Wednesday, November 19, 2025

AV Club untimed (Amy) [2.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
LAT 4:15 (Gareth) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:20 (Amy) [3.43 avg; 15 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Kyle) [4.36 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.80 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:19 (Emily) [2.25 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ 7:44 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it

Kevin Shustack’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Ask Around” — Eric’s Review

Kevin Shustack’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Ask Around” — 11/19/25

The journalistic “Five W’s” are today’s theme, captured in circles in both Across and Down answers:

• 16A [Thanksgiving request] WHITE MEAT
• 37A [“The Shield of Achilles” poet] W.H. AUDEN
• 54A [“Easy now,” in a modern spelling] WOAH THERE
• 7D [Ambushes from interviewers, or, more literally, this puzzle’s answers with circles] LOADED QUESTIONS
• 10D [Gradually shed] WHITTLE AWAY
• 23D [Historic Sunset Strip nightclub] WHISKY A GO-GO

I feel like I’ve seen this sort of theme relatively recently. That’s fine; whether a theme of this sort succeeds or doesn’t in part depends on whether the theme answers are inherently interesting. These are all good enough, though I’d be happy to never see the “modern” spelling WOAH again.

Knowing overall what the words in the circled letters should be might help some solvers get answers that they might not be familiar with, such as W.H. AUDEN or WHISKY A GO-GO. (I knew both, but both required a few crosses.)

Other stuff:

• 18A [“Fullmetal Alchemist” genre] ANIME That sounds vaguely familiar; since it started out as a comic book/graphic novel, one could easily have put MANGA here. (I got lucky with ANIME.)
• 19A [Frodo’s Sting, e.g.] SWORD A Tolkien gimme? I’ll take it.
• 40A [Hartford Yard Goats or Rocket City Trash Pandas] AA TEAM “Rocket City Raccoons” just doesn’t have the same ring, does it?
• 54A [Vampire’s bane] STAKE Not CROSS.
• 48A [Second EGOT earner Helen] HAYES I need a mnemonic for the EGOT winners; I got this only after a cross or two. Ms Hayes’ Emmy was for Best Actress in 1953 (no production specified). Her Grammy was for Best Spoken Word Album, Great American Documents, in 1977. Her two Oscars were Best Actress in 1931 f0r The Sins of Madelon Claudet (hand up if you’ve seen that) and Best Supporting Actress in 1970 for Airport. Her two Tonys were for Best Actress in Happy Birthday (1947) and Time Remembered (1958). Wikipedia says that Miami Vice actor Philip Michael Thomas coined the term “EGOT” in 1984. Is Ms Hayes’ admirable accomplishment a true EGOT if the term didn’t exist when she completed it?
• 11D [ ___ Lou Wood of “Sex Education”] AIMEE I’m feeling a bit smug for having remembered Ms Wood’s name. Her character in that series is secondary to the main plot, but her performance is quite good.
• 20D [LeBron beat his scoring record in 2023] KAREEM Abdul-Jabbar. To be a bit more specific: Abdul-Jabbar is credited with 38,387 points in his NBA career and LeBron James has 42,184 as of November 17, 2025.
• 31D [“Casey at the Bat” poet Ernest] THAYER There might be no joy in Mudville, but I’m glad to have remembered the author of a poem I’ve not read in 50+ years.
• 52D [Do worse than place] SHOW/54D [Do better than place] WIN I missed the parallel clues while solving. I know this terminology is used in horse racing, but I’m not sure if it’s used in other sports.

Jeremy Newton’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 11/19/25 – no. 1119

I think I’ve seen Jeremy Newton style his name as NEWTOZ, where that Z can swivel into an N. So he’s exactly the right constructor for this theme. The theme places the letters ON, NO, OZ, and ZO in the shaded squares, and the twin revealers explain what they’re doing:

• 36A. [Straight-shooting … or a punny title for this puzzle?], NO SPIN.
• 38A. [Sexually excite … or another punny title for this puzzle?], TURN ON.

So the bigrams ON and NO spin 90 degrees to the either side to appear as ZO or OZ. The various shaded bigrams are part of SALON, NOT US, ONION, NOTRE, MATZO, OZONE, OZEMPIC, CHORIZO, “DUNZO” (that’s slang for “done”), and OZARK. It would be more elegant if the grid didn’t also include ZORA, NOD, NOISE, OZAWA, ORZO, and the extra ONs in OZONE and ONION.

Fave fill: STARDATES, CURLICUES, RATE HIKES (here comes your electric bill hike thanks to AI data center bloat), GO SOLAR (which maybe isn’t fully idiomatic but I like it), NUTELLA, OZEMPIC, CHORIZO. Not sure that MINOR TEAM (clued as [The Syracuse Mets vis-à-vis the New York Mets] really flies; that feels like it wants to be MINOR LEAGUE TEAM, TRIPLE-A AFFILIATE, or some such.

Four stars from me.

Karen Lurie’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Double Elimination”—Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 11/19/25 – “Double Elimination”

Once again, I leapt into solving the puzzle using the Crossword Nexus solver and didn’t first start the timer. Felt pretty easy overall, though it’s a 17×17 so not as quick as a 15×15.

