Wednesday, March 25, 2025

AV Club 5:47 (Amy) [3.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 4:55 (Gareth) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:58 (Amy) [2.74 avg; 19 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:30 (Jim Q) [3.50 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [2.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:31 (Emily) rate it
WSJ 7:04 (Eric) [3.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Loren Kristan Mell’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Lies!” — Eric’s Review

Congratulations to Loren Kristan Mell, who appears be making her crossword debut in a publication regularly covered by Fiend!

Loren Kristan Mell’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Lies!” — 3/25/26 (Click to Embiggen)

It’s a fairly standard theme, with circled letters in paired answers that are explained by an apt revealer:

• 17A [Altered, as a digital image’s resolution] RESAMPLED/19A [Columbus’s birthplace] GENOA Pledge
• 23A [Chip ingredient] SILICON/25A [Caterpillar product] TRACTOR Contract I like that TRACTOR isn’t clued to John Deere because “Caterpillar” makes the clue just a little harder.
• 36A [Unfulfilled agreement, and what you’ll find in each set of circles] BROKEN PROMISE
• 50A [Colombian president Petro] GUSTAVO /52A [Bill holders] WALLETS Avowal When I saw the clue for 50A, I thought that maybe this time the theme might help me get an unknown answer. But it turned out to be fairly gettable just from the letter pattern.
• 57A [Wiccan gathering] COVEN/60A [Preceded] ANTEDATED Covenant

I’m not sure a “lie” and a “broken promise” are all that equivalent, but that’s a minor point. The paired answers containing the theme are relatively interesting, and there’s fill like FLAMINGO and ITALIANO that I haven’t seen too often.

Other stuff:

• 16A [Achievements for Whoopi Goldberg and Steven Spielberg] EGOTS My mental list of the people who’ve achieved that show business coup didn’t include Spielberg because I couldn’t think of a Broadway show he was associated with. He coproduced the show A Strange Loop, which won Best Musical in 2022. I don’t recognize that title, but I have never paid a lot of attention to Broadway or the Tonys.
• 30A [Free, as an ox] UNYOKE That’s a rare-in-crossword word that should maybe stay rare.
• 67A [English scientist who coined the biological term “cell”] Robert HOOKE That probably should’ve been a gimme, and maybe once was. Hooke lived from 1635–1703 and was made many varied scientific discoveries.
• 1D [Dickens’s Spenlow and Nickelodeon’s Márquez] DORAS I’m not crazy about pluralized given names as fill, but that’s probably just me. Spenlow is David’s wife in David Copperfield; Márquez is unsurprisingly the title character in Dora the Explorer.
• 2D [Like vinegar] ACETIC Not ACIDIC.

Jeff Stillman’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 3/25/26 – no. 0325

The theme here is sequels, specifically the subtitles of various Part II movies (with the grid art in the middle being a big Roman numeral II). FREDDY’S REVENGE actually used the Arabic numeral 2. Mamma Mia: HERE WE GO AGAIN! has no number. Home Alone 2: LOST IN NEW YORK goes Arabic, as does Sister Act 2: BACK IN THE HABIT. Yes, they’re all the second movie in a franchise, but couldn’t we have had at least one where the official title includes a Roman numeral?

Fave fill: KATNISS, CAPONE, MIRREN. Least used: OGREISH, SLEEKEN, DOTER. (Those first two, I read my husband the clues and he laughed when I told him the right answers.) Overall, there was quite a bit of clunky fill, and I wonder if the venture might have been smoother with three movie subtitles and the grid art, avoiding those chunky sections of 6s and 7s.

Twomore things:

• 26D. [New Orleans university], LOYOLA. Fact: Loyola University Chicago is a lot bigger than Loyola University New Orleans or Loyola University Maryland, and somewhat bigger than Loyola Marymount University in California. The Chicago Loyola men’s basketball team made it to March Madness five years ago, too.
• 58A. [Cocktail made from gin, vermouth and Campari], NEGRONI. I have never tasted vermouth or Campari and I’m good with that.

Three stars from me.

