Monday, July 28, 2025

BEQ 16:17 (Eric) [3.50 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 2:00 (Stella) [3.50 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:40 (Sophia) [3.14 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 16:46 (Eric) [3.55 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [2.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) rate it
WSJ 4:00 (Jim Q) rate it

Brian Callahan’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Recap

Theme: Open “C”s – each theme answer is a two word phrase where both words begin with the letter C. Also, every clue begins with a C.

New York Times, 07 28 2025, By Brian Callahan

• 16a [Corn, to a Midwest farmer] – CASH CROP
• 23a [Casino no-no] – CARD COUNTING
• 39a [Carbonated beverage as reintroduced in 1985] – COCA-COLA CLASSIC
• 52a [College basketball phenom drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2024] – CAITLIN CLARK
• 65a [Clear sailing areas … or, homophonically, a feature of 16-, 23-, 39- and 52-Across (and every clue in this puzzle!)] – OPEN SEAS

I very quickly got the “all theme answer words begin with C”, but wasn’t sure what the revealer was going to be until the end. OPEN SEAS effectively explains what’s going on here, although I don’t find it to be a particularly thrilling stand-alone phrase. But I did find the other theme answers Brian chose today to be very strong! CAITLIN CLARK and CARD COUNTING are an excellent symmetric pair. As a non-soda drinker I didn’t know COCA-COLA CLASSIC was a thing, were people in 1985 particularly excited about it?

I didn’t notice the “all clues start with C” until I was copying over the revealer clue for this puzzle. So it didn’t add any extra layers to my solve, but I appreciate the simple theme having another layer. None of the clueing felt particularly forced, which can happen with clue-related themes – although we did get the rare Cooper Manning shoutout along with Peyton and ELI! The only one that really thew me off was [Characteristic of a penetrating mind] for KEEN. For me this clue was pointing towards “keenness” – is KEEN on its own a characteristic?

I have a vague memory of an NYT puzzle that did a similar thing with the letter B a few years ago, including the editing byline being “Bill Shortz”. Maybe someone in the comments can find it?

Cool content: CHALUPAS, EASY TIGER, BOOK DEAL

Choice clues: [Cellphone’s weather app, e.g.] for WIDGET, [Cousin of a cruller or bear claw] for DONUT, [Calls that may start “Is your refrigerator running?,” e.g.] for PRANKS

“C” you next week!

Doug Peterson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 7/28/25 by Doug Peterson

The revealer at 64A [Summertime backyard bash, and a hint to the ends of 17-, 25-, 40-, and 50-Across] is POOL PARTY, because the last word in each theme answer is something found on or near a pool (as in billiards) table:

• 17A [Nonverbal signal during a conversation] is SOCIAL CUE, in which CUE has a nice change in meaning from what it means in the theme answer and what it means in a billiards sense.
• 25A [Falafel cart breads] is PITA POCKETS. I guess so? I thought they were just called PITAs, and googling the term with quotation marks gets about 248K hits, which is not a huge number. Anyway, the POCKETS are where I often end up putting the CUE ball, because I am not very good at pool.
• 40A [Whoppers, e.g.] is MALTED MILK BALLS, which is a pretty deceptive clue for a Monday. My guess is that folks will think of big lies and Burger King before they think of the candy.
• 50A [Driver’s two-wheeler carrier] is a BICYCLE RACK, and a RACK is where you keep those BALLS from 40A.

The theme entries are pretty evocative, and I liked a lot of the nontheme fill like the JAZZ CLUB/RAZZ crossing and EPIC FAIL.

Brian Callahan’s Universal crossword, “Adjusted Hours” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 7/28/25 • Mon • “Adjusted Hours” • Callahan • solution • 20250728

It’s an anagram theme.

• 53aR [Afternoon-to-evening work period, typically … and a hint to the word scrambled in each starred clue’s answer] SECOND SHIFT.
• 18a. [*Dairy Queen offerings] DIPPED CONES.
• 23a. [*They’re entered for discounts during checkout] COUPON CODES.
• 35a. [*Surprise expenses on a bill] HIDDEN COSTS.
• 46a. [*Facial body modification] PIERCED NOSE.

I like how each of the rearranged SECONDs spans the two words of the entries. On the other hand, I will never be a fan of crossword titles that reflect the revealer but shed no light on the theme itself.

