LAT tk (Gareth) 
[3.13 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 11:23 (Sophia) [2.79 avg; 17 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) rate it
Universal (Sunday) 9:50 (Jim) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) 
[3.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WaPo 5:52 (Matt G) [3.42 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Mike Hobin’s New York Times Crossword “All-In-Clue-sive” — Sophia’s Write-Up
Hey folks, Sophia here covering the NYT Sunday this week.
New York Times, 06 29 2025, By Mike Hobin
All of today’s theme answers have the same clue – [Apt clue for the circled letters]. Within each answer some letters are circled, and the rest of the answer could be a clue for those letters.
- 22a – TOP RANKING ROYAL is an apt clue for KING
- 29a – TOLKIEN TREE CREATURE is an apt clue for ENT
- 49a – NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN is an apt clue for OFTEN
- 63a – PACIFIST’S RENOUNCEMENT is an apt clue for FISTS
- 84a – OUR HOME NEAR THE SUN is an apt clue for EARTH
- 99a – CAST A REALLY LONG LOOK is an apt clue for STARE
- 110a – MOUSE ERADICATOR is an apt clue for CAT
This is a clever theme. Some of the clue/answer pairs worked better for me than others. TOLKIEN TREE CREATURE is the standout to me, since it feels like a legit crossword clue and I liked how the ENT was split across multiple words in the theme answer. NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN was good for a similar reason – maybe even better since the hidden word was longer.
My biggest problem with the theme was the lack of clues for the long answers, which made the whole puzzle play harder than usual and feel very stop-and-start. Because I had to get most/all the circled answers in order to know what I was looking for, I would get stuck if I tried to come at the answer from any other part of the word. And if I couldn’t get the circled crosses, I was just out of luck on that theme answer for a while. I also wanted the clues to be more fun! The last part of the grid for me was the first two letters of CAST A REALLY LONG LOOK, which felt very arbitrary to me given that it wasn’t a real phrase (“just a very long look? Past a very long look?”) That one and TOP RANKING ROYAL just weren’t that satisfying of answers to figure out.
Like any Sunday, there are some weaker spots in the fill (A SOU, IT TO, C CLEF, CIO) but there were a lot of highlights too! Some fun answers to call out – HINT HINT, BLASTOFF, OUTKAST, OBELISK. There were some great clues today too – [Ax handlers, perhaps] for ROADIES, [They barely scratch the surface] for ICE SKATES, and [Entertainer who doesn’t sound very selfish?] for CHER. I competed on Jeopardy last year, so I liked the angle on [“I’ll take ‘Crossword Clues’ for $2,000, please, ___!”] for KEN as well (unfortunately there were no crossword related answers on my episode).
Happy Sunday all! See you tomorrow for the Monday write-up.
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post Crossword “Themeless No. 26” — Matt’s Write-Up
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post Crossword “Themeless No. 26” solution, 6/29/2025
Themeless this week from Evan. Some of the longest entries deliver: VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS, WIN THE INTERNET, the conversational LETS NOT GO THERE and I GET THAT A LOT are highlightes. The northeast and southwest corners are nicely open. I’m not finding myself with a lot to say otherwise – apologies – it’s a decently connected grid that doesn’t force solvers into one path or another – helpful with a handful of names in the middle downs: HALES, EWELL, SEGAR, FLATT.
Other highlights for my money: Been a minute seen I’ve seen IMARETS (here, [Ottoman soup kitchens] in a puzzle. I’m pretty sure it’s a word I learned from puzzles // Small misdirect in [Huge oil vessel] for SUPERTANKER, a seafaring vessel // [Get over it?] for HOVER // CUTS A RUG, just as an entry
Les Mots’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Ticking Away”—Jim’s review
This is the debut puzzle for Les Mots, if that is indeed an actual name. It translates to The Words in French. So either congratulations are in order, or someone is yanking our collective chain.
Theme answers come in pairs with one indicating the removal of a unit of time and another with that unit removed. The revealer is TIME BANDITS (69a, [1981 fantasy adventure film … or what the starred clues’ answers are?]).
