Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Jonesin’ 4:10 (Erin) rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) [2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:07 (Eric) [2.83 avg; 9 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (pannonica) [3.88 avg; 12 ratings] rate it
Universal 6:16 (Eric) [2.50 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [1.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 6:51 (Jim Q) rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Miscues” — yes, I do. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 4/14/26

Hello lovelies! This week the Jonesin’ theme involves replacing the leading Q in some common phrases.

• 20a. [“The vest and jacket are itchy and don’t fit”?] SUIT COMPLAINING (quit complaining)
• 30a. [Controversy when a Boston Marathon cheater becomes a TV host?] RUIZ SHOW SCANDAL (quiz show scandal). In 1980 Rosie Ruiz was declared the women’s winner until it was was discovered she only ran the last mile.
• 39a. [Invitee who makes the party suddenly make sense?] GUEST FOR MEANING (quest for meaning)
• 51a. [Where to change direction in your LeSabre?] BUICK TURNAROUND (quick turnaround)

Other things:

• 58a. [“The Bridges at ___-Ri” (1954 movie)] TOKO. It’s set at a fictional North Korean location, so the only way to get this without knowing the movie is to assume that the Spanish crossing would be masculine instead of feminine.
• Fishy findings: COD (43a.) and SCROD (45d.) in the same corner.

Until next week!

Joe Rodini’s Universal Crossword Puzzle “People Movers” — Eric’s Review

Joe Rodini’s Universal Crossword “People Movers” — 4/14/26 (Click to Enlarge)

A trio of celebrities whose surnames can be read as verbs:

• 19A [“Toxic” singer goes after a tuna?] BRITNEY SPEARS
• 32A [“Aperture” singer does someshaping at a salon?] HARRY STYLES
• 40A [“Reversal of Fortune” star gets the wrinkles out?] JEREMY IRONS A gimme for me. Irons is always fun to watch, but his Oscar-winning portrayal of Claus von Bülow is especially watchable.
• 51A [G.I. Joes and She-Ras … or 19-, 32- and 40-Across?] ACTION FIGURES My brother and I played with our G.I. Joes (the 12″ ones) a lot when we were kids, so even without She-Ra, this would have been very easy.

The puzzle title’s “people” are obvious, and I’ll concede that spearing fish, styling hair and ironing fabric involve motion and action (though not necessarily a lot of either, at least for the second two). Good enough. Clueing two singers by song titles that some people (or is that just me?) might not recognize ups the challenge slightly. (A person could just as easily make the same point about a clue that references a 1990 movie, but that person is not me.)

I don’t know how Joe Rodini compiled a list of possible theme answers for this puzzle. I can’t offhand think of other celebs whose names work, but it seems like there must be at least a few. I expect most regular solvers will at least recognize the three in the grid.

Other stuff:

• 17A [Purell target] GERM My first thought was ACNE (crossword puzzles’ favorite skin condition), then I remembered what Purell is. We buy store-brand hand sanitizer.
• 28A [Flashing lights at an EDM concert] STROBES I’ll take their word for it; electronic dance music has never appealed to me.
• 37A [Vote from a supporter] YEA/38A [Votes from supporters] AYES You gotta keep on your toes here.
• 63A [Digital “To be terse …”] TLDR It was from a crossword puzzle a few years ago that I learned the “Too Long; Didn’t Read” initialism had morphed from a reaction to a piece perceived as prolix to an introduction of a précis.
• 3D [Enchilada alternative] WET BURRITO The first burritos I ate were Tex-Mex, and so far as I know, those wraps are always covered with a sauce. The concept of a dry burrito is still a bit foreign to me.
• 5D [Game where you can’t take a break?] EGG TOSS Cute clue.
• 6D [Kind of venue that tops Pennsylvania Station] ARENA I’ve only been to Penn Station once, and never to Madison Square Garden. But the original Penn Station was, from the photos I’ve seen, so much better as a train station than the current one. Maybe someday they’ll replace the current terminal with something that has at least a fraction of the grandeur of the original. Or maybe not.

