Saturday, May 24, 2025

LAT 2:44 (Stella) [4.08 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Newsday untimed (pannonica) [4.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:18 (Amy) [4.00 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Matthew) [4.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) rate it
WSJ untimed (pannonica) rate it

Gene Louise De Vera’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 5/24/25 – no. 0524

This 16×15 grid accommodates a great pair of spanners, CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM and PLEASANT SURPRISE.

Other fave fill: ENTRY LEVEL, SEA TURTLE, “YOU WOULDN’T!”, SAFE HOUSES, “STILL I RISE,” ILL-ADVISED.

New to me: 2d. [Location where a video game character starts (or restarts) a level], SPAWN POINT.

And also: 35D. [Place for a camper], RV LOT. Here’s an article explaining what RV lots are.

Not convinced that “I NEVER WILL” is really idiomatic enough to be a crossword entry. Crosswordese EPODE and awkward COLEAD and REMET are also in the debit column.

Favorite clue: 24D. [Xi’s language], GREEK. That’s the Greek letter xi and not Xi Jinping. Did that forced capital X trick you?

3.5 stars from me.

Erik Agard’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 5/24/25 by Erik Agard

If the LAT had titles for their puzzles, this one could appropriately be called “Erik Agard reminds us that he’s one of the GOATs.” So many long answers in this puzzle to marvel at, including the triple-stacked 15s in the center crossing a pair of 11s that are both interesting and start with a high-Scrabble-value letter. So many wish-I’d-thought-of-that clues, too…

• …starting with [Point guard?] at 1A, which is PEN CAP. Get it? It guards a pen point.
• 16A [Upper management?] for HAIR CARE is also pretty great.
• 29A I love the entry LANGUAGE BARRIER, and also the clue [Foreign exchange issue].
• 45A [Paul with an axe] Of course you’re meant to think of Paul BUNYAN, but the three-letter entry length means we are talking about LES Paul, and the “axe” is a guitar.
• 54A [Fiction title?] is MISNOMER. Great clue.
• 2D [“Shogun,” for one] is EPIC DRAMA, which is a cool entry, and I like that the excellent show Shōgun was the example chosen.
• 9D Although I’ve never read any KIESE LAYMON, his inclusion in the puzzle feels very current and very Erik.
• 23D [Pacific counterpart] is QUARRELSOME. My favorite clue-entry pair in the puzzle, both because QUARRELSOME is a fun word to say out loud and because the clue is so deceptive with the placement of a normally uncapitalized word at the beginning of the clue to mimic the proper-noun Pacific Ocean.
• 31D [Grocery payment meth.] on the other hand, which clues EBT, is my least favorite clue in the puzzle. I personally am trying to move away from abbreviations one pretty much sees only in crosswords, like “grp.” and “syst.,” and I think “meth.” (at least, as a shortening of “method” and not “methamphetamine”) falls in this category.

Anyway, 31D aside, this was a thoroughly enjoyable solve. See above re: title I would give this puzzle if I could.

Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Early Admissions” — pannonica’s write-up

WSJ • 5/24/25 • Sat • “Early Admissions” • Shenk • solution • 20250524

For this crossword, the theme answers came preloaded, in a way.

The affix pre- is added to the beginning of the second word in each of the relevant entries.

• 23a. [Specialty of sham fortunetellers?] FUTURE PRETENSE (future tense).
• 33a. [Records department clerk?] FILE PRESERVER (file server).
• 48a. [“Za” (“behind”) or “przy” (“by”), e.g.?] POLE PREPOSITION (pole position).
• 69a. [Introduction that claims the following chapters will be unforgettable?] BOLD PREFACE (bold face).
  

  ---

• 85a. [Bishop dreaming of becoming archbishop?] SLEEPING PRELATE (sleeping late).
• 102a. [Manna, for the Israelites?] HEAVEN PRESENT (heaven-sent).
• 116a. [Fraudster impersonating an attorney?] LEGAL PRETENDER (legal tender).

These all work fine. I’m a little surprised at the construction though—it feels like a hallmark of Mike Shenk crosswords, especially large-format grids, is to have theme answers with significant stacking overlap. With that absence, I was sure that meant there would be a couple of extra themers, among the down entries.

• 2d [Pet with a spiny crest] IGUANA. Not all species, but of course the clue is just fine.
  
• 11d [One of Ginny Weasley’s brothers] RON. Constructors and editors: you can stop with the gratuitous Rowling references anytime. That would be an exceedingly good thing because she’s a horrible person.
• 24d [One of Saturn’s outermost moons] PHOEBE.
• 36d [Target of a 1950s vaccine] POLIO. Psst, vaccines work.
• 38d [Take in] REAP. 7d [Cropland unit] ACRE. 8d [Barley bundle] SHEAF. 61a [Took in] ATE.
• 45d [Precludes, in court] ESTOPS. Not part of the theme.
• 48d [You might sit for them] PARENTS. Seems tenuous?
• 94d [Giant headgear] HELMET. As in, the New York football Giants.
• 96d [Yoga venue] SPA. Usually yoga in a clue means MAT or ASANA, and as I’ve mentioned recently most SPA clues are very similar, so this counts as a welcome change-up.
• 1a [Saddle-securing bands] GIRTHS. Didn’t know this, but it makes sense.
• 26a [Risky thing to tempt] FATE. 22a [Delphi’s patron god] APOLLO. All hanging around the fortune teller clue (23a).
• 43a [Scurrier in the sand] CRAB.
  
