Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Jonesin’ 6:39 (Erin) [5.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) [3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 9:43 (Eric) [3.32 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker untimed (pannonica) [3.50 avg; 9 ratings] rate it
Universal 7:31 (Eric) [2.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [3.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ untimed (Jim Q) rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Hit the Bricks ” — you may be a sole survivor. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 11/25/25

Hello lovelies! This week’s puzzle relives a nightmare shared by anyone who has shared a home with tiny brick toys.

• 14a. [Bottom-of-the-page section] FOOTER, above
• 16a. [“Club” for hockey players who’ve won the Stanley Cup, World Championship, and Olympic titles] TRIPLE GOLD
• 54a. [Relaxing soak at the end of the day] FOOT BATH, above
• 57a. [Rumors] IDLE GOSSIP
• 33a. [Speed demon] LEAD FOOT, above
• 35a. [Painful activity in the dark (also represented by the letters above the circles] STEPPING ON A LEGO. Each instance of LEGO appears under the word FOOT. Ouch!

Other things:

• 5d. [Emmys : U.S. :: ___ : Australia] LOGIES. They’re named after television inventor John Logie Baird.
• 51d. [Dances to punk] POGOS. It’s just jumping up and down like a pogo stick.

Until next week!

Robert S. Gard’s Universal Crossword “Job Change” — Eric’s Review

Robert S. Gard’s Universal Crossword “Job Change” — 11/25/25

I enjoyed this despite its punny theme. Maybe the puns are less potentially annoying when they’re in the clues rather than the answers? Maybe having the answers be non-wacky words just makes it easier for the way I solve crosswords (which is heavily reliant on pattern recognition)?

Four familiar job titles get punny clues:

• 17A [*Groundskeeper?] BARISTA I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this one before.
• 24A*Flight attendant?] SOMMELIER The only alcoholic flights I’ve had have been samples of beers and bourbons, but a flight of wine is not unimaginable.
• 30A [*Claims adjuster?] FACT-CHECKER This is my favorite, mostly because my husband perpetually uses “claim” when “say” will do. To me, that comes off as overly skeptical. He’s much more cynical than I am. (And I’m no naïf.)
• 41A [*Makeup artist?] IMPROV COMIC
• 52A [With 60-Across, reason for going back to college, maybe … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme] SWITCHING/60A [See 52-Across] CAREERS I got CAREERS first and missed that this was a two-part answer, so SWITCHING by itself as a “hint to [the] theme” struck me as odd. Sometimes I’d be better off if I slowed down a little.

The theme was quickly obvious to me, so I tried (with little success) to guess the last three jobs with as few crosses as possible.

Other stuff:

• 15A [Talk Like a Pirate Day exclamation] ARR I kinda hate this clue, but my research just now suggests that the answer will always be either ARR or ARRR and that AAR is not likely. That’s helpful to know. But still, the clue irks me by invoking an annoying “holiday.” No Talk Like a Pirate Day for me. No Pi Day. No Star Wars Day.
• 16A [Bourbon barrel material] OAK Two things I retained from the bourbon distillery tour in Louisville about 10 years ago: If it’s not made in Kentucky, it’s technically not bourbon. And the reason aged bourbon costs so much is that the Commonwealth of Kentucky taxes distilleries on the basis of their inventory, so the longer the bourbon ages in those oak barrels, the higher the distiller’s cost goes. And in the good ol’ capitalist way, they pass the cost on to the consumer. (It’s entirely possible than neither of these facts is true, but that’s what we were told.)
• 21A [Cheeky little tyke] RASCAL Not SASSER (for which I’m grateful).
• 27A [“Power Rangers Time Force” actress Cahill] ERIN That’s a name I didn’t know before today.
• 57A [Actress Arlene] DAHL I skipped this thinking it was someone (like Ms Cahill) who’s currently working and who’s not in anything I’ve seen. But no, Ms Dahl was biggest in the 1940s and 1950s. I don’t think I’ve seen her in anything but I do know the name.
• 11D [Hockey players who wear large pads] GOALIES I once heard that, because the only part of a hockey goalkeeper that’s not padded is the neck, the point of the game is to hit the goalie with the puck in the Adam’s apple.
• 37D [What might keep you warm under a blanket] BODY HEAT My first thought was SLEEP PARTNER, which isn’t far off. Your body heat, your sleep partner’s — either works, sometimes too well.
• 39D [Like sashimi or ceviche] RAW I haven’t had good ceviche in a long time. Or any ceviche, really.

RIP, Todd Snider.

John Ewbank’s New York Times Crossword

I noticed the shaded squares before I opened the puzzle (which counts as progress for me). Despite that, because of more answers for which I needed crosses that I typically see in a Tuesday New York Times puzzle, some extra typos, and my failure to make sense of the easy-to-grasp theme, I racked up a slow solving time on this one.

