Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Jonesin’ untimed (Jenni) [3.50 avg; 1 rating] rate it
LAT 5:27 (Erin) [2.25 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 5:09 (Eric) [2.94 avg; 9 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 5:45 (Eric) [3.75 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
Universal 6:50 (Eric) [2.50 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 5:10 (Jim Q) rate it

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Double Dealing” — I’ll throw in two extra – Jenni’s write-up

This was a lovely mixture of Tuesday-accessible and delightfully surprising. Each theme answer has two letters added to a base phrase. The result is highly amusing.

Jonesin’, June 1, 2026, “Double Dealing” – I’ll throw in two extra, solution grid

• 19a [What remote controls are good for, power wise?] is HOLDING AA CELLS. Holding cells.
• 25a [Widely accepted game of hoops?] is BBALL IN FAVOR. All in favor.
• 36a [Workbench tool that only works in dangerous winds?] is HURRICANE C–CLAMP. Hurricane lamp.
• 44a [Thought similar to “External computer storage can be so crude”?] is D–DRIVE GAUCHE. Rive Gauche.
• 54a [Back when a mopey cartoon character was popular?] is DAYS OF EEYORE. Days of yore.

For added pleasure, the extra letters march down the grid in order: AA, BB, CC, DD, EE. So smooth!

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that LINDA is a? the? Bob’s Burger spouse.

Rich Katz’s New York Times Crossword — Eric’s Review

Rich Katz’s New York Times Crossword — 6/2/26 (Click to Enlarge)

Very much a feel-good theme for today, which will probably be familiar to anyone who ever played a youth team sport:

• 17A [“You missed your chance!”] TOO LATE NOW
• 21A [“It’s legit!”] FOR REAL
• 25A [Gets a pooch to attack] SICS THE DOG ON
• 48A [Picked at one’s food, in an avian metaphor] ATE LIKE A BIRD “[A]vian metaphor” seems like a bit much hand-holding, even for an early-week puzzle.
• 56A [With 63-Across, question hinted at by the beginnings of 17-, 21-, 25- and 48-Across] WHO DO WE/63A [See 56-Across] APPRECIATE That’s “Two, four, six, eight . . .”

I didn’t see what the theme while solving, but it’s nice enough. (If you don’t recognize this cheer, it’s typically chanted by the winning team and ends with the name of the losing team.)

Other stuff:

• 33A [One who might call you out if you get home late?] UMP Cute clue.
• 40A [Obstetrician’s specialty] LABOR I imagine some women might disagree.
• 5D [Five things in each of Shakespeare’s plays] ACTS I’ll take their word for it. I’m working my way through the “major” Shakespeare plays that I’ve not already read; in the last year or two, I’ve read Othello and The Merchant of Venice. Next up is probably King Lear.
• 49D [Emirate that was the site of Operation Desert Storm] KUWAIT A gimme for most of us older folks; I wonder how many younger solvers got it easily.
• 53D [Chris with the 1991 hit “Wicked Game”] ISAAK I used to listen to a DJ in Austin who periodically became obsessed with a song and played it multiple times during his five- or six-hour show. Sometimes it was annoying, but “Wicked Game” was one I didn’t tire of hearing.

Joe Rodini’s Universal Crossword Puzzle “Let’s Stay Together” — Eric’s Review

Joe Rodini’s Universal Crossword “Let’s Stay Together” — 6/2/26 (Click to Enlarge)

Heteronormativity is (sort of) the theme today, which seems a little odd for the beginning of Pride Month, but hey, that’s the world we live in:

• 20A [Panko-coated Japanese food] CHICKEN KATSU
• 27A [Reptile that shoots blood as a defense] HORNED LIZARD I can’t remember if I once knew that some species of horned lizards use autohemorrhaging as a defense mechanism. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a horny toad in the wild.
• 45A [Desert convoy] CAMEL CARAVAN
• 52A [Possible start of a love story … or what happens three times in this puzzle?] BOY MEETS GIRL

It’s probably more a reflection on my attention span that the merits of this puzzle that, when I stared at the finished grid, I tried to figure out if the six names belonged to celebrity couples that I hadn’t heard of. Then I finally remembered the revealer and realized that they’re just names typically associated with one sex or the other. (I suppose Spice Girls fans would argue that “Mel” is just as often associated with females as with males.)

Without having tried to come up with other possible theme answers, I feel like there are probably many two-word compound nouns that would fit the pattern of the first word ending in a “male” name and the second beginning with a “female” name. But the theme answers here are all pretty interesting fill, so no real complaints.

Other stuff:

• 31A [Cacao ___ ] NIBS Not PODS, which I put in despite thinking it a bit green-painty.
• 37A [Adorable thing on a cat’s paw] TOE BEAN Where did this cutesy name for the pads on an animal’s paws come from? I’m not a pet person, and I only remember hearing it in the last few years.
• 9D [Symbol next to 99] CENT SIGN “Symbol next to” makes me expect the answer will have something to do with a computer keyboard, but here, it’s just a common price tag.
• 10D [It “fits all”] ONE SIZE Yeah, right.
• 11D [Thing hawked by a gecko, a duck and an emu] INSURANCE Not together; if you’ve been fortunate enough to miss these spokesanimals, they’re for Geico, Aflac and Liberty Mutual, respectively.
• 25D [Name sandwiched in “lobster roll”] ERROL That kind of clue works better for me if there’s some sort of logical connection between the clue and the name; but in any case, it’s just a matter of picking out the name from the letters you’re given.
• 30D [Reminder of an old flame?] EMBER Cute clue.
• 44D [Sings a siren song to] ENTICES Not ENTRAPS.

