BEQ 20:16 (Eric) 
[2.90 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
LAT 2:01 (Stella) 
[2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:09 (Sophia) 
[3.27 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 6:04 (Amy) 
[4.25 avg; 10 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) [3.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) rate it
WSJ 6:13 (Jim Q) rate it
Tom McCoy’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Recap
THEME: Par Amount – each theme clue’s bracket indicates how many times the string PAR is in the answer
New York Times, 06 08 2026, By Tom McCoy
- 18a [Popular board game adapted from India [1]] – PARCHEESI
- 23a [Challenge for student drivers [2]] – PARALLEL PARKING
- 41a [Never stop having fun [3]] – PARTY PARTY PARTY
- 50a [Of the highest importance … or, when parsed differently, what each bracketed number in the clues indicates?] – PARAMOUNT
PARAMOUNT to “par amount” is a fun re-parse! I like that the “par”s are all at the start of their respective words. PARALLEL PARKING is a great grid spanner, and PARCHEESI is an interesting answer for the theme answer with the most options. I didn’t know that it was adapted from India before now! Is PARTY PARTY PARTY a known phrase? I was able to parse it out pretty easily, but it’s not a phrase I’ve heard in the wild.
I found this puzzle to be harder than the average Monday. The middle section with KNAVERY and NIPS/LEVER as clued was the last part that I entered into the grid. Looking at the puzzle as a whole, I don’t think any of the crossings were unfair – everything overall just felt a little trickier than usual.
Clue highlights: [Characterize?] for SPELL, [Deer sir?] for STAG, [5×5-square crossword] for MINI, [Apt zodiac sign for Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion]. Lots of interesting clues for a Monday!
Fill highlights: POP-UP store, SPAM FILTER, REPORT BACK, GOTCHAS
Happy Monday all!
Patti Varol’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 6/8/26 by Patti Varol
This puzzle wants you to release your inhibitions, including freeing yourself from the need for a revealer. Each theme entry starts with an adjective that indicates freedom:
- 17A [Get-up-and-go that never goes] is BOUNDLESS ENERGY.
- 25A [Therapy technique that encourages a thoughtful flow of ideas] is FREE ASSOCIATION.
- 42A [School organizer with three rings] is LOOSE-LEAF BINDER. Do the youths even have these any more? (I am Trapper Keeper years old, myself.)
- 55A [Righteous Brothers hit in the film “Ghost”] is UNCHAINED MELODY.
BOUNDLESS, FREE, LOOSE, UNCHAINED: Don’t you want to go play outside now?
Lynn Lempel’s Wall Street Journal crossword “Sad to Say” — Jim Q’s write-up
THEME: Phrases that start with synonyms for “sad”
WSJ • 6/8/26 • Mon • “Sad to Say” • Lynn Lempel • solution • 20260608
THEME ANSWERS:
- CRYING WOLF
- LOW PROFILE
- DISTRESSED JEANS
- BLUE CHEESE
- DOWN PILLOW
My first thought when I opened today’s puzzle and saw Lynn Lempel‘s byline was, “What a great way to start a Monday!”
And while that remained true throughout the solve, I was admittedly unprepared for the cumulative sadness.
How can a puzzle be a downer and an upper at the same time?
That paradox is exactly why Lynn Lempel is the early-week GOAT.
I was also surprised to discover that my solve time came in at nearly double my Monday average. The theme itself was straightforward, but several entries managed to snag me along the way.
HANGUPS / MUSINGS:
- [Where a surfer may linger] WEBSITE. I had SEASIDE. They share a surprising number of letters for two completely different activities.
- [The hole shooting match?] GOLF. I love that the clue includes embraces the word “The.” Billiards can take a seat. Them are pockets. Golf is the hole-shooting match.
- [Solemn promise] I DO / OATH. Nice clue echo, especially with the two answers crossing.
- [Improve, as a diamond] RECUT. This took me forever.
- [“Selena” star, popularly] J-LO. I briefly had ARI. Different star, popularly.
- [Show sorrow] WEEP. In case the puzzle needed one more reminder that we’re all sad today.
- [Tennis champ Ivan] LENDL. Couldn’t pull it from memory. Maybe I’ll remember it next time. LENDL rhymes with LEMPEL, which seems useful.
- [Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo ___] ABE. One of those crossword answers that I somehow relearn every few months.
