Jonesin’ 6:00 (Erin) rate it
LAT tk (Jenni) 
[2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:25 (Eric) 
[2.71 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker untimed (pannonica) [3.00 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal 3:41 (Eric) 
[4.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [2.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 5:07 (Jim) [3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Peddle Pieces” — some vend diagrams. – Erin’s write-up
Jonesin’ solution 7/8/25
Hello lovelies! I hope you enjoy the playset found in this week’s Jonesin’ theme.
- 20a. [Marvel series from 2013-2020] AGENTS OF SHIELD
- 25a. [Info that often gets encrypted] PERSONAL DETAILS
- 47a. [It only has 60 feet between bases] SOFTBALL DIAMOND
- 52a. [How additional items are described in toy ads (and a hint to the circled letters)] SOLD SEPARATELY. Each of the theme entries contains the letters SOLD, with the two halves of the word separated by other letters.
Other things:
- 8d. [“What’s My Line?” panelist] CERF. He was also a co-founder of Random House.
- 49d. [Small human-shaped board game piece] MEEPLE. Gamer Alison Hansel coined the term in 2000 by accidentally combining the words “my people” during a game.
Until next week!
Guilherme Giliol’s Universal Crossword “When Things Go the Wrong Way” — Eric’s Review
Guilherme Gilioli’s Universal Crossword “When Things Go the Wrong Way” — 7/8/25
Circled letters in the grid “hide” some synonyms for failure:
- 17A [“Piece of cake!”] IT’S SIMPLE Miss
- 28A [Alternatives for vegans] MEAT SUBSTITUTES Bust
- 49A [Brunch order with ham and peppers] WESTERN OMELETTE Lemon I lost a few seconds here because I think of that dish as a Denver omelette.
- 65A [ Beach footwear … and a theme hint] FLIP-FLOPS
As early-week themes go, I like that this is easy to interpret with its synonyms for FLOP, yet not too obvious given that those synonyms run backwards in the grid (which of course is where the FLIP figures in). I also like the fresh feeling of the theme answers, though the grid was easy enough to fill in without fully understanding the theme.
There are a fair number of proper nouns in the puzzle: Dalai LAMA, SALMA Hayek, EROS, INDY 500, Costa RICA, IRAQ, OTTO from The Simpsons, the Buffalo SABREs, RENÉE Zellweger, Apple MACS, OSLO, ANDY Warhol, TRIO clued to the band Nirvana, ABEL, T.S. ELIOT, and RENO. None are particularly obscure (Ms Hayek might be the least well-known), but they’re all names crossword solvers should learn, because they’ll see them again and again.
Andy Warhol, “Marilyn Diptych,” 1962
Other stuff:
- 10D [Some “Pawn Stars” treasures] ANTIQUES I hadn’t heard of that show, but the answer was easy enough to suss out with a letter or two.
- 47D [“Me(ow) day” places] PET SPAS Cute clue. Maybe a bit too cute.
Wren Schultz’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Indefinite Article”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases with a buried (hidden) LEDE. The revealer is BURY THE LEDE (61a, [What reporters shouldn’t do, or a hint to this puzzle’s theme]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Indefinite Article” · Wren Schultz · Tue., 7.8.25
- 17a. [Diabolically good picnic staple] DEVILED EGGS.
- 27a. [Nutty Buddy brand] LITTLE DEBBIE.
- 48a. [Iconic London transport] DOUBLE-DECKER. Seems a little ambiguous without the “bus” but we all know what we’re talking about here. Why not use “bus” in the clue?
I really like the revealer here which is an excellent way to hint at what’s hidden in the other answers. Many times a revealer will be a phrase with the word “hidden” or “inner,” so it’s nice to see something different. And the choices of theme answers are all lively. There are other potentials I found like “title deed,” “juvenile delinquent,” and “ankle-deep,” but adding another theme answer would’ve taxed the grid overmuch methinks.
