LAT 3:13 (Stella) 
[2.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Newsday 15:17 (pannonica) 
[4.25 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
NYT 8:19 (Amy) 
[4.03 avg; 16 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Matthew) [4.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) 
[2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ untimed (pannonica) rate it
Byron Walden’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 10/25/25 – no. 1025
I’m super-overtired this evening but hey! Finished the Saturday puzzle faster than the misbegotten Friday puzzle the night before. It helped to guess 1a right off the bat, [Calendar month between Sha’ban and Shawwal]. Arabic-sounding months, 7 letters, gotta be RAMADAN because I don’t know any other Arabic months.
Fave fill: “I HAVE TO BE HONEST,” BIDEN PRESIDENCY (back when people weren’t snatched off the street in my area), “I CAN’T TALK,” OREGON TERRITORY, JUNIOR EXECUTIVE, BAD MOJO, restaurant’s “ORDER UP,” Sargent’s MADAME X, BETTER THAN SEX.
Not familiar to me:
- 1D. [Sharp blow to the chest], RIB SHOT. As in boxing, apparently.
- 36D. [Application for smoother shifting], GEAR OIL. Used in cars with manual transmissions, apparently.
True story: 9D. [___ Farnsworth, inventor dubbed “The Father of Television”], PHILO. Some years back, we got a junk phone call. My husband answered the phone, “Farnsworth! We’ve been expecting your call” in an old-timey voice, and kept up the gambit until the survey person or salesperson tired of getting nowhere. 10/10, would recommend.
Four stars from me. Good night!
David Karp’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 10/25/25 by David Karp
Wish I had more time to talk about this puzzle, because I quite liked it. Faves: BOOKSHELF WEALTH (I love when I learn a new term but it’s totally inferable from the clue), MAKE IT RAIN, ALHAMBRA, SAGUARO, WHAT’S TODAY’S DATE (feels very relatable although smartphones are making it less and less heard IRL), OAT NOG. Also, [Teen who helps with the bills] is an awesome clue for SENATE PAGE!
One slight needle scratch for me: [One who picks up speed?] for SENSOR. I think “who,” even in a clue with a question mark, is too much of a stretch here, and I would’ve made it [One picking up speed?].
Walker Griggs’ Wall Street Journal crossword, “Halloween Costume Drama” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 10/25/25 • Sat • “Halloween Costume Drama” • Griggs • solution • 20251025
- 114aR [Nervousness in front of an audience, or a description of the starred answers] STAGE FRIGHT.
- 23a. [*Bombing, e.g.] ACT OF TERROR.
- 25a. [*Reptiles that can detect infrared radiation] PIT VIPERS.
- 36a. [*It might be dusted] CRIME SCENE.
- 52a. [*Stretched-thin staff] SKELETON CREW.
- 65a/67a [*… mysterious masked man of drama] THE PHANTOM | OF THE OPERA.
- 84a. [*Front, say] THEATER OF WAR.
- 98a. [*Pedigrees] BLOODLINES.
- 112a. [Hold a candle to, say] SET ON FIRE.
So these are, loosely and punnily, spooky things that involve aspects of the theater. Not really a fan here, although most of the theme answers are good fill per se.
- 6d [Part of a digital footprint?] TOE. Sure, why not.
- 8d [They run from Inwood to Far Rockaway] A TRAINS. Too much of a niche clue?
- 14d [Chaos] HAVOC. 29d [Violent fracas] MELEE.
- 32d [“¿Donde __?” (“Where are you?”)] ESTAS, but I tried ESTAN first. Formal vs familiar.
- 53d [“Gray goo” unit] NANOBOT. Have not heard that term before.
- 57d [Course worker] PRO. This is golf.
- 61d [Apple crisp and paper clips, e.g.] ANAGRAMS. Haven’t seen that pair before.
- 62d [Bat signal] SONAR. I feel this clue should have a question mark. (7d [Bat application] TAR, 89d [Bat material] WOOD – It feels as if we’re playing up to the Halloween timing of the crossword?)
- 70d [Reaction shot?] EPI-PEN. Good use of question mark.
- 86d [Have one’s worth appreciated] FEEL SEEN. This is in-the-language enough for everyone here, yes?
- 101d [Candy not actually made with seawater] is salt water TAFFY, which I believe is a branded product. “In Canada, a form of molasses taffy candy, known as “halloween kisses”, is produced in time for Halloween.” –Wikipedia. Reference article.
