Wednesday, July 23, 2025

AV Club 4:57 (Amy) [2.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 3:34 (Gareth) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:12 (Amy) [3.70 avg; 15 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:00 (Kyle) [4.08 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today 7:50 (Emily) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 7:48 (Eric) [3.92 avg; 6 ratings] rate it

Jonathan Raksin’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Skywriters” — Eric’s Review

Jonathan Raksin’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Skywriters” — 7/23/25

Finally, a puzzle for well-read ornithologists and bird-watching book lovers! Those have got to be untargeted demographics, however small.

The first four theme answers each have four contiguous circled letters, which are explained by the revealer:

• 17A [His “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was banned in the U.S. until 1959] D.H. LAWRENCE I read that book at about 11 or 12. I don’t think my parents knew what was on the bookshelf in my older brother’s bedroom, which I inherited when he went to college. I might have shaved a minute or two off my solving time if I had seen this gimme earlier than I did.
• 23A [Poet who defended writing in the vernacular in “De Vulgari Eloquentia” DANTE ALIGHIERI I needed a few crosses to suggest his name and feel slightly smug that I spelled “Alighieri” correctly the first time. [I’m less smug now for having originally misspelled it in my review, which makes me wonder if I would have put that second I in there if I hadn’t already gotten TIGON. Thanks to commenter Pavel Curtis for catching that.]
• 36A [His “Green Hills of Africa chronicles a safari he took in Tanzania in 1933] ERNEST HEMINGWAY I lost a bit of time here, too, by not reading the clue and instead just filling in the answer from a few key letters in his surname.
• 49A [His “Doctor Zhivago” was smuggled into Italy from the USSR for publication] BORIS PASTERNAK I didn’t know that this 1957 novel was banned in the Soviet Union because the author was critical of the October Revolution.
• 58A [Literary alias, and an apt description of 17-, 23-, 36- and 49-Across] NOM DE PLUME The description is “apt” because the circled letters in each writer’s name spell a bird.

I guess if a solver wasn’t familiar with one of these author’s names, the circled bird name might help them out a little. I can’t judge whether these names are familiar to most solvers; I’m constantly reminded that names that are familiar to me aren’t familiar to everyone.

I don’t see any significance in the fact that the bird names are all four letters. I expect it’s just that finding an author whose name contains SPARROW or EAGLE would be difficult.

Other stuff:

• 19A [McGregor of “Moulin Rouge!”] EWAN When that movie was released in 2001, the deejay who I listened to weekday mornings was obsessed with some song from that soundtrack. He played it multiple times each show. I eventually forgave him for doing that with so many songs over the years because he introduced me to a lot of really good music. R.I.P., John Aeilli.
• 21A [Any of 28 in a Monopoly game] DEED I can’t remember the last time I played Monopoly and that’s fine by me.
• 43A [City whose Toyen Park hosts the annual Oyafestivalen music festival] OSLO Just two days ago, in another puzzle, I picked up a different bit of trivia about the Norwegian capital. I’ve already forgotten it. On one level, that doesn’t matter; if the clue has a word that looks vaguely Norse, you know what the answer is.
• 2D [Jackson who portrayed his father in “Straight Outta Compton”] O’SHEA He’s technically O’Shea Jackson, Jr. His father is better known by his stage name of Ice Cube.
• 11D [Motor Skils?] POWER SAWS Kind of a cute clue that didn’t click for me until just now.
• 31D [Creature sunning on a sill, perhaps] INDOOR CAT A cat ran across my driveway the other day with a bird in its mouth. I wish people wouldn’t let their cats out (though it’s possible this was a feral cat).
• 46D [“Revolution” and “I Am the Walrus,” for two] B-SIDES I didn’t realize this. The A-sides were “Hey Jude” and “Hello, Goodbye.” I’d say that in both cases, the label made the right decision.

Rebecca Goldstein’s AV Club Classic crossword, “X Ratings”—Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 7/23/25 – “X Ratings”

Let’s lay out the theme and see how it stacks up.

• 17a. [“This is the most hygienic sex shop ever! Five stars!”], IMMACULATE VIBES. You might use that phrase to refer to something that’s just perfect, or you can give it that X rating by alluding to vibrators.
• 27a. [“Our beautiful hardwood floors are now *soo* streaky! No stars!”], SHIT STAIN. Angry review from a customer displeased with the lousy wood stain. The X rating is in the entry rather than the clue.
• 33a. [“These private investigators did an incredible job going undercover at the batting cages! Four stars!”], SWINGING DICKS. This one feels like it comes at it from the opposite side. “Swinging dicks” refers to penises, but here the clue turns it to private eyes swinging bats.
• 41a. [“Really disappointed with how this production company filmed our fetish scene! One star!”], CRAP SHOOT. A film shoot that’s utter crap, sure, but the X-rated fetish scene gratuitously worked its way into the clue for a G-rated answer.
• 54a. [“This sex robot does not perform as advertised! Negative stars!”], ZERO FUCKS GIVEN. OK, the answer has an F-word and a working sex robot would be X-rated. I love finding this phrase in a crossword!

So the theme strikes me as uneven in its approach.

Fave fill: SOUS-VIDE, “WE’RE EVEN,” GOBSMACK.

3.25 stars from me.

Joseph Gangi’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 7/23/25 – no. 0723

The theme reminds me of Sporcle quizzes like the ones in this playlist. Lots of words can fit multiple categories, so can you figure out what’s what?

