comes into it in Season four.)

Best clue: "Game" (UNAFRAID)

Best word: DAWDLE (Dillydally)

- Horace  

 

Thursday, April 23, 2026, Zhou Zhang and Kevin Curry

This is a clever one!

The revealer appears, unusually, in a Down answer in the top right corner of the grid. It makes sense for it to be in a Down answer, though, because the theme is so vertical. So what's going on? The answer HANDMEDOWN (Something that's kept in the family ... or a hint to making sense of three pairs of answers in this puzzle) is interpreted to mean that the letters "ME" must be removed from the upper answer and inserted into the lower one, in the same column, but for the clues to work with the answers that appear in the grid, you must imagine that the removal and insertion never happened. Simple, right? Let's look at one example: 3D is "*Material for a sidewalk," and the answer that is forced into the grid by the crosses turns out to be CENT. Makes no sense, but if we imagine that ME is still in the word, we get "cement," which works perfectly well. For the entry directly below that, the answer BEEFLOMEIN doesn't work with the clue "*Choice cut," but if we remove the ME, we get "beef loin," which does work. Ahh, Thursdays. 

It would have been kind of cool if the revealer could have been somehow spread across both Down answers in its column, but I can't really think of a way that could have been achieved, so it's hardly worth mentioning. Heh.

I had a bit of a misstep in the beginning by guessing "infact" instead of FACTIS ("Truth be told ..."), and then running "nike" off the "n" for "Adidas competitor" (AVIA). But NAT Geo cleared that up pretty quickly. And in the top right, the revealer was slow in coming to me because I had entered ScAM for "Hoax" instead of the correct SHAM. 

I liked FEELSEEN (Experience deep affirmation, in modern lingo), and it's hard to believe that this is the first time it has appeared in a grid. (But if xwordinfo says it is, then it is!) 

I just listened to "Under Pressure" yesterday in the car. Such a good song. 

Also, why do I insist on entering "bolos" when faced with the clue "Alternative to bow ties" (PENNE). When will I learn?!?

Best clue: "Test release?" (TIMESUP). 

Really good Thursday.

- Horace