LAT tk (Gareth) 
[3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 18:09 (Eric) [2.89 avg; 18 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal (Sunday) 8:10 (Jim P) 
[3.50 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WaPo 5:42 (Matt G) [2.86 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Amsay Ezersky’s New York Times Crossword “Ixnay That!” — Eric’s Review
Amsay Ezersky’s New York Times Crossword “Ixnay That!” — 8/17/25
If you think pig Latin is funny, then you’re in luck. Eight common phrases get wackified that way:
- 22A [One of the better morning beverages?] NOT YOUR AVERAGE OJ Not your average Joe
- 37A [Just one inning left after this?] THE EIGHTH UNDERWAY The Eighth Wonder
- 60A [Seasoning preference when eating Maryland blue crab?] EXTRA OLD BAY Extra bold I think this is a descriptor for coffee — an “extra-bold roast.”
- 70A [Two-pound tomahawk steak, for instance?] JUMBO ENTREE JumboTron That’s a brand name, but it’s been genericized.
- 93A [“Do I *really* wanna start an online bidding war? Hmm …”?] TO EBAY OR NOT EBAY To be or not to be?
- 110A [Give an extra perk to a cigarette smoker?] TOSS IN THE ASHTRAY Toss in the trash
- 15D [One of the best coffee beverages ever?] ALL-TIME AU LAIT All-time low
- 53D [What might confirm the worst for an athlete’s injury?] EMOTIONAL X-RAY Emotional wrecks
I didn’t find any of the theme answers particularly amusing, but at least understanding the theme helped me fill in a few answers more quickly than I might have otherwise. On the other hand, I’ve now spent as much time figuring out the original phrases and words as I did solving the puzzle. It’s been a not-so-useful lesson in remembering how pig Latin works.
If I weren’t reviewing the puzzle, I’d probably not have bothered to understand the theme beyond the general pig Latin concept, which was obvious from the cutesy constructor’s name and the title.
Other stuff:
- 18A [They’re paving the way] ROAD GANG Historically, that term refers to prisoners working on a road, although it can also mean a civilian work crew. Still, it’s not something I would want to put in a puzzle.
- 26A [“___ Q” (1968 hit)] SUZIE Creedence Clearwater Revival’s cover of Dale Hawkins’ 1957 “Susie Q.”
- 47a [Character with a Jamaican accent in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”] SEBASTIAN If I remember my second-hand “Little Mermaid” characters correctly, he’s a crab.
- 80A [Slimy scheme for profit] MONEY GRAB Is the New York Times making its crossword easier overall in an attempt to increase the number of games subscribers?
- 99A [Czech brew] PILSENER I generally prefer ales to lagers. And the “Pilsner” spelling to the more accurate “Pilsener.”
- 116A [___ Attucks, Revolutionary War casualty who posthumously became an abolitionist symbol] CRISPUS A gimme, as I must have read Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions a dozen times as a teenager.
- 119A [Become gooey over, as cheese atop a hot burger] MELT ON Does green paint melt or burn?
- 33D [No U.S. area code starts with this] ONE I believe it’s got something to do with having to dial 1 before the area code and number when making a long distance call. But the whole idea of an area code is pretty meaningless anymore.
- 62D [A bobcat is one, technically] LYNX I’d like to see one sometime, but they live a few thousand feet higher than I do.
- 70D [Many-time N.B.A. All-Star Tatum] JAYSON Not a name that came easily to me, but also not wholly unfamiliar sounding. He’s a forward with the Boston Celtics who probably has a few more seasons left in his career.
- 72A [Creature with flat, transparent larvae called “leptocephali”] EEL I didn’t know that about the larvae.
- 91D [Like Manhattan in the 80s and 90s?] UPTOWN Cute clue.
Michael Schlossberg’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Swap Meet”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases featuring the two words “for the”. They’re reimagined as offers for trading, hence words that were originally verbs in the original phrases become nouns.