- 111d [James of jazz] ETTA. For the umpteenth time, she was primarily an r&b/soul artist, though she did release some jazz records (which do not showcase her talents as well). The jazz ETTA is Jones.
- 116d [All Hallows’ __ ] EVE. Does this duplicate the puzzle’s title too closely?
- 22a [“Once more __ the breach, dear friends”] UNTO. This is from a celebrated speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V.
- 63a [Bombay and Beefeater] GINS. Botanist and Boodles.
- 74a [Take a risk, in slang] SEND IT. Which slang is this?
Overall I liked the puzzle, even the theme did not send me.
David P Williams’ Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 10/25/25 • Saturday Stumper • Williams • solution • 20251025
Curious solve. Mostly easy, only one mis-fill, and many of my early gets were among the longer entries.
As the grid populated, it mostly the left side that got filled in first, and then right side fairly uniformly.
- 1a [Info __ (Internet, from the German)] BAHN. Remember when it was called the information superhighway?
- 5a [Tide that goes out in autumn] BAMA. College football season, Alabama Crimson Tide.
- 9a [What the matter may be] GAS. Or solid or liquid or plasma.
- 12a [The new Double Chocolate Cakester] OREO. Enough, enough with the multifarious OREO varieties! I’m gonna start a one-woman crusade, I tell you.
- 17a [Revolutionary movement] ROLL. Thought it might be YEAR. (40a [Candles, for some time] YEARS. As on a birthday cake.) 25d [What the Jasmine Revolution (2010) was part of] ARAB SPRING.
- 21a [What a hollowed-out tree may be] nest? home? HIVE.
- 28a [Shouting] CRIES. Subtle misdirection with the part of speech there, presumably aimed at experienced solvers trying to put in part of the answer before knowing the whole thing.
- 32a [Foundation of many courts] CLAY. Suspected this as the answer early on, but had to wait a rather long time for crossings to confirm.
- 33a [Start to ponder] TRANSponder. 34a [Intro for a million gigs] PETAgig.
- 36a [International Manga Museum home] KYOTO. Considered both TOKYO and OSAKA, but the K looked good for 36d [Sort, in a phrase] and I entered KITH there. (It turned out to be KIND.)
- 37a [Shortened flights] AERONautics. oOf, glad I completed that via crossings.
- 49a [One needing to see to believe] EMPIRICIST. Overall it’s a good philosophy. 23d [ __-check] FACT.
- 53a [First name of Hoorae Media’s founder] ISSA. Didn’t know the company but I suspect that from the -rae in the name we’re talking about ISSA Rae, contemporary crossword royalty.
- 4d [Napa’s environs] NORTH BAY. NORTH was definitely there early on, but I needed some crossings and coaxing to get BAY.
- 7d [Letters on much guitar music] MAJ. Boo.
- 8d [Hostilities] ANIMUSES. Because ANIMOSITY would not fit.
- 10d [Victim of a Herculean trick] ATLAS. “Let me just adjust my lion skin as a shoulder pad …”
- 14d [“Journey to __” (2000s Sesame Street segment] ERNIE.
- 16d [Special interest group] TRIBE. Hmm.
- 20d [Small marching band] ANTS. Fooled me, and I was thinking of TRIO.
- 22d [Forecast fork] RAIN OR SHINE. Definitely had something like a DOWSING ROD in mind.
- 24d [Eye-opener] LULU. 43d [Knocks over] WOWS.
- 34d [What a 31-Down is] PELLUCID. (31-down is PANE.)
- 39d [Speaks swingily] LILTS, not SCATS.
- 50d [End of a Louis line] MOI. L’ État, c’est moi. NO KINGS.
I always know a Byron Walden puzzle will be challenging but enjoyable, and this one was all that. I was desperately flailing at first, but some of the longer answers fell into place and I finished only slightly worse than my average time.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
Absolute disaster of a solve for me. Just couldn’t get any momentum going and had to scrap the gold star long before the end. A couple of them were irritating. (Do we need to resort to 70 year old movie trivia for three-letter entries?) But most of it was a me problem.
It wasn’t until I read your comment, Jamie, that I realized the irony of my plugging in the correct answer MEL without thinking about it. I guess that name was familiar to me even though the only things I ever saw him in were episodes of TV shows like Hawaii Five–O and Columbo. (I’m sure that I have never seen War and Peace.)
