BEQ 10:28+ (Eric) 
[3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
LAT 2:05 (Stella) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 3:16 (Sophia) 
[4.17 avg; 15 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 5:42 (Amy) 
[3.67 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) 
[2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
WSJ 4:23 (Jim Q) [3.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
Kenneth Cortes’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Recap
New York Times, 06 01 2026, By Kenneth Cortes
Happy Pride Month, everybody! And what a great puzzle to kick off the month. In the center of the puzzle, we have the clue [Emerged victorious … or what this puzzle’s constructor did, as indicated by the shaded squares] for the answer CAME OUT ON TOP. There are four answers with their first word shaded starting at the top of the puzzle:
- 3d [High-waisted fashion trend of the 1990s] – MOM JEANS
- 4d [Physiques that aren’t quite perfect] – DAD BODS
- 9d [“Sign me up!”] – I’M THERE
- 10d [Reality show starring the “Fab Five”] – QUEER EYE
Reading the shaded words left to right, we have “MOM, DAD, I’M QUEER” – a coming out statement literally on the top of the puzzle. It’s very clever, and a satisfying revealer besides. I recommend folks take a look at Kenneth’s constructor notes in Wordplay to learn a little more about the motivation behind the puzzle.
This puzzle also has a very interesting shape/symmetry. The grid is 14×15 (a little smaller than the usual 15×15) in order to accommodate the central placement of the 12 letter CAME OUT ON TOP. The black squares are also placed with left/right symmetry, which creates the cool 8-square block in the top-center area of the puzzle.
Clue highlights: [Like haunted houses and lifelike dolls] for CREEPY, [___ Menken, composer of “Little Shop of Horrors”] for ALAN – I was happy to see the “Little Shop” shoutout, I think it sometimes gets overlooked in the Menken catalog for all of his work with Disney (which is of course also very good).
Fill highlights: SEASON PASS, CLAP-O-METER, DYSTOPIA, MOTOWN
Trouble spots for me: “AP test” instead of AP EXAM, “rizz” instead of AURA for [Coolness, in Gen Alpha slang] (that error made me feel particularly old)
Happy Pride and Happy Monday all!
Katie Hale’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 6/1/26 by Katie Hale
I had to squint at the revealer at 56A [“… and other meaningless drivel,” or what can be found at the start of 20-, 34-, and 44-Across], which is BLAH BLAH BLAH, for a little while before I finally figured out how this theme works. It’s a standard “first words in themers have something in common” mechanic, but instead of a slightly more straightforward revealer phrase like WARM FRONT or PARTY IN THE BACK, what’s going on is that there are three theme entries, each of which starts with a synonym for BLAH in its “not interesting” sense:
- 20A [Warning on delicate garments] is DRY CLEAN ONLY. My eternal loyalty to the first online shopping site that allows searchability by whether a garment must be dry-cleaned or not.
- 34A [Feature of nonglossy countertops] is DULL FINISH.
- 44A [Espressos with steamed milk] is FLAT WHITES. I’ll forgive this being the only plural entry in the set because it’s also the most evocative IMO.
What I liked best about this puzzle were the Downs: You don’t typically see 11-letter nontheme entries on a Monday, and both PLANT-SITTER and HALL OF FAMER are nice. (Don’t ever ask me to be your PLANT-SITTER, at least not if you want the plants to still be alive when you come home.) I also like the 7s: MONARCH, TERRIFY, THROATY, FELLOWS.
Natan Last’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 6/1/26 – Natan Last
Quicker solve than I was expecting for a Monday Natan puzzle.
New to me:
- 49a. [Early psychoanalyst Coriat], ISADOR. Isidore, Isidor, and Isadore may all be more commong spellings of this first name.
- 55a. [___ problem (term for the bias caused by researchers’ tendency to shelve null results)], FILE DRAWER. Any examples of this, folks?
