LAT 2:37 (Stella) 
[3.00 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Newsday 15:17 (Amy) 
[3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 8:28 (Amy) 
[3.84 avg; 16 ratings] rate it
Universal 5:22 (Adam S) 
[1.83 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today untimed (ZEB) rate it
WSJ 16:12 (Eric) 
[4.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Alan DerKazarian’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Turning the Tables” — Eric’s Review
Alan DerKazarian’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Turning the Tables” — 5/2/26 (Click to Enlarge)
Circled letters flip some parts of a meal around:
23A [Component that determines a computer’s clock speed] CPU OSCILLATOR I’m not the most technically savvy person, and I don’t think I’d heard this term before. But I know what a CPU is and what “oscillation” is, and eventually I could fill in the blanks.
27A [Best Supporting Actress nominee for 2004’s “Sideways”] VIRGINIA MADSEN
50A [Ice cream-and-meringue dishes that are cooked for a very short time] BAKED ALASKAS That’s the second time this week that I’ve seen BAKED ALASKA in an answer. That’s a bit unusual.
68A [“Hmm, something to consider”] THAT’S A POINT Okay, sure.
80A [Risking a breakdown, perhaps] OVER-STRESSED
108A [Gatherings that have pirate or Gatsby themes] DRESS-UP PARTIES
114A [Cry from the bridge, maybe, and a hint to each set of circles] REVERSE COURSE Soup, main, salad, pasta, dessert, app — undeniably all courses in a multi-course meal, though arguably served in a strange order.
It’s a serviceable if not flashy theme.
Other stuff:
- 38A [Frost bit?] VERSE “Frost” as in the poet Robert. Cute clue.
- 41A [“Beyond the Pleasure Principle” author] Psychologist Sigmund FREUD I’d forgotten that title and needed some crosses to get the answer.
- 43A [Atty.’s org.] ABA/45A [Aspiring atty.’s exam] LSAT Little reminders that I have jury duty next week.
- 55A [Swimmer Kaylee McKeown’s country, in Olympic country codes] AUS That’s Australia; Austria’s Olympic country code is AUT. Ms McKeown has won five gold in various backstroke events.
- 63A [Film studio with a Pegasus logo] TRISTAR I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie from them, but anymore, most movies seems to involve half a dozen production companies and studios.
- 103A [Evian and Perrier, informally] EAUS “Informally” because in French, the plural would be EAUX.
- 119A [Ones with a lot of lip] SASSERS Those verb plus -ER equals “person who engages in that activity” almost always strike me as unnatural unless they’re something like “painter” or “runner” that people actually use.
- 1D [First Top 40 hit for the Village People] MACHO MAN All I could remember from those guys was Y.M.C.A., thought once I got this one, it immediately insinuated itself into my head.
- 11D [Nixon who sang “Maria” in 1965’s “The Sound of Music”] MARNI Ms Nixon was also the uncredited singing voice for Deborah Kerr in The King and I and Natalie Wood in West Side Story.
- 50D [Boito’s Mefistofele, e.g.] BASSO I don’t know that opera, but I know who Mephistopheles is and I know that operatic villains are often sung by basses.
- 64D [“Coal Miner’s Daughter” director Michael] APTED A gimme though I haven’t seen that movie in a very long time. Sissy Spacek did her own singing as country legend Loretta Lynn.
Hannah Slovut-Einertson’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 5/2/26 – no. 0502
Tough one tonight. Kinda felt like four mini-puzzles, with the northwest corner the last to fall. It was so much easier once I had the last three letters in place for the 1a stack, backing into that corner.
Fave fill: MOON SHOTS, STAGE NAME, PERMA-BAN, summer camp COLOR WARS, “SO ANYWAYS …”, MASHUPS, GOLD STARS, TEMPORARY TATTOO, FRAMEWORK.
Did not know:
- 18A. [Women’s Basketball Hall-of-Famer ___ Beard], ALANA. Wasn’t ringing a bell for me. Here’s her Wikipedia page.
- 28A. [“Alice in Zombieland” author ___ Showalter], GENA. She writes YA and paranormal romance books.
