LAT 2:37 (Stella) 
[3.21 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Newsday 14:29 (pannonica ) 
[4.00 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:35 (Amy) [3.86 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Matthew) [4.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) rate it
WSJ untimed (pannonica ) 
[2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Christina Iverson & Doug Peterson’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 6/21/25 – no. 0621
A skinny mini today, 14 squares wide. Did it take you about 7% less time than you expected?
Fave fill: SIBLING RIVALRY, LET IT GO, POLICE TAPE, AIR KISS, HEART-SMART, STOPPED ON A DIME, G-SPOT, BARBIE DREAM HOUSE, PISTOL PETE, PRIVATE JET, CUDGEL.
Five things:
- 32a. [Cootie-free greeting], AIR KISS. I really wish the air kiss had been de rigueur for grandparents when I was a kid. I did not want their kisses!
Alan Massengill & Doug Peterson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 6/21/25 by Alan Massengill & Doug Peterson
This puzzle started out a bit hard in the NW area, and then got easy. Too easy, but I’m not mad at it because there’s some Gen X bait in there for me.
- 8A [Sings the blues] is ACTS SAD, an entry that I dislike every time I see it because it feels very green paint. But don’t worry, this puzzle gets better.
- 15A [Flurry] is HUSTLE AND BUSTLE. A smidge of difficulty here when I tried to fill in BUSTLE OF ACTIVITY only to find that that has 16 letters.
- 18A [Capital of Cambodia] is about the only clever way I can think of to clue the crosswordese RIELS.
- 27A [Works from home?] is BATS, not the more common UMPS that that clue more often indicates.
- 39A [NL players since 2022] Oh look, more baseball! The clue might take you in a direction of trying to think what team might have joined the National League recently (at least, if you don’t know baseball), but the answer is DHS, which were an American League standard for ages.
- 13D [Only Top 40 hit for actor/singer Jack Wagner] is ALL I NEED. See above re: Gen X bait. That song is a banger and I’ve known every word of it for a long time, but it was only today that I learned that Jack Wagner is/was better known as a soap opera actor than a pop singer.
- 43D [“Rainbow __”: classic cartoon that inspired collectible dolls] is BRITE. More excellent Gen X bait, and one could just as easily delight people my age by cluing it with some reference to Lite BRITE.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Trading Places” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 6/21/25 • Sat • “Trading Places” • Burnikel • solution • 20250621
Not sure how the title applies—it seems to reference the revealer but not the theme itself.
- 119aR [Totally reversed, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters] INSIDE OUT. That is, the letters at the peripheries (the OUTsides) of the relevant entries can be preceded by the word INSIDE in phrases.
- 22a. [Philosopher known as the father of liberalism] JOHN LOCKE (inside joke).
- 28a. [Utter disaster] TRAINWRECK (inside track).
- 51a. [Orbital lab for cosmic exploration] SPACE OBSERVATORY (inside story).
- 89a. [Peace Corps offering, e.g.] VOLUNTEER SERVICE (inside voice).
- 110a. [Letdown after optimistic expectations] DASHED HOPE (inside dope). Odd to see the phrase in the singular.
- 31d. [Pocket full of meat] PITA SANDWICH (inside pitch). Odd sounding clue.
- 41d. [Scene that raises eyebrows] STRANGE SIGHT (inside straight). The weakest of the theme answers, almost green paint.
It’s a good theme and the relevant entries are almost all quite strong. Ballast fill robust as well.
- 4d [Devilish ray] MANTA. I’d prefer that the clue have devilish in quotes. The only reason for the alternative name devilfish is the two cephalic lobes that some believe resemble horns.
- 14d [Glass house?] TERRARIUM. Crossed by 14a [Hopper on a lily pad] TOAD.
- 23d [Silkworms, e.g.] LARVAE. Of silk moths, natch. And of course they aren’t really worms.
- 29d [Author of 1975’s “I Am Not Spock” and 1995’s “I Am Spock”] NIMOY. Seems like a logical conundrum.
- 30d [Hold tight] SIT PAT. Ngram of sit pat vs stand pat.
- 46d [Library lineup] DESKS. More likely tables or carrels, right?
- 60d [Absolute madhouse] ZOO. The metaphor comes from older, less humane Victorian era menageries. Modern zoological parks are significantly better, but still problematic.
- 73d [Take a hatchet to] CHOP, 81a [Takes a hatchet to] HEWS.
- 79d [Dos Equis alternative] TECATE, not CORONA, not MODELO.
- 84d [Auto blemishes caused by road salt] RUST SPOTS. 1a [Ear piece?] DRUM.
