LAT 3:49 (Stella) 
[2.40 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Newsday 17:06 (pannonica) 
[4.20 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:49 (Amy) [4.24 avg; 23 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Matthew) 
[3.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ untimed (pannonica) [3.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Ryan McCarty’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 10/4/25 – no. 1004
Pretty pinwheel grid with great flow. And somehow this 62-worder packed full of long entries played like a Friday for me! Wasn’t expecting that, but so many of the clues were gimmes.
Fave fill: ROAD RASH (also a thing for cyclists), PATAGONIA, Lily GLADSTONE (still haven’t seen the Scorsese movie, though), BABY STEPS, RIDESHARE, GAG ORDERS, DIVVIED UP, DADS-TO-BE, BIG SCENE, PLAYS DEAD, “HE SAID, SHE SAID,” LATE START, CAR LOANS, HUMIDOR, FLOUNCE.
Unfamiliar to me:
- 49A. [7-Eleven and Circle K, informally], C STORES. Not in Chicagoland! Convenience stores, sure. Where is this regionalism heard?
- 37A. [Initial challenge], FIRST TEST. This feels green-painty to me. Impressive to have just one real clunker in a grid like this.
Did you know that the Super Soaker water gun was invented by a Black guy? LONNIE Johnson also worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and has several invention-oriented companies. The original name for the big squirt gun was … Power Drencher.
4.5 stars from me. A lovely puzzle overall.
August Miller’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 10/4/25 by August Miller
Lots of new-to-me stuff (ANGELO from Shakespeare, Maggie NELSON, GOLDEN GOAL, CEL SHADING, and others) in this puzzle, leading to a nice challenge. I’d say the highs were high and a couple of lows were low.
The highs:
- 17A [Event that may feature gate crashers] is GIANT SLALOM. It’s a cool entry, and an even better clue that had me baffled for a while.
- 19A [Cards that reveal who’s who and what’s what] is IDS. Not a super-hard clue, but a clever and cute one.
- 35A [Company that sells nudes] is OPI. I feel like mixing wordplay with factual knowledge in the same clue is something that used to happen in the aughts and early 2010s and doesn’t happen any more. I like it, when used judiciously, and I like it even more when the trivia thus referred to — the name of a nail polish brand, in this case — is femme-coded, which would not have happened in the aughts.
- 5D [Events that feature moving pictures?] is a nice clue for ART SALES.
- 12D [Back leg?] is RETURN TRIP. The clue is clever enough that this is one of the last answers I put in.
- TTFN, CEL SHADING, WAKE WORD all make the puzzle feel of the moment and yet like it’ll still be relevant next year.
The lows:
- SILENT W at 36A. I don’t care how cleverly they’re clued, I will always consider SILENT?/LONG?/SHORT? to be the greenest of green-paint answers.
- 60A LUNAR ORBITS — I like the clue [Space-age revolutions?], but outside of talking to an astronomy professor, I find it hard to imagine talking about LUNAR ORBITS in the plural.
- 11D [Some club bookings, for short] is EDM DJS. More green paint (grn pnt?) IMO.
Gary Larson and Amy Ensz’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “The Old One-Two” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 10/4/25 • Sat • “The Old One-Two” • Larson, Ensz • solution • 20251004
- 60dR [Brief moments, and a hint to the asterisked answers] SPLIT SECONDS. The theme answers consist of first, a full word, then second, that those same letters repeated but now split into two words. It’s an interesting theme but by the end of the puzzle I found it to be somewhat tired and strained.
- 3d. [*Like surfers?] ABOARD A BOARD.
- 24a. [*Buying and selling stolen property in Britain, e.g.?] OFFENCES OF FENCES. Maybe it isn’t such a good situation to encounter the most strained themer so early during the solve? update: For some reason, earlier I wasn’t seeing that FENCES did indeed refer to the people committing the crimes, so it isn’t as strained as I first thought.
- 52a. [*Morbidly obese friend?] FATALLY FAT ALLY.
- 71a. [*Spends endless hours collecting supplies?] FORAGES FOR AGES.
- 102a. [*Medical emergencies during deliberations?] INJURIES IN JURIES.
Wow, those are all the theme answers? Felt as if there were more.
- 10d [Revenue source for a magazine] AD SALE, not AD FEES.
- 11d [Indiana’s state flower] PEONY, not POPPY (I think that’s Kansas’?].
