AV Club 8:18 (Amy) 
[3.40 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
LAT tk (Gareth) 
[2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:46 (Amy) [3.58 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Jim Q) 
[4.07 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) 
[3.08 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
USA Today 7:29 (Emily) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 8:54 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Karen Steinberg’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “It’s Confidential!”
Karen Steinberg’s Wall Street Journal Crossword — 3/18/26 (Click to Embiggen)
Pretty basic stuff here: Pick a commonly-known phrase/compound noun that contains a synonym for “inside,” find some phrases that contain letters the other part of your revealer, and build your puzzle:
- 16A [Turn-of-the-century muckraker] IDA TARBELL A name worth knowing. I should probably read her 1904 The History of the Standard Oil Company. It’s not as if the influence oil companies have in our society has lessened much in the last century.
- 23A [Had a connection] KNEW SOMEONE
- 36A [Savanna regions of Africa] SERENGETI PLAINS I lost a little time here trying to spell “Serengeti” better with two T’s. I should know better.
- 46A [Benched] OUT OF ACTION
- 57A [Details that those with privileged access have, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme] INSIDE INFO
Frequent puzzle solvers will have seen themes like this many times before. The trick to pulling them off is to find colorful phrases that contain words relevant to the theme. I like the ones here. And I like that the “info” is in consecutive letters that are in different words.
Other stuff:
- 6A [What tofu might replace] BEEF Not MEAT.
- 14A [Capital that’s the site of the Akershus Fortress] OSLO A lot of place names in clues for Oslo just sound Norwegian. This one doesn’t, at least not to me. Surely there’s a dieresis missing in that clue? The O with the slash through it (whatever that’s called)?
18A [Fish market emanation] ODOR At least the clue isn’t “Fish market funk.” (You’re welcome, pannonica.)- 40A [Cane ___ (Italian dog breed)] CORSO I’m not much of a dog person and don’t recognize that name. I tried a Z first because 24D [Doohickey] could easily have been WHATZIT.
- 42A [Crunch target] GUT Not ABS.
- 43A [Dutch financial giant] ING I can picture that company’s logo – a blue lion’s head on a white background — but I perpetually forget whether it’s ING or IGN. (I’d have no such problem if the clue had been “Three most annoying letters in a New York Times Spelling Bee.)
- 53A [Evidence of a cold case?] SNIFFLE Not SHIVER.
- 60A [Navy jet retired in 1970] F-TEN I object to this one because (a) the Douglas F3D Skyknight was known as an F-10 and (b) even by my standards, 1970 was a long time ago. Time to delete that from your word lists, constructors!
- 6D [He played Maynard G. Krebs] BOB DENVER Speaking of “Past its sell-by date”: The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis has been off the air since 1963. I know Denver mostly from Gilligan’s Island and could picture his face, but I couldn’t call up his name until I had the N.
- 9D [What ghosters don’t do] FOLLOW UP Not TEXT BACK.
- 10D [Help for catching some waves] RADIO Nice clue. I went surfing, did you?
Adam Vincent’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 3/18/26 – no. 0318
What a subtle theme hiding out in the grab bag of theme entries! BINGO is the revealer, and if you read the themers aloud, you’ll hear “B-2,” “B-9,” “B-1,” B-10,” and “B-4” in RUBY TUESDAY, BENIGNLY, THAT’D BE WONDERFUL, UNBEATEN, and BABY FORMULA. BENIGNLY is meh but the others have zing.
Fave fill: NYMPH, QUIRK, NEAT FREAKS, HOT POT, BOW OUT, and the languid LANGUOROUS. Am I the only one thinking of sloths because of LANGUOROUS?
New to me: 9D. [Pulitzer-winning “Fat Ham” playwright], I. JAMES? It’s James Ijames, not a surname I’m familiar with. He won a 2022 Pulitzer and Fat Ham is an adaptation of Hamlet.
Four stars from me.
Will Nediger’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Past Progressive”—Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 3/18/26 – “Past Progressive” – Nediger
79a. [Post-secondary schooling … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme?] clues HIGHER ED, and in the theme entries, a past tense -ED moves higher in the Down entries to change the wording in familiar phrases:
- “You must be thrilled” becomes YOU MUST BE THE DRILL, [Words from a dentist to a new package that just arrived at their office?].
- “Dyed in the wool” turns into EDDY IN THE WOOL, [Result of flushing bits of a sweater down the toilet?]. Wouldn’t that be wool in the eddy, though?
- “Zonked out” becomes ZEDONK OUT, [“The hybrid equine has escaped from the zoo!”?]. Gotta love a zedonk shout-out.
- “Rocked the boat” is shifted to REDOCK THE BOAT, [Tie up at a harbor yet again?]. REDOCK, meh.
- “Blessed are the meek,” BEDLESS ARE THE MEEK, [“If you’re too shy to talk to a mattress salesperson, you’re going to end up sleeping on the floor”?].
