LAT 2:06 (Stella) 
[3.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Newsday 13:30 (Amy) 
[4.10 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
NYT 7:41 (Amy) [3.92 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
Universal 4:15 (Adam S) [3.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today untimed (ZEB) rate it
WSJ tk (??) 
[1.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Kameron Austin Collins’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 5/23/26 – no. 0523
An impressive 62-word grid with a stack of seven 9s in the middle, no? A little surprised by the number of entries I did not know, but everything came together with the crossings:
- 22A. [Jazz drummer DeRosa], CLEM. I’ll bet pannonica knows him.
- 27A. [Old black-and-white police autos, to Brits], PANDA CARS. Never seen this term before.
- 31A. [Clay-and-calcium-carbonate mix used in cement making], MARLSTONE. Marl is the lower part of the Cliffs of Dover. Who knew?
- 35A. [Chess puzzle challenge, maybe], MATE IN ONE. Haven’t tussled with chess since I was a kid.
- 10D. [Magpie lookalike with black-and-white plumage], MUDLARK. Also called the magpie-lark, among other things. AVIARIES is also birdy, and above it at 1a is BAR BETS, which could also be barbets, birds that are related to toucans.
- 24D. [Lizard predator of Africa], SAND SNAKE. Never heard of it. Wikipedia’s got a sand snake of Asia, not Africa. Guess it’s supposed to be this snake family.
- 32D. [19th-century German novelist Theodor], FONTANE. Nope, never heard that name. Haven’t even seen FONTANE as a surname.
Oof!
Fave fill that I did recognize: DOG BREATH, SOAP STARS, GANGPLANK, DIRTY NAME, HOTLANTA, AVON REP, STRONG STOMACH, CONstitutional LAW, BEER MAT.
Two more things:
- 15A. [Surgical specialty, informally], NEURO. I feel like NEURO also refers to the medical (nonsurgical) specialty of neurology.
- 39A. [Petite ___ (certain French partner)], AMIE. It means “girlfriend” and I hadn’t known that term.
Four stars from me. Challenging!
Adrian Johnson and Alexandra Doumani’s Universal Crossword “Universal Freestyle 224” – Adam S’s write-up
Adrian Johnson and Alexandra Doumani’s “Universal Freestyle 224” – 5/23/26
Today’s puzzle features six intersecting spanners, which I thought ranged from good to great. I particularly loved the clue/answer pairs for WORKOUT PLAYLIST [Hits on while exercising?] and WEDDING PLANNERS [They may improve the quality of your reception!] (a little surprising to see an exclamation point rather than a question mark on the latter at Universal difficulty, given the apparent misdirect to TV/radio reception, but it’s a great clue.) I appreciate the attention Adrian and Alexandra pay to weaving in interesting clues without amping up the difficulty level beyond what Universal intends.
Other strong entries include YOU WON’T REGRET IT, a timely reference to the VOTING RIGHTS ACT, GOES ALL OUT, and SMART CAR. I am also always happy to see a reference to the amazing MAUS.
I also liked the decision to keep the grid symmetric, which highlighted the symmetry of the spanning entries. This led to a little more crosswordese than some of the asym grids we’ve seen from Adrian and Alexandra, but, at least for me, it was a good trade that made for a more elegant solving experience for this particular puzzle.
A few notes:
- 22A TRY [Score in rugby] I’m frequently slowed down by cultural references I missed out on because I spent the first 32 years of my life in the UK, so I always like it being thrown the occasional bone where that actually helps me get an answer.
- 18D EELS [Fish in some British pies] See 22A
- 29D SWAN [Cygnus constellation bird]. Nice clue. My first reaction was “how on earth am I supposed to know that?!?” quickly followed by “Oh! Maybe that’s where ‘cygnet’ comes from.” Clever cluing to give a seemingly random piece of information that is actually dropping a heavy clue when you think about it
- 40D OMAR [“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” author ___ El Akkad]. A TIL, but some googling makes it look like an interesting book to check out. Thanks for the implicit recommendation!