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Swap Meet” · Michael Schlossberg · 8.17.25
- 23a. [“I’ll give you my stein if you give me your Polaroid”] MUG FOR THE CAMERA.
- 33a. [“You can have this ancient board game, and I’ll take your expensive necklace”] GO FOR THE GOLD.
- 53a. [“You can have my blankets if you give me your lasso”] THROWS FOR A LOOP.
- 71a. [“I’ll make you some comfort food, Faust, and you sign on the dotted line”] CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL.
- 94a. [“I’ll write you a bestselling song if you give me your two-wheeler”] HIT FOR THE CYCLE.
- 110a. [“I’ll give you a new haircut if I can eat those McIntoshes”] BOB FOR APPLES.
- 126a. [“I’ll give you my Shakespeare collection if you give me that lollipop”] PLAYS FOR A SUCKER.
Nice! It was pretty clear from the first entry where the theme was going, but it held my interest throughout the solve. I like when a puzzle shifts the ground beneath your feet, and makes you look at existing phrases in unexpected ways. And I like the inclusion of Faust as a succinct hint at someone selling their soul. That entry makes for a fantastic central grid-spanner, too.
There isn’t much that’s particularly juicy in the long fill, but it’s all clean and solid. RAP METAL stands out. Not excited about BCCED, but that’s about the clunkiest bit of fill and it wasn’t hard to suss out. Mostly very smooth.
Clues of note:
- 74d. [Breath mint brand returning in 2025]. CERTS. I didn’t know they were gone, but they were discontinued in 2018. Can’t find any evidence that they’ve returned yet; there’s no mention of it on the Wikipedia page and you can’t buy them on Amazon. All I found were some business articles that said they would be re-introduced at the “Sweets and Snacks Expo” (who knew?!) last May, but there doesn’t seem to be anything beyond that.
- 89d. [_avannah _ollege of _rt and _esign]. SCAD. That’s one way to clue an awkward entry.
- 128d. [“my b”]. SRY. Not sure why I was expecting this to be an actual word, so it took me a while to get that S in there. (The clue is short for “my bad” which is slang for “my mistake”.)
Good puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post Crossword “Sound Off” — Matt’s Review
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword solution, “Sound Off,” 8/17/2025
A tougher one from Evan this week – I had no idea what was going on until the revealer, even with a pretty clear title in “Sound Off.” Themers are marked by asterisks at least:
- 23a [*Part of a camera that hangs loosely?] DANGLE LENS
- 25a [*Barks out commands?] BAYS ORDERS
- 32a [*Price tags that have been crafted with yarn?] KNIT COSTS
- 48a [*Soft footwear worn by a sly fox?] GUILE SOCKS
- 51a [*Brief way of introducing actor Diesel to director Spielberg?] VIN STEVEN
- 69a [*Place known for its burning head?] PYRE STATE
- 87a [*Body of water named after actress Madeline?] KAHN RIVER
- 90a [*Jass musician whose instrument is a joint?] KNEE BOPPER
- 106a [*Terse introduction to a rabbit to mix things up in the kitchen?] STIR BUNNY
- 116a [*Notion about a bowling target?] PIN THOUGHT
- 118a [Comment about the silence on Zoom … and what’s spelled out by the sounds that have been removed from the starts of 10 phrases in this puzzle] YOURE MUTED
I’ve rarely needed such an explicit revealer, which highlights for us that each of our themers are the result of removing an initial sound from a base phrase. Those initial sounds are the pronunciations of single letters. So DANGLE LENS is created from “wide angle lens”, BAYS ORDERS from “obeys orders,” and so one.
The letters of the removed sounds, in order, spelled YOURE MUTED, something said on zoom when the sound is off.
I suspect that solvers will have different experiences with the themers – (em)PYRE STATE and (tee)KNEE BOPPER were two that were easier to parse, but the first few were not so obvious, so I needed the revealer to tie it all together.
