Monday, January 13, 2025

Adam Levav’s New York Times crossword— Sophia’s write-up

Theme answers:

New York Times, 01 13 2025, By Adam Levav

• 17a [Quality of a statement that feels plausible] – TRUTHINESS
• 24a [High school or college seniors, usually] – FOURTH-YEARS
• 47a [Feel relief from anxiety] – BREATHE EASY
• 57a [Aid in preventing a shipwreck] – LIGHTHOUSE
• 36a [Tongue of Chaucer … or what’s literally shown in the shaded squares?] – MIDDLE ENGLISH

So, the middle of each phrase has a literal middle-english pronoun highlighted within. Nice! I don’t know enough about middle english to know if there are other words strongly associated with it besides these pronouns. I like that THEE and THY span the gap of their two-word phrases. I fully associate TRUTHINESS with Stephen Colbert, so I was surprised he didn’t get a shout out in the clue. Oh, also OLDE crossing MIDDLE ENGLISH felt theme adjacent too.

Today’s puzzle felt a little trickier to me than the average Monday. I struggled with some of the longer answers, notably LAB MICE and BRO DATES (I had “lab rats” and “bro times” first, and I fully admit the latter is not a thing). But I liked that the difficulty came from the clues and the longer, more interesting answers, as opposed to hard bits of trivia – in fact, there are very few proper nouns in this puzzle. I think that’s a great way to give Monday solvers a challenge without creating a huge barrier to entry.

Other answers I liked today: BAR GRAPH, MICRODOT (new to me), INHERENT

Slang that already feels dated: BAE, the clue of [Chillaxes with friends] for HANGS

Clue highlights: [Restaurant that offers a Mexican Tres Leches stack] for IHOP, the clue of [Football holder in “Peanuts”] for LUCY leading into [Pigpen] for STY – I refuse to believe this was not a second “Peanuts” reference.

Happy Monday all! Congrats to Adam on a great NYT debut.

Robbie Cottom’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 1/13/25 by Robbie Cottom

This is an impressive amount of theme material squeezed into a Monday puzzle: 44 letters’ worth of theme entries, plus a 13-letter revealer. That’s a lot! Plus, 12- and 13-letter entries are tough to work with in a 15x because reasons; in this case, the constructor dealt with it by stacking two theme entries right on top of each other in the top and bottom. Trust me, making this work is impressive.

But on to the actual puzzle: The revealer is in the middle at 39A [Many championship-bound teams, or what the starts of 17-, 20-, 58-, and 64-Across are], i.e., LEAGUE LEADERS. That is, the first word in each theme phrase can precede LEAGUE to make another phrase:

• 17A [Musical interval that spans four semitones] is a MAJOR THIRD, leading to MAJOR LEAGUE.
• 20A [One of two Supreme Court members appointed by 5-Across] is JUSTICE KAGAN (5-Across being OBAMA), leading to JUSTICE LEAGUE.
• 58A [Relatively cool period of European history?] is LITTLE ICE AGE, leading to LITTLE LEAGUE.
• 64A [Drag performer who won Miss Congeniality on Season 5 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”] is IVY WINTERS, leading to IVY LEAGUE. Ivy’s a pretty deep cut, although I’m never going to be mad about seeing a Ru girl in a crossword.

The constraints of working with this much thematic material and answers of unusual lengths did lead to some less-than-ideal fill like BAHT (fine later in the week, but a bit tough for Monday IMO), ALII, and -CYTE, but also some good stuff like Dave GROHL and the related cluing of MA’AM and SIR as [“My good lady”] and [“My good man”], respectively. Fun solve!

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Down the Road”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide a synonym for “road” (as used in street signs). Each entry is in the Down direction, hence the title.

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Down the Road” · Zhouqin Burnikel · Mon., 1.13.25

• 3d. [Dental work procedure] LOCAL ANESTHESIA. I would think “local anesthetic” is the more common phrase and it would fit just as well.
• 8d. [“Pay attention right here!”] “ALL EYES ON ME.”
• 9d. [Search everywhere] SCOUR THE COUNTRY. Is this really a phrase? I wanted “scour the earth”.
• 24d. [Delicate fabric originally from Belgium] ANTWERP LACE. I know Belgium is famous for lace, but is lace from Antwerp significantly different or better than lace from, say, Brussels or Bruges?

Maybe not my favorite Burnikel puzzle, but it’s fine nonetheless, and it’s aimed properly at Monday solvers. I do like the commitment to long, lively entries, and the fact the hidden “roads” all span more than one word.

