AV Club 8:06 (Amy) 
[3.33 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
LAT 4:48 (Gareth) 
[2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:13 (Amy) [3.32 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:57 (Jim Q) 
[4.25 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) 
[3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today 8:02 (Emily) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ 5:46 (Eric) [2.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Adam Wagner’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 4/15/26 – no. 0415
Love this theme! Assorted letters are bolded in the clues to give you the instruction that appears in the grid:
- 17A. [Put all the bold letters in this clue together?], MAKE A STINK. Make an odor, in other words.
- 29A. [Put all the bold letters in this clue together?], CREATE A MONSTER. It bugs me ever so slightly that the first E in “together” doesn’t get the bolding instead.
- 43A. [Put all the bold letters in this clue together?], FORM AN ALLIANCE.
- 57A. [Put all the bold letters in this clue together?], BUILD-A-BEAR.
Hard to get key words hidden in those identical clues within having duplicated letters within the clues that aren’t bolded. We move on.
Fave fill: TROTSKY, ROTO-ROOTER, THE DEETS (short for “the details”), SKATEPUNK, “OKAY, SURE,” BONE-TIRED, CANDY BAR, VODKA TONIC. Just watched a YouTube video in which the Binging With Babish host rates all sorts of chocolate bars, none of them milk chocolate. Shop wisely!
The generous assortment of cool long fill is accompanied by AMO, DAH, BONS AMIS, and ERNO, which I wasn’t wild about.
I need to blog another puzzle and do some work before bed, so I’ll sign off with a rating of 3.75 stars.
August Miller’s AV Club Classic crossword, “AV Classic Themeless #87”–Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 4/15/26 – “AV Classic Themeless #87”
Mostly I enjoyed this puzzle, but there was one utterly bonkers crossing that had me guessing. I’m not much of a gamer, so 43a. [Sequel to “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” in fan shorthand] is TOTK? Sure, buddy. I don’t care. I’ve heard of “The Ocarina of Time” but this one’s subtitle feels even weirder. Its first T crosses, GEEKSTA RAP, 27d. [Portmanteau-named music genre also called nerdcore]. Take gangsta rap and mix in geek, with nothing at all in “nerdcore” to point to rap. There are probably some solvers who found both of these to be gimmes, but the crossing gets an “ugh” from me.
Fave fill: RACE CAR BED, BEACH LOVER (only because I saw so many people at the beach today! On the sand only, because the water temp is 51 degrees), SWEET CHILI SAUCE, LIFELONG LEARNER, “I LIKE YOU ALREADY,” CAPRI PANTS, SCHNOOK and SCHLEMIEL, BROCA’S AREA, and LUNAR ROVER.
Fave clue: 1d. [Org. fantasizing that IQ is a meaningful barometer of anything], MENSA. I’ve found smart friends in other circles and that works for me.
Four stars overall, one star for that crossing of two unheard-of-to-me things.
Andrea Carla Michaels & Kevin Christian’s Wall Street Journal Crossword — Eric’s Review
Andrea Carla Michaels & Kevin Christian’s Wall Street Journal Crossword — 4/15/26 (Click to Enlarge)
A seasonally appropriate theme here. I hope you’re not dealing with income tax forms at the last minute, but if you are, good luck. And e-file: Stuff mailed today might not get a postmark for a day or two.
Enough of that; let’s see what these two veteran constructors have for us:
- 17A [Certain road to victory] CLEAR PATH Is this phrase really in the language? I suppose I’ve heard the occasional talking head use it, but I don’t watch much of that sort of thing.
- 25A [Cookware with multiple indentations] CUPCAKE PAN To me, that article of kitchenware has always been a “muffin tin.”
- 40A [Main course with cheese and red sauce] CHICKEN PARMESAN
- 50A [Crinkly party streamer material] CREPE PAPER
- 64A [Busy time for a 63-Down] TAX SEASON
- 63D [Pro who’s busy during 64- Across, as spotted in this puzzle’s circles] CPA
As usual for an early-week puzzle, I was moving through the grid at a steady clip and didn’t pay much attention to what the circled letter were about. I’m not sure I’d have solved any more quickly if I had.
There’s really not much to say about a theme like this. Either the answers have the specified letters in the correct order or they don’t, and it’s no surprise that these answers do.
