LAT tk (Gareth) 
[2.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 13:02 (Eric) [2.55 avg; 21 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal (Sunday) 6:10 (Jim P) 
[3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) 
[3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
WaPo 5:38(Matt G) 
[3.85 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
Daniel Grinberg’s New York Times Crossword “Bird’s Eye View” — Eric’s Review
Daniel Grinberg’s New York Times Crossword “Bird’s Eye View” — 9/14/25
An odd asymmetrical grid that pays tribute to a classic Warner Bros. cartoon pair:
- 26A [Supplier of 110-Across] ACME CORPORATION
- 110A [Voice of 110-Across] MEL BLANC
- 54A [Artist and co-creator of 91- and 110-Across] CHUCK JONES
- 60A [1949 short that marked the first appearance of 91- and 110-Across] FAST AND FURRYOUS I initially had FURIOUS and then FURRIOUS, not noticing that I was misspelling 42D SPACEY.
- 88A [Signature sound of 91-Across] BEEP-BEEP
- 91A [Target of 110-Across] ROAD RUNNER
- 98A [“That’s useful information”] IT HELPS I assume this is part of the theme, given the box surrounding HELP and the fact that the grid art makes it look like Wile E. Coyote is saying “Help.”
- 110A [Devious character who’s the subject of this puzzle] WILE E. COYOTE
I know this sort of theme is supposed to make me feel all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic for my childhood. And I do have fond memories of watching Road Runner cartoons as a kid. But the puzzle, though easy to solve, didn’t evoke the feelings it was meant to, at least not for me. The grid art is kind of cute, though.
Other stuff:
- 14A [Swanky Tokyo shopping district] GINZA I perpetually confuse this with Ginsu knives.
- 23A [Orange creature in an arcade game] QBERT/40A [Nintendo character with a long, sticky tongue] YOSHI Most of what I know about video games, I learned from crossword puzzle.
- 43A [Emmy-winning actress Edebiri] AYO She’s in every other crossword I do, and I still don’t have her first name down. Maybe I just confuse her with another Emmy-winning actress, Uzo Aduba.
- 107A [DuBois’s portrayer in the film “A Streetcar Named Desire”] Vivien LEIGH That should’ve been a gimme but I needed a few crosses.
- 118A [Part of Wayne’s world?] WESTERN “Wayne” as in John Wayne. Cute clue.
- 17D [Wine also known as Primitivo, familiarly] ZIN I like a good zinfandel, but I’ve never heard it called Primitivo.
- 108D [Italian architect Ponti] GIO Not a name I was very familiar with. I can’t say that his Martin Building at the Denver Art Museum does much for me, but I know I should reserve judgment until I see it in person.
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post Crossword “Pint-Size” — Matt’s Review
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post Crossword solution, “Pint-Size,” 9/14/2025
Rebuses this week, hinted by the title “Pint-Size. Let’s get into the themers:
- 22a [Getting a late start on the day] SLEEPIN(G IN), crossing EN(GIN)E
- 24a [Neo dodging bullets and stopping bullets in “The Matrix,” e.g.] SPECI(AL E)FFECTS, crossing ST(ALE)ST
- 44a [Where people live] HO(ME AD)DRESSES, crossing (MEAD)OWS
- 61a [“You’ve got the best girlfriend!”] SHE(S A KE)EPER, crossing NAME(SAKE)
- 81a [Airborne streaks of water particles that fuel some conspiracy theories] VA(POR T)RAILS, crossing S(PORT)ING
- 95a [Song sans singing] INST(RUM)ENTAL, crossing T(RUM)AN
- 118a [Unpleasant things one accepts because the alternatives are worse] NECESSA(RY E)VILS, crossing D(RY E)YE
I generally find that rebus puzzles boil down to (1) how quickly one can spot that yes, it’s a rebus, and (2) how directly the shorter crossing is clued to help solvers pinpoint the specific rebus square. Here, Evan’s placed the first rebus at the end of its themer, which gives solvers a path to fill in some space and generally gain confidence that SLEEP… is the right track. Then, unless you’re really a card maven, I’d think GIN is a pretty clear signal that the rebus squares all have something to do with drinks.
Indeed, a revealer at 121a [Hotel room amenities that would aptly contain this puzzle’s seven pint-size words?] MINIBARS nicely lays it out. I prefer MINIBAR as the payoff to this mechanism over “Pint-Size” so I’m glad we got those hints in the order we did.
Among the theme material, SHES A KEEPER is a particular highlight for me, as is the fact that the rebus squares bridge word boundaries in every across entry except INSTRUMENTAL, which doesn’t offer the opportunity.
