Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Jonesin’ 5:10 (Erin) rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) rate it
NYT 6:31 (Eric) [3.70 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker untimed (pannonica) [3.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (Eric) [4.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) rate it
Xword Nation untimed (Ade) [2.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ 5:13 (Jim) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Achievement Unlocked” — you need a certain three letters. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 5/13/25

Hello lovelies! Were you able to unlock this week’s theme? Let’s see what we have.

• 17a. Longtime syndicated radio host and voice of Shaggy on “Scooby-Doo”] CASEY KASEM
  • 21a. [Dairy product with a straining process] GREEK YOGURT
• 35a. [Just terrific] PEACHY KEEN
• 43a. [One who knows what foods they like] PICKY EATER
• 53a. [Couple’s parting gesture] GOODBYE KISS
• 63a. [Some pivotal song moments, or what the other five theme answers literally contain] KEY CHANGES. Each of those entries contains the letters KEY, in different configurations, spanning the two words of the entry.

Other things:

• 45d. [Filmmaker Russ] MEYER. He was known for campy sexploitation films, and best known for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Until next week!

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 728), “Let’s Do Some Dressing Up!”—Ade’s take

Crossword Nation puzzle solution, Week 728: “Let’s Do Some Dressing Up!”

Hello there, everyone! Here is hoping that you’re doing well to start the new week!

You might want to have a salad while solving this puzzle, as today’s grid features four long down answers in which the first word also happens to be a type of salad dressing — and my personal favorite, Italian, is featured. Is there any other dressing, outside of the ones mentioned here, that you prefer? Outside of Italian, I’m big on balsamic vinaigrette. 

• • • • HOUSE DETECTIVES (3D: [Salad lover’s favorite hotel employees?])
      • FRENCH MANICURE (5D: [Salad lover’s favorite nail salon treatment?])
      • ITALIAN CONCERTO (9D: [Salad lover’s favorite J.S. Bach keyboard composition?])
      • RANCH VACATIONS (14D: [Salad lover’s favorite Western holiday periods?])

Great to see TRENTE in the grid since we’re just a few days from the start of Roland Garros (French Open tennis tournament) and I’ll be hearing that word more in the next two weeks than at any point the rest of the year (57A: [Thirty, in Montréal]). Today’s the first puzzle that I’ve done that has referenced the new pontiff, LEO, who is a Chicago White Sox fan and was in attendance during one of the Pale Hose’s World Series games in 2005 (55A: [Pope ___ XIV (Chicago born pontiff who plays Wordle]). We have a couple of amazing getaway destinations that I wish I could travel to soon in OAHU (27A: [Diamond Head’s isle]) and the RIVIERA (52A: [European resort spot]).   

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: PISTONS (19A: [Detroit cagers]) – “DEEEEETROIT BAAAASKETBALL!!” That’s the now well-known line uttered by the Detroit Pistons’ public address announcer, Mason (full name is John Mason), when the Pistons gain possession of the ball via a turnover or other momentum-shifting play, with that line made famous during the Pistons’ 2004 run to the NBA championship — the team’s third and most-recent title. Their first two titles, in 1989 and 1990, were led by the teams known as the “Bad Boys,” given the name for their hyper-aggressive and physical style of play that earned the scorn of everyone in the NBA outside of those in the Motor City.

Thank you so much for the time, everybody! Have a wonderful and safe rest of your day and, as always, keep solving!

Take care!

Ade/AOK

Joe Rodini’s New York Times Crossword Puzzle — Eric’s review

Joe Rodini’s New York Times Crossword — 5/13/25

There’s a simple theme here, nicely handled:

• 17A [Ladled party drink] FRUIT PUNCH
• 26A [The Midwest states, agriculturally speaking] CORN BELT
• 38A [Cafeteria shout that might provoke the moves at 17-, 26-, 54- and 64-Across?] FOOD FIGHT
• 54A [Bone-in cut whose name became an endearment] LAMBCHOP
• 64A [Bright yellow creature that moves about 6.5 inches per minute] BANANA SLUG

I can’t immediately think of other words that combine a food and a physical blow.

The grid design doesn’t offer any Down answers longer than seven letters, but all the entries here feel fresh and at least moderately interesting:

• 3D [Fall apart, as a cookie] CRUMBLE
• 11D [Lunar landscape features] CRATERS
• 42D [Rapture] ELATION This took me a second, since I tend to equate rapture with enchantment and elation with joy.
• 46D [Court surface at the French Open] RED CLAY A rare (for me) gimme of a sports answer.
• 47D [Go on a pub crawl, say] CAROUSE

The names might be a bit skewed towards older solvers, with AMCS, Jamie FARR, ERIC Clapton, SISSY Spacek and George BRETT. But all of the crossings seem gentle.

Seth Bisen-Hersh’s Universal Crossword Puzzle “Independently Minded” — Eric’s review

Seth Bisen-Hersh’s Universal Crossword “Independently Minded” — 5/13/25

A fairly breezy one today, with circled letters, sometimes adjoining, sometimes not, spelling out the theme answers:

• 16A [Extinct marine arthropod] SEA SCORPION Season
• 34A [Float coat?] LIFE JACKET Lift When I was solving, I missed that the final circle was around the T and not the second E. Ski season is over for me, but I’m already looking forward to the next one.
• 40A [Phone problem] LOW BATTERY Lottery
• 58A [Ballot for multiple parties’ candidates, and a theme hint] SPLIT TICKET Each of the other theme answers is a type of ticket that is “split” by having its letters spread out.

Contrary to my normal practice of ignoring the theme until I’m done, I got the hint fairly early and used it to fill in the missing circled letters of LOW BATTERY.

