Chase Dittrich’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “The Sweet Spot”—Jim’s review
Circled squares in up-and-down formations spell out terms of endearment synonymous with “baby”. The revealer is BABY BUMP (63a, [Expectant sign, and what each group of circles represents]). The terms in question are SUGAR, DEAR, LOVE, and HONEY.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “The Sweet Spot” · Chase Dittrich · Wed., 9.25.24
At first I thought these were words that would precede “baby” since SUGAR is the first one on the list. But the rest didn’t quite flow, hence the reinterpretation. However, I didn’t avail myself of the theme during the solve. It’s there if you need it, but I enjoyed the solve without it.
I liked a lot of the longer fill today: DOOMSDAY, GOOD FATS, SET SAIL, BEER NUTS, CLAIROL, SLY DOG, “PROVE IT!”, POD RACE, YODELER, and IGUANA. There were a few eyebrow-raisers though: EENSIE (how many different ways can we spell this?), ENUF, and FRYE [Boot company since 1863]. I needed every crossing for this last one.
Clues of note:
- Top clues: 52a [Peak performer?] for YODELER and 1d [Caesar wrap?] for TOGA.
- 67a. [Name of MIT’s beaver mascot, for obvious reasons]. TIM. Or is it T.I.M.?
3.25 stars.
Peter Gordon’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 9/25/24 – no. 0925
The answers in the shaded squares around the grid’s edges are made from the musical notes DO, RE, MI, FA, SO(silent L), LA, TI, DO. Three revealers point to that: 30a. [Life-size … or a hint to this puzzle’s theme] clues FULL-SCALE, 36a. [Phone numbers? … or a hint to this puzzle’s theme] clues RING TONES, and 45a. [Marginalia … or a hint to this puzzle’s theme] are SIDE NOTES. The SCALE, TONES, and NOTES all pertain to musical notes.
A bit surprised to find retro 9a. [Scottie in the White House in the 1940s], FALA in the puzzle, though it fits the theme with FA+LA, and also 22a. [Icelandic poet Sturluson], SNORRI. I learned both from crosswords, the latter from EDDA clues.
Plain entries that happen to be made from those two-letter note names … not all that appealing to me. Three stars from me.
Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Moving to the Music”–Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, “Moving to the Music” – 9/25/24
The theme revealer is 43a. [Start of a David Bowie chorus … or what four answers in this puzzle have undergone], CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES. Each themer has a relocated CH that changes the phrase’s meaning.
- 22a. [Podcast where Tilda Swinton and Anthony Head (as his “Buffy” character) discuss the occult?], SCOT AND WATCHER. Scotch and water.
- 32a. [“Eww, your quest to bake the densest fruit cobbler has gone too far”?], ICK, PEACH FLOUR!, chickpea flour.
- 59a. [Pro wrestling dudes, essentially?], MAT SCHTICK MEN, matchstick men. This one’s great!
- 68a. [“I thought chef Cora already took care of the roof”?], DIDN’T CAT THATCH?, “didn’t catch that.”
Fave bits in this 17×17 puzzle: [Have a visibly bulging forehead vein, say], SEETHE. [Person who distinguishes crosswords from criss-cross puzzles, e.g.], PEDANT (guilty as charged!). Pokemon PSYDUCK, GLOW-UP.
Four stars from me.
NYT: I’ll apologize in advance, if there’s something really clever in the arrangement of the scale notes around the perimeter of the grid (e.g., they represent some familiar tune) that my limited musical knowledge prevents me from seeing/hearing.
Otherwise, it seems like we just have a random arrangement of two-letter renderings of notes on the scale. And with this, we get an Icelandic poet, Haitian currency and a county in Nebraska. Or was that a Nebraskan poet, Icelandic currency and a county in Haiti?
Ugh!
Actually, county in Nevada (knew it), Icelandic poet (knew him) and Haitian currency (googled it, and thought it pretty obscure since nobody outside Haiti uses it). Anyway, I thought the puzzle was OK but didn’t get enthusiastic about the theme. The NYT Wordplay discussion is deeply offended that the fifth note is actually “sol”, not “so”.