Thursday, November 20, 2025

BEQ 8:13+ (Eric) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Fireball untimed (Jenni) [4.60 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
LAT 5:01 (Gareth) [2.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 7:11 (ZDL) [3.11 avg; 18 ratings] rate it
Universal 7:54 (Eric) [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today 12:58 (Emily) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ untimed (Jim Q) [3.70 avg; 5 ratings] rate it

Shannon Rapp and Will Eisenberg’s Universal Crossword “Technical Language” — Eric’s Review

A fun theme that takes some well-known technology initialisms and reimagines them as a variety of other things:

• 17A [DVD player?] DICK VAN DYKE It’s impressive that Mr. Van Dyke will be 100 in just a few weeks. Reruns of the original Dick Van Dyke Show were a staple of my childhood TV viewing.
• 28A [PC brand?] PEPSI COLA
• 45A [AV club?] ASTON VILLA The Birmingham-based soccer team is currently in sixth place in the English Premier League, having won five of its last six matches.
• 60A [Early OS?] ORIGINAL SIN As a lapsed Catholic, I’m amused by the concept of sin as an operating system. One could argue that most of human history has run on that OS.

The first theme answer threw me for a few seconds because I had the last four letters first and momentarily thought it was part of an often pejorative term for a lesbian. (I recently read John McWhorter’s Nine Nasty Words, which has a chapter discussing “faggot” and “dyke.” If the subject interests you, I highly recommend the book.)

After getting DICK VAN DYKE, I expected “PC brand” to similarly be a well-known person. The initials “PC” didn’t bring anyone to mind, and I lost 30 seconds or so trying to find a person who fit the letter pattern I had.

Other stuff:

• 1A [Washbowls] BASINS This was not the gimme it should have been; I mostly use “sink” in that context. “Washbowl” sounds like something that predates indoor plumbing.
• 37A [Delivery announcement] IT’S HERE I’m not sure if this was intentional misdirection. But for a bit, already having 25D TSAR, I couldn’t get past the idea that the answer was IT’S A GIRL.
• 51A [Whale also called a grampus] ORCA “Grampus” is new to me; it also means a cetacean of the dolphin family, a Risso’s dolphin, or a dolphin genus of which the only extant member is the Risso’s dolphin. Not to be confused with “Krampus” of Alpine folklore.
• 59A [Letters meaning “I’m on vacation”] OOO “Out of office,” which could also mean “I’m attending a mind-numbingly boring work-related conference” or “I have a new child or pet who needs my constant attention.”
• 7D [Org. with food safety research grants] USDA This is another one where I have to wonder if the clue needs a “formerly.”
• 11D [Like your relationship with a podcast host, perhaps] PARASOCIAL That’s another new (or newish) word for me; I wondered briefly if PARASITICAL would fit.
• 12D [Nickname for a trio off Venezuela’s coast] ABC ISLANDS A gimme; my cousin finished his foreign service career as the U.S. consul in Curaçao. The other two are Aruba and Bonaire.
• 27D [Steakhouse bowlful] POTATO SOUP I’m just now seeing the second part of that answer.
• 33D [State with the most boats per capita] MINNESOTA I guess they take that sobriquet seriously.
• 39D [Do a winter sport] SKI/58D [Reason for a day off school] SNOW Soon, I hope.
• 53D [Pancake that becomes a drink when its first and third letters are switched] DOSA I got that entirely from the crossings; it’s one of those clues that for me isn’t worth working out the answer unless I absolutely have to. It looks like a debut clue to me, and it’s clever enough, but really?
• 54D [Eco-friendly commute option] BIKE Try it if you can.

Adam Wagner’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Difficulty: Easy (7m11s)

Today’s theme: ODD MAN OUT (He doesn’t belong … or a hint to the circled letters in 16-, 23-, 36-, 38- and 48-Across)

• SKINDIVES – SID = KNIVES
• BETTER DAYS – TED = BETRAYS
• AMBIENT – ABE = MINT
• STARMAP – SAM = TRAP
• DAMNED LIES – MEL = DANDIES

Ironically, they’re all the odd man out.  Who’s in?  Glen Powell, for some reason.  That guy’s everywhere all of a sudden.

Cracking: UMAMI BOMB is fresh as heck

Slacking: on the other hand, I gave the full-blown Philip Fry squinty eyes to BITING WIT

Sidetracking: AARON BURR

Paul Coulter’s Fireball Crossword “Down for the Count” – Jenni’s write-up

I admit that I looked at Peter’s answer key to figure this one out. I was confused in large part because I missed one of the theme answers. In my defense, it’s very short! In fairness to Peter and Paul, the theme answers are symmetrical and that one is smack dab in the middle.

