AV Club 4:38 (Amy) 
[3.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
LAT 5:38 (Gareth) rate it
NYT 4:23 (Amy) [3.65 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Kyle) 
[4.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) rate it
USA Today 9:34 (Emily) rate it
WSJ 5:11 (Jim) [3.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Kathy Lowden’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Yum Yum!”—Jim’s review
Another fun theme with a great grid-spanning revealer. Theme answers are reduplicative food items, and the revealer is MAKE MINE A DOUBLE (37a, [What someone ordering any of the starred answers might say]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Yum Yum!” · Kathy Lowden · Wed., 5.7.25
- 17a. [*Hawaiian food fish] MAHI-MAHI.
- 25a. [*Indonesian salad with peanut dressing] GADO-GADO. Brand new to me. Needed every crossing since the theme wasn’t apparent yet.
- 47a. [*North African grain dish] COUSCOUS.
- 60a. [*American pickled relish] CHOW-CHOW. Also new to me. Apparently it’s a southern thing?
Enjoyable theme despite my not knowing two of the entries. Also, it would’ve been nice if there was a longer answer or two, but that’s a nit. Are there other such food items you can think of? I know the Hawaiian dish lau lau (pork & fish wrapped in leaves), and on Guam we have the dessert item buchi buchi (“boo-chee boo-chee”) which is essentially a pumpkin turnover evolved from the Filipino sesame balls called “buchi”.
In the fill BLOODIED and INSOLENT make for an interesting pairing. The rest of the fill is solid enough, though OTIOSE cost me some time, and the NE corner with LONG TO, AGITA, and A TAT is a bit rough.
Clues of note:
- 63a. [“Kitchy-kitchy-___”]. KOO. More reduplication. But I’ve always heard this as “Koochie-koochie” (rhymes with “buchi buchi”). Just ask Charo.
- 34d. [Lift type]. T-BAR. The B had me going with UBER. Anyone else?
Good puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Tom McCoy’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY TImes crossword solution, 5/7/25 – no. 0507
Remove the H from the end of familiar phrases to get a new phrase that can be clued whimsically, but then stick with the familiar phrase after all: that is the game here. Why? Because the city of PITTSBURGH apparently dropped the H in 1891, only to reclaim it in 1911. (Who knew? Not I.) Here are the themers:
- 16A. [
Nonviolent protest/A farewell to artist Chagall?/ Nonviolent protest], PEACE MARCH. The middle clue would be “Peace, Marc!” - 30A. [
Endure/Display some humorous posters?/ Endure], PUT UP WITH. Put some wit up on the wall. - 37A. [
Notre Dame team/Asset in a staring contest?/ Notre Dame team], FIGHTING IRISH. A fighting iris? I guess, but a fighting eyelid would be a stronger asset. - 44A. [
Figure it out/“Let’s see that dance move where you lie flat by a door!”?/ Figure it out], DO THE MATH. I’m going to assume that there isn’t actually a “do the mat” dance move.
This theme’s a bit bonkers and I enjoyed that.
Fave fill: PARKOUR, CRAYONS, MUPPET, INTREPID, TOP-NOTCH. Less keen on plural ENMITIES and the smattering of verb + 2-letter word entries: KEEP IN, TURNS TO, LONG TO. GEAR UP feels more idiomatically a “thing.”
Regarding Pittsburgh: I’ve been watching (and enjoying) The Pitt on (HBO) Max. Each episode covers an hour in a Pittsburgh ER, with the next episode taking place the next hour. Noah Wyle is terrific, as is the rest of the cast and the writing. Also! I learned a little about Black Pittsburgh’s role in developing the country’s first paramedic squad. It’s a fascinating story and I appreciate that the show introduced it to a wider audience.
Four stars from me.
Joe Marquez’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Magic Moments”—Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic Crossword solution, 5/7/25 – “Magical Moments”
Keep your eye on the circled letters to see the trick here. We have ROGER (in “ROGER THAT“) extending from the top of BERET, BUGS (in A BUG’S LIFE) popping up from a STETSON, and PETER (in SALTPETER) hopping out of a FEDORA. Roger Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, and Peter Rabbit are all fictional leporids, and the magician is pulling them out of three (non-top hat) hats. The revealer is HAT TRICKS, [Scoring feats … or, interpreted differently, gimmicks represented three times in this puzzle].
I liked that the hats were all clued by famous people (real or fictional) known for wearing them.
Today I learned: 34a. [“Chhaava” articles] are SARIS. What is “Chhaava,” I wondered. It’s an Indian war epic available on Netflix. 33% rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes. Supposed to be jam-packed with violence … and it’s said to have spurred real-life anti-Muslim sentiment. With the current hostilities in Kashmir … oof. Wishing safety to any readers in India and Pakistan.
