LAT 2:55 (Stella) 
[4.00 avg; 3 ratings]
Newsday 15:42 (pannonica) 
[4.25 avg; 2 ratings]
NYT 7:11 (Amy) [4.33 avg; 12 ratings]
Universal tk (Matthew)
USA Today tk (Matthew)
WSJ untimed (pannonica)
Shaun Phillips’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 5/10/25 – no. 0510
You don’t often see a 3×3 chunk of black squares in a crossword grid, but you also don’t often see 60-worders, much less puzzles with an uninterrupted diagonal swath of white space, and so many longish (7 to 13 letters) answers sprawling through the middle.
Fave fill: CHARISMA, NODDED OFF, HUNGERS FOR, RECRUITERS, DROVE NUTS, TURN IT ON, HOMEOWNER, ALIEN ENCOUNTER, “LET’S GO FLY A KITE.” Not keen on “I MISSED,” which is pretty much pronoun + verb rather than an idiomatic phrase. Might be a notable quote, though?
When I see FREESTONE, I think of peaches, not 25D. [Fine-grained rock that can be easily cut in any direction]. Nothing against geology!
RV TRIPS crossing ERRS clued as [Trips], really? It would be so easy to not do that.
New to me: 38A. [Mediterranean plant named for its brightly colored flowers], SUN ROSE. Per Wikipedia, this succulent is native to the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, so it may be misleading to call it a “Mediterranean plant.”
The other day, I checked Merriam-Webster’s pronunciations of auto and OTTO. They do not start with the same vowel sound! I’m tired of all the clues like this, [Apt name for a NASCAR driver?], that pretend the two words sound the same.
I filled in ST LOUIS for 17D. [Team for which Sandy Koufax pitched for all of his 12 M.L.B. seasons] instead of DODGERS. I was thinking of the Cardinals’ Stan Musial, who was not a pitcher but knowing who played what position is not a trivia category I’ve allotted any brain cells to.
Dan Kammann & Zhouqin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 5/10/25 by Dan Kammann & Zhouqin Burnikel
This puzzle had a couple of tricky surprises for the unwary, but mostly wasn’t too hard. The tricky surprises I’m referring to are RACER X at 26A and TAKES AN L at 55A, both of which have unusual letter patterns at the ends (RX? NL? What the hell?) that can lead you to think you’re on the wrong track if you work in from the right side.
Stuff I noticed:
- 12A [AMC model whose passenger’s side door was longer than its driver’s side door] is PACER. If the clue is meant to be something that helps you infer or confirm the answer, I don’t get it. If it’s just a “fun fact you didn’t know about PACERs,” IMO the trivia itself is hard enough that I’d try to make a more inferable clue. Between this, the unfamiliar-but-inferable ICE RESCUE, and the hard clues on the Acrosses, the NW corner was really the only extra-tough portion of this puzzle.
- 13A [Herb also known as dragon’s wort] is TARRAGON. Here, by contrast, is a lovely “something you didn’t know about something you probably know well” type of clue.
- 17A [One looking for a deal?] is a NARC. Clever!
- 36A [Take care of a gray area, perhaps] is DYE. Sadly, this is all too relatable.
- 42A [Faucet handle] is MOEN — because “handle” refers to a name here, as in a brand name of sink fixtures.
- 18A [Minnesota team with four championships] is LYNX. I’m embarrassed that my WNBA knowledge is so bad as to have also made this section of the puzzle harder than the rest, given that X at the end of a team name is unusual.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Cut Flowers” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 5/10/25 • Sat • “Cut Flowers” • Burnikel • solution • 20250510
Theme’s easy to grasp, especially with the helpful title. The circled letters spell types of flowers, and each is interrupted by a black square, hence ‘cut’ flowers.
- 22a [Phone speaker?] SIRI.
23a [Place to sit on a hot day] SIDE PORCH.
(iris) - 23a redux
24a [“Beats me”] I DUNNO.
(orchid) - 29a [Daytona-based co.] NASCAR.
31a [What one of the letters in 29-Across stands for] NATIONAL.
