LAT 6:57 (Kyle) 
[2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 12:02 (Nate) 
[3.12 avg; 21 ratings] rate it
USA Today untimed (ZEB) rate it
Universal (Sunday) 8:10 (Jim P) 
[3.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal 5:12 (Adam S) [3.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
WaPo untimed (Matt G) [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Hannah Slovut-Einertson’s New York Times crossword, “Big Draw” — Nate’s write-up
06.21.2026 Sunday New York Times Crossword with Giraffe Drawing
06.21.2026 Sunday New York Times Crossword
21A: NECKING [Fighting technique used by [circled letters] (as explained at 76-Across)]
124A: SAVANNA [Habitat for [circled letters]]
20D: OKAPI [Closest living relative of the [circled letters]]
39D: TOWERS [Term for groups of [circled letters]]
81D: ACACIA [Tree whose leaves are eaten by [circled letters]]
109D: SPOTS [Fur pattern on a [circled letters]]
67A: THAT’S A TALL ORDER [“Boy, you’re asking too much” … or what you might say after following the instructions at 76-Across?]
76A: WORLD GIRAFFE DAY [Annual June 21 celebration of the animal depicted in this puzzle by connecting the circled letters from A to T and back to A]
This week’s Sunday NYT puzzle is a 27 x 17 that is as tall as its giraffe subject, which we’re meant to draw after connecting the dots from A to T and back again. As a post-solve reward in the NYT app, you get a gorgeous giraffe drawing, which is probably more detailed than the pen-and-paper version will be. (Note: 27 x 17 is a 459-square puzzle, roughly akin to a 21 x 22 puzzle and its 462 squares.)
This grid felt largely smooth to me, though I will admit that I got stuck on one final square, at the intersection of 71A and 58D. For [Testify] at 58D, I had BE A ? WITNESS and could not, for the life of me, figure out what went in that ? square. TO? at 71A for [Popular browser for accessing the dark web] didn’t help me at all. I tried BE A (STAR) WITNESS with a (STAR) rebus, thinking that maybe the (STAR) was supposed to be where we start and end the connect-the-dots? Nope! It was BEAR WITNESS crossing TOR (which is maybe where the idea of torrenting comes from?). Anyone else get stuck there? Had to get past a bear to get to the giraffe – yay for wildlife indeed.
What did you think of the puzzle? Let us know in the comments below – and have a great weekend!
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal Crossword “Stepdad” – Adam S’s write-up
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal Crossword “Stepdad” – 6/21/26
Perhaps accounting for why we had a themeless puzzle on Friday this week, today’s puzzle is a timely celebration of World Giraffe Go Skateboarding International Yoga World Hydrography Father’s Day. “Stepdad” is represented by staggered PAs in stacked entries, creating four steps that each read PAPA. Theme entries are:
- STAND UP ACT over AREPA
- STRIP AWAY over PAVE
- SKIP AHEAD over PET SPA
- STAMP ALBUM over PAUSE
As can be seen above, the longer entries of the two all split the P and A over multiple words, which is an elegant touch. It would have perhaps been even more elegant if the shorter entries had all been one-word entries without the anomalous PET SPA, but that is a very minor quibble that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the puzzle.
As one would expect from a Zhouqin puzzle, the fill is exceptionally smooth, and she makes room for some nice bonuses in MILES APART, CHEAP SHOTS, and CATNAPS. A little less yummy food and drink than her puzzles sometimes have, with the aforementioned AREPA only being kept company by some DILL, as well as a tasty CHAI to wash it down.
Nice puzzle! Wishing all the dads out there a Happy Father’s Day.
A few notes:
- 43A PET SPA [Place for a pawdicure] Searching for exact matches for “pawdicure” generates 186,000 hits. What a world we live in! Neither PAWDICURE nor PAWDICURES has ever appeared in a crossword in the Crosserville database, if any constructors reading this would like to debut it.
- 5D SODA CAN [Pop’s container] Nice wink at the theme in this clue.
