AV Club 5:10 (Amy) 
[2.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 4:02 (Gareth) [2.25 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:10 (Amy) 
[2.92 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:30 (Jim Q) 
[4.00 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) 
[3.50 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:54 (Emily) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ 7:25 (Eric) [3.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Lynn Lempel’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “We’ve Got Company” — Eric’s Review
Lynn Lempel’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “We’ve Got Company” — 4/8/26 (Click to Enlarge)
A fairly ordinary theme here: Take a common compound noun or phrase and add CO in a way that makes a new and wacky noun or phrase:
- 17A [Axing of a stand-up act?] COMIC DROP
- 24A [iPhone knockoffs?] APPLE COPIES
- 36A [What athletes must put up with?] COACHES AND PAINS
- 47A [Safety gear for snake charmers?] COBRA STRAPS
- 58A [“Great hairdos you’ve got!”?] WHAT COIFS
The theme answers are all quite goofy, but I’m often OK with goofiness. I like that except for “bra straps,” the portion of the original noun/phrase that gets the CO has a very different pronunciation than it does as part of the theme answer. There’s nothing in the fill that really grabs me, but there’s also nothing that annoys me.
Other stuff:
- 9A [Cow chow] GRASS It took me an inordinate amount of time to come up with that.
- 22A [Ready to hit the showers, say] SWEATY That’s a word you don’t see often in crosswords, despite its very common letters.
- 26A [Zellweger with two Oscars] RENÉE She won Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain (2003), which is a pretty good movie with some performances I enjoyed more than Zellweger’s, and Best Actress for Judy (2019), a biopic that I’ve never seen.
- 56A [Young adult writer Lowry] LOIS I didn’t know that name, but I stopped reading YA literature a long time ago.
- 63A [Canary chow] SEEDS “Chow” seems a little odd to describe bird food, but it parallels 9A. And whoever coined “eats like a bird” never saw the pine siskins that empty our bird feeder almost daily.
- 11D [Dwight’s campaign opponent] ADLAI Would Adlai Stevenson II still be a crossword answer 60 years after his death if his name weren’t 3/5 vowels?
Philippe Monfiston’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY TImes crossword solution, 4/8/26 – no. 0408
Last night’s Boswords Spring Themeless League puzzle by Katie Hoody slaughtered me (meaning my solving time boggled my mind, but at least I had no errors). This Wednesday NYT didn’t slaughter me to scale; I had a couple typos to dig out at the end, and the theme wasn’t entirely adding up throughout the solve. Plus, the grid’s got an extra column of answers.
I’m curious to know what Philippe’s seed was for this theme! Familiar spoken phrases get their spelling adjusted to start with a sounds-similar musical term, and they’re clued in musical ways:
- 18A. [Audience’s reverent response to a symphony finale?], CODA SILENCE. Code of silence.
- 22A. [That certain je ne sais quoi in Beethoven’s “Moonlight”?], SONATA THING. Trickier to parse from “so not a thing,” which really wants to start with “it’s” or “that’s.”
- 36A. [Opportunity for a choral understudy?], STANZA CHANCE. Stands a chance.
- 53A. [When to play a note with sudden strong emphasis?], FORZA MOMENT. For the moment?
- 58A. [“What’s Opera, Doc?,” e.g.?], ARIA KIDDING? Are you kidding?
Certainly a fresh theme, but I’m not entirely sure 22a works as well as the others. Thoughts?
Fave fill: NOOGIE, SEWER RATS, TOPKNOTS. I’ve been swimming in Artemis II coverage for days, so I DIG (weak entry!) the astronomy shout-outs here: LEONID (the astronauts saw multiple meteoroid impact flashes on the moon), LUNA (the moon in Spanish), and OCEANS clued as [What Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa are both believed to have] (the astronauts saw Saturn in the sky, and documented our moon’s “seas”).
3.75 stars from me.
Olivia Mitra Framke’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Cookie Cutter”–Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 4/8/26 – “Cookie Cutter”
The theme here cuts OREO in various ways. CHOREOGRAPH has OREO (in circled squares), BEFORE YOU BUY has ORE O, CORNER OFFICE has OR E O, and TOUR DE FORCE has O R E O. One letter at a time is cut off in each step, starting with a whole OREO.
I’ll eat Oreos, but I don’t really like the classic dark-brown-and-white version. Lemon and mint Thins, those are all right.
New to me: 20a. [Chuckie’s stepsister on “Rugrats”], KIMI. Also didn’t know 45d. [“___: The Improvised Musical” (extremely impressive podcast)], OFF BOOK. Not into musical theater or podcasts, so a podcast about musical theater ain’t for me.
Fave fill: the color APRICOT (but don’t give me an apricot), TAPAS BAR.
3.5 stars from me.
Caitlin Reid’s New Yorker crossword — Jim Q’s write-up
Lots to like in today’s grid!