Rafael Musa’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 5/23/26 by Rafael Musa
Has there ever been a Saturday this easy? Often when I have a solve that’s well under 3, my response is “this is a good puzzle that belongs in Universal,” but I’m going to call this one a beautiful grid that deserves way harder clues so you can actually spend some time appreciating it. I really like the longer entries, especially DRAG ARTIST, POP-UP SHOP, COMO ESTA, and SWEET TREAT. But with zero friction anywhere in this puzzle, I had no time to stop and smell those roses, so to speak.
Just putting it out there, Rafa: I’ll pay you to re-clue this puzzle hard and send it to me in a year, when I will have forgotten everything in it, so I can do it again and really savor it this time.
Mark Budovitch’s USA Today Crossword “Night Shift” – Zachary Edward-Brown’s write-up
Mark Budovitch’s USA Today Crossword “Night Shift” – 5/23/26
This was on the easier side for me today. I blew through this one, while still trying to read as many clues as possible for the write-up. Here’s the theme:
17A – [Handing responsibility to another] = PASSING THE TORCH
38A – [“Get ready for a wild ride!”] = HOLD ON TIGHT
59A – [Coordinated body art for some couples] = MATCHING TATTOOS
Anagrams – the letters NIGHT are “shifted” in each themer. I like it!
There’s no room for anything longer than seven letters in the non-themed answers, but I still enjoyed the grid. Mid-length fill like PLAY-DOH, GET OUT, ALCOVE, FRESNO, BOSNIA, and more kept things fun. Plus, I like how the best themer came last. MATCHING TATTOOS – great find for this puzzle, loved throwing it across the grid.
Favorite clue: 52D [Jaded “Inside Out 2” character] ENNUI
4.5 stars
Kate Chin Park’s Newsday crossword, “Saturday Stumper”—Amy’s recap
Newsday crossword solution, 5/23/26 – “Saturday Stumper” – Kate Chin Park
It’s Amy filling in for pannonica again. Nice to see a fresh byline on a Stumper, isn’t it?
The northwest corner was the last to fall, and I used the “check puzzle” option to clear out some incorrect letters. Eventually my brain was brought around to the intended meaning of the clues.
Fave fill: GOOGLE DOC, CALVIN AND HOBBES, COME AND GO, RIDESHARE, SYLVIA PLATH, C-SECTION, ENCHILADA, HOLOCENE, CHAPTER BOOK.
Into the nitty-gritty:
- 1a. [Develop a crush?], MASTICATE. Figured “crush” meant something like WAD UP, not a romantic affiliation.
- 16a. [Early SCTV breakout star], Catherine O’HARA. Was thinking RAMIS or CANDY first. The late O’Hara showed up in the Netflix documentary on Martin Short, largely a love story to Short’s late wife and their family’s group of close (famous) friends.
- 17a. [Collaborative cloud creation], GOOGLE DOC. I use Google Sheets and Google Docs all the time for work, this should have been easier for me!
- 19a. [Small thing in a hole], ANT / 20a. [Big thing in a hole], ACE. Both tricky!
- 23a. [Venerable figure skating move], SIT SPIN. I tried SET SPIN but this is the move where the skater’s in a seated (on air) position with one leg outstretched, dizzying the viewer.
- 29a. [Unfortunate admission], “I LOSE.” I have such disdain for this entry. Who says that?? “You lose!,” sure. But “I lost.”
- 41a. [Commencement wear usually bought], LEIS. In Hawaii, leis are graduation attire. Usually bought when worn, but certainly not usually worn since relatively few of us are in Hawaii.
- 43a. [Duo multiple], OCTO-. Feel like “duo” is rarely a prefix, clue is awkward.
- 63a. [Be what you’re not], EMOTE. As in acting.
- 2d. [Cable transmission medium], AXON. “Cable”?? For part of a neuron? I don’t like it.
- 5d. [Worked, as much wood], INLAID. “Much”? Seems like a reach.
- 6d. [Conclusion of many scheduled deliveries], C-SECTION. I don’t like “conclusion” here.