I will add that at xwordinfo.com, I find almost 13,000 words that contain C, P and A in that order. Most are not things I (or probably anyone) want to see in a crossword. (Though it would have been nice if they’d been able to work CHEESE PIZZA in the grid — but then, I’m hungry.)
One final thematic thing: I belatedly noticed that the circled C’s are off by themselves and the PA’s are all contiguous. I don’t know if that’s intentional or happenstance. There’s a certain logic, perhaps, to having “certified” separate from “public accountant.” If that was intendional, it cuts down the possible theme answers somewhat (though it looks like there are still thousands of options).
Other stuff:
- 14A [Gymnastics gold medalist Raisman] ALY Someday, maybe I will remember Raisman’s name is not ARI or ALI.
- 21A [Naturalist nicknamed “John of the Mountains”] MUIR A gimme.
- 27A [Headstrong title character in an 1815 novel] EMMA I should probably add that one to my reading list. If you’d asked me to put a date on it, I probably would have guessed closer to 1840.
-
Diana, Goddess of the Hunt (Marble, Roman artwork, Imperial Era (1st-2nd centuries CE))
36A [Artemis’s Roman equivalent] DIANA I completely blanked on this until I had a few crosses.
- 37D [Dagger alternatives] ASTERISKS Oh, that kind of † (a/k/a obelisk or obelus).
- 44A [Nation whose two main islands are Savai’i and Upolu] SAMOA My semi-educated guess (based on the crossword-friendliness of the answer) turned out to be correct.
- 46A [“Here’s what I think,” in a text] IMO “In my opinion,” not TBH “To be honest.”
- 56A [Berth of a baby?] CRIB Cute clue. Almost as cute as most babies.
- 1D [Time off, informally] VACAY I would pay good money to never see that cutesy word ever again.
- 10D [Emblem of traditional American values] APPLE PIE I’d rather have cherry or strawberry rhubarb, please.
- 26D [Star of Prime Video’s “Scarpetta”] Nicole KIDMAN I think she plays a medical examiner or detective. We haven’t seen it and are unlikely to, given how badly Amazon pissed us off the last time we used them.
- 41D [Saves, as a recipe from a magazine] CLIPS OUT When we moved 18 months ago, I threw decades worth of saved but untried recipes into the recycling bin. At least the ones I save now are just taking up a bit of cyberspace.
- 65D [Toper] SOT I could really do without seeing, in crossword puzzles, words like that for people who have a problem with alcohol. Even when words like that aren’t strictly speaking pejorative, they imply such a sense of moral superiority.
Robyn Weintraub’s New Yorker crossword — Jim Q’s write-up
Another Wednesday, another Weintraub, another puzzle with so much to like.
New Yorker • 4/15/26 • Wed • Robyn Weintraub • solution • 20260415
HIGHLIGHTS:
- BEST DAY EVER! Love this.
- WONKA BAR
- ROSES ARE RED…
- SOLO CAREER
- HONEYPIE
- SEA SERPENT / SIREN SONG crossing is A+++
- LET ME SEE…
- PANAMA CANAL
- DRAGON EGG
- OH YES I CAN!
- STAND UP
Two weeks in a row of a grid that is just plain stunning. What’s not to like in here? AS TO is the only bit of fill that has a crosswordy vibe. Generally light on names as well. MARA, LEON, RYAN, ANDY, and PEYTON. Nobody even close to obscure, making it an accessible and clean- perfect puzzle for the “beginner-friendly” billing.
A couple excellent clues in there too to keep it interesting. I particularly like [It’s undeniably attractive] for MAGNET, [Long part of some sailors’ tales?] for SEA SERPENT, and [Test a screwdriver?] for SIP (referring to the OJ/vodka cocktail… which I’m just realizing now I’ve never sampled).
Biggest goof for me was misreading the word “alfresco” in the clue [Not alfresco]. I read “al dente.” Got the answer by the crosses and stared at it for a while after I was done trying to figure out what the word INSIDE has to do with pasta’s level of doneness.
This is a 5 star puzzle imo.
Mark Axel’s Universal crossword, “Breaking Free” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 4/15/26 • Wed • “Breaking Free” • Axel • solution • 20260415
- 71aR [Sign of awful cell service … or what 20-, 39- and 57-Across have in common] NO BARS.
- 20a. [Instrumental output of J Dilla or Timbaland] HIP-HOP BEATS, bars being a term for lyrics/rapping.