Or you could say I got to spend more time with a puzzle whose theme riffs on a portmanteau that I really like:

• 17A [Sorcery commonly associated with Haiti and New Orleans] VOODOO MAGIC I lost some time here putting VOODOO at the end. To me, using “voodoo” implies “magic” (thus rendering the phrase used here tautological. Please correct me if I’m wrong about that.
• 26A [Extra barrier to protect a house from bad weather] STORM DOOR 
• 38A [Traditional folk song that became a #1 hit for the Kingston Trio] TOM DOOLEY I lost time here trying to make WIMOWEH before remembering that was a hit for The Weavers (who were a quartet). Paying attention to the shaded squares in the first two theme answers might have helped me get the correct answer a little quicker, but in any case, I was glad to at least be familiar with the title.
• 54A [Romantic options for a long-distance relationship] ZOOM DATES Again, paying attention to the shaded squares would have helped me avoid wasting time with ZOOM CHATS.
• 63A [Engages in a dispiriting online activity … or what happens in this puzzle’s shaded squares?] DOOMSCROLLS I like this portmanteau because (1) It meets my criterion for a good neologism portmanteau, which is that anyone who knows the constituent words can get a good idea of the meaning without having to look it up or ask someone who’s hipper than they are; and (2) it perfectly describes that time-wasting, soul-crushing thing most of us do now and then.

I really enjoyed this theme, even though the puzzle took me longer than I’d have liked (especially since I feel bound by the Diary of a Crossword Fiend Code of Ethics to accurately report my solving times). I appreciate that Mr. Ewbank found four interesting theme answers that split DOOM over the two words.

Other stuff:

• 1A [Motown legend Lionel] RICHIE Problem number one: When I think of Motown, I think of Berry Gordy, Jr. Or maybe Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. Or the Jackson 5. It’s not that I don’t think of Lionel Richie as Motown, it’s that I just don’t think of him (or the Commodores) at all. Problem number two: I keep wanting a T in the middle of his name. (Fortunately, that easily resolved itself.)
• 22A [Aid in tracking wildlife] EAR TAG Not (radio) COLLAR. Is that clue accurate? I can see how an ear tag could help someone identify a particular animal, but track it? The issue interests me because the wolves reintroduced to Colorado have been seen in the northern part of the county where I live. We’ve seen a few bears and lots of deer, but no wolves or big cats.
• 24A [Actor Buddy of “The Beverly Hillbillies”] EBSEN If I had $1 for every minute I spent watching that inane show as a kid, I’d be as rich as Jed Clampett.
• 29A [Flintstone with a red updo] WILMA I’m a little pleased that this was less of a gimme than it should have been. But now that I think about it, I’ve probably only seen that cartoon in color once or twice.
• 30A [#2s in classrooms, for short] TAS I thought first of pencils, not teaching assistants.
• 41A [K-pop band that went on hiatus in 2022 when their members went into military service] BTS This clue could have stopped with the word “band” and 98% of regular solvers would have gotten the correct answer.
• 1D [“No” was a famously short one for the 1948 musical “Isn’t It Romantic?”] REVIEW There’s a clue that’s longer than it needs to be but that is amusing enough that I don’t mind the verbiage. In case you missed it, the New York Times theater critics and some Broadway composers would like to sell you on some of their favorite B’way numbers. (Note that despite the article’s title, actually listening to every song will take you much longer than five minutes.)

Five Minutes That Will Make You Love Musicals

• 6D [English school at which teachers are known as “beaks”] ETON You can learn a lot about that school from doing crosswords.
• 13D [Weight of every U.S. bank note] ONE GRAM I didn’t know this, but I assume it’s accurate for a newly-printed bill. I’d imagine that they get infinitesimally lighter over the seven- to 24-year life span of most bills. (The wide variety of life spans is because higher denomination bills get exchanged less often than ones, fives, tens and twenties.)
• 41D [___ World, DC Comics planet of opposites] BIZARRO I read a lot of Superman and Batman comics as a kid and fondly remember Bizarro World. I’m not sure I like living there in my senescence, though.

Theresa Brady & Gene Leganza’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

Neither of the constructors was in the Fiend’s database – if this is a debut, it’s a good one! The revealer is in the middle. 36a [Start of the stock exchange trading day, or a feature of 18-, 23-, 51-, and 56-Across] is OPENING BELL.

Los Angeles Times, November 25, 2025, Theresa Brady & Gene Leganza, solution grid

• 18a [Debt security sold to raise funds for World War I] is the LIBERTY BOND. LIBERTY BELL.
• 23a [Unexpected and undeserved fortune] is DUMB LUCK. DUMBBELL.
• 51a [Singer dubbed the “Mother of the Blues”] is MA RAINEY. MA BELL. Kids ask your…grandparents?
• 56a [Weekly promotion in some Tex-Mex restaurants] is TACO TUESDAY. TACO BELL.

