Monday, October 13, 2025

BEQ 16:50 (Eric) [3.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 2:11 (Stella) [2.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:46 (Eric) [3.50 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 4:34 (Amy) [3.88 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) [2.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ untimed (Jim Q) [3.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Katherine Xiong’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Katherine Xiong’s New York Times Crossword — 10/12/25

Congratulations to Katherine Xiong for what appears to be her debut crossword in a publication covered by Diary of a Crossword Fiend!

Today’s theme features an eclectic if not all that appealing menu, with a punny revealer to tie everything together neatly:

• 17A [Microwaveable breakfast staple] QUICK OATS I have a unique talent for turning my back on a microwave oven just long enough for the food to overheat and make a big mess. The stovetop is quick enough for my oatmeal.
• 29A [Dorm room meal in a cup] INSTANT RAMEN
• 47A [Thick porridge referenced in “Yankee Doodle”] HASTY PUDDING The dish is made from ground corn in the United States and wheat in Great Britain.
• 63A [Fares at McDonald’s and KFC … or a literal description of 17-, 29- and 47-Across] FAST FOODS The revealer seems a little off with that second S, but it works.

I solved the puzzle without using the theme, but if one were unfamiliar with, say, HASTY PUDDING, the theme might help fill in the blanks. Just out of curiosity, I looked at the many synonyms for “fast” and no food items immediately came to mind, so this could be a pretty tight theme set.

Other stuff:

• 34A [Taste, metaphorically] PALATE Somewhat thematic, no?
• 25D [All, for nothing, e.g.] ANTONYM I like this clue, though I’m not sure why.
• 55D [Like your chances of winning the lottery] SLIM When I worked for the Texas Legislature, I drafted the State Lottery Act that passed (as opposed to bill in several preceding that never made it to the governor’s desk). I learned enough about lotteries that the only time I ever played was when I had some scratch-off tickets some realtor or insurance agent gave me. Save your money, folks!

Ginny Too’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 10/13/25 by Ginny Too

The revealer at 63A [One option at a fork in the road, and an apt description of 18-, 24-, 40-, and 52-Across] is BEAR LEFT, which appropriately is on the left side of the grid, and indicates that the first word (which is on the LEFT side of the phrase) in each theme phrase can be placed before BEAR to make a new phrase:

• 18A [“Dream a Little Dream” singer] is MAMA CASS, leading to MAMA BEAR.
• 24A [Symbol on a difficult ski run] is BLACK DIAMOND, leading to BLACK BEAR.
• 40A [Daily paper in the Windy City] is CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, leading to CHICAGO BEAR.
• 52A [Fast-casual Chinese restaurant chain] is PANDA EXPRESS, leading to PANDA BEAR.

I think this theme could have benefited from a little workshopping, since the meaning of the theme word in its theme entry and in its BEAR phrase is a little too close, with the exception of MAMA CASS. With CHICAGO SUN-TIMES and PANDA EXPRESS, there’s no difference at all, and I also don’t love leading to one (1) CHICAGO BEAR rather than the CHICAGO BEARS. But the individual theme entries are lively and evocative.

Patrick Berry’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solution, 10/13/25 – Berry

I saw Patrick’s byline and was glad to be getting a tough puzzle along the lines of his past Saturday NYT crosswords. Alas! It was more like an easy Friday NYT, only a bit harder than a Tuesday New Yorker themeless. Today’s offering has lots of Gen X-friendly pop culture, which certainly made it easier for me.

Gen X stuff: SEAN YOUNG in the Blade Runner franchise, the HOFFA movie, Peter RIEGERT of Animal House, HOME ALONE, THE STONES, SHAZAM (1970s Saturday morning show, the Shazam/Isis Hour), PANTENE shampoo (came to US markets in the 1980s).

New to me: feminized USHERETTE. How recently was the term used in Broadway theaters?

14a. [“The secret source of  itself is not joy, but sorrow”: Mark Twain], HUMOR. Or perhaps, as more recent comedians have said, tragedy plus time equals comedy.

Did not know: 29a. [___  Mater (epithet for the goddess Cybele)], MAGNA. Phrygia’s #1 goddess! The Greek and Roman equivalent of Big Mama. Got any jokes?

3.5 stars from me.

Eli Robinson’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Pound Sign” — Jim Q’s Review

***According to this site, there is no record of Eli having been published in the past. If this is correct, congrats on the debut, Eli!***
THEME: Names/phrases with the second half having to do with an alert dog :)
THEME ANSWERS:

• 17A [*Brewpub bottle] BEER GROWLER
  

  WSJ • 10/13/25 • Mon • “Pound Sign” • Eli Robinson • solution • 20251013

• 31A [*Brewpub bottle] SUB-WOOFER
• 46A [*Longtime emcee of “The Price Is Right”] BOB BARKER
• 60A [Warning sign that might apply to this puzzle’s starred answers?] BEWARE OF DOG

Cute theme! Any dog puzzle gets an automatic tail wag from me. My Great Dane is currently curled up beside me, fresh off her own “alert dog” performance when the piano tuner showed up earlier.