Other highlights: 1a’s EMMA Myers plays the bubbly werewolf Enid on “Wednesday.” A timely angle, as the second season dropped on Netflix this week // I quite liked [12, half of the time] for NOON // Similarly, while the clue isn’t that tricky, I liked the punniness of [Affair chance?] for TRYST // I recognized the name Tommy ALDRIDGE, but couldn’t place him with a band. Turns out he’s played with many, perhaps most notably with the late Ozzy Osbourne // I had to look up the E.S. Harkness of Evan’s clue for YALE, but I should have guessed: oil money // [VIP of a certain company] plays on ‘company’ as ‘cast’ to get us to OPERA STAR
Cheers!
NYT – Oddly, I was working on a pig Latin theme last weekend. I concluded that I didn’t have enough good one for a set, but this one certainly came through. Great job, Sam! 4 are stays!
When I got that ENTREE is Pig Latin for Tron, I choked on my coffee. That was worth the price of admission for me.
+1
Huh, I thought this was deleted. My thought didn’t make any sense because, like, ALLTIMEAULAIT wouldn’t be logical on its own.
Do you want your comment deleted? I can do that.
Yes please – I used the delete function but maybe it doesn’t work when you also rate.
I finished the NYT without really understanding the theme entries, and after I’d slowly figured out a couple of them I couldn’t be bothered to deal with the rest. Pig Latin was not a thing in England, at least not that I was aware of, so I only have a dim grasp of how it works.
Which is a long-winded way of saying I found this puzzle a bit of a slog.
It wasn’t a part of my U.S. childhood, either, and I’ve never really understood it. So, a slog for me, too.
Similar experience/reaction here. I finished the puzzle with no errors but no understanding of the theme. Stared at the theme answers for a while and went to bed.
I can recall trying to speak and understand Pig Latin when I was in elementary school. Wasn’t good at it and didn’t much care.
Obviously, “Ixnay That” should have helped me out – but I’ve heard “ixnay” enough over the years as just a standalone word that it didn’t even register that it’s Pig Latin.
Re: “…but I’ve heard “ixnay” enough over the years as just a standalone word that it didn’t even register that it’s Pig Latin.”
YEP! Same here.
I’d swear the last month of Sundays were harder than usual. This one struck me as hard in both the theme implementation and the rest of the fill. Catching onto the theme, OTOH, was easy. I bet nearly everyone did so from the puzzle’s title alone, before so much as attempting a single clue.
I suspect that pig Latin is like puns, in that different ears will differ, and much of the variety of responses will reflect that. For me it pretty much went smoothly, and I won’t tell you which I struggled to sound out so as to make them work. I’d heard of JumboTron, so I should have got that one more quickly, but I pay only fleeting attention to whatever is on TV wherever I go (mostly with the sound off) that I’d long since forgotten it.
Overall, I’d say I admired the puzzle an awful lot more than I liked it, but hard to complain.
In today’s NYT Mini Crossword, the answer PIERRE is clued as “U.S. state capital that rhymes with 9-Across.” 9-Across is PEER. I didn’t realize that was how the city in South Dakota is pronounced, but PEER and PIERRE don’t rhyme with each other, do they? I believe they are pronounced exactly the same, which I’m not sure would mean they rhyme.
Peer and Pierre are “identical rhymes”. They are not “perfect rhymes” so the clue is worth a raised eyebrow, but it’s justified technically, IMO.
I agree here, with both of you. i.e., I’d expect an “identical rhyme” to require that qualifier — or just to be called a homophone (or homonym) — but sure, it’s OK.
Although it’s technically fine, it’s also interesting to note DEERE (1-Down) was already available in the grid to list as a rhyme (instead of PEER). The last Across entry in the mini was already PEER, to emphasize the point/punchline, and so DEERE might have better fit to what the general “mini audience” could all agree on as a rhyme, without extra qualification needed. (I mean, to me…)
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4 stars
WaPo – loved this one. Once the upper left resulted in a strange entry at 23A, I went for the revealer for a hint at what was going on. Each of the ten themers was clever in its own way.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Speaking of bold (and extra bold):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYYWNRC9ISY
NYT: Any explanation for 31D “sigep” and 83D “crochet”? I assume “sigep” has something to do with Sigma, but I thought Sigma Chi was the largest fraternity, so am not getting “sigep.” Regarding “crochet,” you aren’t spinning when you crochet in any sense of the word I can think of.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, abbreviated Sig Ep, is the largest fraternity in the U.S. Not sure if Sigma Chi might be larger if you go international.
