Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Zero Stars!” — that’s my rating. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 1/21/25

Hello lovelies! This week Matt’s grid has a really bad review! The first word of each theme every is a negative descriptor:

• 20a. [Words chosen to be ignored, maybe] UNWANTED ADVICE
• 38a. [Like those who don’t get called back] WRONG FOR THE PART
• 55a. [“Thanks for being thoughtful”] AWFUL KIND OF YOU

Other things:

• 4d. [Bozo, e.g.] CLOWN
• 45d. [More than a misdemeanor] FELONY
• 47d. [Puncture from a thorn] PRICK
• 65a. [Totally insane, like some choices or options] NUTS

Until next week!

Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Foiled Again!”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar(ish) words and phrases that all feature the letters TIN which appear to move across the grid as the solver moves downward.

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Foiled Again!” · Mike Shenk · Tue., 1.21.25

• 17a. [Renaissance painter nicknamed “il Furioso”] TINTORETTO.
• 28a. [Last bit of filming for the day, in Hollywood lingo] MARTINI SHOT.
• 37a. [Audited] SAT IN ON.
• 46a. [The Dow, for one] MARKET INDEX.
• 61a. [1999 film about air traffic controllers, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme] PUSHING TIN.

A very good example of this type of theme. The revealer makes a solid basis, and each entry is positioned perfectly so the letters in question “flow” smoothly and evenly across the grid. My one hang-up was not recalling the phrase MARTINI SHOT. I may have heard it before but probably just forgot it. Note that it shares nine out of 11 letters with “parting shot.” I love the title as well, which evokes a certain Weird Al parody.

Fill highlights: The lovely GARDENIA which may be my most favorite flower scent of all, FOSSILIZED, and RETROSPECT.

3.5 stars.

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 712), “Time Marches On! “—Ade’s take

Crossword Nation puzzle solution, Week 712: “Time Marches On!”

Hello there, everyone! Hope all is well with you and that you’re all staying warm! 

So the final two theme entries are making me jealous, because those are things that I hope to be on right now! But solving a puzzle where each of the themes start with a number and followed by a period of time — with all of them in numerical order, no less — is definitely not a bad consolation prize!

• • • • ONE-MINUTE SPEECH (16A: [Short address before Congress])
      • TWO-HOUR LUNCHES (27A: [Lengthy midday repasts])
      • THREE-DAY CRUISE (42A: [Mini-vacation at seas])
      • FOUR-WEEK HOLIDAY (57A: [Summer break that’s about a month long])

How can we already turn a real good puzzle with a well-executed theme even better? We all my alma mater, SYRACUSE, in the grid (36D: [University whose mascot is Otto the Orange])! Honestly, mascots don’t get better than an anthropomorphic orange! And if you say they do, you’re just wrong! Seeing MOB HITS reminds me of the Time Life infomercials that I saw years ago selling a music collection of Mob Hits, and the ones that always stood out were “Mambo Italiano” and “Lazy Mary,” the latter which is played after “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at New York Mets games (19A: [Terrible jobs featured in “The Sopranos”]). What’s your favorite mob hit song?

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: HERB (25D: [Basil or thyme]) – Former NBA center Herb Williams played 18 seasons in the league, from 1981 to 1999, playing for four different teams. Before his pro career, Herb was a standout performer at Ohio State, making the First Team All-Big Ten team as a junior. Williams was drafted in the first round of the 1981 draft by the Indiana Pacers.

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

Dan Caprera’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 1/21/25 – no. 0121

The theme is SCAVENGER HUNT and the four themers have circled letters that spell out various scavenger animals. CORNER DRUGSTORE has a CONDOR, and not sure I knew they were scavengers like vultures are. Puerto Rican singer LUIS FONSI of “Despacito” fame has a LION; now, lions famously hunt live prey, but Wikipedia confirms they eat plenty of carrion. CARD TABLE has a CRAB, and “crab = scavenger” doesn’t reside in my brain; Wiki says “Crabs are omnivores, feeding primarily on algae, and taking any other food, including molluscs, worms, other crustaceans, fungi, bacteria, and detritus, depending on their availability and the crab species.” “OH, YOU HAVE NO IDEA” contains a famously scavenging beast, HYENA. I like the full-length theme entries, but their animal connections feel sometimes tenuous.

