Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Jonesin’ 6:45 (Erin) [4.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
LAT tk (Jenni) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:54 (Eric) [4.13 avg; 15 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker untimed (pannonica) [2.81 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (Eric) [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [3.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 5:52 (Jim Q) [3.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “The Best of 2025” — it’s that time of year. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 12/30/25

Hello lovelies! Somehow another year has passed and it’s time for Matt’s homage to some of 2025’s superlatives.

• 1a. [Doll central to a popular (and weird) trend of 2025] LABUBU. They remind me of troll dolls, except less cute and more evil-looking.
• 17a. [IGN’s Best Horror Movie of 2025, directed by Zach Cregger] WEAPONS
• 18a. [Medical drama on multipleBjörk TV of 2025 lists] THE PITT
• 36a. [“___: Expedition 33” (Game of the Year at 2025’s The Game Awards)] CLAIR OBSCUR
• 46a. [Lady Gaga hit that topped Rolling Stone’s Best Songs of 2025 list] ABRACADABRA
• 66a. [Ryan Coogler film on The Hollywood Reporter’s list of Best Movies of 2025] SINNERS
•  69a. [Performer of “Berghain,” the #1 best song of 2025 in the Pitchfork Readers’ Poll] ROSALIA, along with Björk and Yves Tumor.
• 75a. [2025 hit song featured in “K-Pop Demon Hunters”] GOLDEN

What are some of your bests from 2025? Did something amazing happen, or was surviving your major achievement? Both are valid. I hope that 2026 brings as many good things as possible, and that surviving turns into thriving where it can.

CJ Tan’s Universal Crossword “Mission Accomplished” — Eric’s Review

CJ Tan’s Universal Crossword “Mission Accomplished” — 12/30/25 (Click to Embiggen)

The clue for each theme answer sets up an assignment and the answer punnily describes the completion of that assignment:

• 19A [Mission: Stand in the middle for a picture. Status: ___ ] SELF-CENTERED
• 27A [Mission: Monitor your schedule of not eating. Status: ___ ] FAST-TRACKED
• 34A [Mission: Cram 150 mL of spread into a 100 mL container. Status: ___ ] JAM-PACKED
• 45A [Mission: Dye a romantic flower. Status: ___ ] ROSE-COLORED
• 54A [Mission: Ride a bucket down to an aquifer. Status: ___ ] WELL-TRAVELED

I don’t think I used the theme to help me solve the puzzle, but it’s different than other themes I’m accustomed to seeing. The theme answers are all lively phrases, and I found the theme clue/answer pairs reasonably amusing (especially 19A). What more could you want from an early-week puzzle?

Other stuff:

• 8A [“For Better or Worse” actress Smith] TASHA I knew neither the actress nor the Tyler Perry TV series, which ran from 2011–2017.
• 14A [French city that isn’t a homonym of a roaring feline] LYON Kind of a cute clue. It’s not a homonym of “lion” because the Y has a long E sound. (But you knew that, right?)
• 38A [2000s teen drama set in SoCal] THE OC I spent far too long trying to remember the name of that show (which I’ve never seen). I should have followed my rule of skipping any answer that doesn’t come quickly.
• 52A [Simple machine with a rope] PULLEY It’s fascinating to me that such a simple thing can make lifting something very heavy so much easier.
• 10D [Achievements maintained by logging in daily] STREAKS How many of us would care about consecutive completions of crosswords or Wordle games if the publishers didn’t track our streaks?

Geoffrey Schorkopf and Will Eisenberg’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Geoffrey Schorkopf and Will Eisenberg’s New York Times Crossword — 12/30/25 (Click to Embiggen)

As is often the case, I didn’t notice how the theme worked until after I finished the puzzle. In that sense, this played like an easy themeless puzzle for me.

Each of the five theme answers has one circled letter that constitutes the “nucleus of a syllable,” according to one definition:

• 17A [Something to wave with pride?] LGBTQ FLAG Somewhere in our garage is the Pride Flag we flew at our old house. We eventually gave up looking for it and bought a new flag. The old one will show up some day.
• 21A [Fizzled out completely] WENT PFFT That’s a fun answer to see in a grid.
• 36A [Flashy cycling maneuvers] BMX TRICKS
• 41A [“Sunday Night Football” producer] NBC SPORTS
• 53A [They’re pulled to garner media attention, informally] PR STUNTS
• 60A [Spend money on “Wheel of Fortune” … which won’t help much for solving 17-, 21-, 36-, 41- and 53-Across!] BUY A VOWEL Fun fact: You can do prtty wll rdng txt tht hs n vwls.

Call me persnickety, but I like that the five vowels appear in alphabetical order. The theme answers are mostly pretty zippy (filling in NBC SPORTS interests me about as much as watching NBC Sports, which is to say not much).

Other stuff:

• 26A [Brand of cooler named for a mythical beast] YETI A gimme as I used to cycle past their flagship store two or three times a week.
• 40A [“That’s not good!] OH NO/45A [“That’s not good!] YIKES So many possibilities for those two answers.
• 6D [Dr. Seuss’ “And to Think That ___ It on Mulberry Street”] I SAW Odd choice of a clue: A book that the publisher no longer publishes because of its racist imagery.
• 8D [Hard-to-clean-up sparkly stuff] GLITTER Every year, we get at least one holiday card that has glitter on it.
• 9D [Like good omens] AUSPICIOUS That’s a nice word to see in a grid now and then.
• 27D [Climactic fight in a video game] BOSS BATTLE I don’t play video games, and know of “boss” in that context only from crosswords. I can’t remember if I’d actually seen “boss battle” before or if I just made a lucky guess.

