AV Club 7:31 (Amy) 
[3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 6:42 (Gareth) 
[2.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:48 (Amy) 
[2.53 avg; 16 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Kyle) 
[3.80 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [1.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today 10:31 (Emily) [2.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 7:40 (Eric) [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Peter A. Collins’s Wall Street Journal Crossword — Eric’s Review
Peter A. Collins’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Piling On” — 9/10/25
A bit of sport, a bit of theater — something for everyone:
- 20A [Basketball infractions that might result in ejection] FLAGRANT FOULS/23A Youth soccer coach, often PARENT Rent
- 36A [Vessels with spouts] FLAGONS/41A [Heads up] CHAIRS Hair It took me a bit to not read “heads” as a verb, not a noun.
- 54A [Gridiron infraction indicator, and a hint to what you’ll find three times in this puzzle] FLAG ON PLAY/57A [Gallagher of Netflix’s “TheUmbrella Academy”] AIDAN Aida
My initial opinion of this theme was that it was rather light, with only three theme answers. Then I reread the revealer and saw that PLAY indicated the three Broadway musicals on which each F-L-A-G letter sequence sits. That’s a bit more impressive, isn’t it?
Yes, the plays are a bit musty (Rent opened in 1996; Hair in 1967; Aida in 2000). But one can solve the puzzle without recognizing any of those as play titles, and in any case, they’re all widely known.
Other stuff:
- 13A [Europa Clipper, en route to Jupiter, e.g.] PROBE I missed the launch of this unmanned space mission last fall. It’s designed to study evidence of a subsurface ocean underneath Europa’s ice crust.
- 27A [Like flip-flops] OPEN-TOE I wouldn’t call flip-flops “open-toe,” which to me implies that the rest of the foot is covered.
- 32A [Atlanta suburb named for an ancient Greek city] SMYRNA
- 49A [Bridges on a musical score?] LEON I’m familiar with his name, if not his music.
- 66A [Lasso, e.g.] TED As in the Apple TV+ comedy series.
- 3D [Earned a slap, perhaps] GOT FRESH I know that men can be pigs. But “got fresh” feels a bit dated to me, though I don’t know what I would use other than “harassment.”
- 4D [Northern end of the Chisholm Trail] ABILENE Kansas, not Texas.
- 12D [Speed, but not velocity, e.g.] SCALAR “Having only magnitude, not direction.” High school physics was a long time ago, but that corresponds with what I remember.
- 33D [Ballpark fig.] MGR 34D [Ned who was 33-Down for the Brewers and the Royals] YOST That’s not a name I knew; he managed the Milwaukee Brewers from 2003–2008 and the Kansas City Royals from 2010–2019.
- 38D [Armored car container] MONEY BAG Not MONEY BOX.
- 39D [Anglican who won the Nobel Peace Prize] The Archbishop Desmond TUTU, who served as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa after the end of apartheid. Nice to see this not clued as a ballerina’s garment.
- 42D [Freaky] BIZARRE One Z, two Rs. I should know it’s not the other way around.
Cole Vandenberg & Harit Raghunathan’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 9/10/25 – no. 0910
Today’s theme answers double a word and add an S to the start of the second one, with a clue for the resulting goofball phrase:
- 17A. [Skimpy serving of foie gras, say], LIVER SLIVER. I’ll pass.
- 23A. [One of Daniel Radcliffe’s paparazzi, say], POTTER SPOTTER. Could also go with a ceramicist’s helper at the potting wheel.
- 35A. [Heinz bottle blueprint, say], KETCHUP SKETCH-UP. Can’t say I’ve ever seen sketch-up.
- 45A. [The biggest and most loving of hugs, say], MOTHER SMOTHER. My daughter-in-law beats me in this category. She gives good hug.
- 53A. [Idahoan, say], TATER STATER. Idaho is potatoes, “Gem State” be damned.
I wouldn’t have minded losing the central themer and spacing out the other four.
Fave fill: CAKEWALK, MNEMONIC. Two-word entries I don’t love: ON RYE, SHOT BY, AD RATE, CARGO NET. Crosswordese I was surprised to see in a Wednesday puzzle: [Willow whose twigs are used in basketry], OSIER.
Didn’t know based on the clue, but pieced together with the help of crossings: 1A. [Spiritual principle symbolized by an endless knot], KARMA.
Unfamiliar MNEMONIC in its clue, [“Richard of York gave battle in vain,” for the colors of the rainbow]. Don’t we see rainbows depicted enough to remember the order of the colors without a mnemonic?
