LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[2.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 9:40 (Eric) 
[3.50 avg; 18 ratings] rate it
Universal 3:56 (Jim P) 
[2.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) [2.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Bryan Cheong’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review
Bryan Cheong’s New York Times Crossword — 9/5/25
This appears to be Bryan Cheong’s debut crossword in any publication covered by Diary of a Crossword Fiend. Congratulations, Mr. Cheong!
This was a fun grid to solve, with lots of answers that I don’t often see in puzzles.
Some of the clues are pretty good, too. Looking at the grid now, I feel like I needed a few more crosses throughout the grid than I probably should have. But that might just be because I’ve not been sleeping well lately (which isn’t unusual for me).
Anyway, here’s some of what Mr. Cheong has for us:
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- 1A [One who tries to make a good impression] DENTIST Cute clue.
- 15A [Manscapes, perhaps] SHAVES I thought this might be the first reference to below-the-belt male grooming in The New York Times Crossword, but “manscaping” was an answer way back in 2019. (Some other tense may have been earlier; I was too lazy to check every possible variation on that term.)
- 18A [Greg ___, author of the 1994 science fiction novel “Permutation City”] EGAN I don’t recognize the author or the novel.
- 31A [Small semiaquatic mammal with 22 tentacles on its snout] STAR-NOSED MOLE This was one of the answers that I had to chip away at. Though if I had paused to think about it a little longer, I might have gotten the answer with fewer crosses.
- 35A [Condiment at an Asian fusion restaurant] TERIYAKI SAUCE Would I have gotten this quicker if the clue had used “Japanese”? Probably not.
- 36A [Ground-breaking invention?] DYNAMITE STICK I had the last three letters first and thought the answer might be some kind of PICK.
- 49A [“OK, don’t accept my apology then!”] FINE BE MAD I’m surprised this phrase has never before been in a NYT crossword. It’s well-established in colloquial speech and the letters are relatively grid-friendly.
- 52A [Bird that can build tools and remember human faces] CROWS I read that clue too quickly and thought it said something about “Birds that can build nests that resemble human faces.” Oh well. I tried WRENS but that didn’t last long.
- 54A [Logical inconsistency in a story] PLOT HOLE The analytical part of my brain is most fully engaged when I’m writing. Consequently, I tend to miss a lot of plot holes if I’m just watching a movie or TV show for entertainment.
- 59A [Gently presses, as a gas pedal] EASES ON Ease off the gas? Fine. “Ease on.” Not so fine, at least to my ear.
- 1D [Skirt] DODGE Not EVADE. Not an article of clothing, either. Nice, ambiguous clue.
- 2D [Water brand whose logo shows the Alps] EVIAN Bottled water has always struck me as wasteful when there’s potable tap water available. I almost never buy it and so pay little attention to water brands’ logos. I struggled a little in the NW corner, in part because EVIAN wasn’t the gimme it might have been for a lot of solvers.
- 4D [Need for a demo, maybe] TNT I sensed that “demo” was “demolition,” not “demonstration,” but having the T of 16A IDIOT TAX, I put in ROT (which might’ve made more sense had the clue read “Reason for a demo, maybe”).
- 7D [Paragon] TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE
- 9D [Sliding screen in a Japanese tearoom] SHOJI I knew that I’d seen that word, but couldn’t bring it to mind until 19A ART MAJORS gave me the J.
12D [Like canvas grocery bags] REUSABLE The reusable grocery bag might be the only product as to which I was an early adopter.- 14D [Does some stretching?] LIES I knew it was either LIES or FIBS.
- 24D [Daniel ___ Kim of “Hawaii Five-0”] DAE My brother and I were avid fans of the original TV series (1968–1980). I didn’t recognize this name because Mr. Kim is part of the cast for the 2010 reboot.
- 31D [Misses watching a bullfight?] SEÑORITAS Nice clue playing on the multiple meanings of “misses.” It didn’t fool me at all.
- 47D [Slugger Scott with eight Gold Gloves] ROLEN I’m not a sports fan. I know there’s a difference between baseball’s Gold Glove and the amateur boxing competition the Golden Gloves. And for all I knew, “Scott” was a surname. Fortunately, there weren’t any tough crossings here.
- 50D [Cold one] BREW Not BEER.
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Pam Klawitter’s Universal crossword, “A Low-Key Puzzle”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are in the Down direction and feature a final word that can also be a keyboard key. There’s no revealer, but the title is revealer enough, hinting that there are “key words” toward the bottom of the grid.
Universal crossword solution · “A Low-Key Puzzle” · Pam Klawitter · Fri., 9.5.25
- 4d. [Late-night work period] GRAVEYARD SHIFT.