New Yorker • 4/8/26 • Wed • Caitlin Reid • solution • 20260408
FAVE ENTRIES:
- HONEST TO GOD! I had HAND TO GOD which really screwed me up time-wise.
- HIT A NERVE
- OH, BROTHER!
- SECRET SANTA [Anonymous gift-giver at a holiday party] Is the gift giver supposed to stay anonymous?
- FIRE UP
- TOO BAD
- TATER TOT
- ET VOILA!
- LIVE CHAT (I had LIVECAST… which… is that a thing?)
- SORRY! (clued nostalgically with [Kid-friendly board game with colorful pawns])
- DEAR DIARY…
The more I’m looking at this grid, the more impressive it is.
I mean, the ugliest entry in the whole grid is the not-at-all ugly UNI [Prefix meaning “one”]. Literally every other entry is something in-language. This is the ideal beginner-friendly themeless- the kind that hooks newer solvers. Interesting phrases, variety of (easy) clues, and a complete absence of crud. Wow.
Just wow.
4.75 Stars from me.
Ben Abbott’s Universal crossword, “Preposition Partition” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 4/8/26 • Wed • “Preposition Partition” • Abbott • solution • 20260408
Playing off the relative positions of two entries. It’s a kind of theme that isn’t terribly uncommon in crosswords.
- 17a. [*With 19-Across, exceeding 40 weekly hours on the clock] WORKING.
19a. [See 17-Across] TIME.
working overtime - 28a. [*With 27-Across, widespread religious belief] LIFE.
27a. [See 28-Across] DEATH.
life after death - 43a. [*With 44-Across, subtotal on a receipt] COST.
44a. [See 43-Across] TAXES.
cost before taxes - 55a. [*With 53-Across, warm base layer] THERMAL.
53a. [See 55-Across] WEAR.
thermal underwear
A more or less complete set. Not sure what to make of ‘partition’ in the title.
- 4d [Brand of spicy chips] TAKIS. New to me.
- Also not heard of 40d [Sarah of 42-Down] SHERMAN. 42d [NBC show since ’75] SNL. (25d) YES, I’m out of touch.
- 49d [Corn kernels and avocado pits] SEEDS. Some good knowledge.
- 54d [One for sports is typically wireless] BRA. Was definitely mislead by this one.
- 1a [Southpaw’s preferred limb] LEFT ARM.
- 15a [Tide pool dweller also called an asteroid] SEA STAR. Nice; I’d nearly forgotten about that term.
- 18a [Hurtles] CAREENS. Left the penultimate square blank for a time, in case it turned out to be an R.
- 20a [One in a hundred?] PERCENT. Quite literal.
- 33a [Forever, hyperbolically] EONS. 34a [Bronze and Iron, for two] AGES.
- 51a [Mourns] LAMENTS.
Overall I thought the cluing was on the dry side and the theme, as mentioned, was somewhat familiar.
Kathy Lowden’s LA Times Crossword – Gareth’s summary
Kathy Lowden’s puzzle today is of a type that usually isn’t my bag. We have three definitions of [Prince], one being HEIRTOTHETHRONE, and the other two things directly or indirectly named from that definition. The clue HISROYALBADNESS actually is a riff on the straight meaning. The third is TENNISBALLBRAND.
With three spanning entries, there isn’t a lot of room for interesting non-theme content. KALAMATA is about the most interesting longer entry on show today.
Gareth
Kareem Ayas & Amie Walker’s USA Today Crossword, “”Sweet Recorder Song!”” — Emily’s write-up
Listen up!
USA Today, April 08, 2026, “”Sweet Recorder Song!”” by Kareem Ayas & Amie Walker
Theme: the first word of each themer combine into a song title
Themers:
- 20a. [2019 Megan Thee Stallion hit], HOTGIRLSUMMER
- 37a. [“I promise, truly”], CROSSMYHEART
- 55a. [Toned behind, idiomatically], BUNSOFSTEEL
A mix of themers in today’s set with HOTGIRLSUMMER, CROSSMYHEART, and BUNSOFSTEEL. With the theme, we get the song “Hot Cross Buns”, which I do remember playing on a recorder in grade school during music class now that I think about it. How about you all?
Favorite fill: NECTAR, NAVELS, and HIGHSCORE
Stumpers: ARCANE (needed crossings), RURAL (needed crossings), and PEPRALLY (kept thinking about a “pregame” or “tailgate”)
Overall a fun puzzle, though I found the cluing a bit harder than usual for me. Everything was fairly crossed and it didn’t take me too long, so it felt like a smooth solve.
4.0 stars
~Emily
NYT: This theme didn’t work real well for me.
I know CODA, and I get the CODA SILENCE pun, but is a symphony audience’s response at the end of a performance ever SILENCE? And if it were, that would strike me more as “that was awful” than “reverent.”
