Sunday, December 14, 2025

LAT tk (Gareth) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 11:47 (Eric) [2.91 avg; 17 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) rate it
Universal (Sunday) 10:35 (Jim P) [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) [3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
WaPo 5:48 (Matt G) [3.25 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Zachary Edward-Brown and John Kugelman’s New York Times Crossword “Change Locations” — Eric’s Review

I thought that I had a new personal best for a New York Times puzzle. Then I realized I achieved that last Sunday. (Maybe; my NYT stats seem to differ from those at xwstats.com.) But today’s solving time was only about 25 seconds longer than last week.

Maybe the ease of solving it is why I feel like I’m missing something in the theme? We have shaded squares and some with circles in them:

• 27A [False alarm announcement?] OOH I’M SO SCARED I like seeing that in a grid, though it’s been a very long time since I’ve said it (or anything similar). I like that clue, too.
• 34A [Major coin producer] DENVER MINT As a kid, I had a coin collection (pennies; I was cheap). I learned that there are three places in the United States where the government mints coins: Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Denver. For whatever reason, coins minted in Philly bore a tiny “P” and those minted in Denver a tiny “D.”
• 37A [Viking I or II] MARS LANDER
• 47A [Remodel and resell some real estate] FLIP A HOUSE We used to live in an older neighborhood in Austin. We saw lots of old houses that were remodeled (including the one we lived in), but in recent years, it made me sad to see how many of those old houses were tear-downs.
• 49A [Marching band tempo setters] DRUM LINES
• 74A [“Hilarious!”] WHAT A HOOT Not WHAT A RIOT.
• 77A [“I mean, kind of …”] NOT EXACTLY
• 90A [“Much obliged”] I OWE YOU ONE
• 92A [Crossed the International Date Line from east to west, or west to east (depending on how you look at it)] GAINED A DAY I’m somewhat amused by the thought of “Ne Dada” as a Spanish spoonerism.
• 110A [1980 horror film starring William Hurt … or what the shaded squares contain?] ALTERED STATES I hope that even solvers from outside the United States will recognize each set of shaded squares as the name of a state, with the circled letter being a change from the state’s actual name, for example 27A’s OHIO.

The circled letters (as they appear in the grid) spell MISPLACED. The letters that the circled letters replace spell OOYDASAV. Make of that what you will.

I didn’t really see what was going on thematically until I reached the revealer. But many of the theme answers are intrinsically interesting enough that I didn’t mind not needing the theme to help me solve.

Other stuff that caught my eye:

• 16A [Paul whose house is one of the 16 historic sites of Boston’s Freedom Trail] REVERE In addition to being nerdy enough to have collected coins, I was interested enough in United States history to drag my family to Paul Revere’s house when we visited Boston in the late 1960’s.
• 25A [TV host Brzezinski] MIKA I don’t remember how I knew this wasn’t MIKE.
• 40A [Nickname for Mark’s unsevered best friend in “Severance”] PETEY I remember the character but it took me a few crosses to get his name.
• 54A [Who said “It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am”] Muhammad ALI Three letters? Who else could it have been?
• 62A [“The Simpsons” character who becomes obsessed with crossword puzzles] LISA If you know anything at all about that show (and you should; it hasn’t lasted as long as it has by not being funny), you’d know it wasn’t BART.
• 88A [Indication of bad service] NO TIP Or maybe it’s just an indication of a jerk of a customer. Restaurant work is hard; don’t stiff your server.
• 16D [Parts of many robots in robot-sumo] SENSORS I haven’t seen any robot-sumo, but I’ve seen videos of robots doing similar athletic things. Science has a ways to go to catch up with what people can do.
• 30D [Australia’s largest carnivorous mammal] DINGO I can’t see that word without thinking of Meryl Streep and her many accents.

• 32D [Word used 10 times in Roger Ebert’s review of “North” (1994)] HATED A gimme thanks to the Roger Ebert-themed November 26 NYT puzzle.
• 42D [Engineer Gray who, arguably, invented the telephone — and battled Alexander Graham Bell over it in court for years] ELISHA I got this entirely from the crosses; it’s not a name I recognize.
• 51D [Gaming mogul Gabe] NEWELL Ditto.
• 61D [Did some school reporting?] TATTLED Great clue.
• 87D [Hair-care item associated with Black culture] DURAG Yes, that’s how you spell it.

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post Crossword “Themeless No. 27” — Matt’s Review

Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post Crossword “Themeless No. 27” solution, 12/14/2025

Themeless this week from Evan. I haven’t solved enough Sunday-sized themelesses to have many well-considered thoughts, to be honest. I do not think we should ask the same questions that we do of 15×15 themelesses, just as good midi puzzles aren’t simply “smaller” 15s.

