Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Legal Separation”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that end or begin with the trigram LAW. This word is separated from the main entry by a black square, as hinted at by the title.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Legal Separation” · Mike Shenk · Thu., 2.6.25
- 17a [Fight fiercely] and 19a [Code component]: SCRATCH AND C / LAW.
- 26a [Jude of “Cold Mountain”] and 28a [It’s used for cutting blades]: LAW / N MOWER.
- 46a [Key element in Greek tragedies] and 48a [Scientific truth]: FATAL F / LAW.
- 59a [Brief topic] and 60a [Giants linebacker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame]: LAW / RENCE TAYLOR.
Of course it’s unusual to see any duplication in a crossword, but you could argue the duped LAWs are actually parts of different words and therefore not dupes. I don’t know how convincing you’d be, but you could argue it. As for me, having seen this type of theme from Mike Shenk numerous times over the years, I recognized it with the first theme entry, then went plunked in the LAWs in the other parts of the grid, thereby giving myself some extra footholds.
Still, my solve time was slow mainly because of that NW corner where I had COIN for 1d [Nickel, e.g.] which led to OMAN at 14a [Where the Nowruz new year is celebrated] which still allowed for the correct SNAKE at 4d [Plumber’s tool]. It didn’t help that I wanted some form of “go at it tooth and claw” or “…hammer and claw” for the theme answer at 17a. (Never mind that it’s actually “hammer and tongs”.) So yeah, that took some time to sort out. But otherwise I enjoyed the theme and resolving the theme answers.
WAR OF WORDS makes for a great anchor entry in that NW corner. (It might also make a good basis for a theme if someone puts their mind to it.). I’d never heard of Hitchcock’s last film FAMILY PLOT, but that’s a fine entry too, allowing for some good wordplay. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen “macrame” as a verb, but with an S added on the end, it makes more sense to clue it that way than as a plural noun.
Solid puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Alex Eaton-Salner’s Fireball Crossword, “Context Clues” – Jenni’s write-up
Maybe the International Date Line has addled my brain. I think I know what the theme is here and I think I have three of the four figured out. Maybe I’ll get the fourth as I type this. Edit: and I did!
The clues to theme answers have to be taken literally.
Fireball, February 5, 2025, Alex Eaton-Salners, “Context Clues,” solution grid
- 17a [*Finished] is OVERCAPITALIZED. “Finish” = “over” and it starts with a capital letter.
- 25a [*Military inspection] is ONE–STAR REVIEW. Either this is a review by a one-star general or it’s “military inspection” = “review” and there’s one star in the clue.
- 45a [*Symbol of oppression] is THE MAN IN BLACK. This was the one that stumped me for a bit. “The man” = “symbol of oppression” and it’s written in black.
- 57a [*Stereo components] are ENGLISH SPEAKERS. It’s written in English.
I like a little tussle in the morning! (I’m in New Zealand and writing this at 7:00 AM Thursday).
What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: never heard of the 2024 film “My Old ASS.”
Aidan Deshong and Jacob Reed’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Difficulty: Easy (8m37s)
Aidan Deshong and Jacob Reed’s New York Times crossword, 2/6/25, 0206
Today’s theme: state mottos
- RUSSET POTATO (ID entity)
- WILMINGTON (DE port)
- OZARKS (AR range)
- PADRES (CA nine)
- KAMEHAMEHA (HI king)
- GULF OF MEXICO (FL edge)
No revealer, which probably helps preserve some Thursday-level difficulty, although I still moved through this one pretty quickly despite it being a 16x oversized grid. Why is it 16x? Because if you’re married to GULF OF MEXICO and RUSSET POTATO, you’ll need three black horizontal squares flanking those entries in a standard 15x, which locks up the entire grid. 12s are brutal. One solution.. just make the whole thing a little wider.
As for the puzzle, it’s my cup of tea. I’m a sucker for postal code crosswords (I made one myself once) and love everything road trip-adjacent.
Cracking: KAMEHAMEHA, of which there were I-V, usually refers to I — KAMEHAMEHA the Great, who (forcibly) united the kingdom of Hawaii under one rule.
Slacking: you can put it in every puzzle from now until the Rapture, I will never accept the spelling AAH
Sidetracking: I want to see WILMINGTON!
NYT: A nicely innovative theme, which took me about half the puzzle to grok. It didn’t help much if at all with the solve, but at least some otherwise incongruous answers now made sense.
As is my wont on Thursdays, I mention that I crave Thursday non-theme clues that are harder than recent ones. This makes grokking the theme necessarily harder, which makes the solve last longer, which enhances my feeling of triumph when it is complete.
(OK: if and when it is complete, like if there’s a natick and I have to look something up.)
NYT: Solved this in a more-or-less typical Thursday time for me. Had no idea about the theme/trick until I looked at ZDL’s write-up. Meh – not for me!
NYT: Figured out the theme early on and found it extremely helpful!
In an otherwise swell puzzle, I got sunk in a damn triple Natick. What’s the name for that!? I’ll call it an effing Nihao.