- 46A. [Actress Donovan of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”], ELISA. Never heard of her. She was on the final three seasons of Sabrina.
- 2D. [1994 compilation album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers], OUT IN L.A. A dupe for L.A. LAKERS.
- 40D. [Cutting tool with an arch], BOW SAW. Came up empty at Home Depot, but here’s a guy who’s a fan of using bow saws in his woodworking. Apparently he’s run into a lot of other woodworkers who have never used his type of saw.
Not entirely sure that LATEST FAD and “I’LL START” feel crossword-worthy.
49A. [Rotisserie-roasted Turkish dish], DONER. The sandwich made with that meat is the doner kebab, It’s popular in Germany, and a 92-year-old nun called Sister Irmingard tried it for the first time in a viral video.
3.5 stars from me.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 5/2/26 by Zhouqin Burnikel
I’m not mad at this puzzle for being easy because there was quite a lot of good stuff in it, including a mini-theme since today is Kentucky Derby day: RUN FOR THE ROSES and CHURCHILL DOWNS at 19A and 50A, respectively.
- 17A [Place for fans to show support] is MERCH BOOTH. This is a cool entry, and the only one in the puzzle that caused me any real friction. I had M?C?H??OTH in place and was like…what the HELL is this letter pattern? When I finally got it, I smiled. Exactly what you want on Saturday.
- 26A [“He has my whole heart”] is I’M HIS, which was the one entry I found to be a real clunker in the puzzle.
- 45A [Post __] is HOC. As someone who’s read a lot of clinical trial reports for my job, I’d love for POST HOC to be something that more people know.
- 57A [Bean sprout?] is IDEA. Very clever, and I don’t think I’ve seen it before, which is unusual for an entry as ubiquitous as this one.
- 1D [Bit of suction] is SIP. Also an angle I don’t feel like I’ve seen before on a short and therefore common entry.
- 8D [Amplifier for tap dancers, perhaps] is FLOOR MIC. Always here for dance references.
- 20D [Wall Street’s nabe] is FIDI (short for FInancial DIstrict). Nice to see a NYC neighborhood in a puzzle that isn’t SOHO or NOHO.
- 44D [Rice vermicelli] is MEI FUN. I got this entry quickly (my mom and her whole side of the family are from Malaysia, after all) and thought, “This is cool!” while solving. After the solve I took a look at the byline and thought, “Of course.”
Tyler Hinman’s Newsday crossword, “Saturday Stumper”—Amy’s recap
Newsday crossword solution, 5/2/26 – “Saturday Stumper” – Hinman
What a fun surprise to see Tyler’s byline on a Stumper!
Fave fill: SECOND WIND, AMY POEHLER, RAW TALENT, HARPER LEE, ABC ISLANDS, CYPRESS, CEREAL BAR, “HATED IT.”
Things to mention:
- 15a. [Fey Golden Globes cohost], AMY POEHLER. Tina Fey, not the adjective fey.
- 19a. [Bit of a tortilla chip], CORN. Really, corn is the bulk of a tortilla chip.
- 28a. [Sort of skirt], KILT. Thinking it was M**I slowed me down.
- 33a. [Where you get your fill], GAS STOP. Gas station, filling station, pitstop, sure. GAS STOP??
- 37a. [Modern-day con], SPAMMER / 21d. [Plots with oil], ART SCAMS. These were both hard for me to extract.
- 47a. [“That’s it!”], “I’M DONE!” I like this pairing.
- 48a. [Like some buds], IN-EAR. Electronics, not botany.
- 60a. [Remote starter], TELE-. Just a prefix, not a remote starter for your car.
- 63a. [Creosote and borate, vis-a-vis wood], PRESERVERS. Yeah, no. Those are preservatives. Life PRESERVERS are for water safety and I’d have preferred that clue approach.
- 4d. [Disclose?], OPEN. I need an explanation of why various words are negated or baddified with dis-, mis-, mal-, un-, or non-. Are there rules for which prefix pairs with any given class of words?