The answers to the theme clues would be straightforward if it weren’t for all those extra letters in the grid.

• 3d [Cheech Marin comedy] is BORAAAAAAAAASTLA. That’s BORN IN EAST LA with nine As standing in for NINEA.
• 4d [38th governor of Minnesota] is JESTTTTTTTURA. JESSE VENTURA. Seven Ts. Remember when it was something of a scandal for an ex-professional wrestler and an bodybuilder turned movie star to be governors? Ah, those good old innocent days.
• 24d [Must-see museum for logophiles] is PLANERRD. PLANET WORD. TWO R. That’s the one I missed even though I have been to that museum (it’s SO MUCH fun and there’s a lovely bar and restaurant in the building called Immigrant Food. Highly recommend). The extra R crosses STAR, clued as [Symbol on Arizona’s flag], which I have seen. Definitely not my finest moment.
• 21d [Sexagenarian soap] is DAYSOLLLLIVES. DAYS OF OUR LIVES. FOUR L. It’s the soap that is more than 60 years old – and probably also some of the characters.
• 10d [Sleep-aid sound] is WHIOOOOOOOOOOISE. WHITE NOISE. TEN O.

This is quite the feat of construction: five answers containing a number spelled out that fit into the grid symmetrically with the switch made. I could quibble with some of the fill (UPRAISING?) and it’s not worth it because the puzzle was fun to solve.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that Idris Elba stars in LUTHER.

Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Program Trading” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: The letters APP have been moved out of one word and placed into another in the same row

THEME ANSWERS:

ROW 3 [Counties, abroad] SAPPHIRES / [Move toward] ROACH (should be SHIRES and APPROACH.

ROW 6  [Keep informed] RISE / [Deceiving] APPLYING TO (should be APPRISE and LYING TO)

ROW 10 [Windshield-clearing gadget] SCRAP PAPER / [Comes into view] EARS (should be SCRAPER and APPEARS)

ROW 13 [Placates by acceding to demands] EASES / [Wandering, or greenlighting, or a hint to four rows in this grid] APPROVING (should be APPEASES and ROVING)

Clever today. Took me a while to grok the theme. That last revealer (which also serves as a regular theme answer!) was clutch for me to understand. The APP is ROVING from one spot to another.

I’ve seen this idea before in a Fireball puzzle some time ago, and it makes for an extremely baffling but satisfying solve. It had something to do with being slippery, I’m pretty sure. After all, is it a deletion theme? Sort of, but without the wacky clues. Is it a letter(s) addition theme? Also sort of, without the wacky clues. And in some ways it kind of leads you to believe there may be some rebus squares in there (there aren’t any).

The fill was up to Thursday’s par in that I flew through about 1/2 and really struggled with the other 1/2. But I enjoy that struggle. Mike always seems to give enough footholds to make it solvable with a bit of sweat, even when it feels like you’ve hit a wall.

STUMBLES / MISSTEPS / MUSINGS:

• [Body of water that once contained over 1,000 islands] ARAL SEA. Took a hot minute for me to convince myself that it couldn’t possibly be DEAD SEA.
• [Lowly cardinal] ONE. Cardinal number. Got me.
• [Piece of property] CHATTEL. New word for me? Maybe I’ve heard it before, but not in recent memory.
• [Personal record] DIARY. The DIARY being the record of one’s personal thoughts. Got me again.
• Trivia and unfamiliar names sprinkled throughout made me rely heavily on crossings. Thankfully, for me, it was a Natick-free solve.

Solid Thursday.

4.5 stars.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1837 “500 X 2” — Eric’s Review

The Roman numeral for 500 is D. Since each wacky theme answer contains a word that has two Ds, I think the theme is as simple as that. The clue for 46D D&D supports my theory [Role-playing fantasy game, or an alternate title for this crossword].

If you’ve got a better explanation, please share it in the comments.

Today’s theme answers:

• 17A [Power source for a Man Ray installation?] DADA BATTERY
• 23A [Stumper about Oklahoma’s state trees?] REDBUDS PUZZLE
• 29A [Peachy physique?] DANDY BODY
• 45A [Gossip that’s past its prime?] DATED DIRT
• 51A [Impressionist Rich alienates?] LITTLE DIVIDES I probably last saw Rich Little on something like The Carol Burnett Show. Do younger solvers know who he is?
• 63A [Cent fell?] PENNY LANDED In case you missed it, the United States Mint struck the last one cent coin on November 12.