- 8D INCAN [Like the god Viracocha, who rose from Lake Titicaca] Viracocha is the supreme creator deity in Inca and pre-Inca Andean mythology – and has also never appeared in a crossword in the Crosserville database. Sidetracking – I once got told off by the Bolivian Navy for taking a picture of them while crossing Lake Titicaca.
- 31D TBSP [Almond butter amt.] Not that this was hard, but is there a reason that a tablespoon is the canonical amount of almond butter?
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Space Out”—Jim P’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that identify certain people, but the trick is found in the clues which are all common words starting with the letter I followed by letters which spell out a verb. The solver must mentally separate the I from the rest of the letters to get a hint to the identity of the person spelled out in the entry. The revealer is BREAK EYE CONTACT (106a, [Lose a staring contest, or a phonetic hint to making sense of the starred clues]).
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Space Out” · Zhouqin Burnikel · 6.21.26
- 21a. [*Irate?] NEWSPAPER CRITIC. “I rate.”
- 31a. [*Ideal?] REAL ESTATE AGENT. “I deal.”
- 46a. [*iPad?] UPHOLSTERER. “I pad.” Cute one!
- 61a. [*Icon?] IDENTITY THIEF. “I con.”
- 79a. [*Islam?] TRASH TALKER. “I slam.”
- 90a. [*Islander?] TABLOID REPORTER. “I slander.”
Excellent theme! I was befuddled at first and went along with the solve, trying to ignore the theme. But I figured it out before I got to the revealer which then turned out to be icing on the cake. Multiple AHA MOMENTs were had, and that’s always a fun time.
This is how it’s done, folks: A theme that looks bewildering at first but is ultimately gettable, full symmetry throughout, and lovely long fill. In addition to the aforementioned AHA MOMENT, we get GARAGE SALE, TWIN PACKS, WEAK TEA, END NOTES, LAP CATS, PALE ALES, YES SIREE, and TOSTADA.
Clues of note:
- 8a. [Golden Gate Park has 1,017 of them]. ACRES. Well, I didn’t think the answer was BISON because…well, Golden Gate Park is big, but it’s not that big.
- 28a. [Throws with effort]. HEAVES. YEETS didn’t fit. :(
- 82a. [Snow Bros. console]. NES. Ha! Never heard of that one.
- 87a. [Parent honored on the third Sunday of June]. DAD. Oh hey! That’s today. Happy Dad’s Day to all who celebrate!
Four stars from me.
Jeffrey Diton and Katie Hale’s LA Times crossword “M&M’S” – Kyle’s write-up
LA Times solution grid “M&M’S” – Jeffrey Diton & Katie Hale – Sunday 06/21/2026
Thanks Jeffrey and Katie for today’s puzzle. Short write-up today as I’m on vacation with family. No tricks in the theme today, just names of people with the initials M.M.:
- 22A [The Duchess of Sussex] MEGHAN MARKLE
- 41A [Rebecca Pearson player on “This Is Us”] MANDY MOORE
- 43A [Comedian whose podcast’s final episode featured Barack Obama] MARC MARON
- 64A [Anthropologist who theorized that children learn by watching adults] MARGARET MEAD
- 73A [Oscar winner who gave her acceptance speech in ASL] MARLEE MATLIN. She won Best Actress for 1986’s Children of a Lesser God.
- 95A [Austin Powers portrayer] MIKE MYERS
- 97A [Actress who won a Tony and an Emmy for playing Peter Pan] MARY MARTIN. When I was a kid, my parents taped (on VHS!) the TV version of Peter Pan with Mary Martin for my sister and me.
- 118A [Hall of Famer who holds the record for most World Series home runs] MICKEY MANTLE. He hit 18 home runs across 12 World Series appearances for the Yankees, amid their run of dominance in the mid-20th century. There’s no sign his record will be threatened anytime soon: among active MLB players, the leaders for WS homers (Freddie Freeman and George Springer) have 7 each.
