Monday, August 18, 2025

BEQ 31:45 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 1:45 (Stella) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:05 (Sophia) [3.50 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 8:47 (Jenni) [3.50 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.10 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) [3.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 5:02 (Jim Q) rate it

Andrea Carla Michaels and Christina Iverson’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Recap

Theme: Looney Tunes characters voiced by Mel Blanc, clued via their catchphrases

New York Times, 08 18 2025, By Andrea Carla Michaels and Christina Iverson

• 18a [“You’re despicable!” speaker voiced by Mel Blanc] – DAFFY DUCK
• 24a [“I’m hunting wabbits” speaker voiced by Mel Blanc] – ELMER FUDD
• 40a [“Ha-ha-ha-HA-ha!” speaker voiced by Mel Blanc] – WOODY WOODPECKER
• 51a [“I am ze locksmith of love, no?” speaker voiced by Mel Blanc] – PEPE LE PEW
• 62a [“What’s up, Doc?” speaker voiced by Mel Blanc] – BUGS BUNNY

I’ll come out and say it – I think I have watched Looney Tunes approximately twice in my life, so I was not the target audience for this puzzle (more of a “Tom and Jerry” girl). This is the problem with proper-noun-theme-based Monday puzzles – you love them if you know them, but if you don’t, the puzzle may be very difficult without much “aha!” moment payoff.

That being said, these characters are pretty well ingrained in pop culture such that I had heard of all of them before, even if I didn’t know the catchphrases. I’ll admit to trying BUGS BUNNY for basically all of the first 4 answers, and I kept waiting for Porky Pig to make an appearance. It’s also wild how well these answers fit symmetrically together, and WOODY WOODPECKER is a perfect 15 letter answer. Mel Blanc really did voice a lot of characters, huh?

The rest of the fill is very Monday-appropriate. Given the proper noun heavy theme, I appreciated that very few of the other answers referenced particular people or pop culture. Fill highlights for me included ECOLOGY, POUND CAKE, ROAD SIGNS, THERAPY, UP TOP. I found it funny that both YIPE and YOWIE were included too. My favorite clues were [Word after golf or before sandwich] for CLUB and [Breakfast chain that punnily used a kangaroo in its early commercials] for IHOP – I did not know this fact and it’s pretty funny. Was this before or after the iPhone?

Happy Monday all!

Amanda Cook’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 8/18/25 by Amanda Cook

The revealer at 63A [List of top-scoring players, and what the start of 17-, 23-, 39-, or 51-Across could be called?] is LEADERBOARD, because the first word in each theme entry can be placed before BOARD to make a new phrase:

• 17A [Avant-garde] is CUTTING-EDGE, leading to CUTTING BOARD.
• 23A [Assets and liabilities statement] is BALANCE SHEET, leading to BALANCE BOARD. I had previously heard of these only in a gym context, but apparently some people like to use BALANCE BOARDs at their standing desks. Which means you could conceivably be working on your BALANCE SHEET while standing on your BALANCE BOARD.
• 39A [Stylistic faux pas that puts an editor between a rock and a black sheep?] is MIXING METAPHORS. I wish I hadn’t missed this clue while solving, because it’s really funny and not the kind of thing that usually shows up on Monday. Anyway, a MIXING BOARD is a device used by sound engineers.
• 51A [Illumination that sets a tone] is MOOD LIGHTING, leading to MOOD BOARD. Apparently some couples getting married set up MOOD BOARDs not just to plan the parts of their wedding under their control, but also to tell their guests how to dress, which…I guess I’m old, but I find this trend repulsive!

I was surprised to finish this puzzle quite that fast given that there was a bit of crosswordese like NICENE and ELAN in there, but looking at the stats, I see that there’s no nonthematic entry longer than 7 words (and only two of those, CAMELOT and UPSIDES).

I could’ve wished for a couple of longer entries, but on the plus side, the theme answers are all evocative and lively.

