Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Legal Separation”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that end or begin with the trigram LAW. This word is separated from the main entry by a black square, as hinted at by the title.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Legal Separation” · Mike Shenk · Thu., 2.6.25
- 17a [Fight fiercely] and 19a [Code component]: SCRATCH AND C / LAW.
- 26a [Jude of “Cold Mountain”] and 28a [It’s used for cutting blades]: LAW / N MOWER.
- 46a [Key element in Greek tragedies] and 48a [Scientific truth]: FATAL F / LAW.
- 59a [Brief topic] and 60a [Giants linebacker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame]: LAW / RENCE TAYLOR.
Of course it’s unusual to see any duplication in a crossword, but you could argue the duped LAWs are actually parts of different words and therefore not dupes. I don’t know how convincing you’d be, but you could argue it. As for me, having seen this type of theme from Mike Shenk numerous times over the years, I recognized it with the first theme entry, then went plunked in the LAWs in the other parts of the grid, thereby giving myself some extra footholds.
Still, my solve time was slow mainly because of that NW corner where I had COIN for 1d [Nickel, e.g.] which led to OMAN at 14a [Where the Nowruz new year is celebrated] which still allowed for the correct SNAKE at 4d [Plumber’s tool]. It didn’t help that I wanted some form of “go at it tooth and claw” or “…hammer and claw” for the theme answer at 17a. (Never mind that it’s actually “hammer and tongs”.) So yeah, that took some time to sort out. But otherwise I enjoyed the theme and resolving the theme answers.
WAR OF WORDS makes for a great anchor entry in that NW corner. (It might also make a good basis for a theme if someone puts their mind to it.). I’d never heard of Hitchcock’s last film FAMILY PLOT, but that’s a fine entry too, allowing for some good wordplay. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen “macrame” as a verb, but with an S added on the end, it makes more sense to clue it that way than as a plural noun.
Solid puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Alex Eaton-Salner’s Fireball Crossword, “Context Clues” – Jenni’s write-up
Maybe the International Date Line has addled my brain. I think I know what the theme is here and I think I have three of the four figured out. Maybe I’ll get the fourth as I type this. Edit: and I did!
The clues to theme answers have to be taken literally.
Fireball, February 5, 2025, Alex Eaton-Salners, “Context Clues,” solution grid
- 17a [*Finished] is OVERCAPITALIZED. “Finish” = “over” and it starts with a capital letter.
- 25a [*Military inspection] is ONE–STAR REVIEW. Either this is a review by a one-star general or it’s “military inspection” = “review” and there’s one star in the clue.
- 45a [*Symbol of oppression] is THE MAN IN BLACK. This was the one that stumped me for a bit. “The man” = “symbol of oppression” and it’s written in black.
- 57a [*Stereo components] are ENGLISH SPEAKERS. It’s written in English.
I like a little tussle in the morning! (I’m in New Zealand and writing this at 7:00 AM Thursday).
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: never heard of the 2024 film “My Old ASS.”
Aidan Deshong and Jacob Reed’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Difficulty: Easy (8m37s)
Aidan Deshong and Jacob Reed’s New York Times crossword, 2/6/25, 0206
Today’s theme: state mottos
- RUSSET POTATO (ID entity)
- WILMINGTON (DE port)
- OZARKS (AR range)
- PADRES (CA nine)
- KAMEHAMEHA (HI king)
- GULF OF MEXICO (FL edge)
No revealer, which probably helps preserve some Thursday-level difficulty, although I still moved through this one pretty quickly despite it being a 16x oversized grid. Why is it 16x? Because if you’re married to GULF OF MEXICO and RUSSET POTATO, you’ll need three black horizontal squares flanking those entries in a standard 15x, which locks up the entire grid. 12s are brutal. One solution.. just make the whole thing a little wider.
As for the puzzle, it’s my cup of tea. I’m a sucker for postal code crosswords (I made one myself once) and love everything road trip-adjacent.
Cracking: KAMEHAMEHA, of which there were I-V, usually refers to I — KAMEHAMEHA the Great, who (forcibly) united the kingdom of Hawaii under one rule.