- 39a. [What gymnasts perform on 12-meter × 12-meter mats] FLOOR ROUTINES, not FLOOR EXERCISE. In comparison with some of the other typical gymnastics equipment: parallel bars, uneven parallel bars, horizontal bar.
- 57a. [Some prohibitive districts] DRY COUNTIES. Tragedy!
Theme works, but lately I’ve been disappointed with puzzle titles, including this one. “Breaking Free” doesn’t have much to do with what’s going on here, and actually seems to be suggesting a nonexistent fourth theme answer having to do with a prison escape.
- 5d [Gentle breeze] ZEPHYR.
yes it’s overtly religious but damn it’s so catchy - 25d [Long-running reality show filmed on a yacht] BELOW DECK. New to me, but inferable. Not to be confused with the Star Trek animated series Lower Decks, which I know of but have not seen. 51d [25-Down channel] BRAVO.
- 34d [Popping sushi topping] ROE. Not sure how I feel about ‘popping’ here.
- 40a [Day __ (loyal, longtime friend, in modern slang] ONE. Presumably as in “[been there since] Day One”.
- 18a [Directive on a condiment packet] TEAR HERE, not TEAR OPEN. Oopsie.
- 26a [Canadian gas brand] ESSO.
- 32a [Stroller occupant, at times] DOLL. Good angle.
- 48a [Scorpion’s defense] STINGER.
- 70a [“Chair-raising” Jewish dance] HORA. Clue oddly punning on ‘hair-raising’.
ALAS (27d), I didn’t have much to say about this one.
Steve Jopek’s USA Today Crossword, “Backtalk” — Emily’s write-up
What did you say?
USA Today, April 15, 2026, “Backtalk” by Steve Jopek
Theme: the end (aka “back”) of each themer can be appended with “talk” to make a common phrase
Themers:
- 18a. [Decorative accent for a sofa], THROWPILLOW
- 38a. [Texas Hold ’em surface], POKERTABLE
- 63a. [Heeds the advice “Don’t try to do everything at once,” say], STARTSSMALL
Today’s themer set includes a variety of items and topics with THROWPILLOW, POKERTABLE, and STARTSSMALL. The first two were insta-fills for me but I needed a few crossings with the third. With the theme, we get PILLOW TALK, TABLE TALK, and SMALL TALK.
Favorite fill: SNAFU, PAELLA, and KIDSBOOK
Stumpers: ETON (this one still gets me–I just can’t retain it), IRAISE (misdirected so thinking of actual liars and not in a game/poker sense, and AWGEE (needed crossings)
Overall a fun and fairly smooth solve today though it felt like a quicker time until some entries and their crossings tripped me up just enough to make it a standard solve time for me today, and that’s mostly due to my knowledge (or lack there of). Still a great puzzle with a fantastic grid and great theme!
4.25 stars
~Emily
Hoang-Kim Vu’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’ summary
It’s a timely puzzle for American solvers. Me, my tax season starts in July. The central answer is TAXRETURN, and each of four long across answers spells a fittingly American tax from right to left. So:
- HASAGOATIT, [Tries earnestly]. Gas. Three-quarters of our petrol costs are taxes :/.
- RESUBMITS, [Uploads again, say]. Use. I guess this is meant to be doubly thematic, but it’s kind of a dull entry.
- ITFIGURES, [“That’s so typical!”]. GIFT.
- AWINISAWIN, [“Just enjoy the victory!”]. SIN. Best entry in the puzzle too!
Also: [Bibimbap topping], KIMCHI. I have never encountered either of these things, but the breakfast restaurant I’m looking to take Wendy to after her doctor’s appointment Saturday has these as a breakfast. Should I try?
Gareth
I always print the puzzle and fill it in using a pencil with a good eraser. But today’s puzzle provided more of a challenge than was intended: I saw no bolded letters in any of the clues! To my astonishment, I did manage to complete it, but I suspect seeing the bolded letters would have been helpful.
For other folks who print the puzzle, if you select ‘Newspaper version” you’ll see the bolding.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 1.5 stars
The puz file had a whole bunch of asterisks, which only in retrospect did I realize were delimiting the individual letters that were intended to be bolded. I figured the asterisks represented missing letters and thus was completely flummoxed. I solved it correctly with no understanding as to what was going on.
