Saturday, April 25, 2026

LAT 9:52 (Eric) [3.67 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Newsday 19:53 (pannonica) [3.92 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:22 (Amy) [3.79 avg; 14 ratings] rate it
Universal 4:49 (Adam S) [3.30 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ untimed (pannonica) rate it

Greg Snitkin & Amie Walker’s Los Angeles Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Greg Snitkin & Amie Walker’s Los Angeles Times Crossword — 4/25/26 (Click to Enlarge)

I’m not sure why this took me as long as it did. It’s not that difficult, and I didn’t run into any real trouble with it. I don’t remember seeing an asymmetrical grid in a Los Angeles Times crossword before, but it’s not a puzzle I do every day. Maybe that threw me off without me being aware of it?

Anyway:

• 6A [Gala portion] APPLE CHIP Even after I realized “gala” was not an event, I tried to make APPLE CORE work for a long time.
• 15A [Duane __: NYC chain owned by Walgreens] READE I know of this drugstore chain despite not having lived in New York since preschool (and we lived upstate, not in the city). What I Learned Today is that Walgreens owns them.
• 17A [“Precision Crafted Performance” sloganeer] ACURA I’ve probably seen that slogan before, but didn’t really remember it. With the first A and the R in place, ACURA seemed a better guess than ATARI.
• 18A [One who really gets people?] PRANKSTER/19A [Like a wise guy] SAGELY I like how the first one primes the solver to interpret “wise guy” as “smartass.”
• 25A [Soccer great called “O Rei”] PELE I’m not sure I’d heard that particular nickname, but who else could it be?
• 26A [Had the conn] STEERED How many times did I watch Star Trek and think Kirk was telling some subordinate that he (and it was almost always “he) had “the comm”? “Conn” is apparently a weakened form of obsolete cond ‘conduct, guide’, from Old French conduire, from Latin conducere.
• 54A [First name in country pop] SHANIA Twain I made a semi-educated guess here.
• 2D [Get on with one’s half-life?] DECAY I kinda like that clue.
• 5D [Wake-up calls] REALITY CHECKS I kinda like that clue, too.
• 7D [Billy who wore a velvet tuxedo jacket and ball gown to the Oscars in 2019] PORTER I have no idea how or why that name seems familiar to me, unless I saw a picture of him in that particular outfit.
• 12D [Breakfast option] HOT CEREAL I had a hard time seeing that with CORE at the top of the grid.
• 30D [Lucy of “Pretty Little Liars”] HALE No idea on this one; the show (at least I think it’s a show) is just a title I’ve heard.

Other fill I liked, though the clues are pretty straightforward: MORAL CODE, SECRET WEAPONS, TWINKIES, IDEAL MATE, PERMEATED, DROPS IN ON, HOOKAH BAR and SOFT SELL. I’m not too crazy about ATTENDEE, but it’s not the worst -EE word I’ve seen.

Sam Ezersky’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 4/25/26 – no. 0425

The symmetry flips around IN-FLIGHT WI-FI, with chunks of black squares giving it a butterfly vibe, and there’s IO MOTH at 1-Across, though the black squares aren’t in the Io moth’s eyespot places.

Other fave fill: CRIMEA, “ADD TIP,” ‘VERY WELL THEN,” SEEING EYE DOG, KNEECAPS, OLDER GENERATION (it me, but there are older gens still), MIDYEAR FEEDBACK (who doesn’t love performance appraisals? does anyone love them??), FEEL HEARD, PENALTY KICK, DRUNK-TWEETING, MAN BAG.

Five more things:

• Clue that I misunderstood: 27A. [Get one over on], BOGEY. Was reading it as “you really got one over on me,” as opposed to “get one over par on,” golf.
• 52A. [Spider-Man foe with metal “tentacles,” familiarly], DOC OCK. It is very easy to misparse this in the grid, with no word space.
• 4D. [When a “sports equinox” (in which all four major U.S. leagues have games) typically occurs: Abbr.], OCT. World Series games, the beginning of NBA and NHL seasons, and the thick of the NFL season?
• 26D. [Big name in hosiery], L’EGGS. I haven’t seen pantyhose in a retail store in years. I suppose bank robbers have to buy their hose online.
• 37D. [Creature of the internet], NEOPET. Neopets is an online game, since 1999, that I have never played, and I don’t think my son ever played it either.

Four stars from me.

David P Williams’ Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up

Newsday • 4/25/26 • Saturday Stumper • Williams • solution • 20260425

Tough, but ultimately solvable. In fact, my completion time was faster than I expected, considering the numerous stymieing experiences.

Don’t recall the precise order, but the lower right area was the last to be completed, despite having BASELESS at 60a [Lacking a foundation] early on.

