LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[3.20 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
NYT 8:27 (Amy) 
[3.94 avg; 25 ratings] rate it
Universal 4:46 (Jim P) [3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Dena Verkuil’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up
NY Times crossword solution, 8/15/25 – no. 0815
Aaghh, I fell for 2-Down’s trick. [Younger Simpson sister] isn’t toon MAGGIE, it’s singer/reality TV figure Jessica Simpson’s singer sister ASHLEE. If you didn’t know her, that’s no shade on you; her last hit was in 2006. Filling in MAGGIE really slowed me down, because it seemed so correct.
Fave fill: DOES NOT COMPUTE, IN THE NEAR FUTURE, HEAD SHOTS, “I’LL DO THE TALKING,” LEMONADE STANDS, G-SPOTS, FAUCI, BOOTLEG, “CASE DISMISSED,” STUBHUB, JASMINE.
Five things:
- 6A. [English translation of the Dutch “klompen”], CLOGS. One does clomp around in them!
- 21A. [X, as in Mexico], BESO. Spanish for “kiss,” as in xoxo.
- 43A. [Miso soup base], DASHI. I know this from watching Top Chef.
- 21D. [My word!], BOND. As in “my word is my bond.”
- 49D. [P.I.], TEC. Short for detective. Meh. It’s a word I don’t think I’ve encountered outside of crosswords, so I call it crosswordese.
Four stars from me.
Zachary David Levy’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 8/15/25 • Fri • Levy • solution • 20250815
- 17a. [Speed needed to harvest lilacs, violets, and lavender for dye?] PURPLE HASTE (Purple Haze).
- 28a. [“Waterfowl found to prefer celibacy”?] WILD GOOSE CHASTE (wild goose chase). Mimicking newspaper headline grammar.
- 44a. [Enigmatic pile of trash?] MYSTERIOUS WASTE (mysterious ways).
- 57a. [Fake gems that add sparkle to a gastropod shell?] SNAIL’S PASTE (snail’s pace).
Adding that T-sound to the ends of the original phrases; all of the new versions end in -STE. Haze and ways rhyme with each other, as do chase and pace.
- 11d [Remains] DEBRIS. etymology: French débris, from Middle French, from debriser to break to pieces, from Old French debrisier, from de- + brisier to break, of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish brisid he breaks; perhaps akin to Latin fricare to rub — more at FRICTION
- 29d [Convertible] DROP TOP. Haven’t heard that one before. I suppose it’s more inclusive than ragtop, as not all convertibles have soft roofs.
- 38d [Battleship cry] MISS. The game, not an actual vessel.
- 39d [“Aw, rats!”] NUTS. 21a [“Aw, rats!”] CRUD.
- 44d [Maker of Baked Apple Pie K-Cups[ MCCAFE. Ew.
- 46d [Extras] SPARES. 24d [Surplus] GLUT.
- 11a [NFL Hall of Famer Marino] DAN. 14a [“CSI” city] MIAMI.
- 19a [Cry before a jump] BOO. Aha, perpetrator.
- 35a [Giggle syllables] TE HEE. Wondering if this is a sly comment on the theme, especially as it appears as the central across entry.
- 52a [Sleep apnea device, briefly] CPAP, continuous positive airway pressure.
Rachel Glover and Jeffrey Martinovic’s Universal crossword, “Trick Plays”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that start with a word that could also be a playing card (and not just a face card). Clues are written with respect to the words after the cards. The revealer is POSTCARD (65a, [Popular souvenir … or where the answer to each starred clue begins?]).
Universal crossword solution · “Trick Plays” · Rachel Glover and Jeffrey Martinovic · Fri., 8.15 25
- 17a. [*Bowler’s targets]
KINGPINS. - 24a. [*Helpful hint]
THREE-POINTER. - 40a. [*Soup vessel]
JACKPOT. - 53a. [*Owing money]
ACEIN THE HOLE.
Solid theme. Normally, I would’ve said a theme with a POSTCARD revealer would feature words that follow “card” to form other phrases (think card sharp, card catalog, card trick, and the like). But this switches things up in a nice way. I especially like “in the hole” being a familiar phrase on its own with and without its card. I do wish other similar phrases could’ve been found, but the theme works as is.
I didn’t know IT BAND [Thigh tissue, informally], and TWISTER MAT feels a little green painty, but MERE TRIFLE and SEA LEGS are enjoyably evocative. I started off on the wrong foot with GIF at 1a [Image file extension] instead of the correct JPG. Not sure that EMEET is a term anybody ever uses.
