Monday, May 4, 2026

BEQ 11:40 (Eric) [3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 2:00 (Stella) [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:07 (Sophia) [3.31 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 7:03 (Amy) [2.14 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ 5:16 (Jim Q) rate it

Kate Schutzengel’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Recap

New York Times, 05 04 2026, By Kate Schutzengel

Hi folks! I’m traveling in Europe this week so the recap will be pretty short so I can get to bed. Today’s theme is GETS THE ICK, and each theme answer contains two instances of the letters ICK:

• 17a [“Sleepless in Seattle” or “Legally Blonde,” informally] – CHICK FLICK
• 23a [Methodical way for something to be built] – BRICK BY BRICK
• 37a [Slogan encouraging the use of seatbelts] – CLICK IT OR TICKET
• 48a [Simple game requiring steady hands] – PICKUP STICKS
• 58a [Suddenly feels repulsed by a romantic partner … or a hint to 17-, 23-, 37- and 48-Across] – GETS THE ICK

I liked the theme answers chosen a lot, and there’s an impressive amount of thematic material going on here (5 long answers). I don’t totally understand how the “gets the” part relates to the theme, but I’m probably overthinking it and it’s just a hint to how there’s a lot of ICKs in the puzzle.

Fill highlights: AMENITY KIT, SKIPS CLASS, PADMA Lakshmi (she rules)

New to me: [New England state with the slogan “The Way Life Should Be”] for MAINE – I guess this isn’t as famous as its neighbor New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die”. Also, the clue of [Fasten, as a ship’s rope] for BELAY – I only know this as a word from rock climbing.

Happy Monday all!

Janice Luttrell’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 5/4/26 by Janice Luttrell

Are you in a mood? Then this puzzle is for you, because each theme entry starts with a word that means “sore” (in the mood sense) in some way:

• 17A [Cactus with showy flowers] is a PRICKLY PEAR.
• 28A [Like some Winter Olympics skiing] is CROSS-COUNTRY.
• 45A [Tummy trouble] is UPSET STOMACH.
• 61A [Satirical periodical featuring Alfred E. Neuman] is MAD MAGAZINE.

Pun intended: The first themer makes me a little cranky, because CROSS, UPSET, and MAD all describe a (hopefully temporary) mood, whereas PRICKLY describes a disposition. I don’t think “easily irritated” is synonymous with “irritated.”

One clue I really liked (because it’s REALLY hard to write a fresh clue that’s still easy enough for Monday): 60A [Stack starter in solitaire] for ACE. I’ve seen a million poker references for ACE, but I don’t recall seeing one for solitaire, and yet it’s such a ubiquitous game.

Kevin Curry’s Wall Street Journal crossword “High Class” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Phrases that end with types of flight “classes”

WSJ • 5/04/26 • Mon • “High Class” • Kevin Curry • solution • 20260504

THEME ANSWERS:

• GIG ECONOMY
• RISK PREMIUM
• BIG BUSINESS
• APRIL FIRST
• (revealer) [With 38-Across, place known for pilot programs, or where you might expect to find the “classes” at the ends of the starred answers] FLIGHT SCHOOL

Sweet Monday WSJ with a clever revealer that made me smile. The double meaning and punny nature of “class” really helps to enhance the puzzle. I’m only familiar with ECONOMY, BUSINESS, and FIRST as far as classes go (And by familiar, I mean I’ve walked through BUSINESS/FIRST to go sit with my peeps in ECONOMY). Not sure what PREMIUM is. Also…is there a difference between BUSINESS and FIRST? Or is it the same thing by a different name?

I found the SW corner surprisingly difficult, and it led to a much higher Monday time for me than normal. BURNS slipped my mind… not sure why. And I’ve never heard of [Kelly of “CBS Saturday Morning”] O’GRADY  (I really wanted to make RIPA fit there). PIPE UP was tricky for me as clued [Join the conversation]. I don’t really associate PIPing UP with joining the conversation. I feel like that person is already in the convo and just abruptly decided to add something to it. That’s just me overthinking though.

OTHER THINGS:

• Had ADE for ICE [Drink cooler]. Duh. Fixed the I when entering APRIL FIRST, but never corrected the D. Took a while to find my error when Mr. Happy Pencil failed to appear.
• [It’s often 72, of course!] I like a good exclamation point clue… this one is very cute. 72 is often par [of] a golf [course].
• [1974 Elliott Gould/Donald Sutherland comedy] SPYS. Only know this convenient misspelling from crosswords.
• [Cash, slangily] MOOLA. No H at the end? Or is the H optional?
• POST MALONE, SKI MOBILES, and YOGA BALL make for nice longer down entries!
• Fun title! Though I’m noticing now that it’s sorta kinda duped in the clue for the revealer.

4 stars from me!

Brooke Husic’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solution, 5/4/26 – Husic

For me, there was only one tricky crossing in this puzzle. 47d. [Hip-hop radio host Darden], EBRO. First name is Ebro, short for Ibrahim. From an NYC radio station till recently, now on Apple Music 1, which I didn’t know was a thing. His last letter crosses Latin, 57a. [“Gloria in Excelsis ___”], DEO. I half wondered if it were DEI.

Fave fill: PAPER STRAW (I like how the clue tricks us into thinking of payment options), HIGH-RISES, PLOT HOLES, MIRENAS, LAB DIAMOND, SCREEN TIME, TELETHERAPY, PROTEST CHANT, HOLD SPACE, TRANS RIGHTS.

