Wednesday, August 13, 2025

AV Club 7:10 (Amy) [2.80 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
LAT 4:20 (Gareth) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:14 (Amy) [2.88 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Kyle) [3.80 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today 10:13 (Emily) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ 6:00-something (Eric) [3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it

Adam Levav’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Trick Shots” — Eric’s Review

Adam Levav’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Trick Shots” — 8/13/25

As with many early-week puzzles, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the theme and only made sense of it when I was finished. It’s the type of theme where the relationship between the theme answers becomes apparent only when you see the revealer:

• 17A [*British reality show with Jo Frost dealing with problem tykes] SUPER NANNY Nanny Cam That show sounds vaguely familiar, but I haven’t seen it.
• 24A [*Positioned with splayed limbs] SPREAD-EAGLE Eagle Cam
• 39A [Con jobs, or, when broken after its first letter, a hint to the starred answers] SCAMS
• 50A [*Class president’s constituency] STUDENT BODY Body cam
• 61A [*Sign of affection that might require cleanup] SLOPPY KISS Kiss cam I believe that I hold the world’s record for bestowing the sloppiest kiss.
• 10D [*Protection for a snowboarder] SKI HELMET Helmet cam I started skiing again in 2004. Back then, few skiers and snowboarders wore helmets. Now, it’s rare to see someone skiing without one.
• 35D [*Fly catcher, of a sort] SPIDER WEB Web cam

I like the variety of cameras used in the theme answers. Well, “body cam” makes me think of police body cameras and the reason those are required in some states, which is not a pleasant thought. I expect most solvers will have heard of all six types of camera.

Other stuff:

• 1A [Westernmost American territory] GUAM I’m happy to imagine this answer is a shout-out to Team Fiend’s heavy hitter Jim Peredo. (If that confuses you, please see the Meet Team Fiend tab at the top of this page.)
• 13A [Daikin Park player] Houston ASTRO I think I knew that the former Minute Maid Park had been renamed effective January 1 of this year. Wikipedia tells me Daikin is a Japanese manufacturing conglomerate, but it’s not really a name I remembered.
• 22A [Onetime Iranian ruler] SHAH It’s a little hard for me to believe that the Iranian Revolution took place almost 50 years ago. (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi is a name I remember.)
• 42A [Brand in a green bottle with a red star] HEINEKEN I’ve been drinking beer since before the Iranian Revolution, and have had the occasional Heineken, but I still needed several crosses to come up with that answer. I can picture the label, which is a bit stodgy-looking.
• 58A [One might cool on a windowsill] PIE This seems like such a cliché. Hands up if you’ve ever put a freshly-baked pie on a windowsill.
• 65A [Middle manager?] BELT Cute. I was expecting it to be DIET.
• 8D [Wage indicators] PAY SLIPS It took me an unreasonable amount of time to get that answer, perhaps because I’ve been retired almost seven years now.
• 25D [Two-time Olympic decathlon champ Ashton] EATON 2012 and 2016. That’s another name I didn’t know. I haven’t watched more than a few hours of the Summer Olympics since before the Iranian Revolution.
• 

  Ashton Eaton in 2011

  36D [Beans buy] CAN Canned beans will do in a pinch, but for better flavor and texture, try using dried beans.

• 40D [Philippine island and its chief city] CEBU That’s a name I know only from crosswords.

Jared Cappel’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 8/13/25 – no. 0813

The theme revealer here is SKY-WRITING, 56A. [Message from a pilot … or what 17-, 22-, 36- and 48-Across each is?]. Those four entries are titles of written works: CLOUD ATLAS, the play (A) RAISIN IN THE SUN, the Twilight saga novel NEW MOON, and NUMBER THE STARS. I like that the latter two are YA fiction (don’t diss YA just because you haven’t been in that target age range in decades!). I don’t like that the first title has the sky thing at the start (unlike the other three), or that the second title is missing its article; these knock the thematic elegance down a couple notches.

Fave fill: BESTIE crossing BUDS, BY DESIGN, LIBRARY, “THAT, TOO.” I like RONA being clued as [Covid-19, in slang] as well. Side note: The summer COVID surge is upon us, so don’t be afraid to mask up when you go places.

I wanted 1A to be BRAD rather than CALEB, [___ Bradham, inventor of Pepsi]. He sold it as Brad’s Drink for the first five years.

Meh: AAH crossing OOHS, UNPEG, LATEN. Who among us actually uses the word laten rather get late?

Outdated clue? 1D. [Org. encouraging flu shots], CDC. Well, last month’s updated page does recommend flu shots, but how much longer will that be the case? RFK Jr.’s hand-picked “vaccine advisors” already chipped away at flu shots containing thimerosal, despite the lack of evidence for thimerosal somehow causing autism. Sigh. EPA clues are mighty rough these days, too.

11D. [Some cantina cookware] kinda suggests that OLLAS are specifically used at certain restaurants. A friend of mine has reminisced about her grandmother’s much-used OLLA in Puerto Rico, atop the stove and cooking up lots of good food. (See also: decades of clues suggesting that Chinese or Thai or Indian dishes are things you get at restaurants rather than making at home, as billions do.)

3.25 stars from me.

Matigan King’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Bar Hookups”–Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 8/13/25 – “Bar Hookups”

I’ve finished the puzzle and have no idea what’s going on with the theme. Let’s dig in:

• 19a. [Night before a big launch?], TAKE-OFF EVE.
• 24a. [Garden-variety spiritual guide?], COMMON GURU.
• 38a. [Asymmetric optical dance move?], LEFT EYE BOB.
• 53a. [Cotton swab of science fiction?], FUTURE Q-TIP.
• 58a. [1988 Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock hip-hop anthem, or what can be said of each of this puzzle’s theme answers], IT TAKES TWO.