Notes on fill and clues:
- I don’t think there’s any fill longer than 8 letters in the grid. That said, the mid-length fill (6-8) has lots of standout entries, such as JOHN WICK, “EYES ON ME”, SPAMALOT, EL CAMINO, AMAZONIA, CAT CAFE, TEE TIME, SNOWMAN, DEEJAY, DIABLO, PREMED.
- Nice misdirect clues in [Record player?] for DEEJAY, [Go to press?] for IRON, [Key word?] for MINOR, and [Famous last words?] for THE END, the latter appropriately at the last Across entry.
- 54D [Shoe brand founded by U.S. Rubber] KEDS. Interesting piece of trivia! From Wikipedia:
From 1892 to 1913, the rubber footwear divisions of U.S. Rubber manufactured their products under 30 different brand names, including the Wales-Goodyear Shoe Co. The company consolidated these footwear brands under one name, Keds, in 1916, and were mass-marketed as the first flexible rubber-sole with canvas-top “sneakers” in 1917.
- Small quibble with 21D [British unit of length] METRE. It’s correct insofar as the British spelling convention of ending words in –re where US English uses –er. However, imperial length measures are commonly used in the UK, with highway distances posted in miles or yards, and speed limits in miles per hour (compare this to Canada, where road speeds and distances are in metric).
Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Themeless #28” — Matthew’s write-up
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword solution, “Themeless #28,” 6/21/2026
Themeless this week, with some fun 10-stacks in two corners, and 15-letter entries in the opposites. As I’d expect from a themeless this large, plenty of entries that I liked for one reason or another: AIREDALE TERRIER, QUIET RIOT, GREASY SPOON, NOSY PARKER, GIVES THE NOD.
Particular highlights: APEMEN being clued as “hypothetical” and not as (a pet peeve of mine ) a real “missing link” // Little bit of a double take for me at [Summer product?] which semi-classically misdirects to DISCO, but today isn’t the name “Summer” but rather a word for a mathematician, and the answer is TOTAL // The double use of “post” in the clue for COMMENT SECTIONS brought a smile to my face. I think it would work anywhere but is especially apt in the Washington Post
Cheers!
Amie Walker’s USA Today Crossword “Pop In” – Zachary Edward-Brown’s write-up
Amie Walker’s USA Today Crossword “Pop In” – 6/21/26
The title “Pop In” hints that the letters DAD will appear in each themer, because POP = DAD.
18A – [“No take-backsies”] = WE HAD A DEAL
39A – [“Come work here” postings] = HELP WANTED ADS
59A – [“I should listen to you”] = GOOD ADVICE
Word breaks in all three themers, which is nice. The first and last ones are particularly strong answers on their own – the middle one, HELP WANTED ADS, is solid but not exceptional. Overall, a good set!
We have room for two bonus spanners: CHICA CHERRY COLA and EVERYBODY GO HOME, both of which are excellent. Very nicely played. The cluing all around was very good, which I’ve come to expect from Amie Walker puzzles. I’ll call out a couple of clues I liked: [Egg-shaped lip balm brand] for EOS, [Message with a hot-face emoji, maybe] for SEXT, and [Drink a red potion in a video game, say] for HEAL. Lastly, the clue for OTS at 52-Across: [Extra WNBA periods] – how many times do we see references to the NBA and the NFL? Calling out the WNBA, in this puzzle, certainly felt deliberate. Loved it!!
Favorite clue: 22A [This’ll show you!] MIRROR Clever and fun, without being unfair. Perfect difficulty for a USA Today puzzle!
4.75 stars
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
I got myself stitched up for awhile because I had JEUNE (young) instead of JAUNE (yellow). Otherwise, a nice solve and certainly original. Beat the heck out of last week for sure.
Nice as the NYT is, I went slowly and finished especially slowly in the NW. (Do people still get signed on as errand boys?) The clue for SIRI long outsmarted me, as did the two-word combo of LOTUS ROOT. Didn’t help that, moving from the initial SA, I kept wanting to fit “saharan” rather than SAVANNA.
