Monday, May 11, 2026

BEQ untimed (Eric) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 2:03 (Stella) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:07 (Amy) [3.67 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 7:35 (Amy) [3.44 avg; 8 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) [3.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) [2.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ 5:39 (Jim Q) rate it

Chloe Revery’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 5/11/26 by Chloe Revery

If this puzzle had a theme song, it would be “I Heard a Rumour” by Bananarama. The revealer at 63A [Trendy jargon, or what can be found at the starts of 17-, 25-, 38-, and 53-Across] is BUZZWORDS, because each theme entry starts with a slang term for the word on the street (for which BUZZ could also be a synonym):

• 17A [Very inexpensive] is DIRT CHEAP.
• 25A [Pants one may have to wriggle into] is SKINNY JEANS. (I love SKINNY JEANS and am sad that the current trend in pants is very wide legs.)
• 38A [Kitchen cloth] is a DISH TOWEL.
• 53A [Traditional Chinese wedding ritual] is TEA CEREMONY.

I really like how this theme was executed. I love the inclusion of the modern slang TEA along with the older DIRT, SKINNY, and DISH. I think the theme entries themselves, on their surface, are highly evocative, and as a half-Chinese-American, I especially appreciated the representation of TEA CEREMONY. (In 2023, when my niece got married, my husband and I were among the “elders” who were served tea. Boy, did that make me feel old.)

The fill was nice and clean, with nothing worse than the partial ONE-A. I particularly liked the cluing of INDEX CARDS as [Items in recipe boxes], which felt nicely nostalgic in our current age of having to scroll through a zillion ads to get to an actual recipe when you’re looking at cooking blogs. I also liked seeing NYFW, short for New York Fashion Week, at 52D.

Can’t really ask for more out of a Monday puzzle. Five stars.

Matthew Luter’s Universal crossword, “When in Rome” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 5/11/26 • Mon • “When in Rome” • Luter • solution • 20260511

Roman numeral action, a venerable ploy in crosswords.

• 57a^R [When the internet exploded in popularity … or what ancient Romans might see in the starred clues’ answers] MID-NINETIES.
• 17a. [*Tiny collectible toy vehicle] MATCHBOX CAR.
• 41a. [*Tailless feline] MANX CAT.
• 11d. [*Incentive for energy-efficient home renovation] TAX CREDIT.
• 30d. [*Custom set of burned songs] MIX CD.
• 36d. [*Movie built around racy humor] SEX COMEDY.

Based on the revealer, I would have expected the Roman 90s (XC) to appear in the exact centers of entries, but considering the awkwardness of the letters in English, that’s most certainly too tall an order. Better is how 57a’s clue echoes the puzzle’s title by emphasizing the ‘when’; it pulls everything together. (On the other hand: 53d [Timing question] WHEN.)

• 1a [Punctuation mark with an Oxford variety] COMMA. Also known as a serial comma. I’m an adherent.
• 19a [Gen __ ] XER, a cohort who came into their own in the MID-NINETIES.
• 20a [State with five national parks and part of Four Corners] UTAH, with six sides.
• 21a [“Now YOU’RE betraying me??”] ET TU. Speaking of ancient Romans.
• 37a [Bamboo, for a panda] DIET. They will supplement their intake, though, sometimes even being carnivorous.
• 73a [A minor, for instance] KEY. This clue fooled me and I read the A as an indefinite article. 75a [Worries] FRETS.
  
• 74a [Grabbers in Japanese “UFO catcher” arcade machines] CLAWS. Hard not to think that all such contraptions are rigged.
• 4d [Large agricultural knife] MACHETE. While the clue is perfectly accurate, it’s the kind of description we’d see only in crosswords, or perhaps legal proceedings. Anyway, somewhat amusing.
• 43d [An older you?] THEE. Nifty little clue.
• 51d [Touchdown site] TARMAC. When END ZONE didn’t fit, I knew exactly what the answer had to be.
• 63d [From the start] ANEW. 59d [Starts the day] RISES.
  