A simple, pleasant Monday with a cute theme and just enough resistance to keep me engaged.
4 stars today!
Patrick Berry’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 6/8/26 – Patrick Berry
Nice to see Patrick’s byline on a Monday rather than easy-peasy Wednesday. His easy themelesses are super-smooth but he doesn’t get to flex his tricky cluing muscles.
Fave fill: Captcha check-box phrase I’M NOT A ROBOT, DESSERT MENU, BAD TRIP, PICTOGRAM, LIVE A LITTLE, SETS THE DATE, PEPSI COLA, JOE COLLEGE (odd clue, [Typical male undergrad, in thirties lingo], given that the 2030s are 3.5 years away and the 1930s are 85+ years behind us), UN-AMERICAN, SO TO SPEAK.
New to me but perhaps dated?: 14a. [Person who’s glued to the computer chair], MOUSE POTATO.
Three more things:
- 16a. [Pronoun lead-in], NEO. Not a prefix for a pronoun but rather, a prefix for the word “pronoun.” Neopronouns are coinages such as ze/zir.
- 32a. [Parts of a service], TEACUPS. Were you thinking of SERMONS in a church service rather than dishes in a tea service?
- 52a. [Author whom Carl Sagan called the “great explainer” of the technological age], ISAAC ASIMOV. He was notoriously handsy around women, eww.
Four stars from me.
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1894 — Eric’s Review
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1894 — 6/8/26 (Click to Enlarge)
I think my morning caffeine has worn off — I’m ready for a nap, and this was tougher than usual. There’s not much here that I hadn’t hear of, but getting some of it took crunching all the crosses:
- 16A [Quartiere Venezia port city] LIVORNO I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t know that it had such a Venetian influence.
- 18A [Short character] Ed GRIMLEY, the triangle-playing dweeb from Martin Short’s Saturday Night Live days (and probably other periods in his career).
- 19A [“Just what I suspected!”] YEAH YOU WOULD This works, but it took some time to see it.
- 35A [“Ball Four” author Jim] BOUTON A gimme and the first thing I filled in.
- 45A [Improvisational Indian music] RAGA I don’t know much about raga and thought it was a bit more structured. But when in doubt, put the word you know, even if you’re not sure how it fits.
- 58A [Lemur or tarsier, e.g.] HALF-APE I’d not heard that term before.
- 60A [Invading personal space] ALL UP IN That doesn’t sound right to me without some reference to one’s face.
- 5D [Country that is almost 90% dessert] LIBYA Life is short; eat desert first.
- 6D [Garnished with white seedless grapes] VERONIQUE That’s fancier than my cooking usually gets.
- 11D [Crossword writer’s alias] NOM DE PUZ Cue the eye roll.
- 26D [Kick between the legs] NUTMEG The 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup starts in just a few days. The amount of money being made off it appalls me. But I might try to watch some of the matches anyway.
- 35D [Mammal whose heart is roughly the size of a small car] BLUE WHALE Really, what else could it have been?
- 46D [Richard Feynman’s instrument] BONGO Okay.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
“I found this puzzle to be harder than the average Monday. The middle section with KNAVERY and NIPS/LEVER as clued was the last part that I entered into the grid. Looking at the puzzle as a whole, I don’t think any of the crossings were unfair – everything overall just felt a little trickier than usual.”
Agreed! Coupled with some tricky cluing, it felt a little off in terms of placement. I think some of the easy clues could have been toughened a bit an it would have fit better on Tuesday.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
NYT. 3.5. Cute concept and cute revealer. Interesting how different solvers experiences can be. I thought this was one of the easiest NYT puzzles ever, even for a Monday. The entire east half put up less than zero resistance. TWO, MEAD, LEO, LEAF. Before I read Sophia’s write up and huda’s comment I told my wife the puzzle could have been printed on a Denny’s placemat. Maybe I was just lucky. Sunday’s puzzle put up a lot of resistance.
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4 stars
Very nice puzzle. My time was less than moderately challenging
Puzzle: The New Yorker; Rating: 4.5 stars
All hail Patrick Berry!
He really knows how to create smart, fun, and challenging puzzles and doesn’t resort to making trivia tests with little-known entries that we “should know”.
Yes. Hard in all the right ways, although I don’t happen to be familiar with LOTT or MOUSE POTATO. Fine puzzle.