In my head, though, I was picturing Mel Ferrer’s peer José Ferrer (maybe best known for playing Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway and in the movie) or even José’s son Miguel (Twin Peaks). Near as I can tell, Mel and José were not related.
Sorry if scrapping the gold star annoyed you. It’s rare that I can’t finish a contemporary NYT puzzle in one sitting, but that often happens to me with other “hard” puzzles (Saturday Stumper, Tim Croce’s Club 72, NYT Fridays and Saturdays from 25 years ago, et al.). I strongly recommend setting a puzzle like that aside for an hour or a day or whatever. It’s amazing how you can come back to it after a break and immediately see some answer that had you completely stuck when you were working on the puzzle before.
I had to check a couple of times to see whether I had inadvertently downloaded The Stumper.
There were good things – BETTER THAN SEX was neat. And then it was right there next to NOR SEMEN, for example.
The clue for JUNIOR EXECUTIVE was good, as was the clue for BIDEN PRESIDENCY.
But, TAX FILER? RIB SHOT? GEAR OIL? I can do without that.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
My first run through gave me hardly anything. I stuck with and got it all. So many tricky clues, Byron, you scamp, I could hear you chuckling. Green suit? Break character? Call at the plate? Financial reporter? Shot-putter? Eastern lines. Every one I got was a big “AHA! but 46 years? was the worst/best.
I got the right answer but couldn’t figure out why. I was about to ask here but didn’t want to be the first to crack. Then I got it and I can’t imagine everyone else getting it. So who’s willing to admit you got it and still can’t figure out why?
I had almost the opposite experience. My immediate thought on [46 years] was OBAMA ERA or something like that. (I’m lousy at remembering numbers and only remember George W. Bush as “43” because, during his presidency, that was one way to distinguish him from his father.) When I got a few crosses, I saw that BIDEN PRESIDENCY fit.
Here’s a hint: If the clue was
“44+46 years?” and you had these letters in place: F_ _ K _ _ _ SH _ _ SH _ _
the answer would be:
That should be “45+47 years?”
I was about to say.
Then I scrolled down.
Still don’t get it haha, can you explain directly?
fucking shitshow
I believe it’s FUCKING SHIT SHOW – Trump, President #45 and #47.
No further comment.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
Best Saturday NYT in a long time! So difficult to get traction, but eventually worked through it. Nothing questionable that wasn’t gettable from crosses. Very good clues with multiple interpretations. Just excellent! If every crossword puzzle was basically the same as this one, I’d be a very happy solver!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Is it sad that I plunked down BETTER THAN PIE?
RAMADAN was a gimme… I learned all those lunar months during my youth, centuries ago.
But the Baba Ghanouj clue for PUREE threw me. I imagine people puree it now. But that is not how the original dish was made. It was smashed and blended and had more texture than a puree.
Took a while for the BIDEN PRESIDENCY clue to make sense. Lots of fun entries- DOE EYED, BAD MOJO. Really good Saturday.
Hahahahaha better than pie :-D That’s awesome.
Perfect!!
Another tough one — about the same as yesterday for me. I hopscotched around at first — MADAMEX, PHILO, SUNRA and MEL were gimmes — then slowly got the rest. I had LOOT before LODE. I like my answer better. I don’t know what kind of treasure hunter is looking for underground ore seams, or whatever.
Stumper: Agree (as always) with pannonica. I, too, thought of divining rod, etc. for 22D and am not fond of the “fork” part of the clue. Not being familiar with “North Bay,” I tried “North Cal” at first. My husband had gotten 30D (“atop”) and the bottom right corner. Working from top to bottom, however, I couldn’t get a foothold, though, until I got to the “t” of “atop” for 34A, tried “peta,” which led to “pane” for 31D, which gave me the ending of “pe” for 38A. I speculated on “slope” for that and “slippery slope” became immediately obvious. I then had the “s” for 25D and “Arab spring” came immediately to mind. So, yes it was a weird combo of some coming hard and others easy. Overall, not bad.
Puzzle: Newsday; Rating: 4.5 stars
I found it very challenging but fun. Almost gave up a few times but each time would get one more word and keep going. I couldn’t quite get 100% of it because I was locked into AEROS instead of AERON and was not able to sort out that area.
Had LITERALIST before EMPIRICIST.
My first thought was “literalist,” but I already had the beginning “e,” so tried “empericist.” I wasn’t fond of “aeron,” but I guess it’s short for “aeronauts.”
