Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Jonesin’ 5:21 (Erin) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) [2.25 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 8:41 (Eric) [3.25 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker untimed (pannonica) [3.78 avg; 9 ratings] rate it
Universal 5:41 (Eric) [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 4:15 (Jim Q) [1.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “All In Order ” — at least the first 12. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 12/2/25

Hello lovelies! In case the holiday season is causing you to forget your ABCs, this puzzle should help you out. The long entries contain three words with the same last four letters, and each word’s first letter follows the alphabet from A through L.

• 17a. [Certain Scottish girl’s lessons with designer Bill?] A LASS’ BLASS CLASS
• 26a. [Removes moisture from a Great Lake’s fast-food side?] DRIES ERIE’S FRIES
• 43a. [Reached the temperature of some Greek vowels?] GOT AS HOT AS IOTAS
• 56a. [Nebulous area between a “Simpsons” bully and the late MMA fighter Slice?] JIMBO KIMBO LIMBO

Other things:

• 46d. [1997 basketball film that brought on sequels] AIR BUD. Overall the series contains 15 films: six Air Bud films, sevel Air Buddies films about Air Bud’s pups, and two Santa Paws movies.
• 55d. [Copter ancestor] GIRO.  The autogiro was invented in 1923 by Juan de la Cierva followed by the helicopter. What I love most about this is that helicopter looks like it’s divided into heli- and -copter, but actually stems from helico- and -pter, from the Greek helikos (spiral) and pteron (wing).

Until next week!

Adam Simpson’s Universal Crossword “Divided Numbers” — Eric’s Review

Adam Simpson’s Universal Crossword “Divided Numbers” — 12/2/25

Circles in the theme answers hold some small numbers:

• 17A [*S-shaped hairstyle] FINGER WAVE
• 28A [*Intrinsically motivated] SELF-DRIVEN
• 48A [*”Great job!”] NICELY DONE
• 63A [Miscellaneous things … and what the indicated letters in the starred clues’ answers are?] ODDS AND ENDS “Odds” because three, five, nine. “Ends” because the letters spelling out each number are divided between the two ends of a theme answer.

Extremely straightforward, which is fine in an early-week puzzle. The theme answers are all familiar phrases with the possible exceptions of the FINGER WAVE hairstyle, which appears to have been most popular about 100 years ago.

Other stuff:

• • 12A [Name that anagrams to “nose”] ENOS Well, it’s a change from all those Biblical clues, isn’t it?
  • 21A [___ eater] PICKY Guilty, at least as a kid. I’m much more adventurous about food now.
  • 53A [Morning ___ (flowering plant)] GLORY I usually grumble about unnecessary  words in clues, especially parenthetical phrases that don’t really add anything to what’s already in the clue. But given some of the other meanings of  “Morning glory,” I kinda appreciate this attempt to steer us towards members of the Convolvulaceae family. (Fun fact: That family includes some edible tubers like sweet potatoes.)
  • 68A [“Come on ___” (Dexys Midnight Runners song)] EILEEN I must have seen the video for that song 100 times in the early days of MTV.
  • 46D [Place to get a pedicure] FOOT SPA I assume such places exist, but that seems like a pretty specialized service.

Jonathan Baude’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Jonathan Baude’s New York Times Crossword — 12/2/25

I’m not a big fan of circled letters in grids, because they’re often difficult for me to read. And I’m also not keen on themes that run in the Down answers, again because I sometimes have difficulty reading those answers.

Four Down answers have letters containing capitals of various US states, running from bottom to top as explained by the revealer:

• 4D [Criticize unfairly] TAKE POTSHOTS AT Topeka, Kansas 
• 7D [With 43-Down, seeking funding from investors … or what you’re doing in 4-, 9-, 15- and 38-Down?]/43D [See 7-Down] RAISING/CAPITAL
• 9D [Brought up the rear] CAME LAST Salem, Oregon
• 38D [“Huh, better than I expected”] NOT SO BAD Boston, Massachusetts
• 15D [Grey Goose competitor] BELVEDERE VODKA I rarely drink vodka and needed several crosses to get this brand. Dover, Delaware

This theme didn’t do much for me. State capitals aren’t inherently interesting and the revealer, while certainly a phrase used outside of crosswords, is kind of blah. But kudos to Mr. Baude for finding a backwards BOSTON and TAKE POTSHOTS AT is fun to see in a grid.

Other stuff:

• 1A [Posts on a battleship, say] MASTS I’ve seen this clue before and still interpreted it “posts” as “positions.”
• 18A [Breakfast brand originally known as Froffles] EGGO It’s only from a crossword that I learned about the name that’s a portmanteau of “frozen” and “waffles.”
• 23A [Oscar-winning “GoodFellas” actor] JOE PESCI That’s my favorite Scorsese movie, from the scenes with young Henry Hill being seduced by mob life to the drug-induced paranoia as Henry tries to prep for a cocaine deal.
• 11D [Bible figures invoked by O. Henry] MAGI When I was in junior high, we read the story “The Gift of the Magi” to learn about literary irony.
• 38D [What spicy food has] BITE Not HEAT.
• 50D [Communication system for almost two billion people] GMAIL/51D [Belief system for almost two billion people] ISLAM I like the parallel clueing here.

