Monday, July 14, 2025

BEQ 9:09 + looking for a mistake (Eric) [3.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 1:59 (Stella) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:48 (Sophia) [3.33 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker ~6 minutes (Amy) [3.89 avg; 9 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today 7:08 (Eric) [2.50 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 4:17 (Jim Q) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it

Christina Iverson’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Write-Up

Theme: Each theme answer ends with a type of hairstyle

New York Times, 07 14 2025, By Christina Iverson

• 17a [Textile pattern that resembles braided wicker] – BASKET WEAVE
• 38a [Sledding event that debuted in the 2022 Winter Olympics] – MONOBOB
• 11d [Gourmet bread for a hamburger] – PRETZEL BUN
• 29d [Steinbeck novella set on a horse ranch] – THE RED PONY
• 61a [English pop singer whose name sounds like a goofy hint to the ends of 17- and 38-Across and 11- and 29-Down – HARRY STYLES

A solid, simple Monday theme today. I’m a big HARRY STYLES fan both pre and post One Direction, so I enjoyed seeing him pop up today. I also liked the theme answers Christina chose a lot. MONOBOB is basically one person bobsledding, and from the moment I learned of its existence in the 2022 Olympics I hoped it would be in a puzzle one day. PRETZEL BUN is also a great answer. I wanted BASKET WEAVE to be “cable knit” at first, even though that only sort of  goes with the clue….

I kind of wish that the hairstyles had more to do with the revealer than just “Harry Styles’s name kind of sounds like hair styles” which isn’t that revelatory to me (but then again, I have thought about Harry Styles more than the average person). I think would have been cool if the theme had been hairstyles plus an “-Y” sound at the end – i.e. theme answers that ended with “bunny” or “bobby”, to more directly connect to the Harry (hair-y) reveal. But I liked this simpler take too.

Other fun things in the puzzle today – REPORTERS, with the timely clue of [Lois Lane and co-workers at the Daily Planet] – I’m excited to see the new Superman movie! I also liked THE STONES, RAZZIE, KIDDOS, BELLY-UP. Actually, there’s a lot of bell answers – BELLY-UP, BELL, and BELLA. They didn’t feel too repetitive to me though since they were all clued very differently. My favorite clue was [Partner of a cone, or of a reel] for ROD.

Happy Monday all!

Joseph McIntyre’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 7/14/25 by Joseph McIntyre

This theme doesn’t need the revealer as a way to help people tie things all together, but it does need the revealer to feel like the uniting factor was worth making a puzzle about, so to speak. 62A [Londoner who may have a Cockney accent, and what can be found in the answer to each starred clue] is EAST ENDER, because each theme entry ENDs with EAST:

• 17A [*Sourdough starter] is WILD YEAST.
• 24A [*News website created by Tina Brown] is THE DAILY BEAST.
• 38A [*Words before a grand finale] is LAST BUT NOT LEAST.
• 50A [*Christian observance that’s on a different day every year] is MOVEABLE FEAST.

There are lots of phrases that end in EAST, so it’s incumbent on the constructor to pick good ones; I think he did, and I also like the amount of thematic material: 50 theme letters in addition to the revealer.

Also, this appears to be a debut! Congratulations to the constructor!

Anna Shechtman’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solution, 7/14/25 – Shechtman

The puzzle was a bit easier than I expected for a Shechtman themeless.

Fave fill: APHRODISIAC, FREE REFILLS, TONY BENNETT, THE TIMES, STOWAWAY, CAESAR SALAD, “I’M STILL HERE” (Brazilian movie that won Best International Feature Film at the latest Oscars), SECOND SHIFT, “DO NOT PASS GO,” ART WORLD, MATINEE IDOL, EYE FOR AN EYE, SEA ANEMONES. So much terrific long fill! Offset a bit by some of the short fill: ILS ILE CST TSOS OYE SLS AHH.

Three more things:

• 21a.[ Faddish nineteen-nineties collectible], POG. I just want to mock the fussiness of New Yorker style. Who else calls the decade the “nineteen-nineties” when the crisp numerical “1990s” is entirely clear in meaning?
• 22a. [Carmaker Bugatti], ETTORE. Italian Hector. Probably a tough entry for those who don’t know their early 1900s European sports car business. Betting that over 90% of us worked the crossings here.
• 48a. [Groucho, Harpo, Chico, or Zeppo, in the seafaring comedy “Monkey Business”], STOWAWAY. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Marx Brothers movie!