• 17A. [A, B and C, but not X, Y and Z], MUSIC NOTES. They might all be Alpha-Bits pieces, but nothing past G is a musical note.
• 40A. [He and I, but not she and you], CHEMICAL SYMBOLS. Helium and iodine rather than pronouns.
• 60A. [A+ and B-, but not F], BLOOD TYPES and not letter grades.
• 11D. [MA and MS, but not BA and BS], POSTAL CODES for states and not academic degrees.
• 25D. [X, Y and Z, but not A, B and C], GENERATIONS.

I like it!

Fave fill: KIDNEY (waiting for one!), INSIDE JOKE.

Four stars from me.

Caitlin Reid’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up

The New Yorker solution grid – Caitlin Reid – Wednesday 07/23/2025

Caitlin Reid returns to the Wednesday New Yorker slot. There are only four long entries in this grid, forming a frame or chassis with “YAKETY YAK” and AIR MATTRESS crossing in the center, and two 15s, “THAT’S A TALL ORDER” and DIA DE LOS MUERTOS, crossing either end of the latter. It took me a little while to come up with “THAT’S A TALL ORDER”, but the clue for DIA DE LOS MUERTOS [Annual celebracion depicted in Pixar’s “Coco”] was a gimme, having seen the film. Some of the 7-letter entries in the corners also have the feeling being novel or rarely-seen crossword entries–think SPACKLE and CUSTARD–which further added to my solving time. Thanks Caitlin!

Jeffrey Martinovic’s Universal crossword, “Making an Impression” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 7/23/25 • Wed • “Making an Impression” • Martinovic • solution • 20250723

The title sounds more appropriate to 44a [Ding] DENT, but the revealer (and actual theme answers) steer us otherwhere.

• 54a^R [Strike up a conversation, say … or what five entries in this puzzle do (with a greeting formed by their extra letters!)] BREAK THE ICE. It’s kind of a confusing description, but much easier to understand in practice. The theme answers contain the letters ICE in sequence, with an additional letter (between either the I and C or the C and E).
• 1a. [Specialty] NICHE. This themer has no symmetrical partner; it’s just there on its own. (The alternative would have been to scrap the grid-spanning entry in Row 8 in exchange for some hypothetical compact entry as the last across answer; given the constraints of the theme, it seems impossible.)
• 17a. [Dining table decoration] CENTERPIECE.
• 26a. [What depicted on the Just Visiting space in Monopoly] JAIL CELL.
  
• 35a. [Field that contains quantum mechanics] PARTICLE PHYSICS.
• 46a. [Cats with tricolor coats] CALICOES. Genuinely surprised that this is the more common plural spelling. ngram

And the extra letters spell that most common and direct of icebreakers, HELLO. I especially appreciate that the sequential Ls separate I-C-E differently.

• 1d [Manhattan’s home, for short] NYC. Genuinely thought this might be KAN.
• 4d [Active place] HOTBED. No ice there.
• Two long down entries: TOP TEN LISTS, SECRET LAIRS.
• 33d [Popular AI tool] CHAT GPT. Please avoid using the ecologically devastating plagiarism machines if possible.
• 34d [Shakespearean cries] AYS. Just searched the corpus for ‘carumba’—nope.
• 39d [Rolls out a lawn] SODS.
  
• 46d [Like some superheroes] CAPED. It’s said, however, that not all heroes wear capes.
• 14a [Colorful toy bricks, casually] LEGOS. “Casually” because the official plural is Lego.
• 21a [Frightful] GHASTLY. etymology: Middle English gastly, from gasten to terrify — more at GAST. 49a [Stands up, as a date] GHOSTS. Seems to me the clue describes a single incident, whereas this contemporary sense of ghosting is more of a permanent act. Anyway, etymology: Middle English gost, gast, from Old English gāst; akin to Old High German geist spirit, Sanskrit heḍa anger
• 64a [Rib eye, e.g.] STEAK. rib eye vs ribeye vs rib-eye

p.s. Abolish ICE!

Wendy L. Brandes’ USA Today Crossword, “Top Speed” — Emily’s write-up

Maxing out!

USA Today, July 23, 2025, “Top Speed” by Wendy L. Brandes

Theme: the first (or “top”) word in each downs themer can be prepended with SPEED— to form a new phrase

Themers:

• 3d. [Info on a passport], DATEOFBIRTH
• 17d. [“Maybe lose the intensity!”], DIALITBACK
• 26d. [Consider a group’s vibe before speaking], READTHEROOM

A quirky yet fun themer set with: DATEOFBIRTH, DIALITBACK, and READTHEROOM. With today’s theme, we get SPEED DATE, SPEED DIAL, and SPEED READ. Also, as a cool bonus, each themer is three-word phrase.

Favorite fill: STITCH, TEEMED, and WETNOSE

Stumpers: DONTWAIT (so many good ones to choose from like “call now”, “act fast”, “going fast”), MEANIE (need crossings), and ADDING (also need crossings)

What a lovely puzzle! Great flow, fantastic grid design, lots of wonderful fill and lengthy bonus fill, plus fun cluing and fresh entries. Loved it!

4.5 stars

~Emily

Wendy L Brandes’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s theme summary

As is often the case for an LA Times Wednesday, there are words hidden in the middle of long across phrases. These ones are highlighted with circles. While solving, I spotted that all satisfy “___ TRUCK” before the revealer. It’s a colourful one: BACKUPTHETRUCK. So:

• [Hmm, is it possible for me], WONDERIFICOULD
• [Slow-moving forest dweller], TWOTOEDSLOTH
• [Tale spun before lights-out], BEDTIMESTORY

Gareth