Other highlights: [1950’s radical] for NEATO, which would be less tricky but no less enjoyable if written as ‘1950’s “radical”’. NEATO is one of a few crosswords entries always clued as dated even though I say them every day. “Aces” and “cool beans” are two more // Another pretty tricky one with [Turn signal?] for ODOR, a signal that food has turned // A bit less tricky – because what else could it be? – but in a similar vein I liked LEDES as [Newspaper company’s openings?] // I never read PIPPI Longstocking, and I always love being reminded of her superhuman strength
Cheers!
Michael Schlossberg’s Universal Sunday crossword, “High Drama”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are well-known film titles, but it’s the clues we need to look at first. Each one is of the form [xyz flies?] where xyz is a word that precedes “flies” in common English usage to indicate a group of insects. However, the question mark and a space between the two words tell us something else is going on. Instead, we need to look at each clue as a feature of each film in question (i.e. something flies in each film and xyz tells you what). The revealer is “IT’S NOT A BUG, IT’S A FEATURE” (114a, [“Consider the software glitch a plus!,” or a hint to the starred clues]).
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “High Drama” · Michael Schlossberg · 9.14.25
- 22a. [*Horse flies? (1981)] CLASH OF THE TITANS. The clue refers to Pegasus, I presume. Been a long time since I saw that film.
- 38a. [*Sand flies? (1962)] LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Set in the desert, there’s lots of sand flying around.
- 57a. [*House flies? (1939)] THE WIZARD OF OZ. How else does one get to Oz?
- 78a. [*Damsel flies? (1964)] MARY POPPINS. With a magical umbrella of course.
- 80a. [*With 98-Across, fruit flies? (2009)] CLOUDY WITH A / CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Never saw this one, but I was vaguely aware there’s more food falling from the skies than just meat. Besides. “meat flies” isn’t a phrase.
Fun theme, although I admit it took a little cogitation post-solve to put it together. In fact, my solve was so smooth, I basically ignored the theme (once I realized I couldn’t make sense of the first clue), and went for time. Thanks to such long, familiar movie titles and straightforward cluing all around, I think I scored my fastest time ever on a Sunday-sized grid.
Now, a smooth grid these days seems to come at the price of symmetry. Seems like it’s been a while since we’ve had a fully symmetrical Sunday grid in this venue. What do you think? Is lack of symmetry a bug or a feature? Yes, it provides a smoother grid, but it feels like a cop-out, and I’m afraid it’s going to become a crutch that constructors will rely on.
So yes, we do have nicer fill in the grid than we’d probably get if it was fully symmetrical. Highlights include ROAD CLOSED, EGG TIMERS, BAR NONE, PALMETTO, VANESSA Redgrave, ARSENALS, “LET’S SEE..” Other long entries aren’t so flashy, but went in easily enough: SEIZED ON, CO-OWNERS, PHOTO APP.
Clue of note: 121a. [Start of a schoolyard joke]. YO MAMA. Maybe in the ’80s/’90s? I’m skeptical that kids these days are using this phrase.
Lack of symmetry is a demerit, but we do get a good theme with good fill. 3.5 stars.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
The layout was pretty cool with the use of negative space. Maybe it would have been more fun if it wasn’t running a couple of weeks after another cartoon theme. It was also kind of gunky and green paint-y — MILDSALSA, LEANLY, ANTEGG, EYEGEL, etc.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
NY Times. 3.0. Sort of Why? Tribute puzzle to Mel Blanc? Chuck Jones? Wile E. Coyote? Grid art cute once you discern it which is not easy. This belonged in a magazine; not a Sunday NY Times.
The Sunday crossword is published in the New York Times Magazine.
I don’t think that’s the type of magazine that Spiro meant.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
I knew the cartoon and all the theme names, so puzzle was easy, but I only saw a few episodes and the “art” of the grid is totally lost on me. I’m waiting for someone to explain it and also to explain the unchecked GE. And the shaded HELP means nothing to me. With the art of the grid not computing, the radical asymmetry just makes it ugly and random to me. Ugh.
Hi Lee.
The art is an anvil falling on Wile E.
The unchecked letters are artistic license, enhancing the squish-to-be vibe between his ears.
Sorry. The grid art was so obvious to me that I didn’t think to mention it in my review.
Solving online, what had been two large areas of black squares become a gray anvil in the top half of the grid and a brown coyote in the bottom half. The coyote is holding a sign saying HELP (which I had forgotten was Wile E. Coyote’s typical response to an Acme Corporation product that didn’t function as expected).
I think the only significance of the unchecked GE is that the grid art required a few white squares between the coyote’s ears.