As it is, we get the BATMOBILE which is a highlight for me plus other goodies “IT’S OPEN!,” LA-Z-BOY, YERTLE the Turtle, defunct CD RACKS, DROOLED, and DECRYPT. I know nothing about knitting, so CAST ON was new to me. Some crosswordese glued things together (ELHI, SERE, IDES), but the positives outweighed the negatives.
Clues of note:
- 6d. [Take into a flying saucer, say]. ABDUCT. I appreciate a clue that doesn’t evoke child endangerment.
- 43d. [1974 pop hit “___-Ca-Dabra”]. ABRA. Now I’ve got the ear worm, so I’m passing it on to you.
3.5 stars.
Jesse Guzman’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review
Jesse Guzman’s New York Times Crossword — 7/8/25
Jesse Guzman is one of the newer (and younger) constructors showing up in The New York Times in the last year or so. His two most recent NYT puzzles have been themeless. I’ve enjoyed those quite a lot, so I was curious to see what he’d do with an early-week theme. What he’s done here is fine, but most solvers will need the revealer to understand the theme.
Circled letters are a hint that somethings up:
- 16A [Airport that Captain Sully departed from] LA GUARDIA If you’d asked me cold at which New York airport US Airways Flight 1549 originated, I’d probably have misremembered it as JFK.
- 21A [Animation studio behind “Scooby-Doo”] HANNA-BARBERA
- 34A [Crave] ACHE FOR
- 46A [What a pleasure-seeker seeks] DOPAMINE RUSH I expect that many crossword solvers get a small dose of dopamine on figuring out a tricky answer or finishing a puzzle.
- 54A [Outstanding effort … or a feature of 16-, 21-, 34- and 46-Across?] A-PLUS WORK
Each of these A+ jobs is a nice find. But when AGUARD made no sense on its own, I ignored the circles and just worked through the grid without much pause. That’s fine for a Tuesday puzzle; I don’t usually expect to use the theme to help me solve.
There’s nice stuff throughout the rest of the grid:
- 19A [Channel with a yellow rectangle logo, informally] NAT GEO I’ve seen (and sometimes read) National Geographic magazines for decades. If I’d thought for a second about that clue, the answer would have been obvious. As it was, I guessed based on N____O.
- 28A [What colors on opposite ends of the color wheel can do] CLASH I’d always thought that being on the opposite side of the color wheel meant that the colors complemented each other. And since when does a “wheel” have “ends”?
- 45A [Cheddar, dough, bacon or cabbage] MOOLAH Why are so many slang terms for money based on foodstuffs? More importantly, what does the NYT puzzle-editing team have against the Oxford comma?
- 49A [“La Traviata” and “La Bohème”] OPERAS Verdi and Puccini, respectively. Even people who aren’t opera fans (which includes me) are likely to recognize at least one of those titles.
- 58A [Place for a coin collection?] SOFA Cute clue, even if I’ve seen similar ones before.
- 61A [Obedience class command] HEEL/62A [Obedience class command] STAY Repeated clues often slow me a little, but when they’re right next to each other, I’m less likely to think, “Didn’t I just see that?”
- 4D [“To be honest …”] TRUTH IS
- 9D [Generator of junk mail] SPAM BOT The spam email I used to get seems to have been replaced with spam texts. (Excuse me while I go pay those highway tolls.)
- 10D [Better choice, given the options] LESSER EVIL We’re 3½ years from the next presidential election, but it’s never too soon to remember how the Electoral College works.
- 20D [No-name] RANDO Merriam-Webster dates this to 2003. I would have thought it was of more recent coinage. Either way, I kinda like it.
- 22D [Bad-mouth] ASPERSE One of those oddities of the English language: I expect far more people know “aspersions” than the verb form. Fun fact: It comes from the Latin asperger, “to sprinkle.”
- 35D [Rock out on stage?] CHRIS Cute clue, even though it does remind me of Rock making fun of Jada Pinkett Smith.
