AV Club 4:26 (Amy) 
[3.25 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 4:41 (Gareth) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:43 (Amy) [3.46 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 4:36 (Jim Q) [3.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.56 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:00 (Emily) 
[3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ untimed (Eric) [3.25 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
John Guzzetta’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 3/11/26 – no. 0311
I like this theme. SERENDIPITY is a wonderful word and here it’s the revealer: 56A. [Happy chance, as illustrated by the four invention stories at 17-, 24-, 36- and 44-Across]. Those scientific breakthroughs came about by serendipitous happenings: the invention of POST-IT NOTES (guy was trying to create a strong adhesive and wound up with a remove-and-reuse sort instead), discovery of PENICILLIN (fungal contamination of a PETRI dish with bacteria in it killed said bacteria), the invention of the MICROWAVE OVEN (must’ve been much meltier than the typical chocolate bar in a pocket), and … there’s some dispute about who actually created SILLY PUTTY.
I’m wondering whether I’d like the puzzle better with one fewer theme entry. Been a good long while since I’ve noticed crosswordese TUN in a grid, and I’m not keen on UN REP, CONTE, or STRIPY as an entry. Zap the microwave, loosen up the grid?
Fave fill: MESSIANIC, DETECTIVE.
Neat clue for CHINESE: 39A. [Language in which “computer” is made up of the characters for “electric” and “brain”].
Four stars from me.
Kiran Pandey’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Outer Extremes” — Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, “Outer Extremes” – 3/11/26 – Pandey
This 14×15 puzzle puts START WITH A BANG and END ON A HIGH NOTE in the midsection of the puzzle, and the first and last Across answers follow those instructions with an unclued KABLOOEY and FALSETTO. Fun!
Fave fill: GREEN TEA, BOND FILM, GAELIC, LION’S DEN, WICCAN, BAD DEBTS.
Three more things:
- 46d. [“Moonlight” actor Harris], NAOMIE. I still have to see this movie! I did finally watch the heavily Oscar-nominated Sinners as well as Dr. Strangelove, so I’ll get there.
- 30a. [Silverfish or goldbug], INSECT. I always have to double-check that the silverfish is an insect. It has appendages beyond the six legs, including a pair of cerci, so it’s giving centipede, as Gen Z might put it.
- 11a. [“Are Prisons Obsolete?” author Davis], ANGELA. Accidentally entered ANGELA at 12d and then the crossings eventually nudged her over to 11d. That would be a mess if I were solving in pen rather than online, so whew.
4.25 stars from me.
David Poole’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “For Openers” — Eric’s Review
David Poole’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “For Openers” — 3/11/26 (Click to Embiggen)
Four pairs of answers have circled letters at one end:
- 17A [ Kings’ home] SACRAMENTO/19A [“Three Sisters” sister] OLGA
- 28A [Scholastic output] KIDLIT/30A [Site with gates] TERMINAL
- 35A [Mobile setting] ALABAMA/39A [“Leave that to me!”] I’LL DO IT
- 46A [Mark Twain’s boyhood home] HANNIBAL/49A [State games] LOTTOS
- 64A [Shipping department devices, and what four black squares in this grid serve as] BOX CUTTERS The black squares “cut” the boxes found in the circled letters: TOOL, LITTER, MAIL and BALLOT.
It’s a solid theme. I like that the four boxes are all very different types of things, with only the last two having much in common in that they hold papers.
Other stuff:
- 59A [Baseball’s Bonifácio and Pagán] EMILIOS I wasn’t familiar with either name.
- 8D [Texas politico O’Rourke] BETO I lived in Texas when O’Rourke ran for U.S. Senate (2018), president (2019) and governor (2022). A gimme for me
- 46D [Oscar-nominated 2025 Chloé Zhao drama] HAMNET I don’t remember seeing that in another puzzle.
- 49D [Gulliver’s first name] LEMUEL I read Gulliver’s Travels in high school — so long ago that’s I’d forgotten “Gulliver” was not his first name.
Robyn Weintraub’s New Yorker crossword — Jim Q’s write-up
New Yorker • 3/11/26 • Wed • Robyn Weintraub • solution • 20260311
HIGHLIGHTS:
- [Tiny sweet treat that might say “Kiss Me” or “Be Mine”] CANDY HEART. Cuz nothing says “I Love You” more than a sentimental Tums.
- [Floor coverings that add decorative interest] ACCENT RUGS. The dude abides…
- [“Aha–now that makes sense”] OH, I GET IT! I had OH, I SEE IT first.
- [Cold War-era rivalry in which the launch of Sputnik was a major milestone] SPACE RACE. Longer rhyming entries are always a plus.
- [Common locations for first piercings] LOBES. Had NOSES. Shoulda realized… LOBES are indeed gateway piercings. Follow by NOSES. Then it’s al downhill from there. I have an addictive personality. That’s why I have no piercings. Otherwise I’d be holier than Mother Teresa.
- [Something stowed under a
seat or in an overhead compartment] CARRY-ON BAG. - [“Want me to elaborate?”] ANY QUESTIONS? Can’t hear this without picturing Tom Hanks as David Pumpkins in that SNL skit that I hate to love.
- [Man-eating monster] OGRE. Wait… Shrek eats people???
- [Brunch servings that have a schmear of cream cheese between their two main ingredients] BAGELS AND LOX. The two pair well, obvi, but I never thought of this as an in-language phrase any more than, say, BANANAS AND CEREAL. Does it have the same colloquial status as a phrase like MILK AND COOKIES?
