Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Welcome to 2025” — it’s 3×15, squared. – Erin’s write-up
Jonesin’ solution 1/14/25
Hello lovelies! This week Matt is celebrating 2025 by breaking down the Roman numbers MMXXV:
- 20a. [MM] MUSIC DEGREE TYPE, aka Master of Music
- 35a. [XX] DOS EQUIS LETTERS. Equis is the Spanish letter X.
- 52a. [V] VISA STOCK TICKER
Other things:
- 4d. [“Children of Blood and Bone” author Adeyemi] TOMI. This young adult romantic dabbed novel debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List in 2018.
- 26a. [Band known for elaborate videos] OKGO. Their videos are delightful.
Until next week!
Jeff Chapman & Kevin Christian’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Exceptional”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are words and phrases that mean “exceptional” clued with respect to an occupation that’s punnily related to a part of the entry.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Exceptional” · Jeff Chapman & Kevin Christian · Tue., 1.14.25
- 17a. [Exceptional, to a musician?] NOTEWORTHY. Musical notes.
- 29a. [Exceptional, to a steak restaurant chef?] IN RARE FORM. A rare steak.
- 34a. [Exceptional, to a park ranger?] OUTSTANDING. Um…outside? This connection’s a little weak. Maybe this would be better clued with respect to a baseball umpire?
- 40a. [Exceptional, to a flight attendant?] FIRST CLASS. This clue relates to the whole phrase, not just a part of it.
- 56a. [Exceptional, to a soccer player?] AMAZEBALLS. Soccer balls.
Solid theme. Maybe not “exceptional”, but it gets the job done and with decent wordplay. A nice debut grid for Kevin’s co-constructor.
Not a lot in the long fill department, but BEER PONG and Madness’s OUR HOUSE are highlights. AREA MAP is solid as well and the phrase always reminds me of The Onion’s “Area Man”, so that’s a good thing. Tired fill MR. ED and EDDA appear at the bottom of the grid.
3.25 stars from me.
Lance Enfinger’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 1/14/25 – no. 0114
The theme revealer is QUIDDITCH (the fictional sport from Harry Potter) and the theme entries–BEEKEEPER, WORLD BEATER, ATTENTION SEEKER, and STORM CHASER–end with positions played on a quidditch team. I could do without any attention to J.K. Rowling, personally.
Fave fill: SWEET POTATO, ALEX TREBEK, “WHAT A TREAT!”, TOOK A SHOT AT. Also the adaptive sports equipment SIT SKI; if you’re unfamiliar, here’s a company that makes adaptive ski gear. Not so keen on “IT’S IN” (just one of three IT phrases in the grid), MAA, ERSE, plural AHAS.
One real groaner of a clue: 6A. [Spelled-out chant at the World Cup], USA. “The World Cup” refers to the men’s tournament, while there’s also “the Women’s World Cup.” It’s the latter where Team USA actually plays well and garners cheers and chants.
Three stars from me.
Beth Rubin & Owen Bergstein’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up
I don’t get this theme. I will describe it and would appreciate enlightenment in the comments.
The revealer at 58a [Round after the Elite Eight, and what the ends of 16-, 29-, 34-, and 45-Across are?] is FINAL FOUR.
Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2025, Beth Rubin and Owen Bergstein, solution grid
- 16a [Surfaces for playing board games] are TABLE TOPS.
- 29a [Lateral handsprings] are CARTWHEELS.
- 34a [Collections of episodes overseen by showrunners] are TV SEASONS.
- 45a [Triangular snack chips from PepsiCo] are POP CORNERS. They do not taste good. Trust me.
So the last four letters of each answer are TOPS, EELS, SONS, and NERS. The final four letter of each one is S. I still don’t get it. Help.
Adam Simpson’s Universal Crossword, “Ring, Ring!” (ed. Taylor Johnson) — Matt F’s Review
Universal Solution 01.14.2025
Today’s puzzle features types of “calls” reimagined as punny clues for common phrases:
- 17A: [Collect call?] (a “call” to “collect” on a debt) = YOU OWE ME BIG TIME
- 28A: [Duck call?] (a “call” to tell a person to “duck”) = WATCH YOUR HEAD
- 49A: [Booty call?] (A “call” about the pirate’s “booty” (treasure)) = X MARKS THE SPOT
- 63A: Zoom call? (a “call” to “zoom” in on something) = TAKE A CLOSER LOOK
Excellent theme execution today. I like how the clues could be conceived as “types of calls” on their own – collect call, duck call, booty call, Zoom call – and the reimagined puns signaled by the “?” are all great in-the-language phrases. The fact that these phrases align symmetrically is just the cherry on top of a perfect crossword treat. I zipped through this puzzle and didn’t even notice (or care) that the grid was lacking “bonus” words – there isn’t a down answer longer than 6 letters! This goes to show that a solid theme like this doesn’t require extra flair to make it “publishable,” and I appreciate outlets like Universal for understanding how extra blocking can be an asset!
