Monday, July 21, 2025

BEQ 10:23 (Eric) [4.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
LAT 1:48 (Stella) rate it
NYT 4:20 (Eric) rate it
The New Yorker 4:36 (Amy) rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) rate it
USA Today 6:07 (Eric) [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
WSJ 4:15 (Jim Q) rate it

Katy Steinmetz and Rich Katz’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

The theme is about as Monday as themes get. There are four things that can be caught, literally or figuratively, and an appropriate revealer:

• 16A [Successful throws to the end zone] TOUCHDOWN PASSES
• 21A [Regular 6 p.m. broadcast of daily events] THE EVENING NEWS That concept seems quaint in our 24-hour news cycle with multiple sources for news always available.
• 38A [Vans from hotels to terminals and back] AIRPORT SHUTTLES
• 50A [Their are fore of them hear in this sentance] SPELLING ERRORS Whoever corrects the spelling mistakes, please remove the unnecessary “here” in the clue. Thank you.
• 58A [Slogan for the Pokémon franchise … also appropriate for 16-, 21-, 38- and 50-Across?] GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL

I was well into adulthood when Pokémon first became big in the United States, but crossword puzzles have taught me the slogan.

I like the variety of the things in the theme clues, even thought there might be an endless list of possible theme answers (if you catch my drift).

I don’t see much that would trip up a new solver: Maybe 20A [Côte d’___ (French Riviera)]  AZUR crossing 8D [___ scheme (financial fraud)] PONZI? 31D [Lineup at Woodstock or Coachella] BANDS? (I expect there are one or two solvers who haven’t heard of either festival.)

Zachary David Levy’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

First let’s hop down to the revealer at 62A [Sister Sledge classic whose second line is “I got all my sisters with me,” and a hint to the starts of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 49-Across], which is WE ARE FAMILY. It’s a drag anthem, and also indicates that the first word in each theme answer is a descriptor for a FAMILY:

• 17A [Film edition typically longer than its theatrical release] is EXTENDED CUT, leading to EXTENDED FAMILY. (I come from a Chinese-American immigrant EXTENDED FAMILY that’s big enough that I call a lot of people “Auntie” and “Uncle” without knowing exactly how they’re related to me.)
• 24A [Big name in nonprescription reading glasses] is FOSTER GRANT, leading to FOSTER FAMILY. I think of FOSTER GRANT more as a maker of sunglasses than of reading glasses, but of course it makes sense that they’d do both.
• 39A [Opinion formed when shaking hands, perhaps] is FIRST IMPRESSION, leading to FIRST FAMILY. One of my favorite Snatch Game performances of all time on RuPaul’s Drag Race is Aquaria as Melania Trump.
• 49A [Wrestling event with a series of combatants] is ROYAL RUMBLE, leading to ROYAL FAMILY. I really miss The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor, which hasn’t been updated in about 10 years but used to have the best dish on who was wearing which tiara when and the history behind said tiaras.

I enjoyed the fill, especially the delightful MR. OLYMPIA at 31D. Nice puzzle!

Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal crossword, “Whirlpool” — pannonica’s write-up

• 55a^R [Natural process that hints at this puzzle’s theme] WATER CYCLE. The chemical formula for a water molecule is H₂0. The water cycle is an ecological process. Rearranging the letters H-H-O in various ways—as is done in the theme entries—accurately reflects neither, hence the “hints at” phrasing of the revealer’s clue.
• 17a. [Malibu rental] BEACH HOUSE.
• 23a. [First MLB player with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season] SHOHEI OHTANI.
• 35a. [“Well, what do we have here?!”] OH HELLO.
• 46a. [It’s almost too late] ELEVENTH HOUR. So we end where we started, with the H-H-O arrangement. In that sense, the theme is cyclical.

Far from the first time we’ve seen a crossword theme based on the molecular structure of water, and I daresay it won’t be the last.

• Started off with a blunder. 1a [Time off, informally] is VACAY (ugh), not R AND R. Was reinforced by the second-spot A in 2d [Seemingly forever] AGES.
• 6d [Snare] TRAP. Also, a SNARE is a basic type of drum, and another name for a drum kit is a TRAP set.
• 15a [Ctrl+Y, on a PC] REDO. Though I’m a big fan of keyboard shortcuts, I don’t use this particular combo so often.
• 22a [Newspaper parts] PAGES. >yawn< 62a [Chooses from the menu] GETS. >yawn< 35d [Made a decision] OPTED. Okay.
• 31a [Place to park a parka] COAT TREE, not a COAT RACK, as I first tried. 14a [Canadian Inuit shelter] IGLOO.
• 60a [Spine-chilling] EERIE. 32d [The “E” of HOMES] ERIE.
• 1d [Hard-to-describe feeling] VIBE.
  
