Sunday, February 15, 2026

LAT 7:25 (Kyle) [1.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 19:10 (Eric) [3.56 avg; 18 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal (Sunday) 9:50 (Jim P) [3.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WaPo 6:38 (Matt G) [3.40 avg; 5 ratings] rate it

Michael Lieberman and Rebecca Goldstein’s New York Times Crossword “Good to the Last Drop” — Eric’s Review

“Good to the last drop” was an advertising slogan for some brand of coffee (and maybe it still is; I avoid ads as much as I can). I was somewhat surprised that the slogan was irrelevant to the puzzle’s theme. Instead, we get Across answers whose ends drop off in a Down answer to reach completion:

• 24A [Completely destroy with a blast] BLOW TO SMITHERE/12D [Many middle schoolers] TWEENS  BLOW TO SMITHEREENS
• 27A [Gaia, by another name] MOTHER E/23D [Shortage] DEARTH MOTHER EARTH
• 40A [Version of a textbook designed for instruction] TEACHER E/35D [Conduct inciting an insurrection] SEDITION TEACHER EDITION
• 73A [“Things are only going to get worse” … or a hint to answering the seven italicized clues in this puzzle] IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE I haven’t been watching the Olympics, but from the stories I’ve seen in the newspaper, I know there’s curling, figure skating, snowboard cross .  . . it’s not “all downhill.”
• 93A [Delicate, as beauty] ETHERE/89D [Deck out?] DEAL ETHEREAL Nice misdirection with the clue for DEAL.
• 96A [Photo-editing technique used to create a smooth transition] FEATHER E/91D [Shoe with a thick sole] WEDGE FEATHER EDGE I’d not heard of that effect and lost some time trying “smoother” and “softer.”
• 123A [In back] AT THERE/115D [Bicyclist’s setting] GEAR AT THE REAR
• 125A [“Wait, are we done?”] IS THAT ALL THERE/122D [Dos + cuatro] SEIS IS THAT ALL THERE IS One has to admire the self-confidence required to make something like that the final theme answer.

This isn’t a bad idea for a theme, by any means, but veteran solvers will have seen similar tricks before. I generally don’t like answers that appear as gibberish or misspellings, like ETHERE.

The italicized theme clues made it obvious something fishy was going on even before I reached the revealer, and I saw the dropping down at MOTHER EARTH. My less-than-stellar solving time is in part attributable to the 22 X 21 grid and in part to a typo in 134A RADS.

Other stuff:

• 20A [Mouthy?] ORAL Cute.
• 28A [Something typically taken every 10 years] CENSUS Does the fact that my first thought was “colonoscopy” make me an asshole?
• 38A [“Rhoda” actress Valerie] HARPER That was a gimme for me, but I wonder how many people who weren’t around in the 1970s remember that Mary Tyler Moore Show spin0ff.
• 70A [Grilled South American fare] AREPA I already had the R from 60D TRIB and thought AREPA might work, but I don’t know enough about them to know whether they are typically grilled.
• 102A [Middle-of-the-night woe] INSOMNIA I’ve had many nights in the past few months where I’ve not slept well. I blame those for my slowness in getting this answer.
• 18D [Fashion designer Carolina] HERRERA Maybe I’ve seen that name before?
• 42D [Where jet-setters may rub elbows] ARMRESTS Cute.
• 94D [Small songbird] TOMTIT I see that word in Spelling Bee a lot.

Washington Post’s Washington Post Crossword “What Goes Up Must Come Down” — Matt’s Review

Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword solution, “What Goes Up Must Come Down,” 2/15/2026

Two things jump out quickly in this week’s puzzle, “What Goes Up Must Come Down.” First, a handful of circles are arranged in a roughly parabolic shape. Second, the longest entries, likely our themers, are arranged vertically rather than in the acrosses. Checking them out left-to-right, as well as a revealer near the bottom:

• 68d [*Sound effect heard in the Thin Lizzy song “Jailbreak”] POLICE SIREN
• 4d [*Quality that’s subject to bias in surveys, where respondents answer questions in a way that they believe will be viewed favorably by others] SOCIAL DESIRABILITY
• 7d [*”Sure, haven’t forgotten about that”] YES I REMEMBER IT
• 11d [**”When every other option has been exhausted …”] IF ALL ELSE FAILS
• 14d [**Lines on a flag?] PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
• 72d [**Comedian who joked on his talk show, “Thank you, peer pressure, for being totally not cool. Unless my friends think it’s cool, then it’s pretty cool, I guess”] JIMMY FALLON
• 119a [Trajectory of this puzzle’s circled subject … or, the four-letter words either spelled upward in the starred entries or downward in the double-starred entries] RISE AND FALL

With a complete grid, we can see that the circled letters (from left-to-right) contain ICARUS rising and the same falling, and each themer indeed either has ESIR or FALL hidden within. [Lines on a flag?] for PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was a particular highlight.