- 7d. [You can’t go back after passing this] POINT OF NO RETURN.
- 15d. [System of maintaining standards] QUALITY CONTROL.
Nice clean straightforward theme with enjoyable theme entries. Having only three theme answers feels a little light, but at least they’re all 14- and 15-letters long, and they allow for a smooth solve.
Grid highlights include FIRST-RUN, BARHOPS, BALEEN, OUCHIE, GRIDDLE, and HAIRY as a synonym of “difficult”. It would have been nice if the 8-letter NEEDED TO could have been replaced with something more interesting, but it does cross two theme answers and ends in O. I’m sure that limited options quite a bit.
Clues of note:
- 51a. [Workplace benefit, briefly]. PTO. I’ve only know this initialism as Please Turn Over. I suppose here it means Personal Time Off?
- 12d. [Puck cover-up]. APRON. Eh? Maybe chef Wolfgang Puck?
- 55d. [Without at the end?]. LESS. As a suffix, like in “needless” and “penniless”.
Three stars.
Patti Varol’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 9/5/25 • Fri • Varol • solution • 20250905
- 36aR [Requirement for many a private school, and an apt title for this puzzle?] PLACEMENT EXAM. (68a [Better suited for] APTER)
- 17a. [“Don’t be impulsive,” literally] LOOK YOU LEAP (look before you leap).
- 29a. [Find hidden meaning, literally] THE READ LINES (read between the lines).
- 44a. [Risks missing a deadline, literally] SCHEDULE RUNS (runs behind schedule). (20a [Absent] MISSING)
- 60a. [Nearly identical pair, literally] A TWO PEAS POD (two peas in a pod).
Since we’re not engaging in ‘above’ or ‘below’ antics, all of the placements involve lateral arrangements, and the gamut is effectively run.
- 1d [Actress Hayek Pinault] SALMA. Including her married name threw me.
- 3d [Dove bar?] ROOST. This one fooled me; couldn’t see where the question mark was leading.
- 6d [Mountain predator] COUGAR. Evoking one of the feline’s many other names: mountain lion. But of course Puma concolor has a notably cosmopolitan distribution, living throughout the Americas in many varied habitats.
- 11d [Like bouillabaisse] PROVENÇAL. Took me longer than it should have to process the PROVEN— letters that I’d gotten via crossings. Maybe if I hadn’t dismissed the cross-reference from 15a [Common fruit in 11-Down cuisine] OLIVE …
- 18d [“I got it”] ON ME. As in, paying for something.
- 26d [“Double Indemnity” novelist] James M CAIN.
- 51d [Hasbro toy that requires twisting and pulling] BOP IT. Vaguely aware of this, but would not have been able to describe it.
- 55a [H-Town pro] ’STRO. Is “H-Town” a thing?
- 59d [Stuffed bun] BAO. 59a [Drink brand with Simbu Strawberry and Molokai Coconut flavors] BAI. I can imagine this being a difficult crossing for some solvers.
- 1a [Take off] SCRAM. 49a [Take off] LEAVE.
- 54a [Radio-active truckers?] CBERS.
- 65a [Party-planning site] EVITE, which determined whether 57d [Mother of the Titans] would be spelled GAIA or GAEA.
2d [Loft-y group?] CHOIR.
I can’t reach BEQ’s website. Is there an alternate link than this: https://www.brendanemmettquigley.com/
I get this when I try to reach BEQ’s website: Error 503 Service Unavailable
Apparently, it’s down for everyone. I don’t know of an alternate link.
Give it some time and try again later. Good luck.
And if you do get through, see if you can make sense of his Thursday puzzle’s title. I couldn’t.
The site is down for me, too, but I answered your question in the Thursday post.
Thanks, Evan. I missed that, but will go read your comment now.
NYT: I never read the Wordplay column before I review a NYT puzzle because I know y’all are paying for my opinion, not my rehash of any of the wonderful NYT columnists (Sam Corbin, Deb Amlen, Caitlin Lovinger and sometimes Isaac Aronow).
I’m sorry I didn’t know this when I wrote my review: “Bryan Cheong, who lives in Singapore and is . . . 14 years old, makes his Times Crossword debut and is the youngest person to have a themeless puzzle published.” (That’s Deb Amlen.)
Wow. Just wow.
Really nice Friday themeless. I had ART MOVERS first, where I had the same problem with not remembering the word SHOJI (and seeing that I misspelled CAROM too). Nice puzzle, and I hope we see even more in the future :-)
NYT: very well made puzzle and an excellent debut. I agree that EASESON is not an idiomatic phrase, and DYNAMITESTICK has more than a tinge of green paint, but there was a lot of good stuff to compensate.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Agreed! Extra star for age of constructor.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Good puzzle with quite a many pleasant long fill. That said, I don’t need to be reminded of that abomination known as the star-nosed mole.