• 3d [Join hands?] CLAP. The entry that gave me 1-across.
• 7d [Reduce, __, recycle] REUSE. Too often the first two parts of the slogan are downplayed while the easy, out-of-sight, feel-good recycle step (which isn’t always actually viable) is emphasized. Take the whole sentiment to heart.
• 22d [Shot taken at prom?] PHOTO. What is this clue.
• 36d [Beeper?] HORN. Okay.
• 40a [Shifts the course of] DIVERTS. Maybe like water?
  
• 55d [Sign of puppy love?] WAG. Sure.
• 56d [1 or 11 in blackjack] ACE.

Elizabeth Gorski’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap

Easier than I expected. Am crunched for time, so that was appreciated!

Fave fill: HANDBELL CHOIR (because a puzzle friend has been in one), OPEN-TOE shoes, Christmas TAMALE, MELANCHOLIA, BARCELONA, FOOTLOOSE, Snoopy’s JOE COOL, SITZFLEISCH. Meh: ARA ADIA GENII IROC AMAH MPS; I learned most of those from past crosswords.

New to me: [“The Lincoln Highway” author Towles], AMOR. It’s Amor Towles, not Towles Amor.

3.25 stars from me.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1802 — Eric’s Review

Another Themeless Monday that hits the sweet spot for me: Enough gimmes to get things rolling, but also enough answers where I needed to fill in from the crosses or give some real thought to the clues. Obviously, every solver has a different sweet spot. Where’s this puzzle in relation to yours?

Gimmes:

• 20A [“The Children of ___” (1992 P.D. James novel)] MEN I haven’t read the book, but the movie was pretty good.
• 22A [“Buena Vista Social Club” setting] CUBA It’s going to be hard to resist the temptation to post “Chan Chan” with this review. Such a great song.
• 40A [Fragrance launched by the pop singer Grande] ARI I don’t know much about Ms Grande other than seeing her in Wicked, but crosswords have taught me her nickname and her non-musical endeavors.
• 4D [“The English Patient” actress] Juliette BINOCHE Great movie. Try to watch it on a big screen if you can.
• 7D [Eagles song with the lines “And I’m feelin’ strong / I will sing this vict’ry song”] ALREADY GONE
• 14D [“Chicago” Golden Globe winner] Richard GERE Maybe not quite a gimme, but with the G from 11A SMOG, it was an educated guess.
• 54D [First name of the Hungarian Revolution] IMRE Nagy My only problem was initially spelling the name with a Y rather than an E.
• 55D [Wildfire response org.] FEMA We moved to southern Colorado about a year ago and wildfires are a serious concern. I hope to never need FEMA’s ASSISTANCE.

New to me:

• 36A [Maiden overs, e.g., in cricket] STAT I watched about 10 minute of a cricket game once while visiting England. “Overs” sounds vaguely familiar; “maiden overs” doesn’t.
• 45A [Car announced on “E Day”] The Ford EDSEL. I tried TESLA first, but the crosses quickly took care of that.
• 51A [Akershus Fortress city] OSLO Crosswords are great for learning trivia about the Norwegian capital.
• 29D [___ Henrik Abel (Norwegian mathematician)] NIELS I guess Niels Bohr gets Mondays off.

• 31D [Strength is a part of it] TAROT It’s only from crosswords that I’ve learned that a standard tarot deck has cards depicting traits as well as characters like The Fool.
• 44D [It’s part of Equatorial Guinea] RÍO MUNI This is a region named, not surprisingly, after a river. It’s the part of Equatorial Guinea that’s on the African mainland. The rest of the country is islands and the current capital (Malabo) is on Bioko Island.

 

 

 

There’s some fun stuff in the rest of the grid, especially in the spanners:

• 17A [Game] DOWN FOR WHATEVER Nice, ambiguous clue.
• 33A [Sage words] WISE SAYING
• 43A [One in the terrible twos, e.g.] HOLY TERROR
• 53A [Líder del infierno] DIABLO I should have recognized “infierno” more quickly.
• 60A [“Hey, you do you!”] I’M NOT ONE TO JUDGE
• 10D [Porn collection] STASH I was slightly embarrassed to realize that my husband and I had left our porn on top of a cabinet in our house when we sold it 35 years ago. I hope whoever found it wasn’t too scandalized.

Marc Goldstein’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Dyeing Breeds” — Jim Q’s write-up

A colorful puzzle from Marc Goldstein today!