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Ticking Away” · Les Mots · 6.29.25
- 23a [*Complete a sneaky baseball maneuver … or rob 29-Across?] STEAL SECOND with 29a [Assume a subordinate role?] PLAY (second) FIDDLE.
- 42a [*Pause for a little bit … or rob 52-Across?] TAKE A MINUTE with 52a [Short break near the end of an NFL game?] TWO (minute) WARNING.
- 96a [*”Falls back” … or robs 88-Across?] GAINS AN HOUR with 88a [Drink brand that gives you a boost?] FIVE (hour) ENERGY.
- 119a [*”Carpe diem!” … or rob 109-Across?] SEIZE THE DAY with 109a [Middle of the afternoon, e.g.?] BROAD (day) LIGHT.
Cool theme. I would not have thought you could come up with enough time-stealing phrases to make this work, but here we are. And then to find suitable “robbed” phrases that could all fit symmetrically is an even taller order. STEAL SECOND is a little bit of an outlier since “second” does not refer to the unit of time, but given the constraints of the theme, it works well enough. And then of course there’s the film which is a favorite of mine, directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame. There’s also an Apple TV series from last year starring Lisa Kudrow (though I’ve yet to watch it; the trailer looks cute though).
Fill highlights include BODY BLOW, LIFESPAN, EYELINER, and AIRBALL. I wasn’t sure about “I LOST IT” and “I’M SAFE” but their clues work for me ([“That drove me bonkers!”] and [“There’s no danger near me”], respectively). Didn’t know rapper DOECHII, so I needed every crossing as well as a second and third glance. That name stacked with painter Jan Van EYCK and crossing Yiddish OY VEY might be tricky for some solvers.
Clues of note:
- 90a. [“Looking for something casual” letters on a dating app]. NSA. Meaning “No Strings Attached”.
- 52d. [Actress Kelly Marie ___]. TRAN. She plays Rose Tico in the latest Star Wars films. I just read a bit about her on Wikipedia and her story is essentially the American dream. Her father was homeless as a child in Vietnam. After the war, he and his wife fled for America where he got a job at Burger King and she worked at a funeral home. They send their daughter to UCLA and afterwards she starts getting acting gigs and ends up in the biggest film franchise there is. Pretty amazing. As is her comeback from online racist and sexist attacks.
3.5 stars.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
I can see that it took cleverness to come up with the clues with the embedded answers, but to me, it did not transtlate into a fun solving experience. Many of the phrases seemed arbitrary. Maybe it was the mix… If they were all a little outlandish or funny (e.g. MOUSE ERADICATOR) or if they were all real phrases (NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN), it would have felt more coherent. As it was, if felt like anything goes– e.g. PACIFISTS RENOUNCEMENT…
I agree that some of the fill was very good, and there was a lot less bad fill than is often the case on a Sunday. So for me, the theme was the issue.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
I didn’t enjoy it either. I kept looking for something that felt more clever, and my expectations of how the theme clues would be playful or the circled words unified in some way made it even harder to come up with the theme.
Oh, may I ask for help: what does “Takes down to the studs” mean? It gives me GOTS, which I don’t follow.
‘Guts’ like when doing a total remodel.
It’s actually GUTS – a term that refers to demolishing all or most of the interior of a building in preparation for a renovation. Plaster or drywall is removed from the interior walls, taking them “down to the studs.”
I believe the clue for 36-D, “Fool” is to be interpreted as a verb.
Thanks to you both.
NYT: Enjoyed this one! It was a bit tricky to get the theme answers; required getting a lot of the crossings, but it worked well that the first themer was pretty easy. Fun solve.
WAPO: dislike the new format. Used to like Merle Reagle crossword on Sundays but no more.
To say I dislike the new format is an understatement. To use crosswordese, I loathe it. I found solving to be much more tedious and unenjoyable. Yuck!
Creaky old Across Lite is fine 90% of the time.
