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Eric Rollfing’s New York Times Crossword — Sophia’s Recap
THEME: SOMEBODY’S CRANKY – each theme answer involves a literal crank, clued in a punny way
New York Times, 06 15 2026, by Eric Rollfing
This recap is coming from San Francisco, where I attended the Westwords crossword tournament today! It was a great time and so fun to see so many crossword folks. However since I’m traveling without my laptop, this will be a pretty quick write up.
Today’s theme involves items that use a crank, making them literally CRANKY. Each of them also has a ? Clue, although I’m not sure if that’s related to the revealer or not? These were: [Device that helps you make a point in class?] for PENCIL SHARPENER, [Toy likely to be found at a pop-up store?] for JACK IN THE BOX, and [Revolutionary kitchen item?] for SALAD SPINNER. Each of these worked for me, although I don’t know enough about the mechanical definition of “crank” to confirm if the salad spinner that I own that mostly involves hitting a button on the top counts as one.
I don’t personally think of the revealer SOMEBODY’S CRANKY as a known phrase, is this something that other people are more familiar with? It may just not be something my family and friends say.
Fave fill: DANCE CREW, ESCHEWS, MAIN MENUS (say that three times fast!)
Trouble spot: LIDS at 1A! I had “rims” and “lips” first.
Happy Monday all!