Wednesday, December 3, 2025

AV Club 5:22 (Amy) [4.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT tk (Gareth) rate it
NYT 3:52 (Amy) [3.00 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Kyle) [4.08 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.33 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
USA Today 7:46 (Emily) rate it
WSJ 6:57 (Eric) [3.13 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Victor Barocas’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 12/3/25 – no. 1203

Today’s theme plays on the way YODA (68a) speaks, converting song titles that begin with “I” followed by a verb by moving that phrase to the end of the title:

• 17a. [1967 hit by the Who, per 68-Across], FOR MILES I CAN SEE.
• 29a. [1978 song by Gloria Gaynor, per 68-Across], SURVIVE I WILL. OK, here the verb is “will survive” and it gets split up so that only the modal word moves with “I.” In 17a, the modal CAN moved with the verb SEE.
• 44a. [2008 hit by Katy Perry, per 68-Across], A GIRL I KISSED.
• 59a. [1973 Bob Marley song covered by Eric Clapton, per 68-Across], THE SHERIFF I SHOT.

I like that the songs are drawn from a variety of decades, though the 1980s and 1990s perhaps didn’t offer big hits starting with “i.” Are you hearing any of these songs being sung with Yoda’s rasp and word order? I don’t think Yoda could pull off the 1978 disco song, but the Marley? Absolutely.

Fave fill: RADIOHEAD (there’s the 1990s band! though they didn’t have any big mainstream hits in the US, just on the rock/alternative charts), SIBERIA, MISGUIDED, MAORI. Less keen on OLEO, OBIE, ATEN, ATRA, ASTRA; some of those are pretty hard for a midweek puzzle.

3.5 stars from me.

Prasanna Keshava’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Star Part” — Eric’s Review

Prasanna Keshava’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Star Part” — 12/3/25

I’m glad there was a revealer here, because the incremental change from one theme entry to the next probably would have eluded me otherwise:

• 16A [Balanchine ballet set to a Bizet composition] SYMPHONY IN C
• 23A [Queen Mary’s retirement home] LONG BEACH CA Clever clue. We were in San Diego about 1o years ago and drove up to Long Beach to spend the night on the Queen Mary, which is permanently docked there and has been run as a hotel since 1967.
• 37A [Provider of 24/7 streaming views] LIVECAM
• 51A [Greeting from a pleased host] GLAD YOU CAME Dunno about you, but I can think of at least a few PG-13 clues for that answer.
• 61A [Has a small but significant role, and what this puzzle does, with the ends of 16-, 23-, 37- , 51-and61-Across] MAKES A CAMEO

This is a perfectly serviceable theme, and the theme answers are all fine if not particularly exciting. The grid felt a little choppy to me, with maybe more three-letter answers than I’d like. (Most of the Down answers are shorter than five letters.)

Other stuff:

• 13A [“What’s in ___?” (Juliet’s question)] A NAME/67A [Joe Cocker’s “You ___ Beautiful”] ARE SO Lately, I’ve notice that Wall Street Journal puzzles seem to have more partial phrase answers that some other venues. The only other ways to clue the first of these that immediately comes to mind are something like [Jim Croce’s “I Got _____”] or [Make _____ for oneself.]
• 14A [Hawaii’s “Garden Island”] KAUAI I briefly considered LANAI, which I think is the “Pineapple Island.” Once I figured out that was wrong, I had to remember how to spell KAUAI.
• 31A [Site of the “Black Wall Street” in the early 1900s] TULSA I was well into middle age before I heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
• 42A [Sinister side] LEFT It took me longer than it should have to get this answer. Biblical stuff here, specifically “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.”  (Matthew 25:41-46 King James Version) (There’s nothing like holding a grudge.)
• 49A [Exclusion-based angst, for short] FOMO That’s as succinct a definition of that acronym as I can remember seeing.
• 69A [“99 Luftballons” singer] NENA Maybe it’s time to retire this one?
• 3D [“Deireadh an Tuath” singer] ENYA That’s “End of the Tribe” in Irish. This was a gimme despite having no memory of this song.
• 24D [“Termination Shock” writer Stephenson] NEAL Both novel and novelist are new to me.
• 25D [Colts wide receiver Pierce] ALEC Another name that’s new to me.
• 33D [Bucket list contents] LIFE GOALS I haven’t made such a list and don’t really want to.
• 53D [Noted chair designer] EAMES That’s the husband and wife team of Charles and Ray. It was only recently that I learned the name has a long E sound, not a long A.