I’ve been printing the WaPo puzzle and solving it with a pen for years. The new format puts the clues on a separate page (or, for today’s puzzle, two pages) from the grid. I’m not going to waste that much paper on this clunky format. I’ll really miss Evan’s consistently clever and well-crafted creations.
Why not print the .pdf we post here?
Thank you so much, Martin. I hadn’t been aware of that service. I will certainly take advantage of it.
Where can I find the pdf you spoke of, Martin?
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 3.5 stars
I’m confused here. The puzzle seemed completely normal to me – I use Nexus Solver with the usual .puz file. What is making folks unhappy?
The new solving software on the Post’s website. They’ve dropped Amuse Labs in favor of their own in-house software.
I don’t know why they’re not including my PDF as part of the printing options, but I’ll contact them to see that they start including it.
For anyone who solves on the Post’s website but has comments about the new software, I suggest either filling out this form, or emailing [email protected] to let them know what you think. They’ve been responsive to feedback before.
I did fill out the form. I noticed the change in the weekly mini +meta (of which I also am not a fan) and didn’t realize that all puzzles were going to the new format. Maybe enough negative comments will get them to revert to the old format. I really don’t want to print out the puzzle, but I may have to.
See note from Lester.
I’ve used Crossword Scraper for puzzles like the NYT and TNY, but this feature is disabled or incompatible with the new Washington Post format. The daily is the same as the LA times, but the LA Times still uses the old format, so it can be scraped with the scraper.
YouTube metrics measure not only hits, but engagement – how many people access a video, and how long do they spend on it are factors used in pricing advertising. I wonder if this new format is designed to defeat Crossword Scraper, thus creating more engagement on the web site, which would translate into more ad revenue?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
NYT – Different and creative, but I thought several of the themes seemed contrived. The solving experience was very disjointed because 123 squares (that’s a lot of theme) out of 441 had no across clue.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1.5 stars
Today’s NYT is the perfect example of my overall opinion that when it comes to themed puzzles, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, as they say. I should just remember to stick to Fri/Sat and BEQ Monday and other hard themeless puzzles so I don’t spend a bunch of time slogging through something only to feel sorta meh once all is said and done.
Anyone figure out how to print the WAPO?
NYT: Not a fan of self-referential clues myself. This one not a fav.
Is FUZZ really synonymous with the Police anymore?? I mean, this seems real 60s (does anyone remember ‘Laugh-In’?) and maybe 70s. When does archaic slang finally become archaic??
WaPo: I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Planxty reference in a crossword before. Kudos!
I don’t know a ton of Irish folk bands but I often listen to Planxty’s albums straight through while building grids.
It’s sort of funny how serene and joyful their music sounds despite how dark many of the lyrics are. I guess that’s in keeping with the great line from G.K. Chesterton:
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
I liked it! A little bit of Thursday on Sunday. Lots of short fill, which would normally grate, but today that was welcome as a way to get at the unclued theme answers. Some of those were better than others: I agree with Sophia that CAST A REALLY LONG LOOK was the weakest of the bunch. But the others were at least okay, and NINE TIMES OUT OF TEN was brilliant!
It was reasonably easy once I saw the trick; my fastest Sunday since February.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4.5 stars
Yes, I groaned when I opened it (in Across Lite) because I always look forward to Evan’s themes, but soon found myself really enjoying the solve…wonderful entries and they were gettable…thanks so much, Evan!
I’m a subscriber to the Washington Post, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to access the Sunday crossword (Evan’s) from last week (6/22). At one point I was able to get the “daily” from last week Sunday, but that’s not what I’m looking for. Can someone help? There must be a way to access the archive, right? Thank you.
You can get the last 5 in Across Lite format here:
https://www.fleetingimage.com/wij/xyzzy/25-wp.html
I can’t help with the online version, but since the WaPo changed their app vendor today it’s possible previous versions are not available. That’s just speculation because I’m not a subscriber.
Very helpful, thank you! :)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
A bit of rough fill, but a fun solve overall. Certainly among the better NYT Sunday puzzles of 2025.