AV Club 7:37 (Amy) 
[2.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 5:09 (Gareth) 
[3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:06 (Amy) [2.38 avg; 16 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 2:40 (Kyle) 
[4.42 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) 
[2.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today 10:47 (Emily) rate it
WSJ n/a (Eric) rate it
***The WSJ puzzle will feature an entire week of metas to celebrate its 10th Anniversary of puzzle publication. The puzzle suite will be written about as a whole once the meta answers are released***
Jackson Matz’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 9/17/25 – no. 0917
Ah, another Wednesday rebus puzzle, when we’re not really expecting one. The revealer is the Bruno Mars album title 24K MAGIC. Even if you hadn’t heard of the hit album, you might not struggle too much with the crossings … although the 2SET and FAB4 entries are wildly nonstandard with numerals in them. You’d have to notice that the longest answers have a lot of Ks, and then that’s your entree figuring out the revealer. I’ll bet solvers who don’t really listen to Bruno Mars of “Uptown Funk” fame were still frustrated here. I like K words, as long as there aren’t just three Ks in a row and nothing else.
Fave fill: “KNOCK, KNOCK,” KAMIKAZES, RIHANNA, KNICK KNACK, MOON ROCKS, THINK TANK. And Filipino American stand-up comic Jo KOY! Here’s a clip from his latest stand-up show, about how folks in the Phillipines will give you directions. Not so keen on IDEM, LEOI, ARG, “OK, OK” (though helpful for a KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK theme), E-CIG, plural DASANIS.
Niche entry: 8D, [Anime style involving giant robots], MECHA. Not too aware of it, but I’ve seen the term before.
Anyone else watching the Netflix rom-com series Too Much? It was created by, and mostly written and directed by, LENA, 2D. [Actress Dunham], who does have a smaller role on screen.
Four stars from me.
Patrick Berry’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up
The New Yorker solution grid – Patrick Berry – Wednesday 09/17/2025
Thanks Patrick for today’s puzzle. I had one hang-up (!) during my solve when I threw in HANGS TEN for 34D [Extend the toes of one foot off a surfboard, in slang]. When the crossings in the lower half started to look weird, I reread the clue and clocked the “one foot” hint, which points to the correct answer, HANG FIVE.
Other notes:
- Love the conversational entry “WHY THE LONG FACE?” (47D)
- Never heard of a CARAMELLO candy. I could see it was going to be something with caramel, but needed all the crossings at the back end.
- 36A [Patriarch of the Roy family on “Succession”] LOGAN – I haven’t seen the show, but I know it won a lot of awards. There was also a character named Roman if I recall, which shares a lot of letters with Logan – tricky!
Let’s close out with the inimitable John Coltrane on TENOR SAXOPHONE, here performing with his quartet and crooner Johnny Hartman:
Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal crossword, “We Put the Fun in Function!” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 9/17/25 • Wed • “We Put the Fun in Function!” • Krishnamurthy • solution • 20250917
- 60aR [Fraternity house cry … or what might say after reading the last words of 17-, 23-, 37- and 49-Across?] LET’S PARTY.
- 17a. [Device next to a stapler, maybe] HOLE PUNCH.
- 23a. [Silicon products] COMPUTER CHIPS.
- 37a. [Online personalities who might have Just Chatting content] TWITCH STREAMERS.
- 49a. [Places for state slogans] LICENSE PLATES.
Punch, chips, streamers, plates. Those are indeed some of the things you might see in the neighborhood of a party, though it’s a rather arbitrary list of items.
(I wanted to use Ted Hawkins’ cover of the song, but it doesn’t seem to be available for free streaming.)
- 4d [“You __ right!”] ARE SO. 40d [“__ that the truth!”] AIN’T.
- 6d [Exceptional brightness] GENIUS. Wasn’t fooled by this clue at all, despite the absence of a helpful question mark.
- 13d [Coffee sources] BEANS. Clue seems weird to me. I mean, beans are coffee. I get that it’s indicating the brewed beverage, but still.
- 25d [Arab ruler in “semiretired”] EMIR. This is such common crosswordese that the additional information seems unnecessary, so one can conclude that the constructor—or more likely the editor—wanted to make the puzzle newbie-friendly. Either that or someone was proud of finding a containing word and wanted to share it.
- 35d [Neutral colour] GREY. The spelling of colour indicates that we need the spelling variant used in Commonwealth countries. (It’s also my preference.)
- 50d [Maker of 23-Across] INTEL. I always feel a little weird when non-theme content references theme content.
- 6a [ __ Alpha] GEN. 67a [First Hebrew letter] ALEPH.
- 15d [Clean Air Act org.] EPA. Seems as if there should be a qualifier such as ‘historically’, she said ruefully.
