AV Club 5:33 (Amy) 
[2.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 5:15 (Gareth) 
[2.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:43 (Amy) 
[3.25 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:36 (phone) (Kyle) [3.67 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) 
[3.10 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today 9:15 (Emily) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 6:04 (Eric) [2.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
K.J. Sarr’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Orientation Centers”–Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 10/8/25 – K.J. Sarr “Orientation Centers”
Orientation centers are places to get your bearings, but here, the centers of four of the longest entries are sexual orientations. Inside AGE GRACEFULLY is circled ACE, or asexual. RAPA NUI has PANsexual. INSOMNIACS contains OMNIsexual. (Here’s a vague explanation of the distinction between PAN and OMNI.) And Florida Dem VAL DEMINGS hides DEMIsexual. (Explanation of DEMI.)
On top of the theme, we have additional representation:
- 55. [Bi ___ (certain queer figure like Auli’i Cravalho, Stephanie Beatriz, and, in my semi-expert opinion, Emily Dickinson)], ICON.
- 49a. [Mom’s wife, in some families], MAMA. There’s also Ima, from the Hebrew.
- 22a. [Advocacy nonprofit with a Transgender Media Program], GLAAD.
Today I learned: 20a. [What a “mermaid’s purse” protects], EGG. As in the egg case of some skates or sharks.
3.75 stars from me.
Daniel Trujillo Diaz’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 10/8/25 – no. 1008
Our theme tonight is MAGIC EIGHT BALL answers to the question “Will Ruby go to the prom with me?” This being October, I feel like it should mention the homecoming dance instead of prom. The answers are MY SOURCES SAY NO, ASK AGAIN LATER, and WITHOUT A DOUBT.
Fact-check: The toy’s official name is the Magic 8 Ball with the numeral.
Fave fill: The neighboring ARMENIA and IRAN (don’t forget “Aberbaijan” and Albania, folks!), AMSTERDAM clued via its canals (Team Fiend’s Jenni might staying on a houseboat in said canals right now!), UPROARS, and BUNDLES up in the cold (’tis the season, soon).
A surprise: 48A. [Author of “L’Île Mystérieuse”], VERNE. I don’t know of that work.
3.5 stars from me.
Robert S. Gard’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Crossing Paths” — Eric’s Review
Wall Street Journal 10/8/25
Maybe I’m just tired this evening after spending much of the day driving on windy mountain roads, but it took me a bit to see how this theme works. (Of course, that’s assuming that I do understand how the theme works, which is never guaranteed.)
- 20A [One whose job is spent going around in circles?] NASCAR DRIVER
- 28A [One for whom success is a long shot?] BIG GAME HUNTER
- 42A [Ones helpful in shifting positions?] CAREER COACHES
- 48A [Microsoft Word feature, or what 20-, 28- and 42-Across may focus on] TRACK CHANGES
I think the revealer is trying to tell us is that each of the other theme answers has a type of “track” — respectively, an auto racing track, the track of a wild animal, and a career track. I like the variety of tracks, and the theme answers are all familiar-enough phrases.
The fill is mostly fine, with a few answers that don’t show up too often:
- 24A [Broom room] CLOSET/27D [Flying a blue, pink and white flag, perhaps] TRANS Interesting juxtaposition of answers.
- 33A [119, in old Rome] CXIX If I had my way, Roman numerals would not appear in crosswords ever again.
- 36A [Preacher curl target, casually] BICEP I was glad to see the “casually.” The muscle is the biceps even if you’re referring to one arm.
- 59A [Fan sound] CHEER/40D [Boobirds, e.g.] JEERERS I like the crossing of these two answers, even if I could do without this sort of “Verb+er” word that no one ever uses.
- 62A [Leaves on the grill too long, say] CHARS I char stuff on the grill purposely all the time.
- 5D [Fiery beast battled by Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings”] BALROG A gimme for which I didn’t need whatever letters the crosses provided.
6D [National park in Maine] ACADIA Ditto.- 7D [It may get a part] HAIR Cute clue. Maybe too cute.