- 9d. [A maize-ing creation], ENCHILADA. The bulk of the enchilada is the filling and the sauce on top, with the corn tortilla being a smaller component.
- 11. [Bit of kid lit]. CHAPTER BOOK. I don’t think they were called that when I was a kid. These are the short novels that are a step up from picture books.
- 12. [Subject of the Tune In Yesterday encyclopedia], RADIO. Makes sense, but have any of you heard of that reference?
- 26d. [One of Les douze Apotres], LUC. French for Luke, one of the 12 apostles.
- 28d. [End of many Scottish town names], DALE. I can’t think of any. Glendale’s “glen” sounds Scottish. Wikipedia tells us “Dail represents the Norse word dalr, meaning ‘valley’.”
- 40d. [Gendered issue], SON. A gimme.
- 50d. [Trouble-free], ALL OK. That doesn’t feel at all idiomatic to me. I lose! All OK.
- 54d. [What an Eliot novel isn’t about], IDES. Middlemarch!
- 56d. [Assumed name, essentially], EDNA. Your quasi-cryptic clue for the week.
- 61d. [Bubble Bath beauty brand], OPI. It’s a pale pinkish-neutral nail polish color. Watery sheer, like a bubble bath. Many OPI color names are decidedly punny, but not this one.
3.5 stars from me.
Collins on a Saturday is always a challenge, and this was no exception. Felt desperate for a while, but eventually things fell into place and, to my surprise, I actually solved in slightly better than my average Saturday time.
I started the NYT by entering BAR TABS for 1A and BADDIES for 1D, which motivated TREATS rather than BABIES for pampers crossing. I managed a fresh start elsewhere in the puzzle but never quite ironed out all my mistakes.
I do recognize LOUD SHIRT, although not DOG BREATH. I hadn’t realized that sharing air space with a dog could mean much of anything, but there you go.
I had bar tabs for too long also
Puzzle: Newsday; Rating: 4 stars
Yeah honestly I would have clued neuro as medical specialty… neurosurg would be neurosurgery.
NYT was a disaster for me. Didn’t even come close to finishing, even after I set it down for awhile and came back to it… so I’m not going to rate this one. But generally, puzzles like this one with a healthy amount of punishing trivia and only a couple fun turns of phrase don’t do it for me at all.
I guess the lesson is if I go back too far in the archives I’m going to get very frustrated.
I’m usually not one to complain about “bad” fill, considering how much better fill is now than it was when I started solving ~15 years ago … but what the heck is LOUD SHIRT?
It refers to a “loud” (overly bright with a lot going on) patterned shirt. Think Aloha shirt at a minimum but there are other big patterns out there.
Really enjoyed this Saturday; felt pretty tough but still ended under average time.
It’s also green paint, if you ask me.
I guess you can consider it that, but I would say just because you haven’t heard the term before doesn’t automatically make it green paint. But not worth arguing about it; you don’t like the entry, and I do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Loud shirts rule. Go loud or go home! And LOUD SHIRT is a terrific debut entry.
Once I was waiting in line for the men’s room during intermission at a theater, and a guy tapped me on the shoulder. Totally deadpan, he said, “Sir, I’m afraid there’ve been complaints about your shirt. It’s too loud.” I stared at him for about three seconds and then we both cracked up. I still grin thinking about it.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Great puzzle, except having to find an error and realizing it was an R in COREY x MARLSTONE (I had an L) left a bad taste in my mouth. (Could have been a W, too, I suppose.)
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
Can’t believe I actually managed to finish this one. It took a lot of back and forth and a heck of a lot of brain-racking. I had guessed ZEBRACAR instead of PANDACAR which didn’t help. Clues seemed more mis-directional than clever but that’s fair for a Saturday. … I liked LATTEART but DOGBREATH not so much. Isn’t LOUDSHIRT a bit like GREENPAINT?
As a pretty regular wearer of LOUD SHIRTs, I had no problem with it.
PANDACARS was my first entry thanks to reading lots of British police procedurals.