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal crossword, “Did You Catch That?” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 8/18/25 • Mon • “Did You Catch That?” • Burnikel • solution • 20250818

• 6d. [It’s caught in {the circled letters} of 16-Across] BALL.
  16a. [Everlasting romantic feeling] UNDYING LOVE.
• 24a. [It’s caught in {the circled letters} of 10-Down] LOBSTER.
  10d. [Sichuan bean curd dish with numbing heat] MAPO TOFU.
• 54a. [It’s caught in {the circled letters} of 36-Down] RAT.
  36d. [Overtime compensation] EXTRA PAY.
• 46d. [It’s caught in {the circled letters} of 59-Across] HORSE.
  59a. [Drink that might leave a mustache] GLASS OF MILK.

Ball in glove, lobster in pot, rat in trap, horse in (by) lasso. They all work, but the theme kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Combined with a few awkward entries among the ballast fill, I just wasn’t thrilled by this one.

• 1a [Ladybug’s marks] SPOTS. 21a [Half of a colon] DOT.
• 13a [Gold or silver] COLOR. Tried METAL first, then held off on MEDAL before getting enough crosses to see the correct answer. Easier is 42a [Indigo or henna] DYE.
• 22a [“Don’t be scared”] FEAR NOT. I think this is what biblically accurate angels say in memes. Perhaps in the bibble itself too. update: The caption is most commonly “be not afraid”.
• 29a [Social media post that vanishes after 24 hours] SNAP STORY. Is this endemic to a particular platform?
• 33a [Jazz legend James] ETTA. Not so much. Her métier was r&b and blues.
• 40a [First perfect number] SIX.
• 51a [“Ready for business” sign] OPEN NOW. Not convinced this is much of a real thing.
• 4d [Child’s choo-choo] TOY TRAIN. Tried TRAIN SET first.
• 7d [Recently] AS OF LATE. Could also work as just OF LATE.
• 14d [Award feats for multitalented performers] EGOTS. Not certain I’ve seen it pluralized before.
• 26d [Scouts __ ] BSA. Changed the official name from Boy Scouts in 2019.
• 27d [Pastrami bread] RYE. Maybe a “usually” here?
• 48d [Not pretaped] ON LIVE. The ON seems superfluous. Another entry that merits my sideye.

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword — Jenni’s write-up

Sending healing thoughts to Amy – hope you’re back to blogging strength soon!

Erik’s byline makes me smile, especially on a difficult puzzle. I love a tough themeless, especially when it’s fair and fresh, and his always are. Plus pretty much the whole puzzle is something I didn’t know before I did this puzzle. ETA: a commenter points out that this is a double pangram. Trust Erik to perform this feat of construction without dimming the joy of solving.

New Yorker, Monday, August 18, Erik Agard, solution grid

Highlights of this beauty:

• 14a [Polymer in some Ping-Pong paddles] is KEVLAR. This is the kind of clue I love. Even though I know nothing about the composition of Ping-Pong paddles, I have certainly heard of KEVLAR and so once I got a few crossings the answer made sense, and I felt smart.
• 16d [Pan and others] are not gods or cookware but SEXUALITIES.
• 21a [Trail of information left by an Internet user, so to speak] is DATA EXHAUST. Never heard of it before. This time the clue was clear and thus the answer was inferable.
• 24a [Moving targets?] are SALES QUOTAS. I wanted this to be something about air quotes.
• 49d [Mettle-detecting question] is DARE I? I filled that in from crossings and couldn’t parse it until I read the clue, which made me laugh.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: so many, many things, including that snail courtship rituals involve LOVE DARTS. This is, um, explicit.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1810 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1801 — 8/18/25

Brendan labels this one “Hard” and for once that label fits. I didn’t much enjoy it, getting stuck in multiple places on the left side of the grid.

There seemed to be more pop culture references that I didn’t know than usual, even for a BEQ puzzle:

• 18A [Trainer/model Alexis] REN That’s a new name for me.
• 19A [TV princess from Avalor] ELENA The show is Elena of Avalor, but I’m not up on my no-longer-running children’s TV shows.
• 22A [Title for David Beckham] SIR I didn’t know the retired soccer player had been knighted, but it was an easy assumption to make.
• 23A [Actor who plays in the rock band Hollywood Vampires] Johnny DEPP I knew he had a band, but I had no idea of its name.
• 37A [They’re involved in many diamond capers] SAVANNAH BANANAS I’d never heard of  Banana Ball, which appears to be the baseball equivalent of Harlem Globetrotters-type basketball. I got half of this through crosses and the other half from the letter pattern.
• 43A [Singer with the alter egos Roman Zolanski, Chun-Li, and Queen Sleeze] Nicki MINAJ I know her name, but not her alter egos.
• 68A [General who wrote the classic book on military tactics “Infantry Attacks”] ERWIN ROMMEL OK, that’s not pop culture, but it is trivia that I didn’t know. Luckily, I know his name and was eventually able to piece it together.
• 11D [“Silver Spoons” family name] STRATTON I don’t know 1980s TV that well.
• 34D [Jukebox musical whose narrators are William Shakespeare with his wife Anne Hathaway] AND JULIET Wikipedia says the title used an ampersand. Whatever. I don’t pay much attention to Broadway, and sometimes it shows.
• 37D [“The stuff that dreams are made of” speaker] SAM SPADE in The Maltese Falcon. I knew the original source was Shakespeare but couldn’t remember which play. I finally caved and looked it up; it’s Prospero in The Tempest. Knowing that the last letter was either E or N somehow got me SPADE. (If you’ve never seen The Maltese Falcon, it’s a great movie.)
• 51D [Martínez in the Baseball Hall of Fame] PEDRO He played for five major league teams, including the Boston Red Sox (1998–2004). I’ve probably heard of him before, but I’m not a baseball fan.

Other stuff:

• 17A [One attracted to brighness] SAPIOSEXUAL I came across that term a few months ago, but it didn’t stick. Given how long it took me to get it today, maybe I’ll remember it next time.
• 33A [Legislative capital vis-à-vis 12-Down] CAPETOWN/12D [Administrative capital vis-à-vis 33-Across] PRETORIA I only recently learned that the Republic of South Africa also has a judicial capital, Bloemfontein.
• 2D [One good at saving] GOALIE Nice clue. If you’re a hockey or soccer fan, you hope your team’s goalkeeper is good at making saves.
• 10D [“ZOMG! U got me??!”] LOL I DUNNO Do I care what the Z in the clue stands for? Not really. The LOL could have been almost anything, but it did help me get 5A MAMMAL.
• 13D [People are dying to go to them] FUNERALS A dad joke of a clue. Or maybe a dead joke.
• 24D [“ACC Huddle” channel] ESPNU Here’s where paying attention to things that are new to you in a crossword pays off: I knew from crosswords that ACC is the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA and that ESPN has a channel devoted to collegiate athletics.
• 63D [dFully behind] PRO The typo in the clue threw me.

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Light Touch” — Jim Q’s write-up

Soft start to the week!

THEME: Common phrases starting with things that are associated with softness

THEME ANSWERS:

• 16A [Beverage brand for the lactose intolerant] SILK SOY MILK.
• 25A [Crustacean that wears another sea creature on its back] SPONGE CRAB. 
• 34A [Teenage crush] PUPPY LOVE.
• 51A [Pastel color for a nursery] POWDER BLUE.
• 60A [Trial run for a new restaurant, and what 16-, 25-, 34- and 51-Across all have] SOFT OPENING. 

Cute! A perfect Monday, with a few interesting themers and fill to keep it interesting! Uncovered the themers in order and though I was onto something, I didn’t fully get it until the revealer. So nice AHA moment there. I will say though that I don’t really associate SPONGEs with softness the way that I do the others. Maybe I just use crappy sponges.

The sponge crab. A face only a mother could lovepy sponges.

NEW TO ME / TIP-OF-TONGUE / MISSTEPS

• K-DRAMA! I love it! Not to be confused with K-POP :) There is definitely a distinct style to the handful of K-DRAMAs. One element that I find oddly endearing is overacting the role.
• SPONGE CRAB. Never heard of this. Great name. Can’t say it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
• [Boat made of gopher wood] Misread the clue. Thought is was looking for a type of wood. Saw A?? and went with ASH. Screwed me up for longer than it should have.
• [Tissue-bathing fluid] LYMPH. Not accustomed to hearing it without NODE following!

Only minor nit is that it is a bit awkward to call “Silk” by it’s full name, SILK SOY MILK. I feel like you should only call it that when it’s in trouble. “SILK SOY MILK, you get down here and make my cereal delicious or else!”

3,5 stars.