- 42D [Spiky hairdos] MOHAWKS
Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up
New Yorker • 7/8/25 • Tue • Agard • solution • 20250708
Even though, as usual with Agard’s puzzles, there were several key (seed?) entries I was unfamiliar with but happy to learn of, the crossings—with one minor exception—were fair, so nothing to complain about on that front.
To wit:
- 1a [Revolutionary who wrote, in her 1987 autobiography, “Love is an acid / that eats away bars”] ASSATA SHAKUR. The crossing I alluded to is at 9d [Christian denomination with an anvil-and-cross logo, for short] AME, African Methodist Episcopal.
- 1d [People for whom Chi’chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat) is a sacred site] APACHE.
- 49a [Fictional band in “Coming to America”] SEXUAL CHOCOLATE, which feels like a very deliberate Marvin Gaye/P-Funk mashup.
- 52a [Doechii hit that ends with a breathing exercise] DENIAL IS A RIVER.
So, about half of the longest entries, but as I said fair.
- 15a [Event for city runners] MA— no, not MARATHON something—MAYORAL RACE. New York City just had a remarkable primary, with Zohran Mamdami the clear winner in the Democratic race.
- 20a [Nickname for Chester] is the rather direct CHET. From this, I was expecting 42d [Name meaning “brown”] BRUNO to be BRAUN.
- 21a [Seeing-red feeling] ANGER. 25a [Styling approach that pairs luxury and non-luxury items] HIGH-LOW.
- 28a [Brown drinks] COLAS. Tried BOBAS first, but I suppose that’s more off-white or tan.
- 32a [“The Wretched of the Earth” author Frantz] FANON. Pulled this out from the recesses of my memory.
- 33a [Accent mark that signifies a creaky, rising tone in Vietnamese] TILDE. Novel approach to a relatively common crossword entry.
- 38a [ __ the question] BEG, but I jumped the gun and wrote in POP.
- 2d [Greet someone, rhymingly] SAY HEY. This might have been clued in reference to Willie Mays.
- 6d [If and only if] AS LONG AS, but I tend to say SO LONG AS.
- 8d [Jewish campus organization] HILLEL. Again, from somewhere in the corners of my mind.
- 30d [Fish in the genus Gadus] COD. Didn’t know this, but C– couldn’t really be anything else.
- 32d [First partner?] FOREMOST. Fortunately I had the first letter here. Question mark mighty helpful.
- 34d [Aquatic animal with a long memory] DOLPHIN. They have large brains too. Might be correlated.
- 37d [Emphasize in a roundabout way?] CIRCLE. Cute. 39d [Like a final draft, hopefully] EDITED.
And since when does a “wheel” have “ends”?
Agreed. It doesn’t. And that reminds me of why the phrase “ends of the earth” makes zero sense to me!
“Opposite ends of diameters of (the wheel)” could use some abbreviation, no?
“Opposite sides of the wheel” needs no abbreviation.
Ok, if you’re good with circles having sides but not ends, that’s a fine solution.
If a ring and a wheel are like shapes then my wedding vows, and many, many others, would support no ends for a wheel
An interesting way to waste a few minutes is to go have a look at the rather lengthy Wikipedia article titled “Color wheel”. There you’ll learn how many different types of such wheels there are, organized in different schemes for different purposes.
In some of those schemes, colors opposite each other are complementary. In others, not. But none of the wheels have “ends”.
Looks like “ends of the earth” comes from the Old Testament when they thought the Earth was flat.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
What are you talking about? What puzzle?
.
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 4 stars
WSJ: In 1974, the Steve Miller Band hit single was “The Joker.” It wasn’t until 1982 that “Abra-Ca-Dabra” hit the charts and reached #1. Although, from what I read, he had a much earlier version of the song which he scrapped. The video is from 1982.