• 1d [Woolly Andean animal] ALPACA. Much more likely to be this than the more svelte VICUÑA, both for letter commonality and familiarity to solvers.
• 11d [ /s for “sarcastic” and /srs for “serious,” in online lingo] TONE TAGS. Didn’t know they had a name.
• 21d [“Crossword puzzles are fun,” e.g.] OPINION. Fair enough.
• 37d [“I’m cool with anything,” informally] WHATEVS. I’m cool with this. You?
• 40d [Teeter … or teeter-totter] SEESAW. Nice.
• 47d [“__ be an honor!”] IT’D. Seeing this in puzzles an awful lot lately, with the exact same fill-in-the-blank clue. But the options are severely limited.
• 20a [Washed up?] ASHORE. Good one, but the question mark telegraphed it for me.
  
• 62a [Response to a funny Bluesky post] LOL. This may be the first mention of Bluesky I’ve seen in a mainstream crossword.

Sanjay Rao’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Fabric-ated Treats” — Jim Q’s write-up

A sweet puzzle from Sanjay Rao today! **I could be wrong, but this appears to be a debut from Sanjay. Congrats!**

THEME: Treats that begin with a common fabric. High fashion meets high fructose corn syrup.

WSJ • 7/28/25 • Mon • “Fabric-ated Treats” • Sanjay Rao • solution • 20250728

THEME ANSWERS:

17A:[Wafer-thin treat] LACE COOKIE

57A: [Treat with an airy, fluffy filling] CHIFFON PIE

10D: [Decadent, silky dessert treat] SATIN MOUSSE

24D: [Spun sugar treat] COTTON CANDY

Lace cookies. Oh yes. I’ve easily taken down 40 of these in one sitting.

Very palatable fare for a Monday, though I confess I’m not sure I know the names of three of these treats. I mean, I’ve probably eaten them, but just referred to them as COOKIE, PIE, and MOUSSE as I am boorish and uncultured when it comes to desserts. Or anything. I just wolf  ’em down. Call it whatever you want. COTTON CANDY, in contrast, feels hilariously lowbrow next to SATIN MOUSSE. Like someone showing up to a the Met Gala in a Monster Energy hoodie. Respect. COTTON CANDY is my people.  Cute theme though! I don’t at all doubt the legitimacy of any of them.

Chiffon pie. The kind of thing you see rotating sadly in diner glass cases across America, waiting for its moment.

Four clear-cut themers with 10/11 letters each makes for a nice clean grid, which is a great type of entry-level puzzle for a Monday. I was cruising along but the middle gave me a little bit of pushback. Mostly because of GANACHE… which I’m just realizing now is either some sort of bonus answer or an odd-one-out. SWEET being the final Across entry looks purposeful for sure, but I’m out to sea on GANACHE… gonna go through the puzzle to see if I missed any others…

Satin mousse. Call it burlap mousse for all I care. Looks delish.

TANG – [Strong flavor], OREO – Dessert MVP, SIDE – [Main dish accompanier], CANE – [Sugar source], EAT, LARD…

Wait, am I reading too much into this? Am I calling LARD an Easter egg? Is this what rock bottom looks like? Or maybe… I’m diving down a rabbit- nay- an Easter bunny hole?

Anyway, I had a few typos in the middle and GAUNT/GANACHE/SALVO/CLOUD took me a bit longer than it should’ve.

Everything else, right over the (dessert) plate.

4 stars. Just right Monday. I’d order it again.

Kameron Austin Collins’ New Yorker Crossword — Eric’s Review

Kameron Austin Collins’ New Yorker Crossword — 7/28/25

I found this to be a throwback puzzle — both to the days five or so years ago when I first got back into solving crosswords and thought that Kameron Austin Collins was my nemesis, and to more recent times when The New Yorker‘s “challenging” puzzles were actually difficult.

I got off to a slow start in the NW corner. I can picture National Enquirer headlines about  CHUPACABRAs, but “mythical” in the clue made me think of something from much longer ago. And I invented my own ballet term, GLISSÉ, which I think would be a mixture of a GLISSADE and a CHASSÉ. Like much of the rest of this grid, it took a while to sort those out.