New to me: 21d. [Board game in which forces of nature attempt to prevent a colonial invasion], SPIRIT ISLAND.

Time for lunch, gotta run. 3.5 stars from me.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1884 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1884 — 5/4/26 (Click to Enlarge)

I shouldn’t get annoyed by the little quirks that make a BEQ puzzle what it is. It’s not as if I don’t know what to expect from one of his puzzles. Maybe I’m just in a cranky mood because I have a headache and by the time I figured out how to get the audio for my Zoom webinar to play where I wanted it, the thing was half over. Such is Monday morning in the life of a retiree. At least my husband’s jury duty for today and mine for tomorrow are canceled.

Stuff:

• 7A [San Antonio Missions and Tulsa Drillers, e.g.] AA TEAMS I’ve never heard of either minor-league baseball team (despite having lived for almost 50 year just down the road (in Texas terms) from San Antonio). But what else could the answer have been? It was just a matter of how many A’s
• 15A [Go 51-Across] SCROLL UP/51A [See 15-Across] TO THE TOP When I become King of Crossworld, this kind of almost useless cross-reference clueing will merit a stiff sentence. You’re welcome.
• 17A [Page-formatting instructions] HTML FILE Not HTML CODE. I had almost no experience using HTML until I became a Fiend reviewer. I still screw something up once a month or so. Fortunately, Dave Sullivan, our webmaster, is always willing to bail me out. Thanks, Evad!
• 18A [Omani cheese] RIALS It seemed obvious that “cheese” was being used in a slangy sense; I don’t think of the Arab world when I think of curdled milk products, though I’m sure such things exist. (Or maybe not; I have a vague memory of reading once that Japanese people find the concept of cheese unappetizing. That just leaves more for me.)
• 19A [Thin, runny breakfast] GRUEL What we in the United States call “oatmeal,” the British call “porridge.” Water it down and you’ve got GRUEL, the Breakfast of Royal Navy crewmen for probably centuries. (See also Twist, Oliver.)
• 20A [Quebecois key] CLÉ Hmm. I thought the French word for “key” (as in the thing you used to use to start a car) was clef. Guess not.
• 22A [Mountain nymph] OREAD/43A [Well spirit] NAIAD What’s Monday morning without minor mythological characters?
• 24A [Wire transfer alternative] ACH Network Apparently, this system for electronic funds transfers no longer spells out “automated clearing house” in its name.
• 27A [Main components in Velcro] HOOK AND LOOP I know Velcro existed before the 1970s, but when I think about it first showing up in mainstream products, I think of some 8th-grade classmate who enjoyed disturbing other students by s-l-0-w-l-y pulling apart whatever Velcro fastener he was wearing. What a jerk.
• 30A [Wide awake] ALERT Me, too much of the night last night and the two previous nights.
• 31A [“This is a surprise!”] YOWIE/45A [Surprised cry] OHO Were you surprised by these two? I was not.
• 47A [“Keep Climbing” sloganeer] DELTA I haven’t flown anywhere in years and consequently pay almost no attention to airlines advertising. This answer could have been almost anything.
• 48A [Specialists that collect prints?] ART TRADE Cute clue. By the time I read it, I had enough of the first several letters that I knew “prints” had nothing to do with fingers.
• 1D [Patagonia rival] SIERRA Just last week, Brendan used the same clue for J. CREW. Make up your mind, dude. I’m not familiar with that company; it looks like they sell many different brands of outdoor-ish clothing.
• 2D [Holy Hand Grenade of ___ (“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” weapon)] ANTIOCH My friend David asked for my list of 10 favorite movies. It took me a while to whittle it down to size (and I cheated anyway). Holy Grail was one of the few pure comedies that made the cut.
• 7D [“On second thought, you’re right”] ACTUALLY, YEAH Actually, yeah, I can imagine myself saying that.
• 11D [Actress Vikander] ALICIA It’s hard to believe Ex Machina is 12 years old. No wonder I tried Alyssa first.
• 12D [Hermann Joseph ___ (1946 Nobelist for work on mutations caused by X-rays)] MULLER Not a name I’m familiar with.
• 22D [Setting for an early scene in “Home Alone”] O’HARE International Airport. I’d have accepted ORD.
• 25D [Alter, as findings] SKEWS The mismatch between the tenses of the clue and answer cost me a little bit of time.
• 26D [Unisex name that means “little red one”] ROWAN I did not know that, thought I have met at least one young woman with that name.
• 28D [“NCIS: Los Angeles” actor Eric Christian ___] OLSEN I don’t recognize that name, either, but at some point, it was inferable.
• 32D [Shit starter on the Internet] EDGE LORD I expect there’s some subtle difference between an EDGE LORD and a troll, but maybe it’s just two names for the same sad behavior.
• 34D [Muscle targeted in dips] TRICEP That clue needs a “casually” or something, doesn’t it?
• 37D [Mystery Machine exclamation] RUH-ROH I assume this is Scooby Doo-related. But I don’t care enough to look it up “Mystery Machine.”
• 47D [New wave band that sued McDonald’s in 2008 over a toy that ripped off its trademark look] DEVO Long clue, short answer. But at least my first (and only) guess was correct.