Lynn Lempel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Short-Changed”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that originally included a word that was also a coin. These coins have their last letter or two lopped off thus creating crossword wackiness.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Short-Changed” · Lynn Lempel · Wed., 1.8.25
- 17a. [Lazy Ivy League student?] PENN LOAFER. Penny.
- 22a. [Minor wound to a Yellowstone grazer?] BUFFALO NICK. Nickel.
- 35a. [Dreary places to shop?] DIM STORES. Dime.
- 49a. [Expert at cramming liquids into a carry-on Ziploc bag?] QUART MASTER. Quarter.
- 55a. [Last-place finisher among Barbies?] BOTTOM DOLL. Dollar.
These are nice! I’m not bothered that some entries remove two letters of the coin and some remove only one. A little poetic license is well-warranted. I’m mostly bothered by the fact that Yellowstone grazers are bison, not buffalo, but I love BUFFALO NICK as somebody’s nickname (a la Indiana Jones). Being able to maximize space in a Ziplock bag could be someone’s quirky skill, and there must be some Barbie doll that was the worst-selling of all time. (Wait, what?! There was an Oreo Barbie?) Also note that the coins are in increasing order by value. A nice touch.
No long fill again today, but the stacks of 7s are solid: LEISURE, KEEP FIT, SOFT TOY, EYESORE, SMART TV, MATADOR and NEITHER in the center. Did not know financial company VOYA so I left the V until the very end.
Clues of note:
- 21a. [Brobdingnag residents]. GIANTS. “Brobdingnagian” is on my favorite words list.
- 54a. [Character in a can]. OSCAR the Grouch. Good clue that kept me guessing. Other good clues: [This isn’t working] for LEISURE and [Person facing charges?] for MATADOR.
- 39d. [Streaming option]. SMART TV. I was going to say “not really”, but the fact that the clue calls it an “option” makes it okay. You can stream to a number of smart devices like game consoles or phones.
- 59d. [“God’s joke on human beings,” according to Bette Davis]. SEX. The full quote goes thusly: “The act of sex, gratifying though it may be, is God’s joke on humanity. It is man’s last desperate stand at superintendency. The whole ritual is a grotesque anachronism, an outdated testament to man’s waning power. It’s all we’ve got and so we make the best of it. It is not, however, sufficient reason for matrimony.”
Good puzzle. 3.75 stars.
Laura Dershewitz’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 1/8/25 – no. 0108
Whoops, yesterday really felt like a Sunday to me for some reason. (Blame the two prior Tuesdays being holiday eves.) Completely forgot about blogging and puzzles.
Theme capper is BUMP, SET, SPIKE, [Common volleyball combo … or 20-, 34- and 41-Across together]. The themers are phrases that could all be used to clue BUMP, SET, and SPIKE, albeit a hair indirectly. MINOR PROBLEM is a snag, but maybe “bump in the road” fits better than BUMP? Outside of STAND-UP ACT circles, I don’t think most people think of a comedy routine as a SET. POWER SURGE works for SPIKE, I guess.
Surprised by a good bit of the fill here. It’s been ages since I’ve seen an ORALE in the grid. MAA, PRATE, IONE, TUPPER, OR DOC, ABELARD, LISBOA, ARCANA, and KOLA all feel a bit stale or kinda hard for newer solvers.
2.75 stars from me.
Desiree Penner and Jeff Sinnock’s Universal crossword, “Takeoff Sequence” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 1/8/25 • Wed • “Takeoff Sequence” • Penner, Sinnock • solution • 20250108
- 63aR [5th Dimension hit about a balloon ride, or a description of the starred clues’ answers?] UP, UP AND AWAY.
- 18a. [*On top of the world] FEELING GOOD (up).
- 27a. [*Winning slightly] AHEAD BY ONE (up).
- 49a. [*Cruising, maybe] ON VACATION (away).
Feels kind of slight?
- 42d [“__ go!” (“See ya!”)] GOTTA. Crossing that ON VACATION themer.
- 64d [“Take On Me” band] A-HA. 35d [“Very funny!”] HAHA. 46a [Palindromic exclamation] OHO. 1a [Sounds from a hot tub] AHS. 65a [Sushi tuna] AHI.
- 54a [Feeling no pain] NUMB. Currently I’m feeling NUMB and also experiencing a lot of anguish. So there.
