Emet Ozar’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “On All Fors” — Eric’s review
Emet Ozar’s WSJ Crossword — 3/15/25 (first 18 rows)
A pretty basic theme here: Common phrases centered around the word “for” that are given jokey clues. Whether you enjoy the puzzle depends almost entirely on how much these clue and answer pairs amuse you:
- 22A [Really eager to meet Dracula?] DOWN FOR THE COUNT
- 35A [Charity donation?] CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
- 53A [Volunteer work?] GOOD FOR NOTHING
- 78A [Ironed a shirt at a magazine’s photo shoot?] PRESSED FOR TIME
- 90A [Nudge your partner to take you ring shopping?] REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
- 109A [Renovation work remittance] CHECK FOR UPDATES
Emet Ozar’s WSJ Crossword — 3/15/25 (last four rows)
Except for 35A, the answers completely change the meaning of the phrases, which I liked. I got a bit ahead of myself after the first two theme answers and assumed that all the theme answers would incorporate “for the” and not just “for.”
The grid design doesn’t leave much room for long Down answers, but the fill is solid, and a couple of the clue/answer pairs entertained me:
88A [Subject of a famous Hokusai print] WAVE
神奈川沖浪裏
Kanagawa-oki Nami Ura
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
102A [Deep-fried pocket] GORDITA Yum.
12D [Place unlikely to have an American?] CHEESE TRAY American cheese was about the only thing my mother bought, and I never liked it. It wasn’t until college that I discovered how tasty cheese can be.
13D [Jaguar protector] HELMET Nice clue; my mind went first to big cats, then English luxury cars; only after I had the answer did I make the NFL connection.
71D [Wind instrument of Australia] DIDGERIDOO A straight-forward clue, but it reminds me of the agave we had in Austin. A neighbor harvested the bloom spike to turn it into a didgeridoo.
Ryan McCarty’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 3/15/25 – no. 0315
Ryan’s got one of those bylines I look forward to seeing. This 66-worder’s got a good bit of lively fill:
Nigella LAWSON of foodie TV/cookbooks, SONICARE toothbrushes, a DARK ‘N STORMY cocktail, Irish actor BARRY KEOGHAN (he was also in The Banshees of Inisherin; I’ve not seen Saltburn yet), the film BIRDMAN, 1970s-style BANANA SEATS, “WHY WORRY?”, RARE DISEASE (I claim a couple-three of those), BAND T-SHIRTS, and MOSH PITS.
New to me but gettable: 28A. [Was eco-conscious with tech waste, in modern parlance], ECYCLED.
Clue that amused me: 19A. [Something you might shield your eyes from, in brief], PDA. Do other people’s public displays of affection make you so uncomfortable that you must avert your eyes?
Four stars from me.