Thursday, December 18, 2025

BEQ 10:25 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Fireball tk (Jenni) rate it
LAT 6:49 (Gareth) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 11:23 (ZDL) [3.47 avg; 17 ratings] rate it
Universal 5:49 (Eric) [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today 10:27 (Emily) rate it
WSJ untimed (Jim Q) [3.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

CJ Tan’s Universal Crossword “Trivial Answers” — Eric’s Review

CJ Tan’s Universal Crossword “Trivial Answers” — 12/18/25

Read enough crossword blog commentary and eventually you’ll see someone complaining about a grid that has “too much trivia.” Maybe it’s because my brain retains a lot of that kind of stuff, but those kinds of comments always confound me. Why solve crosswords at all if you don’t want to use some of that otherwise worthless information floating around your head?

That’s moot though, as the theme here isn’t trivia per se but punny riddles:

• 17A [Say your parents had three children, two of which are named April and May. Who could the third be?] IS IT JUST ME? I fully expected to see JUNE in the answer. How about you?
• 32A [Utter me once to get a location; utter me twice to get a consolation. What am I?] ARE YOU THERE? This is where I (maybe) picked up on the theme: “There” is what you say when someone’s trying to find something; “There, there” is what you say if you’re trying to make a child feel better. (I really can’t imagine trying to console an adult that way; it just seems truly patronizing.)
• 38A [Can you think of a term for a flower that’s also a family member from Down Under?] MUM’S THE WORD Chrysanthemums and mothers in Australia (and other places where they speak British English). But be honest: Have you ever heard someone say that phrase?
• 57A [It’s used as a cover for the body, some meats or a gift for another. What is it?] THAT’S A WRAP

So I get how each theme answer relates to its clue, but the meaning of the puzzle’s title still isn’t clear to me. Maybe it’s the “trivia” of the multiple meanings (polysemy, if you want to get technical) of words like MUM and WRAP?

At least the theme answers are phrases most people are likely to recognize.

Other stuff:

• 21A [Tags on social media] ATS In New York Times puzzles, some non-social media clues for ATS include “Cadillac model that debuted in 2012,” “Satellite launched on 12/6/66,” “Satellite launched Dec. 7, 1966” (make up your mind, Eugene Maleska) and “Anti-drinking org.” (presumably the 19th century American Temperance Society). Think about that before you complain about social media trivia in crosswords.
• 26A [It keeps a driver safe] AIRBAG I guess it depends on how you define “safe.”
• 28A [They keep cars safe] GARAGES Kinda depends on the garage, doesn’t it?
• 52A [Smidgens] IOTAS Some words show up in crosswords so often that you don’t really have to consider other possibilities.
• 6D [Home of the Clippers and Lakers] LOS ANGELES Only loosely; the Clippers play in Inglewood.
• 7D [Cookie sheet holders] MITTS Aren’t the baker’s hands actually holding the cookie sheet?
• 18D [“Razzmatazz” smoothie chain] JAMBA I never heard of that smoothie and just now learned that the chain dropped “Juice” from their name. In 2006. That’s trivia I don’t need to retain.
• 42D [“Beavis and Butt-Head” spinoff] DARIA I didn’t recognize that show. Despite working with Mike Judge’s sister for a few years, I found Beavis and Butt-Head unwatchable. Ugly animation plus moronic characters who are all to true-to-life? Not for me.
• 54A [Dialect used by Black people in the U.S.] AAVE I learned this initialism (acronym?)  for African-American Vernacular English from crossword puzzles.

Joseph Gangi’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Time: 11m23s

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

Joseph Gangi’s New York Times crossword, 12/18/25, 1218

Today’s theme: right on Qs

• DARING RESQQ
• SYRAQQ ORANGE
• EXQQ MY FRENCH
• UNJUSTLY AQQ

Particularly slow in the middle here, as I was sure that the team was called the Syracuse Orangemen (or at least, that’s what I remember the basketball team being called in the 90s,) but apparently they dropped the “men” about 20 years ago.  So I ended up spending an extra minute or two trying to figure out what to do with the “men”, but just drop it, okay?

Cracking: FAUXBERGE, never heard the term but 9.5/10

Slacking: don’t be a QTR, you can do it!

Sidetracking: SMOKEY.  We saw the grave of the “real” Smokey down in Capitan, New Mexico a few years back, along with a museum in his honor.  Worth a visit if you’re in the area!

 Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Afterthoughts” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: The R in a common word/phrase has swapped places with the letter in front of it (but the clue suggests the word/phrase pre-swap)

Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2025, Mike Shenk, “Afterthought” solution grid

THEME ANSWERS:

• [*Supporter of women’s athletics?] SPORTS BAR. SPORTS BRA.
• [*Weapons depots] ARMOIRES. ARMORIES.
• [*Auditions] TIRES OUT. TRIES OUT. 
• [*Item in a trunk] CARTIER. CRATIER? CAR TIRE. 
• [*Como and Crosby, for two] CORONERS. CROONERS. 
• [*Changed a B to an A, say] REGARDED. REGRADED. 
• [*Alternative to hash browns] HOME FIRES. HOME FRIES. 
• [Not now, and, if reparsed, a feature of each starred answer (but only by one space)] LATER (LATE R).

Quirky mind-bender from Mike Shenk today, chock full of theme. I can imagine this being a frustrating solve for many as the “right” answer is very close to the “altered” one. Uncovering the revealer mid-solve was certainly helpful when going back to suss out the ones that left me befuddled.

