Thursday, December 11, 2025

BEQ 6:33 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Fireball untimed (Jenni) [4.25 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT tk (Gareth) rate it
NYT 6:14 (ZDL) [2.88 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
Universal 4:21 (Eric) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:57 (Emily) [2.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ (about 12:00) (Jim Q) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it

Zachary Edward-Brown’s Universal Crossword “House Salad” — Eric’s Review

Zachary Edward-Brown’s Universal Crossword “House Salad” — 12/11/25

Something for the homebodies and foodies today:

• 20A [*Curd-filled dairy product] COTTAGE CHEESE
• 25A [*Creamy condiment] RANCH DRESSING
• 40A [*Dark green herb] FLAT-LEAF PARSLEY
• 50a [ Food made in one’s own kitchen … or what the ingredients in the starred clues’ answers could be used for, fittingly?] HOME COOKING I don’t quite understand that clue, unless it’s just pointing us to the fact that cottages, ranch (houses) and flats are all homes.

It’s a common sort of theme. I wish the theme answers were more interesting as stand-alone answers, but they’re fine.

Other stuff:

• 1A [ Person who’s on the trail] HIKER I got off to a slow start here because I could only think of “on the trail” as “in pursuit.”
• 25A [2025 Best Picture winner] ANORA I’m sorry we missed that movie, but it’s shown up in enough crosswords lately that it’s finally becoming a gimme (at least until the next Best Picture winner with a five-letter title).
• 48A [“Maya and the Robot” author ___ L. Ewing] EVE Both the children’s book and the author are new to me. I misspelled 38D MALEK and briefly considered whether the author’s name was IVY.
• 62A [___ and left no crumbs (did amazing)] ATE I only recently learned this slang phrase. I’ve yet to hear anyone use it.
• 4D [What’s left when kids go to college] EMPTY NEST Well, yeah, until the struggling youngsters come back home.

Freddie Cheng’s Fireball Crossword “Off and On” – Jenni’s write-up

The Fireball closes out the year with a bang, not a whimper. I didn’t figure out the significance of the title until I was writing this up. I was pretty sure there was a rebus somewhere. When I got the revealer, that confirmed it. 37a [When repeated, start of a song that hints at four squares in this puzzle] is TWINKLE. The song is TWINKLE, TWINKLE little star, and there’s a STAR rebus in four squares. One crossing makes sense with the STAR and one with or without – “Off and On.”

Fireball, December 10, 2025, Freddie Cheng, “Off and On,” solution grid

• 6a [Person often looked up to] is a POP {STAR} crossing 9d [Dig into, in a way] which is EAT when you ignore the rebus or {STAR}E AT if you include it.
• 17a [Ax sharpener, sometimes] is a ROCK {STAR} (“axe” = guitar) crossing 5d [Covering for a dog at a park, maybe] – MU{STAR}D or MUD.
• 49a [Counterfeit] is BA{STAR}D or BAD crossing 40d [Thick mouthful after the main course], CU{STAR}D.
• 53a [Draw at a premiere is a MOVIE {STAR} (or just MOVIE) crossing 54d [Highlighted, in a way] – {STAR}RED.

That took some cogitating! And I missed part of it. Thanks to Evan Birnholz, who pointed out that ” the clues are supposed to work for the answers with and without STAR in both directions. Like [Person often looked up to] can be either POP STAR or POP, [Highlighted, in a way] can be either STARRED or RED, etc.”

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: never heard of ARIE Kopelman, apparently a longtime Chanel executive.

Kevin Curry’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Time: 6m14s

Difficulty: Breezy (<8m)  |  Easy-ish (8-9m30s)  |  Moderate (9m30s-11m)  |  Rough going (11+m)

Kevin Curry’s New York Times crossword, 12/11/2025, 1211

Today’s theme: fancy that!

• DREAM TEAMS
• PICTURE PERFECT
• IMAGINE DRAGONS
• THINK TANKS

Close to a PR Thursday.  I would have swapped Singe for Komodo, but that’s because I’ve got a Don Bluth bias and wasted untold fortunes on Dirk the Daring in my younger years.