The fill is fairly fresh, though there’s little that might stymie an inexperienced solver:

• • 39A [Available for work] ON HIRE I’m not sure how I’d clue ON HIRE, but to me, it  suggests a person who is already working, not one who’s available.
  • 49A [Anderson to Duchovny, in “The X Files”] CO-STAR It’s been so long since I have seen that show that I’d forgotten those were the names of actors, not characters (Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny).
  • 7D [Miss Piggy’s favorite pronoun] MOI/43D [Turquoise Muppet] ROSITA Sesame Street never goes out of style, I guess.
  • 9D [“Wowie zowie!”] MAN OH MAN I can’t explain why I like this answer, but I do.
  • 10D [Enterprise captain] JAMES T. KIRK We’re looking forward to the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Captain Christopher Pike is a nice antidote to the frequently annoying Captain Kirk.
  • 22D [More dandy] PEACHIER Another one that I like for no real reason.
  • 28D [ “___ of Athens”] TIMON I’m mildly surprised that this is clued to the Shakespeare play (not one of his better-known works) and not to the meerkat in The Lion King.

The shorter fill is for the most part stuff I see all the times in crosswords, with clues that are just as familiar. (That’s not a criticism unique to this puzzle.) The one novel clue for the shorter fill might be 18A [Daughter of Peter and Lois Griffin] MEG, which refers to the animated sitcom Family Guy.

Rebecca Goldstein’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

I knew what the theme answers had in common and could not have predicted the revealer, which is why Rebecca Goldstein constructs puzzles and I do not. Well, that’s one of the reasons.

Each theme answer starts and ends with circles.

Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2025, Rebecca Goldstein, solution grid

• • 17a [“That was a great day”] is I REMEMBER IT WELL. Always makes me think of this.
  • 22a [Wearable that can detect heart rate] is a SMART WATCH.
  • 35a [Numbered element in a drawing] is a LOTTO BALL. Lotto drawing, not art drawing. Seems a little tricky for a Tuesday.
  • 49a [Morsel in Hansel and Gretel’s trail] is a BREAD CRUMB.

And the revealer: 55a [Like someone who spends too much time on the internet, and like this puzzle’s circled letters?] is EXTREMELY ONLINE. IRL, SMH, LOL, and BRB are all internet abbreviations. Solid!

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that DAMON Lindelof produced “The Leftovers.”

Will Nediger’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 5/13/25 • Tue • Nediger • solution • 20250513

For me, this one played out as advertised: moderately challenging.

• 1a [Generalist doc] PCP, primary care provider, who probably won’t be prescribing phencyclidine for you.
• 4a [They might get spoiled] TWISTS. That which may be spoiled in a spoiler.
• 10a [Office-supply brand with a ball-headed mascot] BIC. Misread the clue as bald-headed. In fact, I just spent a few moments learning about the Bic Boy mascot in preparation for disputing the clue.
  
• 17a [Major General Sir Nils __ III (penguin in the Norwegian King’s Guard)] OLAV. This is so confusing. We are talking about an actual penguin, with an honorary title created in 1972, not in Norway but in a zoo in Edinburgh, Scotland. And of course penguins aren’t native to the northern hemisphere anyway.
• 19a [Building with squatters] GYM. iswydt
• 20a [Cut with a hard center] BONE-IN HAM. Okay, but Boneinham sounds as if it could be a place in England’s West Country.
• 34a [People making scenes in front of everyone at a restaurant?] DINNER THEATRE. I understood the misdirection immediately but didn’t quite grasp that the entire clue is a subject phrase rather than a subject (people) with a descriptor. Did I explain that adequately?
• 43a [Well-attended sessions of congress?] ORGIES. Yes I was surprised that this turned out to be how the clue worked. The lower left section was the last part of the grid I completed, and this entry was instrumental in getting there.
• 2d [Characters in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” but not “The Avengers”] COLONS. This one got me.
• 14d [Justification for buying a little treat] I’VE EARNED IT. After all, what could be the harm?
• 23d [“Quite so!”] RIGHT YOU ARE. 36a [“Are you serious?”] COME ON REALLY?
• 34d [Vertical part of a frame] DOOR POST. Is this the same as a jamb? Also, it sounds specific to a door frame, yes?
• 36d [Wide shot’s opposite] CLOSE UP. Despite there being a bunch of film clues in the crossword, I thought this was about sports. 57a [Scoreboard qty.] PTS.

Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Betrayal”—Jim’s review

Circled letters in six separate rows spell out OATH, but each word is “broken” by a black square. The revealer is BROKEN PROMISE (35a, [Betrayal of a sort, as seen six times in this puzzle]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Betrayal” · Mike Shenk · Tue., 5.13.25

Now this is a theme that actually helps the solver fill in some squares (unlike yesterday). As soon as I grokked the second entry, I was able to use that information to fill in other circles down the grid. But with six separate OATHs, that’s a lot of duplication and a lot of real estate given away very easily. Hence, it’s not the most engaging of themes, but it does do the job.

Some nice long stacks to admire include DIERESIS (though I never know how to spell the word given its similarity to a completely different word), ADMIT ONE, BITE SIZE, and LAP IT UP. Also good: GUANACO and TEST CASE. I’m fairly sure I had H. H. MUNRO somewhere in my little gray cells, but those initials did slow me down. And I wanted HUNAN for HONAN in that same area. There are a fair number of names in the grid that also may have slowed some solvers down.

Clues of note:

• 40a. [Super duper?]. LIAR. Tough clue for a Tuesday. I’m thinking “duper” as in one who is duplicitous?
• 13d. [Winless horses]. MAIDENS. New information for me, but good to know. These are horses that have never won a race regardless of how many starts they’ve had (not just a horse that has never started a race). They even have “maiden races” featuring only MAIDENS so that someone is guaranteed to go home a lucky winner.

Solid theme but with a lot of repetition. Three stars from me.