Jonesin’ 6:44 (Erin) 
[1.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) 
[2.25 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:30 (Eric) 
[3.43 avg; 14 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker not available? (pannonica) rate it
Universal 5:54 (Eric) 
[3.00 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [2.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ untimed (Jim Q) [3.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “The Freemix” — a themeless puzzle for you. – Erin’s write-up
Jonesin’ solution 12/16/25
Hello lovelies! This week we have a themeless to enjoy, so today’s writeup will be another exciting episode of “Today Erin Learned…”
- 1d. [Surname of three acting brothers] HEMSWORTH. Luke, Chris, and Liam.
- 18a. [“Crying in ___: A Memoir” (2021 Michelle Zauner book) HMART. The author is Korean-American and the lead singer of band Japanese Breakfast.
- 46a. [Harem ___ (Toronto rock band, not to be confused to an Elvis film)] SCAREM. The Elvis film is “Harum Scarum.”
- 65a. [Meme caption once described as “arguably the most loathed Far Side strip ever”] COW TOOLS. I don’t feel like potentially committing copyright infrigement, so here’s a link to the Wikipedia article with the comic in question and an explanation.
And finally, a brief “Today Erin Knew This One Immediately Without Any Crossings”:
- 53d. [Vulcan on “Star Trek: Voyager”] TUVOK.
Until next week!
Shannon Rapp and Will Eisenberg’s Universal Crossword “Slicing and Dicing” — Eric’s Review
Circled letters in the theme answers spell various fruits:
- 16A [Unable to pick up a signal] OUT OF RANGE
- 23A [Theater where you can see all the biggest stars?] PLANETARIUM Cute clue.
- 33A [Shirt with a design] GRAPHIC TEE
- 47A [Deliver a scoreless performance?] PLAY IT BY EAR Another cute clue.
- 55A [Mobile game that involves cutting produce, or a theme hint] FRUIT NINJA I’d not heard of that game.
A typical result for me with one of these games
The fruits are all “sliced” by virtue of their letters being at opposite ends of the theme answers. Pretty nifty, huh? (Sorry to sound cynical, but I feel like I’ve seen this sort of theme a lot in Universal crosswords in recent months.)
I suppose the theme and the circled letters might help if one is having trouble with one of the cleverly clued theme answers. I didn’t have any such trouble and consequently ignored the theme.
Other stuff:
- 1A [Survey option] OTHER Has this become the default clue for “other”?
- 13A [Author’s unique style] VOICE I think of Kurt Vonnegut or Tom Wolfe.
- 14A [Italian “hello”] CIAO It was only from crossword puzzles that I learned that “ciao” can mean both “hello” and “goodbye.” I lived many years thinking it was only used for partings.
- 26A [Snowbird’s summer destination] SUN BELT Doesn’t this clue have it backward?
- 37A [Face coverings] VEILS Not MASKS.
- 2D [Vehicle that might single-handedly cause a lunch rush] TOUR BUS That’s a vivid image.
- 42D [Vice president from 1993-2001] AL GORE Imagine where we might be if this could’ve been clued as “President from 2001–2009.”
Jason Reich’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review
It took me much longer than I’d have liked to make sense of this theme and probably twice as long as it took me to fill in the grid:
- 1A [Library acquisition] BOOK
- 18A [Reason to buy a magazine, perhaps] COVER STORY
- 36A [Last stop before security, often] BAG CHECK
- 45A [Turnabout, they say] FAIR PLAY
- 62A [The IBM Simon Personal Communicator is considered the world’s first one] SMARTPHONE
- 71A [After 1-Across, shelf accessories … or what can be placed “around” the halves of 18-, 36-, 45- and 62-Across to make new phrases?] ENDS
As I understand the revealer, the solver is supposed to mentally place BOOK at either end of 18A et al., giving BOOK COVER, STORY BOOK, etc. All of the “new phrases” are commonly known, which is good.
Other stuff:
- 20A [Hockey feints] DEKES I learned that word from crosswords.
- 24A [Person in hot pants?] LIAR Cute clue.
