(2.96 avg; 14 ratings) rate it
(2.80 avg; 49 ratings) rate it
(2.80 avg; 10 ratings) rate it
(3.00 avg; 3 ratings) rate it
(3.32 avg; 19 ratings) rate it
Note: Fireball is a contest this week. We’ll post a review after the submission period closes.
Zhou Zhang & Kevin Curry’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Behind the Curves”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are round things that were made by the entities in the clues. The revealer is MADE THE ROUNDS (52a, [Checked on patients, or what the subjects of all of the starred clues did to their answers]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Behind the Curves” · Zhou Zhang & Kevin Curry · Thu., 3.27.25
- 12a. [*Frank Lloyd Wright (from 1943 to 1959)] THE GUGGENHEIM. Obviously I’ve heard of the museum, but have never been there and had no idea it was round.
- 28a. [*God (in the first three days)] PLANET EARTH.
- 33a. [*Krispy Kreme (when the neon “Hot Light” was on)] GLAZED DOUGHNUTS.
Good play on words in the revealer and in the title as well. Plus, grid art! Although it looks a lot more like a Poké Ball than anything else.
Still, very nice grid design which allows for some lovely stacks at the top and bottom of the grid with obvious highlights: “I CALL DIBS,” ON A SOUR NOTE, DOG BISCUITS, and CAST PARTY. That SW corner is a bit rough though, with a mash-up of iffy entries: GRES, LET ‘EM, AD READ, ETRE, and ER DOC.
Didn’t know about TEA EGGS [Popular Chinese night market fare], but I was glad to learn about them.
Clues of note:
- 43a. [“Stay,” formally]. DO NOT GO. We also would have accepted [Word after “Please” in a Violent Femmes title].
- 45a. [Being, to Sartre]. ETRE. I wonder if the choice to use “Sartre” was because of the similarity of his name to the entry.
- 4d. [Run-of-the-m ill thing?]. LOG. That space between m and ill is present on the WSJ’s online version. The pdf version has a line break after the m.
Good puzzle. 3.75 stars.
Brad Lively’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Difficulty: Tricky (12m24s)
Brad Lively’s New York Times crossword, 3/27/25, 0327
Today’s theme: pay it forward, give it back
- CIRCU(IT)S / MOJ(IT)O
- GRAV(IT)Y / TARP(IT)S
- BR(IT)AIN / VIS(IT)OR
- WH(IT)EN / SUBT(IT)LE
Unusual 14×16, though at first blush I’m not sure what the constraint would have been in a 15x puzzle. Otherwise, lots of longer fill to like here, including GO LONG, NO BARS, and TOO NICE.
Cracking: VOLTRON
Slacking: I’m sorry, but OM NOM NOM is missing an N
Sidetracking: your INNIE enjoys musical dance experiences. Also, how has Tramell Tillman not won an Emmy yet?
Matthew Luter’s USA Today Crossword, “An Average Puzzle” — Emily’s write-up
Nothing ho-hum about this puzzle!
USA Today, March 27, 2025, “An Average Puzzle” by Matthew Luter
Theme: each themer begins with a mathematical synonym for “average”
Themers:
- 4d. [CLUE], MEANBUSINESS
- 17d. [CLUE], MEDIANSTRIP
- 23d. [CLUE], MODEMAGAZINE
Today’s themer set includes: MEANBUSINESS, MEDIANSTRIP, and MODEMAGAZINE. Since they were in the downs, they all had crossings when I reached them, which certainly helped. None were tricky but most are not common phrases for me so I was glad for the fair crossings to help fill them.
Favorite fill: ALLSET, OPENARMS, HIPPO, and RAITA
Stumpers: BEARD (why was this so tricky?), MOOR (“tied” came to mind first), and ALLSET (needed crossings)
Loved the grid design, the overall fill and the cluing. The puzzle had a smooth flow for me this morning, which is always a treat!
4.0 stars
~Emily
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1769 “LA Movies” — Eric’s review
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1769 “LA Movies” — 3/27/25
The puzzle title made me think that we’d be playing with titles of movies set in Los Angeles. Just off the top of my head, a few of my favorites: The Grifters, LA Confidential, The Big Lebowski, and Chinatown (my all-time favorite movie, period).