As usual, my pen and ink copy became a bit hard to read, meaning hard to locate the circles. I never did circle all the right letters, leaping over, say, I. And I never did understand the directions. How is 76 or its clue a set of directions? At the very least, wrong part of speech.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Very clever and very fun, I assume not a coincidence that World Giraffe Day is celebrated on the longest day of each year! 4.0
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 3.5 stars
TOR ° “The Onion Router.” It actually came out of the U.S. Naval Research Lab.
Right, and TORRENT came from BIT TORRENT, which was a different protocol for retrieving data from multiple sources and reconstructing.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
NYT: pretty fun for a Sunday, which have been slogs of late. I have to say I take exception to three pluralizations in the grid that are incorrect, IMO. The plural of elk (the animal), is elk, like deer or moose. And the term for a group of giraffes is a tower — likewise a “natural hairstyle” would be a loc presumably (even though I’ve never heard of such a thing).
Agree about the pluralizations. While I generally don’t hold crosswords to high standards of grammar, I tend to get upset when I see things like octopi in a puzzle. Since it’s of Greek origin, octopuses is the correct pluralization.
Or the OG, octopodes!
I never understood why “octopi” gets more hate than say, “television,” or a zillion other words that are hybrids of Greek and Latin. My favorite hybrid is “hypercorrection,” from the Greek hyper and Latin correctio. Where are the calls to replace “nonagon” with “enneagon”?
I see that not only do dictionaries give all three plurals, making pretty clear that it’s too late to try to claim a single correct usage. MW online even has an extended note on the subject and begins by stating that OCTOPI in fact entered English first, in an attempt to be correct.
I just dislike the idea that a “correct” plural of pod is pi — not that there is something inherently wrong with mixing Greek and Latin. I realize that octopi is accepted usage, but it’s weird and there is nothing stopping people from using octopuses (which is what people who study octopuses use). I’d raise the same stink for any other weirdly/incorrectly pluralized word based on the part being pluralized.
Most complaints about “proper English” are actually themselves mistaken beliefs. Octopi likely predates octopuses as a plural, and both are accepted English words (and both are used in the literature by marine researchers!). Hopefully can mean both “full of hope” as in “He waited hopefully by the door” and “I hope” as in “Hopefully, one day my prince will come”. The idea that one cannot use “poisonous” to describe a dangerous snake (because the snake is “venomous”) is a very recent lexical argument, and most dictionaries (and historical writing about snakes!) agree that poisonous is also correct.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
The clue did say for “groups of circled animal” and not “group”; “towers” is therefore correct.
Huh? Like “we saw multiple different towers of giraffes today on our safari?” If so, that is certainly not how I read it, and if it’s what was intended, then that is some TERRIBLE editing. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a plural use of the terms for different groups of animals (and I am a person who LOVES the weird names for groups of animals).
While I concede it’s not usual, it’s far from being a grammatical unicorn. For instance, “Kenya National Park has two dominant towers of giraffes; one tower of giraffes in the eastern part and one tower in the western part. “
Touché, although again, I think the clue could have been written in a much clearer way. Having the weird (but also evidently “grammatically correct” LOCS as a singular cross added insult to injury.
It’s quite bizarre to complain about correct grammar in a crossword puzzle. I means, you realize it’s supposed to be challenging, right?
A loc would be one single dreadlock, not a whole head of them. Locs would refer to the hairstyle in general. Also the clue for TOWERS says “groups”, not “group”, so that’s perfectly fine. ELKS should maybe be clued as nonstandard at least, though.
ELKS is fine as clued. The usual rule for all sorts of animals is no “S” for the same kind but “S” for different kinds. Three rainbows are trout; brown and rainbows are trouts. I just spent a few days in Yellowstone. We saw lots of elk. They are Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis nelsoni). Rocky Mountain, Tule, Manitoban and others are elks.
Good point! And looking again at the clue, it’s plural, which is always a signal that the answer is plural.
