Thursday, July 23, 2026

BEQ tk (Eric) rate it
LAT tk (Gareth) rate it
NYT 8:21 (ZDL) [3.90 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Eric) rate it
USA Today tk (Ben) rate it
WSJ 17:25 (Jim Q) [5.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it

Today’s Fireball puzzle is a contest. We will publish a recap after the entry deadline.

Damon Gulczynski’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Time: 8m21s

Difficulty: Breezy (<8m)  |  Easy-ish (8-9m30s)  |  Working on it (9m30s-11m)  |  Rough going (11+m) |

Damon Gulczynski’s New York Times crossword, 7/23/26

Today’s theme: DARK ENERGY (Proposed cosmological phenomenon that could make up 70% of the universe — and six squares in this puzzle’s grid?)

• DEATH STARe / eSPOUSE
• nAPE / nASCENT
• eQUIPPED / eSTAB
• rOLE / rAMBLED
  
• SWANSONg / THINg
• DENy / UNREADy

For a moment, I misread the revealer and thought that 70% of the black squares in the puzzle were concealing letters — an impossible feat, constraint-wise.  Instead, we get something much more manageable here, with some lively fill like IDLE GOSSIP and EPIC DEFEAT.

Cracking: DEATH STARe

Slacking: eSTAB, woof

Sidetracking: Ron SWANSONg

Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword “Sitting Around” — Jim Q’s write-up

THEME: Synonyms for SEAT are “jumped” over, so the crossing Down clues only make sense if those letters are skipped.

WSJ • 7/23/26 • Thur • Sitting Around • Mike Shenk • solution • 20260723

THEME ANSWERS:

• CATCH AIR. CHAIR is being crossed by BA(C)KERS, C(H)AP, GO(A)T, AL(I), and SA(R)DI(N)E
• BEN CHAPLIN. BENCH is being crossed by (B)BS, P(E)RIC(L)ES, SA(R)DI(N)E, EN(C)ROUTE, COMET(H)
• IT’S TOO LATE. STOOL is being crossed be RODEO(S), S(T)IMGAS, AT(O)M, (O)PINES, P(E)RIC(L)ES 
• (double duty revealer and themer) [It folds down for a passenger (and an instruction for how to treat several Down answers)] JUMP SEAT. SEAT is being crossed by CUBI(S)TS, (E)AU, (A)GE, and (T)ET.

Wow. That took some elbow grease. And some serious strain on my crossword muscles.

We’ve seen this general idea from Mike Shenk more than a few times, but he does this type of theme exceptionally well. This particular execution is remarkable.

It’s already cool that both the entries as they appear in the grid and the words indicated by the clues have to be legitimate crossword fill. But having P(E)RIC(L)ES become PRICES, and SA(R)DI(N)E become SADIE, by jumping two letters, is just ridiculously impressive. And this is an exceptionally impressive construction.

That said… I genuinely didn’t think I was going to finish. I was honestly surprised when the “Congratulations!” message popped up. (Top 14%, whatever that means.)

And if you’re not reasonably fluent in Crosswordese… well… I’ve got bad news for ya’

HAI crossing OAXACA, the Mexican state that can never seem to find it’s way off of the tip of my tongue, was particularly harrowing.

The most satisfying part of the solve was using the gimmick to backsolve the fill.

For example, I couldn’t make sense of CATCH AIR from the clue [Leap while snowboarding]. All I could see was CAT… something. I assumed it was an unfamiliar snowboarding maneuver named after a feline. But I already had C-AP, so the missing letter almost had to be H or L. Once I started thinking that way, the whole puzzle became a really satisfying logic exercise. It truly felt like solving a puzzle rather than simply recalling trivia.

OTHER THINGS:

• [Nicole Kidman’s co-star in 2001’s “Birthday Girl”] BEN CHAPLIN. I really enjoyed this movie. I’ve asked several people whether they’ve seen it, and the answer is always “no.” Nicole Kidman’s Russian accent is terrific. Still no idea who Ben Chaplin is, though. I assume he’s unrelated to those Chaplins.
• [Peevishly sulking] IN A PET. Learned this phrase entirely from crosswords. Yet to encounter it in the wild.
• [Worked] HAD A JOB. Laughably not an in-the-language phrase, in my opinion.
• [“Oil my arms, please, oil my elbows” speaker] TIN MAN. Took me far too long. The Tin Man is awfully needy.
• [Like rawhide bones] CHEWED. This one threw me. Rawhide bones are only chewed once they’ve been… chewed. I suppose the clue is meant to be read as “Like rawhide bones are intended to be enjoyed”
• [Brand once marketed as “the great national temperance beverage”] COCA-COLA. Fun bit of trivia.
• [Drive in Beverly Hills] RODEO. Nice touch making the clued definition distinct from RODEOS.

Despite the difficulty and the hefty dose of crossword vocabulary, this is pretty close to what I want from a tough puzzle. I didn’t enjoy every minute of solving it, but I definitely appreciated it when I was done.

4.5 stars from me.