LAT 2:22 (Stella) 
[3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Newsday 33:20 (Eric) [3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
NYT 12:07 (Dave) 
[3.92 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Matthew) 
[3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) 
[2.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ 14:34 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Seth Ziebarth’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Extreme Happiness” — Eric’s Review
Seth Zeibarth’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Extreme Happiness” — 8/30/25
Who knew you could find so many cromulent crossword answers in which the first few and last few letters spell synonyms for the state of being happy? There’s some nice stuff in these theme answers:
- 23A [Noted Washington ravine] GRAND COULEE
- 25A [Raised by another’s mother] MIXED-UP AT BIRTH Surely I’m not the only one who thought at least once or twice that I couldn‘t be my parents’ biological son (despite looking very much like my father).
- 50A [Potluck appetizer option] CHEESE PLATTER
- 68A [Careful consideration] DELIBERATE THOUGHT
- 88A [Become prominent after a scandal] GAIN NOTORIETY
- 103A [Game used to hone skills at the board] BLINDFOLD CHESS I’d not heard of this variant, but I can see how memorizing the pieces’ positions on the board might be helpful.
- 118A [1970s rock band that regrouped as New Order, and a hint to the circled letters] JOY DIVISION If you’re at all interested in post-punk/new wave rock music, the biopic Control is worth a few hours of your time. (24 Hour Party People also covers Joy Division, but it’s more focused on the music mogul Tony Wilson.)
I noticed the circled letters right away, but I jumped around the grid so much that it wasn’t until I got JOY DIVISION that I tried to make sense of of the circled letters. I like that none of the theme answers feels the least bit forced.
Other stuff:
- 5A [Prepares to advance, perhaps] TAGS UP The Major League Baseball postseason starts September 30. If you back a team, I hope they’re still in the running.
- 22A [Home to roughly 32% of all Latvians] RIGA That’s a somewhat surprising number. I know Latvia is small (less than 2 million people), but to have a third of them in one city . . . wow.
- 57A [Person who lifts spirits?] TOASTER Cute clue.
- 66A [Song for Sutherland] ARIA I know who the soprano Joan Sutherland was, but I read that clue and thought only of Donald and Keifer. I wasn’t particularly surprised to learn just now that Keifer Sutherland has released three albums.
- 121A [Where to go for future reference?] SEER I like that clue a lot.
- 5D [City with a view of Mount Rainier] TACOMA Not SEATTLE. The mountain’s visibility is very dependent on the weather.
- 11D [Completely modernize] REHAUL Overhaul? OK. Re-do? OK. REHAUL. Kinda ugh.
- 33D [Land in el mar] ISLA/73D [“Casablanca” role] ILSA I guess they couldn’t squeeze in [Material on a mast] or [Boxers Muhammad and Laila].
- 83D [Capital on the Mediterranean] TRIPOLI Shame on me for thinking only of European countries.
- 111D [Swing states?] MOODS Another nice clue.
Maddy Ziegler’s New York Times crossword – Dave’s review
Maddy Ziegler’s New York Times crossword – 8/30/2025
Much faster Saturday for me than yesterday’s NYT, and quite an appropriate breakfast offering with MINI-DONUTS, CEREAL BAR (I’m assuming that’s like a granola bar as opposed to a place where cereal is served) and HAVE A SIP (…of coffee or juice). Got good traction at first in the northwest with SIMBA crossing ASS and then moving east to the fabulous Janelle MONAE of “Hidden Figures” crossing the [Storied stargazers] or MAGI. Luckily for this average solver (and a SPRY over-60-year-old), I felt the cluing was on the easy side today.
Nice marquee longer answers–SNL’s COLD OPENS and RIDDLE ME THIS (which sounds like something I would hear from the Riddler in “Batman”) were my first entries into the middle section, and then I made some good progress in the lower right with [What dilapidated buildings and rampant graffiti may be a sign of] for URBAN DECAY and sussing out DALAI LAMA from back to front (I almost thought it was going to be a double-L LLAMA at first, thinking “Little Lhasa” may be from a children’s book).
Speaking of llamas, it helped that we used to raise goats to quickly get NANNY from [One tending kids], as these kinds of kids are baby goats. I enjoyed the connection between the longer NOT A GOOD IDEA crossing COME TO A BAD END–I wonder if these formed the initial skeleton of the constructor’s grid? And finally, [Kick-starter program?] for KARATE LESSONS was very inspired cluing.