• 16a [Give in or take over] ACCEDE. Getting this with just a crossing or two in place was very helpful.
• 17a [Strong-willed sort] IRONSIDE. Didn’t realize this was a common noun.
• 19a [Temporary summer housing] SANDCASTLES. Taking some liberties with ‘housing’ here.
• 23a [Cease being upstanding] SIT. One of several clues where I instinctively thought of an answer but didn’t trust it, and so waited for confirmation via crossings. In a regular-difficulty crossword that’s a normal occurrence, but it arrives differently in a Stumper.
• 24a [Cracked rib] JEST. Could’ve used a question mark?
• 28a [Persian’s digital pad] TOE BEAN. For this one, I understood exactly what was being gotten at, but couldn’t immediately come up with the proper combination of words.
• 31a [Unseasoned salt] LANDLUBBER. Same here, although I’d argue that a LANDLUBBER is no sort of salt at all.
• 34a [What can be added to carbon] -ATE. Too many possibilities (-ITE, -IZE, -ARA) dictated a wait-and-see approach. And in fact the square numbered 34 was my last bit of fill; NEAT for 25a [Sparkling] isn’t particularly intuitive.
• 35a [Short-term projection] TAB. >squints<
• 41a [Quick study] CRAM. Another like 23a SIT.
• 42a [11-Down, as a verb] LOOPS IN. The cross-referencing was helpful here, even though I still don’t know which [Broadcasting company] CCS refers to.
• 44a [Cloaking device] HOOD. Toyed with COWL. 
• 46a [Mitsubishi mode] ECO. Automobile? Air-conditioner?
• 47a [They may be chosen] FEW. Another like 23a SIT.
• 48a [With John, MTV Movie Award winner for Best Dance (1995)] UMA. My very first fill.
• 49a [Trivia projects] BOONDOGGLES. Tricky. Was tempted to say too much of a stretch, but indeed what constitutes a boondoggle is often trivialities.
• 54a [Wild and woolly] MADCAP. Toyed with RAUCUS.
• 57a [Small tie] ONE ALL. Knew what it was getting at, and had to decide among ONE-ONE, ONE ALL, and NIL-NIL. Eliminated that last early on, reasoning that NIL didn’t qualify as ‘small’ and eventually just guessed right, which helped break open that lower left corner.
• 58a [Current issue] UNDERTOW. Nice clue.
• 2d [Turkish bread] LIRA. Oh wait, this was my very first fill, not 48-across.
• 6d [It “Figures Like a Flash” per a ’46 headline] ENIAC. Another early get, via an educated guess.
• 8d [Western Pikes Peak] STETSON. I don’t understand how this clue works.
• 9d [Sofa shade for serene spaces] CADET BLUE. Considered MANET BLUE, despite my association of coordinating decor with Monet reproductions.
• 13d [Upper hands] EDGES. Another like 23a SIT.
• 14d [Holding up or down] TENET, referring to its palindromic quality. Makes for a great clue.
• 24d [Not a slow poke] JAB. Easy one.
• 28d [State known for its heat] TABASCO. Had heat been capitalized the answer would definitely have been FLORIDA.
• 29d [O zone topper] EURO-. I agree with commenter Aussie‘s observation below.
• 33d [Word in curry sauce recipes] ROMA. ?
• 35d [Unfittingly, in a way] TOO. Nice, almost perverse clue.
• 39d [Eye piece] ROD. Another like 23a SIT.
• 40d [King’s offspring] LION CUB, referring to the sobriquet ‘king of the jungle’. This clue had be doubting the B from BASELESS (60a).
• 43d [Small circle of meteorologists] DEGREE: °. I was thinking of some localized pressure system on a map.
• 45d [ __ alcohol (Mountain Dew, in Arabia] OMANI. Uh, ok. Anyway, I rather unoriginally call it Mountain Don’t.
• 47d [Explorers taking cabs] FORDS. The SUV model.
• 49d [Round of certain sports] BALL. >groan<
• 50d [Man or woman from Mindanao] DANA. This puzzle’s cryptic-style clue. Took me ages to realize.
• 53d [Makes a collar] SEWS. I fell into the trap and tried NABS.
• 55d [Loonie, per Investopedia] CAD, CAnadian Dollar.

Zhouqin Burnikel’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Just Do It” — pannonica’s write-up

WSJ • 4/25/26 • Sat • “Just Do It” • Burnikel • solution • 20260425

Wow! Transitioning from the Newsday Stumper to the 21×21 Saturday Wall Street Journal crossword is like shifting from fifth gear down to second. I just blew through this grid.