• 68a [School whose cricket matches take place on Mespots] ETON. “The names of the playing fields include Agar’s Plough, Dutchman’s, Upper Club, Lower Club, Sixpenny/The Field, and Mesopotamia (situated between two streams and often shortened to ‘Mespots’).” (Wikipedia)
  
• 73a [Conjunction often paired with another] NOR. Not paired with ‘another’ but paired with another conjunction.
• 75a [Foul-smelling flow] SEWAGE, not SLUDGE.
• 78a [Staggering] AREEL, 30a [Gaping reaction] AWE, 6d [Reacts to a haymaker, perhaps] SEES STARS.
• 91a [Marimbist’s tool] MALLET. Refreshing choice in the clue.
• 98a [Moves with a rushing sound] WHISHES.

Kate Chin Park’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up

Newsday • 5/24/25 • Saturday Stumper • Park • solution • 20250524

When I got all of the upper left section with relative ease, I was cautiously optimistic that the whole crossword might be a walk in the park, but it definitely put up resistance.

After the northwest, I was able to fill in all of the west flank and southwest with slightly more effort, but then the snags started coming. Battled through the lower right, then had quite a time linking linking up the desultory entries I’d managed in the remaining part of the grid.

When it was complete there was no indication that it was correct, so I had to hunt up my mistake, which turned out to be the crossing of 44a and 45d. The former is clued as [Look wonderful?] and the latter as [Striking skill]. GAWP seemed perfectly fine, but PARATE, well … not so much. The correct entries are GAWK and KARATE.

• 1a [Not easy to see] ABSTRACT.
  
• 16a [Approaching capacity] FULLER. Oof. For me, at least, an easier clue would have been [Filmmaker Samuel]
• 20a [Compels to complete] HOLDS TO. One of those Stumper specials, where it makes perfect sense in retrospect but is almost impossible to see before then.
• 21a [Expert’s 10-second-or-so sprint] CENTURY. I’m just going to assume this is refers to an actual sprint and means either 100 meters or 100 yards. If this assumption is correct, I don’t understand why ‘expert’ is mentioned at all.
• 23a [Pithy peak?] MTN. ‘Pithy’ here just signals that it’s an abbreviation. A little weird, even for a Stumper.
• 32a [Part of bird words] AVI-. 33a [Lagoon dweller] IBIS, not CROC (and 34d [Ranks from the Fr. for “servants”] is SGTS not CPLS).
• 40a [Quasi-opposite of astro-] GEO-. Sheez. 43a [Longtime Planetary Society CEO] Bill NYE. They have a nice logo.
• 42a [Awl cousin] GIMLET. Learned this relatively recently from another crossword. Maybe a month or so ago?
• 46a [Digital contents displays] FEEDS. I was fully expecting something to do with fingers or toes. Curse you, Stumper!
• 58a [State that’s above suspicion?] PARANOIA. Very good and tough clue.
• 60a [Defining performance] STAR TURN. The entry that most helped me populate the lower right corner, which I got using only the T from 53d [Price to play] ANTE.
• 62a [Gave officially] TENDERED. 1d [Comment proffered by scoffers] AS IF.
• 2d [A __ de noche (at nightfall] BOCA. “At the mouth of night.”
• 5d [“Free” products of cell metabolism] RADICALS. Fortunate that this was a gimme for me.
• 10d [Presenting cross words] SURLY, not ANGRY. 54d [Presenting cross words] SOUR.
• 12d [Senior surviving American car make (c. 2000)] OLDSMOBILE. It became defunct in 2004, so in 2000 it was still a going concern as a venerable entity. But this is a very strange clue.
• 14d [Check out in a small space] TRY ON. That space being a changing room.
• 20d [Tex-Mex staple] HUEVO. Yes a single egg.
  
• 22d [Product broken before bagging] TEA. I wondered, wondered, wondered if TEA is what it would turn out to be.
• 25d [Never again] ONE AND DONE. Toyed with ONCE — for a time.
  
  Probably the weakest track on this classic album, but I’ve got to go with it for the title.
• 31d [What you won’t want in your hot dogs] SOGGINESS. Because SALMONELLA doesn’t quite fit.
• 36d [“On her lover’s arm she __”: Tennyson] LEANT.
• 38d [Traditional plastic now sold in paper] GIFT CARD. Not sure how this works. Are gift cards environmentally friendlier nowadays?
• 47d [Carrier of the first transatlantic air mail (1939)] PAN AM. Had a strong guess here; helped greatly with the section.
• 48d [Ice plane?] FACET. ‘Ice’ as in diamonds.
• 55d [Begin giving out] TIRE. 26d [Handout for all comers] PARTY FAVOR.

A nice, dense grid with sizeable stacked entries. And once again I’ve failed to identify the cryptic-style clue that presumably lurks within.