Wednesday, May 6, 2026

AV Club 5:48 (Amy) [3.00 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
LAT 6:05 (Gareth) [2.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
NYT 4:25 (Amy) [3.79 avg; 19 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:23 (Jim Q) [3.67 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.10 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today 12:17 (Emily) [3.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ 8:15 (Eric) [3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Greg Snitkin’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Dees? Nuts!” — Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 5/6/26 – “Dees? Nuts!”

TT’s turn into DD’s in where many Americans typically pronounce the two words much the same. The key words’ parts of speech differ.

• 20a. [*Headline after JELL-O announces it may stop making non-gelatin products?], PUDDING AT RISK. Gerund to straight noun.
• 26a. [*Wears the most basic ghost costume for Halloween?], SPORTS BEDDING. Gerund to straight noun.
• 41a. [*Auction house attendees who are always trying to one-up each other?], BIDDER ENEMIES. Adjective to noun.
• 46a. [*”The study participant has gotten even more angry”?], SUBJECT MADDER. Noun to adjective.

I like that the words all changed significantly.

Fave fill: MOXIE, DERRIERE, WEEKNIGHTS, the stoners HERB and MARYJANE, Pepperidge Farm MILANOS.

Three more things:

• 16a. [Crybaby’s desire?], TEAT. Mighty literal, that.
• 6d. [Like pigs in a blanket (probably!)], SNUG. Cute clue!
• 8d. [Rapper whose name might make fans thirsty], ICE-T. Some folks do pronounce “iced tea” as “ice tea,” an easy elision.

Four stars from me.

James Mattina’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 5/6/26 – no. 0506

Nice botanical theme today. The revealer is 38A. [Hybridized, botanically … or like four pairs of answers in this puzzle (and the circled letters they intersect on)?], CROSS-POLLINATED. BLUEBELL and HIBISCUS cross at B, PEONY and ASTER at E, AZALEA and VIOLET also at E, and PRIMROSE and DAISY at S. Those crossings are circled and spell out BEES, who pollinate flowers.

I like having eight entries be flowers!

Despite the puzzle having eight short themers that have to intersect just so along with a 15, the fill overall is quite smooth. Faves: HOLY TOLEDO, SOCRATIC, MEMPHIS, HELLA.

Three things:

• 37A. [Country nearest to the Equator without touching it], PERU. I misread that as Ecuador and wondered just how short their border is.
• 42A. [Bird adapted for silent flight], OWL. I’m reading the Ed Yong book, An Immense World, and learning about owls’ incredibly good hearing (their left and right ears are at different heights, allowing them to localize their prey) as well as their wings engineered to be quiet so the wee rodents won’t hear them coming. Fascinating book about the wide variety of senses found in the animal kingdom, many of them not generally associated with humans (like feeling vibrations in the earth, infrared vision, magnetic fields, and so on). Highly recommended.
• 61A. [Bloom whose toxic nectar is one source of “mad honey”], AZALEA. Never heard of mad honey but it has a Wikipedia article.

4.25 stars from me.

Chad Hazen’s Wall Street Journal Crossword — Eric’s Review

Chad Hazen’s Wall Street Journal Crossword “Deep Dish” — 5/6/26

I was a picky eater as a kid, and my mom’s cuisine, while generally tasty, would have played in Peoria. I didn’t eat anything with tomatoes and she didn’t serve much that had any spice. The only cheeses in our house were American, Swiss and that flavorless “Parmesan” in a can.

When I got to college, I quickly discovered what I’d missed not eating pizza. Not long afterwards, I learned that the world of cheeses is infinitely larger than I knew. Both pizza and cheese are still gastronomic weaknesses of mine. Unfortunately, both are higher in fat than I really need.

So the theme here both appeals to me and makes me want to eat a salad for dinner tonight. (Not happening). Circled squares drop down from one row to the next, with a helpful revealer. I’ve highlighted those to make them a little easier to see. (And because I’m too lazy to write up all nine answers that include a circled letter.)

The revealer: 66D [Targets for nachos, and what the circled letters represent] CHEESE DIPS Note how the circled letters spell CHEDDAR, GRUYÈRE and PROVOLONE.

As a former Texan, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anyone dip a nacho into a cheese dip. That’s just gilding the lily.

As a sometimes crossword puzzle constructor, I’ll note that the circled letters are checked three ways (Across, Down and as par of a cheese). Puzzles with a theme that requires triple-checked letters sometimes have some less than desirable fill, but this grid is pretty clean.

Selected clues, answers and whatever else caught my attention:

• 1A [Some picnic sides] SLAWS Technically, I suppose one can pluralize SLAW in the same way one can pluralize “fish.” That doesn’t mean I have to like it. (Oh, yeah. As a kid, I didn’t like coleslaw, either. I enjoy it now unless it’s too sweet.)
• 16A [Recital highlight] SOLO When I first read that clue, I missed the first I and thought it was a different word. That threw me off my game for a bit.