Theme revealer: 74a. [Mocking someone, in British slang, and a hint to 23-, 29-, 48-, and 68-Across], TAKING THE PISS. In American English, PISS is also called pee, and two letter P’s are omitted to create each theme answer. Nipple confusion is a baby feeding issue, and NILE CONFUSION would involve the African river. Stepped aside yields STEED ASIDE, clued [Bojack Horseman breaking the fourth wall?], so an aside from a steed. Skipping a beat, SKIING A BEAT. Many happy returns, HAY RETURNS at the hay store that goats might shop at.

Overall smooth fill. Fave fill: RENEGE ON, THE HILL, HOT ONES, THREADED brows.

Note that the title plays on peeing being elimination of bodily waste, along with eliminating a set of double letters. Juvenile or funny?

Four stars from me.

Michael Walschlager’s Universal crossword, “Need I Say More?” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 11/19/25 • Wed • “Need I Say More?” • Walschlager • solution • 20251119

The theme collects idioms and phrases which are so well known that the final parts are strongly implied and essentially optional.

• 20a. [Start (and end?) of a saying about something that works] IF IT AIN’T BROKE, don’t fix it.
• 35a. [Start (and end?) of a saying about being duped] FOOL ME ONCE, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
• 40a. [Start (and end?) of a saying about following traditions] WHEN IN ROME, do as the Romans do. As discussed in the write-up for Monday’s BEQ crossword.
• 49a. [Start (and end?) of a saying about self-acceptance] IF THE SHOE FITS, wear it.

I like these, though I’m not sure how strongly the parenthetical “and end?” observation conveys what’s happening. On the other hand, I can’t think of anything as succinct that gets the job done any better, so IF IT AIN’T BROKE… indeed.

Unfortunately the nonthematic parts of the puzzle are overwhelmingly presented with very straightforward, even boring, clues. Very little is even moderately tricky or playful, which is what makes a crossword lively.

• 25d [Keep it!”] SECRET. One of the few exceptions to the above criticism.
• 29d [Chuck dubbed the “King of Sitcoms”] LORRE. A departure from actor Peter LORRE of old cinema.
• 41d [Backyard battle] NERF WAR. I guess it’s legitimate. Wonder if this has appeared in a crossword prior.
• 52d [Tortoise’s adversary] HARE. ‘Adversary’ suggests to me direct conflict, whereas in the story they’re merely competitors in a race. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s wrong, because ‘adversary’ can indeed be interpreted more broadly.
• 54d [One of 390 billion in the Amazon] TREE. Sure, it sounds like an incredibly large number, but there is still massive and critical habitat destruction in the Amazon basin, and worldwide. Don’t kid yourself.
• 55d [Throw the game, in modern slang] SELL. New to me. Perhaps a curtailment of ‘sell out’?
• 1a [Key limb for an outfielder] ARM. While technically correct, the clue—especially as the one first encountered by solvers—is unintentionally laughable. 28d [Ulterior motives, say] INTENTIONS.
  
• 56a [Vinyasa __ yoga] FLOW.
• 61a [Small drum] SNARE. Not that small. Shallower than tom-toms and bass drums, but there’s typically a good amount of surface area.

addendum: Thanks to commenter Simonyyz for pointing out that the name of the rhetorical device shared by the theme entries is anapodoton.

Joe Deeney’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s theme summary

I don’t know about you, but I was happy to see a more direct theme concept today – no rearranging letters and hiding them in the middle of answers. The theme is explained at FINISHINGTOUCHES. Each of the other four answers end in what is broadly a touch: BRUSH, TAP, RUB and STROKE. So:

• [Wildflower with showy red bracts], INDIANPAINTBRUSH
• [Mockumentary about “One of England’s loudest bands”], THISISSPINALTAP
• [Line in Hamlet’s “To sleep, perchance to dream” soliloquy], THERESTHERUB
• [Style in a swimming medley], BUTTERFLYSTROKE

Gareth

Emily Biegas’ USA Today Crossword, “Groundbreaking” — Emily’s write-up

You’re sure to find your footing with this puzzle!

USA Today, November 19, 2025, “Groundbreaking” by Emily Biegas

Theme: each themer is encompassed by LA—ND (or “broken ground”)

Themers:

• 20a. [holiday period marking the end of summer], LABORDAYWEEKEND
• 35a. [Nickname for Celtics legend Bird], LARRYLEGEND
• 53a. [Sustainably sourced wedding ring option], LABGROWNDIAMOND

A variety of themers in this set: LABORDAYWEEKEND, LARRYLEGEND, and LABGROWNDIAMOND. I needed crossing for all of them but everything was fair and easy enough to get. A fun set indeed!

Favorite fill: OSAKA, IPSO, LIEU, and BRILLO

Stumpers: VERB (misdirected—trying to think of an example), DENT (also misdirected), and AED (new to me)

Overall a fun puzzle with great flow and a fantastic grid! Cluing was slightly tricky but not too bad; lots of clever cluing that I was overthinking in some cases that added to my time. Great theme too!

4.25 stars

~Emily