THEME: The letter strings M-A and I-N appear in common phrases and are visually brought together.

WSJ • 6/2/26 • Tues • “Getting Closer” • Mike Shenk • solution • 20260602

THEME ANSWERS:

• MADE A DENT IN
• HUMAN BEING
• “I IMAGINE SO…”
• (Revealer) [Regular romantic partner, and what’s represented by this puzzle’s circles] MAIN SQUEEZE

About a decade ago, my uncle referred to someone I was dating as my “MAIN SQUEEZE,” and the phrase immediately gave me the heebie-jeebies. To my ears, it implies there are several squeezes and we’ve merely identified the primary one. It also feels oddly possessive, as though I’m the squeezer and my partner is some sort of plush toy.

I fully acknowledge that I’m overthinking this.

Nevertheless, that conversation remains both the first and last time I’ve heard the phrase used IRL.

So the revealer isn’t exactly my favorite, but it certainly works thematically. Once the gimmick became clear, the circled MA and IN combinations were easy enough to fill in without much hesitation.

Overall, the puzzle felt tougher than a typical Tuesday, even though my solve time ended up being pretty standard. There were quite a few entries that either slowed me down or sent me rummaging through the darker corners of my memory.

STUMBLES / MUSINGS:

• ANN Beattie Complete brain freeze. I knew it once.
• COWBIRDS [Fliers frequently found in pastures] New to me.
• FLEXTIME [Pick-your-own-hours work system] Familiar phrase, but it took a while to surface.
• EATER [Opposite of faster?] Excellent clue for a very rough entry.
• AMIENS [City about 70 miles north of Paris]  New to me. Sounds like a friendly place, though.
• HERVE [Villechaize of Fantasy Island] Nope.
• HAIG [The Life Impossible writer Matt] — I’ve seen it before but couldn’t retrieve it on demand.
• AMIS [“London Fields” writer Martin] I wonder whether Martin AMIS ever visited AMIENS…

OTHER THINGS:

• MADEADENTIN and IIMAGINESO were delightfully difficult for me to parse. Those answers looked like alphabet soup until they suddenly didn’t.
• EMMYS [Michael J. Fox has won five] Fun fact.
• MADRIGAL [Renaissance song] One of those words that’s satisfying both to say and to spell.
• MOVIE NIGHT [Item on a family schedule, perhaps] Just a warm, likable entry.
• NO SWIMMING [Lakeside sign] Boring lake. Pull the stick out and let us enjoy ourselves.

Not a puzzle that completely won me over, but it had enough resistance and enough amusing moments to keep me engaged.

3 stars.

Ken Buxton and Zhouqin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Erin’s write-up

Hello lovelies! The LAT is mixing it up a bit this Tuesday with a downs-predominant theme.

• 3d. [Success for a pitcher?] SALES ORDER
• [Shifts to eco-friendly farming] GOES ORGANIC
• 24d. [“Save your apologies”] DON’T BE SORRY
• 29d. [Refreshing citrus dessert] LIME SORBET
• 64a. [Rebelled, or what can be found in 3-, 10-, 24-, and 29-Down] ROSE UP. Each of the long entries contains the letters ROSE backwards (or upwards, as it were).

Other things:

• 66a. [Big name in locks] YALE. Linus Yale Sr. and Jr. both improved upon the tumbler lock developed in Egypt around 2000 BC, and the son patented the modern pin-tumbler lock in 1861.
• 22a. [Nasal cavity] SINUS. Technically they’re paranasal because they drain into the nose, but aren’t part of the nose itself. Regardless, it still hurts like heck when they get infected.
• 2d. [Griddled corn cake] AREPA. Is there any form of cooked filled dough that isn’t delicious?

Wyna Liu’s New Yorker Crossword — Eric’s Review

Wyna Liu’s New Yorker Crossword — 6/22/26
(Click to Enlarge(

This seemed pretty easy, even by recent New Yorker puzzle standards.

I’ve gotta run, so for now, here’s some fave fill: BRASS TACKS, COME HITHER, ALWAYS BE CLOSING (a gimme; the film adaptation is full of excellent performances), SWEET SPOTS.

It’s hard to get too excited by SOFA LEGS and PHONE BOOKS. (Whatever the latter are.)
________________

Further thoughts:

• 56A [2020 prize for the physicist Roger Penrose] NOBEL I didn’t recognize his name, but the answer seemed a pretty safe bet. He was recognized “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.” I’ve no real idea what that means, but it sounds impressive.
• 6D [Place to be drunk and high at the same time?] ROOFTOP BAR How “high” one is kinda depends on the building, no?
• 38D [Numbers on a board-game box] AGE RANGE Not AGE LEVEL.
• 46A [Kid-lit character with a pug named Weenie] ELOISE I’ve never read any of those books and didn’t know about the dog, but again, it was a safe bet.