David P. Williams’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Thursday to Friday”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are wackified versions of familiar phrases where the THs have been changed to Fs (hence the title).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Thursday to Friday” · David P. Williams · Wed., 4.23.25
- 16a. [Tip on the house?] FREE POINTER.
- 23a. [Serious buffoon?] SOLEMN OAF.
- 33a. [Brother with a record?] FELONIOUS MONK.
- 46a. [Hidden wire?] FINK PIECE.
- 54a. [Inexpensive flourishes?] CHEAP FRILLS.
Nice. Lively theme answers with sensible cluing (given the alterations). And the changeover from Thursday to Friday makes a reasonable basis for a theme. Works for me.
The 13-letter central answer bisects the right and left edges so we’re left with large corners but no very long Down entries. Nothing especially sparkly therein, but solid enough with the likes of FUMIGATE and INDIA INK. I do like EMINENCE crossing EMINEM. Perhaps we can get His Eminemce to pick the next pope.
Clues of note:
- 1a. [Quattro x due]. OTTO. Perhaps the first time I’ve had to do math in Italian.
- 59a. [Stone used in the medals for the 2008 Beijing Olympics]. JADE. Good clue that gives you a bit of trivia you might not have known while still being fairly easy to deduce. The medals are nice, too.
- 7d. [Dirt from a plant?]. INTEL. Another good clue with not one, but two bits of wordplay.
- 49d. [Board of inquiry?]. OUIJA. Also a good clue, but not a new one, per the Cruciverb database.
Good puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Brandon Koppy’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 4/23/24 – no. 0423
We go astronomical for the theme today. The revealer-ish is 61A. [Having ideas far too profound for anyone else to comprehend … and what might help you solve this puzzle?], GALAXY BRAIN. Not a phrase I’m familiar with. The other themers are the NEBULA AWARD in sci-fi, STARSTRUCK, “BLACK HOLE SUN” (fun fact: Two of the founding members of the Seattle grunge band Soundgarden are from Park Forest, IL, my hometown), and NOVA SCOTIA: nebula, star, sun, and nova are all astronomical things. It bugs me a little that the SUN is merely a STAR, kind of a repeat here.
I got slowed down in figuring out STARSTRUCK because I had NEW TO at 7d instead of NEW AT. I guess you might also say “I’m new at this,” but NEW AT just looks weird by itself. Like so many other ___ AT entries these days. Sigh.
Fave fill: GAY BAR, DIN-DIN, ASPARAGUS, “NOT AGAIN!”, SASHIMI.
Two more things:
- 3D. [Bassinet alternative], BABY CRIB. It’s … just called a crib. There aren’t really adult cribs.
- 1D. [Nincompoop], DINGUS. I tried DIMWIT first. On Lyz Lenz’s Substack newsletter, she writes about the Dingus of the Week.
3.5 stars from me.
Amanda Cook’s Universal crossword, “Heyyo!” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 4/23/25 • Wed • “Heyyo!” • Cook • solution • 20250423
- 23dR [“How’s it goin’” … or a hint to the starred clues’ answers] WHAT’S POPPIN’.
- 16a. [*Item traditionally smashed during a ship’s christening] CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE.
- 27d. [*Sweet and salty snack] KETTLE CORN.
- 29d. [*Some packing material] BUBBLE WRAP.
Those indeed are all things that get popped. The left-right mirror symmetry of the grid arguably looks like an explosion of some sort. It’s weird to me that the puzzle’s title references the revealer but not the meat of the theme.
- 45a [One of Snow White’s companions] DOPEY. I tried DWARF first, but see now that a better clue for that answer would be [Any of Snow White’s companions]
- Flanking the revealer are a pair of 11-letter entries, completing a triple vertical stack: 22d [Amend an agreed-upon arrangement] RENEGOTIATE, 24d [Like content created by ChatGPT] AI-GENERATED. Folks, reject AI usage and content whenever possible. It’s inferior, often contains outright false information, and is a big waste of environmental resources. see
- 43d [Slows down in a car] BRAKES. 54d [Civics and Accords] CARS.
