LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[2.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:17 (Amy) 
[3.72 avg; 18 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (Jim P) [3.25 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Malaika Handa’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 11/14/25 – no. 1114
Learned something new from this Friday puzzle: 6D. [Aesthetic associated with classical literature and vintage fashion], DARK ACADEMIA. According to this, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History has that vibe.
Fave fill: PALEO DIET, OPEN CASES, MINECRAFT, SEA SHANTY, GOSSIP GIRL, “SINGLE LADIES,” and 12D. [“How to Be an ___” (book by Ibram X. Kendi)], ANTIRACIST.
Not sold on RELATCH or “SO DONE!” standing alone.
Three more things:
- 30D. [Squad that trains athletes for the pros], FEEDER TEAM. Such as the Iowa Cubs for the Chicago Cubs?
- 1D. [Cool, in streaming slang], POG. This may derive from the 1990s fad of Pogs. I was as familiar with this as I was DARK ACADEMIA, which is to say, not at all. (I don’t do Twitch gaming.) The crossings helped me get both answers right.
- 26D. [Inits. for the old East Germany], DDR. Yes, the Communist side of Germany had Demokratische in its name, because up is down. Wonder if the constructor had a gaming clue here (Dance Dance Revolution), given POG and MINECRAFT. Two pop-culture crossings for DDR likely pushed the editor towards a dated geographical abbreviation.
Lots of pop culture throughout this puzzle, which I found fun but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Four stars from me.
Mat Holmes’s Universal crossword, “Drop It!”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers come in two different flavors: those in which the letters IT should be ignored and those in which those same letters are needed. The former are in the top of the grid, the latter in the bottom. The idea is that you should “drop” IT from the upper entries to the lower ones.
Universal crossword solution · “Drop It!” · Mat Holmes · Fri., 11.14.25
- 3d [*What Austin Powers sought to regain] / 39d [**Trick candle’s specialty]: MOJITO / REIGNING (mojo / reigniting).
- 5d [*Cheesy chip topper] / 43d [**Talking like a frog prince]: QUITE SO / RIBBING (queso / ribbiting).
- 8d [*Sauce in a boat] / 44d [**”Care to try some?”]: GRAVITY / WANNABE (gravy / “wanna bite?”).
- 11d [*Clever and indirect] / 49d [**Perturbs]: SUBTITLE / AGATES (subtle / agitates).
I’ve seen a number of similar themes that omit or add IT, but I like what this one is doing. It didn’t immediately register that the lower entries are directly beneath the upper entries, so my aha moment came post-solve, but it was good nonetheless. I wasn’t thrilled with entries like REIGN(it)ING and RIBB(it)ING, but given the constraints of having entries in specific columns, the theme felt plenty tight. Overall, nicely done.
In the fill, I didn’t know the name RAY ALLEN, but then I don’t watch a lot of sports. Further, there were a number of proper names in both entries and clues that were a little off-putting. I did like NIRVANA, AVE MARIA, CHIANTI, “ASK MOM“and ANUBIS. At 36d, I opted for VENDOR instead of LENDER [Credit check requester], and both the V and O are in proper names, so that took a little bit of time to sort out, but now I see my answer makes less sense than the correct one. Still not sure about UMIAMI as an entry, though. Thoughts?
Clues of note:
- 64a. [Heartless guy?] TIN MAN. Cute clue.
- 21d. [Reply from a lazy father]. ASK MOM. I love when I can give this answer to my kids. Medical issue? ASK MOM. (In my defense, she is a doctor.)
- 31d. [“A Song of Ice and Fire,” for one]. SAGA. Popularly known as Game of Thrones, if you didn’t know.
Good puzzle. 3.5 stars. Oh, this is a debut. Congrats to our newest constructor!
Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Stephanie Wildman’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 11/14/25 • Fri • Wildman-Tobriner, Wildman • solution • 20251114
I grasped the theme mechanics—but not its rationale—right away at 1-across, when TIARA didn’t work with any of the crossing entries.