On an iPad, you can tap on the grid and enlarge it. There’s probably a similar way to enlarge it on a desktop or laptop computer.
I didn’t get the grid art, why GE is unchecked, or why HELP is lightly shaded, so they felt unrewarding. Thanks to Martin for explaining the first two. I guess HELP is to be read as a cry for help given the anvil, although the instructions suggest the black squares on which HELP rests are meaningful in some way. I still have trouble seeing the lower of the huge black blocks as Road Runner himself, but the anvil is duly convincing. I didn’t know the origin cartoon but I guess nice enough to learn.
The lower formation of black squares isn’t ROAD RUNNER; it’s WILE E. COYOTE, standing underneath the anvil that’s about to fall on his head.
Oops sorry one character for the other was just a slip of the keyboard although the rest was my ignorance.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 1 star
WaPo: 1 star
Sorry Evan. Great puzzle, as usual. You are a fantastic constructor. What WaPo has done to your puzzles online is criminal. I get to your puzzles through the WaPo website and today I spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to put in rebuses. I still haven’t figured out how. The change WaPo has made two months to solving it online has unfortunately rendered it impossible to enjoy your puzzles anymore.
On the other hand, I was impressed that Evan took the pains to ensure the Across Lite version included the rebuses. Hit INSERT, type in the whole word, and Mr. Happy Pencil results.
On my PC you have to hit enter after typing in a word. Sorry to be nitpicky but that’s what crosswords are.
I had no trouble seeing the coyote, but I couldn’t make out the anvil. I’m not very familiar with the cartoon, so an anvil falling on the coyote holding a sign never registered in my mind. I was expecting some reference to the road runner in the fill. Does the road runner drop the anvil on the coyote in the cartoons?
It seems like a childish theme, not worthy of a NYT puzzle.
(ROAD RUNNER is at 91-Across.)
No, the road runner never harms Wile E. Coyote; the poor mangy mammal is always hurt by his own scheme backfiring. The anvil is always intended for the road runner but always winds up falling on the coyote. The innocence of the road runner is another constant in the genius of these cartoons.
It’s been a minute but I watched a lot of Road Runner cartoons as a kid. I seem to remember RR with a sly grin some times after WEC has been hoisted on his own petard
And like Dallas, I needed AHAB to convince me of BEEP, not MEEP in the grid
John,
On a desktop, the “Multi-letter / Rebus” button is below the grid. Click on that, type in as many letters as you need, then hit Enter. As a shortcut, you can hit the backtick key (the backwards apostrophe ` on the same key as the tilde ~) and it will do the same thing.
On mobile, if you hit the black “123” button on the keyboard, you’ll find the “Rebus / Multi-letter” button where the space bar normally goes.
I also hope that now people can maybe appreciate why the star ratings here are utterly useless. I’m told I made a “great puzzle” but it’s 1 star because of a technical issue with the website that I have zero control over. I understand having frustrations with the new online format, and I have them too, but they have nothing to do with the quality of the crossword itself.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4.5 stars
Evan, you are exactly correct. The travesty that is the online (I use an iPad) version is not your fault and therefore the puzzle rating shouldn’t reflect that. I stumbled upon the rebus button after searching for a bit. Clumsy to say the least. I quite enjoy your puzzles and this one is no exception.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 5 stars
I thought this was a neat puzzle and it took me about 10 seconds to figure out how to enter the rebus. I’ll give it 5 stars to make up for that unfair rating.
Although I have to point out that while I’ve never used a hotel minibar, I’m skeptical that they would include mead!
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4 stars
I couldn’t have said that any better than you did. Very fun puzzle, as usual from you!
Really fun Sunday! Nice use of rebuses, and with ANI DiFranco to boot, can’t complain :-)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Just for the record, the Coyote doesn’t speak in Road Runner cartoons. He’s not saying “Help” but holding up a sign with the column of black squares beneath it.
Joecab,
Eric corrected himself in his response to Lee.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Here’s the closest image I could find online. Obviously not a direct image from a cartoon, but it gets the idea across.
Wile E Coyote (“Super Genius”) does, however, speak in cartoons where he’s pitted against Bugs Bunny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PufFA8kDWFk
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
loved it all around
NYT: Grid art only rarely works for me – maybe a failure of imagination on my part. I can make out the anvil, though it seems out of proportion to me – too tall. I’ve tried squinting and holding my tablet at arm’s length, and I still can’t see the Coyote in that lower set of blocks. So this was thoroughly “meh” for me.
Obviously, others enjoyed it more than I did. Maybe some of it has to do with the fact that I never much cared for Roadrunner cartoons as a kid – just seemed like the same cartoon over and over again, with a different product from Acme. Give me some Bugs Bunny!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I begrudgingly entered BEEP BEEP, knowing it is actually MEEP MEEP.