Cracking: I GOT A WOMAN, way over town, that’s good to me

Slacking: SRO, strongly contending for the all time highest (seen in a crossword / seen in real life) ratio

Sidetracking: POPEMOBILE

Joe Deeney’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Sure Thing” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Wacky two-word phrases in which IV (FOUR) is present in the first word but removed from the second. That’s a less than satisfying explanation. Why do I have so much difficulty describing simple concepts?

WSJ • 12/11/25 • Thurs • “Sure Thing” • Joe Deeney • solution • 202512111

THEME ANSWERS:

• [Comic Bargatze, in his Nashville hometown?] NATIVE NATE. 
• [Reclassify marijuana?] PIVOT POT. 
• [Billiards stroke that gives the cue ball’s path a gigantic curve?] MASSIVE MASSE. 
• [Court case that’s the complete opposite of a precedent setter?] TRIVIAL TRIAL. 
• [With 57-Across, a punny description of part of 17-, 22-, 31- and 39-Across] FOUR GONE CONCLUSION. 

This was a humbling puzzle to complete just after setting a Thursday PR with the NYT (4:30). But I really liked it. Quirky. Different. Difficult (12 minutes or so for me).

Interesting choice to change the spelling of FOREGONE CONCLUSION to FOUR GONE CONCLUSION. I think the original spelling would still be a perfectly apt revealer with the clue as is, no? I almost feel like the puzzle didn’t trust me to get the joke… ye have little faith puzzle! If you can trust me to to get ICE FISH from [Catch cold?] (great clue btw), you can trust me to get the theme pun :)

I like the go-big-or-go-home nature of the wacky phrases. I mean, PIVOT POT feels like a stretch, but as long as it’s in good company I’m happy to have it come along for the ride. TRIVIAL TRIAL is probably the “safest” of the answers. Anything that conjures up imagery of NATE Bargatze is fine by me. I mean, how can you look at that guy and not immediately smile? MASSE as a pool term eluded me. But that entry reminded me I’m supposed to buy a gift certificate for pool lessons as a friend’s Christmas gift. Doing that now before I forget again… and done.

Heck of a time cracking the NW of the puzzle. In retrospect, the clues seem simple enough, but I struggled with CLASPS for [Embraces] (not the first synonym that comes to mind), [5 for B or 6 for C, e.g.] AT. NO. (was thinking musical key signatures), and OUTHIT for [Beat at the plate] (figured it was baseball, but was figured that the batter was “beating” the pitcher, and OUTHIT doesn’t really embody that interpretation).

I was thankful to find good ol’ reliable TSO in the SW to help break into the rest of the grid.

OTHER STUFF / ERRATA / MISSTEPS 

• [Strongest hurricane category] FIVE. Bit of a bummer to have a number and an IV
  

  “Shimbleshanks?? More like… ShimbleSTANK!”

  pattern that wasn’t theme related.

• [French alternative] RANCH. Good clue.
• [WeedClear maker] ORTHO. I don’t know this company. Extra tough for me crossing the unfamiliar (to me) EFREM Zimablist.
• [Hampshire holder] STY. Didn’t know the Hampshire is a type of pig. I was picturing someone cuddling a New England state.
• [T.S. Eliot’s “Theatre Cat”] GUS. Like I always say… when SHIMBLESHANKS doesn’t fit, go with GUS. 
• [Finish dressing for work, maybe] TIE A TIE. Not sure of the in-language-ness of this phrase, but last night many students at my school’s holiday concert said “Mr. Q… do you know how to TIE A TIE?” before they had to go be presentable. So… sure, why not! I tied about 20 of em.
• [It calls for pitching changes] YODEL. Tough clue!
• [“Bad Day” band] REM. Not their most famous song. I was thinking that “So you had a bad day…” song which is now my earworm for the day.

3.5 stars from me!

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1843 “Two Parters” — Eric’s Review

I’d have called this one “Easy” rather than “Medium.” But maybe I just got lucky or the clever clues were all ones I’d seen before.

