LAT tk (Gareth) 
[2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 19:10 (Eric) 
[2.92 avg; 19 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal (Sunday) 8:39 (Jim P) 
[3.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WaPo untimed (Matt G) 
[2.20 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
David Kwong’s “Present Time” New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review
David Kwong’s New York Times Crossword “Present Time” — 12/21/25 (click to embiggen)
Rebuses + circled letters = “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.” Or something about as interesting.
The note at the start: “Once the puzzle is complete, the circled letters, when read from left to right, will spell a punny two-word phrase.”
The rebuses:
- 14A [1950s hangout with a jukebox] SOD{A SH}OP crossing 17D [Fast start?] {ASH} WEDNESDAY
- 46A [Fraudulently make seem like] {PALM} OFF AS crossing 13D [Iced-tea-and-lemonade refreshments] ARNOLD {PALM}ERS This was where I first suspected there might be rebus. My former supervisor preferred that drink, and when neither ARNOLD PARMERS or ARNIE PALMERS fit . . .
- 54A [Comment from someone caught in the rain] I’M S{OAK}ED crossing 4D [Duke Ellington classic with the lyric “That was my heart serenading you”] PRELUDE T{O A K}ISS I probably should know the Ellington song, and might recognize it, but the title doesn’t bring the tune to mind.
- 71A [Sailor’s patron] ST. {ELM}O crossing 39D [2015 chart-topping hit for the Weeknd] CAN’T FE{EL M}Y FACE It was slightly inconvenient that without the rebus, ELMO fit.
- 103A [Lying faceup] SU{PINE} crossing 78D [Prickly denizen of coral reefs] PORCU{PINE} FISH
- 112A [Evaded, as a sensitive issue] DAN{CED AR}OUND crossing 80D [Famed lawyer in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial] CLAREN{CE DAR}ROW I like how this rebus spans two words in either direction. Darrow was a gimme.
Under each of the rebus squares is a circled letter. Following the directions in the note, we get FIR YEW. Also part of the theme: 69D [Where to find six “presents” in this puzzle?] UNDER THE TREE
It’s a nice construction feat, getting the letters for the pun in the right place with a tree rebused above. I wish the payoff were worth it.
Other stuff:
- 20A [Game piece made of four squares] TETROMINO That’s why the early computer game was called “Tetris.”
- 26A [Blue colorant obtained from the indigo plant] ANIL A word Spelling Bee won’t accept.
- 28A [Brightly colored Mediterranean flowers] SUN ROSES Not a flower I’d heard of.
- 58A [A bit off, say] ON SALE A bit misdirecting.
- 72A [Fleetwood Mac hit named for a Celtic goddess] RHIANNON An absolute gimme for pop fans of my age.
- 85A [Wasn’t folded in a suitcase, say] LAY FLAT That clue strikes me as a bit odd, though I don’t know why.
- 89A [Sci-fi miniaturizer] SHRINK RAY Kind of a fun entry.
- 119A [Regulars at parks with ramps, informally] SKATE RATS
- 7D [51 to the hour] NINE PAST Who expresses time the way the clue does?
- 16D [Counterpart of a sub] DOM Who knew the Gray Lady was into BDSM?
- 41D [Shoe company with an iconic checkerboard design] VANS This could have been clued in reference to 119A.
Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” — Matt’s Review
Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” solution, 12/21/2025
Something a bit different this week. We’ve got circled squares arranged in … circles (ish), and an asymmetric grid obvious enough that I noticed immediately, rather than during or (as is most often the case) well after my solve. We have six rings of circled squares, six themers, and a revealer:
- 31a [Putting back in the kiln (“Yellow River” band)] REFIRING, while the circles surround FIR and spell CHRISTIE
- 33a [Quality of a daytime drama or a bubble bath (“Like a Stone” band)] SOAPINESS; PINE and AUDIOSLAVE
- 63a [“Assuming my memory is correct …” (“Send Me an Angel” band)] IF I RECALL, FIR again, and REAL LIFE
- 101a [Piano compositions that Louis Kentner described as “a perfect fusion of the athletic and the aesthetic” (“Gronlandic Edit” band)] CHOPIN ETUDES, PINE, and OF MONTREAL
- 113a [Time to pull a prank (“La Bamba” band)] APRIL FIRST, FIR, and LOS LOBOS
The revealer is the last across entry:
- 129a [Holiday tune, and a synonym of the word spelled by the first letters of the bands circling Christmas trees in this puzzle] NOEL
So we’ve got rock bands, circling around Christmas trees – either PINE or FIR – and the first letters of the bands spell CAROL. A fun bit. I only recognize two of the bands, which is just as well as I didn’t spend any time during my solve trying to parse them out, anyway.
This must have been pretty darn tough to put together: PINE demands a ten-letter circle, and FIR an eight-letter circle. To then also make the bands spell something only constricts Evan’s options further.
There’s some interesting stuff in the fill despite the grid constraints. Particular highlights:
Does CHROME (27a) [Shiny plating on a car] still exist? I don’t pay attention to road models much, but heavily associate it with the cars of several decades ago. Still a nicely evocative entry // [Room for creativity] for STUDIO isn’t the biggest thunderbolt of a common phrase reparsed I’ve seen, but I quite like it, and fear it may slide under the radar here // BELL LAP reminds me of my high school track days, so I already like it, but I also always like to call out entries with triples of a single letter, as we have with L here // I binged the available episodes of Percy Jackson this week – the current season deals with the SEA OF MONSTERS. The books were aimed at younger readers than me, but the show is a nice easy watch and does a good job incorporating Greek mythology into episode-by-episode storylines.
I wonder about the difference between BASS OBOE and bassoon. I’m sure there is one that I’ll learn someday // Georg SOLTI is a crossword entry I like more than I should, simply because I was forced to learn the name as I cut my teeth on puzzles. So it’s nice to see a new-to-me [World Orchestra for Peace founder Georg] angle // I didn’t get the wordplay of [What makes a top spin?] for DRYER until now – a top as in a piece of clothing, which will spin in the appliance. Well done // One of my biggest pet peeves is misuse of “alumni” and similar words, so glad to see ALUMNA here
You know, obviously I have a lot more notes than usual, but I’m also noticing many more names and short stuff than usual. Just me? Just maybe a bad week for me with names I don’t really know? // I really liked [Iron worker?] for GOLF PLAYER, playing on “iron” being one of the types of clubs // On the other hand, I don’t know if an exclamation point is enough for me in [Do it for goodness’ sake!] VIRTUE. Is a virtue something you can “do”?
Cheers!
Jared Goudsmit’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Branches Off”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are phrases with circled letters that spell out a tree minus one letter. The revealer is TRIM THE TREE (114a, [Do a Christmas activity, or a hint to each set of circled letters]), and the “trimmed” (i.e. missing) letters spell out SPRUCE (131a, [Christmas decoration that’s been aptly “cut” from this puzzle]).
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Branches Off” · Jared Goudsmit · 12.21.25
- 26a. [Brit’s “No half measures …”] IN FOR A PENNY. A(s)pen.
- 32a. [Web fraud warning] SCAM ALERT. Ma(p)le.
- 49a. [Some figure skaters] ICE DANCERS. Ceda(r).
- 70a. [They erect buildings together] CO–CONTRACTORS. Cocon(u)t.
- 90a. [Self-publishing option] VANITY PRESS. (C)ypress.
- 104a. [Alternative to wall-to-wall carpeting] HARDWOOD FLOOR. R(e)dwood.
Very nice theme executed well. The first two entries don’t cede the theme too easily, but by the fourth one, it’s mostly clear what’s going on. The revealer ties it all together nicely and then 131a gives us a tidy little bonus. All in all, a satisfying theme from beginning to end.