Hey, they’re very endearing!
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 3 stars
Universal – Jim, PTO is Paid Time Off.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Thought this one had a high ceiling and a low floor. Some of the entries were sublime, like IDIOTTAX and FINEBEMAD and TEXTBOOKEXAMPLE. And then there were things like the REB/ECARTE cross, which felt like it came out of a crossword from about 1958.
Graded on a curve since the constructor is only 14!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
“Dynamite stick” and “TNT” in the same grid made for an explosive debut.
NYT: I think reusable grocery bags are a good idea, but banning plastic bags is counterproductive – at least it is for me. I reused the plastic bags over and over again – to bring dirty laundry home from the gym, to use as trash bags, recycling bags – so now I just keep a box of plastic trash bags in my car for when I (invariably) forget the totes – and I recycle THEM as trash bags. To me, this is the “law of unintended result”; likely increasing, rather than decreasing the use of plastic.
Is the clue for 23-A some kind of emoticon representing crying eyes? Speaking of the “law of unintended result”, while I do crosswords partly to keep my aging brain from getting too dull, often the content just makes me feel old anyway.
I used to live in Austin. While we primarily used reusable totes for groceries, we sometimes got a plastic bag when we hadn’t brought enough totes or if the bagger thought something needed to be in a plastic bag.
We used those bags to line the small wastebasket under the kitchen sink.
When Austin banned the plastic bags, we had to buy boxes of can liners.
We’ve been in Colorado for a year and are still using produce bags from Austin.
The emoji in the 23A clue is not quite crying — more like on the verge of tears.
All the produce bags in California are compostable now. Flimsy for garbage but what are you gonna do?
Cleared customs and about to board the ferry to Port Angeles. Sorry to be leaving Victoria. It’s such a glorious city. Have a bunch of cider and apple brandy from Merridale in the trunk. Rural Vancouver Island is also glorious.
Martin… did you ever get to Denman Island or Hornby Island?
No, but they look lovely. We’ve been at Fanny Bay so we’ve seen Denman, if that counts :). But we were on our way to Campbell River for salmon fishing that time. But we’ll be back. There’s so much to explore on Vancouver Island.
Our family owned property on Denman, before M-I-L passed. Both sides of the road to the ferry to Hornby. Denman is eally a beautiful peaceful place.
Fanny Bay oysters are great!
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 2.5 stars
LAT: I’m not wild about puzzles that border on the cryptic genre, although admittedly it’s an interesting departure from the norm. I was definitely put off by the plethora of names
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
I upped my rating by half (as high as it could go) when I read about the constructors age… Wow, just wow, and I can’t wait to see more from him.
started slowly, and dropped euchre in where the (unheard of by me) ecarte went, with reb and brew in place. Took me time to catch the senoritas misdirection since muchachas didn’t come quickly either. tic-tac-toe didn’t work for x’s and o’s… Just some slow take-off but it was enjoyable slow for me.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
Some good answers (FINE BE MAD, TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE, LOVE NOTE), but a bit lackluster overall and a few outright longer duds (REUSABLE, LIMEADES). Still, half an extra star for the constructor being just 14 years old! Very impressive.
Probably to late now but I always get BEQ on CRUCIVERB. COM
To add my 2 cents in the plastic bag mix: the Calif. plastic bags are crap. The produce starts composting (limp celery/carrots, soggy spinach/broccoli) in the fridge. I’ve always washed out my plastic bags & dried them on the line being a fanatic conservationist but the new ones are useless to me. Like Eric, I have bags that are months old.
We have to wrap all the produce in paper towels and put it back in those bags. It helps but I miss the old one.
Martin: maybe I’m a day late, but due to the massive wildfires in Olympic Nat’l Park, how was the AQI in Victoria BC and Port Angeles?
(And that reminds of The Cars song “Bye Bye Love” w/ the lyrics “It’s an orangy sky”.)
It wasn’t bad. We spent a few days on Hood Cana, by Tahuya, and it wasn’t bad there, which is much closer to the fire. On Vancouver Island skies were mostly clear, with just a tinge of color. Perfect evenings in Victoria. We’re ready to go back. Back in Seattle now. Just watched the M’s lose and it’s off to dinner.
LAT: “BOP IT. Vaguely aware of this …” Never heard of BOP IT until August 2023 when Malaika Handa put it in an AVCX+. Googled & sent away for one on impulse. Been pulling, twisting, & bopping ever since.
Universal:
Jim, I’m glad you found the theme easy to figure out, because without your help I was clueless. It is a cute theme, though.