Jonesin’ 5:14 (Erin) 
[2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) [2.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT untimed (Jenni) 
[3.32 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 6:23 (Amy) [3.64 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal 6:49 (Eric) [3.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [2.25 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ tk (Jim Q) rate it
Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Wanna-Bees” — doubling the effort. – Erin’s write-up
Jonesin’ solution 11/4/25
Hello lovelies! This week’s Jonesin’ theme is double-e satisfying, with the addition of an extra E to common phrases.
- 20a. [Sax mouthpiece that’s mostly caramel and sugar?] CANDY APPLE REED (candy apple red)
- 31a. [Overachieving high schooler?] PERFECT TEEN (perfect ten)
- 42a. [Super Bowl-winning coach Ewbank, if he had a team of arachnids?] SPIDERS WEEB (spider’s web)
- 55a. [Flinging something at your parents in the front because you want the road trip to be over?] ARE WE THERE YEET (are we there yet?)
Other things:
- 10a. [___ of certiorari] WRIT. This is when a higher court orders a lower court to send a case to them for review.
- 61a. [Accord promoter] HONDA. Love the wordplay here.
Until next week!
John McClung’s Universal Crossword “Daybreak” — Eric’s Review
John McClung’s Universal Crossword “Daybreak” — 11/4/25
I didn’t give the title much thought, but I did pay attention to the squares with circles in them. For the last of the theme answers before the revealer, the circles were a tiny bit of help.
As indicated by the title, smaller units of the day are broken across two consecutive entries:
- 17A [Backyard hideout] TREEHOUSE/19A [Individually owned unit] CONDO
- 29A [Pack tightly] CRAM IN/31A [Sporks and chopsticks] UTENSILS
- 47A [Game with many faces] GUESS WHO/50A [Planet beyond Saturn] URANUS I hadn’t heard of the board game, which isn’t too surprising as it didn’t come out until I was in college. This could have been clued to the “American Woman” band that was big in the 1970s, but the board game clue is probably easier for a larger number of solvers.
- 61A [Jointly owned vacation property … and a theme hint] TIMESHARE
It’s a very basic theme, but it gives a nice spin to the reveal phrase. I like that the broken units of time fit the progression of SECOND/MINUTE/HOUR.
Other stuff:
- 14A [Part of IPA] PALE/3D [Part of IPA] ALE I like that these two answers cross this way, but I’ve never been a fan of hoppy beers. A nice brown or red ale with an IBU under 35 is more to my taste. The popularity of IPAs makes my preferred beer harder to find.
- 28A [Meat in a croque madame] HAM A croque monsieur or a croque madame is a grilled cheese sandwich, made with Gruyère. The madame version has a poached or lightly fried egg on it.
- 69A [Witherspoon of “Legally Blonde”] REESE A few years back, we watched several classic 1990’s rom-coms that we had skipped earlier. Most of them, including “Legally Blonde,” were more fun than we’d expected.
- 5D [Person from Ljubljana] SLOVENE I’m lucky that CROAT didn’t fit, because I momentarily tried to place Ljubljana in its southern neighbor.
- 6D [“Blade Runner” actor Rutger] HAUER A pure gimme. Ridley Scott’s 1982 film deserves its status as a sci-fi classic.
- 30D [Hired guns, briefly] MERCS As in mercenary.
- 42D [Source of some chirping] NEST Well, SMOKE ALARM WITH DYING BATTERY didn’t fit.
- 57D [Taiwanese laptop maker] ASUS Not ACER.
Robert S. Gard’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up
I figured out the theme of the theme, if that makes sense.
Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2025, Robert S. Gard, solution grid
- 17a [*Belt taken with lime and salt] is a TEQUILA SHOT
- 24a [*Challenge for an antsy toddler] is SITTING STILL. “Antsy toddler” is redundant.
- 39a [*Problematic backward pass in football] is a BAD SNAP.
- 51a [*Spotted pattern on faux fur, say] is LEOPARD PRINT.
And the revealer: 62a [Close call in a race, or what the answer to each starred clue has] is PHOTO FINISH. SHOT, STILL, SNAP, and PRINT. Nice!
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that the Dunk Club exists. It’s much more wholesome than the Duck Club. (link may be NSFW depending on your W)
Patrick Hayden’s New York Times Crossword — Jenni’s write-up
This is one of my favorite Tuesdays in a long time. I realize that may sound like faint praise and I’m sorry about that because this puzzle deserves more than faint praise. It was a smooth Tuesday-level solve (far as I can tell) and the theme was delightful. I figured out half of the theme and the second half was completely unexpected. And it’s a debut! I look forward to more from Patrick.