- [Post-meal fresheners] BREATH MINTS. Always a joy to enter a long entry in confidently with no help.
Felt like a little more crosswordy shorter fill than normal, but nothing damning. We’re just so spoiled with New Yorker squeaky clean grids that partials like I CAN stick out a bit more.
Jess Rucks & Jess Shulman’s USA Today Crossword, “Common Phrases” — Emily’s write-up
You’ve got this!
USA Today, March 11, 2026, “Common Phrases” by Jess Rucks & Jess Shulman
Theme: each themer is a well-known (i.e. “common”)
Themers:
- 20a. [“I’m happy to see them gone!”], GOODRIDDANCE
- 37a. [Potential for improvement], ROOMTOGROW
- 56a. [What comedians hope audiences have], SENSEOFHUMOR
A playful themer set in which the entirety is part of the theme. GOODRIDDANCE was an insta-fill for me but I needed a few crossings for ROOMTOGROW and SENSEOFHUMOR. Given the cluing though, I wouldn’t be surprised if some solvers filled them all right away.
Favorite fill: BLOOPERREEL, TANG, and KISMET
Stumpers: SUGARHIGH (“sugar rush” came to me first), LIKMAID (needed crossings–it’s been a long time since I’d enjoyed a Fun Dip), and NINO (new to me)
This gorgeous grid was a delight to solve and had a nice flow. Lots of fun fill and great cluing too.
4.0 stars
~Emily
Joe Marangell’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s theme summary
Joe Marangell’s puzzle features a these-days rare implicit theme, offering four long across answers that start with heterographs. I finished with the first one, and had to pause to realise it was three words not too, not having heard of it at all. So:
- [Olympic National Park attraction], SOL/DUCFALLS
- [Owner without a partner], SOLE/PROPRIETOR
- [Benson Lee coming-of-age film set in South Korea], SEOULSEARCHING
- [Goatee alternatives], SOULPATCHES
Gareth
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1.5 stars
Not a fan of list puzzles. Have never heard of TUN, and it’s crossing the revealer at a point where many people might be unsure about the spelling of SERENDIPITY (myself included).
NYT: Played more like a Monday than a Wednesday for me. I liked the theme – all of the “discovery” stories were familiar except the MICROWAVE OVEN. STRIPY, TUN and CONTE were weak, but I never actually saw CONTE – it got filled from crosses.
In all fairness, most puzzles play like a Monday for you, and I can only admire that. But seemed typical to me.
I liked the discovery stories, some learned, and TUN doesn’t bother me at all. It may not spring to mind, but it’s by the same token not crosswordese and maybe worth learning. CONTE I admit I know mostly because of “Contes de la Fontaine,” otherwise (in French) Fables de la Fontaine, but at least his fairy tales are big in the history of French lit, if a bit obscure to us. OTOH, I was going to say that STRIPY is just awful, but maybe not: it’s in both RHUD and MW online.
NYT: super fast; got a PR, and finished faster than yesterday.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4.5 stars
Came today to celebrate this very clever puzzle – tying together two theme answers on the same row four times, and leaving the rest of the fill in pretty decent shape seems like no small feat! The theme presented a nice challenge that clarified over the course of completing things, and went from slowing me down to letting me double check my work. Cool beans Marc Goldstein.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 3 stars
what is today’s theme for the Universal puzzle (3/11/2026)?
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4 stars
A spelled-out number such as SEVEN is removed from one side and added to the other horizontal side in a given row.
A very clever puzzle!
The themers come in pairs – e.g., WEIGHTIEST and BALL. You “take a number” (per the puzzle’s title) from the first word and add it to the second. So WEIGHTIEST becomes Dianne WIEST and BALL becomes “Behind the” EIGHT BALL. Similarly, ANTENNA -> ANNA Wintour and DOWNING -> TEN DOWNING Street.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
I read the story of Sir Alexander Fleming when I was a kid in Damascus. I learned a lot from it, especially about the power of observation and how to reinterpret failure in research in terms of opportunity. To my mind, these are not examples of pure SERENDIPITY, but of a trained and open mind that can turn what others would consider failure into a success.
I love that they are things that people, especially kids, hear about.
When I was in business and when I taught a few years I told the people who worked with me and my students that I learned more when I was wrong than when I was right. That if you recognize an outcome you didn’t expect it’s important to determine if it the result of a bad decision, bad execution, or some uncontrollable external source. I tried to very, very rarely attribute it to the third cause.
I did tell them I tried not to learn too much on any given day, though
When I was working my way through Oxford as a lap dancer I taught my professors about oh wait, is this about me or the puzzle?
I’d say you’ve told us a lot about you
“Georgina,” you’ve worn out your welcome here.
And your “lap dancer” inclusion confirms that you’re a dude posting comments under a fake name and gender.
The New Yorker puzzle has OCEAN in a clue and in an answer. Is that sloppy editing? Rex Parker frequently complains about this. Though he frequently complains in general, so who knows?
Will Shortz is of the view that such a dupe is a flaw only if the clue is likely to telegraph the answer of the unrelated entry. Many editors agree; others consider any duplication inelegant.
Danny Ocean’s last name is pretty far removed from OCEAN LINER, so I doubt a solve will be spoiled by it. The “any dupe is wrong” approach can be problematic. What happens if THE is an entry? Either as an article or a French beverage.
Thank you! The prohibition does seem somewhat arbitrary.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4.5 stars
Very creative puzzle with very little cheap fill.