Speaking of that revealer, it’s a bit bizarre! Referring to the R as “late” and mentioning how it’s not that late. But I like it. It’s proudly bizarre and gives no damns. We did get a little dark in the south with Como and Crosby becoming CORONERS, and I can’t remember the last time HOME FIRES conjured fond memories. So those alterations are somewhat unfortunate, but hey- it is what it is. Rare to see 8 themers in a 15x. I wouldn’t mind cutting two of them out to give my brain a chance to catch up. And maybe it would help to avoid entries like A DIET.

THINGS I’M EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT / ERRATA:

• I don’t know what a CRATIER … wait… omg it’s CAR TIRE. I swapped the wrong R. I only just caught it now because my suspicion that CRATIER was a funky word was reinforced by spellcheck. A CARTIER is a map person, right? Wait.. nope… that’s “cartographer.” CARTIER refers to… French luxury goods? Wow. My ignorance is on full display right now. 😳 🤦‍♂️ In my (weak) defense, having another R in the themer feels unfair.
• [Root for the cook] BEET. Good one.
• [Onyx decoration] CAMEO. New to me. From Google AI: A cameo onyx is a type of antique or vintage jewelry featuring a relief carving (cameo) from a layered stone, most commonly black onyx with a white or lighter layer
• [Reacting to a touchdown, maybe] AROAR. The crowd that is, not the guy celebrating in a choreographed dance on the field. Nice clue.
•   [Mo. originally called Sextilis] AUG. Cool trivia

I found the cluing generally quite difficult, but solveable!

3.5 stars from me today.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1845 “Night Lights” — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1845 “Night Lights” — 12/18/25

There’s a bit of a DarkSky vibe to the circled letters that hold this theme:

• 18A [Moor, as a boat] CAST ANCHOR Castor, in the Gemini constellation.
• 23A [Without hesitation] RIGHT OFF THE REEL Rigel, in Orion. “Right off the reel” doesn’t sound familiar to me. “Reel off,” sure.
• 32A [“Rogue One” actor Petrie] ALISTAIR Altai, in Aquila. Though I saw that movie, I didn’t recognize the name, but he was a key character in many episodes of Sex Education.
• 46A [Chai, e.g.] SPICE TEA Spica, in Virgo. This was the first theme answer I completed. When I looked at the circled letters, I missed the circle around the A and briefly wondered why the theme included an ethic slur. I was glad to learn I’d misread it.
• 53A [Pie made with onions, often] VEGETARIAN PIZZA Vega, in Lyra.
• 62A [Fated, or a hint to the entries with circled letters] IN THE STARS

This is an okay theme, but certainly nothing special. I used to know a few constellations and can still reliably find Orion and a few others, but I’d be unlikely to identify any of the stars. Still, the stars’ names are familiar enough that when I had VEG—, I knew immediately what the last circled letter was.

Other stuff:

• 1A [It might fly a pirate flag] MAST Not SHIP.
• 5A [“Here, My Dear” singer] Marvin GAYE I’m a bit embarrassed that I don’t recognize this 1978 single and album.
• 9A [Water stopper] GROUT Not LEVEE.
• 15A [Graphic novel that represented Nazis as cats] MAUS A gimme that I didn’t see until I’d already filled in three letters.
• 20A [They take a lifetime to compose] OBITS Not POETS.
• 31A [St. with the second-longest coastline] FLA The last time I remember seeing this clue in a puzzle, some people argued that Maine actually has a longer coastline than Florida, depending on how precisely you measure it.
• 48A [Vehicle that regularly rolls over] IRA I appreciate the misdirection, but I’d rather not think of a car or truck rolling over.
• 73A [Went “hawk tuah”] SPAT That’s not how I would spell the sound, but I knew what the clue was after.
• 3D [1924 Edna Ferber novel] SO BIG Not GIANT (which was published in 1952).
• 7D [Lateef of jazz] YUSEF Not a name I knew.
• 12D [Card game with “all wild” and “show ’em no mercy” variants] UNO This week’s winner of my award for the highest clue-to-answer letter ratio.
• 21D [Order to keep one’s word?] STET Clever clue.
• 28D [1972 hit that begins “What’ll you do when you get lonely”] LAYLA As far as I’m concerned, Eric Clapton never again came close to anything as good as that song.
• 55D [Nation that has the Serie A football league] ITALY A gimme. Maybe someday I’ll learn how to pronounce “Serie A.”
• 57D [Get ready for going out in the cold] ZIP UP The P from PIZZA gave me UP, but ZIP took longer than it should have.

Willa Angel Chen Miller’s USA Today Crossword, “Rendezvous (Freestyle)” — Emily’s write-up

Let’s meet!

USA Today, December 18, 2025, “Rendezvous (Freestyle)” by Willa Angel Chen Miller

Favorite fill: LOVERSLANE, LEAPDAY, EREADERS, and SAMOSA

Stumpers: STAIR (misdirected–thought of directions), OUTONALIMB (needed crossings), and TAKEITEASY (also needed crossings)

A challenging one for me today! I found the cluing harder, especially with multiple phrases. I enjoyed the fill overall and always love a puzzle packed with lengthy fill. The grid design is intriguing too. How’d you all do?

3.75 stars

~Emily

Rebecca Goldstein’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s summary

Anyone else know it as “Red Bull Give You Wings”, and not have the letter count on the explainer want to add up? I settled on ITGIVESYOUWINGS first, before trying the actual answer of just GIVESYOUWIIINGS with extended I’s. A quirkily spelt answer like that is obviously an attractive inclusion in a crossword since the days of the WHOGREASEDTHEVINE crossword (was it by Nancy Saloman? I’m struggling to find it) or possibly even before.

I’m not sure I totally get the verb part “GIVESYOU” in the context of the puzzle theme. Each of the four entries are associated with wings, but do all of them “give you” wings. We have a FLIGHTATTENDANT, a BARMENU, an NHLGAME and HOMEIMPROVEMENT.

Gareth