Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Take It Back!”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar(ish) phrases that feature the word GIFT spelled backwards. The revealer is GIFT RETURNS (53a, [Post-Christmas take-backs, as found in 17-, 26- and 41-Across]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Take It Back!” · Mike Shenk · Thu., 12.26.24
- 17a. [“No surprise there!”] “THAT FIGURES!”
- 26a. [1993 picture book by Chris Van Allsburg] THE SWEETEST FIG.
- 41a. [Rumble participants] STREET FIGHTERS.
If someone had asked me if I could come up with enough phrases that feature the letters TFIG to support a puzzle theme, I would not have thought it possible. But this works, even though I had never heard of the picture book (looks like a good one, though). So while it’s a somewhat repetitive theme, it gets the job done.
If the theme didn’t float your boat, at least there’s some enjoyable long fill along the way: HOLES-IN-ONE, ERIC THE RED, HOT SAUCE, FUEL LINE, and DEAR SIR. I’m not so sure that ENEMY SPY and GO WELL are really crossword-worthy, but the other long entries more than make up for it.
Clues of note:
- 60a. [Father of Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon]. NED. From Game of Thrones in case you were wondering…and even if you weren’t.
- 9d. [Dangerous plant, perhaps]. ENEMY SPY. Needed a lot of crossings for this as I could only think of poisonous or carnivorous plants.
3.5 stars.
Ella Dershowitz’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Difficulty: Average (9m56s)
Ella Dershowitz’s New York Times crossword, 12/26/24, 1226
Today’s theme: SKI LIFT (Peak picker-uppers, as depicted three times in this puzzle’s grid)
- THI(S KI)SS
- PENCIL (SKI)RT
- CASH I(S KI)NG
I actually had to look back over the grid to find the third themer, as I had casually plunked down PENCILS assuming it was a slang abbreviation for PENCIL (SKI)RT, and not even noticing the ski lift to the next line. That’s okay. Winter sports were never my thing.
Cracking: RUBIKS CUBES, still inscrutable to me despite being solvable in less than 10 seconds, with a thousand YouTube videos explicitly walking you through it.
Slacking: PEN crossing PENCILS, technically two different implements, but only just
Sidetracking: “DODGSON! WE GOT DODGSON HERE!”
I have a new Thursday PB with this puzzle, even though I didn’t figure out the entire theme until after it was over. The cluing was extremely straightforward, especially the Downs, so even though some of the Across answers didn’t match the clues, I didn’t notice.
I had 3 daily PBs in 2024 — one in January for a Friday, one in August for a Monday, and today.
I hope everyone is having a good holiday season!
I agree; felt like a bit of an easier Thursday… I was dropping in answers rather quickly for a Thursday. I somehow tried RUBIK CUBES instead of RUBIKS the first time, and so I thought it was something else till I had enough crosses. When I got to THIS KISS, I worried it was going to be a rebus, but the revealer clued me in. Only real hiccup at the end was when I had BAN instead of BIN for “Hamper”, but that got me to SNIDE. Fun puzzle!
JohnH, you were right. No one seems to have yet been assigned the Thursday New Yorker crossword as of 8:30 a.m.
I’m sure we’ll get there. I bet this will be a rough one for me. Somehow Gorski made yesterday’s a quick solve, and I had a edge with language skills (Monday) and literature (Tuesday), despite the proper names. But today (and likely tomorrow) will push me.
May I mention something that won’t apply to most anyone else here? A pdf solver this week faces clues with lots of words, which translates into tiny print. And I wouldn’t want it otherwise at that, since solving in print with two pages is so awkward.
The New Yorker has regular puzzles (not minis) each weekday this week. So you should have blogged today and should again Friday.
I didn’t spot the NYT theme until the end, with the CASHIS entry. THIS on its own seemed like a plausible song title, and like ZDL I thought PENCILS might be a shorthand for those skirts (I didn’t notice that the clue called for a singular answer).
Still, a pleasant, gentle solve for a lazy morning.