- 9D [Three-nation economic union of Europe] BENELUX I was mildly surprised to learn just now that this union survived not only the creation of the Common Market, but the European Union.
- 10D [Role in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”] OBERON It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that play, but I remember it being pretty funny.
Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s blurb
The New Yorker solution grid – Erik Agard – Wednesday 10/08/2025
Very short blurb today – Thanks Erik for today’s puzzle. It’s rare to see Erik’s byline on a Wednesday so I was excited to discover what he had in store. What did you think of it?
Sala Wanetick and Greg Snitkin’s Universal crossword, “Conversation Pieces” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 10/8/25 • Wed • “Conversation Pieces” • Wanetick, Snitkin • solution • 20251008
- 38aR [Get down to business, or what the starred clues’ answers do?] CUT THE SMALL TALK. Synonyms for ‘small talk’ occupy the circled squares, which bridge the gap created by a black square. Another way to look at it is that they are severed by those black squares.
- 17a. [*Stealthily restrict on social media] SHADOWBAN. I’m guessing that some solvers are not online enough to be familiar with this term.
19a. [*Far from wordy] TERSE.
banter - 24a. [*Basketball foul type] REACH IN.
26a. [*Pay equality issue] WAGE GAP.
chinwag - 48a. [*”I don’t like your tone] WATCH IT.
52a. [*French manor] CHATEAU.
chitchat - 59a. [*Toy bricks, casually] LEGOS. The official plural is Lego.
61a. [*Shower alternative?] SIP AND SEE. Not a term I was familiar with.
gossip
Well-executed theme!
- 2d [Earthy colour] OCHRE. British-style spelling of colour telegraphed the needed spelling (versus OCHER).
- 5d [Dim] LOW LIT. Okay, I guess.
- 10d [“I’m not quite ready”] ONE SEC. I original put in IN A SEC.
- 11d [Disassemble, as a ship] UNRIG. Deceptive clue, because UNRIG refers just to the sail apparatus.
- 37d [Genre found in “goes kaboom”] SKA. Uh, ok.
- 50d [Fitted sheets?] TOGAS. Pretty good.
- 14a [Bounce off the walls?] ECHO.
- 21a [Downhill ski race] SLALOM. I was going to finally watch Downhill Racer in the wake of Robert Redford’s death, but screening the trailer made it seem worse than I anticipated, and I decided to see something else entirely.
32a [Animal in “hump day” memes] CAMEL. Today is indeed Wednesday. Here’s a surprisingly accurate 12th century Spanish painting of a camel.- 35a [“The Price is Right” network] CBS. 32d [Longtime CBS show] CSI. Oopsie! Also, with recent executive changes, CBS news is no longer a trustworthy source. Best now to approach it with the same caveats as one would Fox News.
- 42d [“My b”] SRY. “My bad” was bad enough, now we’re shortening it further?
- 44a [Gospel icon James] ETTA. Whaaat? (Yes, I know the Wikipedia article includes that as a genre she worked in.)
- 55a [ __ gobi] ALOO. 56a [African hot spot] SAHARA.
Amie Walker & Amanda Rafkin’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
I think I’ve seen the core concept of Amie Walker & Amanda Rafkin’s theme before: two American “big… 4?” teams smooshed together, with the combination imagined as a phrase where the first team is a verb and the second a noun. The new wrinkle here is the Skype replacement (Microsoft) TEAMSMEETING to explain it all. So:
[Peddles pearls of wisdom?], HAWKSNUGGETS
[Observes casual Friday at the office?], BUCKSBLAZERS
[Gains barbers’ equipment?], NETSCLIPPERS
We get a mixed bag of multi-word phrases. My favourites were GOBAG/FORKEEPS; LSDTABS felt a peculiar choice to include though? Clecho of the day – both IGUANA and CAMEL clued as their respective beanie babies, Iggy and Humphrey…
Gareth
Alex Eaton-Salners’ USA Today Crossword, “Odds and Ends” — Emily’s write-up
A jammed-packed puzzle, in the best way!
