Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Jonesin’ 5:40 (Erin) [1.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:37 (Eric) [2.82 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 6:37 (Jim Q) [3.75 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal 4:53 + looking for a mistake (Eric) [3.25 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [2.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 3:34 (Jim Q) rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Lead with the Lead” — oh, those two letters. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 7/15/25

Hello lovelies! This week’s theme involves phrases or titles starting with the letters of the chemical symbol for lead, Pb.

• 17a. [1998 Barbara Kingsolver novel, with “The”] POISONWOOD BIBLE
• 26a. [Principals in a company] PRIMA BALLERINAS
• 45a. [Pool, in other words] POCKET BILLIARDS
• 59a. [Temporary place to live before moving out, maybe] PARENT’S BASEMENT

Other things:

• 10d. [Snack once pitched by Randy “Macho Man” Savage] SLIM JIM. Ooh yeah!
• 50a. [“A Town Like Alice” novelist Nevil] SHUTE. He was an English aeronautical engineer and novelist who spent his later days in Australia.
• 6d. [East Coast convenience store chain] WAWA. Wawa >>>>> any other convenience store / gas station / deli chain out there.

Until next week!

Daniel Britt’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Daniel Britt’s New York Times Crossword — 7/15/25

Congratulations to Daniel Britt for his New York Times crossword debut!

Today’s theme: Stars from the past whose names share some common letters:

• 18A [“Designing Women” co-star of 1980s-’90s TV] DELTA BURKE
• 28A [Player of the middle son on TV’s “The Partridge Family”] DANNY BONADUCE
• 49A [“E.T.” actress] DREW BARRYMORE
• 64A [Singer who starred in “Labyrinth” (1986) and “The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976)] DAVID BOWIE
• 73A [One place to find 18-, 28-, 49- and 64-Across … or, parsed differently, how these people might introduce themselves] IMDB

I find it hard to imagine some of these folks — particularly Mr. Bowie — introducing themselves by their initials. And I can’t help but wonder whether Daniel Britt’s having the same initials didn’t inspire this theme.

But as early-week themes go, this is fine. Someone who’s never solved a crossword before should be able to easily make sense of the revealer. It’s not so great that the included celebrities (probably selected in large part because of the constraints of grid symmetry) so heavily favor older solvers. (I watched The Partridge Family every week as a kid and found it easy to identify with Danny Bonaduce’s character; the actor is just a few months younger than I am.) For anyone lacking fond memories of one of those TV shows or movies, this theme might not be much fun.

There’s some nice stuff in the grid. KABUKI, SATURN, NUDIE BAR (though I wouldn’t criticize anyone for finding that concept offensive), RUB-A-DUB, BLOOPS and MEDICI (a name I mispronounced for decades) are all things I don’t think I’ve seen that often in crosswords.

The clueing is fine, and I learned that MAD MEN is the [First basic cable show to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series]. I don’t know what I’ll do with that knowledge, but maybe it will come in handy some day.

Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal Crossword “Pub-Crawling” — Eric’s Review

Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal Crossword “Pub Crawling” — 7/15/25

Four theme answers have the letters B-A-R, separated by another letter; the revealer helpfully explains why that’s significant:

• 17A [Black-and-white pattern] ZEBRA PRINT Before I understood the theme, I tried ZEBRA STRIPE.
• 23A [PDF file editor program] ADOBE ACROBAT
• 35A [Event for college seniors] JOB FAIR
• 46A [“Come out of your shell!”] DON’T BE AFRAID
• 55A [Friday night activity, or a hint to a three-letter word spread evenly across five squares in 17-, 23-, 35- and 46-Across] BAR-HOPPING I think this clue wins the award for most explicit description of a puzzle’s theme.

This is the sort of theme that looks like it grew out of the revealer; it didn’t help me solve the puzzle and I wonder if it helped anyone.

Other stuff:

• 1A [“Never ___ Give You Up”] GONNA I somehow missed the whole rickrolling thing and was very annoyed when it showed up in a New York Times crossword years later.
• 28D [Record sleeve writings] LINER NOTES Back when buying a new album was a big deal, I faithfully scoured the liner notes. It helped me appreciate the work of session players, who are often under-recognized.
• 43A [Fan group of a major K-pop band] BTS ARMY I don’t get the appeal of that band, but I know I’m not their target audience.
• 47D [First president with a Twitter account] OBAMA I didn’t know this, but it doesn’t at all surprise me.

Dan Kamman and Zhouquin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

This time I did figure out the theme and knew what at least part of the revealer would be. It’s a timely topic.

Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2025, Dan Kamman & Zhouqin Burnikel

• 17a [Vague catchall expression] is BLANKET TERM. Once again this sounds odd to my ear and once again the Ngram viewer suggests I am out of date. I have never heard this; I use BLANKET STATEMENT. Same thing? Different implication?
• 27a [Folks who hopefully prevail in a tense situation] are COOLER HEADS.
• 47a [Outfield grab perfected by Willie Mays] is the BASKET CATCH.

And the revealer: 61a [Outside eating spots, and where to find the stats of 17-, 27-, and 47-Across: PICNIC AREAS. Nice! Now I want some fruit salad and a red checked tablecloth.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: never heard of wudu. It’s an Islamic RITE of purification.