Amie Walker’s AV Club Classic crossword, “AV Classic Themeless #85″—Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 12.3.25 – “AV Classic Themeless #85”

A note for AVCX subscribers and fans: If you subscribe now, you can get a bonus set of meta puzzles, and if you send in the meta answer by December 8, you might win a copy of Natan Last’s new book, Across the Universe, which novelist and bookshop owner Ann Patchett is buying for her husband.

I don’t always closely read the cover letter that arrives with each puzzle. This one? I entirely missed that it was a themeless puzzle, and it was only when I looked up the puzzle title for the blog post that I realized it was themeless. Having ALL THE THINGS and COMFORT MOVIE in those slots, well, they looked like themers. And the stacked 10s above and below could each have had a theme entry, too. D’oh!

Fave fill: CTRL-P, IKEA EFFECT, “NO SPOILERS!,” new-to-me HONEYRACHA, SPOON clued as [“Big” or “little” part of a snuggly set], “GIVE ‘EM HELL,” MOUNT DOOM (great clue, [Ring toss site?]!), SCREENCAP (another good clue, [Safari shot, say?], referencing the Safari browser), ONLINE DATE.

I don’t know the term here: [Landscaping feature that prevents flooding], RAIN GARDEN. Also called bioretention facility, which sounds much less pretty! Here’s the Wiki if you want to read up a bit.

Most surprising bit: 30d. [One of seven on a “septopus” (actually eight, but the eighth is more like a detachable penis)], ARM. WHat?! I had to look this one up. Wikipedia tells us, “The seven-arm octopus is so named because in males, the hectocotylus (a specially modified arm used in egg fertilization) is coiled in a sac beneath the right eye. Due to this species’ thick, gelatinous tissue, the arm is easily overlooked, giving the appearance of just seven arms. However, like other octopuses, it actually has eight.” Coiled in a sac beneath the right eye? Don’t try this at home, fellas!

Four stars from me. Fun one!

Derek Ruttan’s Universal crossword, “Go With the Flow” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 12/3/25 • Wed • “Go With the Flow” • Ruttan • solution • 20251203

• 28d^R [Misty attractions represented by this puzzle’s indicated letters] WATERFALLS. As usual, the clues explicitly name the relevant squares for those solvers working a grid without pre-circled squares.
• 19a. [Hit for David Lee Roth or The Beach Boys] CALIFORNIA GIRLS.
  8d. [Sofia of “Modern Family”] VERGARA.
  (Niagara)
• 43a. [Playthings with strings] YO-YOS.
  45d. [Middle East native] SEMITE.
  (Yosemite)
• 51a. [Wronged person] VICTIM.
  41d. [Waldorf __ ] ASTORIA.
  (Victoria)

Theme, as you might imagine, has been done before—with some aspects the same or very similar. See Alan DerKazarian’s Wall Street Journal offering of 6 January 2022 and Timothy Polin’s for the New York Times on 19 August 2015.

• 17a [Stuff to grill] MEAT. I comically misread the clue as “Stuff to the gills” and entered SATE.
• 56a [Like a house call] IN-HOME. While solving, I imagined a telephone call to a landline, but now I see that it’s really referencing something like a doctor’s—or some other professional’s—house call.
• 4d [Not still] IN MOTION.
  
• 9d [Hardest club to get into?] ONE IRON. Hardest because it’s the least used in golf?
• 11d [Choose from a group] CULL. Very genteel clue. But yes, cull can have this relatively innocuous connotation.
• 34d [Dog that could aptly love to play?] TOY POODLE. meh.
• 36d [Covered with pebbles] STONY. I’m imagining a path or drive.
  
• 42d [Dour] GRIM, not GLUM.

Felt as if there were too many short entries with straightforward clues, which overall made the puzzle less enjoyable. Things like 20d [Distant] FAR, 31d [Also] AND, 32d [Word after “parking” or “vacant”] LOT, to illustrate just a few from one area.

Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword, “P-ending” — Emily’s write-up

INTRO

USA Today, December 03, 2025, “P-ending” by Zhouqin Burnikel

Theme: the last word (aka “ending”) of each themer starts with a P–

Themers:

• 17a. [Like books or games no longer published], OUTOFPRINT
• 40a. [Challenge for many new drivers], PARALLELPARKING
• 63a. [Large instrument in a concert hall], GRANDPIANO

Today’s themer set includes OUTOFPRINT, PARALLELPARKING, and GRANDPIANO. All were easy fills for me, which is a treat when that happens.

Favorite fill: KOSHERDILL, ROCKY, SLOG, and WERESET

Stumpers: SPATE (needed crossings), PRSTUNTS (also needed crossings), and SPOOF (took me longer than it should have)

A lovely puzzle with a fun grid, great theme, and themer set. Lots of fresh fill and great cluing made this solve a very smooth one for me today as well. What did you all think?

4.0 stars

~Emily