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Puzzle pack alert! Ada Nicolle and Sara Cantor are editing a fundraising puzzle pack called “a trans person made your puzzle,” due to release in time for Pride (June). The constructing, editing, test-solving, etc., is all by Ada, Sara, and their trans and nonbinary collaborators. If you’re trans or NB and interested in making a crossword to contribute, they’re still accepting puzzles—see the specs here. In order to receive the puzzle pack in a few months, donate at least $10 to a U.S.-based organization that serves trans people and send your receipt to the puzzle team. I’m excited about this project!—Amy
Robbie Cottom’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Spots of Light”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar(ish) phrases that feature the letters SUN in that order, but not necessarily contiguously. The revealer is SOAK UP THE SUN (51a, [2002 summer anthem from Sheryl Crow, and what the answers with circles do, in two ways]). In addition to featuring those letters, each answer is something that can be said to absorb light or heat from the sun.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Spots of Light” · Robbie Cottom · Wed., 4.2.25
- 19a. [Heating unit with light concentrated by a concave mirror] SOLAR FURNACE. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of such a device, but it’s a legit thing. The Wikipedia article says there’s one in France that can reach 6,330° F.
- 25a. [Low-maintenance houseplants that can thrive with no shade] SUCCULENTS.
- 37a. [Americans who endure the least rainfall] SOUTHWESTERNERS.
- 45a. [Investment that can keep your house cool] INSULATION.
Nice. At first, while I gladly started filling in the SUN letters after the second entry, I felt I was going to be disappointed that that’s all there was to the theme. So the revealer cluing us in to its double meaning provided a welcome aha moment. I also like how each clue subtly hints at the presence of sunlight or heat. Nice job.
Somewhat of an unusual grid since the revealer is 12 letters long forcing the theme answers into the middle. It’s curious that we have Across stacks of 8 in the NW/SE even though the theme entry layout doesn’t necessarily force that to happen. While the NW stack is somewhat mundane, the SE is nice with USERNAME, STAGE MOM, and HOME RUNS. Elsewhere TENNYSON and TEST KITS liven up the other corners.
I will say that ECOUTE [Listen, in Lyon] is some pretty rough fill for those of us not up on our French. But then to cross that with a proper name (ESTES [Bass-baritone opera singer Simon]) is almost unkind. I’m guessing these entries probably elicited some non-zero AMTS of UGHS. However, the T seemed the most likely letter to go there and thankfully it was correct.
Clue of note: 8d. [Altair or Antares]. STAR. This could’ve been clued in so many ways, but I like the theme-adjacent choice here.
Nice puzzle. Maybe some roughness in the fill, but overall a good outing. 3.5 stars.
Jill Singer’s AV Club Classic crossword, “One More Time”↔Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 4/2/25 – “One More Time”
This 16×16 puzzle has a rebus with rhyming reduplications in one direction and Schrödinger squares in the other.
- 1a. [Jargon, from the Mandinka], MUMBO JUMBO. The crossing is [Sends away, in a way], which can be MAILS or JAILS.
- 9a is [Snooty], HOITY-TOITY, with 9d [What mischievous poltergeists do], HAUNT or TAUNT.
- 15a [Pill bug] is a ROLY-POLY. The crossing is [What someone working at the NHS might make], a doctor’s ROUNDS or the British currency of POUNDS. Great clue!
- 38a [Early twentieth-century blues style in which Hazel Scott was a star], BOOGIE-WOOGIE. Crossed by [What you might expect at the end of a line], a long WAIT or a fisher’s BAIT.
- 63a. [Affectionate to the point of cloying], LOVEY-DOVEY, and [Place for a boat], LOCK or DOCK.
- 71a. [Really incredibly great], SUPER-DUPER, and [___ Marino], football’s DAN or the microstate SAN Marino.
I love this theme! We get the double surprise of this and this together to make an Across, and either this or that to make the Down. The theme is a 4.5-star gem.
Looking past the theme, there are an awful lot of proper nouns and some crosswordese like OSIER. On the name front, SALOMON, LELAND, and ERNST cross OLEG and MARIAN, an orgy of names there. ROBB crossing RAE, OBIE, and CUBER poses some challenges, too.
Fave fill: EYE ROLLS, DRY SPELLS.
Combined rating taking the fill into account 3.5 stars.
Daniel Bodily’s New York Times crossword∼Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 4/2/25 – no. 0402
I didn’t have a clue what the theme was until after I finished the puzzle and took a good look at the revealers:
1D. [With 44-Down, go out with a bang … or a hint to 16-, 21-, 29-, 34-, 46- and 54-Across], oof, that’s the sort of clue that screams “You know what, just work the crossings and fill things in without paying attention to this revealer. (It might also say “Start here! It explains the theme.”) FINISH goes with 44d STRONG.