- 20d [Catches] ENTRAPS. The word has two senses, one more nefarious than the other.
- 42d [Soft-serve alternative] FROYO, frozen yogurt. 54d [One way to swing] FRO.
- 53d [Jazz musician Lateef] YUSEF.
- 55d [Lecherous looks] LEERS. 62d [Shows contempt] SNEERS.
- 61d [Haberdashery item] TIE TAC. Is that the common spelling??
- 67d [Wed. preceder] TUE. 4a [Word in the calendar box left of Ash Wednesday] SHROVE. 40d [Spreadsheet square] CELL.
- 74d [Brown in the NFL’s Hall of Fame] ROSEY. There’s a Grier there too, yes?
- 87d [Vitus Bering, e.g.] DANE. 56a [Botanist who endorsed Darwin’s theories] ASA GRAY.
- 1a [Cotswold call] BAA. I figured it was either BAA or MOO and was leaning toward the former, which was quickly confirmed via crossings.
- 26a [Some online customer service providers] CHATBOTS. Minor >blech<; they have their worth, but most often actual problems need to be handled by a human, AI is most likely going to make the situation worse, not better.
- 47a [Priests’ vestments] ALBS. Old-school crosswordese.
- 70a [Civil War song whose melody was used for an Elvis hit] AURA LEE.
- 83a [Tummy trouble for a tabby] HAIRBALL. It produces a sound that calls one to action, as I was reminded of in the wee hours this morning.
- 98a [Examine, in a doctor’s office] PALPATE. Etymology discussion here. Incidentally, have you heard the surprise news that there’s a new print edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary coming out next month?
- 101a [“The Princess Bride” theme] TRUE LOVE.
- 112a [Store with Squishees] KWIK-E-MART. This is from The Simpsons, for the three of you who don’t know.
Maybe it just felt a little tedious because I haven’t done a crossword in several days? Anyway, on to the Stumper!
Lars G. Doubleday’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 10/4/25 • Saturday Stumper • solution • 20251004
Going to have to make this a quick write-up.
Story of the solve: I kept spiraling around the grid, filling more and more with each pass. Ended up being a relatively quick solve.
Last section completed: right flank, but then I had to hunt up an error, which turned out to be the crossing of 50a [Made like many mousses] DOMED and 52d [First __ ] MATE, which I’d had as RATE (DATE works for the clue as well).
- 14a [Weather] RIDE OUT.
- 16a [Where 4-Down originated] OCEANIA. Was not expecting such a general answer. An easier clue would have included ‘region’. 4d [Gifts with 32 kukui nuts] LEIS.
- 18a [Subject of flight attendant instructions] DEVICES. Wow, tough.
- 20a [Glue applications] DABS. Back when I thought 6d [Cardigan elbow, often] was PATCH rather than SUEDE, I had CUTS for this answer.
- 23a [Its HQ is near Lake Geneva] IOC. Proud that I got this just from the O.
- 25a [Birth announcement triplet] LBS. Does triplet simply refer to the number of letters?
- 26a [Home of Bosch’s … Earthly Delights] PRADO. Was the clue shortened for space reasons? Anyway, glad I knew this one.
- 38a [Legend in their own mind] TINHORN.
- 39a [Guard against bachelorette party mix-ups] WINEGLASS CHARM. I just couldn’t think of the last part for the longest time.
- 41a [{!!!}] OMG, which was very helpful in getting me to TWO for 37d [Complement of West Point’s first graduating class]—I knew it was a very low number. That in turn gave me the first letters for 37-across and (more instrumentally) 39-across.
- 45a [Practice group] DRS. Had the right idea, but tried AMA first, which is actually a (25d) LOGICal step removed.
- 46a [Put down] LAND. Neither LAID nor LAIN, which I experimented with first.
- 55a [Hotel Bossa Nova neighborhood] IPANEMA. A gimme, which disabused me of COAL- for 51d [Intro for -esce] OPAL-.
- 57a [Booze brand adjectivized in ads] ABSOLUT. Another helpful gimme.
- 9d [Pigeon’s plaint] WE’VE BEEN HAD. Neither a stool pigeon or a columbine pigeon.
- 11d [Pioneers in freeze-drying (c. 13th century] INCA. Interesting factette.
- 24d [Settings for creepers and cacti] ROCK GARDENS.