Fave fill: ACT THE PART, poet MARY OLIVER (Jenni, what’s your favorite M.O. poem?), WHITNEY BIENNIAL, WHITE NOISE (I quickly gave up on the Adam Driver movie adaptation), BEST IN CLASS, EPIPHANY, POT BROWNIES, IN REAL TIME. Not keen on ancient crosswordese HELOT, three phrasal answers starting with the pronoun I, awkward verb+preposition NOD TO.
Fave clue: 44a. [Movers and shakers?], DANCERS.
9d. [Edible trayful], POT BROWNIES. As in a tray of cannabis edibles rather than just anything that’s edible.
3.75 stars from me.
Andrea Carla Michaels’s Wall Street Journal crossword “Final Notice” — Jim Q’s write-up
THEME: Phrases where the last word can precede “stick.”
WSJ • 6/1/26 • Mon • “Final Notice” • Andrea Carla Michaels • solution • 20260601
THEME ANSWERS:
- LAMB CHOP. Chopstick.
- PLENTY OF FISH. Fish stick.
- EARDRUM. Drumstick.
- SECOND FIDDLE. Fiddlestick.
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1892 — Eric’s Review
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s CrosSword #1892 — 6/1/26 (Click to Enlarge)
Except for the SE corner, where I guessed wrong and failed to check the crossings, this was pretty breezy for one of Brendan’s themeless puzzles.
The grid flows well, despite a staircase of black squares running through the middle. Or maybe I just got lucky and knew (or could easily figure out) enough answers that bridged the four corners.
Stuff that caught my attention:
- 1A [House hunter?] MOUSER Cute clue.
- 2A [Jellyfish with an extremely potent venom] SEA WASP I’d never heard of Chironex fleckeri, which isn’t too suprising given that it lives in coastwaters from Australia to the Philippines and Vietnam. Wikipedia says, “if the sting area is significant, an untreated victim may die in two to five minutes.” Yikes!
- 16A [Banff National Park’s home] ALBERTA A nice gimme to get started.
- 17A [“Trout Mask ___” (gonzo 1969 Captain Beefheart & His Band album)] REPLICA Did I remember that from some reading about rock music 50 years ago or was it Amanda Palmer’s song “Trout Heart Replica” that I thought of?
21A [“I ___ orsi” (Italian fairy tale)] TRE I plunked the correct answer in without much sense, though I should have known that “orsi” is Italian for “bears.”- 26A [Common beach attraction] PIER C’mon, Brendan! You warn us of sea wasps and then expect us to go to the beach?
- 30A [Gun dogs] SPANIELS I don’t remember encountering “gun dog” before; I thought while solving that it might be metaphorical. Obviously, it’s not; my dictionary defines it as “a dog trained to retrieve game for a hunter.”
- 32A [Dealer’s bailiwick] CAR LOT Over the weekend, we rewatched Martin Scorsese’s Casino, so I was primed to think of a different sort of dealer.
- 33A [Track design that has two distinct shapes] TRI-OVAL That’s another one I hadn’t heard of, but I’m not very interested in auto racing.
- 38A [Weasley in Dumbledore’s Army] GINNY I probably read of that Harry Potter character somewhere, but I needed a cross or two to jar my memory.
- 43A [Southeast Asian ethnicity] TAI I thought this was new to me; it’s a widespread group of peoples from South China to Laos and Thailand. But I see now that the Tai languages were in a crossword puzzle I solved a few years ago.
- 44A [1979 titular TV role for Jean Stapleton] AUNT MARY Here’s where I goofed; AUNT MA__ had to be Mame, right? The TV movie Aunt Mary told the true story of Baltimore children’s advocate Mary Dobkin.
- 52A [Singer with the fashion brand Fenty] RIHANNA That was a gimme only because I’ve seen RiRi in so many crosswords; all I really know of her music is “Rude Boy.”
- 53A [“Sweetest Taboo” singer (her band is named after her first name)] SADE ADU The first name was easy; I couldn’t remember her surname.
- 11D [Diving bird seen off western Alaska] ARCTIC LOON The ARCTIC part was easy; the last bit needed some crosses.
- 13D [Planned road that only exists on maps] PAPER STREET I’d not heard this before.