Sure, WOOFER and BARKER are practically synonyms, but who cares—it’s fun, consistent, and the “dog words” all double as verbs, which gives the set a nice bounce.

The title Pound Sign is clever, though I can’t help immediately hearing Sarah McLachlan singing in my head. (You know the one. Sorry for planting it.)

NEW TO ME / OTHER STUFF:

• [Savannah Guthrie or Craig Melvin, on “Today”] CO-HOST. Both those names are unfamiliar to me, but no crosses necessary. Highly inferable.
• [Org. for Sabalenka and Swiatek] WTA. Women’s Tennis Association. Feels new to me also? Probably just hasn’t stuck yet. Hopefully it will now.
• [Coup feature?] SILENT P. These types of clues used to trick me all the time. No longer! I’m onto your vibe SILENT [insert letter here] clues!
• [Reasonable] SENSEFUL. That’s a word? Spellcheck doesn’t seem to like it. SENSIBLE seems more SENSEFUL to me.
• [Diana who played Emma Peel on “The Avengers”] RIGG. I know I’ve seen this name before, but alas I forgot it.
• [Comedian Jacobson] ABBI. Entirely new for me- looks like it may be a crossword debut, though I’ve only checked two databases. If so, congrats Ms. Jacobson!
• [Extracting tool at a crash site] JAWS OF LIFE. Imagery that’s clashes with my very at-ease state right now on this perfectly rainy day off.
• [What’s up?] SKY. Ugh. I absolutely hate when my high school students of mine say “The SKY” when I ask “What’s up?” One of my top ten pet peeves.

I liked this one! 3.5 stars

And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a pic of my dogs, Ellis and Billie:

Enjoy your day!

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1826 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1826 — 10/13/25

This seemed a bit easier than last Monday’s offering. (Ignore the two letters marked as corrected; I had the right letters originally but must have typed over them in trying to finish the puzzle.)

Stuff that caught my eye:

• 16A [“Been called a pinko Commie tool, Got through it ___ by my pool” (“Follies” lyric)] STINKO From the Stephen Sondheim song “I’m Still Here.” I usually find lyrics to songs I don’t know pretty easy to figure out, but for some reason, getting that K took a while.
• 17A [Something for heavy sleepers?] WEIGHTED BLANKET I’ve heard of these before, but never tried one.
• 29A [___ Navarro (drug kingpin on “Ozark”)] OMAR It’s been a few years since I watched Ozark, and I don’t remember if Omar Navarro is a character in the early episodes set in Chicago or the later ones in Missouri.
• 33A [Office supplies] STAPLERS In the 1980s, I worked in a locally-owned office supply store (just as Office Depot and its ilk were killing off locally-owned stationers). I bought a nice stapler and a box of 5,000 staples. Some years later, I had the sobering realization that I owned a lifetime supply of staples.
• 35A [You’re looking at it] GRID Not CLUE.
• 42A [Dietary restriction] NO SALT Not NO FATS.
• 46A [Clive in “Children of Men”] THEO I lost some time trying to work around OWEN until I realized that I needed the name of the character, not the actor. It’s been too long since I saw that movie for me to remember any characters’ names.
• 47A [Singer who sang in the fictional language Loxian] ENYA Really, who else could it have been in a crossword puzzle?
• 58A [Eco-friendly bedroom company with a fruity name] AVOCADO MATTRESS I’d never heard of that brand, but the V from 39D SHEAVES gave me AVOCADO.
• 64A [Movie theater request] ONE ADULT It’s been a long time since I went to a movie alone.
• 66A [Brown seaweed] SARGASSO I was familiar with that word only from the Jean Rhys novel Wide Sargasso Sea. I’m not sure I really knew what it meant.
• 12D [Black and viscous] INK-LIKE Not TAR-LIKE. I don’t think of ink as particularly thick and sticky, though I know some printing inks are.
• 13D [Gossip correspondant for the Daily Prophet] Rita SKEETER My limited Harry Potter knowledge doesn’t extend to The Daily Prophet.
• 23D [Deep, resentful feelings] DUDGEON It’s a bit weird to see this without “high” preceding it.
• 43D [1984 movie with the tagline “The Man… The Music… The Madness… The Murder… The Motion Picture”] AMADEUS I got this with a bunch of crosses, though if I’d thought about it a little longer, it should have been obvious. It’s a great movie, even if it’s not historically accurate.
• 44D [Japanese luxury sedan] LEXUS LS This annoyed me a bit because the ___S LS just looked so wrong. And because in his September 25 puzzle, in virtually the same spot in the grid, Brendan stuck in LEXUS UX. Enough with the Lexuses!