Lynn Lempel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “With Child”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that have had the letters SON added to wacky effect. The revealer is “IT’S A BOY!” (39a, [Gender reveal for this puzzle]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “With Child” · Lynn Lempel · Wed., 4.30.25
- 17a. [Tribute to a monarch?] BUTTERFLY SONNET. There’s no shortage of poetry about butterflies. Here’s one.
- 23a. [Incriminating evidence in the stonecutter’s trial?] BLOODY MASONRY. We also would’ve accepted [Brit’s exclamation after stubbing their toe on a brick?]
- 51a. [Space Age cartoon character who’s joined the army?] PRIVATE JETSON. I like this one. I’m picturing a follow-on series with Elroy all grown up and enlisting.
- 60a. [Tutor’s ultimatum regarding higher pay?] “NO MORE, NO LESSONS!”
Would’ve been cool if this puzzle could’ve had a couple GIRLs, too, but it’s probably not possible to find a phrase to add those letters to without actually meaning “girl.” Anyway, solid theme, and the wacky theme answers all work for me.
HOT PLATES and ON LOOKOUT top the fill. CHICORY reminds of our time living along the Gulf (of Mexico) Coast and visiting Café du Monde in New Orleans…with their fresh beignets of course. Nothing much to complain about fill-wise, except maybe ugly-looking UGLIS.
Clue of note: 22a. [“Andor” star Luna]. DIEGO. Haven’t started the second season, so no spoilers, please. But can anyone report if it’s as good as the first season (which I quite enjoyed)?
3.5 stars.
Rich Katz’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Shall We Dance?”—Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 4/30/25 – “Shall We Dance?”
The dance theme’s revealer is “MAY I CUT IN?”, and the circled letter in each theme answer replaces an O with an I. Senior prom becomes SENIOR PRIM (uh, PRIM isn’t a noun). A sock hop becomes a totally SICK HOP on a pogo stick. The Met Gala goes nerdy as the M.I.T. GALA—ha! And a masked ball becomes a MASKED BILL, [Invoice with hidden charges?]. Cute. (Note: “cute” is not an insult, and if you think it is, you might be broken.)
Topical: 1d. [Source of political content (if you can still stomach that kind of thing)], CNN. A CNN contributor hugged DJT at the Michigan rally.
Fave fill: ON VACAY, NOT GREAT.
3.5 stars from me.
Adam Vincent’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 4/30/25 – no. 0430
This theme stinks! As in, it needs a shower. The revealer duo is 15A. [A reason to act this very instant … or why you might 6-Down 32-Down?], THE TIME IS RIPE, to CLEAN / ONE’S CLOCK, 6D. [With 32-Down, beat an opponent soundly]. This is a bit broken, as the “you” and “ONE’S” don’t work together. You might clean someone’s clock, or one might clean your clock, but you can’t well “clean one’s clock.” However! 34d HAND SOAP and 39d FACE WASH could be used to clean one’s clock, as a clock has hands and a face. So that’s neat. Not sure we all use the term FACE WASH, though (I use Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser).
Fave fill: CENSOR BAR (kinda looks like there are naughty bits being covered up in every American-style crossword grid), OLD FLAME, RESCUE DOG, TIP JAR.
Fave clue: 26A. [Chance to see the big game?], SAFARI.
3.5 stars from me.
Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal crossword, “The Sound of Music” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 4/30/25 • Wed • “The Sound of Music” • Krishnamurthy • solution • 20250430
- 64aR [Tangential remarks … or a hint to the starts and ends of the starred clues’ answers] SIDE NOTES.
- 17a. [*”Lucia di Lammermoor” composer] DONIZETTI.
- 25a. [*Gaseous could in which stars and planets form] SOLAR NEBULA. The adjective SOLAR seems redundant to me.
- 39a. [*Remote location, informally] MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
- 51a. [*Rock band with the 1990 album “Epic”] FAITH NO MORE.
There are seven notes in the solfège (I think), with the possibility that do is repeated for eight. There are four theme answers in the puzzle, making eight termini, and here for practical reasons re is the note that has a second appearance. Works.
- 3d [The whole __ (everything)] NINE YARDS. The idiom has its origins in a joke about tailoring.
- 4d [Plane’s rear] TAIL. 34d [Toward the stern] AFT.
- 10d [“Nah, forget it”] DON’T BOTHER. 24a [Thumbs-down vote] NAY. 21a [Thumb’s up vote] YEA.
- 29d [Interactive posts hosted by a certain web discussion site] REDDIT AMAS. The whole nine yards in the grid.
- 36d [Exchange of thoughts?] TELEPATHY. Sans speech, is the implication.
- 42d [Unintentionally listen to] OVERHEAR. Or “unintentionally”.