(carnation) - 54a [Hard-to-find sneakers?] NINJAS.
57a [Underground workers] MINERS.
(jasmine) - 82a [Third-largest ocean] INDIAN.
85a [In this manner] THUSLY.
(dianthus) - 103a [Over the moon] JUBILANT.
106a [Garland worn on the head] ANADEM,
(lantana) - 117a [Mild cigars] CLAROS.
118a [View from Yosemite Valley] EL CAPITAN.
(rose) - 118 redux
- 120a [“Auld Lang __”] SYNE.
(tansy) - 39d [Vegan gelatin substitute] AGAR.
71d [Defense mechanism] DENIAL.
(gardenia) - 35d [Pinter products] DRAMAS.
81d [Shore flier] TERN.
(aster)
It’s a dense yet well-constructed theme; pleasurable to solve. The three-square blocks in the middle of Rows 1 and 21 are a bit odd-looking, though. A small compromise.
Surely I wasn’t the only one to preemptively enter PANSY where TANSY goes. Nearby, I also had ERASE for 101d [Totally wipe out] EAT IT. With 96d [Large church] MINSTER and 106a ANADEM lurking in the same neighborhood, that was by far the knottiest section of the grid.
108
- 6d [Right on time?] III, three o’clock, on the right side of the dial. 110d [Time out?] DATE.
- 30d [Constellation containing Canopus] CARINA. “Carina is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the keel of a ship, and it was the southern foundation of the larger constellation of Argo Navis (the ship Argo) until it was divided into three pieces, the other two being Puppis (the poop deck), and Vela (the sails of the ship).” (Wikipedia)
- 43d [“We finished the project!”] IT IS DONE. Hastily scribbled IT’S DONE, which doesn’t fit. Perhaps the clue should’ve been [“We have finished the project”].
- 50d [Moves slowly] TRUNDLES. This seems quite incorrect. Definition here. Ah wait, I’ve found support here.
- 104d [Main story line of a sitcom episode] ‘A’ PLOT. New to me, but makes perfect sense.
- 114d [Toyota truck model] DYNA. Sounds electric? Nope. It’s a venerable model, been around since 1959.
- 62a [Three, in Chinese] SAN. That’s a different spin on a common crossword entry, usually clued as a partial/fill-in-the-blank.
- 75a [Noise on a baby monitor] CRY, not COO.
- 89a [Stick figure] BEANPOLE.
“I got everything required for the body, soul, and mind / I got water, grub, and crossword puzzles too” - 108a [Navel base] ABDOMEN. Easy to fall for the misdirect if you’re solving quickly.
Matthew Sewell’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s précis
Newsday • 5/10/25 • Saturday Stumper • Sewell • solution • 20250510
When first tackling it, I thought this one was going to be a bear, but it turned out to yield rather easily.
I’m going to keep this brief for now because it’s an unexpectedly chilly morning and my fingertips are going numb. Plus I have a bunch of tasks that need doing.
Just carefully went through all the clues and answers and found no cryptic-style hidden word (I missed it last week).
- 4a [Pot filler] DIRT, 4d [ISP option] DSL. Not ANTE and AOL.
- 11a [Academy award recipient] ALUM. Note that award was not capitalized, eliminating the Oscars.
- 22a [Address book contents] SPEECHWRITING. oof.
- 25a [Sudden expiration] SNEEZE. 17d [Avoid sounding like a 25-Across] ESCHEW. Compare ATCHOO.
- 28a [Small sneaker] IMP. 31a [Take away?] ELOPE. >side-eye<
- 47a [Sweet nothings?] LOVABLE LOSERS. Nice one.
- 57a [Rank and file, say] GET IN ORDER. Verbs, not nouns.
- 1d [Piano players] HANDS. My immediate guess but waited for crossings.
- 3d [Far out] OUTRÉ. Seems like a big dupe to me. I resisted putting this answer in for a very long time.
- 6d [Egg beater, essentially] ROTOR, not WHISK.
- 8d [Cut out to be put on] TELEGENIC. Easy to see once you have it.