Ah, I see now. Each theme answer is made up of two rappers’ stage names. Takeoff was in the trio Migos. Eve is a pioneering woman in hip-hop. Common is from Chicago and has an Oscar, Emmy, and some Grammys. Guru died of cancer. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was in girl group TLC; lost too young in a crash. Bob is maybe BoB? Yes, he goes by B.o.B. Future’s had some big hits, and Q-Tip started out with A Tribe Called Quest. Takeoff, B.o.B, and Guru didn’t jump out at me as rappers at all. The puzzle title, “Bar Hookups,” references the verses in rap also being called “bars” and there are so many collaborative creative hookups, it makes sense to wedge a couple rappers’ names together to concoct the clueable phrases that make up the theme entries here.

This is Matigan’s debut crossword, the AVCX email tells us. Congrats!

Fave fill: MINSK crossing ANKARA (who doesn’t like world capital trivia?), SNARFED, DA BEARS.

A few clues that stuck with me:

• 58d. [___ Sp___ (Bronx drill rapper)], ICE. Clue would be easier as [Ice ___ Spice] but it’s fun to yoink that -ice fragment out of Spice.
• 8d. [City known for beypazari güveci stew], ANKARA. The trick is recognizing lettering that looks Turkish.
• 47d. [Like the desserts luqaimat and balaleet], EMIRATI. I know nothing at all about the cuisines of the UAE, but the desserts’ names look plausibly Arabic. (I suspect Matigan is a foodie! See also: TAPAS, EATER.)
• 32a. [Muscles targeted by skull crushers, briefly] TRIS. Triceps exercise.
• 35a. [Secured table, colloquially], RES. Short for reservation.
• 11d. [She calls the shots], REF. MLB just (in the past week!) had its first-ever female umpire on the field. In 2025, for Pete’s sake!
• This one slowed me down with its letters that crossed theme entries. 40d. [Contemporary expression of excitement], YEET. My age group isn’t allowed to use the word. That crossing EYE bit is obvious with the word “optical” in that theme clue … if I’d read the clue more carefully.
• 49a. [Sprawling online document database], SCRIBD / 39d. [Aptly named company that supplies dog DNA tests], EMBARK. Tricky spot for that B crossing if you don’t know either one; I knew of Scribd and dogs bark.

Four stars from me. Challenging puzzle with lots of fresh, flavorful material.

Steve Jopek’s Universal crossword, “Faulty” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 8/13/25 • Wed • “Faulty” • Jopek • solution • 20250813

• 54aR [AMC show whose protagonist was Walter White, and a theme hint] BREAKING BAD. Synonyms for ‘bad’ straddle two entries, interrupted by a black square. It’s a bit of a humdrum theme, but I really appreciate the inspired double entendre of the  title.
• 19a. [Last night] NEW YEAR’S EVE.
  21a. [Stimpy’s pal] REN.
  severe
• 32a. [Relative by marriage] IN-LAW.
  34a. [Like a 1:1 model] FULL-SCALE.
  awful
• 41a. [Twin-hulled boat] CATAMARAN.
  43a. [Fall juice] CIDER.
  rancid

Mark Tansey, Doubting Thomas (1988)

• 14d [Coral colony] REEF. Do I need to remind everyone that worldwide, coral reefs are dying because of rising ocean temperatures and acidification?
• 15d [They’re cast in “Lord of the Rings” movies] SPELLS. Clever.
• 39d [Bit of high jinks] CAPER. Thought I’d run an Ngram of various spellings of hijinx.
• 61a [Buzzer in a bonnet] BEE. Idiomatically rather than literally.
• 47a [Dir. from Calgary to Denver] SSE. 68a [Direction from Saskatchewan to Alberta] WEST.

Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword, “Making Partner” — Emily’s write-up

Moving on up!

USA Today, August 13, 2025, “Making Partner” by Zhouqin Burnikel

Theme: the ending of each themer progressively spells out —MATE (aka “partner”)

Themers:

• 17a. [Bette Midler’s nickname], DIVINEMISSM
• 29a. [“the Year She Left Us” author], KATHRYNMA
• 41a. [Item right outside a front door], WELCOMEMAT
• 51a. [Partner on a political ticket], RUNNINGMATE

What a themer set! Today, we get DIVINEMISSM, KATHRYNMA, WELCOMEMAT, and RUNNINGMATE. An impressive theme to pull off, with a nice title hint.

Favorite fill: MINGLE, TOKEN, BEERSNOB, and REMARK

Stumpers: ELI (new to me), ICARE (needed crossings), and HIHO (totally forgot about this—but as soon as it filled, I can hear Kermit’s voice with the greeting)

This grid and the themer set with the lengthy bonus fill to boot! Just wow. Now, with my time as an indication, this was a tougher solve for me. The cluing was tricker for me though I got everything in the end.

4.25 stars

~Emily

Kaela Curry & Kevin Curry’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s summary

This puzzle has an unusual construction, 16×14 with left-right symmetry. The revealer, ROYAL/AIRFORCE, is found in two parts spanning the right side. A very tightly woven concept, it includes three animals that fly and begin with a royal title:

• [Head of a hive], QUEENBEE
• [Colourful bird with a daggerlike bill], KINGFISHER
• [Milkweed pollinator also called “Common Tiger”], MONARCHBUTTERFLY

We also get a toddler mini-theme of a sort: [Frequent toddler mishaps], SPILLS; [Reluctant whine], AWWDOIHAVETO; and [TV dog…], BLUEY. Another up-to-date clue is [“Hot to Go!” singer Chappell], ROAN. Her new single “The Subway” debuted this week at number 3 in the UK and number 1 in the US.

Gareth