- 15D [Jazz bassist/producer Bill] LASWELL Not a name I knew.
- 23D [Aida’s song, e.g.] SOPRANO ARIA I’m not a big opera fan; is that as green-painty as I think?
- 26D [City whose residents are called “Sandgropers”] PERTH The PE___ had me briefly wondering if there was a nickname for inhabitants of the ancient city of PETRA.
- 29D [Justice Roger on the Dred Scott case] TANEY A chance to put my law school education to good use!
- 36D [Resistance symbol] FIST Yeah, I thought it ought to be OHM.
- 38D [Attended a costume party dressed up, say] GONE AS I recently saw a similar clue for WENT AS, which sounds better to my ear.
- 42D [Duralex rival] PYREX We’ve got a fairly well-equipped kitchen, but I don’t think we have any Duralex products.
NYT: great way to do the theme.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
NYT: Am I correct that the implication is that Kenneth Cortes, the constructor, is literally coming out to his parents through this crossword puzzle (ie, his parents did not know he was queer before this crossword was published)? If so, I love that! Happy Pride Month to Kenneth, and thank you to Will Shortz and the rest of the team for publishing this puzzle!
Someone over at Wordplay at the NYT site pointed out that what could be considered a negative — that the words in MOM DAD IM QUEER are not hidden in any way, that MOM is not part of ALAMO MOUNTAIN or something like that, MOM is defined in the clue as a mother — is actually a positive for this puzzle. There is no ambiguity in the message here. There is no burying of anything, and no other way of interpreting it. The message is as clear and direct as it can be.
Are there other examples where a published crossword puzzle has a specific audience of a person or two in mind? I seem to remember someone proposed by crossword at some point. I don’t know if anyone has ever wished someone they know a Happy Birthday or something like that in a published crossword.
Great puzzle today! I tried solving with just the acrosses for a while which got me through a lot of it before switching to the downs; really nice Monday puzzle. From the wordplay column it read to me that the constructor had family support so perhaps the parents saw it before publication but I couldn’t tell. Either way—very cool!
“Am I correct that the implication is that Kenneth Cortes, the constructor, is literally coming out to his parents through this crossword puzzle (ie, his parents did not know he was queer before this crossword was published)?”
That’s not how I read the constructor note at Wordplay. I understood Mr. Cortes as saying that he was already out to his family and friends: “I confided and found support with small circles, individual friends and family before making this puzzle, and this won’t be the last time I have to come out to new circles.”
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Nice puzzle. It’s remarkable that the constructor is coming out this way. I came out to everyone including my parents in the ‘70s. I think I surprised almost no one.
As an older gay person I don’t truly know what it means to be queer. Of course it was previously an ugly word for gay people and I appreciate the appropriation of it. But I’ve met quite a few young people who call themselves part of the “queer community “ but who date only people of the opposite sex. They assume no risk of harassment when holding hands in public or threats to their legal relationship status. They don’t face ugly encounters or smirks when requesting a single bed at a hotel. I don’t begrudge them for that but I simply don’t understand what they mean. If someone is gay or trans, why not just come out as such. I love inclusivity but it can bleed into meaningless terms.
I’m fine with evolution but I’m also fine with my own obliviousness.
Queer people can absolutely face harassment when holding hands in public even when holding hands with somebody of the opposite sex!? Many people face ugly encounters or smirks at hotel counters based on how they look, present themselves, and their marital status or lack thereof regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of their partner?! Just because something isn’t meaningful to you does not mean it is meaningless! What an incredibly self-centered and close-minded approach to life. Maybe you could try and make friends with queer people who might improve your understanding of the world.
Your response is predictable in its sense of outrage and anger. I openly acknowledge my ignorance on the topic. But your post clearly demonstrates why so many people simply don’t ask. The mere display of not understanding a generational development will get you labeled in ugly ways.
You are showing me just how closed-minded and unwelcoming people can be when they claim to be progressive.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
NYT – nice! 5 stars!
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
NYT: Great puzzle! So clever, and a perfect revealer right on time for Pride Month. Well done!