Fave fill: SLOUCH, ANYHOO, VISHNU.

Three stars from me.

Janice Luttrell’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

Very quickly because I am so behind:

Revealer at 64a [Social groups that work on embroidery projects, or what can be found three times in this puzzle?] are SEWING CIRCLES. And here they are:

Los Angeles Times, January 21, 2025, Janice Luttrell, solution grid

• 20a [Studio co-founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and others] is UNITED ARTISTS.
• 24a [Like Vera Wang and I.M. Pei] is CHINESE AMERICAN.
• 43a [Completely unplanned] is SPUR OF THE MOMENT.

Zachary Schiff’s Universal Crossword, “Self-Transformation” (ed. David Steinberg) — Matt F’s Review

Universal Solution 01.21.2025

It’s Transformation Tuesday! In today’s puzzle, phrases that usually contain an “I” are switched with other vowels, and the revealer is a spot-on explainer of the gimmick:

• 53A: [“No cuts!” … or a theme hint] = I WAS HERE FIRST

The switch in the theme answers progresses alphabetically from A-E-O-U:

• 19A: [Certain artistic swimming contest?] = LAP SYNC BATTLE
• 27A: [Good name for a juice bar?] = BLEND SPOT
• 37A: [Head chef?]  = POT BOSS
• 46A: [Rodeo fixtures?] = BULL GATES

A theme like this works best when the new invented phrase sounds better than the base phrase. While solving, I kept thinking the opposite – I liked the base phrases better than the new ones. I think it would have helped if the theme clues were funnier somehow. A higher “silliness factor” might have enhanced my enjoyment. I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t wow me. The alphabetical progression was a nice touch to create some constraints for the theme. I liked the bonus phrases – QUIET PLACE, ANTI-FUR, and IT’S ALRIGHT (although I think “all right” is the preferred spelling these days). I also liked the playfulness in the 59D clue – [Make like a TREE and leave]. Solid construction, clean fill, good puzzle all-around.

Aimee Lucido’s New Yorker crossword — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 1/21/25 • Tue • Lucido • solution • 20250121

Pretty fluid solve today.

• 1a [Richie’s mom, to the Fonz] MRS C. Maybe dated? Was a gimme for me, embarrassingly.
• 5a [Guardians’ clubs?] BATS. The MLB team from Cleveland.
• 17a [Pasta shapes that look like a type of heater] RADIATORI. I filled in RADIATORe. Similarly, I had an incorrect E symmetrically at 59a [Beau]: eNAMORATO instead of INAMORATO.
• 18a [Pizza-slice discard, for some] CRUST. Heresy! I will only assume it’s because the pizza is somehow inferior.
  
• 20a [Sources of extra sleeping capacity] ROLLAWAYS. 22a [Source of sleeping capacity] SOFABED.
• 28a [Hard work] TRAVAIL. etymology: “Middle English, from Anglo-French, from travailler to torment, labor, journey, from Vulgar Latin trepaliare to torture, from Late Latin trepalium instrument of torture, from Latin tripalis having three stakes, from tri- + palus stake — more at POLE” (m-w). Ominous.
  Intersected by 29d [St. crosser] AVE.
  
• 46a [Supporters of the arts?] EASELS. A classic clue.
• 52a [Slushy forecast] WINTRY MIX, which always sounds to me like it should be a seasonal offering from the Chex Mix people.
• 2d [Finish someone else’s sentences?] READ. Okay, I get it but I don’t really like it.
• 10d [Broadcasting unit?] AIRWAVE. Hmm …
• 12d [Ring that indicates someone’s already engaged?] BUSY SIGNAL. Superb clue!
• 21d [Romance spanning multiple time zones, say: Abbr.] LDR, long-distance relationship.
• 26d [Low-effort upload on a musician’s YouTube channel] LYRIC VIDEO, which is essentially just what it sounds like.
• 55d [First of four words in a Samin Nosrat cookbook title] SALT. The others are fat, acid, heat.
• 57d [Some sidewalk greetings] NODS. Laconically evocative.