LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[3.83 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:04 (Amy) 
[3.63 avg; 15 ratings] rate it
Universal 6:06 (Jim P) [3.92 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) rate it
Adrian Johnson & Jess Rucks’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 12/12/25 – no. 1212
Feels like a Friday puzzle, which is perfect for Thursday night.
Fave fill: The crossing CRISS CROSS / APPLESAUCE (which wasn’t a thing when I was a kid), “I KNOW, RIGHT?” (I also accept the spelling “inorite?”), TIN FOIL HAT (just heard some totally cuckoo conspiracy theory about Charlie Kirk’s killing today and hooboy), VALENCIA oranges, sweet FONDANT, “AS SEEN ON TV,” LAB PARTNER, MONEY TREES. Kinda dig the many letters WASHTUB and SAWDUST have in common.
Five more things:
- 45D. [“Buss It” rapper ___ Banks], ERICA. She’s new to me. Apparently this song was huge on TikTok in 2021.
- 19A. [16 in a Sweet Sixteen], TEAMS. Ha, I was thinking of a Sweet 16 birthday party.
- 20A. [Main component of a “gutbucket,” a jug band instrument], WASHTUB. Bet I’m not the only one who hadn’t heard the term “gutbucket” before.
- 46A. [Skater’s braking method with the back foot positioned horizontally], T STOP. New to me. Apparently relevant to ice skating, roller skating, and inline skating.
- 3D. [Pulitzer-winning journalist Applebaum], ANNE. Not sure I’ve read her before but there’s a good chance I have. She’s written a bunch of books and is now a Polish citizen.
Four stars from me. How’d it treat you?
Harit Raghunathan and Joah Macosko’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s solution grid
LAT • 12/12/25 • Fri • Raghunathan, Macosko • solution • 20251212
Apologies for no write-up; there just wasn’t enough time in the morning for me to get everything I needed to do done. ·p·
Rich Feely’s Universal crossword, “Musical Arrangements”—Jim P’s review
My apologies to the constructor and to Fiend readers for not getting a post up in time. I think that’s the first time in ten years of blogging that I’ve utterly dropped the ball. My excuse is that it’s the eve of our annual big Christmas party, and my mind was nowhere near crosswords.
Anyway, our theme is BACKUP BANDS (58a, [Musicians supporting lead singers, or a theme hint]). Circled squares form L-shapes and feature—backwards and turning upwards—words that can precede “band” in other phrases.
Universal crossword solution · “Musical Arrangements” · Rich Feely · Fri., 12.12.25
- SALSA band, from 4d GASLINE and 20a LAS
- POLKA band, from 7d BREAK LOOSE and 31a SLOP
- BRASS band, from 11d CLASS ACTS and 32a BARB
- COVER band, from 25d TAKE REVENGE and 47a HAVOC
Nicely executed with good choices of long entries to fulfill the theme. It was a little disconcerting at first to uncover SALSA and POLKA—which make you think “dances”—only to find BRASS as the next entry. But the revealer clarified everything and gave the satisfying aha moment.
We get some nice long fill as well starting with MASSEUSES but including SWEAR ON IT and EAST ROOM. Do note that the grid is not symmetrical which allows for a smoother grid and the price of visual tidiness.
And now it’s the day of our party, so I have to get moving around here. Good puzzle.
3.5 stars
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
I wonder how many folks will have same experience as me. was loving this puzzle tearing through it got a smile from CRISS CROSS / APPLESAUCE.
and then BAM right between the eyes to channel Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, I finish up with SAPID. Now I worked as a book editor for over 10+ years, I’ve got a vocabulary, like most of us commenting here, at the right end of the bell curve and I have never ever come across that word.
Google Ngram shows it basically stopped being used 120 years ago.
What makes it so galling is flip the S to a V and you have the perfectly cromulent VAPID / VERVE, both of them in the language. i could forgive the ridiculous archaism when there’s no alternative but when the fix is so easy…
took the puzzle from a 4 to a 3 for me for that word alone.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
SAPID has only made 13 appearances with Will Shortz as editor. Last one was in 2021. But it was fairly common in the old days.
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder?w=SAPID
Personally I hadn’t heard of that word either but the crosses were kind. Also sitting CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE went by a far less PC name when I was a kid.
Fish are brain food. Our American shad is Alosa sapidissima. Clearly named by a fan of this most delicious of herrings.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
Same here. Spent 10 minutes blitzing through most of the puzzle. (And yet I’d never heard the phrase CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE ever before! Though it does roll off the tongue nicely.)
And then, I spent the next ten minutes banging my head against the SW corner.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
SAPID didn’t jump out at me but a faint bell rung after I filled it in. I don’t have a deep knowledge of rappers so ERICA took a while. The crossings are extremely fair, at least to me
As for conspiracies, I learned today that Finland doesn’t exist
I had no trouble with SAPID, but I know it only from crosswords.
My trouble spot was FONDANT/TIANA. I like to cook, but I don’t bake. FONDANT has been in the NYT puzzle twice in the Shortz era, but apparently it didn’t stick in my brain. TIANA has shown up five times, but I confess, I don’t work too hard to internalize the names of animated princesses.
CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE was new, but easy enough to infer after a few crosses. I’ve heard of MONEY TREES , but didn’t realize they are a real thing. After googling it, I realize that my wife has one, and it sits directly in my line of sight as I work on crosswords.
Sitting right under AS SEEN ON TV, I thought THERE’S MORE should have been clued as “But wait, _____.”
I also loved that with the crossing, it could be put in either way, with CRISS CROSS on the across or on the down… such a nice touch to a fun Friday. I do agree that the SAPID / SERVE crossing would’ve been much nicer with VAPID / VERVE.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4 stars
Uni – Nice job on this. I once played with a similar theme, using actual back-up bands like Heartbreakers and Crazy Horse, but I couldn’t get it to work. I’m glad someone did the back-up thing – it’s a neat idea.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 4.5 stars
This was a very pleasant surprise! I’m about to work out but I may not after doing this puzzle
LAT – actually had a fun trick! Four places where the “across” diverts up at a circled letter, and the letters of the down are read “up” to answer the clue.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 5 stars
personally think LAT was quite clever today.