This theme didn’t do much for me. There must be thousands of words in English that contain two Ds. None of the theme answers are particularly amusing; the first seems to be a pun on “dead battery,” the fourth might be a really weak pun on “little devils,” and the last might be a pun on “penny candy.” If the other three are puns, I don’t know what the original phrases are. In looking at it one last time, I finally saw that if you take out the Ds, you get AA BATTERY, REBUS PUZZLE, ANYBODY, LITTLE IVIES [?] and PENNY LANE.

Maybe I’m just annoyed that I spent five minutes or so looking for a mistake. Not finding one, I finally used the Reveal feature and learned that my RND crossing DND needed the ampersand rather than the N. That actually makes me feel a little better, because while “rando” is in my vocabulary (and is a word I kinda like), “RND” is not. (But if “babe” can be further shortened to “bae,” anything’s possible.)

Other stuff:

• 20A [Winter forecast] SNOW I hope so. We were supposed to get rain and snow in my corner of Colorado today, but instead it’s just overcast. The nearest ski resort abandoned its plan to open this Saturday and hasn’t yet announced a new opening date.
• 38A [Mizzo head coach Drinkwitz] ELI The University of Missouri football coach’s first name is “Elijah.” I’ll take Brendan’s word for it that people call him ELI. I knew “Mizzo” meant “Mizzou,” but had no idea what Coach Drinkwitz’s first name was. At least the Yale students get a day off here.
• 58A [___ Factory (fantasy video game series)] RUNE Not being a gamer, I’d never heard of that series.
• 66A [Actor Worthington] SAM I saw him in Avatar, but didn’t the name didn’t mean anything to me.
• 67A [Hand job?] MANI Call me juvenile, but I kinda like that slightly risqué clue.
• 2D [2019 Tour de France winner ___ Bernal] EGAN A Colombian, he was the first Latin American to win the Tour. Another name I didn’t recognize.
• 11D [“Lucia di Lammermoor” composer] Gaetano DONIZETTI Given enough guesses, I might eventually have hit the right name; with the Z from PUZZLE, this was pretty obvious.
• 13D [“Getting Killed” indie rockers] GEESE Another name that’s new to me. I used to have several sources for free downloads of pop/rock music, but most of them have dried up.
• 37D [Brain ___ (phone zombie’s affliction)] ROT Not FOG.
• 56D [1978 Peace Prize co-Nobelist] Anwar SADAT, president of Egypt from 1970 to 1981. A gimme, as I just last week saw his name in a Wall Street Journal puzzle.
• 60A [Actor whose last name is a homophone for a part of a bicycle] Richard GERE Cute clue, but surely I’m not the only solver who refuses on principle to run through all the parts of a bike (and there are lots) trying to find one that sounds like some actor.

Caroline Hand’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s theme summary

Caroline Hand’s theme today is one we don’t see that often any more, at least not without some kind of wrinkle. There are four long across answers all clued as [Field]. Each of them is a more or less different kind of field. So:

• [Field], GRASSYPASTURE
• [Field], LINCOLNACTRESS. Sally
• [Field], CATCHAGROUNDER

and

• [Field], BRANCHOFSTUDY

Gareth

Adam Levav’s USA Today Crossword, “Face the Wrong Way” — Emily’s write-up

You’ll need to turn around.

Theme: each themer contains –ECAF–

Themers:

• 20a. [Manhattan-based showcase for indie films], TRIBECAFESTIVAL
• 34a. [New York location of the first formal women’s rights convention], SENECAFALLS
• 53a. [Place to drink coffee and play Catan], BOARDGAMECAFE

What a fantastic themer set with TRIBECAFESTIVAL, SENECAFALLS, and BOARDGAMECAFE. I needed a bit of help with the first one but the other two were insta-fills for me. The Women’s Rights National Historical Park is a great place to visit and makes for a wonderful long stop or easily at least a half-day, with lots of memorable, a museum, plus a few houses and a chapel to tour. They also have a junior ranger badge that can be earned!

Favorite fill: NEKO, TINGA, and MOUSSAKA

Stumpers: FREEPR (needing crossings), ARDENT (also needing crossings), and TILLS (took me longer than it should have)

Though it took me a while to finish, the solve still felt smooth. I enjoyed the grid, the fresh fill, and great cluing though some were quite tricky for me. Also, the theme and themer set were excellent as well–so good!

4.5 stars

~Emily