3.5 stars from me.
Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Yada Yada Yada”–Amy’s recap
Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s AV Club Classic crossword solution, 9/10/25 – “Yada Yada Yada”
Took me a bit to fully suss out the theme. There are three rebus squares containing YAK, GAB, and CHAT. The revealer is SKIP THE SMALL TALK, and the theme clues pretty much work both with and without those “small talk” rebus letters.
- 17a. [“Yo, the branding for my new business is ready!”?], HEY, I GOT A NAME, {YA K}NOW or, without the rebus, HEY, I GOT A NAME NOW.
- 27a. [Tell a cat to make up its mind on staying/leaving?], ORDERIN{G AB}OUT or ORDER IN/OUT. OK, the clue doesn’t fit for ORDERING ABOUT, and ORDER IN/OUT is unnatural. And man oh man, that MACAU crossing killed me because I had MACAO for the longest time.
- 52a. [Evian et Perrier, par exemple?], FRENCH {CHAT}EAUX but also FRENCH EAUX. This is a great find!
I don’t love the first two themers, but the chateaux/bottled water brands is nifty.
Fave fill: MUTANTS, EMO HAIR, HOR{CHAT}A, LOAF PANS, PANKO.
3.25 stars from me.
Sally Hoelscher and Olivia Mitra Framke’s Universal crossword, “Sounds Like We’re Going Fishing” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 9/10/25 • Wed • “Sounds Like We’re Going Fishing” • Hoelscher, Framke • solution • 20250910
Each of the theme answers ends with a word that’s a homophone of a bit of fishing equipment.
- 16a. [Unofficial opinion sampling] STRAW POLL (pole).
- 26a. [“I deeply relate”] THIS IS SO REAL (reel).
- 43a. [Archaeozoologist who was likely the first woman to work at London’s Natural History Museum] DOROTHEA BATE (bait). Oh I bet there were menial washerwomen and the like well before her.
- 57a. [Drag performer, often] LIP SYNCER (sinker).
Pretty good stuff.
- 10d [Rewards for certain fur babies] CAT TREATS. 36d [Purring fur babies] KITTIES. ‘Fur baby’ is not a term I’m fond of.
- 11d [“Factory Girl” subject Sedgwick] EDIE. Andy Warhol’s Factory, that is. 24a [Person using a loom] WEAVER.
- 40d [Hops like Tigger] BOUNCES.
- 41d [Beach volleyball player’s division?] TAN LINE. The question mark and the clue’s specificity led me to the answer quite readily.
- 48d [Mother’s brother, maybe] UNCLE. The qualifier is unnecessary, yes?
- 19a [Disney princess who sings “Almost There”] TIANA. I believe that’s the one set in New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog. 6d [“__ Unfortunate Souls” (Ursula’s song)] I’m guessing this is from Disney’s animated The Little Mermaid.
- 33a/36a [… “Gimme a break” candy bar] KIT | KAT. Sorry, no break for you—the prices are going up, just in time for Halloween.
- 46a [Leaf-peeping season] AUTUMN. Timely.
- 61a [“But I’m a Cheerleader” actress DuVall] CLEA. The only entry wholly unfamiliar to me.
- 62a [Former lovers] EXES.
- 64a [Morays, e.g.] EELS. Look, fish!
Bill Conner’s USA Today Crossword, “Baby on Board” — Emily’s write-up
Such a cutie!
USA Today, September 10, 2025, “Baby on Board” by Bill Conner
Theme: each themer contains —TOT— (aka a “baby”)
Themers:
- 20a. [Subwindow that allows for private web browsing], INCOGNITOTAB
- 37a. [Locally sourced food movement], FARMTOTABLE
- 54a. [Sondheim musical based in part on fairy tales], INTOTHEWOODS
A mix of themers in this set, starting with INCOGNITOTAB and moving on to FARMTOTABLE, then going INTOTHEWOODS. What a great trio! Plus the title hint was delightful too.
Favorite fill: EGGBAGELS, THAI, and PINATAS
Stumpers: BGAME (needed crossings), GOFAR (needed crossings), and CEDES (needed crossings)
Love the grid! Lots of fun, fresh fill. Nothing was too tricky but I solve this after work so I might not have been a quick on the uptake today. Though it was a longer solve for me today, it didn’t feel like it. How’d you all do?