- 33a [Org. whose third letter stands for “golf”] USGA. Another clue that seems like a sop to new solvers. It gives away 25% of answer.
A slightly weird crossword.
Freddie Cheng’s USA Today Crossword, “All Caps” — Emily’s write-up
Something to shout about!
USA Today, September 17, 2025, “All Caps” by Freddie Cheng
Theme: the first word (aka “cap”) of each down themer is a synonym for “all”
Themers:
- 3d. [Roll covered with a wide mix of toppings], EVERYTHINGBAGEL
- 7d. [Rare astronomical event], TOTALECLIPSE
- 10d. [Fiber-rich sandwich ingredent], WHOLEGRAINBREAD
Of today’s themers in this set, EVERYTHINGBAGEL took me the longest as I kept thinking it was likely a sushi reference. TOTALECLIPSE and WHOLEGRAINBREAD filled in fairly easily, since they already had a few crossings by the time I got to them.
Favorite fill: ATTA, PENS, and OTTER
Stumpers: OLEG (needed crossings), SALADS (also needed crossings), and KENDO (new to me)
A tougher puzzle for me today–how did you all do? Some of the cluing took me longer, though everything was fairly crossed. Lots of fresh fill and a unique grid design. Plus, the lengthy bonus fill was delightful and at first made me wonder if the themers were in the acrosses though that became clear as my solve progressed.
3.5 stars
~Emily
Stella Zawistowski’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Don’t Be So Possessive!”–Amy’s recap
AV Cluc Classic crossword solution, “Don’t Be So Possessive!” – 9/17/25
It’s been an exhausting day! And it’s bedtime, so quickly: The theme takes familiar(-ish) phrases and deletes the ‘S to create a new thing.
- 17a. [Singer Anita, burlesque artist Josephine, baseballer Dusty, trumpeter Chet, Pulitzer Prize winner Russell, actors Tom and Kathy, drummer Ginger, rugby player Perry, former Treasury Secretary James, NFL player Javon, and novelist Chandler, e.g?], BAKER DOZEN. Fun!
- 30a. [Pastime for a terminator?], ENDER GAME. Ender’s Game is a book and movie, but ENDER doesn’t feel at all like a term anyone would use for a “terminator.”
- 36a. [What you’d get if the UK’s Charles III and Spain’s Felipe VI had a love child?], KING CROSS.
- 45a. [Racy crossword hints?], BLUE CLUES. Ha!
- 58a. [Insta post about a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” spinoff?] ANGEL SHARE. So angel’s share is something? I don’t recognize it. It’s a term for the evaporated portion of a barrel of booze that’s being aged.
I like the theme, don’t love it. Good fill, plenty of flavor in the clues.
3.75 stars.
Zachary David Levy’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
LA Times 17 Sep 25
Fittingly, the final across answer explains the theme – GOLAST – where each of four answers end in a synonym for “to leave in haste”, a zesty synonym set:
- [Ice-cream sundae traditionally served in a boat]. BANANASPLIT
- [Salt-free seasoning introduced in 1983], MRSDASH
- [Rehearsal], PRACTICERUN
- [Inflatable structure at a kids party], MOONBOUNCE
- [Listing of all time accomplishments], RECORDBOOK
It made sense, but TIL that the American phrase for JUMPINGCASTLE is a MOONBOUNCE; I also wasn’t familiar with “book” meaning to leave in haste, but it is in the dictionary (TM).
Gareth
Huh. There’s a forum/site covering metas, with emphasis on the WSJ:
https://www.xword-muggles.com/
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
The kookiness was fun but the price in crosswordese was high.
Enjoyed the clip, Amy!
NYT: I’m somewhat familiar with the song “24K Magic,” but didn’t realize it’s the title track of an album. I also didn’t realize that it’s written “24K,” because lyrically, it’s “24 karat.”
As the revealer says, “unusual.” Not necessarily entertaining.
Well, I couldn’t figure out the NYT. I didn’t know whether the short tennis match would be 2 or 3 sets (a match that finishes in 2 sets is still a three-set match, I would say). No idea about the song title, and the 24K connection to karat didn’t occur to me.
On the plus side, I thought the fill was surprisingly ok, given the constraints.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
I had it as 1SET, which also made the themer sound like it made sense. I’m with you, no one sets out to play a 2SET match, it’s either one or three sets. Maybe it would have been avoidable with something like 2PAC?
One problem with all those K’s, you’re pretty much forced into proper names and crosswordese. Not a great solving experience. If I could give 2.4 stars I would, but I’ll round it up.