- 40A [Groundbreaking 1988 Japanese animated action film] AKIRA I lost a minute here by inexplicably having AKITA.
- 1D [Genesis or Yes] BAND/6D [Genre for Genesis or Yes, informally] PROG ROCK Progressive rock, including those two bands, was still pretty big when I was in high school.
- 11D [Easily found on the internet, say] GOOGLEABLE
- 27D [Mike in “Breaking Bad,” for example] EX-COP Jonathan Banks as Mike Ehrmentraut was one of the most interesting characters in a show that was full of interesting characters.
- 37D [Brother to Groucho] CHICO Marx. I learned not long that Leonard Marx pronounced his stage name with a short I, not a long E.
- 41D [One in a box at the theater?] RAISINET Cute clue. That T from AKITA made it hard to see this answer.
Sala Wanetick & Emily Begas’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up
A nice Tuesday theme that doesn’t need a revealer!
Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2025, Sala Wanetick and Emily Biegas, solution grid
- 17a [Dog ears?] are BOOKMARKS. Oddly enough this showed up in Monday’s NYT along with TIM Walz, one of the crossings. The Crossword Conspiracy strikes again!
- 26a [Bunny ears?] make a SHOELACE KNOT.
- 42a [Elephant ears?] are CARNIVAL FOOD. Yum.
- 56a [Mouse ears?] are found on a MICKEY HAT.
The last one made me raise an eyebrow because it’s not metaphorical – a MICKEY HAT is supposed to look like mouse ears. That’s a tiny little nit to pick with a generally fun theme in a good, solid Tuesday puzzle.
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that AJA Wilson is a four-time WNBA MVP. When I see AJA I still think of this.
Karen Steinberg’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Yum!” — Jim Q’s write-up
THEME: Two word sweets wherein both words start with C
Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2025, Kathy Steinberg, “Yum!” solution grid
THEME ANSWERS:
- CHRISTMAS COOKIE
- CHOCOLATE COIN
- COTTON CANDY
- (revealer) [Upper levels of execs, or a phonetic hint to this puzzle’s theme] C-SUITES
Apologies for the late write-up. Winter concert season has me bouncing all over.
Loved this puzzle by Karen Steinberg today! It’s been a minute since Tuesday and I jibed together, and here it is without a doubt. Perfectly Tuesday, if there is such a thing. Funny enough, I found myself solving in the south somewhat early and had C-SUITES revealed in no time, but didn’t really internalize it until late solve. So a nice little AHA moment for me that wasn’t premature (I don’t often like fully grokking the revealer too early). And I’M PSYCHED for the solid fill today too!
ERRATA / MISSTEPS / MUSINGS
- [Tell tale things?] ARROW. Hands up for HEART! I’m not sure I get the clue for ARROW or why it’s supposed to be punny…
- [New decor scheme] REDO. Is that synonymous with “makeover”?
- [“Society’s Child” singer Janis] IAN. I’m in a Janis IAN phase right now. It’s a good phase to be in.
- [Triangular bone] KNEECAP. Didn’t know it was triangular. I don’t know what shape I would’ve guessed tho.
- [Heartless character] TINMAN. Good clue.
- [Sudden stream flooding] FRESHET. New word for me!
- [WSJ alternative] NYT. Is it your go-to alternative for the WSJ?
- [Bygone black-and-white Post cereal] OREO O’S. An entry I can never get used to seeing in crosswords. So weird looking.
Excellent puzzle today! 4 stars.
PS The blunt simplicity of the title “Yum!” had me lol a bit.
NYT: Nice puzzle, and a clever theme. But I thought the language of the revealer was tortured and not entirely descriptive of the theme. We’re not to place BOOK “around” the “halves” of the themers – that would yield “BOOKCOVER BOOK” and “BOOK STORYBOOK,” for example. We’re to place BOOK around the entire answer and then parse it as two separate words/phrases. I think it would have worked better to just leave out the mention of “halves.”
