BEQ tk (Eric) rate it
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LAT tk (Gareth) rate it
NYT 8:41 (ZDL) 
[3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
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Peter Gordon’s Fireball Crossword “Themeless 189” – Jenni’s write-up
This one felt pretty tough to me – how did you find it? One long entry completely unknown to me and transliterated from Chinese, one long word that is unusual (although not unknown to me) and the usual brain-breaking FB clues.
Fireball, June 17, 2026, Peter Gordon, “Themeless 189,” solution grid
- As he so often does, Peter links the first and last entries. 1a [Garth Brooks #1 album of 2001] is SCARECROW. 63a [Something above criticism] is a SACRED COW.
- 6d [Restaurant specializing in a South American barbecued steak dish] is a CHURRASCARIA. I knew the word and had no idea how to spell it, so I had to wait for a bunch of crossings.
- 21a [Author of the 2021 #1 best-selling YA novel “Iron Widow”] is XIRAN JAY ZHAO. See what I mean? It’s a great entry and entirely valid; the book was evidently a huge sensation and I completely missed it.
- 30d [Animation wheels] are ZOETROPES, very cool devices that created a simulation of movement before actual moving pictures were a thing. Here’s a very cool example using 3-d printed roosters. Nifty!
- 31a [Insectivorous bird with bright plumage] is a BEEEATER which just looks wrong because of the three consecutive Es.
- 53a [Rustic] is HICK because “rustic” can also be a noun meaning resident of a rural area.
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: see about re: XIRAN JAY ZHAO. Also have never heard of ELLA Mai or her song “Boo’d Up.”
Scott Hogan’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Time: 8m41s
Difficulty: Breezy (<8m) | Easy-ish (8-9m30s) | Working on it (9m30s-11m) | Rough going (11+m)
Scott Hogan’s New York Times crossword, 6/18/26, 0618
Today’s theme: start, middle, finish
- BROADWAY OPENING (Bro?)
- VISITOR CENTER (Sit?)
- FAIRYTALE ENDING (Ale?)
What really jumps out is the architecture — 70 words and 30 blocks is Friday-level territory. And here I am, solving on a Wednesday, anachronisms amplified and with only a fleeting grasp on reality.
Cracking: CLASS A MORON
Slacking: ETCHANT, they get into the walls, marching two by two, engraving the backside of your baseboard
Sidetracking: Coyote vs ACME, coming soon to a theater near you, once cancelled by Warner Bros for the sole purpose of taking a tax write-off, please Lord let us turn it into a summer blockbuster
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2.5 stars
NYT (2.5)
Not up to usual Thursday trickery or cleverness standards. And really just any three letter words that start a word, are in the middle of a word and at the end of a word. Not otherwise connected to the phrases in the answers. Also no real connection among the three words BRO, SIT, or ALE, or among the three phrases. And I suppose I am being sensitive, but I am not a fan of either numbskull or Class A Moron, the latter having never appeared before in a NYT puzzle.