HERE BE DRAGONS:
Brian Callahan & Matthew Luter’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 8/30/25 by Brian Callahan & Matthew Luter
Sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts — today, I think the reverse. There were quite a few fun entries in this puzzle — I liked OPERA-GOER, BEAST MODE, WHO EVEN DOES THAT, BEACH READ, EYE SHADOW, HERO BALL, and INDOOR CAT the best. Note that all the entries I’m citing are at least 8 letters long…but there were 49 entries of between 3 and 5 letters in length, which I think contributes to how easy this puzzle is.
Also, TIL that ARIE is India ARIE Simpson’s middle name, so I don’t think it’s right to clue ARIE as [“Voyage to India” singer], even though she styles her name as India.Arie.
I would’ve liked fewer short entries and harder clues. That’s all I got!
Winston Emmons’s Newsday Crossword — Eric’s Review
Winston Emmons’ Newsday Crossword — 8/30/25
My 30+ minute solving time should tell you why I don’t usually solve the Stumper. My sweet spot for a “difficult” crossword is around 15 or 20 minutes. I start getting tense and not enjoying the experience at about 25 minutes. Who needs that from something that’s supposed to be fun?
You can see that I revealed part of 56A LAID OVER. What you can’t see is that I got 50A TRESS when I glanced at the Fiend website earlier today. More importantly, I used the Check feature to verify half a dozen or more answers. Most of them were right, but still, I don’t like doing that.
My philosophical objection to the Stumper is that most weeks, every clue is as hard as can be. I have long known that my crossword solving style relies a great deal on letter pattern recognition. But you can’t do Wheel of Fortune solving when you don’t have any letters on the grid.
For example, 15A [Kennedy Center Honors actor of 2016] AL PACINO. I don’t pay much attention anymore to awards, but I do know lots of actors’ names. I had something like _ _ _ A _ I _ O and couldn’t see PACINO until I had the C. Multiply that by a dozen or so answers and I’m spending 30 or 45 minutes on the puzzle.
It’s too bad, because there are often some nice clues in the Stumper.
It didn’t help that the grid is basically four midi puzzles with some gettable 15-letter answers crossing in the center. I got the NE corner fairly easily, but the other three corners all needed chipping away at.
Stuff that grabbed me one way or another:
- 1A [Boil from] GET MAD AT Nice clue. I started with DECOCT, which doesn’t fit, and was unable to get beyond literally boiling. (I’ve been living in southwestern Colorado for just over a year now and still am not used to water boiling at around 198º.)
- 9A [US’ highest-grossing French language film (2001)] AMÉLIE A gimme that got me started. Too bad I spelled it like the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Fortunately, 11D EXPO had a straightforward clue.)
- 18A [It’s south of Albuquerque on I-25] EL PASO By my definition, a gimme is an answer that you can get without any crosses. There are lots of towns south of Albuquerque on I-25, and I’ve been through them all. North/South means nothing when you’re talking about I-25 in New Mexico (I swear that outside of Santa Fe, “South” is North.) I had thought that I needed a cross or two for EL PASO, but looking at the grid now, I don’t see what that might have been. So yay! Another gimme.
- 20A [Word from the French for “ladder rung”] ECHELON I probably should have known this. But at 12D, I foolishly had LEAP INTO instead of LEAN INTO, making it very hard to see ECHELON.
- 22A [Balance checkers, briefly] ENTS Not ATMS, which I should have realized was too easy.
- 29A [Gardien divin] ANGE I’ll take French over almost any other “foreign” language when it comes to crosswords.
- 30A [Mideast hot spot] NEGEV Not SINAI. At least GAZA doesn’t fit.
- 31A [Bond of the ’80s] Timothy DALTON He may be the one actor who played 007 whom I haven’t seen.
- 33A [Any house pet] CREATURE COMFORT Nice clue, I guess. I’m not really a pet person, but I know that makes me a bit odd. I can live with that.
- 45A [With nice animation] SPRYLY Another clever clue. SPRY showed up in today’s New York Times crossword, with a different clever clue, but it took me a long time to see it here.
- 2D [Kin to Helen] ELAINE Tough clue. Are we looking for a person related to some famous Helen (like the one from Troy)? No. We are looking for a name etymologically related to Helen.
