Saturday, February 22, 2025

Rose Conlon’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 2/22/25 – no. 0222

I think the puzzle was a notch or two easier than my solving time suggests, since I generally nod off a bit during these Monday- and Friday-night NYT puzzles. No disrespect to the constructors, I assure you! It’s just how it goes after a dialysis treatment. My blood is clean but I am tuckered out.

Lots of zippy material in this puzzle. To wit: the complimentary “I HATE YOU,” “OH, DAMN,” MATH TEAM, SLAPSTICK, LOVE LANGUAGES (I confess I’ve paid no mind to the system, but it’s a good phrase), GALENTINE’S DAY (puzzle should have come out on 2/8, a few days before Galentine’s Day), Apple’s GENIUS BAR, LADY GAGA, HUMAN CANNONBALL, ART CARNEY, and MILK DUDS. And KATSU, definitely with chicken and not pork.

35D. [Great Plains aquifer that supplies over a quarter of U.S. irrigation water], OGALLALA. I didn’t know of this, but the names Ogallala and Oglala are well-known. Know your aquifers!

Four stars from me.

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 2/22/25 by Zhouqin Burnikel

A time that’s closer to four minutes than it is to three is not something I associate with a Zhouqin Burnikel puzzle! For the most part, the difficulty was satisfying, with one major exception: the 30A/24D crossing of SHH with AHH. Earlier this week I complained about the indistinguishability of UH NO and UM NO; AHH versus AAH is just as annoying. It’s a good thing when a clue in a Saturday puzzle points plausibly to two or more very different entries and you have to think about multiple meanings the clue could have to choose between them, but when you’re choosing between two variant spellings of the same word…sorry, I hate it.

But on to the rest of the puzzle, which had a lot to like:

• 21A RYE and 23A PASTA crossing 21D RAMEN: Two foods crossing another food feels very Burnikelian. (Also, Zhouqin is probably the only constructor who can get away with the green-paint-y PLUM TORTE in the lower left, especially since there’s also TOMATO PIE in the opposite corner.)
• 25A [Brought up the rear?] Really liked this clue for STOOD.
• 35A [Start without a key] It took me an embarrassingly long time to parse this clue: It’s HOT-WIRE, as in starting a car.
• 40A [Food that never decays] Very interesting fact about HONEY.
• 56A [Total variety] is RAISIN BRAN, a potent combo of deceptive placement of a proper noun at the beginning of a clue and Zhouqin’s penchant for food in puzzles.
• 61A [Travel at night, maybe] Liked this tricky clue for SLEEPWALK.
• 2D [Dead zone?] …and this amusing one for HADES.
• 13D [Approximate weight of some large butterflies] is GRAM, another interesting new-to-me fact.

Randolph Ross’ Wall Street Journal crossword, “On the Other Hand …” — pannonica’s write-up

WSJ • 2/22/25 • Sat • “On the Other Hand …” • Ross • solution • 20250222

Today we’re simply suffixing -OR to familiar names and phrases.

• 23a. [Heavyweight opera performer?] THE BIG TENOR (The Big Ten).
• 25a. [Country estate voted #1 in the nation?] BEST MANOR (best man).
• 38a. [Particularly rousing Sunday sermon?] A BLAST FROM THE PASTOR (a blast from the past). This was the first themer I encountered. With ABLA— in place, I immediately thought of the original phrase, then just as quickly confirmed the suspected wordplay by glancing at the puzzle’s title for the first time.
• 56a. [Math question during division lessons?] IS THAT A FACTOR (is that a fact).
• 64a. [Dresser at a polo match?] PONY TAILOR (ponytail).
• 73a. [Insult Stephen King’s hometown?] SLAM BANGOR (slam-bang).
• 78a. [MVP of the Gold Rush?] TOP PROSPECTOR (top prospect).
• 96a. [Scruffy Amtrak employee?] DISORDERLY CONDUCTOR (disorderly conduct). This and the other 19-letter entry (38a) seem like the theme highlights to me; good job finding them for the grid.
• 114a. [Town manager in Provincetown?] CAPE MAYOR (Cape May).
• 116a. [Romantic hopeful with good manners?] CIVIL SUITOR.

Decent enough theme. A few of the entries don’t venture too far from their original meanings.

44a [Cut off] ALONE.

When I’d completed filling in the grid, I was informed that it wasn’t entirely correct, and it took some time to uncover my error. Turned out to be the crossing of 93d [Balkan native] and 125a [Dinner party duds]. For the latter I’d had BONES, which I wasn’t happy with but reasoned that it was conceivably a slang term for formal attire unfamiliar to me. After all, KOSOVAN seemed solid. The correct answers are BORES and KOSOVAR.

• 7d [Unique events] ONE-OFFS. The basis of the theme for this past Thursday’s New York Times crossword.
• 18d [Dressing sites] SORES. Wasn’t expecting that.
• 46d [Princess who’s second in line of succession to the Swedish throne] ESTELLE. Is this something we’re expected to KNOW (119a)? Or is it just reaching for some new cluing angle? It’s flanked by the weakish phrases LISTS AT and ATE LATE, so this was my least favorite part of the grid.
• 57d [Scary canine?] FANG. Didn’t fool me for a moment, thanks to the question mark. On the other hand, I needed several crossings for 69d [Sun shunner] VAMPIRE.
• 63a [Fold, spindle or mutilate] MAR. One transitive verb sense of spindle is “to impale, thrust, or perforate on the spike of a spindle file” (m-w.com)
• 89a [Princess Leia, e.g.] HEROINE. We could clue her as a general of the Resistance, too.