- 8d. [Checking promise], “I’LL ASK.” Perplexing clue until enough crossings shined the light.
- 14d. [Displays publicly], POSTS UP. I feel like Tyler would have had a sports-related clue here. Displaying something publicly is just posting it, not posting it up.
- 23d. [Motive for many of Ovid’s odes], PAR AMORE. A semi-fake Latin phrase? Instead of the musical group Paramore? I don’t like this.
- 24d. [What Jamie, Robin and Morgan are], UNISEX. Great clue.
- 58d. [Direction from Dusseldorf], SSE. Here’s our cryptic-vibed clue for the week, DuSSEeldorf.
Four stars from me.
Adrian Johnson and Alexandra Doumani’s Universal Crossword “Universal Freestyle 221” – Adam S’s write-up
Adrian Johnson and Alexandra Doumani’s Universal Freestyle 221 – May 2, 2026
A typically fun themeless packed full of goodies from Adrian and Alexandra. Particular favorites for me included DETECTIVE NOVELS, the TIL MUAY THAI, NUDE SCENE, POP STAR, AS PROMISED, EVERYTHING’S FINE, END OF AN ERA, and PEA CRISPS (a large bag of which will last approximately 23 seconds in our house).
I was a little less sure about I’LL WAIT IN THE CAR as a marquee gridspanner. It’s definitely fresh – as far as I can tell, this is the first time it’s been used in a major publication – but it didn’t resonate all that strongly with me. This may not have been helped by the cluing angle of [Words from a getaway driver to a bank robber]. Isn’t this a self-evident part of the plan that wouldn’t need to be said? TBF, the angle that would have resonated more with me would have been something like [Teenager’s words when asked if they want to help me buy groceries], and that doesn’t seem like much fun as a clue!
This played a little tougher than a typical Universal for me, which I liked. As I’ll go into in the bullets, there were some clues that made me think in a good way. I also had a structural issue getting into the SE, which is the one choke point in an otherwise admirably open grid. Note that there are only three answers that connect that whole section to the rest of the grid. I didn’t know MUAY THAI and made the fatal error of seeing ?DS at 9A, and ?VE at the beginning of 9D, which was clued as [“No problems here”] and deciding 9D ‘had’ to start with ‘I’VE’, Since IDS was plausible at 9D, I didn’t check the cross 🤦♂️.
That did cause me to reflect on what a good job the Universal team and regular constructors like Adrian and Alexandra do of maintaining a consistent difficulty level on themelesses. This is the 9th Universal I’ve reviewed on Fiend, and also at 5:22 my slowest time. My fastest time was a minor outlier, 3:41, and my second fastest was 4:32. Compare that to my last 9 Friday NYTs, which range from 5:00 to 12:49, and the consistency of difficulty is impressive
A few notes:
- 12A DETECTIVE NOVELS [They have clues but not grids] Nice clue!
- 17A ALL [“free clear” detergent brand] Interesting choice to go with the brand rather than the real world. I wonder if the crossing with BELL hooks at 1D tripped anyone up, especially given her lower-case name.
- 30A HAWK [“Red-tailed” raptor]. Shoutout to Tamalpais High School, which has been great for my kids. Go Red-Tailed Hawks!
- 31A NUDE SCENE [Movie sequence requiring an intimacy coordinator]. Nice modern clue that helps mitigate the ick factor some might feel about what is a fun (IMO) but potentially divisive entry.
- 38A HANGAR [Airplane storage space] I totally fell for the misdirect here. My thought process when solving was something like “Ummmm. OVERHEAD BIN doesn’t fit. Neither does SEATBACK POCKET or CARGO HOLD. Surely not GALLEY? {Gets a few more crosses}. HANGER?? Are Adrian and Alexandra making so much money from their recent run of Universal themelesses that they are treating themselves to first-class seats??? Doesn’t seem likely… AHA!”
- 11D SLAW [Cookout side that’s best without mayonnaise, in our opinions] Heresy! But I like the clue anyway!
Fun puzzle, as I’ve come to expect from this duo.
Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword “Eye-Catching” – Zachary Edward-Brown’s write-up
Zhouqin Burnikel’s USA Today Crossword “Eye-Catching” – 5/2/26
Hey everybody! I’m excited to join Team Fiend covering weekend USA Today puzzles. This puzzle was a really fun solve!
Here’s the theme:
19A – [1978 Maya Angelou poetry collection centered around resilience] = AND STILL I RISE
36A- [“We all play by the same rules”] = FAIR IS FAIR
55A – [Spicy chili condiment] = PIRI-PIRI SAUCE
At first, looking at the title, I thought it might be a play on EYE = the letter I, but instead we get themers containing the word IRIS. Clever!
A few notes:
- [Cookie with a Black Sesame flavor in China] OREO Zhouqin often has really fun food-related entries in the grid – this new (to me) angle for the oft-used OREO was really fun! Other food entries: UDON, SNOballs, SOY, and the themer PIRI-PIRI SAUCE.
- [Rapper ___ Mama] LIL Not a rapper I’m familiar with, but I liked the clue!
- FAIR IS FAIR, OH RATS, ITS TRUE, YOU SEE I love seeing spoken phrases in grids, and this puzzle had a solid dose of them!
- TIJUANA, RIDDLE, POOL TOYS, FOAM PADS, FOOT RUB Really fun mid-length fill in this puzzle. TIJUANA stood out to me because that bottom-right corner is a bit longer than usual, with a 7/7/6 stack, and it was fun uncovering that scrabbly J in the middle of a long-ish entry, not at the start where J’s usually are.
- [One might enable a bathroom selfie] MIRROR Favorite clue in the puzzle for me!
4.5 stars
I agree with Amy that the Times was tough. But for me, it was the SW corner that took forever.
Same here! I made a stab that the name was LENA not GENA and that slowed me down in getting GOLD STARS. I didn’t know the Hamlet line which would’ve been very helpful. Pretty good Saturday!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
This one didn’t give me that much trouble. I was fortunate to hit quickly on a lot of the mid-length fill like PERMABAN, LALAKERS, ARABIAN, CARESSED, and ATMINSIDE. That helped open up the board.
WST: cluing EAUS as “Evian and Perrier, informally” seems sketchy to me, because, as Eric points out, the plural of EAU in French is EAUX, so you have to say that EAU here is an English word and not a French one. But does anyone refer to Evian and Perrier as a type of EAU without meaning the French word?
Merriam-Webster and Collins both give EAUX as the plural for EAU, with no option of EAUS. Dictionary.com apparently doesn’t think EAU is a word in English as all.
It’s one of those crossword conventions: any foreign loanword can be pluralized with an “s.” EAUS was used in the NYT by Will Weng as well as Will Shortz, so the WSJ isn’t breaking new ground.
Yeah … but … “This is being done” is never a rational justification for “This should continue to be being done.” I’d wager that that year or two (in the 2000s? 2010s?) when editors seemed to take a collective stand against the theme type wherein the revealer was just a word whose clue was a straightforward [Word that precedes the first word of {the themers}] was influenced heavily by cruciverbiblogospherical commentary.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
NYT: finally a tough one! I’ll take it (in spite of some questionable fill)!
Nice NYT. Much the same experience as Amy, though a few times slower.
Puzzle: LAT; Rating: 2.5 stars
Interestingly had the opposite experience to the reviewers today… found the NYT trivially easy, although still pretty good, finishing in about half my normal time, about 7 mins.
By contrast, I could not complete the LAT without a check, primarily due to the amount of proper nouns. Having never heard of Mei fun or Paso Robles, or Anne Meara, that section was a no-go. Also found the bottom right tricky to break into with Cara stacked on Don, again two new names to me, and guessing post-ITS rather than HOC didn’t help. A very frustrating grid for me.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
HSE one of the best themeless artists working
The constructor’s name doesn’t ring a bell with me, but I agree this was a very well made puzzle. I didn’t know PERMABAN, GENA, or COLORWARS but they were all gettable.
I don’t like clues such as “Call it!” for HOTLINE, but that’s just me.
