Monday, March 31, 2025

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Ryan Mathiason’s New York Times crossword—Sophia’s write-up

Theme: Each theme answer begins with a type of hairstyle, getting longer (“growing”) as the puzzle goes on.

New York Times, 03 31 2025, By Ryan Mathiason

• 16a [Bird that’s the U.S.’s national symbol] – BALD EAGLE
• 24a [Debbie Downer] – BUZZ KILL
• 47a [Basketball shot made while leaning backward] – FADE AWAY
• 58a [Like conga or mambo music] – AFRO-CUBAN
• 35a [“I’m starting to like this” … or a hint to the starts of 16-, 24-, 47- and 58-Across, in order] – IT’S GROWING ON ME

I always like when a crossword theme has extra layers to it, but that doesn’t always happen on “straightforward” Monday. Not today! I love how the hair in the puzzle gets longer and longer, a perfect tie-in to the revealer of IT’S GROWING ON ME. I also really liked how fun each of the theme answers felt – BUZZ KILL, FADE AWAY, and AFRO-CUBAN are all standout material to me.

The puzzle is a little undersized from standard (14×15) in order to accommodate the 14-letter revealer. I was faster than my average time because of this, and I’m curious if other folks will be too! Even with the five theme answers, the grid didn’t feel cramped. I think that the longer answers in the NE and SW corners of the puzzle really helped keep things open. STAR ANISE and EMOTICONS are great bonuses, and I loved the clue of [Kids in the 90s?] for A STUDENTS – tricky wordplay for a Monday! I also liked FANFIC as fill. Two notable clues to close: the also-tricky [Producers of six-packs] for SIT-UPS and the apt-for-baseball-opening-weekend [“Casey at the Bat,” for one] for POEM.

Congrats to Ryan on a great NYT debut!

Lynn Lempel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Final Score”—Jim’s review

It’s nice to be greeted by a Lempel byline when pulling up the Monday grid. This one is true to form with an accessible, straightforward, yet not boring or trite theme. Theme answers are familiar phrases whose final words can also be terms for point-earning scores in certain sports. The title serves as revealer leaving room for five full theme answers.

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Final Score” · Lynn Lempel · Mon., 3.31.25

• 18a. [Tenants’ protest] RENT STRIKE. Bowling (not baseball).
• 24a. [Objective for the distant future] LONG TERM GOAL. Soccer.
• 39a. [Civil War battle site also called Manassas] BULL RUN. Baseball.
• 51a. [Function of police and fire departments] PUBLIC SAFETY. Football. Not the main way points are earned in the sport and not even a common way at that. But it’s legit.
• 61a. [Nicely packaged food sampler] GIFT BASKET. Basketball.

Lovely theme wonderfully executed.

I’m digging KARATE CHOP in the fill. I don’t know if that’s the true and accurate term for the move or if it’s just something us non-karate people say, but it’s a fun entry nonetheless.  HIPSTER and ATTENDANCE are nice as well.

Clue of note: 33a. [Whopper lover?]. LIAR. Aww, this clue made me think of my dad who passed away last year. Late in life he developed an enjoyment of Burger King. It wasn’t a lifelong thing and none of us knew where it came from. But going to BK became a treat and it was a way for us to get some calories in him, especially when he became very picky about every single thing he ate.

Anyway, very nice Monday grid. Four stars.

Jay Silverman’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 3/31/25 by Jay Silverman

The grid pattern of this puzzle felt unusual, with lots of 3s and 6s in the corners instead of the more usual 4s and 5s. The theme was modern and interesting too. The revealer at 57A [“Only window shopping,” and what one might say when using the starts of 20-, 31-, and 46-Across] is JUST BROWSING, because each theme entry’s first word is the name of a web BROWSER:

• 20A [“I’d like something that won’t rust, something … “] is CHROME-PLATED. Google’s CHROME is the most popular Web browser worldwide.
• 31A [“I’d like a lawn mower and maybe some … “] is EDGE TOOLS. Side note: I recently got my first PC in like 15 years, and I use Microsoft’s EDGE when I’m on it but I think I’m going to have to quit being lazy and get Chrome instead. EDGE defaults to Bing as a search engine, and Bing is…not my favorite.
• 46A [“I’d like sun protection in the Serengeti, such as a … “] is SAFARI HAT. Apple’s SAFARI looks like it’s in second place to CHROME for market share.

The only place I ever want to see COMIC SANS is as an entry in a crossword.

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solution, 3/31/25 – Agard

It’s always fun to solve a puzzle faster than you expected, but I was actually a little bit disappointed that Erik’s clues didn’t work me over more. It’s still a good puzzle, though!

Fave fill: “I MEAN, COME ON,” TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE, MIX AND MATCH, “DON’T JINX IT,” KOOL-AID MAN, HOME TEAM, ALPHA WAVES, and the new-to-me fan army SELENATORS.

Also new to me: 35a. [R. & B. singer Isley], ALEX. She hasn’t hit it big commercially yet, but here’s her sultry song “Hands.”