  

Natan Last’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap

New Yorker crossword solutiob, 5/11/26 – Natan Last

Difficulty level as expected for a Natan Monday, i.e., tougher than many a Saturday NYT.

Had one WTF? TLA here. (TLA = three-letter abbreviation.) 31a. [Univ. near Covent Garden], LSE. Can’t begin to guess what that stands for. Ah, London School of Economics. I’ve heard of that plenty, have never seen the abbreviation.

Fave fill: RISING TIDE, THE GLOBE THEATRE, MADE SENSE, “CAN IT WAIT?”, “DON’T START,” AMERICAN FICTION, DATE NIGHTS, MANDARIN orange, The IRON GIANT, Patton OSWALT, EARTHRISE.

Unwelcome GET dupe: GETS ON IT (which feels awkward as hell as a crossword entry for some reason), GET TO.

Obligatory Natan Last poetry entry: 48a. [Thirteenth-century Persian poet], RUMI. Hey, one I’ve heard of!

Four stars from me.

Joel Woodford’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 5/11/26 – no. 0511

Filling in for Sophia, quickly.

Revealer is OH DEAR. The circled letters in BILLBOARD CHARTS, HORS D’OEUVRE, SOUNDSTAGES, and DROP IN THE BUCKET are “O” plus a synonym for deer: O HART, O DOE, O STAG, and O BUCK. Those O’s look wacky. Can’t help feeling like HORS D’OEUVRE is an awfully tricky spelling for a Monday puzzle. Having more French vocab with MER and EAU, is that kosher for a Monday?

Fave fill: UMPTEEN, THIRDS of PASTRY.

3.5 stars from me.

Peter A. Collins Wall Street Journal crossword “The Bottom Line” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Singers with the initials P.S.

WSJ • 5/11/26 • Mon • “The Bottom Line” • Peter A. Collins • solution • 20260511

THEME ANSWERS:

• [She had a hit with “Poetry Man”] PHOEBE SNOW
• [She had a hit with “Because the Night”] PATTI SMITH
• [He had a hit with “Mother and Child Reunion”] PAUL SIMON
• [He had a hit with “If I Had a Hammer”] PETE SEEGER
• (revealer) [1964 Beatles hit, and an addendum to a fan letter to 17-, 21-, 33- or 52-Across, perhaps] P.S. I LOVE YOU!

I found this surprisingly difficult for a Monday. The theme itself definitely has Monday energy, but the fill and cluing felt more Wednesday-level to me.

To be fair, I was completing this while sitting through a training session for a popular education app, which meant I also had to periodically look attentive and nod at appropriate intervals instead of openly doing a crossword. That probably added at least one extra onion layer of difficulty. And before anyone accuses me of behaving exactly like the checked-out students I complain about, I should note: this is the second time I’ve attended this training. Apparently the school forgot they already sent me once.

The theme is very cute, and I appreciated the double meaning behind the “P.S.” in P.S. I LOVE YOU! Plus, the featured singers are iconic, though I admit being unfamiliar with Phoebe Snow. That said, I’m struggling to imagine hordes of fans swooning over PETE SEEGER to quite that extent. Did anyone ever throw a bra onstage during an encore of Puff the Magic Dragon? Feels unlikely, though I’d love confirmation otherwise.

As for the fill and cluing: tough stuff for a Monday. Stumbling blocks for me included HEADIER [More exhilarating], the old-timey-feeling BATSMAN [Casey, notably], MARC [Painter Chagall], and the clue [Lion scion] for CUB. My reaction there was essentially: “What exactly is a scion?”

MOMMAS [May honorees, quaintly] also slowed me down because I was looking for some variation of VETS instead. Side note: there seem to be approximately 400 accepted spellings of “momma” in the New York Times Games Spelling Bee. Has anyone else noticed this?