Other highlights: ANNEALED is a word I’m often trying to cram into puzzles, because the letters are so friendly, only to find I only have six squares and the answer is INURED or something. So it was nice to see it here // I had some trouble parsing [Fizzy cocktail liquor]. It’s not that SLOE GIN is fizzy, but that a notable drink using it, the Sloe Gin Fizz, is // Appreciate the “Six” angle for Anne BOLEYN. It’s a fun show, if you get the chance 

Cheers! 

LA Times solution grid “GIFT IDEAS” – Tom Pepper & Zhouqin Burnikel – Sunday 02/15/2026

The duo of Tom Pepper and Zhouqin Burnikel treat us to this week’s Sunday LA Times puzzle. Thanks Tom and Zhouqin!

The theme suggests literal interpretations of various types of gifts:

• 22A [Shower gift?] RAIN JACKET
• 24A [Money gift?] BREAD DOUGH
• 30A [Housewarming gift?] SPACE HEATER
• 54A [Seasonal gift?] SPICE GRINDER
• 68A [Thank-you gift?] GRATITUDE JOURNALS. A bit awkward to have a plural answer here, likely out of necessity to fit symmetrically in the center row
• 85A [Cheap gift?] PENNY LOAFERS
• 105A [Parting gift?] RATTAIL COMB
• 116A [Wedding gift?] RING BINDER
• 119A [Group gift?] BAND T-SHIRT

The theme concept is playful and inventive. That said, I think there are a couple inconsistencies to this execution. Some thematic clues refer to a specific occasion (e.g. shower, wedding, new home) while others are more generic (e.g. money, cheap, group). The relationship between the thematic clues and their answers also feels a bit loose. Some clues seek a re-interpretation of the word modifying “gift”: you get a rain jacket for bad weather in a shower, you get a space heater for literally warming your house, etc. In others, the wordplay occurs in the answer, like getting a ring binder for a wedding, or penny loafers being a cheap gift. So, to me at least, the theme set doesn’t quite achieve a satisfying unity.

Notes on fill and clues:

• 38D: I’m always here for a NEW ENGLAND clam chowder.
• 48D: I like that the rhyming [“Later, gator!”] clues the alliterative “ADIOS AMIGO!”
• 19A: This clue refers to K-pop girl group Red Velvet.
• 122A: CATE Blanchett won Oscars for The Aviator (Best Supporting Actress, 2004) and Blue Jasmine (Best Actress, 2013). Flying home from a recent work trip, I watched her incredible performance as an orchestra conductor in Tár.
• 100D [[We’re sheep!]] is a cute clue for “BAA, BAA”

Dylan Schiff’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Right Out of the Blue”—Jim P’s review

Theme answers come in pairs with a vertical entry hiding a shade of blue and a crossing entry that has RIGHT in the clue. The title serves as the revealer.

Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Right Out of the Blue” · Dylan Schiff · 2.15.26

• 3d. [Tech for a road trip] / 26a. [“RIGHT now!”] NAV SYSTEM / STAT.
• 15d. [Bordeaux wine estate] / 47a. [DownRIGHT] CHÂTEAU LATOUR / UTTER.
• 27d. [Flamboyant dressers] / 57a. [“Yeah, RIGHT!”] FANCY DANS / “DOUBT IT.”
• 37d. [“We must understand the full situation”] / 101a. [RIGHT-minded] “CONTEXT IS KEY” / ETHICAL.
• 72d. [Felt uneasy] / 83a. [___ Do-RIGHT (toon)] HAD QUALMS / DUDLEY.
• 81d. [Discovering] / 112a. [Number of degrees in a RIGHT angle] FINDING OUT / NINETY.

This one wasn’t for me. With the title as it is, I would expect synonyms of “right” to come out of the blue entries. I should think there are plenty of possibilities with “correct,” “just,” “fair,” to name a few. But instead we get entries that are once removed with some having tenuous connections to the actual word. I guess it’s the looseness of that part of the theme that gives me pause. How many other clues in the grid can you force RIGHT into?

On top of that, the sheer lack of any attempt at symmetry irks me as well. The grid is visually unappealing.

There’s some good fill though such as REFINED PALATE, GERANIUM, VW BEETLE, BABYSAT, and WHAMMY. However, I finished the grid in the SE with PALTRIER and GREYNESS which made for a rather lackluster ending.

I’ve never encountered LABNEH [Middle Eastern yogurt dip], but I’m happy to learn about it. Per Google AI: “Labneh is essentially ultra-strained Greek yogurt, making it much thicker (closer to cream cheese), richer, and often saltier, while Greek yogurt is strained less, resulting in a lighter, silkier texture, though both are strained to remove whey.”

Clues of note:

• 34a. [Soapmaking ingredient]. LYE. Today I learned that while LYE is used to make soap, it completely reacts with oils to undergo a transformation with the end result that there is no corrosive LYE in the final product. That’s why you can use regular dish soaps to clean your cast iron pans.
• 6d. [Like almonds and Gruyere]. NUTTY. In case you didn’t know, almonds are not nuts, but the seed of a fruit produced by the almond tree. Other not-true-nuts are walnuts, pistachios, pecans, and cashews.

Two stars from me.