I thought 1974 seemed early for the Steve Miller hit too. A little Googling informs me that The DeFranco Family had a Top 40 hit by that name in 1974. I don’t remember it by title and am not interested enough to listen to it now to see if I recognize it. The DeFrancos never did much for me. They always seemed like a poor rip-off of The Jackson 5 and The Osmonds, though I wasn’t much of a fan of the latter either.
I think you’re right – the clue is referring to the DeFrancos’ song. It’s title is hyphenated as in the clue. The title of the Steve Miller song is “Abracadabra” – all one word.
I graduated from high school in 1974, so I was listening to a lot of Top-40 radio. I listened to the DeFranco song, and it sounds vaguely familiar (not my cup of tea).
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 3.5 stars
Thanks for the clarification, guys. I never even considered that there was a song with that title other than the Steve Miller hit. Never even heard of the DeFranco family. I watched the video (so you don’t have to), and it just doesn’t hold up well.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
We’re going to have another election in 3 1/2 years? You sure about that?
I must have my dumb hat on, today. Again, what are you talking about? What puzzle?
From Eric’s NYT review:
“10D [Better choice, given the options] LESSER EVIL We’re 3½ years from the next presidential election, but it’s never too soon to remember how the Electoral College works.”
It’s also never too soon to abolish the Electoral College altogether. It was basically a concession to the slaveholding states.
Amen to your statement, and the U.S. is the only democracy that still uses it because amending our Constitution requires a herculean effort.
You’re right, of course, but I don’t see the Electoral College being abolished, at least not in my lifetime. The states that benefit from the disproportionate representation in the senate and the Electoral College can prevent us from moving to a fairer system.
“More importantly, what does the NYT puzzle-editing team have against the Oxford comma?” From NYT After Deadline Blog, “FAQs on Style” by Philip B. Corbett 6/23/15:
“Where’s the Comma?
Many traditionalists complain about what they view as a missing comma in a sentence like this: He bought apples, pears and bananas.
Style guides for book and academic publishing generally would insist on another comma after “pears,” the so-called serial comma or Oxford comma. But news writing has traditionally omitted the serial comma — perhaps seeking a more rapid feeling in the prose, or perhaps to save time and effort in the old days of manual typesetting.”
Thanks.
I’m not sure I’d noticed the lack of an Oxford comma in NYT articles.
And it doesn’t really bother me; I’m not rigid about using it where (as in the clue) it makes no difference.
The extra, Oxford comma is superfluous.
We saw the strippers, my mother and my sister,
Good one.
“I’d like to thank my parents, Oprah Winfrey and God”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma#Ambiguity
I found TNY eminently solvable, almost easy, especially compared to Monday’s, as only expected given who constructed that one. (Yeah, Last.) Surprisingly so, in fact, given the diagram’s stacks. I didn’t know the fictional band near bottom, but it takes its name from ordinary English words, making it not too hard with crossings for hints.
The top was a different matter. I hadn’t a clue to that name at 1A. and needed every crossing, which weren’t all easy. I’m not sure I think of SAY HEY as a greeting, say, but close enough. I’ve never thought of SCOOT as a word as opposed to “scoot over.” “Reek” took leaving space for what could have been “stink” or ” “smell.” The deceptive clue to do with “city runners” was admirable deception.
But hardest crossing 1A was the start of “roundhouse kick,” which is new to me, and which in turn crosses the African fabric. So harder than I thought by far, but really what a Tuesday should be.
TNY: Not a fan of showcasing convicted murderers as marquee 1-Across answers in general, and certainly not when accompanied by a whitewashed clue that suggests that the convicted murderer is some kind of hero who has contributed anything approaching deep wisdom.
Thanks for your comment – which sent me to Wikipedia. Great point. Agreed.
Thanks. That was informative. After struggling letter by letter with an answer meaningless to me, it doesn’t help to learn it’s not someone I want to know. I didn’t bother look look it up. A definite serious flaw in an otherwise interesting puzzle and not at all fun.