The theme answers are familiar phrases that involve either two different body parts that presumable belong to the same person or two of the same body parts belong to two people:

• 17A [Tending to be embarrassing] FOOT IN MOUTH
• 26A [Linked with your sweetheart] ARM IN ARM
• 46A [Jokingly] TONGUE IN CHEEK
• 62A [Closely associated] HAND IN HAND

The theme answers are moderately interesting if not especially flashy. More interesting to me is the pseudo-symmetry of the grid: The three outside rows and columns have 180º rotational symmetry, but that goes away in the center of the grid. I’ve not noticed any asymmetrical grids from Brendan before this, but perhaps I just missed them.

Other stuff:

• 1A [Steve Martin’s instrument] BANJO I never mind when 1A is a gimme.
• 15A [City nicknamed the “Las Vegas of Asia”] MACAO I’d never heard that nickname, but I know Macao is known for gambling, so it was a fairly safe guess. The only issue was whether that last letter was going to be O or U.
• 16A [Yossarian’s friend on “Catch-22”] ORR Another gimme, as Catch-22 is my favorite novel. (I would say, though, that it’s debatable whether those two characters are really “friends.” Yossarian spends much of the book frustrated and annoyed by Orr.)  I’m sure there are clues I haven’t yet seen for the Boston hockey player, but he’s pretty much a gimme anymore.
• 22A [Jaguars and Rams, e.g.] AUTOS This could’ve been TEAMS, but I saw through that.
• 31A [Designer Givenchy] HUBERT I couldn’t come up with that one until I had a few crosses.
• 39A [Julio’s follower] AGOSTO I should know all the months in Spanish by now. They’re cognates of the English names.
• 60A [Actress Wasikowska] MIA That would’ve been a gimme if I hadn’t gotten it from the crosses.
• 64A [“___ McCay” (6-Down movie)] ELLA/6D [Actress Mackey] EMMA Ella McCay might be the holiday movie I’m most looking forward to; it’s got a fantastic cast and James L. Brooks’s movies are usually pretty funny.
• 7D [South American city with the largest Japanese population outside Japan] SÃO PAOLO I didn’t know that interesting bit of trivia, but I got the answer off the S.
• 10D [Feature of Mr. Clean] NO HAIR I can’t say that’s true. Maybe Brendan knows Mr. Clean more intimately than I do.
• 12D [Plates you can’t eat off] ARMOR Technically untrue.
• 13D [“Dark Side of the Moon” cover image] PRISM A gimme; it’s an iconic album cover for someone like me.
• 18D [“South Park” veteran Gerblanski] NED No idea on this one; fortunately, it’s short.
• 25D [Sweetness, e.g.] CHICAGO BEAR This was the toughest part in the puzzle for me. I wasn’t immediately familiar with the nickname for the great Bears running back Walter Payton.
• 51D [___-skiing] HELI It’s ski season here in Colorado. Now all we need is the snow.
• 56D [Athlete with an 81 clay-court match win streak] Rafael NADAL The rare sports gimme for me.

Katja Brinck & Shannon Rapp’s USA Today Crossword, “That’s Delish-ish!” — Emily’s write-up

Yum!

USA Today, December 11, 2025, “That’s Delish-ish!” by Katja Brinck & Shannon Rapp

Theme: each themer is a food that ends in –ISH

Themers:

• 20a. [Breakfast pastry with a creamy filling], CHEESEDANISH
• 37a. [Midwestern casserole topped with crispy potatoes], TATERTOTHOTDISH
• 55a. [Chewy candy that’s usually red], SWEDISHFISH

A tasty themer set today with: CHEESEDANISH, TATERTOTHOTDISH, and SWEDISHFISH. As much as I love all these foods, I still needed a couple of crossings for each to get started–once completed, the themers seemed obvious but I was thinking about filled long johns, funeral potatoes, and Twizzlers.

Favorite fill: SATAY, ASADA, FRITOS, and ALOO

Stumpers: OTAMATONE (new to me), VEIN (needed crossings), and FLOWCHART (misdirected–thinking about maps and navigation)

The puzzle is overflowing with a bounty of foods, even beyond its themers. I found the cluing a bit challenging but not overlay so. Loved the gird design and the lengthy bonus fill too! Seconds please!

4.0 stars

~Emily