Zachary David Levy’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Theme: TRIPLE WORD SCORE – songs where the title is the same word repeated three times.
New York Times, 08 26 2024, by Zachary David Levy
- 16a [Abba hit of 1979] – GIMME GIMME GIMME
- 21a [‘N Sync hit of 2000] – BYE BYE BYE
- 34a [Mötley Crüe hit of 1987] – GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
- 51a [Beach Boys hit of 1964] – FUN FUN FUN
- 58a [Coveted Scrabble space … or the sheet music for 16-, 21-, 34- or 51-Across?] – TRIPLE WORD SCORE
Great puzzle today from fellow Fiend blogger ZDL! I love how the revealer pulls all of the songs together on a deeper, more interesting level than just “all of these songs have the same title structure”. At first I wanted “money money money” for the ABBA song, but the internet tells me that’s from 1976. It can be tricky to base an “easy” puzzle around proper answers like song titles, but given the repetition of words, even someone unfamiliar with the songs should still be able to get a lot of letters.
Other puzzle highlights include I HATE IT, ZUMBA, TAMPON, and MITTENS. Fun fact, this is a pangram, meaning that all letters of the alphabet are included in the grid at least once. Most of the unusual letters are worked in seamlessly, although I don’t love A LEAK in the top left corner. But overall the grid is strong, especially given the presence of five theme answers, three of which are grid spanning.
Off to catch my flight home from vacation, happy Monday all!
Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Sleep on It”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases whose starting letters spell out a type of bed. The revealer is BEDHEAD (34a, [Mussed hair upon waking, and a hint to the circled starts of answers]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Sleep on It” · Mike Shenk · Mon., 8.26.24
- 16a. [Boston site that lent its name to a 1775 battle] BUNKER HILL.
- 25a. [Pegged scoring aid for card players] CRIBBAGE BOARD.
- 41a. [Dairy aisle tubful] COTTAGE CHEESE.
- 56a. [Detective in books by Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair] BERTHA COOL.
The name was new to me, but the crosses made easy work of it. Otherwise, it’s a straightforward but pleasant opening theme for the week.
Solid fill, especially IN LEAGUE, ACUTE ANGLE, and CAPITALIZE, though I’m giving the side-eye to DEEP-FELT. “Heartfelt” seems like the more common term and a better answer to [Sincere].
Clue of note: 25d. [You do it by shifting]. CAPITALIZE. Not sure that I’d call pressing the Shift key “shifting,” but I’ll allow some leeway.
Margi Stevenson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 8/26/24 by Margi Stevenson
The revealer at 65A [Soup legumes, or a phonetic description of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 53-Across], is SPLIT PEAS: By “phonetic” it means that a pair of letter Ps (homophone for PEAS) is SPLIT in each theme entry; that is, each theme entry both starts and ends with a P.
- 17A [Social set with similar ages] is a PEER GROUP.
- 24A [Sticker that may be good forever] is a POSTAGE STAMP.
- 39A [Cosmetic tattoos] is PERMANENT MAKEUP.
- 53A [Recreational getaway] is a PLEASURE TRIP.
The short revealer allows for four theme entries, which is nice, and I like that the clues for them don’t feel belabored. The grid is chock-full of short entries (a whopping 63 of the puzzle’s 78 entries are between 3 and 5 letters in length), leading to a pretty quick solve.
Evan Kalish’s Universal crossword, “Can I Get a Lift?” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 8/26/24 • Mon • “Can I Get a Lift?” • Kalish • solution • 20240826
- 34dR [Footwear suggested by the starts of 3-, 7-, 10- and 29-Down] HIGH HEELS.
- 3d. [Alien family with tall profiles] CONEHEADS.
- 7d. [Pressed foods with ham, cheese, pickles and mustard] CUBAN SANDWICHES.
- 10d. [Divisive political topic] WEDGE ISSUE.
- 29d. [Cryptocurrency ledger] BLOCKCHAIN.
I believe cone heels are the least common style of the four listed here.
Smooth, flowing grid. Easy early-week solve.
