Thursday, February 19, 2026

BEQ 11:38 (Eric) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Fireball untimed (Jenni) [4.31 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
LAT 8:11 (Gareth) [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:40 (ZDL) [3.77 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
Universal 6:41 (Eric) [3.58 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:55 (Emily) [2.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ tk (Jim Q) [2.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it

Casey Callaghan and Will Nediger’s Fireball Crossword “Turnabout is Fair Play” – Jenni’s write-up

I came this close to figuring it out – or maybe not. Here’s Peter’s grid.

Fireball, February 18, 2026, Casey Callahan and Will Nediger, “Turnabout is Fair Play,” solution grid

I knew that 46d [“Big” business] had to be FAO {SCHWA}RZ and I figured the SCHWA had to be a rebus. That made no sense because of course what they wanted was the UPSIDE–DOWN symbol. Since I also didn’t put the ! in P!NK‘s name, I totally missed the trick.

I did get 37a [Foible…or what each component of 56-Across seems to have (but doesn’t)] which is CHARACTER FLAW. If only I had pondered that a bit more…I might have realized the whole thing was UPSIDE DOWN.

I also ignored 17a [How 56-Across should be written], LOWER–CASED. That might also have helped.

Definitely blazingly hard and well-constructed. Enthusiastic applause from me even though I had to admit defeat.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that Adidas and PUMA are headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany. I did actually know they were within walking distance of each other.

John Holmes’s Universal Crossword “I Need Space!” — Eric’s Review

John Holmes’s Universal Crossword “I Need Space!” — 2/19/26 (Click to Embiggen)

John Holmes appears to be making his crossword publishing debut in a venue covered by Diary of a Crossword Fiend. Congratulations!

Multisyllabic words get clued as if they’re two separate words:

• 17A [How a paddle is used at an auction house] FOR BIDDING
• 25A [Where you may find music stands] UNDER SCORES 
• 43A [How priests dress] IN VESTMENTS
• 58A [Where you may hear cover songs] AT TRIBUTES

I assume most readers of this blog have heard the crossword term DOOK — to misinterpret a two-word answer like “Do OK” as a single word. This themes takes that concept and upends it. I was reasonably amused by the reparsed words Mr. Holmes found for his theme; they’re all nice finds.

Other stuff:

• 4A [Poisonous atmosphere] MIASMA I was way too old when I learned the literal meaning  of that word. I guess I’d only ever seen it used in a figurative sense.
• 20A [Landmass that includes Latvia and Laos] EURASIA There’s lotsa love for alliteration in that clue.
• 63A [James or Jimmy] DEAN The former was a 1950s Method actor who made three movies (all pretty good) before dying at age 24 in an auto collision. The latter was country singer and TV host who later started a company that sold sausage. It helps sometimes to know the difference.
• 9D [“___ in the Outfield” (film featuring Anaheim’s baseball team)] ANGELS The 1994 movie sounds somewhat familiar, but if you know the name of Anaheim’s MLB team, it doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of the movie.
• 10D [“No worries!”] THAT’S OKAY Not THAT’S FINE.

John Ewbank’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Time: 6:40

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

John Ewbank’s New York Times crossword, 2/19/26, 0219

Today’s theme: LESSER OF TWO EVILS (Better choice, given the options … or the circled squares vis-à-vis the shaded ones?)

• CRUISIN FOR A BRUI(SIN)
• SING(S IN) THE SHOWER
• BUSINES(S IN)SIDER

Oversized grid to accommodate the 16x revealer, though still finished it in the fastest ~5% of my Thursday solves.  CRUISIN FOR A BRUISIN and LESSER OF TWO EVILS are fun phrases, so couple that with an accessible puzzle, and I think a lot of people will enjoy this one.

Cracking: let’s hear it once more for CRUISIN FOR A BRUISIN

Slacking: WHIRRS, because words ending in -IRR are an abomination

Sidetracking: Punxsutawney PHIL (yes, I know I’m 2 weeks late for the Groundhog Day puzzle)

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1863 “Top That” — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1863 “Top That” — 2/19/26 (Click to Embiggen)

I was hoping for a theme that would wow me. Instead, we get some so-so at best puns on “soft paste[s] that can be applied in a layer to bread or other food” (New Oxford American Dictionary):

• 17A [Measure up with a spread?] PASS MUSTARD Pass muster (“to be accepted as adequate or satisfactory“)
• 53A [Get back on the same page, as a spread?] PLAY KETCHUP Play catch-up
• 11D [Disruption with a spread?] MONKEY RANCH Monkey wrench
• 13D [With 48-Down, expression of joy over a spread?]/48D [See 13-Down] HOLY/MOLE Holy moly!
• 25D [Spread that “ain’t what she used to be”?] OLD GRAY MAYO Old gray mare, an American folk song from the 19th century.

