Jesse Guzman’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Dipping for Honey”—Jim’s review
The puzzle is an homage to WINNIE THE POOH (found in the circled diagonal letters).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Dipping for Honey” · Jesse Guzman · Wed., 3.12.25
- 18a. [Elephantine creatures feared by the circled character] HEFFALUMPS.
- 60a. [Mall workshop, and a hint to filling in this puzzle’s circles] BUILD-A-BEAR. I guess this serves as the revealer.
- 10d. [Like the circled character and his friends] STUFFED.
- 43d. [Creator of the circled character] A. A. MILNE.
Cute theme. I like the design and the wordplay with the revealer, as well as the idea of “building” the bear’s name as you progress through the solve.
That said, I filled in the circled letters immediately after getting HEFFALUMPS so the building idea didn’t quite work for me. And while A.A. MILNE crossing BUILD-A-BEAR is excellent, the other two theme answers (HEFFALUMPS and STUFFED) feel more like filler (as it were). And isn’t it a law that if you have HEFFALUMPS, you have to have Woozles?
So while I like the theme and enjoyed the puzzle, I just wanted it to be a bit tighter.
We get some lovely fill, especially LUTEFISK (though I needed a bunch of crossings). Not sure I’ve heard of OLD IRISH, but it was inferable. Also good: PICARD, ANT NEST, and GAS BAG.
Cute puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Now, enjoy the HEFFALUMPS and Woozles song, courtesy of a WINNIE THE POOH trippin’ on some bad hunny, I guess.
Chandi Deitmer & Kate Hawkins’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 3/12/25 – no. 0312
It’s an elegant theme. A magician might appear to SAW A WOMAN IN HALF, and there are three rough synonyms for “woman” in the shaded squares that are cut in half by black squares: MISSUS, BABE, and DAME. The elegant bit is that the MIS/SUS, BA/BE, and DA/ME fragments come from other women’s names (real, fictional, or mythological: ARTEMIS and “Oh! SUSANNA,”, ELPHABA and BEYONCE, MATILDA and MELANIE. (I sccarcely know of this MELANIE, [“Brand New Key” singer, 1971].)
I started out cranky at 1-Across because I’m not convinced people are actually shouting “IT’S A TIE!” when a baseball game goes into extra innings. Also rather doubt anyone goes around saying “I LOSE” with any regularity. At least we’re spared I RULE in this one.
A couple more things:
- 34D. [“Drink up!”], PROST. Is this German toast a bit hard for a Wednesday puzzle?
- Entirely new to me: 29D. [Sprinkled with seasoning, in Italian], SALATA. Do you folks encounter this word out and about?
Three stars from me.
NYT: Not my cup of tea today. I never like unnecessarily repetitive clues like the ones for NOHOW and ABHOR when [Never] and [Hate] (among many others) would suffice.
But also I was not crazy about the theme. I don’t like even suggestions of violence, — yeah, even if it’s only a magic trick. But also there was nothing in the puzzle that suggested a magic trick per se, just three words for women that were each separated by black squares.
This is of course just my personal reaction.
Ricotta salata is a fairly common feta-like Italian cheese. They even make it in Wisconsin. That’s why I knew SALATA and figure it’s Wednesday fair.
Spelling Bee history!