3.5 stars from me.

Noelle Griskey’s Universal crossword, “Sidekick” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 7/14/25 • Mon • “Sidekick” • Griskey • solution • 20250714

• 54a^R [Male assistant, or a hint to 20-, 35- or 42-Across] RIGHT-HAND MAN. Each of the three entries has a man’s name as the last word (on the right-hand side).
• 20a. [Cheese sometimes flavored with hot peppers] MONTEREY JACK.
• 35a. [Small contribution to a tip jar] DOLLAR BILL.
• 42a. [Have a lasting effect] LEAVE A MARK.

Fine as far as it goes, but the theme feels slight to me.

• 1d [Mama’s mama] GRAM. Had GRAN for a moment, but the cheese saved me.
• 5d [See what somebody’s saying?] LIP READ. Unlike the similar clue from a few days ago, this one makes sense.
• 25d [Indigenous groups] TRIBES. Possibly derisive?
• 29d [Feeling anxious] UNEASY. 43d [Super eager] AGOG. 1a [Utter joy] GLEE. 4d [Makes ecstatic] ELATES.
• 61d [IT VIP] CTO, chief technical officer.
• 17a [Indian tourist city on the Yamuna River] AGRA. The new-to-me Yamuna detail made this solver hesitate for what would normally be an instaget.
• 37a [Word after “French” or “free”] PRESS. Today is Bastille Day, speaking of French and free.
• 46a [Like a hero who deserves credit] UNSUNG. Clue needs a modifier such as ‘perhaps’. It’s very plausible that a hero deserving of recognition gets it.
• 63a [Like the Sahara] ARID.
  
• 18a [Response to “Marco!”] POLO. 19a [Talk back?] REPLY.
  68a [Like melted marshmallows] GOOEY. 69a [Googly-__ ] EYED.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1800 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1800 — 7/14/25

On the easier side for one of Brendan’s themeless puzzles, but a dumb mistake had me searching for a typo and eventually using the check feature.

There’s a bit of an old west mini-theme, with 55A [Ike who was a combatant in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral] CLANTON and 25D [“Hondo” author Louis] LAMOUR. The latter answer required a few crosses; I know the name but have never read any of his books.

Gimmes:

• 1A [Drinks with avocado toast, maybe] MIMOSAS
• 17A [Loud punk music with sensitive lyrics delivered through yelling] SCREAMO
• 35A [Mexican root vegetable] JICAMA I used to make a salad of jicama and carrots cut into matchsticks and dressed with lime juice. It was very tasty and I don’t know why we haven’t had it in years.
• 61A [Istanbul inns] IMARETS Old school crosswordese at its finest.
• 6D [‘Til Tuesday singer] AIMEE MANN Her solo work is probably the music we’ve listed to the most in the last 25 or so years.

Other stuff:

• 16A [Oliver directed him in “Evita”] ANTONIO Banderas, playing Ché Guevara. The clue is wrong: Oliver Stone  and Alan Parker both received screenplay credit for Evita, but Parker directed it. (Wikipedia describes the trouble production history of the adaptation.)
• 19A [“I can vouch for these guys”] THEY’RE WITH ME
• 30A [Only team to lose a World Series on a walk-off wild pitch] METS That’s not in my limited store of baseball trivia, but with the M in place, the Mets seemed like the most logical answer. (I tried to figure out what year this happened, but lost interest when I couldn’t quickly find a definitive answer. 2015, maybe?)
• 32A [Old Testament prophet] MICAH There are so many of them that you can only wait for a few crosses.
• 36A [“Words can’t describe it, man”] YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW
• 49A [Where some people stop and smell the rosés] WINE TASTINGS Cute clue.
• 59A [Have Mario compete in Mortal Kombat, e.g.] GAME MOD As in modification. Even if I were interested in video games, I don’t think I have the computer skills to do any modifications.
• 60A [Talkative] VOLUBLE Nice, underused word.
• 62A [Increases in activity] STEP-UPS/44D [It’s done by someone with a lot of pull] CHIN-UP A minor duplication that doesn’t bother me much and in any case is mitigated by the clever clue for CHIN-UP.
• 48D [Everybody gets a turn with one] STILE Nice clue.