I have little choice but give a lousy rating.
Dinging the puzzle for an unofficial third-party file conversion program’s inability to convey bolding in an unsupported, decades-old application seems highly unfair.
No bolding in the print version is on the Times, but the Across Lite conversion is not.
I happen to use Nexus Solver, not AcrossLite. Maybe I’m being a little unfair, but perhaps one of the sporadically-appearing notes “this puzzle uses features that are not … ” would have been appropriate and would have placated me a smidge.
If you’re using a .puz file, it’s still limited by its ancient character set. But my point is still, what does the Times have to do with it? I assume that note is generated by the crossword scraping converter, which is not a Times product. Ultimately, you’re criticizing the constructor for something from which he’s many degrees removed.
I’ll second Martin’s comment.
I solve puzzles, almost always, in AcrossLite – because it’s comfortable for me, and I don’t care for some of the interfaces offered by the various crossword publishers. But I’m also aware of AL’s limitations – no graphics, no italicized type, etc. I “usually” remember that AL puts italicized words in quotation marks. I think today was the first time I’ve run into boldface type – but given that the theme clues referred to referred to “bold letters,” and the clues in AL had those asterisks, it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on.
I prefer a pretty straightforward crossword. Italicized word or boldface words/letters don’t seem too far out there for me. When we get into animations or colored squares and the like, that’s a step beyond what I want to deal with. But today’s “gimmick” seemed reasonable to me. And the fact that it didn’t show up quite right in AL isn’t a reason to ding the puzzle.
I used the NYT Games app as always, and found it difficult to see the lower-case bolded letters. Wish there was a better way to mark the letters we needed to pay attention to but maybe asterisks automatically turn the letters bold or italic, like they would in a Discord channel.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
NYT: Same experience with the printed puzzle. Finished the puzzle scratching my head because I had no idea what the theme was. The newspaper edition should have been the default printout, as is the case when the puzzle has special characters. So the puzzle was fine, but I am rating the puzzle a 3 due to my solving experience
FWIW, yesterday’s TNY had two emoticons that came out in my Crossword Scraper printout as small empty boxes. I never did understand the clue, but I did get the answer and of course could confirm it here.
Puzzle: AV Club; Rating: 4 stars
Amy, I share your opinion of the TOTK/GEEKSTA RAP crossing. Ugh. Knowing almost nothing about the video game (and caring less), I ended up revealing that letter. It didn’t help that I had CLEO DUVALL for the “But I’m a Cheerleader” actress.
But it was fun to see both SCHLEMIEL and SCHNOOK in the same grid. Yiddish has always struck me as a very colorful language, and it amuses me that it seems to have so much words for an ineffectual person.
Puzzle: AV Club; Rating: 3.5 stars
Having “yeet” as a clue in the same region made that corner even worse. Ugh is right. Otherwise, I liked it. Minus one star.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 5 stars
Excellent puzzle! Sometimes it is harder to make a good easy puzzle and this one is good. There is really no garbage!
I found this hard for a Wednesday for all the wrong reasons, the names. Besides, it thus required that the setter make their crossings easier, dumbing the whole down even more. A true TNY approach.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 5 stars
On 2/18 you were griping that TNY was too easy on a Wednesday. Which is it?
Also, which names were hanging you up? I noted the opposite in my review- that it was rather light on names and they were all extremely fair. I’m curious as to where we disagree on that note.
Also, can you give an example of what was “dumbed down” in the beginner-friendly crossword that you don’t seem to like very much yet continue to solve and critique?
I didn’t take the time to study this New Yorker crossword to see why I found it 50% harder than usual, that is, it took me 50% longer to solve than my usual Wednesday time with any of the constructors. I like the idea of the Wednesday New Yorker crossword sometimes being just a bit harder than usual. Sometimes the easier puzzles are driven by clues that call for only one answer, but in this puzzle I had to wait for some crosses, for example, with 14a and 34a. I often enjoy JohnH’s grumbles. Sometimes I agree to a certain extent, but I don’t think I do today. I certainly liked Jim Q’s joy in the work of the master. The entries in this crossword spoke to him, and to others. I was ambivalent about whether the added difficulty was the right kind for me this week, for instance, I don’t like dialogue clues, so I didn’t rate it, not being able to choose among 4, 4.5 or 5.