Aidan Deshong’s AV Club Classic crossword, “One-Liners”—Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, “One-Liners” – 3/25/26 – Deshong

This one’s in .jpz and .pdf format because .puz can’t accommodate those bars in the grid. No skin off my back because I open a .puz in Crossword Nexus Solver when I’m going to blog it. The bars are tied to the revealer, UNEVEN BARS, and they stand in for ODD within the four themers: DEMIGoddESSes, PERIod dRAMA, MOLLYCoddLED, and ANDY RoddICK. A quiet gimmick.

New to me: 32a. [Chief Keef song “Love ___”], SOSA. It was not a big hit but maybe was influential in hip-hop. Certainly it’s influential in government circles, as the Department of Defense recently used the song in one of their dumb-ass ads.

Fave fill: MAD-LIBS, SCALPER, OPEN CALL, “HOT DAMN!”

A tad surprised to see BONG RIP, [Source of your highness?].

Fave clue: 46d. [Number of Senators?], “O CANADA.” The musical number, an anthem, played before Ottawa Senators games. One wonders why this became de rigueur in professional sporting. Why is it necessary to proclaim national patriotism at a ball game?

PERIOD DRAMA reminds me. If you’ve not seen the Oscar-nominated short, Jane Austen’s Period Drama, check it out!

Four stars from me.

Katja Brinck’s USA Today Crossword, “Dot Dot Dot…” — Emily’s write-up

And so on.

USA Today, March 25, 2026, “Dot Dot Dot…” by Katja Brinck

Theme: each themer contains —DOT—

Themers:

• 20a. [Instagrammable breakfast option], AVOCADOTOAST
• 37a. [“No turning back now!”], LETSDOTHISTHING
• 51a. [Map that alerts people to impending storms], TORNADOTRACKER

A fun variety with today’s themer set: AVOCADOTOAST, LETSDOTHISTHING, and TORNADOTRACKER. None were too difficult, but I needed a few crossings to fill them.

Favorite fill: PRICELESS, TWIST, and JOT

Stumpers: OILUP (new to me), WHOSWE (uncommon for me), and ONIT (needed crossings)

A smooth solve today and a lovely grid that really opened up options, especially for lengthy bonus bill. Some of the cleaning was a bit tricky so it added to my time but overall a really fun puzzle today.

4.0 stars

~Emily

Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword — Jim Q’s write-up

New Yorker • 3/35/26 • Wed • Erik Agard • solution • 20260325

HIGHLIGHTS:

• [Stephanie Foo memoir about healing from complex P.T.S.D.] WHAT MY BONES KNOW. I have not read this, nor have I heard of it, but what a fantastic title! Inferable, even if unfamiliar with the text.
• [Piece of neckwear that comes pre-knotted] CLIP-ON TIE. Been a while since I’ve worn one of these.
• [Animal crackers with humps] CAMELS. See also: [Animals with humps]. But hey, the visual that we all commonly share of the iconic CAMEL cracker is worth the extra word.
• [Watch someone’s place while they’re out of town] HOUSE SIT. That’s a great gig.
• [Comfortably soft] PLUSHY. I know it as a noun moreso than an adjective. Does anyone else use this as a word for a stuffed animal?

Nothing really too flashy in this grid, but a lot of really nice fill with just as many five-letter and six-letter words as there are three-letter.

3.5 stars from me!

Mat Holmes’ LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s theme summary

Mat Holmes presents us with an unusually commercial theme. The final explanatory answer is quite clever: SIDEKICKS points to five answers that begin or end with a shoe brand. I’m not sure what the rule is about pluralising here, as Nike has an extra S, but others don’t (although some normall end in S). I have never heard of TOMS; Tomy yes, TOMS no. I also have never encountered HOLYSHNIKES before, and luckily some of those letter were triple-checked by NIKES.

1. [Mark Twain lad…], TOMSAWYER
2. [Exclamation in “Tommy Boy”], HOLYSCHNIKES
3. [Some family vehicles], MINIVANS
4. [Wonder Woman publisher], DCCOMICS
5. [Talk to], CONVERSEWITH

Gareth