The six themers end in synonyms(ish) for “strong: WINDOW TRIM, SEPIA-TONED, CARJACKED, BUDGET CUT, PERFECT FIT, SPORTS BUFF. Those are some lovely theme entries, fill-wise, except for SEPIA-TONED.
Fave fill: RACCOON, WARLOCK, BUFFOON.
Higher-end vocab: 11D. [Transferred at death], DEMISED. It also means deceased, in its more familiar meaning.
Not keen on USED POT, feels green-painty as verb phrases go.
Four stars from me.
Caitlin Reid’s New Yorker puzzle – Kyle’s write-up
The New Yorker solution grid – Caitlin Reid – Wednesday 04/02/2025
Caitlin Reid has the easy New Yorker themeless slot this week, with a couple nice 13’s providing a frame for the rest of the grid: UNDER THE RADAR and TRIAL AND ERROR, and double stacks of LEX LUTHOR/SILENT ERA and SOAP OPERAS/ALTER EGOS. No qualms about anything, and a very speedy solve to boot. Thanks Caitlin!
Jake Halperin’s Universal crossword, “Class Action” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 4/2/25 • Wed • “Class Action” • Halperin • solution • 20250402
Vertical theme today, by necessity. Aren’t all vertical themes by necessity, it seems?
- 8dR [Aspiring VIP … or any of the critters hidden in the starred clues answers] SOCIAL CLIMBERS. The names of social insects are to be discovered backwards—that is, upwards—in the relevant entries.
- 17d. [*Taken by surprise, in a way] CAUGHT NAPPING (ant).
- 29d. [*Not get hung up on] SEE BEYOND (bee).
- 14d. [*Sneaks off] SLIPS AWAY (wasp).
In each case, the insect spans the two words—a minor thing, but still a sophisticated touch.
- 1a [“NCIS: Origins” channel] CBS. I have finally internalized that the CSI franchise is (was?) on CBS, so it’s handy that the NCIS one is there too.
- 26a [Where planes are kept] HANGARS. 68a [Whence buses are dispatched] DEPOT.
- 32a [“Please tell me you saved”] UH-OH. Heart-in-stomach, gulp. Automatic computer backups can be lifesavers.
- 47a [Plant that’s da balm?] ALOE. >groan<
- 49a [“Certainly, Sergeant”] YES MA’AM. heh.
- 64a [Start removing, as an apron] UNTIE. Evocative.
- 10d [House by a hedge maze, perhaps] MANOR. 39a [Maze or Waze path] ROUTE. 11d [Way in] ENTRY.
- 28d [Any word ending with “ism”] NOUN. It’s true! At least for English; don’t know enough about all the other languages to say more.
- 45d [Start of a countdown] TEN, 48d [End of a countdown] ONE.
- 59d [Weightlifter’s grip aid] TAPE, not TALC.
- 63d [Key words?] TYPE. Probably the trickiest clue in the crossword (and it isn’t too tricky).
Overall I liked it, but feel the title is rather weak. Minor complaint only.
Matthew Stock’s USA Today Crossword, “Taste the Nation” — Emily’s write-up
Cheers!
USA Today, April 02, 2025, “Taste the Nation” by Matthew Stock
Theme: each themer is a name of a place in the U.S. that starts with a food or drink
Themers:
- 20a. [Colorful region in the L.A. and Orlando areas], ORANGECOUNTY
- 35a. [Historic New Orleans thoroughfare], BOURBONSTREET
- 51a. [Arizona stagecoach stop near the Superstition Mountains], TORTILLAFLAT
What a fun themer set with ORANGECOUNTY, BOURBONSTREET, and TORTILLAFLAT. The first two are familar to me but the third is less so and I needed crossings for it.
Favorite fill: SANDART, DIVAN, OVERTIME, and BLIP
Stumpers: BAHAI (new to me), STATUS (needed crossings), and TANS (“bask” and “bathe” came to mind first)
Loved this puzzle—great grid design and super fast flow for me today for a smooth solve. Lots of wonderful, fresh fill with delightful length bonus fill too. How’d you all do today?
4.5 stars
~Emily
Stella Zawitowski’s LA Times puzzle – Gareth’s theme summary
The best part about the theme in this puzzle by Stella Zawitowski is the revealing entry: LETSUNPACKTHAT. It’s a list theme with three common things that are unpacked: a SUITCASE, a BOX, and a BAG, but that last phrase really does sell the puzzle! I wasn’t overly familiar with any of the three them entries themselves, I know BAGOFBONES is a King novel, but have not read it; I know there is something called a BOXDEFENSE, but beyond it being a gridiron thing, I don’t know anything else about it; the first entry, SUITCASELUNGES, I’ve never heard of at all, but if anyone was going to throw exercise jargon at us, It’d be Stella “Superfit” Zawitowski…
Gareth
The Times was fun and the clueing and theme clever.