- 98d [Subway fixtures] OVENS. The sandwich shop.
- 112d [Great ball of fire?] STAR. Question mark not really necessary.
- 19a [Water repellent?] MOAT. Ok sure I guess.
- 26a [Blue Devil’s rival] TARHEEL. Both in North Carolina.
- 35a [Nintendo console] WII. 67a [Tetris console] NES. Hmm.
- 43a [Grp. called in after a crash] IT TEAM. Lil tricky.
- 75a [Smell] ODOR. As you know, I am contractually obligated to positively highlight non-pejorative clues for ODOR.
- 85a [German naval port] KIEL. Sure thing I tried KÖLN first.
- 93a [Somewhat, in scores] POCO.
- 94a [Fish in hitsumabushi] EELS. “Hitsumabushi is the combination of two Japanese words of ‘ohitsu’, the bowl that eel and rice are served in, and ‘mabushi’ meaning to mix.” (source)
- 97a [Plant from the Greek for “flame”] PHLOX. Makes sense. See also, phlogiston.
Lester Ruff’s Newsday crossword, “Saturday Stumper” — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 6/21/25 • Saturday Stumper • Ruff, Newman • solution • 20250621
True to its namesake, today’s offering is on the easy side, with gentler clues and a well-integrated grid.
After getting a few entries and snippets here and there, I had a major early breakthrough with the spanning vertical entry at 8-down, [Whence certain ponies] SHETLAND ISLANDS, with no crossings whatsoever.
Thence, I added a few crossings such as 41a [What HI and most of AZ eschew] DST and 59a [Archaeogenetics tools] DNA—, 61a [Chosen one] SELECT— (which did indeed turn out to be SELECTEE), and more in that southeast corner.
Moved on to the southwest section after that. With 47d [Detour guides] CONES (not SIGNS) and 51d [SeatMe app acquirer in 2013] YELP tentatively in place, 54-across [When boys can join the Vienna Boys Choir] sure looked to be ELEVEN, but fiendishly it was AGE TEN—I was clued in by 35d [Plane in ’45 news] which pretty much had to be ENOLA GAY. 38a [Not a single heavy duty] for ONUSES is such an awkward clue.
40a [FDR self-description] for POTUS seems to imply that he coined the acronym, but m-w.com sets its origin in 1894, well before Franklin Roosevelt’s time in office. Crossed by 36d [Rubber stamp descendants] AUTOPENS.
By this time I was able to get the other mid-grid spanner—the across one—[Experiential extremes] PEAKS AND VALLEYS, which opened up new vistas in the puzzle.
Once I discarded HUT for 22a [Drill Sergeant’s shout] (which turned out to be HEP) and VIRGO (probably swayed by 26a [Zodiaco animal] (TORO)) for 30a [Spring thing] (VAULT), I was able to see that 13d [Miles Davis sax collaborator] was none other than Julian ‘Cannonball’ ADDERLEY.
Thus the northeast fell, with my early suspicion for 9d [Silver and smoke] as GRAYS confirmed by 9a [“Pastor to the presidents”] GRAHAM (ugh—read Jeff Sharlet’s The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, or watch the television docuseries based on it).
So all that remained was the northwest, and the upper middle section abutting it. Perhaps if I’d noticed that 20a [What Mutts and Mittens makes] uses makes rather than make, I’d have realized sooner that it was a company name, and might have gotten PET TOYS likewise sooner. Anyway, I had the right idea for 6d [Word from Latin “not one’s own”] but was thinking ALIAS instead of ALIEN. I was helped enormously by correctly guessing that ABDULLAH is the 15a [Current king of Jordan], but should have known way earlier that 17a [He wrote in the Bastille] was VOLTAIRE; as it was, I needed the cross-referential 27a [One of many written by 17-Across] ESSAYS to see him.
A skinny mini today, 14 squares wide. Did it take you about 7% less time than you expected?
is this some kind of new math??
1/15th fewer squares, 6.66% reduction. About 7%.
I don’t recall ever seeing a Saturday NYT puzzle with only 14 squares across before. Does anyone know if they’ve done this in the past?
except it is 16 squares down
so reduction of one square
or am i missing something here?
16 x 14 = 224
15 x 15 = 225
One square less than the standard grid today.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Looks like it’s 16×14, so pretty close to 15×15 in terms of squares. Sure looks odd, though.
Yes, it’s 224 squares instead of 225. So about 1% smaller.