USA Today, October 08, 2025, “Odds and Ends” by Alex Eaton-Salners
Theme: each themer phrase ends in an odd number
Themers:
- 17a. [“Thanks a million!”], IOWEYOUONE
- 24a. [Writing principle in “Reduce, reuse, recycle”], RULEOFTHREE
- 36a. [“Up top!”], GIMMEFIVE
- 49a. [WNBA Finals format, as of 2025], BESTOFSEVEN
- 60a. [Group of historically Black fraternities and sororities], DEVINENINE
This themer set is filled to the brim with IOWEYOUONE, RULEOFTHREE, GIMMEFIVE, BESTOFSEVEN, and DEVINENINE. With a few crossings, everything filled in fairly easily, though for some they could certainly be insta-fills. A real treat (and ’tis the season to start enjoying them!) to have 5 themers with a fantastic theme. Early October is off to a great start!
Favorite fill: SLEW, DRAT, and TROD
Stumpers: PHSCALE (misdirected–great cluing!), MIFF (needed crossings), and FMRI (new to me)
So much delightful fill–themers, overall fill, and lengthy bonus fill. This puzzle has a plethora of entires with great cluing. Love the grid design as well, which really opened up the options for such fill. Hope to see more from Alex soon!
4.25 stars
~Emily
9:15
“This being October, I feel like it should mention the homecoming dance instead of prom.”
And here I was thinking that anyone going to prom is a little old for a Magic 8 Ball. It should have been something like, “will I get an A on my spelling test”?
Super fast Wednesday… managed a PB. Somehow I remembered the magic 8 ball answers despite never having one… Fun!
Amy,
Mysterious Island has been made into several films, including the 1961 camp masterpiece. The Bernard Hermann score is worth the price of admission, as is Herbert Lom (later Peter Sellers’ foil in the Pink Panther films) as Captain Nemo. I love the giant crab scene.
Svengoolie showed it earlier this year. Great fun to watch.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4.5 stars
I’ll add to Kyle’s brief response to Erik’s TNY puzzle. I liked it! Super quick and breezy, pretty much marched right through from top to bottom. Quicker than a Tuesday NYT for me, by far. (I’d compare it to Monday NYTs, but I rarely do them unless I’ll be blogging them. I do the Mon-Tues-Weds New Yorker puzzles religiously, though. Usually the Newsday Saturday Stumper, occasionally the themeless Fireballs, usually the AVCX+ themelesses. See the theme? I much prefer themeless crosswords!)
New to me: COP WATCHING, [Civilian-defense practice employed by the Black Panthers]. Probably a good bit of overlap between this and today’s ICE rapid responders, alerting the community when ICE vehicles arrive.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 3.5 stars
I’m glad to see Erik Asgard get back into creating mainstream puzzles and let his humorous side shine through! (I haven’t done the puzzle yet, but just by reading the clues I believe this will be a fun crossword. That’s why I’m giving the puzzle an above-average rating that matches the score already on the board.)
If anyone is interested, Stan’s hard puzzle site has a great Anna Stiga Stumper.
Please please please keep solving the WSJ puzzle as I do enjoy your pithy comments.
WSJ: Eric, I think the theme may be a little more involved than you described – maybe something like this?
In 20-A, by “going in circles” we CHANGE a NASCAR TRACK from an oval (it’s usual shape) to a circle.
In 28-A, a “long shot” might CHANGE the TRACK of a BIG GAME. Say, in the case of a close basketball or football game.
In 42-A, “shifting positions” could CHANGE a CAREER TRACK.
Seems a bit tortured to me, and maybe a bit inconsistent, but it’s the best I can come up with.
Thanks, Gary. That sounds plausible.
I believe it’s a bit more direct. All 3 need to monitor changes in their respective tracks and adjust accordingly. As the clue to 48A indicates, they “focus on” “track changes”.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
One of my better Wednesday times. Fun but pretty easy.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 1.5 stars
This puzzle was a mess because the themer was weak in revealing the “teaming” of six NBA teams. And to compound matters, who wants to see TWO Beanie Baby references in a puzzle?