I thought it was pretty impressive to come up with four in-the-language two-word phrases that you could add BOOK to and get eight in-the-language words/phrases.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
It is also cute that the answers “BOOK” and “ENDS”, well, book-ends the entire crossword puzzle.
Much as, I presume, they intend those two words to boookend the themers. Without that, they would have gone for a less tortured revealer.
Amy’s header asks whether TNY is not available. I’m guessing that, for all the boasts of a puzzles and games issue, it comes at the cost to solvers of what would have been Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday puzzles. I welcome the Brit style, or cryptic, addition.
The email I got from The New Yorker this morning has a link to Mollie Cowger’s “Rough Copy,” which Amy reviewed yesterday. I had a hard time finding that puzzle yesterday.
Thanks, Gary. That’s a nice summary of my dissatisfaction with the way the revealer clue was worded. I wish I had been able to express it like that last night.
I solved the crossword without spotting most of the typographical changes and came here, where commentary was thorough, rather than hunt all the way there. I solved the cryptic with gusto. The maze took e only a couple of minutes to get almost to the other side, and I didn’t pursue it.
That leaves the four-way circular word wrap, which seems to have brought up a demanding bookkeeping exercise. I don’t know how far I’ll be able to keep motivated.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Ohh. I was trying to put “ends” in the theme answers which of course didn’t work. Now I think the theme was clever – not that it helped solve the puzzle.
Same here. I was completely mystified by the revealer, especially with the word ‘around’ in quotes.
WSJ: A nice, timely theme but with a rare Tuesday Natick with the crossing of 8D (“FRESHET”) and 24A (“HATHA”)
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 4 stars
I agree FRESHET is difficult to infer (new for me too!), but HATHA does have a lot of usage, though I see where you’re coming from (I entered HATHA in today’s Spelling Bee!)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Being a child of the 80s, I thought maybe BOOKIT would have been a better revealer.
I’m new to your group, can someone please explain the frequent absence of WSJ puzzle solutions/discussions? Thanks. I really learn a lot here!
The WSJ reviews are published here on a daily basis – except for the Friday “Crossword Contest” – which is reviewed here on Mondays after the contest has closed.
At the time you posted your question, I hadn’t had it up yet. I do my best to get it up as soon as I’m able on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Please check back if it’s not there. Due to my workload, sometimes it’s simply not possible to get it up before late afternoon/evening.
To add to what my colleague Jim said:
We’re all volunteers. Many of the reviewers have jobs. I’m retired, but my hobbies include bicycling and skiing, and there are days when I will put a higher priority on getting some exercise than on writing a puzzle review. And we all travel at times, which leads to substitute reviewers and delayed reviews.
I’m glad that you found us, DJ, and pleased that you’re enjoying reading our work. If you ever have a question about a puzzle that isn’t addressed in the review, ask here in the comments! Most of us reviewers visit the comments throughout the day.
To clarify what Seattle DB said: Because the Friday WSJ puzzle is a contest, the review will never appear until Sunday night, after the contest ends. (I’ve been known to sometimes comment on Fridays about the WSJ puzzle, but usually only when I think it’s an easy meta that people who don’t have much experience with metas might enjoy.)
Happy solving!
I’m confused about the “Kathy” comment at the head of the WSJ review. The puzzle is constructed by Karen Steinberg, as you indicated a couple of times.
@Jim Q: just a reminder that Karen Steinberg is the mother of David Steinberg, who is the editor of the Universal Crossword.
Screwed that up, didn’t I! Fixed. Thank you both for pointing this out.
I can’t find today’s TNY puzzle anywhere on the web. Does anyone have a clue?
This week is the 2025 Cartoons and Puzzles issue. Yesterday was a meta instead of the typical Monday. No crossword today. Here’s a link to the page – https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons-and-puzzles-2025
Wow PJ, thank you for the heads-up! (And I also like reading your insightful posts!)
Anytime. And thank you!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
I did not get it until reading the explanation, but what a great puzzle. Very impressive!
Puzzle: Jonesin’; Rating: 1.5 stars
The SE corner was a mess, and this puzzle should not have been posted.