Norman M. Aaronson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

Maybe I’m still suffering from a Thanksgiving hangover or general Scrooge-ishness. This puzzle didn’t send me and I’m not even sure why. It’s perfectly fine. Each theme answer begins and ends with circles. The revealer tells us why: 35a [“It’s not all bad news…,” and what the circled letters in this puzzle literally are?] is ON THE BRIGHT SIDE.

Los Angeles Times, December 2, 2025, Norman M. Aaronson, solution grid

• 16a [Whatever the outcome] is WIN OR LOSE. WISE.
• 24a [“Please lower your voice”] is KEEP IT DOWN. KEEN.
• 45a [Fabric piece for a sewing circle] is a QUILT BLOCK. QUICK.
• 55a [Cameo role, e.g.] is a SMALL PART. SMART.

The circles give us words that are synonyms for BRIGHT. On the other hand, are they ON the BRIGHT SIDE? Or are they bright sides? It doesn’t quite hang together for me, and I am willing to ascribe this to a certain bah, humbug! feeling.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that Amy ADAMS was in “Enchanted” and “Disenchanted.”

Kathy Lowden’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “User Names” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Celebrity names, clued… normally, but also wackily?

WSJ • 12/2/25 • Tue• “User Names” • Kathy Lowden • solution • 20251202

THEME ANSWERS:

• [“Hairspray” director uses a hose] JOHN WATERS. 
• [“Back in the Crowd” singer exhibits patience] TOM WAITS.
• [“My Policeman” star uses a curling iron] HARRY STYLES. 
• [“The Civil War” documentarian stays too long on the beach] KEN BURNS. 
• [Home run king uses Super Glue] BARRY BONDS. 

Not sure if I totally get this one conceptually. Like, I understand that the last name is being re-imagined as a verb, but the name is not altered in any way, so really only the front half of the clue is necessary and the rest is superfluous in a sense. “Hairspray” director = JOHN WATERS. Done. “The Civil War” documentarian = KEN BURNS. Got it. Not even totally sure we were supposed to see anything wacky about the clue as the lack of a “?” at the end suggests we take it more literally I suppose. The title may suggest some continuity in that many of the celebs are “using” something, but alas TOM WAITS is exhibiting and KEN BURNS stays too long, so that doesn’t quite work.

To make a little more wacky in a consistent sense, I would think the clue would have to reference something/someone who isn’t the actual celeb being referenced. For instance, [Barbie beau stays too long on the beach?] = KEN BURNS. Or [Alley cat exhibits patience?] = TOM WAITS.

One more thing that’s somewhat irksome is that all the celebs are clued by something they’re iconically known for except HARRY STYLES, who is clued by a movie I’ve only just heard of now that looks like it had a lukewarm reception. Why isn’t he clued by the song Watermelon Sugar, which dominated the charts for an entire summer some years back?

So this one didn’t land for me, even though I can generally see what it was going for.

I did enjoy the grid in general though. Rather smooth with fewer stutters in comparison with yesterday’s. ITALIAN SUBS was fun and I enjoyed the COSETTE / LES Miserables reference, though with the C crossing PICA that might be a trouble spot to the non-theater obsessed among us. Diane ARBUS was a new name for me- that S might also be trickier for newer solvers who are not well-versed in the directional clues (SSE, NNW, etc.)

Overall 2.25 stars from me today.

Wyna Liu’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 12/2/25 • Tue • Liu • solution • 20251202

The relatively new puzzmo interface continues to be problematic and distracting.

This ‘moderately challenging’ crossword played on the easy side; my solve included only two write-overs and I finished quickly with no errors.

• 16a [Word with skirt or pad] MAXI. For some reason I tried MINI first. 35d [Short postnuptial trip] MINIMOON.
• 20a [Set of courses] MEAL. Almost, almost put in MENU, but I could see that it didn’t fit the clue well enough.
• 21a [Second grade opportunity?] MAKEUP TEST. Cute clue.
• 23a [Set that includes 12 “E”s] SCRABBLE TILES. 2d [Georges who wrote the novel “La disparition” without using the letter “E”] PEREC. The English translation—arguably a feat equal to the original—is called A Void and a copy sits on my shelf next to Life: a user’s manual.
• 26a [All worked up] IN A STEW, not IN A SNIT.
• 32a [Streaks that form after a wineglass is swirled] LEGS. How much can one learn about the quality of the wine from this?
• 34a [Transport with a portmanteau name] MOPED, motor + pedal. And surprisingly, per Merriam-Webster, it comes from Swedish!
• 45a [Format popularized in the smartphone era] VERTICAL VIDEO. And much scorned as well.
• 50a [What someone managing many problems is said to be playing] WHACK-A-MOLE. Should the clue be qualified with a “var.”, as the original commercial game is spelled Whac-A-Mole?
• 57a [Word tattooed on Harry Powell’s right knuckles, in “The Night of the Hunter”] LOVE. 51d [Word tattooed on Harry Powell’s left knuckles, in “The Night of the Hunter”] HATE.
• 4d [Fallen out of favor] DÉCLASSÉ. 5d [Commit a faux pas, say] ERR.
• 8d [Fine details, as of etiquette] NICETIES. The “as of etiquette” part really telegraphs the answer.
• 11d [Place to buy Ticket to Ride or Wingspan] GAME STORE. Seems rather generic.
• 31d [Means of getting moisture out of a wind] SPIT VALVE. A wind instrument. Nothing to do with environmental sustainability.
• 40d [Shelf above an altar] RETABLE. New to me.
• 49d [Playful swimmer] OTTER. >eyeroll<