- 39aR [Genteel gesture, or what can be found five times in this puzzle] TIP OF THE HAT. The hat names in the grid change direction downward, which I suppose can be considered a tip.
- 1a(5d). [Headgear often worn by Kate Middleton] FASCINATOR.
- 6a(9d). [Headgear worn by Abraham Lincoln] STOVEPIPE.
- 10a(13d). [Headgear often worn on Easter] BONNET.
- 48a(49d). [Headgear worn at graduation] MORTARBOARD.
- 63a(66d). [Headgear worn by Captain Cook[ TRICORN.
Nicely turned.
- 8d [Smells] ODORS. Once again, I am contractually obligated compelled to highlight non-pejorative uses of ODOR.
- 10d [Ancient weapons that resemble giant crossbows] BALLISTAS. Don’t believe I’ve ever heard that word.
- 26d [Opportunities for shredders to shine] GUITAR SOLOS. Needed several crossings, as my thoughts turned first to surfing and skateboarding.
- 32d [Japanese cutlet] KATSU.
- 37d [“Think fast!”] HEADS UP, which might in fact necessitate ducking.
- 40d [Bit of wisdom] PEARL, not ADAGE.
- 43d [Short cut] BOB. Note that the clue is two words rather than one compound word.
- 62d [Levy of Homes.com commercials] DAN. Unknown to me.
- 24a [Place for large headlines] PAGE ONE. Sometimes I like to pronounce words and phrases as if they were Italian; pageone is a fine example. Homemade is another.
- 44a [Top row center key] F SIX. Was not expecting that. Per Amy, I’ll observe that no one refers to such things as anything other than F6.
- 55a [Soft tissue] KLEENEX. A potentially tricky clue, but I already had the K in place, so I wasn’t fooled at all.
- 71a [Fender blemish] DENT, for which I initially only entered D–N–, as DING is another possibility.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Fun NYT but i found this remarkably easy. Only 3s behind Amy’s time and I ain’t THAT fast. Still in the ACPT in my head, I just got the same score as an A-tier solver so i got that goin’ for me, which is nice.
3.5 stars only because i want more bite on Friday.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I agree—went fast for me, too.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I enjoyed the NYT, but 4:16 was close to a personal record time. Wish it had a little more bite for a Friday.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
This has to be the first time ever that my Friday solve time was faster than my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Knowing Paleo Diet, Gossip Girl and Minecraft right away probably helped. It was a welcome relief for me but I’d be cool with a tough Saturday tomorrow.
NYT: Not overly difficult, but I got stuck where SO DONE is, because that entry and clue should go into the dumpster bin with LDRS.
SO DONE is In The Language; the clue writer just didn’t handle it well. Treated like a predicate for an understood pronoun makes it come off as Green Paint. But I think if the clue were more like [Walking away and not looking back] or, more boldly, [Never getting back together], in which the treatment invokes an “I’m so done, here” or a “We are SO DONE!”, it would definitely be Paint.
I agree with everything placematfan said. SO DONE is definitely NOT Green Paint, but the clue is weird. I like placematfan’s clue suggestions much more.
DARKACADEMIA rings a bell, faintly, but even after glancing through the essay Amy linked to I still don’t really understand what it is trying to be. Definitely a puzzle by a younger constructor, but not all that confounding for an old dude like me.
I gotta say, though, POG is just out-and-out silly.
Oh, and I don’t know that I’d describe someone who needs a 34 inch inseam as TALL. I need 32 in, and I’m 5′ 9″.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
POG may actually be a little outdated now. I’ve watched some Twitch streams in my time and it’s definitely a thing gamers say, or said. By the way, if you want to despair for the future, check out Twitch chats where these obnoxious kids are arguing about the dumbest things and trying to rage bait the streamer with pedantic complaints and completely useless “advice” about how to play the game. They all have acute cases of Reddit poisoning.