THEME: “Creatures” in common phrases preceded by a color.

THEME ANSWERS:

• 

  Marc Goldstein * WSJ Puzzle Solution Grid * 7.21.25

  20A: [Creature of financial burden] — WHITE ELEPHANT

• 28A: [Creature of whodunit distraction] — RED HERRING

• 35A: [Creature of screwdriver recipes] — GREY GOOSE

• 48A: [Creature of familial disgrace] — BLACK SHEEP

• 57A: [1990s sketch comedy show, or how you’ll see these creatures in the puzzle] — IN LIVING COLOR

As someone caught between Gen X and Millennial—too old to claim avocado toast, too young to have fully trusted dial-up—this revealer struck a nostalgic chord. In Living Color ran from 1990–1994, and while my memories are fuzzy, I definitely recall the Fly Girls, Homey D. Clown, the Wayans family dynasty, and of course, the truly unhinged Fire Marshall Bill (Jim Carrey before he went full enlightenment guru).

The base phrases are solid, and I like that each one features a color-animal combo used idiomatically. Not sure if I get the connection to IN LIVING COLOR exactly. I think the idea is: these “creatures” are color-based idioms, and now they’re clued literally, making them “in living color”? Sort of?

GREY GOOSE is the odd one out. A white elephant is a financial burden, a red herring is a distraction—but a grey goose isn’t a screwdriver recipe. Vodka is in one, and why you’d be taking a high-end vodka like GREY GOOSE and mixing it with orange juice is beyond me. Use Schmirnoff for that. Also, GOOSE doesn’t try to avoid that it actually refers to a living goose- the animal is prominently featured on the label.

FAVE FILL:

• UNIONIZES and PULITZERS made for a satisfying symmetrical duo.

• [Accessory for Mr. Peanut] MONOCLE — always good to correct the Monopoly Man Mandela Effect. (He never had one. Your brain is lying to you.)

NEW TO ME:

• In VINO veritas — “In wine there is truth.” Should’ve inferred, but didn’t.

• The Kendrick Lamar song “YAH.” — Somehow escaped me, possibly due to being trapped in an NPR-core playlist loop.

• The OLIN / ELUL crossing plus NOHO (SOHO was just as plausible) might cause some solver wipeouts,

• I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea WHITE ELEPHANT referred to a financial burden. I know it from the Hemingway title “Hills Like White Elephants” and also the holiday gift-giving game. Also, my family always called me the BLACK SHEEP as I have some distinct differences- musically inclined, red-meat eater, into theater, etc. I hope they never thought of me as a “disgrace” though! Seems like a harsh word!

I’m confused about whether or not DYE has any significance as the final down answer- the clue doesn’t seem to want to relate it to the puzzle, but DYE is in the title… so… any ideas?

Even if the theme-revealer connection didn’t totally land for me, this was still a lively, enjoyable solve.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Dena R. Verkuil’s USA Today Crossword “Play to the Crowd (Freestyle)” — Eric’s Review

I assume from the title that this is a themeless puzzle. I didn’t see a theme while solving, and I’m not going to spend any time looking for one.

As themeless puzzles go, this was on the easy side. But there’s some nice fill:

• 17A [Input mistake] USER ERROR That’s right, blame the poor, hapless user.
• 21A [White elephant party alternative] SECRET SANTA
• 36A [FX show whose middle letter stands for “horror”] AHS I’ve not heard of this one, but I guess it’s better than clueing it as a plural of an expression of comprehension or pleasure.
  

  Roz Chast, “Secret Santa” (from The New Yorker)

• 54A [Fisherman’s Wharf or Times Square, e.g] TOURIST TRAP Those places are not what I think of when I hear that phrase, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been to either one. And I never spent too much time in either. But I do know that they are meccas for visiting vacationers.
• 60A [Niche community for a specific topic] SUBREDDIT I don’t use Reddit, but I’ve heard this term before.
• 63A [Poet Banias] ARI That’s not a name I’d heard before. But given that his work has been in a collection called Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Politics, maybe he’s someone I should look into.
• 3D [Thorough examination of a subject] DEEP DIVE
• 6D [Beer/Pong venues] BARCADES I learned this word from a New York Times puzzle a few months ago.
• 11D [“This Is ___ Tap” SPINAL The original is one of my favorite movies. I’m looking forward to the sequel, but I’m a little worried that it won’t be as funny.
• 38D [Cocktail made with whiskey, lemon and honey] HOT TODDY I had a bit of a cold when we went skiing in Utah in January. The bar at the place where we stayed had a “hot totty” on their drink menu. Really nice, especially at 8 AM.