Adrian Johnson’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up
NY Times crossword solution, 4/25/25 – no. 0425
Tiring day, so I don’t think the puzzle was really “far end of the Friday spectrum” hard.
Fave fill: SOVIET BLOC, RAN LIKE MAD, INSIDE DOPE, HIDDEN STAIRCASE (anyone else been watching The Residence on Netflix? Enjoyable murder mystery set at the White House, and there’s a hidden staircase in there), HEAD SLAP, CAPLET (clued [You may find it hard to swallow]? nah, caplets are easy to swallow since they’re generally coated; it’s the big dusty pills that are hard to swallow), CARBO-LOADS, AYO EDEBIRI (just saw her on Netflix last night, on John Mulaney’s live show; hearing the pronunciation of her last name, uh-DEB-eree, helps with remembering the spelling), DEEP SIGH, GOOBER.
New to me: 26A. [Lean sirloin cut], TIP ROAST. Tried RIB ROAST because that’s a phrase I’ve heard. Don’t quiz me on beef cuts, I haven’t eaten beef in decades. Now, I did get LOMO saltado because I’ve seen it on menus at Peruvian restaurants in Chicago … never ate it.
Four stars from me. Good night!
Dylan Schiff’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 4/25/25 • Fri • Schiff • solution • 20250425
- 38aR [Score that sets the mood, and an apt description of 17-, 25-, 50-, and 62-Across?] INCIDENTAL MUSIC. That isn’t a comprehensive definition of INCIDENTAL MUSIC, but it works well enough. I’m not sure if it adequately describes the theme answers, each of which relies on three examples of a different way to interpret the name of a music genre.
- 17a. [Homeland, nation or state?] ALT-COUNTRY. Those three are alternative words meaning country.
- 25a. [Soapstone, shale, or mudstone?] SOFT ROCK. All of these composites would be on the low end of the Mohs scale.
- 50a. [Cheerwine, Maine Root, or Jones Soda] INDIE POP. Each is a soft drink, produced by independent companies.
- 62a. [Mercury, bismuth, or lead?] HEAVY METAL. “Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively high densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers.”
So, does the revealer adequately reference these four entries? I remain unconvinced. But I like the theme concept.
- 12d [“Tell me how to help”] WHAT CAN I DO.
- 26d [Temps] FILL-INS. I was caught thinking of atmospheric conditions.
- 41d [NL Central team] CINcinnati. meh.
- 51d [The Gem State] IDAHO. 52d [Gem from a mollusk] PEARL. Don’t be fooled, though—there are no pearls to be found in Rocky Mountain oysters.
- 5a [Luxuriate in the great outdoors] GLAMP. It’s a portmanteau.
- 27a [Without stopping] AT A CLIP. 48a [Without stopping] ON AND ON. Clue works much better for the latter entry.
- 55a [Media center?] DEE, the third of its five letters.
- 64a [Part of a foot] INCH. Had ARCH, thanks to a mistaken A from PIE PAN for 45d [Baking pan that inspired the Frisbee] PIE TIN—I completely glossed that it would have been a direct duplication from the clue.
Jake Halperin’s Universal crossword, “Buy a Vowel”—Jim’s review
Seems like this puzzle may have been inspired by some vowelless crosswords. Each theme answer is a three-letter initialisms (with only consonants) paired with a word or phrase that uses only those consonants plus one kind of vowel.
Universal crossword solution · “Buy a Vowel” · Jake Halperin · Fri., 4.25.25
- 17a. [*White House chef from 1933-’45?] FDR FEEDER.
- 29a. [*”You want a piece of my personal info already?”] “SSN SO SOON?”
- 47a. [*Channel that covers the biblical “Promised Land”?] CNN CANAAN.
- 64a. [Insecticide inventor’s cry?] “DDT! I DID IT!” (Hmm. No asterisk on this clue.)
My initial reaction was that I wanted the accompanying phrase to be colloquialisms, as in the second and fourth one, and that the entries seemed rather contrived. But when I realized each phrase only used one kind of vowel, then I had my real aha moment. That makes the theme so much tighter and impressive in my view. So while the entries still seem contrived, I can appreciate the reasoning behind it, and I’m happy to give the theme plenty of leeway.
Fill entries worth noting are a DOOR SLAM, Cookie MONSTER, MISS USA, BAD TASTE, and “COME NOW.”
Clues of note:
- 22d. [Introvert’s abrupt ending of communication, informally]. DOOR SLAM. Not sure why this needs the introvert. Would’ve worked just fine without it.
- 32d. [“___ out, dude!”]. FAR. Hmm. A 70s “Far out” and an 80s “dude!” These don’t typically go together in my experience. (YMMV.)
Maybe not everyone will like this puzzle, but I liked the tightness of the theme. 3.5 stars.
NYT: I liked this, which felt pitched just right for a Friday puzzle.
The only false note for me was CARBO LOADS, which nobody says anymore (if indeed they ever did). Maybe people used to say carbo, but like porno —> porn, now it’s always carb (adj.) or carbs (noun). Probably the usual linguistic trend of reducing the number of syllables in slang words when convenient.
I think it might be more euphonic.
The Urbana-Champaign marathon is tomorrow, and goes in front of our house… I’ve watched multiple street sweepers go by, so at first I thought it was going to be something about clearing roads… but nope :-)
ILLINI was a gimme :-)
In our house, we say CARBO LOAD all the time, referencing this from the Office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zQWubk8SDQ
NYT: Nice breezy Friday puzzle!
Although I watch ‘The Bear’, AYO’s name is hard to remember. Needed all crosses. Not sure why I had HIDDENBRIEFCASE at first, but that was correctable.
Last to fall was NW. The dup in clue/entry of RAN actually helped me get RANLIKEMAD much easier. I’ll take it.
NYT: 45A “You may find it hard to swallow.” It seems a strange clue since caplets were designed to be easier to swallow than tablets.
I agree. The clue might have been better phrased as a negative like, “This might not be that hard to swallow.”