New York Times, November 4, 2025, Patrick Hayden, solution grid
- 17a [Folk-rock pair featured in the documentary “Wordplay”] is the INDIGO GIRLS.
- 24a [Half of a standard deck of cards] are the BLACK SUITS.
- 48a [Place for plants to flourish] is the GREENHOUSE.
- 60a [Fast-food chain with the slogan “The Crave is a powerful thing”] is WHITE CASTLE.
So OK, all the theme answers have colors at the beginning. The revealer gives us the other half. 39a [1950s entertainment notion…or a hint to the first and second halves of 17-, 24-, 48-, and 60-Across] is COLOR TV. Oh! The second half of each answer is the title of a TV show: GIRLS, SUITS, HOUSE, and CASTLE. So fun! I give myself grace because I’ve never heard of the show CASTLE, which is too bad because it looks like fun.
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: quite a lot for a Tuesday! In addition to the aforementioned CASTLE, I also did not know that ARABICA is the most commonly cultivated coffee species or that TUCSON is situated between the split halves of Saguaro National Park.
Paul Leistra’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Act Now!” — Solution Grid
Paul Leistra’s Wall Street Journal Crossword — 11/4/25
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Wyna Liu’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution – 11/4/25 – Liu
Quick post, as pannonica’s work schedule changed and I’m also short on time–
Fave fill: GAME SET MATCH, SUPERCONTINENT, SCHWA with a spelling-bee difficulty clue, AURORA BOREALIS, ANIMAL CRACKER (better in the plural, though), SESAME STREET, and … NOSE HAIR. (Breakfast test!)
34a. [Uninspired imitator], EPIGONE. Raise your hand if you actually know (and use!) this vocab word. My hands remain down.
24a. [2025 sports film whose title is a kind of baseball pitch], EEPHUS. Semi-obscure sports terminology, arguably even more obscure movie. It got great reviews but has grossed $526,074. Maybe 30,000 Americans have seen it, a teeny-tiny fraction of the population (0.009%?).
3.5 stars from me.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 1 star
I am tired of the use of the names of alcoholic cocktails in these puzzles. I should have made this comment yesterday regarding the WSJ celebration of stiff drinks, but I would request constructors to lighten up, as it were.
Pot, meet kettle.
Am I reading this right? You’re rating a puzzle 1 star because it includes TEQUILA?
This place is crawling with old biddies.
LAT: Definitely had a bit of crunch to it for a Tuesday, a major reason being the many abbrevs in the grid. I’m also wondering how widely known Imgur is, because I imagine that cross with that “GAH” interjection can be tough to get right for someone not aware of it.
I think there was one person on the LA Times Crossword Corner Blog who was familiar with Imgur. The rest of us just vented our displeasure in varying degrees.
If Umberto Eco or Niels Bohr appeared in a puzzle, nobody in crossword blogs would complain. I promise you that if you did a poll of the general public, the number of people who are familiar with Imgur is far, far more than the number who have heard of either of them. Sometimes, it’s more appropriate to acknowledge one’s blind spots rather than complain about the (perceived) fairness of a puzzle.
Yes. I am 65 and decidedly uncool and I knew it.
Does your handle imply your are often hamstrung by clues?
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 3.5 stars
TNY: Approximately challenging, but Bar Diagram? Bar Chart: Yes. Pie Chart: Fine. Bar Diagram: Never heard of it. Otherwise, I really liked the puzzle. Thanks Wyna
Played harder for me than yesterday’s Gorski puzzle. Not necessarily a big surprise – I’m often not on Ms. Liu’s wavelength (witness my struggles with her “Connections” puzzles).
I didn’t care for a BAR DIAGRAM, either. Nor its symmetrical partner, MRI STUDIES – are these “experiments?” Would have preferred “Tests with tubes” – not perfect either, but more descriptive of my experience with MRIs (and just as “cute”). Could definitely have lived without EEPHUS.
The clue for GAME SET MATCH seemed a little off to me. When I hear “decisive victory,” I’m thinking it’s a rout. But GAME SET MATCH are the words after even a very close victory. I get that it’s “decisive” in the sense that there is a final decision – but it just doesn’t work very well for me.
I liked clues for SNEAKER, AT COST and ANTLERS.
New Yorker: It was so sweet of you, Amy, to go back to review Tuesday’s New Yorker crossword and to post the solution, when pannonica was not able to do so. Many thanks! And thanks for the Wednesday New Yorker note as well.