I understand that “je ne sais quoi” is hard to put into words, but is that the same as “so not a thing?” It’s a thing – it’s just hard to describe.
STANZA CHANCE was kind of cute.
I’m reasonably conversant in classical music (I’m no musician), but FORZA is unfamiliar.
Overall, my reaction is ARIA KIDDING? (That one was kind of cute, too.)
It’s an impressive moment when the audience remains silent until the conductor drops their hands. I recently saw a remarkable performance of Dvorak’s New World Symphony and you could hear a pin drop until that moment. Roaring applause and shouts of”bravo!” Immediately ensued.
I don’t understand how ‘je ne sais quoi’ and ‘so not a thing’ are meant to be equivalent. To my mind, they’re pretty much exact opposites. Possibly I don’t understand how ‘so not a thing’ is used. Young people today, etc etc.
Let’s just say my mileage varied.
The “je ne sais quoi” in the clue is referring to THING in the answer, not the base phrase that the answer is playing off of.
Personally, I think “so not a thing” is a bit roll-your-own. I think “that’s not a thing” or “that’s not really a thing” or “that’s not even a thing” are more in the language.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
I really enjoyed this one. Needed something to smile about tonight, and the puzzle provided. Sure, I agree with Gary about those two theme answers, but the loose cluing didn’t bother me there. All the theme answers worked for me, unusual for themes built on puns. Maybe it’s because I like classical music. I appreciated most of the other fill, too, with its arts and science slant and total lack of sports trivia!
Puzzle: AV Club; Rating: 3 stars
I was pleased to see the specificity of the clue for 18D OTOE. I’ve been privileged to meet a number of Otoe-Missouria people from Red Rock who have come to their homelands in Southeast Nebraska through the Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors project. They ceded the land under duress when forced to move to Oklahoma.
Interesting coincidence of the clue and answer for 37D with that in the NYT. (Being vague for anyone who hasn’t yet done the NYT.)
NYT: I liked the puzzle, but ARIA KIDDING? Have I been mispronouncing ARIA all my life as AR-ee-uh??
The cross with IDLI was no help.
Your pronunciation is fine. It’s the pun that’s bad.
+1
I’m so glad Mutman raised this, regarding a themer that had had only praise from other skeptics regarding the puzzle in comments here. I just can’t make ARIA into a pun on “are you” or even the slurry “are ya” we often fall into.
Like Gary, I also thought I knew some music but was thrown by FORZA (apart from its use in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destina.” I shared his like of STANZA CHANCE, though. And I’m more accepting than others about SO without “that is.”
UNI – Agree they all work and I didn’t get partition, either
Great Etta James choice. One of my favorite live recordings
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I thought some of the themers worked better than others, but bonus points for originality.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4.5 stars
New Yorker: I usually finish a puzzle and move on to the next one without much thought. But as this one got filled in, I kept thinking “what a smooth puzzle.” It just flowed so beautifully, and wasn’t filled with a plethora of obscure names as is so often the case for New Yorker. This really was an enjoyable puzzle and I concur with the reviewer that it deserved a high rating.
I haven’t been able to access the Universal crossword the last few days. The link is just taking me to a page with David Steinberg’s bio. Can someone please help me? TIA
You can download a free version of AcrossLite here: https://www.litsoft.com
That will handle the .puz file that’s linked here at Fiend.
I used to solve Universal puzzles in the Toronto Globe and Mail. I don’t know if that’s still an option.
Thanks… will try now!!!
Puzzle: Universal; Rating: 4.5 stars
The cross-reference clues annoyed me until I finished the puzzle and figured out the theme. Pretty clever.
I’ve seen TAKIS in the grocery store but haven’t been brave or foolish enough to try them. But I first heard of them in Orange is the New Black; when the prisoners (spoiler alert!) take over the prison, one of the younger Latinas thinks their demands ought to include “Takis in the vending machines!”
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
Liked the attempted consistency of the themes with music terms and the wordplay. But some of the themes just don’t work for me. A little awkward
NYT: ARISTIDE crossing EMINOR was pretty unfair. I certainly don’t remember the Haitian president from over 20 years ago, nor do I have the key signatures of Brahms symphonies memorized.
Is the Universal website still down?
If so, how is Martin Herbach able to post the PUZ link to the current puzzle? (And a great many of us thank Martin for all that he does to make this website very good!)
The editors there, including David Steinberg, go above and beyond, and specially prepare the Across Lite files for us. They upload them to a server of mine in batches, and a script moves them to the public area nightly as appropriate. They even include circles when needed, which is something the newspaper versions never have.
Thanks again to David and his associates; I hope they will continue with this service.
And I still have that image in my memory of you with a very young puzzle-prodigy David Steinberg from decades ago. Both of you have helped the “Cross-World” grow, and I hope it continues for decades more!