Monday, February 24, 2025

Rena Cohen’s New York Times crossword— Sophia’s write-up

Happy Monday everyone! A slightly usual theme today for a Monday. The first theme

New York Times, 02 23 2025, By Rena Cohen

answer, WASHES DISHES, contains four S’s, each separated by two letters. The next, FIELD EXPERIENCE, contains the same pattern but with E’s. And the final answer, TAUGHT TO THE TEST, is again the same pattern but with the letter T. Each of these theme answers are aligned to the right side, so the S, E, and T’s are lined up in a vertical line. Thus, we get the revealer SETS STRAIGHT, because of the placement of the circled letters in straight vertical lines spelling out the word “set”.

Given that I needed a whole paragraph to explain the theme, I’d say it’s a little high concept for a Monday – when I first looked at the puzzle, I saw the repeating letters and thought “S, E, T… ok, it spells out SET, but is the ‘straight’ part just that they appear in sequence?” It took me until writing this recap to fully understand the theme, so I hope it is appropriately appreciated by other folks! It is hard to find words with a repeating letter pattern on their own, so having to be locked into particular placements of said words is a real constructing challenge. Rena did a great job today!

Fill highlights: GETS REAL, PETER PAN, ME THREE, EEYORE (and I found the clue of [Donkey friend of Roo and Pooh] very sonically satisfying)

Clue highlights: EPEE cross-referencing EN GARDE, [Prefix with way or wife] for MID, [Cartoon dog whose name sounds like a bird] for REN, [Bread machine?] for ATM.

Jackson Matz’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Look Ahead”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases whose first words can precede “eye” in other phrases. The revealer is EYE OPENER (58a, [Revelation, or what can be found at the starts of the starred answers]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Look Ahead” · Jackson Matz · Mon., 2.24.25

• 17a. [*It might be a setup] BLIND DATE. Blind eye.
• 24a. [*Start of the Christmas shopping rush] BLACK FRIDAY. Black eye.
• 36a. [*Play really badly] STINK UP THE JOINT. Stink-eye.
• 46a. [*Eagles and hawks, e.g.] BIRDS OF PREY. Birds-eye.

Classic example of this style of theme. I enjoyed the lively phrases, especially that middle grid-spanner.

I also enjoyed those two anchoring long Down entries: FIRST SNOW and CLICKBAIT. Most of the rest of the fill is smooth and solid, with the exception of AOKS.

Clues of note:

• 20a. [Head-scratchers?]. LICE. Well, they aren’t so much scratching as biting.
• 16d. [Lord’s wife]. LADY. This clue caused me to wonder whether the husband of a lord (or a knight) gets a title. Answer: No.

Good start to the week. 3.5 stars.