I lost a bit of time with MONKEY WRENCH because the clue for 11A MPH is just wrong. [Tach measurement] led me to enter RPM, and I reluctantly switched to MPH when HOLY became inevitable.

The weakness of the puns is hardly mitigated by the questionability of ranch dressing and the Mexican sauce mole as “spreads.”

Other stuff:

• 

  Saturno Devorando a su Hijo, c. 1820–1823

  6A [Home of Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son”] Museo del PRADO I could sort of see the painting in my mind but I had no idea which museum owns it. Since Francisco Goya was Spanish, Madrid’s Prado seemed a good guess.

• 19A [Goose egg for the LA Galaxy] NIL I felt like there a greater-than-usual amount of sports in this grid, but this was a gimme as I know this is an association football team.
• 30A [Reinvested gambling stakes, say] PARLAYED I don’t gamble, but I’ve heard “parlay” before.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it is spelled differently than “parley” (“a conference between opposing sides in a dispute”). Since I had no idea on 22D [Actress Amurri] EVA, I ended up revealing the incorrect letter when everything seemed to be spelled correctly. (It turns out I have seen Ms Amurri, when she played 9-year-old Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking (1995).)
• 42A [Container for a piece of jewelry, perhaps] SMALL BOX Painted green, no doubt.
• 50A [Swimmer Ledecky] KATIE OK, that’s sports that by now is a gimme.
• 59A [Premier League commentator Robbie] EARLE More association football!
• 6D [“Look at me”] PSSST Why stop at three esses?
• 7D [“Way Cool Jr.” hari metal band] RATT I’m not a heavy metal fan, but I recognize that band’s name. The typo in the clue slowed me down, though, because I thought there might be a subgenre I hadn’t heard of.
• 27D [Showtime athlete in the ’80s] Los Angeles LAKER (Basketball!) Per Wikipedia, the period from 1979–1991 was when the Lakers “played an exciting run-and-gun style . . . [, led] by Magic Johnson’s passing skills and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring.”
• 31D [Bonus tracks?] ENCORE This clue’s attempted cleverness doesn’t work for me; in my mind, an encore is part of a musical performance whereas tracks are part of a musical recording.
• 37D [Songwriter who won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature] BOB DYLAN An absolute gimme.
• 41D [Failed beverage with a nacho chip flavoring] DEWITOS Am I the only one who thinks combining the tastes of Mountain Dew and Doritos sounds disgusting?
• 50D [Slugger Schwarber] KYLE And now a little baseball!

Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword, “Prime Cuts” — Emily’s write-up

What’ll it be?

USA Today, February 19, 2026, “Prime Cuts” by Zhouqin Burnikel

Theme: each themer is a grade of beef, split in different parts

Themers:

• 16a. [Person the cause mischief with], PARTNERINCRIME
• 25a. [Church offering that includes singing], CHORALSERVICE
• 49a. [Incoming Capitol Hill figure], SENATORELECT
• 63a. [Bite-size cuts of meant, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme], BEEFTIPS

Another themer set filled with variety: PARTNERINCRIME, CHORALSERVICE, and SENATORELECT. This theme is making me hungry! We get PRIME, CHOICE, and SELECT. The revealer, just beneath the third themer, is BEEFTIPS.

Favorite fill: KEENEYE, and AESOP

Stumpers: DRAKE (needed crossings) and SKYE (new to me)

A great puzzle with nive flow and fun fill and cluing. As a bonus to the theme, SKEWER also crosses both of the first too themers–a playful addition to fit in!

4.25 stars

~Emily

Alisya Reza & Shannon Rapp’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s theme summary

Alisya Reza & Shannon Rapp’s puzzle theme is delightful on a couple of levels. The 16-letter DOUBLEEDGEDSWORD is a perfect final entry, and managing to find three swords that work and not be EPEE is impressive. Each is spelt out in the left and rightmost parts of the entries. I was also impressed that one of the three entries is one of the biggest new popstars of the decade, and another is a neologism I use pretty often working at an animal shelter…

• [“Espresso” singer], SABRINACARPENTER. SABER
• [Taking time off from school?], CUTTINGCLASS. CUTLASS
• [Pet adoption that wasn’t planned?], FOSTERFAIL

I don’t think [Do a virtual interview, say], EMEET is really a word?

Gareth