My experience was similar. Bruno Mars has never made it to my playlist so the revealer was tough for me. I remember The Beatles as the Fab Four, not Fab 4. But once I had the 4 I thought of 14K not 24K. I’ve never heard of a one set match so I went to 24K
I came of age during the Beatles era, and I agree that they were always styled as the “Fab Four”, no numerals.
But I don’t know anything about Bruno Mars other than his name, so the “revealer” was meaningless to me. I guess if you’re a Bruno Mars fan you might find this amusing, but it fell completely flat for me: a stunt puzzle with no payoff.
And a note on cluing: can MOON ROCKS really be described as “mementos”? Were astronauts bringing them home in their pockets? I think of them as scientific samples, not keepsakes.
Good call on the MOON ROCKS. I had the very same thought when I read the clue/entry.
The tennis clue is somewhat gender-dependent. In the professional game, women’s matches are typically best-of-three – so a 2-set match is relatively short. Men’s matches are usually best-of-five – so a 3-set match would be the shortest.
I thought of like, people playing as a hobby at a public court or something, they might only play one set. But yes, all competitive matches are at least best of three sets.
You know, women’s tennis exists! A short match will be two sets, a more competive one three.
I think we’re all in agreement here! ;-)
For the record, men’s matches at professional tournaments are best of three except at the four “majors” (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open). Women’s professional matches are always best of 3. As far as I’m concerned, that answer could have been 1, 2 or 3 SET since the clue doesn’t provide any context for who’s playing the match (professional, amateur, weekend warriors). Lots of casual players play only one set and might refer to that as a match. That’s a terrible clue (IMHO, of course) and is a ridiculous cross (particularly for a revealer) if the solver doesn’t know Bruno Mars’ oeuvre.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
Just no. Way too many crosswordese and proper nouns to be worth the hassle.
Also, including numbers in the grid without any kind of hint or prompt? Heck no.
I had the same reaction to the numeral fill. It took me a while to figure that out.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
I’m with you, pretty lame.
I did the NYT on ACL; I had “24KMAGIC” entered correctly, along with the rest of the puzzle, but ACL said it was incorrect. I inserted “two” and “four” into the spaces and was still incorrect. I finally gave up and clicked “reveal”, and it just put in the 2 and 4 I had entered originally.
Yes, there was definitely something off in the conversion of those squares to ACL.
I, too, couldn’t enjoy the NYT or even really claim to have solved it much as I prefer a rebus. Much the same reasons, between numeral 2 and 4 for terms not usually written that way, the ambiguity of how many sets in a match, and my knowing zilch about the songwriter. But also, I just couldn’t make sense of the central entry, period, since we’re not really seeing 24 K’s, just two per theme entry. On top of that, after I got a couple of themers split down the middle as K _ _ _ twice, I could kinda sorta allow a plural and so one more letter, but then I just didn’t know the mixed drink and couldn’t up with KARATE KID with a different enumeration entirely.
I’m not going to object to those who tried 1SET. I figure that it’s not demeaning women on account of their not really playing 1-set matches. At worst it would be mistaken. But mostly I just figure that matches aren’t all tournament matches.
If I counted correctly, there are 24 Ks in the completed grid.
NYT: totally minor clarification, but… is it called a rebus if you’re entering digits? I had thought rebus meant more than one character in a box… but is it intended to include any puzzle where you don’t only enter letters?
It was a pretty cute Wednesday; only got stuck in the end with EDGY / KOY, where I originally had EDGE / KOE.
Actually, calling multiple letters in one square a “rebus” is a crossword puzzle creation. Traditionally, a rebus is “a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters; for instance, apex might be represented by a picture of an ape followed by a letter X.”
Concentration! With Hugh Downs.
Yep. I watched that one when I was a kid.
Oh sure; I had to get used to that terminology when I started doing crosswords, as I had done traditional rebus puzzles when I was a kid.
But back to my question: would we call it a rebus when entering a number? That just surprised me a little.
NYT: Maybe the most Naticks/wrong squares I’ve ever had when I finished the puzzle. Ready?
– SANcA/SICCOUT (Wrote SANcA cause of the clue, didn’t look at the down clue)
– Ibid/bUNN/iBOOK/dECHA. All of those are totally plausible to my eye, because I don’t know Brooks & Dunn, i/e have both been used to refer to digital things, and while MECHA is obvious in hindsight, I don’t know anything about anime so my eyes just glazed over when I saw that word.
– KAMaKAZES/TaA. I know TaA looks wrong, but it’s a liqueur with a foreign-name name, what do I know?
– Like others, 14KMAGIC/1SET
– KRONo/RoY. Forgot the name, and no idea about most foreign currency.
– EDGe/KOe. Just misread the EDGY clue and wrote in the noun.
Whew. So many!