Mark Diehl’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Mark Diehl’s New York Times Crossword — 4/14/26 (Click to Enlarge)

You could call these theme answers one of a kind:

• 16A [“Been a while! Any updates?”] WHAT’S NEW WITH YOU
• 26A [Talks through a sticking point, say] HASHES IT OUT
• 44A [Online storage option since 2011] APPLE ICLOUD
• 57A [Ranch fixtures for livestock] WATERING TROUGH
• 62A [Quintet seen in order in 16-, 26-, 44- and 57-Across] AEIOU I unthinkingly put ADIEU here, probably in no small part because I had just played several games of Wordle (though I don’t use “adieu” as my starting word).

This kind of linguistic curiosity has never been more than mildly interesting to me. The first two theme answers have a bit of sparkle and the others are just okay. (As an Apple customer for decades, to me, their cloud storage is simply iCloud.)

Other stuff:

• 51A [Disney film featuring the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go”] FROZEN I know this bit of pop trivia. I’ve never seen the movie, but I’ve heard the song once or twice. Still, nothing came to mind without a few crosses.
• 55A [Temp workers dressed in red] SANTAS The juxtaposition of this answer and the previous one paints, in my mind, a macabre but darkly funny image (seeing it in a movie, I would probably laugh if it were intended to be amusing).
• 8D [Repulsive] ODIOUS That’s a handy word to have around these days.
• 10D [Chichén Itzá people] MAYA Oops. I just realized that the LAT crossword I did earlier today did not have a clue saying “Like Chicken Itza.”

Caroline Hand’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

I had no idea what was going on until I got to the revealer, which made the last theme answer even easier. There are four theme answers, half Across and half Down.

Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2026, Caroline Hand, solution grid

• 3d [*Actress who plays Fiona Gallagher on “Shameless”] is EMMY ROSSUM.
• 21a [*Wise maternal figure voiced by Betty White in “The Lorax”] is GRAMMY NORMA.
• 30d [*”The Picture of Dorian Gray” novelist] is OSCAR WILDE.
• 53a [*Mob boss played by James Gandolfini] is TONY SOPRANO.

And the revealer: 65a [“Grand slam” awards acronym spelled out by the starts to the answers of the starred clues] is EGOT. EMMA, GRAMMY, OSCAR, and TONY. I appreciate that they appear in order in the grid. Fun!

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that Betty White had a voice part in “The Lorax.”

Alan Arebesfeld Wall Street Journal crossword “On the Move” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Common phrases parsed as POSSESSIVE NOUN + MODE OF TRANSPORTATION

WSJ • 4/14/26 • Tues • “Multipurpose” • Alan Arbesfeld Dershowitz • solution • 20260414

THEME ANSWERS:

• [Conveyance for a casino worker?] DEALERSHIP / DEALER SHIP
• [Conveyance for a luxury hotel?] OMNIBUS / OMNI BUS
• [Conveyance for prisoners?] CONSTRAIN / CON’S TRAIN
• [Conveyance for a London rental?] FLATCAR / FLAT CAR
• [Conveyance for celebrities?] STARSTRUCK / STAR’S TRUCK

Fun idea here! Who knew there were so many phrases ending with modes of transpo that have nothing to do with modes of transpo? I mean, I guess FLATCAR can be a transportation method… or at least it’s part of one… so that entry sticks out. A FLATCAR is part of a TRAIN, right?

I uncovered STARSTRUCK first, so I assumed I would have to reimagine the entire phrase for the others… Here, “STRUCK” part of the word loses the S to turn STAR into a possessive. That doesn’t really happen anywhere else in the theme, so some inconsistency between that and whether or not the noun needs an S to be possessive.

OTHER THINGS:

• [Crib cries] WAHS. I’m not one to pluralize baby sounds in everyday life. You?
• [Resort between Cannes and Nice] ANTIBES. Is this a well known place? Never heard of it at all. Needed every one of the (fair) crosses.
• [Chart topper] HIT TUNE. A HIT TUNE is very similar to a hit song.
• [Display for the first time] UNVEIL. I had REVEAL, which was hard to change since the V was correct. I like UNVEIL better.
• [“M*A*S*H” actor David Ogden ___] STIERS. I know I should know this, but I can’t get it to stick.
• [Cotton from Ark., e.g.] SEN. That’s Senator Tom Cotton, not the crop.

Generally harder than I’m accustomed to for a Tuesday, but an overall good solve.

3 stars.