LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[4.00 avg; 2 ratings]
NYT 8:10 (Amy) [3.88 avg; 8 ratings]
Universal 3:51 (Jim) [4.00 avg; 1 rating]
USA Today tk (Emily)
Willa Angel Chen Miller & Erik Agard’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up
NY Times crossword solution, 5/9/25 – no. 0509
Oof, is this one really as tough as a Monday New Yorker puzzle, or is my headache impeding my solve? I had a couple wrong turns that slowed me down for sure (ALL THE TIME for AT ALL HOURS, WICCAN for OCCULT, LURE for BAIT).
I blanked on computer science pioneer GRACE HOPPER‘s last name; had Cooper and Connor interfering. Did not know 20A. [___ Robert Jr., 2020 Gold Glove Award winner], LUIS; I can’t bring myself to follow boxing. Have heard of RAYE (I think she sang at the Oscars) but didn’t know her dance song (25D. [One-named singer in the 2023 hit “Prada”]); crossword constructors could use a fresh RAYE option! Also new to me: 52D. [___ flakes (fruity Chinese snack)], HAW. Haw flakes are made from hawthorn fruit.
Dupe grumble: READY OR NOT crossing partial I NOT. Also I TOO, I NOT, I NEED A RIDE, I’M OK.
Fave fill: OFF THE GRID, FLY BALL, PLAY MONEY, FREE TRADE (remember that?), HAVE A HEART, PASTA WATER (have had meal kits whose recipes call for reserving some of the pasta cooking water for use in a sauce), “DON’T YOU SEE?”, BITTERSWEET, ONE AND DONE.
Tricky clue: 22A. [What might be caught Red-handed?], FLY BALL. As in the Cincinnati Reds.
19A. [___ text (label for a screen reader)], ALT. This refers to typed text describing an image so that a blind person using a screen reader to read Bluesky (or other social media) can grasp what an image shows. I love that Bluesky encourages this accesssibility so much, and enjoy the creativity and flavor people add to their image descriptions in alt text.
Four stars from me.
Drew Schmenner’s Universal crossword, “Competing Interests”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar two-word phrases whose second words are also WNBA teams.
Universal crossword solution · “Competing Interests” · Drew Schmenner · Fri., 5.9.25
- 18a. [WNBA team with conventional plays?] VANILLA SKY. Chicago Sky.
- 26a. [WNBA team with unconventional plays?] CREATIVE SPARKS. L.A. Sparks.
- 46a. [WNBA team on a losing streak?] SHATTERED DREAM. Atlanta Dream.
- 58a. [WNBA team on a winning streak?] BLAZING SUN. Connecticut Sun. Whoa. Connecticut has a pro sports team?
I don’t really follow any professional sports, but I’m familiar with most of these team names. And the names chosen by many WNBA teams lend themselves to a theme like this quite easily, don’t you think? Great choices in theme answers and I especially like the contrasting clues for the top and bottom pairs of entries. Nicely done.
Loved the long fill in this grid as well: DID THE MATH, SHAWARMA, KENNEDY ERA, and “WHAT A ZOO!” Also good: “LOVED IT!” and “I DID NOT“. Another fun contrast there as well. I’m never a fan of an entry like IDED, but that’s the only clunky bit I saw.
Clue of note: 36d. [There’s no “I” in it, per a saying]. TEAM. A theme-adjacent entry though it’s not clued as such. This clue reminded of the second episode of Ludwig which we just watched the other night. While the phrase wasn’t actually uttered in the episode, the subject provided a notable laugh-out-loud moment. “You must be very proud.” We’re three episodes into the series, and while there isn’t as much actual puzzle-solving as I was hoping for, we are enjoying the show.
Good puzzle. Four stars.
Noelle Griskey’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 5/9/25 • Fri • Griskey • solution • 20250509
- 25dR [Create high expectations for, or an apt description of the first part of the answer to each starred clue] BUILD UP. The first word of each themed vertical answer—a synonym for ‘build’—is reversed, running upwards.