Ryan Mathiason’s WSJ Crossword “Turning Blue” — Jim Q’s Review

A classic hidden-word theme, but with an elegant twist: synonyms for man (BRO, GUY, MALE) are embedded backwards in familiar phrases — satisfying once you see the revealer.

THEME:
Common phrases that have a synonym for MAN hidden backwards

THEME ANSWERS:

• 

  Ryan Mathiason Wall Street Journal Crossword “Turning Blue” — 7/15/25

  20A: [What you might hit to get higher] ELEVATOR BUTTON. BRO. As in “Put the joint down, BRO. We only hit elevator buttons around here!”

• 34A: [Oxymoronic adjective used as a putdown] PRETTY UGLY. GUY. PRETTY UGLY is one of those classic oxymorons — though I’ve always found it odd. To me, pretty in this context doesn’t mean attractive, but more like somewhat. So is it really contradictory? Either way, it’s a neat base phrase.
• 41A: [Follower of Mary, in a rhyme] LITTLE LAMB. MALE. 
• 51A: [1988 #1 hit for Michael Jackson, and what can be found in the circled letters] MAN IN THE MIRROR.

NEW TO ME:

• Kolkata. I was about to write “not to be confused with Calcutta,” but I’d be totally wrong about that.
• 254 counties in Texas! Is one of them an Orange County? I live in Orange County, NY, but every state seems to have one. Oh. Phew. So does Texas.

OTHER THINGS:

• I have yet to see TRON, though I certainly know of its 1982 existence brought to us by Disney. Filled it in with no crosses. Is this a worthwhile movie?
• I spent a good portion of my recent vacation convincing my brother-in-law that the
  

  This button is lies.

  ELEVATOR BUTTON that supposedly closes the door is not hooked up on any elevator. After multiple experiments in multiple elevators, he was forced to agree.

• Not 100% sure I understand the Blue part of the title, “Turning Blue.” I suppose that it’s a “Blue Man Group” reference. As a side note, that show just closed in NY after a decades-long run. I saw it a few times. Always entertaining. **edit — whilst mowing my lawn, which always feels like a full-contact sport, I realized that blue is simply the traditional color that symbolizes men. Though in all honesty, I feel like that is rather dated, and I’m glad that wasn’t the first thing that popped in my head**

Right over the plate today. 3 stars from me

Aimee Lucido’s New Yorker crossword – Jim Q’s write-up

The New Yorker solution grid – Aimee Lucido – Tuesday 07/15/2025

Aimee Lucido delivers a grid that glides — clever, clean, and dotted with clues that reward both pop culture junkies and language nerds alike.

FAVORITE FILL:

• APTAGRAM. [Word or phrase whose letters can be rearranged to form another with a similar meaning, such as “moon starer” for “astronomer”] This is reminiscent of Peter Gordon’s recent Fireball puzzle where ON THE SLY was clued as an “Antigram” in the 1-Across spot with HONESTLY being the cross-reference.
• DRAG RACE with Jinkx Monsoon. Never saw this show, but Jinkx was sooo much fun in the “Pirates of Penzance!” OPERETTA on Broadway (more of a musical this go-around).  If you have the chance, go see it! One of this season’s highlights imo.
• HUMAN CHESS. Great clue: [Match in which some players behave like queens?]
• DOG TREAT. [Payment for a shake?] Just seeing the clue now. It filled in on its own when I was solving. Adorable.
• MEOW MIX. My last cat would’ve rather starved to death than eat any other brand. MEOW MIX or nothing. Beef flavored. RIP Abby.

NEW TO ME:

• MS. RACHEL / DR. TEETH. I knew the names of neither, yet they are totally
  

  The Dr. is in

  inferable and fun to uncover. Cute crossing.

• VIN SANTO
• NCUTI Gatwa
• TRENTA. There’s nothing I like about Starbucks (I drink plain black coffee, and I don’t like their version of that). But my least favorite thing is their take on sizing.

FUN STUFF:

• SEDGES have edges!
• “The Little Dipper School” is a great name for ELROY‘s alma mater.
• [Taylor Swift song…] KARMA. Great clue for non-Swifties like me.
• [“Come Away With Me” singer Jones] NORAH. I saw her in concert once — no “hello” to the audience! Disappointing.
• [What some “Hot Ones” fans…] SADISTS. I’ve seen those wing-torture videos in passing.
• A Billy bookcase reference! Ikea! I have a couple of those kickin’ around :)
• CONS as [Superfan events, casually]… as in COMIC-CON(S)
• [Like the number of years in a periodical cicada’s life cycle] ODD. Fun clue!

EMBARRASSING MISSTEP:

I wrote in PAPS where PADS should’ve gone [Menstrual-cup alternatives]. That led to a confident PUZZLED where DAZZLED should’ve gone [Astounded]. Took a solid minute or so to find the mistake once I accepted that AVU isn’t [Janelle’s “Abbott Elementary” character]. I should’ve payed better attention in health class.

Lastly, and least importantly, TOK as a standalone is the only thing I didn’t like all that much.

4.5 stars from me