Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Dozens and Dozens” — these go to one more than eleven. – Erin’s write-up
Jonesin’ solution 8/27/24
Hello lovelies! This week we’re playing the dozens, where the first part of each theme every can follow the number 12 to make a new phrase.
- 17a. [One of Cinderella’s siblings] STEPSISTER. Add 12 to the first part of STEPSISTER to get a 12-Step program such as Alcoholics Anonymous. I’m not positive this one works as stepsister is generally one word, occasionally hyphenated, but not really seen as two separate words.
- 29a. [Phrase used for winners of vacations on game shows] PACK YOUR BAGS (12-pack)
- 48a. [Particle physics concept] STRING THEORY (12-string, as in guitar)
- 64a. [Subject of a story where wishes come with great consequences] MONKEY’S PAW (1995 film 12 Monkeys)
Other things:
- 27d. [___ Crag (“mountain” at the end of “Nickelodeon Guts”)] AGGRO. Oh, how I wanted to win a glowing piece of that radical rock as a child…
- 56a. [Sci-fi transport that’s “dimensionally transcendental”] TARDIS. The bigger-on-the-inside blue English police box starship’s name stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.
Until next week!
Adam Vincent’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Hold Your Applause”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that involve some sort of display of “hands” in one way or another. The revealer is SHOW OF HANDS (58a, [Informal voting method, and an element of each of the starred answers]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Hold Your Applause” · Adam Vincent · Tue., 8.27.24
- 17a. [*Collective bargaining tactic] LABOR STRIKE.
- 24a. [*Figure made of darkness] SHADOW PUPPET.
- 38a. [*Analog timekeeper] MECHANICAL CLOCK.
- 47a. [*Game dating back to the Civil War] FIVE CARD STUD.
My first thought after finishing the grid was that each answer was just a play on the word “hand”. But there’s more to it than that. A LABOR STRIKE might be a display of strength (i.e. a show) by factory hands, for example. A SHADOW PUPPET is certainly part of a “show” of literal hands. A MECHANICAL CLOCK displays hands (though “analog clock” is the more common term and satisfies the theme just as well). And in a game of FIVE CARD STUD, a player shows their hand at the conclusion of a round. Really nice, double-layered theme!
Despite the theme-filled grid, we still have nice long entries NORTH SEA, SIGHT-SEE, and especially CAPUCHIN monkeys. OHTANI is a tough start to a grid, but the crossings were fair enough, assuming solvers are familiar with slangy ARO [Like one in a queerplatonic relationship, for short] being short for aromantic. Most regular solvers will have seen that abbreviation by now, though. E-MEET, on the other hand, deserves the side-eye.
Four stars for the layered theme.
Julia Hoepner’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 8/27/24 – no. 0827
The theme here is a BAD BREAKUP, 68a. [Messy end to a relationship, with a hint to this puzzle’s shaded squares]. The shaded squares are synonyms for “bad,” broken up by blocks: ROTTEN, ICKY, MALIGNANT, HATED, and NASTY. Eww!
Fave fill: ESCAPE ROOM, AGNOSTIC, EDNA MODE, CHIME IN, editorial STYLE GUIDE, MAHI-MAHI, and (don’t say “eww”!) GUT FLORA.
The thematic content occupies five rows plus the 10-letter revealer. A tad crowded! One aspect that made the puzzle a quicker solve than usual for me is the inclusion of more proper nouns than usual (MANDELBROT, KYOTO, TED, EDNA MODE, ANWAR, the ‘RONA, THAI, EPSOM, HOTH, INCA, ETNA, THISBE, GOODE, AMTRAK, ARYA, and GENE), with entries like GAGA, EARL, and UBER clued in non-name ways. Those who don’t like to be “quizzed” on names may have met frustration within.
Two more things:
- 36a. [Cornmeal cake in Colombian cuisine], AREPA. Yum! They’re also Venezuelan. I think Chicago has a lot more Venezuelans than Colombians, even before the migrant surge of the past couple years. Certainly there are plenty of Venezuelan restaurants!
- 35d. [Musical staff letters], EGBDF. I forgot what these might be and worked the crossings until the mnemonic “every good boy deserves fudge” emerged.
3.5 stars from me.
Grant Boroughs’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up
Good morning! All three theme answers and the revealer are 15-letter entries, which makes for a fun grid and also a fast solve if you get them easily.
Los Angeles Times, August 27, 2025, Grant Boroughs, solution grid
- 17a [Like the motors in most small appliances] is ELECTROMAGNETIC.
- 26a [Playing surface that is 44 feet by 20 feet] is a PICKLEBALL COURT.
- 48a [Misleading image] is an OPTICAL ILLUSION.
And the revealer: 63a [Euphemism for rude expressions, and what can be found at the starts of 17-, 26-, and 48-Across] is A FEW CHOICE WORDS. ELECT, PICK, OPT. Indeed. That’s a lot of theme material and the fill is impressively smooth nonetheless.