- 5d. [*Snappy dresser] NOIHSAF PLATE (fashion plate).
- 11d. [*Many a rejection notice] MROF LETTER (form letter).
- 23d. [*Pillar of society] LEDOM CITIZEN (model citizen).
- 29d. [*Mutate] EPAHS SHIFT (shape shift).
Great little theme, nicely turned.
- 1a [County made up of 14,125 islands] JAPAN, Many of them small and uninhabited. Incidentally, Indonesia has 17,508, which is not that many more, considering.
- 6a [Vegetable with a lacinato variety] KALE. If lacinato is a cognate of lacinate, it’s a term related to lacerate, but where the former means to cut or tear roughly, lacinate indicates something is being cut or shredded into narrow segments.
- 19a [Ingredient in some barbecue sauce] COLA. I have discovered that Chinese black vinegar has a similar profile to Coca-Cola, so if any of you out there are barbecueists and marinaders, possibly give that a try.
46a [Small batteries] AAS. 27a [Microbrewery fixture] ALE TAP. Come on constructors and editors, I’m waiting for someone to use Norway’s AASS in a crossword.- 57a [Pink Floyd album with the songs “Dogs” and “Sheep”] ANIMALS. Checks out.
- 69a [Picnic pests] ANTS, which could have used the same clue as the crossing 51d [Hill workers] AIDES.
- 21d [Napkin holder] is just a LAP.
- 48d [Takes to the ground] LEVELS. Slight feint in the clue, maybe towards wrestling?
- 56d [Vinaigrette acronym] EVOO, extra virgin olive oil. I believe this was popularized by Rachael Ray.
- 58d [Japanese soup base] MISO, which I made for dinner last night. Including shiitake, tofu, carrots, scallions, and some bonito flakes (pilfered from the cat’s supply).
“Did not know 20A. [___ Robert Jr., 2020 Gold Glove Award winner], LUIS; I can’t bring myself to follow boxing. ”
It’s baseball. He’s a center fielder for the White Sox.
Ha! I also don’t follow the Sox (though they’re the new pope’s team). Glove, schmove.
FYI, the Boxing award is the Golden Glove.
I think in boxing, “Golden Gloves” is an amateur tournament/competition. The winner(s) get some type of award, but I don’t think the award is called a Golden Glove.
Correct
From Wikipedia: “The tournament’s name stems from the small gold charm in the shape of a boxing glove that is awarded to a winner.”
Odd. The Wikipedia entry I find for “Golden Gloves” says “… winners are awarded a belt and a ring, and the title of national champion.” No mention of a gold charm.
The vagaries of the internet!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I’ll ding the NYT a half star for all the blasted names. Otherwise, not too tough given it was a Friday. I so confidently put in ADALOVELACE for the computing pioneer on the first pass, and was gobsmacked when it turned out to be wrong.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Yesterday, there was a discussion about proper names in puzzles. I readily admit that I am bad at them. But I don’t expect constructors to worry about the likes of me. I also feel that a name is a double edged sword–when you don’t know, no amount of logic will save you, but when you know it, it’s a gift and can open a whole corner. I don’t believe it should be the number of names that we worry about, but whether they are intersecting or crowding a corner. So, today, I had no idea about LUIS, but I felt it was totally fair, i.e. fully gettable from the downs.
So, maybe my request to constructors would be to consider the density/intersection question.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
NYT: Ok.
Patrick Berry is back to WSJ Contest with an easier meta, and I recommend folks here to try it even if you find the average contest too hard for you.
You’re right in my case. Very rare indeed for me to get it. I had trouble with the grid, though, getting there and still don’t understand “Sought support from fans.” I guess I’ll find out when the thread appears Monday.
NYT was not as tough for me as a typical Agard New Yorker Monday. I knew GRACEHOPPER, which was a big help. The SW corner was mostly blank until I guessed PASTAWATER (which sounds horrible, btw). Didn’t know LANA or HAW and had EON before ERA.