I don’t know much about crocheting, but that clue/answer seemed like a bit of a stretch to me, too. But we talk about a spider spinning a web, and I’m not sure there’s much actual spinning going on there, either.
Ah! Thanks! I thought at first I’d never even heard of Sigma Alpha Epsilon — I’m extremely ignorant of almost all fraternities and soroities. They weren’t a big part of my college experience. However, then the initials sunk into my head and, yes, SAE I had heard of — I knew someone in that fraternity and they had a big building across the street from campus emblazoned with their initials, which I did know. Obviously, no one I knew at the time called it “Sig Ep” — as I recall, it was referred to as SAE.
We-ell, a spider is spewing out a thread, so that counts in my book. :)
Yes, but spiders do a more than “weave”. Spiders have spinnerets. i.e., they both manufacture and manipulate (silk) threads.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spiders/comments/189c2l1/can_someone_please_dumb_down_how_spinnerettes/
Anyway, although [Spin a yarn, perhaps?] was a funny clue, I didn’t think it quite worked, speaking as a crocheter (aka a “hooker”) myself.
In a figurative sense, deception (or bias) is baked into “spin”. When taken literally, to “spin” implies a fast rotation, I think. It just didn’t seem like a good clue, overall…
Anyway, it’s fine, but it could have been better, right?? I know they aren’t going to go with [What a “hooker” does], but surely there were other, better options. (It’s fine. Sigh…)
amazing constructing skills in both the nyt and wapo but…..
found neither very enjoyable to solve
+1
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
I typically love Sam’s puzzles, but as someone who has never used (or understood) Pig Latin, this one was a slog.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
I didn’t care for this puzzle at all. As has been pointed out, the theme was revealed in the credits. Some of the themed answers were clever (As a devotee of “Hamlet,” I chuckled at the pun on “To be or not to be”), but others were stretches. “Extra Old Bay”? Really? “All-time au lait”? “Emotional X-ray”? Sorry, but this puzzle was indeed a slog.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1.5 stars
I’m with you! Really disliked this one.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 2.5 stars
Both NYT and Wapo suffer from the same problem so I’m putting them in one post.
The problem: Some of the theme entries are *homophones* of already *obscure* phrases, *transformed* by the theme. So it’s three steps removed from a smooth fill. For example, Jumbotron is transformed into “jumbo ontray” which homophonizes into JUMBO ENTREE.
Wapo is even worse. R+GUILE SOCKS? Is that “Argyle socks”? U+KAHN RIVER? Is that “Yukon River”? I don’t even know. Even with the revealer, I swear there are WSJ metas which are more obvious than this Wapo.
To rub salt into the wound, both NYT and Wapo feel pretty good with their themes so they make the non-thematic fills pretty difficult, too. Spare me.
I guess I’m not following… is Argyle socks obscure? Or Yukon River? Or Jumbotron? These all seem like perfectly normal, non-unusual phrases to me.
Good NYT and great WaPo this week! Great touches in getting the sounds to match up well with the spellings, along with clever clues. Great job Evan and Sam!
Puzzle: Universal (Sunday); Rating: 4 stars
I liked the silliness of this puzzle!
NYT: Sam, thanks for reminding me that I have to pass on Chicken Language to young folk in my extended family before I die. My mother taught it to me. I don’t know whether it’s of German or U.S. origin, or if anyone here would know it. It’s too boring to explain here but fun to use. I don’t see anything about this secret kids’ language online.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4 stars
Didn’t understand the theme until I was done but the themers are really clever.