Four stars from me for the puzzle.
Adrian Johnson’s Universal crossword, “Eye of the Beholder” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 5/7/25 • Wed • “Eye of the Beholder” • Johnson • solution • 20250507
The rundown: left-right symmetry for the grid, accommodating the theme material, which comprises two 8-letter entries, a 10-letter entry, and a 13-letter revealer.
- 55aR [Cosmetics company with an iconic teardrop-shaped sponge … and a hint to the starred clues’ answers?] BEAUTY BLENDER. The theme entries contain contiguous jumbles of the letters B-E-A-U-T-Y.
- 3d. [*Radiation source for an airport luggage scanner] X-RAY TUBE.
- 6d. [*(Holds arms apart) “close to this size”] ABOUT YEA BIG. Fantastic find, and my guess for the seed entry.
- 9d. [*Amazing bargain] GREAT BUY. Pretty spiffy, finding an additional two phrases with these letters in a row, and with only two extra.
- 1a [Cardboard container a car might sit in] BOX. Even big cats exhibit this behavior. And house cats at least will also occupy a shape such as a rectangle or circle delineated on the floor with tape.
- 16a [Out of juice, say] DEAD. For some reason I put in DIED first.
- 17a [In unison] AS ONE. 27a [Ev’ryone ’round here] ALL Y’ALL; these don’t feel of the same dialect to me.
- 31a [The Last __ Xprerince (“Hot Ones” sauce)] DAB. New to me, but at least I’ve heard of the show/YouTube series/whatever.
- 60a [Got along] FARED. The F, crossed by 53d [British texter’s “Goodbye!”] TTFN ta-ta for now, was my last square filled.
- 37d [Action film?] ADULT DVD. Hmm.
- 41d [ __ Meninas” (Velasquez painting)] LAS. You probably know it, even if you don’t recognize the title.
- 46d [Shower component?] METEOR. I feel this one could have done without the question mark.
Stella Zawistowski’s USA Today Crossword, “2BRs” — Emily’s write-up
Got a spare room?
USA Today, May 07, 2025, “2BRs” by Stella Zawistowski
Theme: each themer contains B—B—
Themers:
- 18a. [Author of “Daring Greatly”], BRENEBROWN
- 27a. [Preppy clothing chain], BROOKSBROTHERS
- 46a. [Iconic structure across NYC’s Easy River], BROOKLYNBRIDGE
- 62a. [Share a meal], BREAKBREAD
A variety of themers in today’s set with BRENEBROWN, BROOKSBROTHERS, BROOKLYNBRIDGE, and BREAKBREAD. At first, I thought the theme would contain B—R— though since the title “br” stands for “bedroom”, it makes sense that it’s two “b”s instead.
Favorite fill: FROTH, ALE, TEA, and BREW
Stumpers: WINE (couldn’t get passed “mac”), TVAD (needed crossings since I only consider them “ads”), and DEPOT (needed a couple of crossings)
Love the grid, fresh fill, and lengthy bonus fill! Cluing was a bit challenging but not too difficult, with fair crossings.
4.5 stars
~Emily
Parikshit S. Bhat’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s theme summary
Parikshit S. Bhat gives us another variant of a common mid-week trope. The revealing answer is TROUBLEDWATERS, and troubled is an anagram indicator of sorts. With circles to guide, the middles of three other answers can be unscrambled to make RIVER, LAKE and OCEAN. So:
- [Equanimity between nations], BALANCEOFPOWER
- [Technical support team headache], COMPUTERVIRUS
- [“Get Out” and “Nope” star], DANIELKALUUYA
Gareth
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Adding my rating for starland.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
NYT: Must be Rube Goldberg themes week.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT: Amy summed up my feelings about this puzzle perfectly: “The theme’s a bit bonkers and I enjoyed that.”
WSJ: I don’t recall Charo adding “coo” after “cuchi cuchi”. Heard “kitchy kitchy koo” plenty, tho.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
Interesting fact about the PA city but I found the dropped-H theme phrases a bit too stretchy for my taste.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
My sentiments exactly.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
Like Amy, I enjoyed the “bonkers” quality of the theme concept. A lot. And I thought “Peace, Marc!” was pretty funny. But the other themers didn’t rise to the level of that first one, so in the end, the attempt didn’t feel worth the effort. But the puzzle played just fine as a themeless, if a little too easy for its Wednesday slot.
NYT: One of those themes that didn’t do much for me during the solve – so it solved like a themeless, which is fine. After I finished, I understood what was going on and thought the theme was cute, but a couple of the “H-less” phrases – DO THE MAT and FIGHTING IRIS – were a little too “wacky” for my taste.