That said, I really enjoyed this one. The flow of the grid, including the longest across entries, felt very much like a themed Sunday, if more wide-open. Considering a common complaint about themeless Sundays is there’s just too much real estate to keep momentum through without a theme, I think that’s notable.

Other than a bit of a name pileup and a tricky clue or two in the area around EMANATION, I found this one pretty smooth and fun going.

Right to highlights:

The “center” who might err with a BAD SNAP is a football player, but it’s fun to imagine centers in other sports having to snap as part of play // ENTRANCE MUSIC is a [Fight song?] inasmuch as it may be played prior to a wrestling bout or similar // [Opportunity to be a hero] tripped me up for a while. At COMIC CON, many fans cosplay (from “costume”) as their favorite characters // This is a new angle for ESP at 50-Across. I always appreciate when clues for ESP make clear that it’s … not real // Does the National Flood Insurance Program still exist at whatever is left of FEMA (86-Across)? I hesitate to even look to confirm // ABILENE doesn’t show up so often that I thought I knew all about it, but “Storybook Capital of America” is intriguing. Apparently it’s pretty much what it says; children’s literature is a common theme in public art and institutions there.

I’m always amused by “Path of” clues – anything thrown or ballistic is going to be an ARC! // [I’m rooting for myself!] for OINK (Imagine a pig speaking both clue and entry) is certainly an envelope-pushing clue. I love it to bits – my favorite from any puzzle in quite a while // Less tricky, but I also liked the parens-ed HO HO HO in the clue for SANTA

Cheers!

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Right Call”—Jim P’s review

Theme answers are phrases in the Down direction with final words that “turn” right. These words can also precede the word “call” to form other phrases.

Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Right Call” · Zhouqin Burnikel · 12.14.25

• 3d [*”Psst! Fix that undone zipper”] / 63a [*Audition opportunity for all]. “YOUR FLY IS / OPEN.” Open call.
• 9d [*PBS home improvement show] / 54a [*Certain doctor’s visit (Note: This puzzle’s title is a hint to understanding the starred clues’ answers!)]. THIS OLD / HOUSE. House call. The hint is on this entry because it’s the first thematic Across entry.
• 14d [*Making a rude gesture] / 81a [*Hunter’s imitative device]. FLIPPING THE / BIRD. Bird call.
• 19d [*Way off the mark] / 59a [*Narrow escape]. “NOT EVEN / CLOSE.” Close call.
• 75d [*Alternated between extremes] / 132a [*Bit of telemarketing]. RAN HOT AND / COLD. Cold call.
• 77d [*Having an adverse effect] / 133a [*Item on a phone bill]. TAKING ITS / TOLL. Toll call. Are toll calls even a thing anymore?
• 79d [*”Get used to my style”] / 134a [*”Who’s in attendance?” check]. “THAT’S HOW I / ROLL.” Roll call.
• 95d [*Sturdily made] / 135a [*”The bar is closing soon!”]. BUILT TO / LAST. Last call. Appropriately placed.

Wow! What a hugely fun set! We get eight long theme answers that are all idiomatic or colloquial phrases, and each one is satisfying to plunk down into the grid. Grokking the theme early on doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of finding the rest of the answers either. Fun theme executed wonderfully.

Not only is the grid packed with eight theme answers, but they “turn” as well, putting even more constraints on the grid. With so much theme going on, having a non-symmetrical grid is easily forgiven. I guess my take on non-symmetry is this: Symmetry provides visual satisfaction as well as elegance, but if the grid is better served with non-symmetry, then I’d rather have a fun puzzle than one that is strictly symmetrical. Still, fun and symmetry is preferred, but fun over symmetry is acceptable if necessary.

Again, with so much theme material, there isn’t a lot of long fill, but what we do get is solid-to-good: FOAM HAND, BOLD MOVES, TEND BAR, ON TOPIC, SMART TVS. Other, shorter highlights: BADDIE, “OH GOOD,” SNAFU. Could do without: IT PRO.

Clues of note:

• 25a. [BILLY bookcase seller]. IKEA. Good old BILLY. We used several of these to turn one corner of our daughter’s room into a library. I’d include a picture, but her room is still a mess.
• 109a. [Tequila cocktail, for short]. MARG. This usually gets clued with respect to actress MARG Helgenberger, formerly of CSI. But since that show’s been gone for a while now, I guess a new take is needed. I have to say I’ve never seen the drink shortened to just MARG. But maybe that’s just me.
• 55d. [Fashion designer Wang]. UMA. Didn’t know this name. Of course I checked to see if VERA would fit. It’s good that we have another cluing angle than just [Actress Thurman].
• 100d. [“Mr. Blue Sky” grp.]. ELO. While not really a Christmas song, it gets a lot of play in the UK at this time of year for its cheeriness.

Fun puzzle. Four stars.