- 27d [Take a range of courses] DINE. 12d [What you take in] DIET.
- 32d [Poesy’s “foster-child of silence”] URN. Must be Keats’ famous ode-ified Grecian urn. It’s been a very long time since I read it.
- 34d [They’re thermally insulated] KILNS. Yes, I actually went with KILTS first, ha-ha.
- 36d [What “from” is often amended to] THAN. Huh? Maybe in the editing of manuscripts? That’s all I can think of.
- 45d [George’s garb on the Abbey Road cover] DENIM. Considered NEHRU.
- 48d [Peace offering] NOBEL. Li’l tricky, but not too bad.
- 54d [Ultimately silent smashing success] COUP. Because the P is silent.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Agree it was an excellent puzzle. And very pretty.
My time was better than a Friday solve, almost like a Wednesday (Thursdays take me for ever). But like Amy, I really appreciated the flow and the great long entries.
Loved the clue for RUINS…
What does 4:49 refer to in the summary at the start?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
That’s how long it took Amy to solve the puzzle: 4 minute, 49 seconds. 😳
How is this time even possible?! I probably take 5 minutes to read all the clues!!
I’m sure YouTube has clips of speed solvers.
It’s something to see. A few years ago, I did the Boswords tournament online. I solved the final puzzle in about 18 minutes (a challenging Kameron Austin Collins puzzle, if I remember correctly). Then I watched as Paolo Pasco solved it in much the same manner that I did — in under four minutes. It’s humbling.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Fabulous puzzle. Ways into every challenge with the grid structure. 1D clue for ARMREST was worth the price of admission. One of my last answers and made me feel great about the overall solve. Thank you Ryan.
Are we no longer getting the LAT’s on the across lite app? There hasn’t been anything all week
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
+1
NYT: Fun puzzle. Took me longer than it should have, due to a few brain cramps. Wasn’t sure whether LORELEI had two E’s or an A and an E. Wasn’t sure whether MRS. MAISEL had two A’s or an A and an E. I’m not familiar with YREKA, and failed to grok how obvious the clue was. Had myself convinced “Top Gun” was the top grossing movie in 1985 (it was 1986) and couldn’t dredge up Maverick’s actual name, so that took a while.
I agree with Amy that FIRST TEST is green paint. I considered ALPHA TEST, but crossings made it clear that wasn’t going to work.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT was a nice fill. Agree with Amy on C STORES – I’ve never heard this on the west coast. Also, LORELEI was new to me – could someone share what the reference is here?
Lorelei
Nice NYT, a tad easier than yesterday’s. FIRSTTEST and CSTORES were the entries I disliked. I thought the clue for YREKA was too much of a giveaway. And I had ROCKY before MCFLY.
I had AXELF from Beverly Hills Cop
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Lonnie Johnson seems like an all around great guy. there’s a tweet that makes the round every now and then — someone thanked him for “single-handedly making my childhood awesome” or the like and his reply was “you’re welcome but I did need both hands”
just a lovely NYT. I agree with you Amy that FIRST TEST is marginal—but marginal not outright unacceptable. just a beautifully clean themeless
NYT:
Trivia for the day: Martin Gardner, the math/puzzles/wordplay author and columnist, once noted that Yreka Bakery is one of the longest “naturally occurring” palindromes in English.
When the Yreka Bakery closed and an art gallery took its place, the owner named it the Yrella Gallery.
Stumper: Assume someone will post something at some point. I found this one to be one of the easiest by far. I wasn’t sure of that at first, of course. My husband got the lower left corner and 25D, which was a good start. However, I had issues finding a foothold working the acrosses top to botom until I got 41A (“OMG”), then guessed “two” for 37D, then “Twinkie” for37A, and it then all flowed fairly easily from there.
I found it easy as well once I started revealing the answers.
:)
I didn’t find it that easy. I managed to complete everything except the SW corner and had to Google the Abbey Road cover to get 45D. I didn’t know 30A or 53D, and don’t understand 5D and 32D.
Par for the course, pretty much.
My husband got 45D and 53D. He probably bought the Abbey Road album when it came out, so that could be what got him going in that section. I didn’t know 30A, either — just got it through the crossings. I assume that the Dr. Seuss Whos are what is meant. Regarding 5D, I assume it’s short for “modificatio” — I wasn’t fond of it, but got it from the crossings. Regarding 32D, I agree with pannonica that it’s probably a reference to the Ode on a Grecian Urn poem, but didn’t bother looking it up.