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword, “Holiday Crossword: Sports” — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 12/30/25 • Tue • Holiday Crossword: Sports • Agard • solution • 20251230

Certainly not my wheelhouse, but by basically ignoring the longer entries and working crossings, I solved this rapidly.

• 1a [Had one’s fingers crossed] HOPED. As in. “I hoped I could EVADE (12a [Get away from]) many of the sportsy clues in this crossword.”
• 17a [Posterior-related nickname for the M.L.B.’s home-run leader Cal Raleigh (September, 2025)] BIG DUMPER. Uh, okay.
• 20a [M.V.P. of Superbowl LIX (February, 2025)] JALEN HURTS. I remember seeing that name from social media posts.
• 26a [That person] THEY. I tried THEM first. 1d [She/__ pronouns] HER.
• 42a [Fruit that’s a staple of Filipino cuisine] COCONUT. Yum.
• 48a [Journalist who broke an explosive story about Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers (September, 2025)] PABLO TORRE. I didn’t know either of the names, nor am I familiar with the content of the story. AHA (21a), it seems there was a scandal about evading (12a, again) the NBA salary cap.
• 51a [Three-on-three basketball league whose inaugural championship was won by Rose B.C. (March, 2025)] UNRIVALED. Interesting idea, and interesting if gimmicky name choice for the league. Also, I thought the BC might indicate British Columbia, but all the teams have that appellation, which seems to be modelled on soccer’s FC (football club).
• 59a [Like peaches and suède] FUZZY. Gotta love that grave. Never change, The New Yorker.
• 2d [Alex who surpassed Wayne Gretzky to become the N.H.L.’s all-time leading goal scorer (April, 2025)] OVECHKIN. I used to follow ice hockey a little, so I know what an incredible feat that is.
• 4d [Grizzlies center Zach] EDEY. A name destined for crosswords.
• 7d [Bet] WAGER. A huge story this year is the continued deregulation of the sports betting industry, which will have devastating negative consequences.
• 14d [“So not true!”] NUH-UH. Was gearing up to complain that NO DUH means something entirely different.
• 32d [Waver] HESITATE.
  
• 34d [Portmanteau for the tennis rivalry seen in three successive Grand Slam finals (June, July, and September, 2025)] SINCARAZ. Of course I’d never heard of this, but I can see how it would be irresistible to a constructor like Agard, especially for this project. The relevant parties are Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
• 35d [Nickname for Lynx stars Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, whose Twitch channel went viral during their seventy-two-hour live stream of All-Star Weekend (July, 2025)] STUD BUDZ. Which term will have greater staying power, SINCARAZ or STUD BUDZ? Will either? Probably the international men’s tennis rivalry?
• 36d [Trampoline safety features] NETS. Pointedly not clued as the Brooklyn NBA franchise?
• 39d [Superstar whose team Luka joined in a blockbuster trade (February, 2025)] LEBRON. Luka Doncic is a teammate of LeBron James. I believe the clue has an editing oversight.
• 41d [Show to be beyond doubt] PROVE. Yes, but it’s a tricky concept, sometimes.

Good balancing act.

 Chase Dittrich’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Divine Comedy” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Common phrases that one might also use to reference “heaven”

WSJ • 12/30/25 • Tue • Divine Comedy • Chase Dittrich • solution • 20251230

THEME ANSWERS:

• GATED COMMUNITY
• THAT’S OVER MY HEAD
• CLOUDED JUDGEMENT
• (revealer) [1987 song by the Cure, and what may be said about 20-, 35- and 41-Across] JUST LIKE HEAVEN

This feels rather loose as a concept, which is how I often feel about Tuesday puzzles. I just kinda cock my head a little on Tuesdays and shrug and say “Okay, sure!” I’m terrible with song titles, but the referenced tune is definitely one that gets plenty of radio play (radio is still a thing, right?). I have the song playing in the background right now and I recognize the keyboard riffs more than the actual lyrics and song hook.

Anyway, whether the song is in your wheelhouse or not is neither here nor there… I’m more intrigued/confused by the revealer: “…what may be said about 20-, 35- and 41-Across”

I get it for 35-Across. Someone says “THAT’S OVER MY HEAD!” at a party and the slightly drunk uncle who thinks he’s wittier than he is says “Jussss like heaaven!” Ok. It works. But neither CLOUDED JUDGMENT nor GATED COMMUNITY stand alone as statements, so it’s hard to imagine something “being said” about either when there is no reason to say anything about either as there is no context given.

And just like every other Tuesday where I’m equal parts befuddled and mystified, I’m overthinking. Just enjoy. Heaven is a GATED COMMUNITY of sorts. There is some sort of JUDGEMENT happening, and according to every Far Side cartoon set in heaven, it is indeed in the CLOUDs. So there ya’ go.

MISSTEPS / ERRATA:

• [What the buzz is about?] NEW DO. Cute. Maybe too much so? I was thinking this was APIARY or something along those lines at first. Nope. Your NEW buzz cut… I think.
•  [Different] ELSE. Interesting because I immediately entered ELSE, but something about “different” as a definition always feels off for the word ELSE.
• [Her mom “has got it goin’ on,” in a Fountains of Wayne song] STACY. Ok. Now this song… first of all, the band name origin is fun… I pass the site where the original store called “Fountains of Wayne” was often. It’s just a store. They thought it would be a cool band name. End of story. Love it. Second of all, if we’re gonna dissect lyrics to a song as a theme to a puzzle, then this piece of fill is bound to upstage whatever song the puzzle is based around. Like… Stacy’s mom has some serious issues. 

2.5 stars from me today