Will Nediger’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 8/26/24 – Nediger
A bit easier than the typical Monday New Yorker themeless, I thought.
New to me: 24d. [Abstract painter known for her use of grid patterns], AGNES MARTIN. You can see some of her work here.
Fave fill: “KNOCK KNOCK‘ (misleading clue is fun: [Rap duo]), CANNED SOUP, “I KNOW A SHORTCUT” (which isn’t exactly an idiomatic phrase but it works for me), LATIN POP, SNAKE PIT, SECRET CRUSH. Also appreciated the duo of [Exemplar of smoothness] things, SATIN and BUTTER.
Also didn’t know [Alter ego of Megan Thee Stallion], TINA SNOW. Her birth name is Megan Pete. Here’s the lowdown on the Tina Snow alter ego and EP.
Not entirely sold on [Top influencer?], IMMEDIATE CAUSE. Poking around the internet, we find legal uses, as in the immediate cause of an accident, and medical, as in the immediate cause of death. The phrase IMMEDIATE CAUSE seems more “in the language” in legal terminology. Just feels like a slightly weird entry to me, probably needlessly.
3.5 stars from me.
I don’t expect to learn something new from a Monday NYT puzzle. The desert was a new one on me, although the encompassing country is well known.
All but one of the songs were unfamiliar, being a “classical” music listener, but the easy theme made them trivial to fill in.
Really fun NYT; great Monday level, fun theme, with a punny revealer too.
Most of the songs were not at all familiar to me, but I enjoyed how it worked out anyway.
In the WSJ, the theme just didn’t seem enough somehow. After all, COT doesn’t carry you far in an answer. I got it easily enough, and this is just a personal esthetic reaction, but still.
NYT: Woo-hoo, new personal best for me by far! I finished this puzzle about 8% faster than I’ve ever done a Times puzzle before! Music is a strong category for me in general. I made a lucky guess with GIMME GIMME GIMME for the first theme answer. BYE BYE BYE came quickly, and then the theme was obvious, and I filled in all the theme answers the first time around and didn’t have any corrections to make anywhere in the puzzle (I find corrections take up a surprisingly large amount of time).
NYT: I claim that RUMBA/RIPBY is just as valid at 14A/D
Ha! I had that “R” too, and right up to the end when I got the error message I was thinking that “rIP BY” is the weakest answer in the puzzle – so not-in-the-language! Oops.
TNY: I liked it! Some unfamiliar names, of course, but also some ingenious clues and reasonable crosses throughout. A good challenge but fair, IMO.
Agree. Unlike many of the recent offerings, this one did not have impossible crosses.
I liked it, too. Some mis-steps along the way slowed things down a bit – vent/void before RANT/RUIN, went on before KEPT ON, and not knowing the translation of Sacra Sindone, I guessed Milano before TORINO.
Until I read Amy’s write-up, the clue for KNOCK KNOCK went right over my head – just figured it was one more Rap music act I hadn’t heard of.
I stuck with vent/void much longer than I should have. It even caused me to take out 25D ARKS, which I was 99% certain of.
I lucked out with TORINO — my late aunt was born near there, and it was the first six-letter Italian city I thought of. I don’t think I had ever heard the Italian name for the Shroud of Turin.
TNY: defn: Math Nerd: Anyone who thinks that 35D is a gimme. (I plead guilty). Very enjoyable Monday puzzle. At least for me, just the right level of difficulty. But I did not know Agnes Martin, the abstract painter
BEQ: It took me longer than any other BEQ puzzle I remember doing. There was plenty that I didn’t know, such as whether 49A’s Rosario was a person or a place; “THE METRO” (which doesn’t sound at all familiar); JEN Atkin; CAT LUIGI; Gertrude ATHERTON. I saw “THE JERK” a million years ago and didn’t remember the dog’s name.
The rest of it was just too many possibilities, given the clue. Was 35D go by CAB? Use a CAB? HOP A CAB is definitely the best possible answer, but I’ve never lived anywhere where hailing a cab was really common.