LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[2.67 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:37 (Amy) 
[3.39 avg; 14 ratings] rate it
Universal 6:13 (Jim P) [3.40 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Colin Adams’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 10/10/25 – no. 1010
Closer to the Friday solving time I expect to have this week. Last week’s Friday puzzle knocked me down.
Fave fill: OPEN SPACE for the claustrophobic (yes please), LIP FILLER, SCALLIONS (no thank you), PEEK-A-BOO, BEACH BUM, BAR TRIVIA, ONION RING (no thanks), KICKED ASS, GENETICIST, ALAKAZAM (there’s a psychic-type Pokémon called Abra that evolves into Kadabra and then Alakazam), LAVERNE Cox, RARE BIRD (make mine a Great Lakes piping plover), BOOM MIC, BLOOD DONOR.
Least fave fill: “USE ME,” FELT OK, “I LOST.” None of these feel like idiomatic phrases to me.
New to me: 24D. [Greek letter that refers to a lone wolf, in Gen-Z slang], SIGMA. My son is Gen Z and he has spared me exposure to this.
48D. [Common parfait toppings], OATS? Ah, sure, if it’s a yogurt parfait with some granola sprinkled on top.
3.5 stars from me.
Shannon Rapp and Will Eisenberg’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 10/10/25 • Fri • Rapp, Eisenberg • solution • 20251010
I glommed onto the theme mechanism right away, but was expecting the guiding principle to be along the lines of birds flying south for the winter.
- 63aR [Avian that plunges for prey, or what can be found in 14-, 28-, 52-, and 60-Across] DIVING BIRD. Some birds dive in the air, some in the water. This framing seemingly encompasses both—not that the birds in the theme answers are necessarily diving predators, mind you.
- 14a. [“Frasier” brother] NILES C|RANE, with the CRANE descending from the end of the entry.
15d. [Hoisting device] CRANE. - 28a. [“All I Wanna Do” singer-songwriter] SHERYL C|ROW.
30d. [Brag] CROW. - 52a. [Time’s Person of the Year in 2023] TAYLOR S|WIFT.
55d. [Rapid] SWIFT. - 60a. [Pro skater of the Pro Skater video game franchise] TONY H|AWK.
62d. [Sell] HAWK.
Two things: One, all of the theme entries are people’s full names, with the surname also the name of a bird. Two, the theme serves to highlight that it’s common for bird names to be adopted into common parlance, or vice versa.
- 2d [Cookie with a blueberry pie flavor] OREO. Why?
- 3d [“I promise it’s not as weird as it sounds …”] HEAR ME OUT. I like this one, but I’m still not sold on blueberry pie Oreos.
- 4d [Blue of “Jurassic World,” for one] RAPTOR. Impinging on the theme, if you ask me.
- 6d [Stuff in a vacuum] DIRT. 29d [Vacuum part] HOSE. Vacuum cleaner is implied here.
- 9d [Minneapolis-to-70-Across dir.] SSE. 70a [WashU’s city] STL. Unnecessary cross-reference.
- 19d [Leaves painfully] JILTS. When I read the clue I thought that the person doing the leaving was experiencing pain, but no.
- 37d [Colorado or Wyoming, but not Utah] RECTANGLE. Um, I’ll allow it.
- 38d [Broke bread, say?] TORE. Not sure whether I like this clue.
- 44d [“Don’t overlook this news” letters] ICYMI, in case you missed it.
- 10a [Starbucks seasonal drink with pie flavors, for short] PSL, pumpkin spice latte >shudder<
- 16a [Pi follower] RHO. What is it with all the pies in the clues??
- 18a [Chain with Two Buck Chuck wine] TRADER JOE’S. Hard to believe it’s still that price, all these years on. Is it?
- 23a [“Emmy in the Key of Code” author Lucido] AIMEE. Crossworld’s own.
- 68a [Low-speed personal iPhone video] SLOFIE. Was vaguely aware of the term.
- 71a [Abalone eater] OTTER. Specifically, the sea otter.
And because today is Thelonious Monk’s birthday (listen to WKCR’s 24-hour long celebratory broadcast!):
Rafael Musa’s Universal crossword, “Market Force”—Jim P’s review
Apologies for the late posting.
Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide the word HAND, the letters of which are not used in the crossing Down entries (though said entries are still valid if included. The revealer is INVISIBLE HAND (53a, [Economic metaphor introduced by Adam Smith … or what can be seen four times in this puzzle?]).
Universal crossword solution · “Market Force” · Rafael Musa · Fri., 10.10.25
- 15a. [Ancient] OLDER THAN DIRT.