Slacking: you can put it in every puzzle from now until the Rapture, I will never accept the spelling AAH
Sidetracking: I want to see WILMINGTON!
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1755 “Introducing Some Ancient Greek Heroes” — Eric’s review
Brendan Emmett Qigley’s Crossword #1755 — 2/6/25
One of the nice things about being an anonymous crossword puzzle solver is that when a puzzle’s theme goes over your head, nobody needs to know about it.
Much as I hate to admit it, I do not understand what this theme is:
- 17A [Ironclad ancient Greek?] ARMORED VEHICLES
- 27A [Ancient Greek seeing the sights?] TOURING BICYCLES
- 49A [Ancient Greek with some spray-on tan?] ORANGE POPSICLES
- 65A [Ancient Greek on the job?] WORKING MIRACLES
There are the parallel clue references to an “Ancient Greek” and the fact that all the theme answers end with the letters -LES (which makes me think of Heracles and Pericles). Surely there’s more to it than just “these words sound a little like Greek names.”
I tried to make something of the “Introducing” in the puzzle’s title, but I got nowhere.
On the other hand, I filled in the grid more quickly than any BEQ puzzle in recent memory, barely stopping to ponder a clue. Some notable material:
- 14A [Angers river] LOIRE/1D [Barbecue dish] SLAW Having guessed at SLAW, LOIRE was the first French river that came to mind.
- 16A [Marioverse dinosaur] YOSHI It’s taken a couple of years, but I have finally internalized that character’s name.
- 37A [Cheboygan’s lake] HURON I guessed this from the H in 24D [Agcy. with a Stem Cell information page on its website] NIH.
- 10D [David Bowie or Freddie Mercury, e.g.] ROCK ICON
- 40D [Winter equipment where the feet face forward] MONOSKI Maybe those are popular back East, but I don’t remember seeing any in Colorado or Utah.
- 45D [French high-speed rail inits.] TGV It took me a bit to remember this one; it’s short for Train à Grande Vitesse — literally “high-speed train.”
- 51D [Tailbone] COCCYX With those letters, it’s no wonder we don’t often see that word in a grid. But I liked seeing it here.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword, “Late Start” — Emily’s write-up
You made it just in time!
USA Today, February 06, 2025, “Late Start” by Zhouqin Burnikel
Theme: each themer contains LA–TE–
Themers:
- 17a. [Rio Grande city with a jalapeno festival], LAREDOTEXAS
- 36a. [Diagnostic test pro], LABTECHNICIAN
- 54a. [The Denver Outlaws and the New York Atlas, for two], LACROSSETEAMS
A fun themer set with LAREDOTEXAS, LABTECHNICIAN, and LACROSSETEAMS. It took me some crossings for each but they all filled in easily enough. Now I’m craving some spicy food!
Favorite fill: ICANTELL, SEEYASOON, and ALPASTOR
Stumpers: CBS (cluing new to me), NEAT (originally thought “pure” or “strong”), and EMERY (only “file” came to mind)
Loved this puzzle! Great fill and slow, with great lengthy bonus fill too. Enjoyed the theme and the title hint was a good level of not being too obvious while giving enough of a hint to see it without too difficulty for me.
4.25 stars
~Emily
NYT: A nicely innovative theme, which took me about half the puzzle to grok. It didn’t help much if at all with the solve, but at least some otherwise incongruous answers now made sense.
As is my wont on Thursdays, I mention that I crave Thursday non-theme clues that are harder than recent ones. This makes grokking the theme necessarily harder, which makes the solve last longer, which enhances my feeling of triumph when it is complete.
(OK: if and when it is complete, like if there’s a natick and I have to look something up.)
I agree with this overall Thursday beef! There were a handful of clues that were made easier during the edit process.
Thank you for this comment, Jacob. I’m disappointed (but not surprised) to have confirmation of how the editing process altered the difficulty of the puzzle. I found the theme to be cute and fun, but like @Dan, thought the clues for the rest of the fill were definitely on the easy side for a Thursday puzzle.