But no. Instead we’ve got nine LA rebuses scattered throughout the grid, with the Across answers all film titles:
- 17A [1942 Spencer Tracy/Hedy Lamarr film] TORTIL{LA} FLAT
- 28A [1972 vampire film starring William Marshall] B{LA}CU{LA}
- 31A [2022 Rian Johnson comedy] G{LA}SS ONION
- 46A [1950 Walt Disney movie] CINDEREL{LA}
- 49A [Film that was erroneously awarded the 2016 Best Picture Oscar] {LA}{LA}{LA}ND Clever to have worked that one into the grid. But to pick a nit with the clue, La La Land wasn’t awarded the Best Picture Oscar. The presenters, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, erroneously announced that La La Land had won. (The actual winner was Moonlight.)
- 61A [1999 Tim Allen/Sigourney Weaver sci-fi comedy] GA{LA}XY QUEST
I had intended to time this puzzle, but a few minutes in, I noticed the clock wasn’t running. It felt quick and smooth, though. It helped that I’ve seen at least three of these movies and was familiar with the other titles, even if none other than La La Land were gimmes. And I always enjoy a good rebus.
I’m trying to solve by connecting answers as much as I can, so after quickly getting 6A ACED, I immediately tried to fill in a few crosses. 6D wanted to be ATLAS and 8D wanted to be ÉCLAIRS, but neither fit. A few more answers made the rebus in ÉCLAIRS and its location obvious.
Nontheme stuff that caught my eye:
- 24A [“Last one in’s a rotten egg!”] RACE YOU I haven’t heard the clue phrase in about 50 years, and the U (which I already had) was not promising as a final letter. But then the YOU clicked.
- 45A [Chess piece] PAWN It hadn’t occurred to me until today that ROOK and KING are also four letters. I thought of both of those when I read the clue and didn’t think of PAWN until I had a letter or two.
- 11D [Classic car named after an antelope] CHEVY IMPA{LA} I didn’t know until today that General Motors dropped the Impala and brought it back twice.
- 12D [“___ bananas” (nuts)] COO-COO I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase “cuckoo bananas,” but there are lots of those phrases.
- 13D [Slalom slope] SKI RUN Ski season here in southern Colorado is over, which makes me sad. Fortunately, there are other outdoor things to do.
- 41D [Computer key] END I missed that clue while solving. When I saw the answer in the grid, I was ready to complain that my iMac’s keyboard doesn’t have such a key. Then I noticed that it does, though I’m not sure I’ve ever used it.
- 48D [Split personality?] EX-MATE I don’t remember seeing this before; I guess it’s a non-gendered, non-relationship-specific version of something like “ex-wife” or “ex-boyfriend.”
- 49D [French crystalmaker René] LALIQUE The goofy rendering in the clue of M. LALIQUE’s first name should actually be “René.”
Joe Rodini’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s theme summary
The final answer in Joe Rodini’s theme was a little dull, but it did explain the rest of the theme aptly: ODDNUMBERS. Each of four other pop songs include a synonym for outre: howBIZARRE, WEIRDscience, itsnotUNUSUAL (albeit negating), and STRANGEmagic.
Gareth
NYT: Liked the theme. Picked up on “it” pretty quickly. Was helpful with the solve.
Top 2/3 of the puzzle was pretty good. Then we got into CENAC and VOLTRON and MINI MAP and what I suppose is a quote from The Hobbit (read it 45 years ago – didn’t memorize it).
Then there’s OM NOM NOM – leading candidate for worst entry of this century (but we still have 75 years to go).
C’mon, OM NOM NOM is far from that. It’s a fun entry. The NYT has used it in a few articles too, at least as far back as 2007.
For the record, that was “om nom nom nom” which makes all the difference, IMHO. ;-)
NYT: i agree with Gary R. Very clever theme, but I had to look up a few answers. Both of my daughters watched Sesame Street back in the day, but had no clue (ouch) about the Cookie Monster “quote “. But a great aha moment, so thumbs up! (I watched “Siskel and Ebert” religiously, but not the updated version)
Where is the Cookie Monster in this puzzle? You and Greg both mention him, but I missed something there….? The only quote I see is from The Hobbit…
Click on the link shared by Evan B in his comment above. It’ll take you to a story that contains this sentence: “As for Cookie Monster, he can be seen in the old-school episodes in his former inglorious incarnation: a blue, googly-eyed cookievore with a signature gobble (“om nom nom nom”)”
Thanks… I didn’t know that’s what CM was supposedly sayingLOL!
I’m with Gary R. The bottom fill was way out of my league (or at least out of my experience). I’ll assume it’s a combo Shortz likes, of Internet slang and the Hobbit. But I don’t see an inconsistency like David L. does. IT here can be passed either forward or back, and the clues are explicit in each case.