- 23a. [2014 Sia hit whose title is a light fixture] CHANDELIER.
- 40a. [Very uncertain] TOUCH-AND-GO.
Good theme. I was able to sniff it out with the first theme answer when some entries seemed like they didn’t need all the squares they’d been given. The second one confirmed it, and the revealer provided the satisfying aha moment.
I am going to grumble about the glaring lack of symmetry though. With only four theme answers and two of them only 10 letters long, it doesn’t seem like the grid should be over-taxed so much that symmetry couldn’t be maintained. True, the HAND crossers do put some extra demands on the grid in those areas, but we’ve seen themes like this numerous times over the years, yet they still keep symmetry. For some reason, while the first theme entry is in the 3rd row, the last theme entry is in the 12th row instead of the 13th. Clearly this is the source of the lack of symmetry, I just can’t see why these two couldn’t be paired up either in the 3rd/13th rows or 4th/12th rows.
The non-theme fill is smooth, as you’d expect to find in a non-symmetrical grid, but there isn’t anything very long and sparkly except maybe SET LISTS and RABBITS.
Good theme, but I would have liked it better in symmetrical form. Three stars.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Good puzzle, a little on the easy side for me.
One nitpick, I liked all the longer fill but it did seem like a couple of them have been used recently, especially BARTRIVIA.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 5 stars
Legitimately clever theme, with good fill. I don’t know if newspapers ever get into bidding wars over puzzles, (I’m sure they don’t – not in this economy! – but that’s a fun scenario to imagine isn’t it?) but I’d say the NYT lost a great Thursday puzzle here.
Agree – nice puzzle. I was thoroughly confused in the top third. Decided to jump ahead to the revealer, which I knew with no crosses – and from that point on, it was pretty smooth sailing. I thought the Across theme entries were very solid. 41-D gave me pause until I realized it crossed two of the theme entries.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 5 stars
Agreed
NYT was OK, but I thought a couple of the clues were trying too hard to be cute and became nonsensical. “Where all you knowledge might be wasted” for BARTRIVIA — ok, so you might have a couple of drinks while you’re participating, but I don’t see how that makes your knowledge wasted. “One might be ticked off” for LIST — an item, sure, but the list?
I thought the same. It also has a hefty dose of CELEB names and entertainment/sports trivia, and in spite of that was pretty easy. All that left me feeling pretty “meh” about this puzzle.
I felt the same way about BARTRIVIA.
I give a little bit more of a pass to LIST. If you have a written list with all the items checked off, I think you could say the list has been ticked off. But the entire list would have to be completed to say that.
Can somebody please explain how 12 pgs. is a MOS?
Wall calendars (especially the ones with pretty pictures) tend to have one month per page.
Not sure which puzzle this is in, but I’d guess that the 12 pgs. of a calendar are MOS (months).
NYT, 36A.
Ah – went in from crosses. Didn’t even see the clue.
What is Universal’s obsession with asymmetry lately? I can’t remember the last time they had a symmetrical grid.
Universal is printed gridless in my newspaper, so the lack of symmetry has made the past several weeks of puzzles extremely difficult!
what newspaper prints it gridless??
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
I enjoyed the fact that the obvious answer to 24d (ALPHA) fit, but was incorrect. Who knew?! I enjoyed the puzzle, and didn’t really notice any of the negatives others did while solving (although now that I read them, I tend to agree with them all). I won’t let it influence my rating after-the-fact, though!
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 3.5 stars
LAT: I haven’t bought “two buck chuck” since it was $1.99, but apparently it’s $3.99 these days, although it’s now organic. I suppose that it’s good for the price, but that’s not where I want to go to save money.
(From yesterday) : BEQ is usually quirky with his clueing, so can anyone explain how “Have another rope” means to “Age”? And why is a “Bit test” known as a “Final”? (Help, please.)
There’s a comment on BEQ’s website suggesting that “Bit test” should have been “Big test.” That seems likely to me.
I have no idea on the other clue, though. Sorry.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 2 stars
The editing still needs improvement, and the review above exposes two clues that aren’t well thought out. “Stuff in a vacuum” is “Dirt”, and it’s missing the key word “cleaner”. “Broke bread, say?” is “Tore”. (I’m still shaking my head at these blunders.)
You’ve never heard a vacuum cleaner called just a vacuum? Pretty standard in my household.
TORE seems fine for “broke bread” to me. When we’re in a restaurant that serves bread with a dipping oil, my wife and I always tear slices into smaller pieces to dip.