This one all but defeated me. Shortz has seemed more open go proper names, contemporary references, and Web usage, and this seemed an extreme case. Since I wasn’t making sense of the theme entries or even in a couple of cases seeing them (with the blanks I still had) as actual words or phrases, I had all the more trouble moving forward. At first only GULF OF MEXICO looked legit (and my first to complete).
I didn’t get help from the theme, although perhaps I should have, since I got it only from WILMINGTON with DE at last a bit after I was otherwise done. I still left an empty square for the knig crossing Chinese. And yes, I know we’ve seen him before here.
Maybe my fault, especially in a type of themed construction I like, but I just didn’t enjoy getting to it.
I liked this one; I had the same experience as Dan, where I got about halfway through and *then* the theme clicked. Although, for me, it made the solve much easier. Ended up finishing under my average time; it was a lot of fun. I had some missteps in the top center (put “SLEEP” instead of ALARM and “AND?” instead of “SOO”).
It made me think of a great podcast I’ve been listening to with my son, E Pluribus Motto: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/e-pluribus-motto/
NYT: Solved this in a more-or-less typical Thursday time for me. Had no idea about the theme/trick until I looked at ZDL’s write-up. Meh – not for me!
NYT: Figured out the theme early on and found it extremely helpful!
In an otherwise swell puzzle, I got sunk in a damn triple Natick. What’s the name for that!? I’ll call it an effing Nihao.
Triple!? Even though only two words cross at each square?
I imagine it means two blank squares from a single unknown crossing two unknowns.
It would make sense to call that a double natick.
I can’t forget Nihao… our local public library has an interactive artwork in front called “ Stranger Reduction Zone” (2014), by Timothy C. Flood. It’s “shaped like a traffic light, Stranger Reduction Zone is an interactive piece with a button that visitors can push to be greeted in different languages. Designed to help bridge the gap of anonymity between peers in busy city settings and help build strong communities, the sculpture is a celebration of our cultural diversity.” My son has pushed that button so many times and cycled through all of the different languages saying “hello” that I think *I* now know how to say “hello” in about 20 different languages…
https://urbanafreelibrary.org/about-us/art
PS: That triple Nattick floats on a body of water with last month’s name on it. Certain folks will surely see that as a NYT nasty act of resistance.
NYT 58D Test for an M.B.A. seeker is certainly GMAT not GRE.
gotta pass the GRE first?
Nope – GMAT is a standalone test. Many schools will accept the GRE, but the GMAT is far more common for business students.
I was surprised on that too; GRE is typically used for Ph.D., not MBA?
NYT – Like Zachary David Levy, I also love a good postal code theme. I loved this new take on the idea. Well done, Aidan and Jacob. When Jeff Chen edited the Sunday Uni, he ran one I did titled “Post-It Notes.” I’d submitted it as “Briefly Stated,” and I think the final set we agreed on was:
FLORIDASTATE – FLutter?
MISSOURIVALLEY – MOdell?
PENNSYLVANIAAVE – PAst?
DELAWAREBAY – DEbark?
CALIFORNIAGIRLS – CAshes?
ALABAMASLAMMER – ALpen?
INDIANAJONES – IN need?
It bothered me that the last one was a phrase, not a word like the others, but we never came up with anything better.
This is a great theme set.
[Infancy?] almost works. Bet that was on the cutting room floor.
I learned about this puzzle shortly after we submitted ours to the NYT. Great minds think alike I suppose!
For the last one, maybe:
INDIANAJONES — INhabit.
I like the way you think, Dan and Placematfan. Though a Jones is more of a craving than a fancy or a habit.
In addition to Indiana, we also ran through other phrases starting with a state. Two more I came up with were COLORADORIVER -COburn? and WASHINGTONAPPLE – WAspy? Wrong lengths, though.
NYT – Big clap for GULFOFMEXICO. Hold the line.
+1!
NYT: I also enjoyed the theme. Like others, I’m a fan of postal codes. Once I got RUSSETPOTATO, the rest fell easily (except for spelling of HIking).
Why didn’t Will change 58A to GULFOFAMERICA?? Isn’t the NYT paying attention to current events??
Because it’s a stupid, inane, ridiculous act by Mr. Trump that every other country in the world will ignore. Take a look at a map. What amount of coastline along the Gulf is USA versus Mexico?