I agree on all points
not just you!
On the desktop version of the site, constructor names are tagged so you can see some of their past work. Hannah is usually published in other places like USA Today.
We Team Fiend contributors try to tag the constructor for every puzzle we review, but sometimes we forget. There are a lot of steps between solving a crossword puzzle and publishing a coherent review, and all of us make mistakes sometimes.
But to your overall point: The Fiend constructor tags are an excellent way to find more puzzles by constructors whose work appeals to you. I encourage everyone to use them to find their new favorite constructors.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Lots to love, but also too many unknown names for me. TEMPORARY TATTOO was a huge help.
There were a lot of unknowns for me as well. All 5 of the ones Amy mentioned, plus ATM INSIDE.
I know the NYT doesn’t care about dupes, but I don’t love the OUT IN LA and LA LAKERS dupe, since LA is not an incidental word like UP or IN that often gets duped.
+1 on the unknowns – though after I got it, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen “ATM INSIDE” signs.
Wish I would see more TEMPORARY TATTOOs in real life. Over time, I’ve come to peace with piercings, as they are mostly reversible when the bearer recognizes the error of their ways. And the tattooed heart or flower or butterfly or “MOM” that’s only visible at the beach is fine. But the proliferation of permanent ink covering people’s forearms and creeping up their necks and onto their faces still gives me the willies.
But I’m an oldster (Jenni – I’m trying to stay away from “old fart”).
I started with ATMONSITE (and also KARMABAN).
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
I’m an oldster with a single tat (baseball-sized, but on my calf).
Facial tattoos don’t do much for me, either. Even worse for me is a ring dangling from someone’s nasal septum — it makes them look like a farm animal.
In 1998 or 1999, our son came home from a high school Spring Break trip to Cancun with a pierced lip. I went ballistic, but my wife calmed me down – and the jewelry disappeared after a couple of months.
A week ago, when he and his family came over to celebrate his 45th birthday, he mentioned that he was upset because his oldest (almost 16) wants to get his nose pierced.
What goes around comes around, I guess.
I love this story…
What huda said.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Also an oldster with one tat – on my foot.
I liked the puzzle better than Amy did. TEMPORARY TATTOO was a gimme and that opened up the whole grid.
NYT: It’s my slowest time in months, about twice what the average Saturday NYT takes me.
I lot of that was because I was barely awake when I solved it. I could have sworn that I typed LA LAKERS (which I was fairly certain of) correctly the first time and it didn’t fit.
Some of my slowness was unfamiliarity with PERMABAN and GENA Showalter. (Like Dallas, I started with LENA.)
I’ve heard of COLOR WARS, but the Boy Scout camp I went to didn’t call those sorts of things by that name (kinda hard to pull off a COLOR WAR when everyone is wearing khaki and olive green).
I’m really glad I know what a CELESTA is. ATM INSIDE signs are ubiquitous where I’ve lived; it surprises me a bit that people say they have never seen one.
I knew the CELESTA from The Nutcracker, Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy. And I feel like I’ve seen ATM INSIDE signs a lot; I thought it was nice fill.
Re: the Stumper – I finally got the clue for 55d, MARVin.
I threw in “went” before SAYS occurred to me, 62D. Is DEV okay for “Web coder” because Web is short for website?
Thanks, Tyler
“Dev” is now a word. It originated as an abbreviation of developer, but is a word in its own right. An abbrevition is usually not said as written, and written with a period. You don’t pronounce “Thu.” as “thoo.” You talk about coders as “devs.” So it’s a word and doesn’t get an abbreviation signal.
Stumper: Ugh! A hard one with lots of issues. Agree with Amy! I’m not understanding 59D “Short U or I” with an answer of “ltr”??
I think this signals “abbreviate letter.”
Huh! Could be, that’s a stretch– which is normal for a Stumper. Thanks!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Not acceptable for a New York publication to have duplicate LAs in the grid. /sarcasm
To be honest, I thought it was quite easy for a Saturday. Maybe it’s the grid geometry: no entry longer than 9 letters except 8D.