Mike Torch’s WSJ Crossword “Season Opener” — Jim Q’s Review

Mike Torch’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Season Opener” — 7/14/25

Hello! Jim Q here — slowly inching my way back from an extended crosswording break, and stepping in for Jim P for the foreseeable future of WSJ write-ups. Happy to be back! :)

THEME:
Common phrases that begin with herbs or seasonings, clued wackily.

THEME ANSWERS:

• 17A: [Suspended artwork made of aromatic herbs?] MINT MOBILE
  As much as I love the Mint Mobile commercials featuring Ryan Reynolds, I don’t know anyone who actually uses the service. Any reviews out there?
• 24A / 36A: [Followed by 36-Across, cayenne that wants information?] PEPPER WITH / QUESTIONS I’m only just now appreciating how funny PEPPER WITH QUESTIONS is. Because it was split across the grid, I didn’t fully process the idea of PEPPER being a noun — and one that has questions! What might those questions be? Perhaps Dr. Pepper could help? (rimshot!) This one stands out because it personifies PEPPER, while the others don’t seem to do so.
• 51A: [Guidance for someone preparing turkey stuffing?] SAGE ADVICE
• 60A: [Request to borrow a cup of spice mix?] CURRY FAVOR You know your neighbor’s a keeper when they lend you curry powder and don’t ask questions.
  I suppose all of these phrases could’ve been clued straightforward and still fit the theme. But who doesn’t love a bit of Monday wackiness?

NEW TO ME:

• FRAN Tarkenton and ALI Mahershala. I guessed ELI and momentarily accepted FREN as a possible name. I’m terrible with names — and even worse with sports trivia.
• ALPH (River crossing) and ASAHI (brand of beer) tripped me up. I had OLPH briefly, forgetting the beer name. Isn’t there another Japanese beer that’s five letters and maybe starts with an O? I can’t check — internet’s spotty.
• IN-RUN — apparently part of a ski jump. I’ll take your word for it.
• Le HAVRE — the French port. Not a regular in my port rotation.

HIGHLIGHTS IN FILL:

• QUEEN BEY — always welcome.
• TATES cookies — So good. So crisp. So gone.
• DEPLORE —don’t think I’ve seen it without the -able suffix!

Enjoyable start to the week! 3.75 stars from me

Erik Agard’s USA Today Crossword “Boundary Surveys” — Eric’s Review

Erik Agard’s USA Today Crossword “Boundary Surveys” — 7/14/25

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Monday USA Today puzzle. Given the venue and the fact that this puzzle has a title, I expected to see a theme. But if there is one, it completely eluded me (not an unprecedented occurrence).

As a themeless puzzle, there’s some nice stuff here:

• 17A [Slogan on a viral T-shirt worn by Pedro Pascal] PROTECT THE DOLLS I don’t read much celebrity news, so Today I Learned that (A) “Protect the Dolls” is a statement of support for transgender women and (B) Pedro Pascal (who comes off as a genuinely nice guy) has a transgender sister.
• 37A [Food with its own knife] STEAK It took too many crosses to figure this one out. For some reason, I interpreted the clue as “food that comes with a knife,” not “food for which there is a specialized knife.” Hands up if you own a set of steak knives.
• 56A [“All the King’s Men” and “The Man Who Cried I Am,” for two] POLITICAL NOVELS I know the first one (Robert Penn Warren, 1946, loosely based on the Depression-era Louisiana governor and senator Huey P. Long) but not the second. It’s from 1967, by John A. Williams, a writer whom I’m not familiar with.
• 1D [See what someone is saying?] LIP-READ A cute clue that I don’t really like. It seems to poke fun at people who lip-read, most of whom I assume have a hearing impairment.
• 11D [Player among the very best in the league] ALL-STAR I conflated sports and entertainment (not that there’s much difference) and had A-LISTER for too long.
• 18D [Orange puff made by Frito-Lay] CHEETO It’s been a long time since I have licked that strange orange dust off my fingers.
• 31D [Faux ___ (social mistake)] PAS Does the parenthetical in the clue add anything? What other “faux ___” phrase do people know?
• 37D [Portmanteau for easily influenced folks] SHEEPLE This should’ve been a gimme.
• 50D [Skincare brand whose name translates to “snow white”] NIVEA According to Wikipedia, it’s from the Latin adjective. It’s a brand I mostly know from crosswords.

My slow solving time was a combination of typos, wrong answers, the distraction of ads and unfamiliarity with the USA Today puzzle-solving interface. Why can’t they all work the same way?