Cute, as I said, and solid and consistent and fun!

What I didn’t know before I solved this puzzle: that Viola Davis played MA RAINEY in a Netflix film. RIP Chadwick Boseman.

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 11/25/25 • Tue • Agard • solution • 20251125

In a change of pace, I would call this puzzle ‘moderately challenging’, but that’s principally due to construction. The large upper right and lower left sections felt almost like separate sub-puzzles, even though they seem to be as integrated as their northwest and southeast counterparts. I think it’s because the entry points from the center section are all long words which are difficult to get from just a few terminal letters.

• 7a [Songs made from multiple songs] MASHUPS, not MEDLEYS. There are some YouTubers making some really good ones. Check out Bill McClintock and DJ Cummerbund, for two.
• 16a [Trips up?] ASCENTS. Very nice clue.
• 17a [River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario] NIAGARA. Just takes a little extra thinking.
• 18a [Birds in the crow family] CHOUGHS. I had to dredge this one up.
• 20a [Marine mammal whose markings resemble its namesake instrument] HARP SEAL, Pagophilus groenlandicus. I knew this immediately, even though I’ve never considered that their markings might resemble a harp.
• 22a [Legislative body whose name comes from the Latin for “old man”] SENATE. Same root as senile.
• 31a [Only band apart from the Beatles to achieve ten or more Billboard No. 1 hits] THE SUPREMES. Wow, I would have thought that this distinction would have been equaled all these years on. Maybe it’s because there are more genres nowadays.
• 38a [Sandwich sometimes made with heirlooms] BLT. Not sure whether this was supposed to be a difficult, misleading clue. Was a gimme for me.
• 43a [Natural dust trapper] NOSE HAIR. Yup.
• 48a [Not straight] AT A TILT. Not sure how this fits in, but one definition of the related atilt refers to jousting, meaning ‘with lance in hand’, and by extension AT A TILT can mean something like ‘headlong’. At least I believe so.
• 7d [Least possible, for short] MINimum. Strangely, it took a while for me to parse correctly.
• 11d [By surprise] UNAWARES. Is there a technical term for adjectives like this that end with an ‘s’? Are there any others?
• 12d [Like “Paddington,” but not “Eddington” or “Paddleton”] PG-RATED. Nice reverse portmanteau observation.
• 27d [Follow advice to “act your wage,” perhaps] PHONE IT IN. This is allied with quiet quitting and other such measures.
• 31d [“That part!”] PERIOD. The clue/answer relationship eludes me.
• 32d [Texter’s “Still awake?”] U UP? Haven’t seen this in a crossword previously.
• 33d [Contact by yelling] SHOUT TO. eeeeeeh.
• 35d [Result of a cannonball] SPLASH.
  
• 37d [Lazed around] LOAFED, not LOLLED, as I first tried.
• 38d [Like stingrays’ tails and many woodpeckers’ tongues] BARBED. Nice natural history factette.
• 44d [Stage-and-screen star Renée __ Goldsberry] ELISE.
  

Ravi Mangla’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “In the Soup” — Jim Q’s write-up

I’ve not seen this constructor’s name before- very likely this is a debut! Congrats!

THEME: Two-word phrases where the word PEA bridges the two words

THEME ANSWERS:

• WIPE AWAY
  

  WSJ • 11/25/25 • Tue• “In the Soup” • Ravi Mangla • solution • 20251125

• HOOP EARRINGS
• LANDSCAPE ARTIST
• TEMPE, ARIZONA
• [Hearty soup choice, and what can be found in the answers to 17-, 24-, 37- and 47-Across] SPLIT PEA

Solved mostly like a themeless for me. I don’t have a heck of a lot to say about the theme. The revealer was a fun enough phrase to uncover (I hadn’t noticed the connection between the other themers until then). As far as themes go, it’s pretty basic, and it feels a bit more Monday than yesterday’s Monday in both concept and fill.

ERRATA / STUMBLES 

• [Oatmeal cookie bit, often] RAISIN. I always say I don’t like oatmeal raisin cookies, but then I have one and they’re delicious. Yet I still say I don’t like them. I just realized this about me now.
• [Sharpshooter Annie] OAKLEY. Annie Get Your Gun is on the list of musicals that will never be produced on a high school stage.
• [Bill featuring Jefferson’s portrait] TWO. Been getting these in my piano tip jar as of late. I like that.
• [“Don’t have ___, man!”] A COW. Oof. This was in yesterday’s grid too. Does Bart Simpson still say this? I feel like I haven’t heard it since The Simpsons was relatively new. Not a huge fan of ATILT and ALEE either. I just tried ALEE in today’s NYT Spelling Bee and it was not accepted. I don’t think ATILT is on the word list either if I remember correctly.

Pretty much over the plate today. With a theme as familiar as this, I wish the theme answers were a bit snazzier. 2.5 from me today.