If I recall correctly, AVCX had a coming out puzzle a few years ago. Maybe by Francis Heaney?
TNY: Either Natan Last’s puzzles are getting easier (or being edited better), or I’m getting wise to his tricks. Today’s has, of course, the usual quota of names and phrases that are unfamiliar to me, but the crossings are generally fair and I was able to finish it in a decent time.
Still not a fan of his style of puzzle-making, though.
I can’t swear his style or difficulty has changed, and he still has no end of proper nouns and trivia. I also still haven’t finished, with a big blank for the north center section, even though I’d have thought I knew poetry and certainly Ashbery better than this. He has, though, made it much easier for me with a NYC reference (the Queens park) and more my cultural life with the Whitney, Phil Ochs, and “White Noise.”
Got the section. The comedian and herb were also new to me.
What a genuinely rude and selfish way to comment on a puzzle. “edited better” as though he requires editing. “quota of names and phrases that are unfamiliar to me” like he’s trying to intentionally throw things into a puzzle that are uniquely unknown to you.
Honestly, it’s like the great easening of the NYTXword is the worst thing that has ever happened to this pasttime. Now every Tom, Dick and Harry with an ISP thinks that if every answer wasn’t written to their own low level of intelligence its a failure of the maker or the editor.
You’re probably right that we should favor the feelings of the crossword creators over those of all of us commenting and criticizing, but I would appreciate softer comments on your part as well so that we can write fairly freely if more politely. And it’s not as though Mr. Last has always spared the feelings of others.
For someone who is complaining so vociferously about the “easening” of the NYT Crossword, I figured you should know the following:
– Words at the beginning of a sentence are capitalized, even if they are in a quote.
– “Easening” is so archaic it is no longer in the dictionary.
– There’s only one T in “pastime.”
– “It’s” should have an apostrophe the way you used it.
I only just now saw this intemperate reply. I spent most of my career in the writing and editing business — everyone needs editing, especially the people who think they are great writers.
And Last is notorious for filling his puzzles with words and phrases that I would bet are not widely known to most solvers. It’s his trademark. A modern-day Maleska, if you like.
TNY: “TNN” – the zombie entry that won’t die
Seriously! I wish constructors would remove it from their word lists, or give it a terrible score so it would appear in fewer grids.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4.5 stars
Even without factoring in the theme, this is a top-tier Monday puzzle. Great side fill with ADMONISH and DYSTOPIA and others. Then you get into the whole intent of the puzzle, the courage to come out this way… and on top of all that, all of the themers are fun too.
I don’t go above 4* on Monday because even the best Monday doesn’t quite compare to a great themeless. But I added another 1/2 for the theme.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 5 stars
How anyone could combine the heart, wit, and fun of this puzzle is beyond me. Bravo.
I really wish people would stop saying that they “don’t like an answer” or something “feels Green Paint” or two things “are a Natick” just because they are unfamiliar with them. Soprano aria is a very legitimate and commonly used and specific expression (as is aria for soprano). How about we stop throwing around insider-y jargon just because we ourselves have blindspots.
As I said in my review, I’m not a big opera fan. I do recognize that opera roles are written for specific voice types, but no, I’d never heard the term “soprano aria” before.
I don’t have a problem with someone saying that they personally don’t like an answer or it feels like Green Paint (or what Eric wrote). That person is expressing what it feels like to them in a pretty mild fashion. It’s barely a criticism, and a long way from “OMG, this constructor is terrible!”
TNN is the big takeaway from the puzzles today.
TNY: “FILE DRAWER. Any examples of this, folks?”
Nothing specific Amy, but it happens all the time. “We got no statistically significant results – no point in submitting to a journal.” It skews the meaning of results that get reported in the literature. A hundred studies that found no significant result don’t get reported because they didn’t get submitted – but the three or four that (perhaps randomly) found a significant result get published.
No big deal in my (former) discipline, business management (largely BS to start with), but I do worry about how this affects the body of knowledge in serious disciplines (biology, medicine, earth science) that might have an impact on my life.