I give the theme a B-, with the reversed EDDY IN THE WOOL and REDOCK.
ALOO BALL was new to me so I googled “aloo ball” chicago. Google pointed me towards a place in Mississauga, Ontario that serves aloo balls. Will, have you been to Kalypso Hut? Not so sure the aloo ball is widely dispersed.
Fave fill: SHEESH, MUDBATH, Ijeoma OLUO (I think I’ve bought two of her books), SHAZAM, HIJABI, DAP UP (bump fists in greeting), IMPROV.
3.5 stars from me.
Luke Schreiber’s USA Today Crossword, “USS Midway” — Emily’s write-up
All aboard!
USA Today, March 18, 2026, “USS Midway” by Luke Schreiber
Theme: each themer contains –USS– in the middle (i.e. “midway”)
Themers:
- 20a. [Bosy’s communication network], NERVOUSSYSTEM
- 38a. [Twisted figure that only has one side], MOBIUSSTRIP
- 57a. [Shops that sell excess inventory], SURPLUSSTORE
A variety of themers in today’s set with: NERVOUSSYSTEM, MOBIUSSTRIP, and SURPLUSSTORE. While the first was an insta-fill for me, I needed crossings for the second and third. The title hint was particularly apt today!
Favorite fill: YUCCA, SORKIN, TRIOS, and REN
Stumpers: DRUMPLOOP (new to me) and TAKEME (needed crossings)
A smooth solve today! Lots of great, fresh fill and lengthy bonus fill. Enjoyed the grid design too.
4.0 stars
~Emily
NYT: Theme might have worked for a Thursday. Maybe, kinda, sorta – or not. Guess I have no sense of humor tonight.
Took me forever to finish the NYT. I had trouble seeing the theme, and put in GENIALLY instead of BENIGNLY. Then I figured 16D must be LANGUOROUSLY, except I wasn’t convinced that was the right spelling. And the crossing of COVENS/CTA eluded me. By the time I pieced it all together I hardly cared about the theme.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
The NE corner was really tough for me. The CTA “L” train eluded me and COVENS is not a word I use on a regular basis. Neither is TOOTLE
I got beat by that sector, too, largely from entering the same, GENIALLY. I also scratched my head at the definition of TUTU, even when entered. I did have CTA as a gimme, since it was in a recent puzzle (not that I’d never heard of it before) and since I know Shortz likes to go for national appeal rather than imply that the L train is something that crosses portions of NYC for the MTA. And I know that Amy calls NYC references badly obscure.
I never did manage to find the hidden terms. I didn’t think of pronouncing, and since when are BE and BY the same sound? I have no idea what the five Bingo squares add up to, maybe BINGO? I have played in my life (maybe once or twice childhood) but not often, so wouldn’t have access to a board.
In bingo, your card has randomized numbers in five B-I-N-G-O columns. The caller calls out randomly selected numbers to be marked off on bingo cards, and the first player who gets 5 in a row (down, across, or diagonal) wins. B1-15, I16-30, N31-45, G46-60, O61-75, I believe.
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 3.5 stars
Again the Universal’s theme is an unknown to me. Is there a defined resolution to today’s puzzle?
I don’t know if the “exchange” part of the title means anything, but each of the theme answers is a “four-n” (foreign) entry.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
“BENIGNLY is meh but the others have zing.”
BENIGNLY just doesn’t work. If you pronounce “benign” with a long E, you’re mispronouncing it.
Other than that, it’s a good puzzle.
Huh? How do you propose we pronounce it?
Brings back memories of one of my favorite drag performers calling out bingo: “To date Michael Jackson, you must …”
Like many others, I expect, I solved this one pretty much as a themeless. But it was fun at the end to unravel the thread tying the theme answers together.
This rings true for me too. I say benign either with a short e or even a short i sound. Never a long e. But maybe that’s regional?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
+1
Puzzle: WSJ; Rating: 4.5 stars
Really enjoyed Ms. Steinberg’s work today, but then I usually do. Interesting theme entries, and very elegant fill.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Tough puzzle for me even after I figured out the gimmick.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT: I never thought through the theme, but I blame myself because it was right there at 66a. I did enjoy this puzzle, and seeing the theme after the fact. I thought there was a lot of pleasurable and gettable wordplay, just right for Wednesday. It’s true that the theme answers don’t all sound out perfectly. Besides BE[E]NIGNLY, there’s also UNBEATEN. The last syllable there is not pronounced “TEN” but with a schwa. And my husband doesn’t pronounce the first syllable of TUEsday the same as “two” (although I do). He says “Tyoozday.” Never mind, close enough for me. Sorry not to give examples of the wordplay I enjoyed. OK, here’s one. In clue 23a, “Summer camp craft,” I thought it must be something like lanyards, but “craft” had another meaning.