- 54d [Mexican corn] MAIZE. The word originates from Taíno.
- 63d [They may be checked at the door] IDS. Not, EGOS, haha.
- 35a [Playful marine mammal] OTTER. I feel as if it’s the river otter species that are stereotypically exhibiting their playfulness.
- 60a [Empty talk] HOT AIR. My one mis-fill, where I first had HOOPLA. 43a [Screw up] MISDO.
Pretty tidy crossword.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword, “Watch Out” — Emily’s write-up
Pay close attention…
USA Today, April 30, 2025, “Watch Out” by Zhouqin Burnikel
Theme: each themer is surrounded by WATCH, split in different parts
Themers:
- 18a. [Preparatory toss before the first inning], WARMUPPITCH
- 34a. [“Isn’t this too good to be true…?”], WHATSTHECATCH
- 55a. [Semiaquatic veggie often stir-fried with garlic], WATERSPINACH
A variety of themers in today’s set with: WARMUPPITCH, WHATSTHECATCH, and WATERSPINACH. I needed some crossings for each but everything was fairly crossed so it wasn’t difficult to get them.
Favorite fill: NOTRIGHTNOW, TRANSLATES, and COLDSNAPS
Stumpers: TINGE (“tint” came to mind first), HONDA (needed crossings today), and CLERICS (also needed crossings)
Overall a fun and breezy puzzle today, with lots of great bonus fill, especially the lengthy ones! Cluing was easier for me, so it was one of my quicker solves–always a treat mid-week.
4.0 stars
~Emily
Tim D’Alfonso’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s theme summary
30 Apr 25
The basic theme concept is a well-worn one, but given a boost by using the headline-grabbing BLUEZONES – places where there are unusual concentrations of people over 100. In any case four long answers start with entries that satisfy “___ BLUE”: NAVY, POWDER, STEEL, and ROYAL. So:
- [Sites for shipbuilding], NAVYYARDS
- [Spots for guests to freshen up], POWDERROOMS
- [Metropolitan area at the junction of three rivers, familiarly], STEELCITY
- [Home for a king and queen], ROYALPALACE
On reflection, their may be another wrinkle to the theme, as all four entries are locations – zones. It’s a subtle touch, but appreciated.
Gareth
NYT: I feel a but funny about the clue [Beat an opponent badly] for CLEAN ONE’S CLOCK.
Because the pronoun ONE’S seems off for “an opponent”. Instead, to clean *his* or *her* or *their* clock would seem right.
(E.g., to “wash one’s face” refers to washing one’s *own* face, not somebody else’s face.)
Yeah – that just seems a little off. I also thought it was a little odd that the clues for 34-D and 39-D were worded slightly differently (and somewhat clumsily – what’s with the “/” – are we dividing something?).
Kind of a cute theme idea, but it could have been executed more cleanly.
Agree, CLEANONESCLOCK makes no sense.
I know what a CENSORBAR is but didn’t know that’s what it’s called. And I didn’t get the pun in THETIMEISRIPE.
Do people actually call $10 bills TENNERS? When I was growing up in England, £10 notes were universally known as tenners, but I don’t know that I’ve heard the word in this country.
I’ve occasionally heard someone call a $5 bill a “fiver.” Have never heard TENNER in the real world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend_Me_a_Tenor
☺️
It seems like at some point the Secret Society of Crossword Editors decreed that gendered and collective possessive pronouns should be considered anathema. And rarely did a HER or HIS or THEIR ever see grid daylight; it was always ONE’S. I think it was an understandable decision, keeping entries neutral so that they’re easier to clue and avoid hard-to-handle specificity. Then, I guess sometime in the aughts, a revolution took place, and every day on every crossword blog there would appear at least one anti-ONE’S comment; the people rose up, and they won–and ONE’S-less grids became the norm rather than the exception.
Today’s situation is interesting. Not only is ONE’S enjoying some reprieve from its island of exile, but it is used objectively rather than subjectively and is just all kinds of awkward. But, I mean, if you were the editor of today’s NYT, would you be okay with CLEAN ONE’S CLOCK? Or would you ask the constructor to try and make THEIR work? or HIS or HER? And how would you clue one of those without duplicating the pronoun?
Might have gone with CLEAN YOUR CLOCK, and clue it as [A threat to an opponent – “I’m gonna ____.”] Has the same letter count as CLEAN ONE’S CLOCK, and works just fine with 34-D and 39-D. And, I’ve actually heard that phrase spoken a few times (in my misspent youth).
New Yorker: For me, the puzzle hit that sweet spot for Wednesday of being pretty easy, but with a slight resistance. That wasn’t really reflected in my time–I’m never that fast–but there were several things that didn’t come to me immediately, and I learned about chukkas and Chelseas.
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 3.5 stars
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