The theme is simply prefixing DO- to existing phrases and letting the wackiness materialize.

• 21a. [Display next to a museum guide] DOCENT SIGN (cent sign).
• 27a. [Give away some heirloom flatware?] DONATE SILVER (Nate Silver).
• 40a. [Time slot for a greyhound sprint?] DOG RACE PERIOD (grace period).
• 63a. [Best performer in a 12-part challenge?] DOZEN MASTER (zen master).
• 71a. [Campus known for its rotunda?] DOMED SCHOOL (med school).
• 96a. [Issue involving web ownership?] DOMAIN CONCERN (main concern).
• 111a. [Note on a prescription bottle?] DOSAGE ADVICE (sage advice).
• 120a. [Rides just out of a bubbly rinse?] DOUSED CARS (used cars).

All well and good.

• 1d [2021 film that won the Best Picture Oscar] CODA, which is a double entendre, as it refers to the musical aspect of the film as well as the protagonist’s status as a child of deaf adults.
• 2d [Cause of a wrinkled nose] ODOR. >wrinkles nose<
• 5d [Consign to fate] DESTINE. Now there’s an old-timey word.
• 20d [Decays] MOLDERS. A whiff of old-timeyness here too. Or perhaps it’s just that by its very definition it evokes something old.
• 22d [City south of Oklahoma City] NORMAN. 85a [City north of Oklahoma City] ENID.
• 35d [Ready for the cobbler, perhaps] CORED. Apples.
• 46d [Name on a marquee] STAR. 106a [Names on a marquee] LEADS.
• 62d [Set things right] ATONED. Could’ve been ATONES, but knowing the theme mechanic by this point gave me the correct terminal letter.
• 1a [Work on a part?] COMB. Always nice when 1-across is a gimme.
• 5a [Temple building] DORM, referring to Temple University.
• 66a [“You made that up!” LIAR. In a rare misstep for this puzzle, I went with LIES.
• 75a [Spot to gloss over] LIP. Nifty clue.
• 81a [Scoundrel] SO-AND-SO. 19a [Scoundrel] ROGUE.

Adrian Johnson’s Universal Crossword “Universal Freestyle 220” – Adam S’s write-up

Adrian Johnson is in the Universal themeless lineup for the third consecutive weekend, this time as a solo constructor, with a puzzle highlighted by beautifully constructed quad stacks of 10s. Impressive enough to hit seven out of eight on lively, across entries in the stack, but the real mark of quality here is how squeaky clean the crossing entries are. Not a dud among the 20 of them.

Sidetracking on 9-D. ATUL Gawande is such a great writer with a gift for explaining the complex and difficult. In particular, Being Mortal is an amazing book about the end of life that, in the last years of my Dad’s life (he passed away 3 years ago), provided a huge amount of both perspective and practical thoughts on how to navigate. Highly recommended.

Back to the puzzle. My favorite fill included THAT’S GREAT, HOW ON EARTH, ALL TOO TRUE, BLIND SPOT, BLOOD OATHS, EASY DOES IT, the scrabbly-vowelly JOYEUX NOEL, and IN THE ZONE. Given this is a much more constrained grid than Adrian usually works with and the minimal glue in the puzzle, that’s a good hit rate on the longer stuff.

A few notes:

• 16A ALL TOO TRUE [Correct, sadly]. Interesting choice to clue this definitionally rather than its more natural form as a spoken word phrase. At a guess, this is because the two acrosses in the stack above are also both conversational phrases, and either Adrian or the editors were looking for some variety. Prior to today, 8 of the 12 clues for this entry in the Crosserville database were conversational phrases. Side note – 7 of 13 occurrences of this entry in the Crosserville database have been in Universal. Probably not totally a coincidence – Universal loves conversational phrases, and the unscrabbly letters help promote the quality of shorter fill that David and Taylor look for.
• 18A DESERT ISLE [Remote key?]. Very nice!
• 21A NARUTO [Bestselling manga series]. New to me. I was glad of my high school French, which gave me confidence in the U at the crossing with JOYEUX NOEL.
• 30A TINGA [Saucy Mexican chicken dish]. Debut entry in all publications tracked by Crosserville. And a very tasty one, too!
• 38A SEA BREEZE [Beach day cooler?]. The clue didn’t quite land for me. These clues work best when the surface of the misdirect is in itself an in-the-language phrase (or a pun on one), rather than just a logical string of words that it’s hard to imagine anyone saying or writing.
• 13D RODEO [Wyoming’s state sport]. Nice example of a trivia clue where the nature of the trivia is also a nudging hint towards the answer, since RODEO is a very plausible thing for Wyoming to make its state sport.