The grid lacks complete symmetry so we lose some of that visual appeal, but instead we get quite a lot of nice long fill. I liked BOTTLE-NOSE (dolphins), PACEMAKERS, AVERAGE JOE, HAN SOLO, GRAND OPERA, “HOLD ON A SEC“, POT FARMS, and SAN ANDREAS. I felt AIRWAVE was odd as an adjective [Like radio broadcasts]. (Obviously it would be better as a plural noun.) CONFUSED LOOK feels a little green painty, but it’s evocative and the subject of quite a few memes.
Clue of note: 65a. [“Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” genre]. SCI-FI. Pro tip. The theme song to this goofy movie makes a great addition to your Christmas party playlist.
Good puzzle. 3.5 stars.
I thought Kwong’s Sunday puzzle was an exceptional feat of construction — and an enjoyable, relatively quick solve. Lotta stuff he had to fit in, and he did it seemlessly.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
I was super worried about this one. The last time I saw Kwong’s byline was the infamous “Art Crimes” grid from last December. (For the record, I thought that was really close to being a good puzzle, but the extra step he took with the hidden “I was framed” message in entries that were already missing letters made the grid almost unsolvable.)
Happily, my fears were not realized. This one was really good. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on, all the themers were interesting, and the rest of the fill was on point. Even the pun was fresh. Give me a Sunday like this any time.
NYT: “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”
My nominee for Best Puzzle Summary of the Year.
FIR YEW – seriously?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Is there a term for being only one letter off and not having the patience to find it? I had TETRAMINO instead of TETROMINO and LAS instead of LOS—which would have been an easy get if I was rechecking all the clues. Bah.
I liked the rebus concept and am impressed by the construction. They managed to cram two more trees in there, and the resulting pun worked with the theme/revealer! I just didn’t find the process very fun, unfortunately.
NYT: I agree with Eric — clever construction for an uninteresting result. And I don’t really understand the revealer about “presents” under the trees. Is this just meant to refer to the circled letters, or am I missing something?
WaPo: Good puzzle, as always, but the only band name I recognize is LOSLOBOS. The others I was able to guess or infer from the initial letters spelling CAROL.
Re: “Presents,” so it seems are “fir yew.”
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT: a fun tough puzzle with a couple tricky spots for me and a little chuckle at the end. I don’t see what’s not to love
NYT: Construction was good, but I wasn’t fond of all the references to people and stuff I’ve never heard of or have only barely heard of: tetromino, Caesar cipher, Amanda Gorman, Erykah Badu, skate rats, etc., etc. Too much. It made solving much harder than it needed to be.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1.5 stars
Not a fun solving experience for me, due mostly to the subpar fill and bloated corners. NINE PAST is just so bad to begin with, but when you go on to find NINER in another part of the grid…
I think the puzzle needed another revision or two (see ITHE, SABE, RONI, etc), and possibly some black square shifts to put less strain on the NW and SE corners.
At first I just took for granted that the rebus, as the puzzle demanded, would go in the circled squares. Otherwise, what could they be fore? To then discover that they were just two more trees was a real disappointment. But then what were they for? Not trees, but trees under the trees? No way.
Sorry for such sloppy typos, “for” for “for, and “not presents” but ” not “not trees.”
Ok, I see now it’s a pun on “for you.” I’m not feeling paid off. (Eric often doesn’t bother to set out the theme.)
Sorry, John.
I thought the “For you” pun was obvious. I’m glad you got it.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
Five stars for the theme. One star for the fills and clues.
There’s no way for me to do the top middle section. BAMA/AMIR/AMANDA/BADU form a four-square natick. Maybe I could figure out AMANDA if I knew RICARDO and ARNOLD PALMER, but they were also names.
And then there’s VENTNOR, which crosses with EVIE (but I filled in EDIE instead).
If the theme was any worse, I’d be giving this an obligatory 1.5 stars. Come on, there’s a four square natick.
WaPo: pretty fun Sunday from Evan! And a tree theme to match NYT; great to solve!