Anyway, no real complaints today except that I beat my Thursday time… and my Wednesday time… and my Tuesday time. But I looked up some of my previous times with Malaika’s puzzles and one of her Fridays early last year took me a shocking 34 minutes. So who knows.
Men of average height have inseams of 30-32″. 34″ or greater is considered tall. Average for women is 28-30″. 34″ is tall for women as well.
hmm, depends what you mean by tall. If you only mean ‘above average,’ then maybe I’ll buy it. But that’s not the commonplace meaning of tall, IMO. On top of which, I don’t know how good the correlation is between height and inseam.
According to tailoring sites, like this one, a 34″ inseam starts at 6’2″ for men.
I’m with David L. 6’2” is not “tall.” 6’5” and above is tall (in terms of being worth mentioning at least).
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Enjoyable NYT puzzle. My familiarity with DARK ACADEMIA is from a book club selection I read this year, The Favorites or Favourites, depending on which country it was published in. By Irish author and solicitor, Rosemary Hennigan, it made for an interesting discussion. She wrote it in response to the 2016 U.S. election outcome.
https://adustibookshelf.ca/2023/11/15/the-favorites-rosemary-hennigan/
https://www.rosemaryhennigan.com/
NYT: 61 IKEAS yeesh.
There are two Ikeas in the DC metro area. There are no Ikeas in Maine.
It was worse with the clue used.
Is the IKEA catalog as frustratingly laid out as the typical IKEA store? (I’ve been in one only twice, long after our budget allowed us to buy furniture that’s likely to outlast us.)
David L’s point about the plural is valid, but as you note, it doesn’t work well with the catalog clue.
My only experience with IKEA is Elaine’s Swedish meatballs, which are purported to be a recipe somehow made famous by the furniture-kit store. At least as my wife makes them, they’re excellent. Lingonberries are our newest pantry staple.
Maybe IKEA’S recipe could have made for a less controversial clue?
“They’re the subject of more than 200 million catalogs a year.”
Just way too clunky as a clue for IKEAS. Are the stores the “subject” of the catalogs? I’d think the subject is the products. Creates some “puzzlement,” but there’s not really any entertaining wordplay or misdirection there.
I’m impressed that there are 200 million Ikea catalogs per year. I’ve purchased stuff from them both online and in stores, and I don’t think I’ve ever received a catalog from them.
NYT: Ended up with a more-or-less normal Friday solve time, and most of it seemed pretty smooth. I did struggle with the long fill in a couple of places. DARK ACADEMIA and SINGLE LADIES were unknown and required a lot of crosses. I think maybe I’ve heard of FEEDER TEAMS, but am more familiar with FEEDER schools. Not too excited about plural IKEAS.
Agree with David L about the inseam clue – would have been more definitive with maybe a 36″ inseam. OTOH – female constructor, so maybe we’re talking about a woman’s inseam? Do women’s slacks typically have an inseam measurement?
Like you, my time was about average. I had some of the same blind spots. Though I know the Beyoncé song, I inexplicably wanted GIRLS rather than LADIES. I knew the topic of the Kendi book but needed crosses for ANTIRACIST. COLD CASES before OPEN ones and so on.
Gary, you and Martin are spot on, in my mind.
That is, the clue didn’t indicate the gender of the person wearing pants… I’m just under 6′, which is TALL for a woman (e.g., Caitlin Clark is 6′; Melania Trump is 5’11”). I usually wear a 34″ inseam, and smiled to realize the clue didn’t say “TALL for a man”. As a side note (perhaps obvious), inseam choice also depends on the heel height you’ll wear with the pants, too. But back to the puzzle, the clue seemed fine?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
Oh FFS! DARK ACADEMIA x ARE?! The “obvious” entries (for someone who’s never heard of the former and can’t recite the first three sentences of the Gettysburg Address off the top of their head) are DARK ACADEMIe x eRE. Why clue ARE that way? Argh! DNF for no good reason (again).
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Six minutes faster than this Thursday. Maybe it’s a generational thing.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4 stars
Nice puzzle and very good creativity by the constructor.