4.0 stars
~Emily
Alex Stoneman’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s summary
Alex Stoneman’s puzzle features two-part phrases ending in a sport, re-imagined as though the first part modifies that sport and describes who is participating in that sport. So:
- [Boat sport for pilots?], FLIGHTCREW. Crew seems to be an odd American synonym for rowing?
- [Beach sport for the self-absorbed], EGOSURFING.
- [Running sport for academics?], TENURETRACK.
- [Cue sport for children?], KIDDIEPOOL
- [Combat sport for really tired people?], BEATBOXING
Gareth
Took me a few seconds to correctly parse the answer at 36D for the NYT. The way I originally read it made me think of Darrel Hammond as Sean Connery in the classic SNL “Celebrity Jeopardy” skits
LET IT SNOW!
😃
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
This one was like a greatest hits of crosswordese (EMO, EMU, YEN, ACTI, ADRATE, etc.) Aside from TATERSTATER the themers didn’t really do a lot for me either.
I’d add ASKANT (never seen it before, only ‘askance’) and SAKE (as clued; the Japanese beverage would be fine) to the list of dodgy words. I thought POTTERSPOTTER as well as TATERSTATER were pretty good but the rest were labored.
Agree. [You can ___ experts questions about myrmecology], and [Moral theory is to nihilism ___ is to Nietzsche]. But: [With skepticism] is how I look at the editorial job on clueing ASKANT, which is not (remotely) the fault of the debut constructors. (Congrats to the debut pair of constructors!!!) Sure, they likely needed the iffy fill — but at least nod to it being a variant, or make it playful – or something?
As sometimes comes up here, ngram viewer can be a good reality check, sometimes. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=askant%2Caskance%2Cas+kant&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3
(ooops) New link, with case insensitivity…
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=askant%2Caskance%2Cas+kant&case_insensitive=true&corpus=en
No, of course: don’t clue as “AS KANT”. Just curious on how rare ASKANT actually is, was all.
Idaho is the Gem State, not the Tater State. That was dumb, as was the rest of this inane puzzle.
And yet their license plates proudly advertise “Scenic Idaho” and “Famous Potatoes.” Gems don’t merit a mention, apparently.
NYT: Weasley’s job at the gym? POTTER SPOTTER
That’s a better clue, even though it arguably requires more Potter knowledge.
NYT: This is the debut for both constructors, so I will look at it as the editorial team perhaps not being as firm as they could be. I agree with Amy that the KETCHUPSKETCHUP is not worth it. Apparently SketchUp is some kind of design software, but I would argue that it’s not well known enough to be a theme answer on a Wednesday.
Some of the other theme answers feel labored, but I think different cluing would have helped in some examples. Mutman’s clue for POTTER SPOTTER above is much better than the published one.
I thought Rex Parker was going to be very harsh, but he may also be aware that the constructors are debuting, because he’s actually quite nice about his criticisms.
I’m completely confused why the MNEMONIC clue refers to some obscure phrase for the colors of the rainbow. Plenty of other mnemonics to use.
Sorry, I meant to add when talking about the MNEMONIC that was chosen that it introduces an unnecessary layer of “what is this” that is very distracting. I feel like there was a lot of that with the cluing with this puzzle. The editorial team could have sharpened the cluing to shape this puzzle into something that feels a lot smoother.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
TATER STATER is so good that I’m willing to look past the flaws of the puzzle.
Also the style of this puzzle somehow reminds me of Stan Newman’s assembly-line-produced crosswords which introduced me to this hobby.
TATER STATER amuses me much more than it should.
Maybe it’s just that I can’t hear TATER except in a Gollum voice.
It was fun and very fast; I got a Wednesday PR, and my time was my average Monday time.
Roy G Biv – I thought that was the rainbow mnemonic
As soon as I filled in the first theme for the NYT, “LIVER_SLIVER”, I thought, “Oh no, another stupid-not funny-learn nothing-nonsense puzzle!” The following themes entries are no better.
Like Me says above, I’ll lay the blame for this drivel on the editors more than the new constructors. This theme should have been scrubbed.
One more thought on TATERSTATER — the University of Idaho wore football helmets that said “Fightin’ Taters” this past weekend.
https://govandals.com/news/2025/9/1/football-grown-in-idaho-vandals-partner-with-the-field-rush-to-create-fightin-taters-helmets.aspx
We’re back in CA after a great road trip through the Pacific Northwest. Burgers often come with choice of fries or Tater Tots, known there simply as “tots.” What a country!