OMG! I’m so lost. I solved the puzzle without a second thought. I solved it like Gary did, as a themeless. Then I came here and learned all that was going on. Still lost, though. Why all the crossed-out clues? The clue not crossed out did the same as any clue does.
In the revealer we learn that in 1891, PITTSBURGH became PITTSBURG, and then in 1911 became PITTSBURGH again. So in 1891, strike PITTSBURGH in favor of PITTSBURG. Then in 1911, strike PITTSBURG in favor of PITTSBURGH.
The themers follow a similar pattern. We get a familiar phrase that fits the first struck-through part of the clue, from which you can remove the terminal “H” to get a wacky phrase that fits the second struck-through part of the clue, and then we add back the “H” to get to the original phrase that fits the last part of the clue.
Simple, right? 😉
Spelling Bee: Sam doesn’t like MONOTONIC??
Is that a chemistry term? The standard vocab is “monotonous.”
As a math term it means a curve that only goes up or down, with no reversals.
It’s most familiar to me as a math term, as Martin mentions, but I’ve heard it used to describe voice/speech, too. I think there may be a musical usage as well.
Merriam-Webster’s first definition is “characterized by the use of or uttered in a monotone.”
But maybe it’s more obscure than I think.
Gary — I don’t remember ever seeing MONOTONIC before, in any sense.
But thanks for giving me TONIC. I probably would have found it on my own, but given how long it always takes me to spot a common vegetable, who knows?
As a math guy. I never heard of MONOTONIC. But as a Catholic, INTINCTION is a thing, but not in the Bee it isn’t!
NYT – fun puzzle! 4.5 stars from me!
If you choose the puzzle and rating at the bottom of the comment form, your rating will be included in the totals at the top of the page. I can add yours manually for now.
OK – thanks!
WSJ – A BBQ place I frequent includes chow-chow as a default topping on their sandwiches. I usually order my sandwich without chow-chow but I like it every so often
From what I’ve seen the origin of chow-chow is disputed. Some link it to Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century. Others say the relish originated in the Canadian Maritimes and found its way south in the Acadian Diaspora in the late 18th century. My thought is pickling whatever vegetables you have on hand has been around for thousands of years so there probably isn’t a “true” origin
Unrated
NYT: Native Pittsburgher here. We all know about the on-again-off-again H. I knew the city right away.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
When I finished, I commented to my husband that the theme seemed a bit weak. Then I noticed that the theme answers minus the final H fit the second clue and realized that the theme was more complex than I had thought.
Puzzle: AV Club; Rating: 3.5 stars
I feel like I saw a similar “pull a rabbit out of a hat” theme in the NYT not long. (That’s not a knock against the constructor or the editors; I know how hard it is to come up with a good theme.)
I’m moderately smug about having gotten AEROSMITH pretty much just with the A. I played Guitar Hero once 20+ years ago and was really bad at it (which didn’t surprise me, as I have almost no sense of rhythm).
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4 stars
Crisp and breezy puzzle today from Caitlin Reid.
I accidentally hit “Post Comment” before selecting a star rating, putting an erroneous 3 stars into the system. Deleting that comment didn’t delete that star rating, so be cautious!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
NYT + 1 for bonkers
4 stars
For some time now, I’ve been solving the NYT puzzle on its Web page because I cannot get it into Across Lite. (All the other puzzles I work do go to Across Lite.) Working the puzzle online is a royal pain in the ass. So far, today, I’ve been trying to get the puzzle for more than an hour. I get a page that says “Our site is playing games with us” and a log-in button on the upper right. I usually hit the log-in button and a log-in page pops up for a second or two and then opens the daily puzzle page. I’ve rebooted twice. Is there a way to stay logged in on the NYT page or, better, a way to have the NYT open in Across Lite?
Black Ink is a Mac app that once I gave it my NYT login info has the puzzles available to open at their release time. It also has WSJ puzzles ready to open, too. If you’re not on a Mac, nevermind
This might be irrelevant, and I don’t use Across Lite but only solve on the Times page or a printout, but today’s Times puzzle was unusual. Only the newspaper version was available (no Ink Saver, left-hand, or any other variation).
Today’s Wordle word appeared in today’s NYT and today’s Fireball. Weird! Just figured I’d throw that in :)
Yeah, there was a comment on the Wordplay column that was enough of a spoiler that I got Wordle in one.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4.5 stars
New Yorker: Breezy Wednesday puzzle. I don’t mind saying the truth today, but I think I’ll be tired of posting comments after a few Wednesdays, just like the reviewer.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4.5 stars
I liked Caitlin Reid’s puzzle because it had a wide variety of answers that are suitable for solvers of all age groups.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
NYT: 4 stars