- 15d [Neighbored in a nitery] SAT NEAR. Nitery is new to me; it’s a nightclub. Clue doesn’t seem great.
- 33d [Small circle stuff] ESOTERICA. As in, knowledge shared by a small circle of initiates.
- 44d [Homeboys] DAWGS. For a while I had DEWDS(!).
- 58d [Speak ill of, these days] NEG. It has even worse connotations as part of the modern pick-up artist subculture.
- 35a [Line outside a bar] BEER WINE SPIRITS.
Okay, that turned out to be longer than I intended/expected.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Really enjoyed this puzzle. It felt smooth and multidimensional. Lots of angles to come at something even if stuck. Not too many proper names, a blessing for people like me who are name-challenged.
The clue for I MISSED was oddly specific. What it really needed is to be preceded by an expletive– that would make it something I’d say often.
I love the word CHARISMA, and even the GenZ version Rizz. There’s pizzazz to it that you don’t get out “charm” or “allure” (which seem simpering by comparison).
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
I think I’m in safe company to admit this, but there’s a certain rush I get when I open a Fri/Sat puzzle to see a unique, sprawling, simultaneously inviting and challenging grid. And the entries matched the expectation. Great puzzle construction!
Me too! That was my reaction when I first saw the grid; really inviting.
Ended up being a very fast Saturday for me; a weird week where Thursday took the longest, then Friday, then Saturday the shortest. I think my Friday + Saturday time matches my Thursday time. Anyway, very smooth fun fill.
I pronounce auto and Otto with different initial vowels, but Elaine doesn’t. And M-W shows her pronunciation, starting with ä, as a variant. I agree that regional pronunciations can make such clues confusing, but this one is fine in some places, at least.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
I live in Massachusetts and pronounce them the same – unless I’m speaking German.
We’ve discussed this before. Linguists call it the cot-caught merger. It’s just one example out of many of varying pronunciations. According to Wikipedia:
“Nowhere is the shift more complex than in North American English. The presence of the merger and its absence are both found in many different regions of the North American continent, where it has been studied in greatest depth, and in both urban and rural environments. . . . Even without taking into account the mobility of the American population, the distribution of the merger is still complex; there are pockets of speakers with the merger in areas that lack it, and vice versa. There are areas where the merger has only partially occurred, or is in a state of transition.”
Neither form is more correct than the other; they’re just variants. I grew up in New Jersey, where the vowels were distinct, but I’ve lived most of my life in California, where they’re often not. I’ve never gotten used to it.
If a clue implies “sounds sort of like,” then I say close enough. If, on the other hand, it implies “almost identical,” then you’ve got to be wary of variations in the pronunciation of words that you might always have heard one way, without ever realizing that others might pronounce them differently.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
NYT: Wow, now that’s a grid! Very satisfying solve.
NYT clueing felt uninspired to me..no one else? Not a ton of interesting entries for me either. Interesting grid but 60 worders tend to be clunky with the fill
Not convinced by PEEPER clue, reference to eye color?
Yep
You’d have to be old, I guess, to remember this song.
Jeepers Creepers, where’d ya get those peepers?
Jeepers Creepers, where’d ya get those eyes?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_jbphUkvrM
I cruised through the upper left half of the NYT pretty quicky but slowed down as I moved into the other half. I’ve never heard of dragonflies being referred to as DARNERS, so the cross with HAINES was ugly, but A was the clear favorite.
CHIPBOARD is usually referred to as ‘particle board’ in this country, is it not?
Never heard of the Mary Poppins song or FREESTONE, for which the clue is lifted straight from Wikipedia. It’s not a specific type of rock but a name for any rock that can chiseled easily.
Pretty much the same experience/reaction here. Did not know the Mary Poppins song, nor FREESTONE. Did not know DARNERS nor HAINES – I went with an “E” but in retrospect, the “A” makes more sense.
Particle board is more familiar, but I’ve heard CHIPBOARD more than a few times.
