LAT 4:05 (Amy) 
[2.67 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:27 (Amy) 
[3.06 avg; 17 ratings] rate it
Universal 3:58 (Jim P) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) [3.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Jacob McDermott’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NT Times crossword solution, 11/28/25 – no. 1128
Whoops, entirely forgot about the crossword until a quarter to 12. I blame the big meal!
Fave fill: WORK ETHIC, TRIED AND TRUE, VENUS FLYTRAP, PAINTBALL, CHEESE CURLS (“Drop and give me 2o!”), BAD ATTITUDE, BOOK A ROOM.
Mislead or mistake? 21A. [James in the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame], RICK. Did most of try ETTA first? Because the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame website does list Etta James as an inductee, and it doesn’t list Rick James. The Wikipedia page does list Rick as a 2025 inductee. What’s up with that?
New to me: 31A. [Actress ___ Marsay of Disney+’s “Andor”], FAYE. She also played a cop in the Netflix limited series Adolescence, which I recently watched.
32A. [The Jazz, on sports tickers], UTA. Here’s a list of the team name abbreviations that are used for NBA teams. Both UTA and UTAH are used.
Dangly partials clued as if they’re idiomatic spoken phrases: I’D BET, I WILL. I don’t care for either of these entries. The YEESH/SESH crossing at the H feels ungainly, too.
3.75 stars from me.
Sean Ziebarth’s Universal crossword, “Full Disclosure”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are common items that are stuffed with different things (in real life, not in the puzzle). The revealer is I’M STUFFED (60a, [“Not … another … bite,” or what the answer to each starred clue would say?]).
Universal crossword solution · “Full Disclosure” · Sean Ziebarth · Fri., 11.28.25
- 17a. [*Hybrid Thanksgiving roast] TURDUCKEN.
- 23a. [*Redhead in the National Toy Hall of Fame] RAGGEDY ANN.
- 51a. [*Spot in the kitchen for everything and anything] JUNK DRAWER.
Happy Black Friday! If you’re still working off your Turkey Day meal, perhaps this puzzle registered with you. It’s straightforward and light on the theme material, but maybe that’s appropriate for solvers coming off a self-inflicted food coma.
I am surprised at the lack of symmetry here. With only four theme answers at 9- and 10-letters in length, there aren’t that many constraints on the grid. We do have some nice long fill: SLY AS A FOX, “CARRY ME,” and BAR MEMBER, but I’m not seeing any compelling reason why the grid couldn’t be symmetrical.
Clue of note: 44a. [“___ goes!” (“Not it!”)]. NOSE. Never have I ever heard this. Is it a new slangy thing? Is it a regionalism?
2.5 stars. I don’t mind a straightforward theme once in a while, but in my opinion, abandoning symmetry—like including excessive crosswordese—should only be done when the grid dictates it.
Wendy Brandes’s Los Angeles Times crossword–Amy’s recap
LA Times crossword solution, 11/28/25
Theme revealer: 62a. [“You need some time away from work,” and how to make the starred clues match their answers], “TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF.” Remove FRI, SAT, and SUN from the three theme answers to get goofy phrases that match the clues:
- 17a. [*Bucket list entries?], LIFELONG FRIENDS. “Lifelong ends” would be those life goals.
- 27a. [*Result of being left off a guest list?], SOCIAL SATIRE. (Not such a common phrase, is it?) You might feel “social ire.”
- 48a. [*Big victory for the Mets or the Yankees, e.g.?], SUNNY DELIGHT drink. “N.Y. delight,” unless it’s a Subway Series game and one of the two mentioned teams loses.
The revealer’s clue doesn’t work for me at all. For the typical job, you wouldn’t need to be told to take off Saturday and Sunday! Maybe something about a three-day weekend, though the word DAYS is in the entry. A long weekend won’t fly either, because of LIFELONG.
Quasi-thematic fill: SLEEP IN and run some ERRANDs on your day off.
3.5 stars from me.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
I had everything but the northwest where WORKETHIC almost killed me with its questionable clue. I just had WORK, the very general clues to SCAM and AIRS went over my head, STDENIS and MCS weren’t happening, I didn’t know ENDORSE from INDORSE, I had the CURLS without the CHEESE, and I’m ashamed that Dead ends? fooled me cause I’m good at catching that trick. I came thisclose to a DNA, which would have brought me here to complain bitterly. But having stuck with it a loooong time to complete without a cheat, I am here to say YEESH, GREAT PUZZLE!!!
NW was tough for me, too. Not fond of I WILL, don’t know LOTR stuff, didn’t recognize the name of the painting at 3-D, so decided to change IRAS to SEPS and go with PARIS at 3-D – which thoroughly screwed things up. I liked the clue for WORK ETHIC, but it took me a long time to come up with ISLANDERS.
Struggled with CHEESE CURLS – I’ve always called them either corn CURLS or CHEESE puffs. Also took me a long time to come up with SETTERS, even though there are couple of folks who comment here who use the term.
Lots of nice long fill.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NW was my tough corner, although I had Etta for a while, which had me second guessing my early TRIEDANDTRUE and BENEATH.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1 star
Names crossing names. Ugh.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
Universal got rid of the symmetry requirement a few months ago. It open up theme sets while (in theory) minimizing “crosswordese”.
The symmetry in the NYT puzzle delivered crossing proper nouns/names and the SW corner with YEESH crossing SESH.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
As fun a way to spend 8 minutes as I can think of (in public).
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I liked it, but as a budding connoisseur of long entries I thought this set was a slight letdown.
Do people still do flash mobs? I feel like that was an early 2010s fad.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
Quite the turnout today for leftovers in the NYT crossword! Look at the impressive crowd that showed up:
ALICE
ARLES
ARMISEN
ART TATUM
BONO
DOTTY
FAYE
LEE
NAOMI
OLLIE
RENE
RICK
RORY
ROSIE
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1.5 stars
True. I quit after 8 minutes because I realized the puzzle wasn’t worth my time.
LAT: re: 26D Wasn’t aware that they’d changed back to lime from green apple, but then I’m not exactly up on the candy news.
NYT: The R&B Hall of Fame website seems to list the inductees only up to 2024. Rick James was named in 2025 as an inductee, but the induction ceremony doesn’t actually take place until 2026, so I think the clue is wrong.
Universal
44 across: “___ goes!” (“Not it!”)
“NOES goes” was also new to me, but it does have, among other things, an article in Wikipedia. It’s used to choose who has to do an unpleasant task, sort of like drawing straws, but with no requirement for expensive equipment. ;)