LAT tk (pannonica) 
[3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:18 (Amy) 
[3.94 avg; 17 ratings] rate it
Universal 4:05 (Jim P) 
[3.10 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) 
[2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Rafael Musa & Rebecca Goldstein’s New York Times crossword — Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 3/20/26 – no. 0320
Two Fridays in a row with easyish NYT puzzles, always fun to blow through a puzzle in half the time of a Boswords Themeless League puzzle (those have been kicking my butt!).
Fave fill: The crossing 15s are both great, “JUST SO WE’RE CLEAR…” and SURPRISE PARTIES. Also nice: Wildlife GAME REFUGE (crossing domesticated animal RESCUES), GLUTEN-FREE, SATANISM with the clue [Philosophy of a devil’s advocate?], “GO EASY ON ME,” JACKPOTS, PUB TRIVIA, E-SCOOTERS, COSPLAY (… which I can’t help sometimes parsing as co-splay).
New to me but probably pretty darned old: 12D. [Dramatic outerwear for the theater], OPERA COAT. Would make opera gloves redundant, I suppose.
Newish name in the discourse: 5A. [Political commentator Piker], HASAN. I think he’s mainly a Twitch streamer rather than a writer? I’ve heard the name here and there but haven’t consumed his output myself. YouTube, Bluesky, newsletters, news websites, those are where I’m getting my commentary.
48D. [Pre-transformation self], OLD ME. Not entirely sure this gets as much use as the new me, but I guess it passes grid muster.
This clue in the same puzzle as SATANISM amuses me: 32A. [Giant Jesus]. Baseball player Jesus ALOU must’ve played for the San Francisco Giants.
4.25 stars from me.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal crossword, “Square Roots”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers appear in the grid as groups of circles in square shapes with each one spelling out a root vegetable. The title acts as revealer. Good luck to anyone trying to find them without circles in their grid. I’m going to leave the parenthetical hints in the clues below because that’s the only part that pertains to the theme, and also to show that they’re pretty silly (not in a good way).
Universal crossword solution · “Square Roots” · Zhouqin Burnikel · Fri., 3.20.26
- 15a. Impossible to interpret (Read eight letters clockwise, starting with letter five in this answer)]. INSCRUTABLE with RUT starting RUTABAGA.
- 28a. Microwave sound (Read four letters clockwise, starting with letter one in this answer)]. BEEP with BE starting BEET.
- 50a. Astronomer’s chart (Read four letters clockwise, starting with letter two in this answer)]. STARMAP with TA starting TARO.
- 53a. Rotates (Read eight letters clockwise, starting with letter one in this answer)]. TURNS with TUR starting TURMERIC.
Notwithstanding the square-counting silliness, nice theme. TIL turmeric is a root; I’ve only encountered it powdered in jars and never considered whence it came. If you use fresh turmeric root in your cooking, let us know in the comments how you use it and why.
There’s pretty much no attempt at grid symmetry, so finding the theme answers in a circle-less grid requires finding and using those parenthetical hints. But in Zhouqin’s professional hands, we get lots of fun long fill to enjoy along the way: INSCRUTABLE, ARBOR DAY, PARAKEETS, OPEN SPACE, GELATO BAR, LOST CITY, ALL FIRED UP, and ATHEISM. That’s a list that wouldn’t be out of place in a themeless puzzle, though some of those entries are used as parts of theme answers.
Clues of note:
- 61a. [Dad, in Chinese]. BABA. Neat to learn this though it was hampered by my erroneous answer to 33d.
- 33d. [Place selling Italian ice cream]. GELATO BAR. I rightly wanted GELATERIA which I deemed fit the clue better since a “bar” might just be a section within another establishment.
Good puzzle, professionally executed. 3.5 stars.
NYT 48D made me think of Old Me (New Wig) by Molly Tuttle, which has been a recent ear worm.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/old-me-new-wig/1813516732?i=1813516743
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
NYT: I’d say exactly the opposite: always annoying to blow through a (Friday) puzzle in half the time time of a Bosswords themeless. What’s the point of doing “hard” puzzles if they pose no challenge? I wish every puzzle could be a Bosswords themeless with the hardest clueing level. It always makes me feel really good/proud to finish under the 20 minute mark! If my failure rate isn’t significant, then there is nothing to make me feel accomplished when I succeed. Maybe I’m just a weirdo?
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
I couldn’t agree more.
(That the puzzle is too easy, not that you’re a weirdo. Though you may very well be one. And if so, bravo.)
I had enough challenges, as so often. I filled the smaller NW right away but then couldn’t break out at all. Eventually I got a fresh start with ALUM, winding down to the SE and around, finally to the center top.
I didn’t know HA _ AN, hadn’t seen HENNAS as a verb, was slow on the idea of “against the grain,” and had “sow” for COW, all getting in the way of the perfectly obvious SURPRISE PARTY. Still, I finished in faster than my usual time, so call it easy if you like. I found enough interesting vocabulary and trickery. Maybe didn’t want to know about NAENAE and OLSEN, and I didn’t think of “knock knock” or “rap rap” here and there as being MOO MOO, but can’t have everything.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Who decided that the New
York Times Friday crossword had to be Hard?
In my opinion, the Friday puzzle is a Themeless… period. Neither Hard or Easy.
It’s the Saturday crossword that’s supposed to be tough.
It’s supposed to be harder than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If you disagree, take it up with Will Shortz.
An easy, breezy themeless can be had each week from the New Yorker, whose Wednesday puzzles can be easier than a Monday NYT.
AVCX is a 5.
Great witty puzzle that gave me a fun workout.
BEQ and the (mostly male) constructors at TNY could learn a lot from this puzzle.
Yet another completely nonsense grid shape from Universal.
NYT. There were three Alou brothers, all of whom played for the San Francisco Giants in the early 60’s, Felipe, Matty and Jesus. They were all outfielders and at one point all three appeared in a game in the outfield for the Giants. I saved most of my childhood collections but I truly regret letting my baseball cards go.
NYT: I put REP in for “gym circuit” and had a real hard time getting away from it because I don’t speak Portuguese and don’t know famous British Engineer names off the top of my head. In hindsight both are easy and I get it but that was tricky for me to spot.
Made the same mistake on REP vs. LAP before I gave it a little more thought. I know a bit of Spanish, but always have to think twice about things like HOLA vs. OLA.