Catherine Cetta’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
The central revealing entry in today’s puzzle by Catherine Cetta genuinely amused me, and was a clever and offbeat way of explaining the puzzle. By the time I got there, I had a couple of long entries and had noticed they start with tools. THISISNOTADRILL is said central answer, and each of four long across entries start with TOOLS that are NOTDRILLS…
- [Emphasize and then some], HAMMERHOME
- [Had an aha moment], SAWTHELIGHT
- [“Be brutally honest”], LEVELWITHME
- [Some expedia search results], PLANEFARES
A few crossword-ese bits that might COMEAGAIN: AGHAS, OTT, ECLAT.
Gareth
Definitely seems like Will Shortz has amped up the difficulty level. Yesterday’s played more like a Wednesday, and Wednesday played somewhere between Thursday and Friday (at least in my opinion). And last Saturday was very tough.
I’m not complaining because I enjoy the more challenging puzzles. But it’s wreaking havoc with my times.
I think the curve varies more, rather than it getting tougher or easier. I’m not sure if it’s by design or the nature of the puzzles in the pipeline.
NYT: Maybe I’m missing something, or maybe I’m expecting more from a Wednesday NYT puzzle, but I’m not sure I understand the theme. I understand that a MINOR PROBLEM is a BUMP, a STAND UP ACT is a SET, and a POWER SURGE is a SPIKE.
But the clues for the first three theme answers (“hiccup” for MINOR PROBLEM/BUMP; “comedian’s stage performance” for STAND UP ACT/SET; and “burst of energy” for POWER SURGE/SPIKE) are basically repetitions rather than some novel way of looking at the answer. For example, I would expect MINOR PROBLEM would be clued as something like “getting caught with a fake ID” or some other twist rather than just a repetition. The repetition seems like a very Monday theme rather than a Wednesday theme. (As always, misclassification of day of publication is an editor issue, not a constructor issue. I think the puzzle is fine and the constructor did a nice job.)
The theme is BUMP-SET-SPIKE. A minor problem of the hiccup sort is a bump. Getting caught breaking the law is a problem for the minor, but not a mere bump. In other words, bump, set and spike need to be clued in a straightforward manner, and not with another twist that would just muddy the admittedly simple theme.
I don’t disagree that it’s pretty straightforward for a Wednesday.
I think @Me understands the theme. They just think it would have been more entertaining (and more Wednesday-ish) if there were some wordplay involved with the themers, requiring the solver to recognize the meaning beyond the straightforward phrases for BUMP, SET and STRIKE.
I think the “fake ID” clue for MINOR PROBLEM was pretty good. But I have no idea what would have worked for the other two.
My broader concern is how many solvers will recognize BUMP, SET, STRIKE as a thing. I’ve watched a fair amount of NCAA women’s volleyball over the years, so I understand the sequence – but it didn’t exactly jump out at me.
I originally put in GAME SET MATCH when I only had “SET” from the crossings… though I recognize that’s not a volleyball-only term.
I don’t think that enough people know volleyball terms for it to be an appropriate puzzle earlier than Wednesday.
I do think of them as more repetition than variation. That is, I took the revealer as giving the small assistance of a second definition alongside that of the clue, and it played out as a themeless. Not to my taste, but clear and solid enough. I’d never call it a Monday in style or difficulty, though.
Having first entered MOO, I was a tad slow to get ARCANA and just plain forgot that the name I didn’t know going down needed a second look, too. I just didn’t know ASTLEY and so ended up leaving it wrong.
NYT: they should have clued the trio of PRATE/ABELARD/ORALE as entries I’ll never miss in a crossword again.
No problem with JUMP SET SPIKE though.
I do like the Abelard and Heloise story. If I hadn’t taken that one high school class, though …
I knew it only from a failed play that I saw while in high school. It affected me sufficiently to want to learn a little more.
NYT: Any setter who crosses PRATE with ZEROMOSTEL should be crucified.
With such a boring theme and design, arcane crosswordese, and other uninspiring filler like MAA and ARR, this is a contender for the worst NYT of 2025. I even took time to see what Rex Parker got to say. Yes I am this angry.
P.S. It is a mystery why, in America, volleyball is watched and played by only the boringest people. In the rest of the world, it’s a sport of gigachads and supermodels.
I don’t know. PRATE is a real word that I know from life rather than crosswords, and ZERO MOSTEL was a real and successful actor. I don’t recall seeing him in crosswords either, although no probably I have.