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: never heard of a DUGONG.
Wyna Liu’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up
New Yorker • 8/27/24 • Tue • Liu • solution • 20240827
This one hit me as significantly easier than most New Yorker Tuesdays. Breezed through it and there was only one entry that I absolutely didn’t know: 42d [Strait between the British mainland and the Isle of Wight, with “the”] SOLENT.
Those that habitually decry the New Yorker crossword’s reliance on proper names and celebrities should find little to perturb them here.
- 1a [Symbol between “I” and “NY”] HEART. Was momentarily mystified by the clue, wondering if it had something to do with chemical elements or politics, but a couple of crossings revealed that it’s Milton Glaser’s iconic logo.
- 6a [Word with whirl or car] POOL. Slightly tricky because we aren’t informed that these form compound words rather than paired words in a phrase.
- 10a [What one might do after saying “I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but …”] BRAG.
- 17a [Beaucoup] LOTSA. Fun little pairing.
- 22a [Ruminations such as “Whenever you clean something, you make something else dirty” and “If Cinderella’s slipper actually fit perfectly, it wouldn’t have fallen off”] SHOWER THOUGHTS. There should be a single word (or more interesting phrase) that incorporates this notion, but the closest I can think of are Archimedes’ original bathtime eureka and the French esprit d’escalier, neither of which are perfectly apt.
- 26a [“Come again?”] I’M SORRY, WHAT?
- 43a [Old-fashioned letter opener?] DEAR SIR OR MADAM. As in, “Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book / It took me years to write, will you take a look”.
- 6d [“Blue Ribbon” beers] PABSTS. One of a number of entries that struck me as saliently—maybe atypically?—pluralized. Others include 28a STERNS and 39a STEEDS.
- 20d [They’re uncovered in a tank] ARMS. Tank top, apparel.
- 36d [“Ta-da!”] IT’S MAGIC.
- 46d [Word you might say over the phone to be connected with a real person] AGENT. I always use “representative”.
Paul Leistra’s Universal Crossword, “Take That, Boss!” — Matt F’s Review
Universal Solution 08.27.2024
Time to stick it to the man! This puzzle twists common phrases into retaliatory actions from the perspective of disgruntled employees.
- 16A – [What the disgruntled cruise musician decided to do?] = ROCK THE BOAT
- 24A – [What the disgruntled sous chef decided to do?] = STIR THE POT
- 38A – [What the disgruntled bait shop employee decided to do?] = OPEN A CAN OF WORMS
- 47A – [What the disgruntled jester decided to do?] = FOOL AROUND
- 58A – [What the disgruntled Hasbro employee decided to do?] = MAKE TROUBLE
The punchlines land with good effect in today’s theme. Nothing too groanworthy, and nothing too flat. Fill is nice and clean. Loved the clue at 45D – [Person with a growing career?] for FARMER.
Thank you to Paul for constructing this puzzle and to David Steinberg for the editorial touch. See you next week!
Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 692), “Let’s Take a Coffee Break!”—Ade’s take
Crossword Nation puzzle solution, Week 692: “Let’s Take a Coffee Break”
Hello there, everyone! Hope all of you are doing well today and that the dying embers of summer are producing some good times for you.
Totally fitting puzzle for me today as I’ll be burning the midnight oil for the next two weeks doing the whole journalism thing at the US Open tennis tournament. Though I don’t drink coffee, I’ll definitely be taking some strategic breaks, and many will take coffee breaks, seen in the grid in the circled letters as, when those circles that appear on the same rows are combined, form the name of types of joes.
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- RECAP (13A: [Summarize]) + PUCCI (14A: [Italian designer Emilio]) + NOI (15A: [“There’s ___ in team!”]) = CAPPUCCINO
- IMAC (22A: [Apple in a home office]) + CHI (25A: [Greek letter]) + ATONED (27A: [Was penitent]) = MACCHIATO
- O’NEAL (36A: [NBA great Shaquille]) + ATT (37A: [J.D. holder]) + ECOLE (38A: [School in Dijon]) = LATTE
- BECAME (51A: [Turned into]) + RIC (53A: [Rock’s Ocasek]) + ANON (54A: [Soon, poetically]) = AMERICANO
- EES (65A: [Certain MIT grads]) + PRESS (66A: [Garlic-crushing gadget]) + OTOES (67A: [Platte river tribe]) = ESPRESSO
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With grids such as these, it does have a feel of solving a themeless, though it wasn’t too hard to fill out the rest of the circles on a row once filling in one of the sets. STEAM IRON (59A: [Wrinkle remover]) and OLD ROME (21A: [Historic area of the “Eternal City”]) was a highlight for me as well as the fact that I learned about ICELAND (8D: [Country with Holocene volcanoes]). It’s crazy now that so many people I know have been able to go to Iceland over the years, as I know a couple of airlines offer good deals on either flying there or, at the very least, laying over while in the country. That needs to occur with me, and soon!