- 8D [Annoyingly inventive] TOO CLEVER BY HALF My favorite answer in this grid. I read the Wordplay comments in The New York Times almost every day, and whenever there is a particularly tricky Thursday puzzle, someone who didn’t get the trick comments that the puzzle was “too clever by half.” As many times as I’ve seen that phrase, I should have gotten it quicker here.
- 9D [“I’m __ teetotaler”: Shaw” A BEER I’m guessing that’s George Bernard Shaw. That’s fine by me, ’cause I get more beer. (Yeah, I know the dude is long dead.)
- 10D [Partners in crime] MOLLS I originally gave this a side-eye, but then I realized “partners” is being used in the romantic sense. Another clever clue.
- 14D [“__ es todo” (“We’re done”)] ESO That’s not a phrase previously in my limited Spanish vocabulary, but it’s a nice change from the Paul Anka song “Eso Beso.” (That song is from 1962 and wasn’t that big of a hit. Let’s drop it. Please.)
- 25D [Guy embracing invigoration] IGOR Not VIGO. Isn’t the invigoration embracing IGOR?
- 34D [Name above Le Discourse de la Methode quotes in Bartlett’s] RENÉ Descartes. The title was vaguely familiar, but I was expecting a surname and briefly wondered if Immanuel Kant had written that. (Yes, thanks, I know Kant was not French.)
- 36A [National Historic Landmark that moves every day] CABLE CAR It took me way too long to get that. I haven’t been to San Francisco since 1993, but still . . .
- 41D [Split or stick] CLEAVE The epitome of a Janus word (a/k/a contronym). I saw a nonexistent blank in the clue and had SHIFTS for a while.
- 46D [Choir performances] PARTS Yeah, OK.
- 47D [Cuban cuisine staple] ARROZ Rice did not occur to me. The AR__ had me trying AREPA for a while. (Yes, thanks, I know that’s predominantly a Colombian dish.)
- 51D [G. Eiffel et __] CIE I keep forgetting the abbreviation for “Compagnie.” I originally tried FIL, but usually, a company name would be “and Sons.” But what if M. Eiffel had only one son?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
This one was fun and lively, and a bit reminiscent of a Robyn Weintraub Friday. Maddy’s name also rings a bell that I have yet to identify.
I really do think this should have been a Friday, though. (Which is not the constructor’s fault at all. In fact, her Wordplay note says even she was surprised it was chosen as a Saturday.) It was a very easy solve for me. Knocked another 30+ seconds off my Saturday PB.
The Wordplay comments mention a dancer named Maddie Ziegler who apparently has a standout role in a music video by crossword regular Sia. I’d never heard of Maddie, but maybe that’s who you’re thinking of?
“reminiscent of a Robyn Weintraub Friday” is the highest possible compliment – thank you!
NYT: I wonder if the original clue for URBAN DECAY might have referenced the well-known cosmetics brand. Clued straight, it feels slightly jarring.
constructor here – you’re spot on!
I’d have preferred the brand in the clue, less dismal than actual urban decay. Cosmetics brand with a dismal name, maybe?
NYT: nice Saturday all around!
Can some explain 27A Heat setting, perhaps — MEET
I got it from the crosses, but just don’t get it.
At track and field meets, there are heats to determine the finalists in some races, say the 100 meters.
Yeah. Just came to me. Thx.
Nice NYT but I didn’t find it easy, mainly because of the NW corner. Took me a long time to come up with SENOR, put TRADENAME before BRANDNAME, and even then I had a mistake at SAMBA/AMANI that took a while to suss out (don’t know IMANI, should have come up with SIMBA because of many appearances in previous crosswords).
I don’t understand the clue for ALUM. Could be any two years, right, or am I missing something?
I also thought of Maddie Ziegler and would have been thrilled to discover they are the same person.
I made the TRADE NAME mistake, too, despite being 99% certain on SIMBA. I also had no idea on IMANI Perry, but her book sounds interesting.
I think you’re interpreting the ALUM clue correctly.
i too am disappointed i am not a 22 year old dancer and actress 😔
Do you know the constructor Sam Donaldson? He’s not the old ABC newsman, either.