I found the NYT easier than most Mondays. Just goes to show — something or other.
But I’m annoyed that once again ORES is clued as ‘Metals in mines.’ Repeat after me — an ore is not a metal.* It just isn’t. I don’t know why Shortz et al persist in using clues that are manifestly wrong, as with the MEWS clue a few days ago that I also complained about.
*I discovered, after the last time this clue appeared, that there is such a thing as gold ore. To wit: a naturally occurring rock or mineral aggregate that contains extractable gold. In other words, a mineral from which gold can be obtained by processing, but not a metal per se.
RHUD: “a metal-bearing mineral or rock, or a native metal, that can be mined at a profit.”
Webster’s: “: a naturally occurring mineral containing a valuable constituent (such as metal) for which it is mined and worked”
Sure sounds to me there’s nothing wrong with clues about metals “in” ore. What do you think the extraction process is? Alchemy?
Contra RHUD, I object to the idea that an ore can be the native metal. In the case of gold, the ore is a mineral aggregate of some sort from which the metal has to be extracted, eg by bashing it into bits and sifting out the gold.
I still think that equating an ore to metal, as the clue does, is wrong.
FWIW, I think you’re wrong in insisting that if one doesn’t explicitly state that a row began as a stable it can’t be mews. And hey, at some point if you object to the most authoritative dictionaries and actual usage, you’re fighting a pointless battle. Language comes from people.
And on ore, sounds even worse, like you’re fighting the meaning of “contains,” a word you use yourself, or “in.” What’s next? Pointing out that a glass of water can’t be made of water? The clue wasn’t equating an ore with metal.
The clue was ‘metals in mines’ and the answer was ORES. To my mind that equates ores with metals.
As for mews, I acknowledged in my comment that you might find a small row of houses in a mews. But the clue was ‘row houses, to Brits,’ implying that what American call row houses Brits would call mews. And that’s just not correct.
You might find editing Wikipedia articles a therapeutic exercise. There are many instances where ores are equated to metals. For instance, the article on native copper states, “Native copper was an important ore used by pre-historic peoples.” I’m sure you can find enough material that needs clarification to give you many hours of enjoyment. Edit warring is a fine way to meet interesting people, as well.
Therapeutic? I think you mean exasperating…
I’ve probably mentioned before that I did a lot of writing and editing of science-related material in my career, and maybe that makes me overly picky about some things. But I’m not giving up!
New Yorker: Could someone explain 16a to me, “Pronoun lead-in”? I didn’t find the puzzle easy, and had to look up one thing to finish the top, which turned out to be a film I had seen (8d). I was happy with the spelling of 6a, which I doubt follows the New Yorker style sheet.
Never mind my question. 16a is new word, which I looked up.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3 stars
Honestly, I knew that today’s puzzle wasn’t going to be as good as last week’s Monday, since I generally do not care much for early week puzzles in general. This one was a prime example of this (at least for me).
The theme was… okay-ish. The theme probably derived from Tom watching Paramount + and going, “Hmm, Paramount… P-A-R-A-M-O-U-N-T. Par… amount! Wait a second, that could be a theme! Yeah! That sounds great!” Just me? Okay.
Just like Rex said, PARTYPARTYPARTY feels very contrived, yet PARCHEESI was my favorite entry in the grid, to be honest. It sounds fun, just that I’ve never played it before (btw, I just looked on Wikipedia, and now I wanna play this even more). I finished pretty quickly, yet I put SPAMFOLDER instead of SPAMFILTER. Whoops!
Overall, 3 stars. Nothing crazy. Just nothing crazy terrible. Just “blah” all around. :/
Always a pleasure when one of the good New Yorker constructors has the Monday.
NYT: So happy to see Tom McCoy’s name on a puzzle. I really enjoyed it. I see today that his last Times puzzle was in May 2025, and I seem to have missed it. I’ll seek it out!
Just finished
the Universal (“Out of Fashion”)?
Has anyone else notice that the clue for 60a, although not one of the starred clues, can somehow be tied in with the revealer (48a)?
Please disregard my previous comment. I was trying to edit it.
Did anyone do a writeup on the Universal (“Out of Fashion”)?
The answer for 60a, although not one of the starred clues, can somehow be still be tied in with the revealer (48a).