NYT: The contrast in clue quality between yesterday and today is really striking IMO. Kelvin Zhou, who made his NYT debut yesterday, fell into the rookie mistake of trying too hard on every single clue, and the solving experience felt very fitful to me. Byron Walden’s puzzle, on the other hand, has cluing that feels smoother.
I guess this is why veteran constructors get paid more.
Byron, if you’re wondering about your clue for OREGON TERRITORY, I thought it was excellent! It was one of those clues where, after eventually figuring out the answer, I thought, “yes, of course,” which doesn’t always happen.
Keep in mind that veteran constructors see more of their submitted clues survive the editing process than rookies. We don’t know how many of yesterday’s and today’s clues were written by the constructor, but we can guess that the number was higher yesterday.
You mean “today” rather than “yesterday” at the end, yes?
Yes :)
Stumper: shouldn’t the OREO clue have a “for example” or something? The thing in the clue isn’t really an Oreo. It’s an Oreo variety.
And what’s with the “in a phrase” in the clue for KIND? “Sort” means KIND. No phrases necessary.
That “for example” would be needed if OREO was one kind of Double Chocolate Cakester, not vice versa. “Oak, for example” is a clue for TREE. “Tree” is a clue for OAK.
Oak is a kind of tree, so “Oak, for example” works for TREE. Likewise, Double Chocolate Cakester is a kind of Oreo treat, so the clue should be “Double Chocolate Cakester, for example.”
Oak is one of many kinds of trees. Oreo treat is not one of many kinds of Double Chocolate Cakesters. Specimen is an example of a class. Class is not an example of a specimen.
You’re flipping around your Oreo sentence. Double Chocolate Cakesters is one of many kinds of Oreos. Here, I’ll put the two clues and answers above each other to show how they match.
“Oak, for example” clues TREE
“Double Chocolate Cakesters, for example” clues OREO
Oreo is the big category here, just like tree is the big category. There are lots of types of trees, and oak is one. There are lots of types of Oreos, and Double Chocolate Cakesters is one.
These examples seem exactly the same to me, unless you and I disagree on whether Oreo is the big category.
Could the clue “Sour Patch Kids, for example” clue CANDY? I think it could, couldn’t it?
Like, couldn’t “Double Chocolate Cakesters, for example” clue COOKIE?
I guess you’re right. I must have been misreading the clue. But that said, the “for example” rule has even been violated by the Times on Saturday, and for a Stumper it’s to be expected.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
Bliss.
Enjoyed the Stumper. Took a long time to make good progress, but in the end, I completed it without resorting to the “check” function. Challenging, but it didn’t irk me with clues or fill as most Stumpers do. I’ll hope to see the David Williams byline on future Stumpers.
I was cruising through it but ground to a halt halfway through and hit reveal to get HEARTEMOJI. Then it wasn’t too hard to finish.
I left the cross at AERO_/PA_E blank until the end. I figured it had to be PANE but AERON seemed nonsensical. That’s a clunker even by Stumper standards.
I wasn’t fond of “aeron,” but I guess it’s short for “aeronauts.”
Puzzle: Newsday; Rating: 4.5 stars
I thought the Stumper was terrific. But I have two quarrels. AERON is one: is aeronautics really short for flights, plural, and not flight, or the science of flight.
The other: “Letters on much guitar music.” MAJ can be found anywhere there are chord names, as in any fake book. There’s nothing specific to guitar music about it, and classical compositions for guitar wouldn’t have chord names written in at all. And a plain old major chord would most likely be named as simply A, B, C, etc.
I should have asked whether “aeronautics” really means “flights,” plural, and not “flight,” i.e., the science of flight.
I’m not fond of “aeron.” Regarding “Letters…,” “guitar music” is one of the many needless additional words/phrases sometimes added to throw us off. No, it’s not unique to guitar music. After I got the answer, I just took “guitar music” to be one of those distractors.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Stumper: fun. Didn’t get NORTH BAY except through crossings (CAL didn’t work, but made me think ‘court’ was a misdirect early on). SHAMUSES with crossings, and AERON was terrible (you could convince me AEROS would be a shortened form, but I’ve never in my life heard aeronautics shortened like this).
NYT was a good Saturday. Classically tricky without trying to be the most. The long answers felt fresh here, which is usually the telltale sign of experienced setting.
The WaPo/LAT was also quite fun. Good Saturday answers with some fresh fill as well (bookshelf wealth i love, though new to me here). Flowier than the NYT imo, but nothing inaccessible.
Great day for solving!