NT was tough, as it should be, but I didn’t care for it. I happened to know FONTANE, which helped in the SE, but then I had BADBREATH at 16A, which made that corner difficult. SANDSNAKE and MARLSTONE are obscure, but gettable eventually. SPA weekend seems pretty random to me, as does the connection of GEDS to prisoners. Both DIRTYNAME and LOUDSHIRT are in the green paint category.
I usually like KAC’s puzzles but this one strained too hard to be difficult.
Pretty good NYT. About as hard as yesterday for me, with guesses tending to be successful. Was pleased to see YADDA, which I keep trying in Spelling Bee but never works there.
Stumper: Agree with everything Amy said, including that the upper left was the worst. I’m also not getting 57D (“teen suffix for screen”) “screenAGER”?? and 58D (“it’s in much stained glass”) “rose” — rose like the flower or like the color (assume the last, but don’t like the cluing then)??
I didn’t do the Stumper, but based on the information in your comment: a common suffix for teen is -ager (teenager), so add the suffix to screen and it becomes screenager (presumably, a teen/young adult who is addicted to—or possibly skilled with—devices that have screens).
Probably, but I haven’t heard of it. Not surprising — I’m not “up” on the latest slang, for the most part!
The “rose window” is the circular stained glass window above the narthex in gothic churches.
Ah! Thanks! I did not know that (obviously).
I was going to complain about the Stumper clue for 13D, to say that it didn’t parse right for me and then, poof, I understood that “Endure” meant “exist” in this context and I could see how AREN’T worked. Nice!
ENCHILADAS being described as a mostly corn creation is not fair, in my opinion.
The clue for 65A, SIKHS, is about as obscure a hint that I can imagine. Is this something everyone has heard about?
I spent so much time convinced the Winton Bullet, 33D, was a train. A true hold-up on my solve.
Anyone else wonder if 39D might be HOmOCENE, as some are calling our current era?
Nice job, Kate Chin Park!
Ditto on Winton Bullet as a train. I like enchiladas so much more than burritos because of the tortilla used that I was fine with the clue once I got it from a lot of crossings
The clue doesn’t say mostly corn.
The only invariant ingredient in an enchilada is a corn tortilla. The filling can be anything and the sauce/topping can be anything. But the base is a corn tortilla. It’s odd to me that this clue is getting such hate.
I thought enchiladas are most often made with flour tortillas.
NYT. Challenging, fair, and entertaining Saturday. Laughed out loud at DOGBREATH. Fun to picture a charlatan faking ECTOPLASM with god-knows-what (talc?) — separating suckers from their money (along with MONTE dealers). Learned that among the African fauna there are SANDSNAKES that eat lizards. PANDACARS. Maybe I’ll see a MUDLARK someday. The original side hustle another chuckle. Writing MATEINTWO threw me off awhile. Assumed CONLAW abbreviated contract law.
LAT: I personally don’t always agree with Stella’s evaluation of Saturdays as “too easy”, but if any deserve to be described that way it’s probably this one. Probably the fastest I’ve ever solved a Saturday and on par time-wise with most Wednesday grids and even some Mondays/Tuesdays.
Stumper: solving hard crosswords is fascinating sometimes. Got it down to the NW, and I had INLAID, C-SECTION, and ENCHILADA, but nothing else. For so long. Kept trying things, taking them out, putting the puzzle down, picking it up later. Then, at 11 pm, one more pick up, and I think “maybe S??N could be the common ending SION.” Suddenly I saw AIDES, and the rest was done in 10 seconds.
Don’t give up y’all! All it takes is one glance to see something in a new light, and it’s done in a flash.
Am I the only one who was puzzled by the fact that Luke was not actually one of the Twelve Apostles? He was neither one of the original twelve, nor was he the replacement for Judas. He was an evangelist who never met Jesus and wrote his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles about 40 years after Jesus died.
Just finished the Stumper this morning. I hate to be “that guy,” but Luke was not one of the twelve apostles. Evangelist, yes; but apostle, no.
I’m that guy! Look above your comment! :)
Ha!
I don’t know how I missed your comment before posting!