Note: No WSJ puzzle due to the holiday. Also, the AV Club puzzle is a contest; we’ll post a write-up after the submission period closes.
Jacob McDermott’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 12/25/24 – no. 1225
This festive holiday puzzle features a symmetrical Christmas tree where the ornaments adorning it are made by doing connect-the-dots with all of the puzzle’s O’s. I like that the grid doesn’t have right/left mirror symmetry despite the tree’s cleanness. Entries that fill out the theme are “O CHRISTMAS TREE,
the LIGHTS and GARLAND and TINSEL on it, and a PRESENT to put beneath it.
Not persuaded by 14a. [Chump], SUCKA. With the answer’s spelling, I’d prefer a clue using Keenen Ivory Wayans’ 1988 movie title, I’m Gonna Git You ___. [Chump] has zero hint that the answer’s a more informal SUCKA rather than sucker.
3.75 stars from me. Happy all the Holidays to you!
Amanda Rafkin’s USA Today Crossword, “Twice the Fun (Freestyle)” — Emily’s write-up
Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
USA Today, December 25, 2024, “Twice the Fun (Freestyle)” by Amanda Rafkin
Favorite fill: CAFEAULAIT, RUGRATS, NOTATED, and IAMSOTHERES
Stumpers: ISITME (needed crossings), EMANANT (also needed crossings), and TUT (“hmm” came to mind first)
Though there’s no proper theme today, this puzzle is brimming with holiday cheer! It has a CHRISTMASTREE crossed with FROM (clued for a gift tag) and HANUKKAHGELT crossed with LIGHTBULBS (also clued for Hanukkah). Even with being a freestyle, the title to me hints at the two holidays included as lengthy fill. Overall a smooth solve, though some cluing took me a bit longer, and I enjoyed the grid design. What a wonderful treat to start of today!
Happy holidays!
4.25 stars
~Emily
Sam Acker’s Universal crossword, “Special Delivery” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 12/25/24 • Wed • “Special Delivery” • Acker • solution • 20241225
- 61aR [Announcement that explains the surprise arrival to every starred clue’s answer] IT’S A BOY. To wit, SON has been inserted into each of those entries.
- 20a. [*Nativity scene figure] MASONRY (Mary).
- 31a. [*They’re far from harbors] OPEN SEASONS (open seas). Season’s greetings.
- 39a. [*2018 film featuring a prehistoric shark] THEME SONG (The Meg). No extra tie-in here.
- 50a. [*Like a boring party] LIFE LESSONS (lifeless). Nothing here either. Guess it was just a fluke.
52d [New bro’s big sib, perhaps] SIS. unrelated to the theme, as far as we know. But also: 12d [A parent] MOM, 32d [Gift] PRESENT, 41d [Like the most grimy chimney] SOOTIEST, 49d [Pope’s jurisdiction] HOLY SEE (I guess?).
- 1d [Graffiti artist’s face covering] GAS MASK. Perhaps?
- 6d [Basketball players that travel?] AWAY TEAM. 22a [Break the rules] CHEAT.
- 10d [Concept] IDEA. Or, more extractedly, a concept of an idea.
- 23d [Where to do the do-si-do] HOEDOWN.
- 9a [Blackjack declaration] HIT ME. 56a [Poker declaration] I CALL.
- 42a [Japanese dogs] AKITAS. aka the only Japanese breed that crosswords seem to know about.
Timely, anodyne crossword. Off now to see what else today has to offer.
The New Yorker ‘Holiday Crossword: 2024 in music’ by Elizabeth C. Gorski – Kyle’s write-up
Merry Christmas to those celebrating today. I am in the midday lull between opening presents and Christmas dinner.