Amy, next you’re going to tell me that the constructor Gary Larson is not “The Far Side” cartoonist!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Is “come to a bad end” really an idiom? I’ve never heard it. Also — why is “Legally Blonde” a pun? Otherwise pretty fun puzzle (if on the easy side for me). Had MELT until the very end, and took a minute to re-parse the clue to get it.
I think the pun is on the term “legally blind”.
“Come to a bad end” seems perfectly idiomatic to me.
Stumper: Nothing posted. Pannonica indicated last week that there had been a slipup in who was to do it, so I’m assuming something similar this week.
I found it similar in difficulty to last week — hard, but not too hard. I got the upper right first, then proceeded counterclockwise for the most part with the lower right coming together last. I thought “tress” almost too obvious for 50A, etc.
I volunteered to write up the Stumper in pannonica’s absence. It won’t be until this afternoon at the earliest, as I have a few other things that take precedence. Sorry.
Not a problem — just unexpected. I’m used to checking my impressions against pannonica’s after I’m done, that’s all. :)
Stumper: Upper right came first for me too, but I went clockwise after that. 9A (US’ highest-grossing French language film” was a gimme for me, so it helped I had the first letters for the downs at the top right. Same with 18A – it’s also south of Albuquerque on the Rio Grande.
I thought it was odd that we got “Deere device” and “Tractor adjuncts” two weeks in a row.
Also odd there were so many French-related clues (six?)
55A “Trip up” was my favorite clue, closely followed by 32D “Reduced measures.”
My friend Monica in El Paso pointed out that I-25 is miles from El Paso. Not the first time she’s seen that wrong clue angle.
25 miles is nothing in West Texas. 😊
I-25 does not go into West Texas. It ends in Las Cruces, NM.
An interstate *does* go through El Paso, but it’s I-10.
Oops. I read Amy’s comment too quickly. I see now that it’s close to 50 miles from I-25’s southern terminus in Las Cruces to El Paso. (It’s been many years since I’ve been in that area.)
You’re right: The clue is wrong.
Or maybe it’s more or less OK. You head south from ABQ “on I-25” and when you hit I-10, you go a bit further and reach El Paso.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
I was a little frustrated in the upper right corner but otherwise really dug this puzzle!
I don’t know how I came this far without learning ODEON and my head was in a different place for “way out”
NYT: Fun Saturday! It took a bit for me to find my typos in the end (some were from rushing), but I liked it. Still ended up faster than average.
I feel like I’ve seen A&W recently; they’re full restaurants in Canada. The joke is “What does A&W stand for? Amburgers and Woot beer.”
Eric, regarding your Stumper objections: they are exactly why I love the Stumper! There are plenty of easy-to-hard puzzles to choose from among all the outlets, and I love having one that’s just brutal. And I know you felt the pressure to get the writeup out, but I’d recommend trying to put the puzzle down when you get frustrated, then coming back to it later when you’re psyched again. I always regret giving up, and I’m always glad when I resist the temptation to check things and just put it down until later.
Thanks, Seth.
I think we’ve had this conversation before. Yes, I probably would have set the Stumper aside I hadn’t been trying to get a review posted early enough for the people who are interested in seeing it. That’s what I do on the rare occasions that I solve it for fun.
Yes, set it aside and forget it for awhile. That’s what I do sometimes. That, and my husband and I switch off — he starts it with a few answers, but Stumpers can really stump him, so he passes it to me. Frequently, I can finish it, but sometimes not. That’s when I pass it back to him, let it sit for awhile, and/or lok up something (I learn a lot of stuff from crosswords!). If you worry about posting and it’s taking you awhile, just post something to indicate that it’s in the works, so that we know that it wasn’t simply forgotten, that’s all that’s necessary.
Personally, I like the challenge of Stumpers and other hard puzzles. I learn some stuff and it makes me think about different word meanings. It’s not unusual for me to look up stuff, even if it’s just how to spell something (I do the newspaper version, not the online one.)
Thank you.
I’ll keep that in mind should I review the Stumper again. I’m really hoping pannonica will be back soon — I miss her writing and her fantastic choices in music.
You’re welcome! Pannonica is good, but you did fine! Everyone has their own style. If you care, you can research music choices. :)
Thanks!
I like to think that somebody besides me enjoys the music I’ve been putting in my reviews. It takes a while sometimes to find a relevant song.
I appreciate them!
You’re both very kind, thank you!