WSJ (Contest) Grid: 20 minutes; Meta: an hour 
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Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal contest crossword, “Star Connections” — Conrad’s writeup.
This week we’re looking for what a star may be. There were five symmetric theme entries with “(X letters)” in their clues:
- VOLCANISM: Activity that may involve eruptions (6 letters)
- NORTHAFRICAN: Like the Berbers (6 letters)
- EREBO: Italian name for the Greek god of darkness (4 letters)
- TESTCRITERIA: A DMV handbook may spell them out (4 letters)
- DROMEDARY: Arabian carrier (7 letters)
I noticed SPACE while solving (clued as Site of the stars in the constellations) and wrote constellations in my notes. I initially focused on the clue’s numbers, which in hindsight was a mistake. I eventually noticed SPACE‘s symmetric grid entry LINKS, clued as Connections. Given Mike’s crossword construction precision: that was not a coincidence.
I bumped around the grid for a while and spotted DROMEDA (as in the constellation ANDROMEDA) in DROMEDARY. I had the rabbit: the theme entries contained connected constellations, with one letter missing:
WSJ Contest – 12.14.2025
- VOL[CANISM] -> 6 letters
- [NOR]THAFRI[CAN] -> 6 letters
- [ER]E[BO] -> 4 letters
- [TES]TCRITERI[A] -> 4 letters
- [DROMEDA]RY -> 7 letters
When LINKed together we receive four constellations with one missing letter:
- CANIS M(I)NOR
- CAN(C)ER
- BO(O)TES
- A(N)DROMEDA
The missing letters from the four constellations spell our contest solution ICON, something a a star may be. Mike gave us a challenging meta this week. Metas come in shapes and sizes and Mike’s are always well-constructed and very fair. I loved it. Solvers: please share your thoughts.
What appears as a star to us is typically a galaxy, as I understand it. I glanced for a solution for a few minutes before guessing galaxy. Lucky for me, because I could have spent the rest of my life without figuring out this one. Congratulations to those who did, happy holidays to Mike Shenk and his puzzle brethren.
Most stars we see are stars. The rare galaxy that’s visible with the naked eye looks diffuse, hence the old name “nebula.”
I also saw Andromeda in dromedary, and was off to the races.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
Wow – what a construction and a very fun solve.. Loved it!
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
Fantastic Meta…
Not withstanding the fact the “icon” and “iconic’ are right at the top the list of the most misused, abused, and overused terms of the first quarter of the 21st century – rendering yet again another rich term in the language virtually meaningless by reducing its meaning to “celebrity.”.
Oh well.
Agree
I too noticed SPACE and LINKS and saw ANDROMEDA in Dromedary after some perusing. But I came up with a different approach. Using the allotted letters, I found VOLANS, a constellation, in Volcanism. BOREALIS (from EREBO), CAPRICORN coming out of North African. And either CENTAUR or SAGITTARIUS out of Test Criteria. I wrote down the letters remaining and somehow came up with CINEMA and debated whether the answer was CINEMATIC or CINEMA ICON. Don’t ask why. Anyway, I was as close as Earendel is to Earth.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 5 stars
I bagged a Shenk. It was a good weekend. Btw I could not have closed the deal without the “links” clue thank you for that Mike.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4.5 stars
The CANIS M caught my eye early being an amateur astronomer. Fairly revealing, no telescope or filters required. Fun. Thanks.
Puzzle: WSJ (Contest); Rating: 4 stars
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