Clues of note:
- 70a. [Grp. conducting covert ops]. CIA. Hey, I’m going to go see “Weird Al” in concert tonight, so I’m gratuitously embedding the video below.
- 10d. [Elephant group, for short]. GOP. Got me with this one. The O made me think “pod”. Needed the crossings before the penny dropped.
- 13d. [Light weapon of sci-fi?]. SABER. This also tripped me up. I wanted LASER.
3.5 stars. Oh, and congrats are in order for Rachel Glover on her debut puzzle!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Same here with MAGGIE… It took a lot of convincing (from the Eastern side) before I erased it.
I also had Portraits instead of HEADSHOTS– but easier to give up.
I somehow didn’t know about FAUCI’s book. I need to check it out.
I enjoyed it in spite of my stumbles…
NYT: For once, my lack of knowledge of “The Simpsons” has paid off. I assumed that was the reference in the clue for 2-D, but I had no idea of the younger sister’s name, so I just waited on crosses.
Nice long entries – though DOES NOT COMPUTE seems like it needs a “That” in front of it. Not much junk – only TEC which I, like Amy, have never run into outside of crosswords.
Fun puzzle, but it seemed easy for a Friday – played more like a themeless Wednesday.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
I can hear a robot saying that without “that.” Sounds more robotic that way.
Beautiful grid today, 5 stars from me.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
I’m actually more familiar with DOESNOTCOMPUTE without the “that”. On the other hand, I write a lot of news and promo copy in my job and I absolutely hate the phrase INTHENEARFUTURE. Just say “soon”!
My solve was really zooming along, but then I hit a wall close to the end trying to untangle BOND/BESO and BIAS/BODE. So it turned into a pretty solid Friday test for me.
Folks, don’t you remember Lost in Space (circa 1965), with “Danger, Will Robinson!” etc.? Here’s a reminder of where DOES NOT COMPUTE comes from, fwiw… :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNhfT5Kg8Oc
“THAT does not compute” did appear as a robot catchphrase in an earlier 1964 show called “My Living Doll”, with Julie Newmar. Look it up if you want. It was one of those shows where a guy basically has his own sexy, quasi-human being — in this case, a fembot — and sitcom antics ensue. Here’s a creepy example. :-/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72JeE6adoVU&t=368s
If you and Amy had read as many pulp fiction novels as I did when I was aboard ship, you’d be familiar with TEC. It was used alongside “private eye” or “private dick”, but not nearly as much as the latter two terms.
TEC comes pretty naturally to me, but from a ways back. And I like Gary benefited by still tuning out Simpson’s trivia enough to have go get ASHLEE entirely from crossings. I don’t mind DOES NOT COMPUTE by itself, although Lost in Space is a candidate for most embarrassing TV series ever.
Where I got held up in the NW was by trying STETTED rather than RETYPED, to make reversing auto-correct more explicit.
LAX: yes, 35A was my clumsy original revealer, but Patti thought it worked better as a wink-and-a-nod
Very nice puzzle – and editing! ZDL, dare we ask what the revealer clue you had was?? (np, either way)
something like “Giggly response.. apropos of etc, etc, etc-across”
Gotcha – thanks!
I am going to brag unabashedly that I finished the NYT one second faster than Amy! That is all.
NYT: 29d [Partner of his] = HERS. Squinting a little at that cluing; feels like the NYT could do a bit better, rather than approaching heteronormativity
I did the same. Hurts no one to add a qualifier such as “often”.
Or this.
The joke isn’t written on the towel. It’s the $3500 price tag.
Further search came up with this: His and His towels but no Her and Her towels.
@Papa John, I think you just need to search for “Hers and Hers” towels (vs Her and Her)?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Solid puzzle. Would have liked more longer answers (I count only six of eight letters or longer). Removing the central square from the first and last rows might have helped in this regard.
That’s an interesting meta-point. It’s got only 70 words (in line with a typical Friday) but 74 “open squares” (closer to matching a Thursday), if you hit analyze on xwordinfo.
I liked it quite a lot. Smooth puzzle, and nice to see only 8 3-long words. I’d actually like to see more of a range of ways to make a themeless targeting 70 (or so) words, vs a single set of criteria…
A pretty (and unique!) grid, too, which others might be tempted to borrow in future (to me)… (?)