Never heard of this but it amused me: 39a. [___ Code (opera podcast with a punny title)], ARIA.

Four stars from me. Hope to see more tricksy clues next time, Erik!

Sam Cordes’ Universal crossword, “Droppin’ Gs” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 3/31/25 • Mon • “Droppin’ Gs” • Cordes • solution • 20250331

Vertical theme answers, by necessity. In each of the relavant two-word answers, the G at the end of the first drops down to the end of the second.

• 3d. [*Reminder to visit an alley?] BOWLIN’ PING (bowling pin). Struggled a little to work this out, as it was the first themer I encountered. After that I knew what to expect from the others.
• 24d. [*Flex in the gym?] TRAININ’ BRAG (training bra).
• 8d. [*Desire to barbecue?] ROASTIN’ PANG (roasting pan).
• 31d. [*Attractive lock of hair?] SMOKIN’ BANG (smoking ban).

Entertaining.

• 15a [“Doctor Odyssey” actress Phillipa] SOO. I’m getting better at remember her name.
• 23a [Foot part] INSTEP, 25a [Foot part] TOE.
• 28a [Japanese energy healing] REIKI. Practitioners claim it works ‘whether or not you believe in it’.
• 56a [Microbrewery product] CRAFT BEER. Symmetrical to 21a [ __ scenario] WORST CASE, which amuses me somewhat.
• 4d [Horses’ paces] GAITS. Had TROTS first, but 4a [Word after “knowledge” or “gender”] GAP quickly corrected that.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1770 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword # 1770 — 3/31/25

This was stickier than recent BEQ themeless puzzles. I filled in the west side of the grid fairly quickly, but hit a few slowdowns on the east.

There are quadruple stacks of nine-letter words in the NW and SE corners, which I’m sure were tough to work with. But too few of the answers there sparkled:

• 1A [It travels among the stars] SPACESHIP Pretty straightforward.
• 15A [Statutes] LEGAL CODE I worked for the Texas legislature drafting bills and other legislation for almost 30 years. During the interims between biennial legislative sessions, we’d revise old statutes and add them to a well-organized system of codes. LEGAL CODE doesn’t really bother me, but it’s not a term we used.
• 17A [Elsa’s kingdom] ARENDELLE From the 2013 Disney movie Frozen (but you knew that), which I’ve never seen except in crosswords, where it’s been the source of so many frequently-seen answers for so long that I assumed it was from the 1990s.
• 19A [Dispensary employee who can recommend a blend] BUDTENDER I’d come across this word in some previous puzzle, but didn’t remember it and tried BUDMASTER first. At least this answer doesn’t feel like something that’s 40 years old.
• 46A [Some sleepwear] PJ BOTTOMS Also straightforward but kinda fun, though the clue is vague enough that probably many things would have worked.
• 52A [Showed up briefly on screen, say] HAD A CAMEO Easy enough to get, but it strikes me as green-painty.
• 54A [Pupils] EDUCATEES I don’t like to complain about yucky words in grids because I know how sometimes, one yucky word is the only thing holding a grid together. But man, that’s a yucky word. It’s not even in the Scrabble dictionary I use, and that allows all sorts of junk. It is in the regular Merriam-Webster dictionary, but that has no word history and no recent usages.
• 56A [1989 Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award winner] Oscar DE LA RENTA I have almost zero interest in fashion, so I’d never heard of this award, and there are lots of designers out there. But a few critical letters helped me to see the answer.

The grid provides for two each of ten-letter, nine-letter and eight-letter Down answers, but again, these longer answers aren’t all that exciting:

• 4D [“I’m really busy now”] CAN’T TALK This one looks pretty good by comparison to the others.
• 9D [Source of pressure] PEER GROUP
• 12D [Hotel booking] DOUBLE ROOM
• 26D [Temperance and Justice, e.g.] TAROT CARDS I had long assumed that all tarot cards depicted individuals like The Fool or The Hermit, but learned from crosswords that some cards depict qualities.

• 31D [Came out on top] TRIUMPHED
• 35A [Like the Ark-La-Tex region] TRI-STATE When I lived in Austin, I drove through northeast Texas and Arkansas many times. I was expecting a less generic answer, maybe something about the many pine trees that characterize the landscape.

A few other things:

• 16A [Implements also called “sporks”] FOONS I’d never heard that word before and I think I prefer “spork.”
• 30A [Country with the highest number of World Heritage Sites (60)] ITALY A fact I hadn’t known, but one that’s not at all surprising.
• 41A [Getting off position?] CLIMAX It’s always fun to see a clue and answer pair that you wouldn’t see in a puzzle in a mainstream publication.
• 24D [Serving with hummus] PITAS I’m not sure I’ve seen PITA pluralized with an S.
• 43D [Singer whose 1988 debut album was called “Forever Your Girl”] Paula ABDUL I had no idea here, but a few letters — probably the B from PJ BOTTOMS — helped me fill in a familiar name.