The long Across entries were fun as well: COCONUT OIL, INDEX FUND, GOES ALONE, and ARAB STATES.

Clues of note:

• 30a. [Money left on the table]. TIP. Don’t know if this is a new clue or not, but it’s a great example of a simple yet elegant clue that still makes you think. I’m just wondering if it should really have a question mark.
• 32d. [Like a one-star rating]. POOR. Well, I wouldn’t call the rating POOR. I’d call whatever’s being rated POOR.
• 52d. [Jumping joints]. KNEES. Another nice clue with some gentle misdirection, especially coming right after BEBOP.

3.5 stars.

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solution, 1/13/25 – Agard

Take Erik’s trademark tricky clues and add two cross-referenced clues in the opening corner (OGLALA / LAKOTA and ACID / TEST) and you get a tough puzzle that I struggled to make headway in.

Fave fill: “PLEASE HOLD,” GUITAR LESSONS, JUDY REYES (she was Carla on Scrubs), EPSOM SALTS, SLED DOGS.

Some clues of note:

• 26a. [Showrooms?], TV STUDIOS.
• 18a. [Counter (revolutionary)?], TACHOMETER. It counts revolutions.
• 34a. [They can be thirty or sixty minutes (take your pick)], GUITAR LESSONS. Take your guitar pick with you to the lesson.
• 7d. [Hot place, to put it mildly?], HECK. The hot place is hell, and HECK is a milder version of that word.

Don’t really know MITSKI, [Singer with the 2016 album “Puberty 2”]. Here’s the Wiki page for this indie pop singer.

Four stars from me.

Amanda Cook’s Universal crossword, “Anything Goes” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 1/11/25 • Mon • “Anything Goes” • Cook • solution •

Solved in a daze, but it was an easy crossword. Brief write-up because it’s already so late.

• 38d^R [Instagram selfie hashtag … and what the starred clues’ answers have in common?] NO FILTER. I certainly didn’t pay attention to whatever the theme might turn out to be during the solve.
• 15a. [*Caffeinated beverage made from crystals] INSTANT COFFEE.
• 24d. [*One who might make you say “TMI!”] OVERSHARER.
• 35d. [*Certain unprocessed recording] RAW AUDIO.

Okay, these work well enough. Grid has left-right mirror symmetry, with a large, strange nine-square block forming a U-shape in the bottom center.

• 1a [Competent] ABLE. 3d [Endures] LASTS. Feeling attacked.
• 31a [Children’s construction set brand] TINKERTOY. Amusingly, I had all but the first and last letters via crossings, so I entered PINKERTON as I was heading for the clue.
• 49a [One-named flamenco guitarist] CHARO. She’s quite underrated as a player.
• 53d [Read quickly] SCAN. You’d better believe I held off on this, because SCAN also means the opposite: to read closely. So my inclination is to want the unambiguous SKIM.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1748— Eric’s review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1748 — 1/13/25

Again, my apologies for a late review.

A not-too-challenging themeless, with just enough resistance in the bottom of the grid. There’s some interesting stuff in the long answers:

• 19A [Objectively performing well] DOING NUMBERS
• 50A [Three-time US Open winner from Belgium] KIM CLIJSTERS Three things I learned about this pro tennis player here: She’s Belgian, she won the US three times, and she spells her surname with a J in the middle.
• 12D [Some canned fruit] CORED APPLES OK, this one’s not particularly interesting.
• 23D [“Personal Jesus” band] DEPECHE MODE I had enough of the beginning letters here that I knew the answer could only be one thing and didn’t read the clue until now. I’ve always liked that song.

Other stuff of interest:

• 8A [One of the Twelve Minor Prophets] MALACHI Everything I know about the Old Testament, I learned from crossword puzzles. But I still kinda resent be expected to know things like “minor” prophets.
• 17A [Brazilian state whose capital is João Pessoa] PARAÍBA It’s a funky-shaped part of the pointy bit of eastern Brazil that juts out into the Atlantic.
• 43A [Mort who said “That feeling of hopelessness only serves your masters”] SAHL You know you’ve done too many crosswords when you see a clue like that and stop reading after “Mort.”
• 3D [“Run Through the Jungle” band, briefly] CCR I’m chagrined this wasn’t a gimme for me. I hear a fair amount of Creedence Clearwater Revival on the radio and could hear that song in my head.
• 45D [Nobel Peace Prize medal designer Vigeland] GUSTAV That’s a new one for me.