- 61d [Sashimi-grade type of tuna] AHI. Paging Martin H …
Smooth grid and straightforward cluing.
David Karp’s AV Club Classic crossword, “The Big Break-Up”—Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword, “The Big Break-Up” – 4/23/25
The theme revealer is 69a. [Share good vibes, or a counterintuitive hint to this puzzle’s theme answers], SPREAD THE LOVE. The four themers contain the letters L-O-V-E, spreading out further and further with each next theme answer, and the hint is “counterintuitive” because the theme phrases are all clued with relationship break-ups where the love is hardly being spread.
Vocab quiz: 73a. [Pygophile’s passion, crudely], ASS. I haven’t seen pygophile before, but callipygian relates to buttocks so there you go. Sir Mix-A-Lot would approve.
Three things:
- 5a. [“Welcome to Zumba class, everyone”], HOLA. I kind of thought Zumba was of Brazilian origin, but it was devised by a Colombian dancer and aerobics instructor.
- WWE RAW crosses both EWW and AWW. (That’s a lot of double W’s.) I’m more in the EWW category here.
- 49d. [Amorous-sounding “Superbad” alias], MCLOVIN. It’s a fake name but clearly meant to evoke lovin’, so that crossing at SPREAD THE LOVE’s V is awkward. But still fun?
3.75 stars from me.
Sala Wanetick’s USA Today Crossword, “Jam-packed” — Emily’s write-up
This puzzle has got your covered!
USA Today, April 23, 2025, “Jam-packed” by Sala Wanetick
Theme: the last word of each theme can be prended
Themers:
- 20a. [What attics, basements or garages might provide], STORAGESPACE
- 37a. [“Creature” trying to make you laugh], TICKLEMONSTER
- 56a. [Bubble tea morsel], TAPIOCAPEARL
A mix of themers in this set today: STORAGESPACE, TICKLEMONSTER, and TAPIOCAPEARL. With the theme, we get SPACE JAM, MONSTER JAM, and PEARL JAM.
Favorite fill: ROTIS, SOOTHE, CLAMUP, and ENOKI
Stumpers: ACME (“apex” and “atop” came to mind first), RASCAL (needed some crossings), and NORM (also needed crossings)
A fun, though tougher solve for me today—but that just might be that I’m off today. Cluing especially in the south half of this puzzle took me a bit longer but the crossings were fair. The overall fill was great and I enjoyed the themer set. How did you all do?
3.5 stars
~Emily
Katherine Simonson’s LA Times crossword, – Gareth’s summary
LA Times 23 Apr
Katherine Simonson’s puzzle features a clever and well-executed early-week theme concept. The full-length revealer is FAILURETOLAUNCH, and each of four answers start with a synonym for one – LETDOWN, BUST, FLOP, DUD – a vibrant set. Most of those are either more or less than one discrete part in the original phrase, which adds surprise factor. I much prefer this kind of theme to hidden words smooshed between two answers.
- [Call to Rapunzel], LETDOWNYOURHAIR
- [Outmoded forms of payment for some commuters], BUSTOKENS
- [Like a Beagle, not a corgi], FLOPPYEARED
- [Western vacation destination], DUDERANCH
Gareth
NYT: Nothing particularly problematic, but not being familiar with GALAXY BRAIN or BLACK HOLE SUN took some of the fun out of it.
Amy, I was thinking it’s the BLACK HOLE that’s part of the theme, rather than the SUN (suppose it can be both).
Ah, I think you’re right on BLACK HOLE.
Galaxy Brain is a meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/galaxy-brain
It was a very fast Wednesday; half my average time, and 6 seconds off from my PR. Went pretty smoothly, though I did make the same NEW TO guess as Amy. I also had IV LINE instead of IV TUBE which slowed me a bit in the SW.
WSJ puzzle is brilliant.