I don’t understand how ‘seeking comment?’ clues READYORNOT. Oh, wait, I got it while I was typing it out.
PASTA WATER is starchy, which can be useful.
I completely agree that it is useful in cooking. But I’ve never heard it called “liquid gold”, and that description seems more than a bit over-the-top to me. Is that from somebody’s cooking show, by any chance?
I never called it that, but there are lots of examples.
No idea.
I was a bit thrown, because “liquid gold” in cooking was always rendered duck fat… which is lightly golden in color, unlike PASTA WATER. Plus, it makes other foods taste amazing. I had LANe instead of LANA and didn’t know HAW, so it was the last to fall for me. But otherwise a pretty fast Friday.
I definitely wanted the computer person to be Ada Lovelace. Right number of letters, after all. And I’d agree that the clue for PASTA WATER is surely trying awfully hard. Generally I’d the most trouble with the E-SE, including RAYE and DRU. All about right for a Friday, though.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
For me, it was the most challenging NYT Friday in weeks. I didn’t know most of the things that Andy didn’t know, I assumed it was China which claimed so much territory in Antarctica (my bad mental math there is understandable, my bad geography is not), and though we always save a little PASTA WATER, I’ve never heard it called “liquid gold.” I inexplicably thought the “thumb up” was ONE-something.
31D may now hold the record for “Longest clue in relation to the length of the answer.” I didn’t recognize the quote, but given how often EYRE shows up in puzzles, I made an educated guess that turned out to be correct.
NYT: Nice puzzle. I enjoyed all of the long entries, though like Eric, I’ve never heard PASTA WATER referred to as “liquid gold” (and I do a lot of cooking and watch a lot of cooking shows on TV). Had to smile at I NEED A RIDE – does anyone hitchhike anymore?
e.a. – I solve in AcrossLite, and those super-long clues (c.f. 31-D) are a real PITA!
I solve WSJ and AVXC (among others) AcrossLite, and I agree about the really long clues. How tiny can you make that type?
NYT: Solid Friday. Got burned in SE when I had SEATS instead of SUITS.
Don’t think a hitchhiker (55A) puts his thumb UP, but rather OUT. just sayin’ …
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4 stars
😀
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Frustrating and then wonderful. My kind of puzzle with no trivia garbage.
Thank you!
I haven’t wanted to weigh in on the value of stars. It would take an argument, and I hate to put you through one, and I hate, too, to argue with our gracious host.
But I was surprised to see them return, but in a new system. And there I have to wonder if it’s worth it. Now the stars, if any, at top come about through comments, which is both repetitive and to my eye a bit tedious. All those comments for nothing but one more star. The system could also discourage bothering to assign stars, which by decreasing their number is bound to make the totals less reliable. Well, anyway just my opinion.
I agree with most of what JohnH said. But I still prefer having a rating system to not having one.
That sounds less like an argument and more of just a data point, and I appreciate the non-combative tone. Anyway, some of us have been brainstorming the ratings system, so it’s very much a work in progress. We’re trying to find a balance between something easy to use and informative but less open to abuse.
Your point about ratings now cluttering up the comments section is one no one has made before, and I can see the point. And we are certainly seeing a lot fewer ratings now than before which is not what we want. We’re hoping it’s just a matter of people getting used to the change, so we want to give it some time before we look at making any adjustments.
In the NYT, 20A is asking about a Gold Glove award in baseball, *not* the Golden Gloves boxing championships. 🤣
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT: Really fun and easier than usual for me. Loved seeing GRACE HOPPER in the puzzle and loved the clever clue for CANIS MAJOR.
I liked that one too!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Those who appreciate seeing women in science get their proper due might be gratified by Nvidia’s practice of honoring tech pioneers. The company names each new generation of its chips for prominent scientists, male and female. These have included the (Marie) Curie, (Ada) Lovelace and (Grace) Hopper chips, as well as the upcoming (Vera) Rubin, named for the pioneering astrophysicist.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 3.5 stars
My brain was not prepared for this. Neat theme.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Excellent puzzle.