But this is all just ridiculous. Three “non-standard” (or whatever) arcane pluralizations is a crappy, un-fun way to make a puzzle challenging. I suppose it isn’t incorrect to say that none of those entries is technically incorrect, but I would never in a million years use any of them in a sentence. That’s pretty much my bar. Can you use it in a sentence that you’d actually speak out loud in front of other humans? No? Maybe rethink things. (Plus — clueing Elks as referencing the club and not the animal is a simple fix.)
And you could fix the weird/awkward/maybe or maybe not incorrect issue by just putting a black square there and clueing it as referencing Tone Loc. Then it would be essentially the same puzzle, but better.
“Then it would be essentially the same puzzle, but better.”
No it wouldn’t. LOCS is perfectly fine, so is TOWERS, and putting another black square there would almost certainly mean getting rid of the symmetrical ACACIA theme answer too for no good reason.
It’s fine to just say you didn’t enjoy a puzzle as much as you would have hoped without pretending you’d be a better crossword editor yourself.
I don’t mean to sound harsh, but you being unfamiliar/disagreeing with a particular word/usage does not make it arcane.
I don’t know why you’re doing crossword at all if these three answers are really throwing you like this. I LOVE to complain about NYT puzzles all the time (TEE PADS? barf) but none of these three answers gave me a moment’s notice
I guess that’s our difference of perspective… you’d say it’s better to have a few awkward/weird entries for the sake of symmetry, and I’d say it’s better to sacrifice symmetry for the sake of less awkward entries. I’m not sure there is a correct position, beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all. I will admit to being fairly annoyed by unneeded pluralizations in puzzles, but maybe that’s just me.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
Enjoyed the puzzle today. Never knew there was a WORLD GIRAFFE DAY until now, but there is a day for everything. My solving time was a bit longer because I had SPHEREE/EENEY for a while.
Oh, and Happy Father’s Day!
Puzzle: WaPo; Rating: 4 stars
Anyone else have trouble with that NOSYPARKER/HAP crossing? Just me?
Agreed. Never heard of either.
NosyParker was a mystery, and still is as I have not looked it up. Hap popped into my brain for some reason.
My favorite answer was INGRATIATE. I just enjoyed coming up with it. It would make a great pangram for Spelling Bee, too.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 2 stars
Zero tolerance for puzzles that involve drawings. Too much sacrificed for the gimmicky theme. I quit using crayons in about 1st grade.
Puzzle: NYT; Rating: 4 stars
I thought it was a delight! The extent of the theme answers throughout was wonderful, too. So what if there are a few challenging or awkward bits. It’s not the GRE or anything critical, after all :)
NYT: Also had issue with the 71A/58D crossing. Same with 66A and 52D — I’ve heard of “dreadlocks,” but not “locs” (confirmed via Google they’re the same), and never heard of 52D. Also never heard of a “corn pit” — I’m Googling that next.
Locs are the same as dreadlocks?! I call foul both for arcane usage and for describing dreadlocks as “natural” when they require quite a bit of effort to create and maintain.
That’s not what “natural hair” means. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hair_movement
Not arcane if you’re Black. Also considered “natural” for textured hair, as opposed to hairstyles that involve chemical straighteners, or a weave (which is artificial hair and therefore not natural).
You not knowing stuff is not a “foul” on the part of the editors. I learn all kinds of new stuff from crosswords, never bothers me.
That’s what Wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadlocks
LAT: I’ll see Kyle’s METRE nit and raise him a TONNE. “Tonne” is not the British spelling of ton. It is a different unit: the metric ton or 1000 kilograms. It is used in American English as well as British.
NYT: Pretty fun, BUT!! You’re not supposed to put Q-TIPs in your ear! Even though (nearly) everyone does it.
My doc told me that people are genetically disposed either to have lots of earwax or not to; people without are permitted to put Q-tips in their ears. LOL I never thought I would use that on a crossword, though.
WaPo: fun themeless from Evan this weekend!