OM NOM NOM was one of my favorite answers in this tough puzzle, and it was familiar though I have no idea why. I associate it with the cute noise some cats make while eating. I’m not particularly online and haven’t seen Sesame Street in 30 years.
Exceptionally clever theme, which must have been very tricky to construct.
Cookie Monster was a familiar Muppet in our household when the kids were growing up, but “om nom nom“ was totally foreign to me. Live and learn.
Yeah. Maybe if they had a ‘Today’s Sound’ feature and spelled out OM NOM NOM it would have played better. It was gettable from the crosses, in all fairness.
I watched The Daily Show just long enough to know Wyatt CENAC. Funny guy!
Fun puzzle!
In the online version of the NYT puzzle, the clues for 19A and 42A were italicized and included ‘pass it back,’ but the clues for 29A and 53A had no such indication. Some sort of editing error? Made it harder to get the theme.
The general vibe of the puzzle was definitely not in my wheelhouse — I didn’t know VOLTRON, CENAC or MINIMAP, and there was an LOTR reference to boot. All gettable, though.
I think the hints were embedded in the clue for the entry that was losing “it.”
“Pass it forward.” “Pass it back.”
My point is that two of the clues for theme entries included ‘pass it back’ but the other two didn’t. Why the inconsistency?
It’s not inconsistent. 2 pass ON and 2 pass BACK. Those 4 are the italicized clues.
Oh, I get it. Finally. Duh.
FWIW, no italics at all in my PDF but it did have abnormally teensy-weensy clues, apparently due to the 14×16 format. Neither quirk affected my solve though. I enjoyed the puzzle and feel like it would have landed in the 3s rating-wise if not for that unfortunate (N)OM NOM NOM business.
Man, that Violent Femmes album just represents everything a three-piece Suburban Punk band should and could be. So good.
NYT was pretty good, except for the crossing of ROEPER and ETAPE. Didn’t know ROEPER, and my highschool French came up with a ‘G’ rather than a ‘P’.
Moi aussi!
I knew ETAPE, but not another crossing of ROEPER, VOLTRON, which also came with OM NOM NOM.
NYT: This was yet another perfect Thursday puzzle for me. It took almost half the solve to grok the theme, and then quite a while to get all the clues answered correctly, since many of them were hard for me to see at first.
Upon repeatedly coming back to the same clues, eventually the answers somehow dawned. Eventually.
As one who’s always solving as fast as I can, I tried to put aside my customary feelings of “Gosh, this is taking me a long time!’ (mostly successfully) when it was clear this was *not* going to be fast at all.
I guess I made a few lucky guesses because, to my surprise, they turned out to be what the puzzle expected when the last square was filled.
Finishing the puzzle left me with a very satisfied feeling, more than any recent puzzle.
Though I gotta agree that OM NOM NOM was awfully random and should be NOM NOM NOM to sound remotely familiar. (Maybe the puzzle should’ve violated symmetry to allow the black square before it to have an N.)
Nice one, Brad Lively!
NYT: I’m in agreement with the current ratings — 2.60; although I would rate it even lower, maybe 1.50. OM_NOM_NOM is ridiculous. Can’t parse 41D “Like a doormat, say”: TOO_NICE.
I suppose the idea is that someone who’s a doormat is a pushover, so too nice. But it sure eluded me, along with so much of the bottom.
Oh, I also had qualms about prints as not original. Ask photographers, Toulouse-Lautrec, or any number of Warhol scholars, collectors, and curators — although Warhol himself might have been delighted (sincerely or not, your call) to see his work dismissed as not original! However, I realize I’d be hypocritical to object seriously, since often I’ve defended clues by saying that, in crosswords, they don’t have to hold in every case.
But it suffices that this clue is accurate for *one* meaning of the word “print” — a reproduction of a drawing or painting.
I liked that both Wednesday and Thursday NYT puzzles were more Thursday-like.
I’m still losing sleep over OMNONNOM. A 20 year old blab from a children’s puppet should not make the lofty NYT. I would look the other away if it were a 3 letter answer but…
how is WMDS allowed in a crossword?? it’s already plural as WMD. as in Weapons of…
many different destructions
I understand, but that seems to be how we pluralize things very often. I regularly see the British Virgin Islands abbreviated as BVIs and some people always take exception
“We invaded Iraq to search for Saddam’s supposed WMD” just sounds wrong. It’s like we’re accusing him of hiding a land mine.
Note that the link to the winners on the ‘2025 ORCA’ page doesn’t work. Please fix, I’d like to try them out.