Wyna Liu’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up
New Yorker • 1/14/25 • Liu • solution • 20250114
Solving this one took a little longer than usual, but I feel that’s attributable to my current state of mind.
- 9a [Lee with a cinematic side kick?] BRUCE. Note that ‘side kick’ is two words.
- 26a [They get dressed for dinner] SALADS. My first entry filled.
- 35a [Attracted to big brains, in dating-profile parlance] SAPIOSEXUAL, which is not an appealing-looking word.
- 39a [ __ Maya (language in the Books of Chilam Balam)] YUCATEC. Needed many crossings to complete this one.
- 49a [Sobriquet for France’s longest-reigning monarque] LE ROI SOLEIL, “The Sun King”, Louis XIV.
- Reduplicative stacking: 11d [Chant at an Olympic gymnastics event, maybe] USA USA, 12d [Ostentatious] CHICHI.
- 13d [2015 Ottessa Moshfegh novel with a 2023 film adaptation] EILEEN.
- 36d [Sets loose] SETS FREE. I irrationally resisted ‘sets’ because it’s so close to ‘lets’.
- 41d [Word before fibre or footprint] CARBON. Why is fibre spelled the British way? Another example of The New Yorker’s idiosyncratic house style?
I feel the crossword has a well-curated mix of lively phrases, playful clues, unusual facts, and both highbrow and lowbrow entries.
NYT – A Quidditch theme doesn’t’t feel fresh
Not a fan.
I’m not a Harry Potter fan myself (kid stuff) and see clues about it way too often for my taste. Here that had a distinct advantage, though, since I recognized the game. Otherwise, after all, with the name reference right there, too, one could easily have had polo as a sport rather than SHIRT.
Hard for us non-fans to enjoy, though, so I understand the preponderance of poor ratings. At least it made the puzzle a bit hard for a Tuesday, which I appreciated.
JK Rowling is not a good person (racism and virulent anti-trans activism), and I’m far from alone in pointing out that her books are mediocre and derivative. You can look it up.
NYT: I learned something– I didn’t know “world beater” was an actual expression. It’s not one that I would have chosen for referring to a champion. In my mind “beater”, when describing a human, has negative connotations. No?
Just double checked and here’s from Oxford:
1- person who hits someone or something, typically on a habitual basis.
2- person who beats metal in manufacturing.
3- a person employed to flush out or drive game animals for shooting by striking at the ground cover.
I understand the theme required it. An EGG BEATER would have made me happier :).
I see it hyphenated in news/analysis in the sports and business arenas pretty frequently – “world-beater”
Things like:
Patrick Mahomes is proving to be a world-beater on the field this season
AMD stock has been a world-beater over the last 2 years
Toyota’s new crossover SUV destined to be a world-beater
I liked the clue!
I, too, find it more familiar than the meanings than those in the Oxford citation. They’d all have made the entry truly obscure to me.
LAT: The second word (or second part of a compound word) can precede FOUR, as in FOUR TOPS, FOUR WHEELS, FOUR SEASONS, FOUR CORNERS
NYT: ART TEST? Blech
Theme of LAT crossword is easy: 2-word phrases with first word FOUR. FOUR TOPS (singing group), FOUR WHEELS (vehicle features), FOUR SEASONS (Vivaldi opus), FOUR CORNERS (southwest US landmark)
I had no idea where the NYT them was going, and the revealer was neither enlightening nor interesting. On top of that, we get yet another Star Wars reference, along with Shrek and TMNT. If this is Will Shortz’s influence, then I say bring back Joel Fagliano.
ITSIN is just wrong. Here’s what Wiki says: The line umpire signals a ball out by making a verbal “out” call (“fault” for a serve) followed by the extension of the arm shoulder high in the direction the ball was out. A ball is signalled “safe” or “good” by holding both hands together knee-high in front of the body.
Agreed. Just a bad clue.
Better would have been:
“ ______ the hole!”, classic Caddyshack line from Carl
Please no more Star Wars!
Agreed on Shortz’s love of Star Wars and Potter (and other sci-fi as literature and the Simpsons, for that matter). Also don’t think of the line judge saying “it’s in,” but it’s so obvious what the judge’s call means in effect that I’m fine with it.
New Yorker: Yes, pannonica, traditional New Yorker spelling for clue 41d. I agree with your review, but I’m always biased towards a Monday or Tuesday New Yorker puzzle when I can complete it. I did enjoy it.
TNY – Looks like TNY has settled back into a good Monday/Tuesday groove. Pretty much on target as a moderately challenging puzzle. I agree, SAPIOSEXUAL is not an attractive word. Especially in all CAPS. Wasn’t too happy with LETS FREE as the answer to sets loose. Google Ngram Viewer indicates sets free and lets loose are far more common.
Re: 49a – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bNMxWGHlTI
That’s the obvious choice, which is something I usually look past when selecting music for the posts. Haven’t really had the wherewithal lately to include videos/songs.