I solved this one with my husband and he had exactly the same complaint lol. I never would’ve noticed. Cute puzzle!
Yeah without AHAB as the down I would’ve put in MEEP MEEP too :-) Still really enjoyed it—cute puzzle! Went super fast, but it took me a bit to figure out that it was FAST AND FURRYOUS, not FURRDOUS as I had SPACED not SPACEY. Still a fun puzzle!
LAT: theme was engaging enough, although non-themers BUNION and IONIA were distracting/inelegant (at least they were downs)
NYT: When I opened the puzzle, I immediately wondered if the theme would be good enough to justify the asymmetry and unchecked squares. After I finished the puzzle, I still have no answer, because I am thoroughly unfamiliar with the theme material. In 1949, my father wasn’t even born yet.
That’s why I am going to withhold rating today, but if I had to rate, it would be 2.5 stars due to the sheer amount of names in the grid. Got hit by a natick in 107A as I filled it as LEITH/TIO.
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4.5 stars
Given how obvious the rebus element is, I would prefer if there was an eighth rebus instead of that tepid revealer, but I know many people would complain if a rebus puzzle had no revealer.
But putting that aside, it’s an awesome puzzle.
NYT: So-so from me. Got the theme, but the graphics are hard to visualize — as others have indicated, they’re so-so — anvil’s too elongated and the coyote is weirdly done (those extra squares to the right look like he’s sticking out his tongue). I mostly didn’t like all the modern references in a puzzle meant to evoke another era — Ayo, Qbert, etc. It makes the puzzle difficult for those of us who are not young.
WaPo: As I was enjoying the rebuses, I dutifully jotted GAMSPRR in the margin of my (printed – no data entry problems) puzzle, confident that Evan was going to spell out something astounding with the first letters of the rebused words. You can anagram them to Mr. Grasp, but the link between that and the theme seems, uh, tenuous. (Maybe I could give myself that title if I could grasp the connection.)
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 5 stars
I don’t think it’s fair to leave a 1-star rating on account of software that Evan doesn’t control. Great puzzle!
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 5 stars
As always, Evan served up an enjoyable solving experience…great title, terrific theme entries, wonderful reveal. Thanks, Evan!
P.S. In Across Lite, on Mac, anyway, entering multiple letters in a square is a snap…you just hit the Escape Key, enter the letters, hit Return and bingo!
According to Warner Bros. it’s Beep, beep, with Meep, meep as an alternate.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Sunday’s real theme is the constructor creatively obliterating the prissy “rules” of traditional crosswords.
Two misshapen inkblots covering over 50 black squares smack dab in the middle of the grid, depicting an act of violence, and no symmetry. Take that, crossword Karens.
But the crowning glory is the unchecked GE in in DODGE running down the middle of the grid, connecting the two inkblots. Look closely. This is “Wiley Daniel” Grinberg giving solvers the middle finger. That’s the theme!
Unchecked letters with no explanation or reason but to break perhaps the most sacred rule in crossword land?!
Well … if “f-you solvers” is the theme, that does work.
I got the real theme after taking persnickety offense to the breaking of the unchecked letters convention. Then I realized that Daniel got me good, like a brilliant April Fools crossword would. Thanks, Daniel, and congratulations on landing this Sunday puzzle that has the grey lady blushing.
Wait – didn’t you give this puzzle 2 stars in an earlier comment? Are there two Lee Glicksteins?
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4 stars
I actually love it and think it’s quite clever. It was already enough to have those rebusses, which I knew early on, but couldn’t nail the theme for a while, but when you add in MINI BARS, it takes it to the next level of cleverness. Thanks for another fun puzzle, Evan! (And I’ll also chime in with the WTH is with one-starring such a great puzzle because of a tech issue?)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
Reasonably easy puzzle. The graphics not good. Really not worth the effort to solve.
LAT: I remember seeing READER’S DIGESTION in Mad magazine 55 years ago (not that I’m suggesting that the constructor’s lifted it from there).
But I like EGGS BENEDICTION and ABSOLUTION VODKA a lot.
I was amused to see BUNION in the grid because when I was solving the puzzle on the LAT website, there was an ad on the side for some shoe touted as something like “Your bunion’s best friend.”
Talk about targeted advertisement…
Universal Sunday: I enjoyed the theme as much or more than any other puzzle I did today.
I knew that Universal is now publishing asymmetrical grids, but didn’t notice that this was one of those when I was solving. The whole grid seemed fresher than I’m used to seeing.
And I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know anything about Sadie T.M. Alexander. She has an impressive bio.