I finished only slightly slower than my average Wednesday time, but it felt pitched at more like a Thursday (or even Friday) level.
NYT: It was an interesting experience. It felt hard when I started solving, then it would flow for a while and then I’d get stuck again, although in the end my time was only a tad high for a Wednesday.
I really liked the theme entries and found it entertaining that they’re about body fitness given the constructor’s name. My main nit is that TRIM, while meaning lean and fit, doesn’t automatically conjure strength. For example you can be a trim, petite and delicate person. So, getting that did not give me an inkling of the theme (and I had done what Amy suggested as an option and ignored the original hint).
Big points for finding theme entries where the meaning of the last word was quite different from body fitness. I love that about the English language, and it’s great to see it highlighted.
I don’t understand (disagree with) an editor’s preference for wording a Reveal Clue as “… 16-, 21-, 29-, 34-, 46- and 54-Across” over “… the six longest Across answers,” especially post-Monday. That would be so much less clunky. It’s different when your themers are only one or two letters longer than other Acrosses and are harder to distinguish, but, here, I just think identifying the specific themers, listing them, comes off as pandering and inelegant.
Sometimes, of course, you also see the theme clues starred, italicized, or otherwise marked explicitly. While the day of the week’s expected choices surely play a role in just how much help you get, it sure seems that part of the choice, as here between (say) stars and reference by number in the revealer, is pretty arbitrary. Maybe Shortz wants to give the constructor the feelings of being in control?
I enjoyed finding the theme entries. I did wonder if those who hate repetition would point to BUFF and BUFFOON. USED POT is a real phrase to me, not that I do. PAN IN didn’t feel right.
“Those are some lovely theme entries, fill-wise, except for SEPIA-TONED.”
Not sure what the problem with SEPIA TONED is. For me, BUDGET CUT, in the singular, was a lot more awkward.
Anybody else find PAN IN a weird one? Is that “in the language”?
Probably not a part of everyday vocabulary for most of us, but I think “pan in” and “pan out” are pretty well-understood movie making terms.
Except that’s incorrect. Panning is rotational movement of the camera. One ZOOMS in or out. Oh and the clue for 24a is [Pans’ partner] but Will Shortz doesn’t care about care about [sic] duplications.
From my Radio-TV-Film undergrad studies, I know that one can also “dolly in” or “dolly out,” physically moving the camera closer to or further from the subject. The effect is different than zooming.
It rankled a bit to put in PAN IN. No one who knows what they are talking about would use that.
I thought the same… the answer is clued incorrectly.
Oops – good point!
Pan in is incorrect usage that happens to be in the language. Whachagonnado?
Sometimes things don’t pan out the way we’d like them to.
[Groan] :-)
I’d have been happier if the clue had indicated that PAN IN is used only loosely.
I’m not really put out by this, but it did irk me a little.
Super-smooth New Yorker themeless from Caitlin this week. I had a typo to hunt down and still managed to finish in 2:41, faster than usual for a Wednesday TNY puzzle. It takes effort to write easy clues and to avoid troublesome crossings that slow solvers down–don’t think that an easy puzzle is easy to make!
I’m a reasonably adept touch-typist (though I’m sure I’ve slowed down some in my dotage). I printed out a copy of the solution to yesterday’s NYT and then typed it into a blank grid in AcrossLite. I wasn’t trying to type as fast as I possibly could, but I wasn’t dawdling, either. It took me 1:30.
2:41 on any puzzle, while actually looking at the clues, is just amazing!
What’s funny is that the top contenders in the Boswords Spring Themeless League can finish *difficult* themeless puzzles in 3 minutes or less. My finish times for the first four puzzles were 10+, 9+, 6+ and 7+ minutes, while Will Nediger was under 3 minutes on three of the puzzles!
TNY still leaps all too easily between gimmes and names I’ll never know. Monday was of course the latter and today the former, with an uneasy mix on Tuesday, which to me isn’t the way to get a moderate challenge. But I have to say all were well constructed even without a theme. Today as Amy says was particularly smooth.
I do hope, though, that we’re not imposing on Kyle a most unwelcome burden. I’m feeling guilty already! If I’m not mistaken, this is the fourth week that he hasn’t so far contributed a review — in the past weeks, not even on a later day. And then in still earlier weeks he generally didn’t get to it during the work day. I don’t want to call it our loss as solvers in need of assistance. Let’s just be sure he wants to do this.
I see a crisp review from Kyle in today’s post. Refresh your page if you don’t see it.
Glad he felt up to it. I see it now without need for a refresh/reload.
I know I’m being a nuisance, but in case it’s helpful I wanted to add that this was never related to a need to force a refresh. I see new (and very fine) contributions here all the time over the course of a day. Take it for what it’s worth.