Electoral College Map for the 1964 United States Presidential Election

• 20A [1964 LBJ campaign spot implying Goldwater would start a nuclear war] DAISY AD I’m sure I remember it from having seen it a few years after that election. I think it only aired once and was purportedly very effective.
• 21A [Item found on a guitar or in a strip club] G-STRING When I worked in an office supply store eons ago, there was a topless club on the other side of the strip center where our store was. Texas law at the time permitted topless dancing so long as the woman’s nipples were covered. Their areolas could be exposed, so we sold large quantities of the smallest adhesive stickers they made to the club’s owners.
• 33A [Former Hawaiian senator Daniel] INOUYE I’m old enough to remember the second Asian American senator. And I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. If you missed the May 1 announcement here on Fiend: API constructors Alisya Reza and Terry Sun have launched APIHMinis.com, a site with a new mini crossword every day, each written by a different API constructor. You’ll recognize some of the constructors’ names, but many of them are having their first puzzles published. I’ve done a few of the puzzles and they’re pretty good.
• 42A [Time to retire?] PIT STOP “Retire” as in “Put new tires on.” Groan.
• 45A [Where Carrie wreaked her revenge] PROM Thanks, Mike Shenk, for the plot spoiler.
• 50A [Frozen food brand whose logo has a backward “e”] EVOL I wasn’t familiar with that brand and first tried the crossword stalwart EGGO.
• 53A [“The L Word” creator Chaiken] ILENE It took me a while to remember Ms Chaiken’s first name.
• 60A [Zoomers on lakes] JET SKIS Was “Zoomers” supposed to make us think of  Zoom call participants? When we had a small sailboat, the guys on personal watercraft buzzing by were quite annoying.
• 1D [Org. that patrols the Embarcadero] SFPD A gimme if you know that the Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront of San Francisco.
• 11D [Herbal beverage rich in antioxidants] ROOIBOIS TEA I’m told it’s quite tasty, though I’ve never tried it.
• 18D [It’s no formal attire] DAYWEAR OK, I guess so.
• 28D [Top job, of a sort] ROOF REPAIR Cute clue.

Caitlin Reid’s New Yorker crossword — Jim Q’s write-up

New Yorker • 5/06/26 • Wed • Caitlin Reid • solution • 20260506

FAVE ENTRIES:

• “IF I’M BEING HONEST…”
• MOTHER HEN
• TIC-TAC-TOE
• ACE VENTURA
• “IT’S A START!”
• BRAINWASH
• HAIRPIECE

I always thought MOOLA ended with an H. That entry isn’t in this puzzle, but I’ve seen it twice in other grids over the last couple of days. Meanwhile, this one gives us LOOFAH, which I was equally convinced didn’t end with an H.

What exactly are these silent H’s accomplishing? If society has managed to move past the penny, surely we can also phase out a few unnecessary trailing consonants.

Okay. Rant over.

Another Wednesday, another impressively polished grid from Caitlin Reid and The New Yorker. I especially enjoyed the southwest corner. BRAINWASH for [Change the mind of?] is a fun clue, and it serves as the cherry on top of a terrific triple stack alongside HAIRPIECE and IT’S A START. Nice to see a playful question-mark clue on a Wednesday, where the cluing is often a bit more straightforward.

ACE VENTURA sparked a healthy dose of nostalgia. That movie was absolutely everywhere during my tween years. I do wonder whether it holds up, though not enough to actually revisit it and find out.

Also worth noting: the crud level here is remarkably low. Maybe nonexistent. Always impressive.

4 stars

Emily Biegas’ USA Today Crossword, “Bar Crawl” — Emily’s write-up

On the rocks?

USA Today, May 06, 2026, “Bar Crawl” by Emily Biegas

Theme: each themer contains –BAR–

Themers:

• 20a. [Vinegar-based cookout condiment], BARBECUESAUCE
• 38a. [“The Wedding Singer” start who has had a daytime talk show since 2020], DREWBARRYMORE
• 62a. [“Marvelous,” in German], WUNDERBAR

A mix of themers in this set today with BARBECUESAUCE, DREWBARRYMORE, and WUNDERBAR. The first two were easy fills for me but the last too me several crossings. The fun part of this set is that –BAR– travels across the puzzle, like a drink slid to an awaiting hand. Cleaver!

Favorite fill: FOIBLE, NOTNOW, ENOKI, and INEEDAFAVOR

Stumpers: COHOST (first tried “friend” and “spouse”), ROCK (new cluing for me), and PERSE (needed crossings)

Though this was a longer solve and some crossings were needed in a few spots due to tricky cluing for me, I still enjoyed this puzzle a great deal. Loved the grid and fresh overall fill plus the fantastic themer set and theme. Hope to see more from this constructor!

4.5 stars

~Emily

Sita C. Palepu & David Y. Lin’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

I liked the choice of final answer as not just POKER, but POKERNIGHT. Each of the four options for a poker play start one of four of the previous longer entries:

1. [“I say we’re square now!”], CALLITEVEN
2. [Set new, higher standards], RAISETHEBAR
3. [Versatile home office device], ALLINONEPRINTER
4. [Do a washday chore], FOLDLAUNDRY

There are also a couple of irregular answers that feel like bonus answers: CLEARSOUT, PLAYMAKER and, particularly, TELL.

I had to guess at one square: I have never heard of PCP as anything but a drug – I’d guess it’s primary care physician, which seems to be a long-ass way to say GP? And I had no idea about the particular PAYNE in question.

Gareth