“Because it’s a stupid, inane, ridiculous act by Mr. Trump that every other country in the world will ignore.”
This is, of course, true. And Mexico has a Gulf coastline of a little over 2000 miles, while the U.S. has a coastline of a little over 1600 miles. But I believe the U.S. has territorial control over a slightly larger share of the Gulf waters than Mexico does.
If he called it Gulf of THE AmericaS, I might not have an issue.
And he does NOT have the right to rename the place regardless.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article298173548.html
But if you let this get under your skin, then the Idiot in Chief wins – that’s his whole schtick, right?
Grumpy, surely Mutman was being ironic and deserves a smile.
Bingo!
Was curious if there’d be a reaction!
Okay. Smile.
I didn’t understand the NYT theme until I was almost done, but I got most of the themers by filling in familiar words/phrases without knowing why.
I didn’t care for the OLUO/SOO crossing. Haven’t heard of the former, and the latter was a reluctant guess.
I’d the same problem with that crossing.
Me, too. Was not familiar with OLUO, and SOO didn’t seem quite right. Rex Parker points out that usually, a drawn-out SO would have more than one additional O. It would be more like SOOO…, at least.
If this had been a tournament puzzle, I think I would have run through the alphabet at least twice before turning my paper in, and even then, I would still be wondering if my answer was right.
Same.
NYT: I like how the difficulty is controlled. KAMEHAMEHA and GULFOFMEXICO are basically forced once you have some of the easier downs. No other possible answer would fit, like what else can be “K……EHA”? Meanwhile there are possible answer for a partial fill of RUSSETPOTATO and WILMINGTON, maybe.
I can’t tolerate SOO, though. It’s soo bad.
There is JACK SOO from Barney Miller and other 70s TV. While I’d get that, probs most people under 40 would not. Rightly so.
There’s also the Soo Line railroad.
And the SOO Locks on the Sault Ste. Marie river between Michigan and Ontario. Pretty sure that’s been in the NYT puzzle before.
Not so, Gary. There are probably at least 50 clues in the xword.info database along those lines.
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder
I think maybe you mis-read my comment. ;-)
Oops. I saw a “not”or a “never” that wasn’t there. Sorry.
I blame my befuddled state on thinking I’d missed the BEQ theme.
More recently, I’ve (frequently) seen SOO clued as [“Hamilton” actress Phillipa] or something like that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillipa_Soo
Yep :-) She’s a really amazing member of the original Hamilton cast.
No comments on BEQ yet? As usual, an easy Thursday, but I don’t really get it. OK, all of the theme answers end in “CLES” like Sophoclese, and other Greek names, but how does that work with the clues themselves, which don’t make much sense? What am I mssing?
But I figured out the NYT theme pretty quickly (from Wilmington) and it helped my time with the rest. I liked it.
No, you’ve got it. The second words of the answers are treated as if they were Greek names ending in -cles. As for the clues, “ancient Greek” refers to those ‘names’ and the other part describes just the first word of the answers. So 17a [Ironclad ancient Greek] indicates that some person named VEHICLES is ARMORED.
Thank you! I really hoped that someone got the theme since I thought I was missing something more than that.
As I said in my review (which I just posted around 10:40 MST), I was as baffled by the theme as you were, Susan. pannonica’s comment suggests we didn’t miss anything.
It may be obvious, but nobody has said it: the theme involves pronouncing the words like Greek names. So it’s “armored Vehi-clees.” It’s very much an auditory theme. Each one was worth a small giggle as I solved, but I may be easily amused.
Eric’s review implies this (“these words sound a little like Greek names”), since vehicles doesn’t sound like a Greek name but Vehi-clees does, but I think it’s worth being explicit.
I hadn’t considered it that way; what I meant was more “the ends of the words *look* like the ends of names such as Heracles and Pericles.”
Thanks for the additional perspective.
Oh yes, I thought the pronunciation aspect was quite obvious and now see that not everyone understood that.
Got all the way through the NYT puzzle and had to come here for parsing- I can’t believe I didn’t see the postal codes, but I still finished with my best time for a Thursday!