Monday, February 9, 2026

BEQ 19:54 (Eric) [3.13 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 1:51 (Stella) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 2:28 (Sophia) [3.45 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 5:36 k(Amy) [4.15 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) [2.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ 5:32 (Jim Q) rate it

Matthew Stock’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s recap

Theme: ARE YOU CHICKEN? – each theme entry ends with a style of fried chicken

New York Times, 02 09 2026, By Matthew Stock

• 20a [Main drag through Sin City] – LAS VEGAS STRIP
• 32a [Valuable bit in a prospector’s pan] – GOLD NUGGET
• 42a [Hockey player who typically plays the entire game] – GOAL TENDER
• 55a [Question to a scaredy-cat … to which the final parts of 20-, 32- and 42-Across would answer “Yes!”] – ARE YOU CHICKEN? 

Quick post-Super Bowl recap tonight, but lucky for me I have a lovely Monday puzzle to review! This theme is great, I liked how tight the theme is in that all the chicken types are, well, the types of chicken that would be served on a kid’s menu (as opposed to, say, another random chicken preparation being thrown in there). And all of the theme answers nicely change the meaning of the chicken word – LAS VEGAS STRIP and GOAL TENDER are standouts for that reason.

Today’s grid flows really well, without feeling choppy or segmented at all in the corners. I think a lot of that comes from the amount of longer fill – DIVVIED UP, GAP YEAR, LOST CAUSE, SHOT PUT, HONOR CODE, CLIPBOARD – All of these were excellent answers! I think the well-flowing grid was what helped the puzzle play very quickly for me – I was only a few seconds slower than last week, when all of the theme answers were duplicated. There’s also very little “crosswordese” (well, until you get to that one EWER stuck in the bottom right corner).

Favorite clues: Loved the clueing angle of [Minor disruption in the proceedings] for HICCUP, [Drink served by the Mad Hatter] for TEA

New to me: That GURU is the [Sanskrit word for “teacher”], [British novelist Jones] for SADIE

Happy Monday all!

Dan Caprera’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 2/9/26 by Dan Caprera

So, right…this theme feels like a bit of a chestnut, although I’m not sure I’ve seen it with a revealer before. That’s at 64A [“I think that’s correct,” or what one may say about the ends of 17-, 28-, and 50-Across], which is SOUNDS RIGHT TO ME, because each theme answer ends with a word that’s a homophone of (sounds like) RIGHT:

• 17A [“Don’t forget we want lots of letters!”] is REMEMBER TO WRITE.
• 28A [Aviation pioneer who said, “It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill”] is WILBUR WRIGHT.
• 50A [Exchange of wedding vows, e.g.] is MARRIAGE RITE.

What I like: The revealer, the fact that the RIGHT homophone is always on the RIGHT side of every theme answer. What I’m not as nuts about: The individual theme answers don’t feel as evocative as I’d like.

The fill is fine; I particularly enjoyed the cluing of SYMBOLISM as [Book club discussion topic].

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

THEME: The word GAP appears spread apart in common phrases with the letters gradually becoming closer to one another.

THEME ANSWERS:

• GETS A JUMP ON
• GREASE PENCIL
• JIGSAW PUZZLE
• CLOSE THE GAP

Really fine Monday from Mike today, albeit much more difficult than I’m accustomed to! The themers chosen are elegantly laid out- notice that there are exactly three letters between the G-A-P in the first entry, then two in the second and one in the third. Also, the letters G, A, and P do not appear anywhere else in the themers, which wouldn’t necessarily be a theme-killer, but it is definitely a nice touch.

I had a ton of hangups along the way, although it’s quite nice to have a Monday that gives a bit of pushback and is still completely solvable with some elbow grease to a novice. My biggest snafu was entering BATH BOMBS for BATH BEADS. I prefer my entry. MAIL LOTS [Simply styled women’s swimsuits] is a completely new term to me. Looks like the swimsuit version is one-word. Googling it as two-words yields offers to buy mounds of unclaimed mail. I’d be happy to sell you my mail if you’re into that sort of thing. Hope you like flyers for obscure Off-Broadway shows.

Other than that, I made pretty much every “understandable” error that one can make. HER for SHE, GOO for GOB, etc. JESS Willard is a new name for me too. Also unfamiliar with jellyfish name MEDUSAS, and it’s not too often I’m thinking about POLECATS on a Monday!

Still, although I’m never exactly delighted to see words like ALEE, Mauna ___ (LOA this time) and the like, it seems like Crosswordese was minimal. And hey… newer solvers gotta learn that language sometime! Solid puzzles like today’s is a good opportunity to do so.

4 stars.

Mollie Cowger’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solution, 2/89/26 – Cowger

Is this Mollie Cowger’s first time bylining the tougher Monday themeless?

Fave fill: The Cajun HOLY TRINITY, THE DARK SIDE, NIGHTSHADE family of plants, ROSWELL. A bit of sparkle amid mostly plainer (but quite smooth) fill.

Three things:

• 53a. [Spend money gratuitously?], LEAVE A TIP. I like the clue.
• 3d. [Recreational space with a low barrier to entry?], PLAYPEN. Not hard to reach over the wall to plunk a baby into the playpen.
• 38d. [“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is  interred with their bones”: Shakespeare], OFT. Good quote.

3.75 stars from me.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1860 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1860 — 2/9/26 (Click to Embiggen)

I’ve got a dental appointment later this morning, and a bunch of errands to run afterwards, so I wasn’t in the mood to puzzle my way through unknown-to-me names and “could be almost anything” answers.

Stuff:

• 1A [Stand-up comic Kondabolu] HARI I watch almost no stand-up comedy and have no memory of ever hearing of this person.
• 15A [Winner of the Golden Ball in the 2015 Women’s World Cup] Carli LLOYD At least I’ve heard of her.
• 16A [It’s part of the Rial world] OMAN Cute clue. Too cute for Monday morning.
• 17A [Hardly a presence] JUST BARELY THERE As in “Just barely idiomatic enough for a crossword answer”?
• 21A [American Yorkshire cry] OINK So it’s a pig, not a dog. BARK just didn’t work.
• 35A [“You’ll Be Okay: My Life With Jack Kerouac” author Parker] EDIE I know who Kerouac was, but that wasn’t any help here.
• 39A [Some stock] CORPORATE SHARES No issues with the clue, but what a snoozer of a marquee answer.
• 47A [Who’s left?: Abbr.] DNC Cute clue. The Democrats are tre “left” only because the Republicans have gone so far out to the right.
• 48A [HVAC installation] DUCT I can’t think of ducts without thinking of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil.
• 50A [Neckpieces?] THROATS Nice misdirection.
• 1D [Umrah alternative] HAJ I know I’ve seen “umrah” before, but I had no memory of what it means today.
• 3D [SEA as in Seattle] IATA AIRPORT CODE Another rather ho-hum spanner, though maybe I’m just grumpy because I couldn’t remember the initials of the relevant organization (not surprisingly, the International Air Transport Association).
• 6D [“Sherlock” actress Pulver] LARA I enjoyed the show but don’t remember that name. She played Irene Adler in several episodes.
• 18D [Actor Sinatra nicknamed as “Mumbles”] Marlon BRANDO I missed the “as” and thought the clue wanted an actor whose surname was Sinatra and whose nickname was Mumbles.