Other stuff:

• 16A [Pizza option, casually] RONI We typically put sausage on our pizza. When we use pepperoni, we’re not so lazy that we can’t use the whole word.
• 17A [People whose work requires them to get up quickly?] ASTRONAUTS Cute clue.
• 19A [Sharpens, in a way] STROPS I got this off the S in CHASSÉ. My husband went through a straight-razor phase and we had a leather strop in our bathroom cabinet for years after he’d gotten rid of the razor.
• 22A [Veggie in a spring risotto, perhaps] PEA A gimme that caused me to dump my original wrong guess on 13D [What the southern tamandua is a species of] ANTEATER (I’d had ANACONDA).
• 34A [Literally, “finger pressure”] SHIATSU A somewhat educated guess.
• 52A [“In Defense of ‘___,’ a Perfect Word” (Texas Monthly headline)] Y’ALL I’m not going to argue with that premise.
• 58A [“Never in a million years!”] GOOD LORD NO Nice entry that took me a while to sort out.
• 61A [Line that terminates] YOU’RE FIRED Clever clue, but I don’t care to be reminded of Donald Trump when I’m solving a crossword.
• 63A [Rented] UNDER LEASE That answer seems a bit green-painty to me.
• 8D [Technical term for teeth grinding] BRUXISM A gimme for me, since I apparently do it in my sleep.
• 10D [Bums] ARSES REARS slowed me down for a while.
• 27D [P.M. whose tenure failed to outlast a head of lettuce purchased by a British tabloid] Liz TRUSS A much-needed gimme. In 2022, she was prime minister from September 5 to October 24.
• 34D [Brand of early-nineties fad bracelets] SLAP WRAP I knew this was slap-something. I never wore one and can’t remember anyone who did.
• 41D [Not just mentally] OUT LOUD Easy to see in retrospect, but it took me a long time to get there.
• 44D [Ellen’s longtime “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star] SANDRA Oh. The SE corner seemed the most challenging part to me; I wonder if that would have been different had I been able to drop that name in the grid quickly. (I’ve never seen that show.)
• 50D [Pulitzer-winning poet Graham] JORIE That’s a new name for me; the JO- had me trying JOYCe for a bit. She won the Pulitzer in 1996.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1804 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1804 — 7/28/25

When 1A is a gimme, [Beach Boys album where the band is feeding animals on the cover] PET SOUNDS, it makes me think I might breeze through the puzzle. This time, not really.

There’s some nice stuff here and some that’s just OK:

• 17A [Frustrated comment while negotiating] YOU’RE IMPOSSIBLE
• 20A [Administrative capital known as “Jacaranda City”] PRETORIA The Republic of South Africa also has a legislative capital (Cape Town) and a judicial capital (Bloemfontein). And kind of a cool-looking flag.
• 22A [Mustang overseer, at times] VALET As in a Ford Mustang. Nice misdirection.
• 28A [“Cool Britannia” prime minister] Tony BLAIR, who held the office from 1997–2007. That simultaneously feels like just yesterday and a long time ago.
• 31A [Designer after whom New York’s Public Library’s Public Catalog Room is named] Bill BLASS This was after he gave the library $10 million in 1994.
• 35A [Actress Ridley] DAISY Best known for playing the Jedi Rey Skywalker in The Force Awakens and subsequent Star Wars movies.
• 45A [Sweet and savory breakfast pastry] MAPLE-BACON DONUT Aside from syrup on pancakes or waffles, I don’t much like anything with maple flavoring. Once I had ____ BACON DONUT, the first part seemed obvious. But I took it out at least twice because I couldn’t get the crosses to work.
• 51A [Battle of Yorktown commander] Gilbert de Motier, Marquis de LAFAYETTE I expected this to be one of the British generals.
• 1D [Feminist’s goal] PAY GAP That clue would make much more sense if it said something like “Inequity feminists seek to eliminate.” As it is, it sounds like feminists are in favor of pay gaps, which is absurd.
• 2D [Classical piece considered the first Romantic symphony] EROICA The Symphony No. 3 by Beethoven. He originally dedicated it to Napoleon, but he withdrew that dedication when Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804.
• 11D [His memoir was “The Untouchables”] ELIOT NESS The only challenge was remembering how Ness spelled his first name.
• 28D [Like the hull of some boats] BARNACLED I had ____CLAD for a bit, and even though that was wrong, the CL helped me know that MAPLE was correct.
• 30D [State tree of Rhode Island] RED MAPLE I would have guessed it was some sort of  elm. I’m not usually one to notice duplication in a grid, but MAPLE crossing MAPLE seems a bit extreme.
• 41D [Align newspaper] The Boston GLOBE I’d never heard of the word game Align, so this clue made no sense to me. I don’t know if BEQ always constructs the game or if others do, too.