Monday, March 10, 2025

Patti Varol’s New York Times crossword— Sophia’s write-up

Theme: DOUBLE BACK – each theme answer’s second word is a reduplicative word.

New York Times, 03 10 2025, By Patti Varol

• 17a [Girl of classic comics who sported ringlets and a red outfit] – LITTLE LULU
• 24a [Producer of the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast] – TEAM COCO
• 32a [Entertaining, as opposed to disturbing] – FUNNY HAHA
• 45a [Words on a Little League dad’s T-shirt, perhaps] – PROUD PAPA
• 51a [“A Star Is Born” co-star (2018)] – LADY GAGA
• 63a [Turn around and return … or a feature of 17-, 24-, 32-, 45- and 51-Across?] – DOUBLE BACK

There’s an impressively dense amount of theme material here – six theme answers in a Monday-quality grid is tough to do. Some of the theme answers felt very timely – TEAM COCO (well, really just Conan) hosted the Oscars last weekend, and LADY GAGA was the host and musical guest of SNL yesterday. I was not familiar with LITTLE LULU and spent some time wondering how I was going to fit “Little Orphan Annie” into that slot – hey, she’s also a comic strip character with curls and a red dress! Because that answer was the first one I encountered, I wasn’t able to use the “double back” theme to figure it out on my first pass, but it was certainly helpful later.

Fill highlights: DRY DOCK, SIDECAR, Jason BATEMAN, TARDIS

Things that might be tricky for some folks: SMEW (I was unfamiliar with this, it’s a type of duck), IONA University, UHURA from Star Trek.

Clue highlights: [___ La Table (high-end cookware shop)] for SUR, [___ Jackson Jr., “Cocaine Bear” actor] for OSHEA – I just like the “Cocaine Bear” shout-out :)

Kevin Christian & Andrea Carla Michaels’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Decked Out”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that end in a word that is also the name of a card game. The revealer is “WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?” (40a, [“Why so worried?” (and a hint to the last words of 17-, 24-, 51- and 64-Across)]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Decked Out” · Kevin Christian & Andrea Carla Michaels · Mon., 3.10.25

• 17a. [Chain that claims to have invented the deep-dish] PIZZERIA UNO.
• 24a. [Possible result of an international economic dispute] TRADE WAR.
• 51a. [Fireplace utensil] HOT POKER.
• 64a. [Valentine’s Day couple] SWEETHEARTS.

Smooth and straightforward theme for a Monday. Nothing complicated, but we get lively answers to get our solving week rolling.

I always thought the pizza chain was just Uno’s but I guess that’s just the familiar name. Actually, Wikipedia says the PIZZERIA UNO name is no longer current as the name was changed to Uno Pizzeria & Grilll.

Moving on to the fill, STARSTRUCK is wonderful though REAR WHEELS is less so, especially with a clunky clue [Auto movers in most pre-2000 cars] (though I can’t think of anything better at the moment).

Clues of note:

• 49d. [Mass producer?]. PRIEST. I guess if you think of the ceremony as a production, than sure, it works.
• 56d. [Sinister professor at Hogwarts]. SNAPE. Ah, but is he, though?

Solid Monday outing. 3.5 stars.