Other holdups included:

• APES [Clumsy guys] — I instinctively wanted OAFS.
• ESPOUSE
• EVIE
• DEEMED
• EMAIL ME [“Shoot over your answer”]
• NY MET [Yank’s crosstown rival] — which didn’t quite match the casual tone of the clue for me.

Still, despite the unexpected resistance level, there were no major “hairy-eyeball” moments. Just a Monday that punched a little above its weight class. 3 stars from me.

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1886 — Eric’s Review

Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1886 — 5/11/26 (Click to Enlarge)

Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to solve this before I’ve had my coffee, especially given that I didn’t sleep well last night. But it seems full of not-very-fair answers and questionable clues. (I’m tempted to use a four-letter, scatological term, but I will be genteel. (But not so genteel as to not suggest the word to you.))

Stuff, fair and otherwise:

• 6A [“Let me clarify”] THAT IS Not I MEANT.
• 12A [Soccer player after whom Napoli’s stadium is named] DIEGO MARADONA I’m most familiar with Maradona from his play for the Argentine national team and his notorious “Hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup. I knew he had a club career, but I couldn’t have told you where. (And now I can, if I remember it.)
• 15A [Dancer in some COVID viral videos] REGISTERED NURSE Maybe it’s because I retired before COVID hit, but I have no idea what this alleged “viral video” is. Groaner of a pun, too.
• 17A [Broncos that charge, perhaps, for short] RBS I knew this was about the NFL’s Denver Broncos, but “charging” implied rushing to me and I unsuccessfully tried the few members of the defensive line that I could think of.
• 18A [Billionaire’s plaything] JET The J of 6D TRADitional JAZZ got me this one.
• 19A [Backpack company named after a bird] OSPREY A welcome gimme. Next week, my husband and I plan to go car camping for the first time in 10 years. Wish me luck.
• 26A [Story tellers?] MEDIA WTF is that question mark doing?
• 29A [Cutting ceremony?] BRIS At least that question mark makes sense.
• 30A [Viennese dance] WALTZ Sometimes the obvious answer is in fact correct.
• 31A [Actress King of “Mike & Molly”] CLEO I don’t know who that is or what Mike and Molly is. And right now, I do not care.
• 37A [Gases used in some flash lamps] XENONS People more chemically-knowledgeable than me: Does this plural make sense?
• 47A [An outdoor concert might incur one] NOISE VIOLATION When I lived in Austin, we were half a mile from what’s now Lady Bird Lake. Sound travels quite well over water and we often heard outdoor music from several miles away.
• 2D [Criminal intent, in law] MENS REA To me, this is a hypertechnical legal term that has no business in crossword puzzles. And I used to be a lawyer. But I’ve been told that characters in police and courtroom dramas throw it around enough that the public is familiar with it.
• 7D [___ & Sons (tea company)] HARNEY Yeah, just go through your pantry and pick names off the shelf.
• 8D [Server’s challenge] AD OUT Tennis, anyone?
• 12D [Unearthed oppo] DUG UP DIRT I read “unearthed” as an adjective, not a verb. My bad.
• 14D [Bathroom renovation pieces] TESSERAE A tessera is “a small block of stone, tile, glass, or other material used in the construction of a mosaic.” It’s a word I encounter almost daily (no, really, it is); I don’t know why it took me so long to think of it and even longer to spell it correctly.
• 20D [Stage in bread making] RISE For 30 years or more, my husband has made all the bread we eat other than hamburger buns. I’m a luck guy.
• 22D [#YOLO word] LET’S I know YOLO as “You only live once.” I’m not sure where “let’s” fits in. Enlighten me if you can.
• 23D [Contemptible] YELLOW DOG I didn’t know this meaning; in Texas, you used to hear about “Yellow dog Democrats,” as in “I’d vote for a yellow dog if it were the Democratic candidate.” There aren’t many of them left.