“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: SHAMS (1A: [Pillow covers]) – How can we turn this entry into a sports-related topic? Well, if you’re an NBA junkie, then you’ll know Shams Charania, an NBA reporter and insider for Stadium Sports, Fan Duel and The Athletic. If you hear breaking news about big NBA trades and signings, there’s a good chance that he’ll be the person who first got the scoop. Shams, now 30, started writing about the Chicago Bulls for a subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune when he was 17, and eventually landed a job at Yahoo Sports, where his profile grew to where it is today.
Thank you so much for the time, everybody! Have a wonderful and safe rest of your day and, as always, keep solving!
Take care!
Ade/AOK
NYT: I liked the theme a lot, and with the crossings didn’t have much trouble with names or less-known terms, except for one, which almost by chance I was able to fill in without error. That was the crossing of the corn cake and the Game of Thrones character. The food might be well known and just a gap in my knowledge, OK, but I don’t like being required to know G of T. Luckily, I think I saw that character in a crossword once before.
I think AREPA has appeared more and more frequently in recent weeks in one or more of the puzzles. Was new to me a month ago. Almost a gimme now. Worth remembering.
NYT – I always print out the puzzle, and so I don’t run into the many tech glitches people who use one of the apps report. Well, today I found I wasn’t immune. No “shaded squares” appeared on my copy. It turned out it didn’t slow me down or prevent me from finishing, but I didn’t get to see what the “bad breakups” were until I came here.
Both of the regular Times print versions had the shading, so it must be the app. For the print versions, the Times had both the newspaper version with the shading and with the normal black squares, and an inksaver version with two shades of gray, one for the shaded squares and a darker gray for the “black” squares.
Thanks, Lois, for your response. I go to the NYTimes’ site each day and print the copy from there. I probably didn’t take note of what the puzzle looked like today, I just hit “Print.” But after reading your message, I went back to the Times’ site and saw that the appropriate squares were shaded. So I guess the problem must have been with my printer. Weird.
I think that it’s best to download the pdf and to print from that rather than printing directly.
I can pretty much never see shaded squares in prints. It’s just what my printer delivers given the degree of darkness they choose, nothing to do with the app. I often have to shade manually some parts of a WSJ Saturday variety puzzle, where it makes a difference to solving, and comments there say that others have a similar experience. Here I just didn’t worry much about the theme.
My suggestion is to download the pdf of the file that makes you draw in the lines and print from that, rather than printing directly. I’m no expert, so maybe it’s a matter of settings.
Of course I print from pdf. In all the cases of which we speak, including Saturdays. I did also check to see if the printer driver interface has settings allowing one to darken them further. It doesn’t.
TNY: Enjoyed the puzzle, though the cluing seemed to be very straightforward for a Tuesday. Apparently, some people have more creative SHOWER THOUGHTS than I do – mine are usually about what’s on my to-do list for the day.
I found it on the easy side, too, but interesting, with a tough-looking grid (long-ish answers interrupting the flow) and some good fill. I didn’t know the Brit geography or SHOWER THOUGHTS apart from the shower. (Why can’t my gym keep enough soap?) Indeed, in what may or may not have occurred, Archimedes is alto thinking about the bath (water displaced as a measure of volume and so density). I also had to think a moment to parse I’M SORRY WHAT (oh, a comma).
NYT: Cute puzzle today. In a reversal of the usual pattern, I got the revealer from the themers, rather than the other way around, as I was able to fill in the grid in one pass. I normally detest puzzles loaded with proper nouns, but today, like Amy, I knew them all (even the GoT reference, which I know only from crosswords), so this went very fast. But I enjoyed it in spite of the lack of resistance.
@pannonica: (TNY) Thanks for reminding me of the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer!” When I was working in tech years ago, my friend and I came up with a parody that captured some of the work we did: “Sir or madam, will you read my spec / It took me weeks to write it, it’s a piece of dreck….”
NYT: I learned the mnemonic as Every Good Boy Does Fine. Interesting. Like fudge better!
I use the Moody Blues’ album “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour”
NYT Anyone surprised else surprised to see MANDELBROT in a Tuesday?
Yep. I misread the tense on one of the crossing clues and thought MANkELBROT looked fine, until I had to go looking for my mistake. It ended up being one of my slowest NYT Tuesdays ever.
TNY: 17a, so – (in the “now for a tangent” category) – my spidey senses just had to look it up, and both boocoo and bookoo are (I guess?) “Scrabble legal”… and can each somehow(?) be made plural via an s. (Again – not official M-W here…) https://scrabble.merriam.com/finder/bookoo
LOTSA fun/absurdity