The New Yorker solution grid – Elizabeth C. Gorski – Wednesday 12/25/2024
I thought this puzzle was going to pose a much stiffer challenge based on the theme, but it actually went down fairly easy for me. I’ll just run through the thematic entries here:
- [Canadian singing star who performed from the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Olympics (July, 2024)] CELINE DION
- [Tenor Bocelli who released the album “Duets” to celebrate thirty years of his musical career (October, 2024)] ANDREA. I knew this one right away
- [Cage the Elephant studio album that was the band’s first in five years (May, 2024)] NEON PILL
- [“The Tortured ___ Department” (record-breaking Taylor Swift album released in April, 2024)] POETS. Another gimme
- [Singer Chappell who was deemed a “pop supernova” in a Rolling Stone cover article (September, 2024)] ROAN. That’s Chappell Roan. Get familiar with the name, it’s sure to appear in many crosswords for a time to come.
- [Chart-topping Ariana Grande album whose title was inspired by a 2004 film (March, 2024)] ETERNAL SUNSHINE. I knew the movie, not the album. One of several helpful hints that got me through what could have been an entry I had no hope of knowing.
- [Sabrina Carpenter single that was crowned Billboard’s global No. 1 song of the summer (September, 2024)] ESPRESSO
- [Megan ___ Stallion (rapper whose self-titled third album was released in June, 2024)] THEE
- [Longtime music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra who died in February, 2024] SEIJI OZAWA
- [Band whose “Bye Bye Bye” was featured in “Deadpool & Wolverine” and subsequently reentered the Billboard Hot 100, nearly a quarter century after its release (July and August, 2024)] N’SYNC
- [“American ___” (competition show won by Abi Carter in May, 2024)] IDOL
- [“Butterfly” singer Batiste who kicked off his Uneasy Tour in February, 2024] JON
There’s also some theme-adjacent material in ERIK Satie, NINA Simone, and IRA Gershwin (though none are clued with respect to 2024).
NYT: Fun Xmas puzzle, and a nice tree drawn on the NYT app. I wonder if it plays as well in print, or on other apps. I do like that the only O’s make the ornaments for the tree. SUCKA was one of the last to fall for me. And I originally wanted to write in O Tannenbaum for the carol, but when it didn’t fit, my brain didn’t replace it with O CHRISTMAS TREE… still a pretty smooth Wednesday puzzle. Have good holidays everyone, and enjoy the first night of Hanukkah too!
I can’t swear whether I got the NYT. My connecting the dots, the pattern growing wider, isn’t nearly as convincing a Christmas tree as Amy’s with it’s ducking narrower and then back out a few times. (Colors, too.)
I’m reasonably impressed by that layer (connect the dots) on top of the four decorations plus full-length central “hint.” So it seems only right to cut the constructor a break here and there. (The preponderance of negative ratings suggests that not everyone agrees.) But yes, I agree that SUCKA was demanding. I needed to work out how to spell the otherwise easy national park (but crossing MARA) and somewhat harder violinist correctly, and I don’t think of GARLAND myself in this connection.
FWIW, I’m not sure cabbies do say GET IN, since why else do you think they pulled over? But then I’m not in the taxi-riding class, so what do I know?
NYT: Cute, clever uplifting crossword for Christmas morning. Challenging construction with the only Os being the ones that form the “dots” to connect to make the tree. Thanks!
Oh, I didn’t notice that. The O’s become the lights on the tree. Very nicely done!
Late post about yesterday’s puzzle.
There were many intentional Christmas references in the clues, which added to the holiday cheer. Unfortunately, the clue at 25D (“Something carbon monoxide lacks”) also evoked a visceral reaction as we see a lot of patients with various degrees of CO poisoning at this time of year.
I hope this clue was a deliberate attempt at being a PSA. If not, I want to urge everyone to check/service your fireplace exhaust pipes for proper ventilation. A couple hundred dollars may feel like a lot, but it may just save your and your family’s lives.
Safe and happy holidays to everyone!
NYT: I’ve often heard the phrase, someone’s “go-to [noun]”.
But as for the 29 Down partial TOS for the clue “Go-__”, I was quite unenthused.
(I’d much rather see a clue referring to an abbreviation of “terms of service”, or almost anything else.)
I am not even familiar with the use of “go-to” as a noun rather than as an adjective.
None of the online dictionaries, including slang, that I found online had it as a noun, and neither does Random House Unabridged. But MW does, so I’d let it pass. Besides, I’d have found it for terms of service rather obscure.