Took me just under 11 minutes, which is lightning speed for me on a Stumper.
I liked that tricky little spot where my solve ended in the SW corner. [First ___], *ATE. First-rate, first date, and first mate are all plausible! The crossing, [Made like many mousses], was not obvious to me because I’d just watched Chocolate Week on “Great British Bake Off” and their mousses all had to be contained within a chocolate cup and covered with other stuff, no DOMED in sight. DORED was no-go and so was DODED, so eventually I found my way to the right letter.
We were in Yreka last month and I mentioned the bakery. I didn’t know it’d be a spoiler for Elaine today.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Too many names compared to yesterday’s puzzle. Also I had MCFRY instead of MCFLY.
Puzzle: Newsday; Rating: 5 stars
I too am stumped by the Stumper’s “What ‘from’ is often amended to.” Why would it be changed to “than”?
I can only guess that it refers to changing ‘different from’ (British usage) to ‘different than’ (US). A very vague clue.
Actually, “different to” is the Britishism. From the iOS app version of Garner’s Modern English Usage: “Different to is common and unobjectionable BrE.” Also: “Different than is often considered inferior to different from. The problem is that than should follow a comparative adjective (larger than, sooner than, etc.), and different is not comparative—though, to be sure, it is a word of contrast. Than implies a comparison, i.e., a matter of degree; but differences are ordinarily qualitative, not quantitative, and the adjective different is not strictly comparative. Hence writers should generally prefer different from.” As Garner goes on to say, different than is sometimes the right choice (with numerous examples of all phrasing.
But usually than is what gets changed to from. Maybe that’s why this clue threw me.
I have always heard “different from” (I live in Virginia). I don’t hear “than” as often. And I finished the Stumper on Saturday for a change! Usually it takes me a weekend of making stabs at it.
Re: the NYT, I have never heard C STORES either. Maybe it’s more a mid-American expression?
I think it’s an editorial thing. As David L points out, many use “different from,” when it’s more properly “different than” here.
I think the opposite, as mildly seconded here: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/commonly-confused-words/different/
Puzzle comment: WSJ. The state flower of Kansas is the sunflower, not the poppy. The poppy is the state flower of California.
My copy of the puzzle asked for the state flower of Indiana, and the answer was peony.
Glenn is responding to a comment in the review.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
NYT: I loved the grid and the fill. However I cannot believe how long it took me to get MCFLY lol. I loved that movie but man was I stumped for some reason. All my fault.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
NYT 5 stars. SPOILER ALERT:
Late here due to time zone. I gave this 5 stars because of 12 DOWN. Great puzzle anyway not just because of my story. Back in the early 1980’s we were living in Eugene, OR and I had to drive down to San Francisco with our son, Zach, who was 8 at the time. We passed the YREKA area at night, and Zach yelled out: “Hey Mom – there’s a [neon]sign for Yreka Bakery and it’s a palindrome!” I slammed on the brakes and we drove into the parking lot to take a photo and since then it’s become a family legend. Proud mama of her bright kid.
I suppose the Bosch title in the Stumper had to be truncated due to the potential dupe of ROCK GARDENS.
This was a very easy Stumper – any Stumper solve under an hour gets an easy rating from me. I just made it a little harder than it had to be by putting in pINHead instead of TINHORN and briefly AquaviT instead of ABSOLUT. The LBS clue with its “triple” reference was confusing. And I had KILtS for a moment like @pannonica because I thought 42A’s “Start to matter” might be an Atom.
Overall, a nice puzzle that wasn’t particularly stumper-y.
Stumper: 20A, I too, started with “patch.” Yes, I 25A’s triplet is simply refering to the number of letters. Fooled me at first. 46A, I too, started with “laid,” so had “iob…” for a while.
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 4.5 stars
This was one of the funnest puzzles I’ve embarked on in quite a while! The only themer that threw me for a good while was the first across. But I think they were all wittily clued and worked quite well without being forced, as these types of themes can be.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 2 stars
It dismays me when an editor ruins a good puzzle by trying to inject their own self-perceived cleverness into the cluing at the expense of the constructor who labored to make a nice crossword. To wit: 24D “Deep pockets” is “Means”. (Ooh, how witty!)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
I’ll join in the cheers for the NYT puzzle, though it was a little easier than normal for a Saturday.