I believe the Mary Poppins song is at the very end of the original movie.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Regarding chipboard, Wikipedia agrees with you although many apparently use chipboard as a synonym for oriented strand board (OSB). OSB has chips are much larger (several inches or so) as opposed to most particle boards which have much smaller wooden pieces (often used in cheap laminated wooden furniture).
Amy,
The plant you link to is usually called “ice plant.” The wiki article says “baby sun rose,” but that’s a new one on me.
Anyone, the more common “sunrose” is this one.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Fun puzzle. I preferred the old rating system.
+1 re rating system
Puzzle: Newsday; Rating: 4.5 stars
Stumper: “Take away?” for ELOPE is genius. Took me a minute to get the “Do you take…” connection.
Puzzle: Newsday; Rating: 4 stars
Gotta love that clue for 27-Down. Now we all know where to find that perfect neon vacancy sign that doesn’t clash with the bedspread.
Oh, is that it?? (“Do you take…”) Ugh! Never thought of that! Thanks!
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 4 stars
Good stuff. Tricky for some, no doubt, that RACER X/LYNX cross… Keep ’em coming!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
NYT: This was a fine puzzle, although I found it very difficult (but appropriately so for a Saturday). I never heard of DARNERS, SUNROSE, HAINES, FREESTONE, or CHIPBOARD. I found the NW particularly challenging. I knew LETSGOFLYAKITE immediately, which is a good thing or I might be doing the puzzle still! ;)
I’m not a fan of the “Apt name for…” clues that the NYT has fairly often. As Amy said, they sometimes rely on pronunciation that isn’t universal, but I also find that the clue never really helps. I figure out the name from the crosses, and only then do I understand why the name is supposedly apt. I don’t know if that’s just the way my own brain works, or if that’s a common feeling. The clue might as well be “a person’s first name” for me, at least.
I forgot to mention that I thought IMISSED was a real clunker here. As Amy said, it’s not really a standalone phrase that’s in the language, but it also is clunky for the extremely specific setup in the clue (“sad remark at a carnival ring toss booth”). Has anyone at such a booth ever said that? Everyone can see the result, you don’t need to announce it.
Something like “sad remark when you take off the blindfold at pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey” would have been better IMO.
I started with SOCLOSE
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 4 stars
I normally struggle mightily with the Saturday LAT, but this one flew by, if not remotely near Stella’s consistently jaw-dropping times. I wasn’t annoyed by PACER as was she, simply because it’s the only AMC model I can immediately recollect. I can remember several models from Rambler, before it became AMC, but nothing else from AMC itself.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
A challenging but very enjoyable puzzle with excellent cluing! I was well under my Saturday average time, but I think that’s due mainly to the low word count, since the puzzle felt fairly hard to me.
I love a high percentage of long answers, especially when it’s done in a grid with only four (I think) three-letter words! And I also appreciated the very low number of Proper Nouns and high number of diabolically ambiguous clues.
I do think, however, that “Trips” was a very weak clue for ERRS, as well as being a dupe of the answer at 32D. It was cute to end the Across column with alliterative one-word clues, but not cute enough to justify this clue.
George Haines was a great coach, but I’m guessing he’s not very well known outside the world of competitive swimming. I didn’t remember his name, but was able to get it from the crosses.
I’m not normally a fan of grid art, but I did enjoy the flying kites in this one, especially since they didn’t get in the way of the generally great fill.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Good point about the kite visual! Alas, the dupes and some clunky clueing kept this one from really soaring.
The cryptic clue for the stumper was 17 down: avoid=eschew=sounding like a sneeze
I caught that, but didn’t see it as the cryptic clue.
Avoid sounding like a sneeze (6) conforms to cryptic clue rules but not American crossword rules, so I agree with jam.
Ok, yes.
When you load the .puz for tomorrow’s WaPo, you get a scary error message. Just ignore it. Even this announcement can be construed as a spoiler, so let’s leave it there.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
fun puzzle and what a eye catching grid
Stumper: As usual, pannonica pretty much nailed it. I found the lower left hard because I had “dudes” for a while for 44D and “tame” for 53D, which didn’t help. Agree that clue for 15D isn’t great — answer has nothing to do with a “nitery.”