I’m slightly embarrassed that I didn’t notice the unusual dimensions until I read the NYT Wordplay column.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
The irregular grid was absolutely worth it for BARBIEDREAMHOUSE. Haven’t we had a couple clues about Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House recently?
Side note: On 36A I had __ESSER filled in and the name “Chesser” floating around in my head, so I typed it in. Afterwards a Google search confirmed that answer was… wrong.
I had I HATE TO instead of I HAVE TO for a little BIT of time. Fun Saturday!
NYT: 48a STOPPED ON A DIME is a great entry. But the clue seems oddly awkward to me; “Exhibited perfect brakes”? Feels a bit uncanny valley to me; did a LLM generate this? (Only half joking.)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT: I really enjoyed this puzzle! As an older guy (ha ha), it felt like it was geared to those of us in the senior citizen crowd: Pistol Pete, Len Dawson, Dazed and Confused…… I also was able to immediately plunk down “Stopped on a Dime” and “Barbie Dream House” and then it was off to the races. Thanks Christina and Doug for a very enjoyable solving experience!
pannonica,
I think the title, “Trading Places,” refers to the “inside” words being on the outside. But I don’t know for sure,
NYT was slow work but doable. I was stuck on BIN/BIT for a while and recalling various facts but everything eventually fell into place. A good puzzle.
NYT: I found it hilarious that it took so long to discover this was a mere 1 square smaller than usual. But sometimes we focus only on one thing and miss the obvious.
I had BARBIE ROADHOUSE at first. When that was wrong, I thought it would make a great cult/spoof movie to have Barbie and friends beating up a bunch of Ben Gazarra’s bonehead guys.
I just like the idea of Barbie running a dive bar. Thanks!
LAT: How on earth is “New York minute” a relevant clue for TRICE? It’s not a word unique to New York.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 3.5 stars
Merriam-Webster: “a brief space of time.” A New York minute would thus be a trice.
(Oops — I should have selected LA Times for a rating.)
I’ll take care of that.
Johnny Carson defined a New York minute as the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn.
It’s like “New York steak.” You rarely hear the term used by New Yorkers.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 1 star
And certainly not by anyone else. That was just horrible.
Delighted to see Nancy and Aunt Fritzi in today’s LA Times puzzle.
Newsday: HEP [Drill sergeant’s shout] really should have had a clue referring to the old slang ([Old-school cool] etc.) instead IMO. That crossing with ADDERLEY is brutal—it could just as easily be HUP if you’ve never heard of him.
My almonds were high in KETAMINE. Funniest mistake I’ve made in a long while.
Yes, my first guess for 22A was “hup.” I’ve never heard that cluing for “hep” — I would rather that they used some variattion of “hep cat.”
I don’t get the word “harvest” in the answer TAX LOSS in the Stumper. I was expecting some sort of crop (LOgS?)
Nor do I get REC as Diminished diversions. Oh, wait, a shortened RECreations!
And I just realized the Andersen Airport honors Hans Christian, head-slap.
I’m not fond of the cluing for 26D, either, but it makes a certain (small) amount of sense, in the sense that you are “reaping” the tax benefit of writing off the loss. I had to look up where Odense was, the I got it. :)
The phrase is “tax loss harvesting”—I thought it was a brilliant clue
Ah! I have not heard that phrase. Thanks!
Stumper: Like usual, pannonica’s on the mark. Re: 20A, I was additionally confused because both “Mutts” and “Mittens” are comics and “Mittens” is Web-only, so I was surprised to think the Creator would have heard of it. However, I then found it to be a pet toy maker I had not heard of. 40A puzzled me, too. While FDR certainly didn’t coin it, he might have used the term to refer to himself, although I don’t recall hearing of it and I’ve read at least four biographies about him.
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 2 stars
WSJ: The absurd number of names in this puzzle spoiled an otherwise-interesting solve. I had to Google something like three of them as the crossings in some instances didn’t help.
Stumper: can someone explain “Regular required expenses” for NUT?
I agree that the HEP/ADDERLEY cross is unfair. See also ETE/ODENSE.
“Paying the nut” is a business term for covering the monthly expenses.
Lol I’ve never heard that once in my 40 years of life.
Sense 10. It’s been around for quite a while.
I BARELY have, which is why I haven’t mentioned it in my posts. I wouldn’t say that it’s common.
The origin of “nut’ started with the traveling wagon shows in the 1800’s. The owner of the land would take the nut from the hub of the wagons & hold it as collateral until the carnies paid the rent. Hence I made my rent/nut this month.
I go with “origin unknown.” If the carnies were so clever, why didn’t they just carry a spare nut?