Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “It’s Free Real Estate” — a themeless expanse. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 3/11/25

Hello lovelies, and a Happy March 10th Birthday to Matt Jones! This week Matt has given us a themeless puzzle. We start off in the NW corner with the timely ANORA [2025 Best Picture Oscar winner]. We know that went into a bunch of constructor’s word lists last weekend. Underneath we have the clever DOG KENNEL for [Lab enclosure] (Lab as in Labrador retriever). Moving on, Today I Learned:

• 10d. [Zuider ___] ZEE. The Zuiderzee was a bay in the Netherlands connected to the North Sea, until it was sealed off by a dam, the Afsluitdijk.
• 8d. [Dress that translates to “cut off”] MUUMUU. The word “mu’umu’u” means “cut off” or “shortened” in Hawaiian, referring to the absence of a yoke, or fitted shoulder piece.
• 53a. [Actress Reeves of “Slow Horses”] SASKIA. It’s a British spy show. Reeves also had roles in British film and the shows “Luther” and “Shetland.”
• 23a. [Graham McPherson, in Madness] SUGGS. Madness is the British ska/pop band known in the USA for the 1982 hit “Our House.”
• 57a. [Distress signals, plural (and yeah, it’s the preferred spelling but looks weird)] SOSS. Ew. SOSs, SOS’s, SOSes…they all look wrong.

Until next week!

Jeffrey Martinovic & Jeff Chen’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Along for the Ride”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar(ish) phrases whose first few letters spell out a make of car. The revealer is SIDECAR (44d, [Brandy cocktail, and a hint to each set of circled letters]).

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Along for the Ride” · Jeffrey Martinovic & Jeff Chen · Tue., 3.11.25

• 17a. [2010 family film based on Beverly Cleary books] RAMONA AND BEEZUS.
• 33a. [Department overseeing the wizarding world in the Harry Potter books] MINISTRY OF MAGIC.
• 42a. [PowerPoint presentations with sound effects, say] AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS.
• 62a. [“Holy guacamole!”] JEEPERS CREEPERS.

Fun theme answers, and I like the choice to employ only grid-spanners—as long as they don’t compromise the fill, which they don’t seem to have done too badly. Some solvers might not enjoy the fact that half of the theme entries come from Kid (or YA) Lit, but I’m not among them. I do think I would have liked the theme better if both right and left sides of the grid were utilized, but maybe there aren’t enough phrases ending in car names.

Those long theme entries are likely the reason none of the Down answers is longer than 7, but we do get a couple of 8s in the Acrosses: TEARIEST (meh) and APP STORE (nice).

Clues of note:

• 14a. [“Definitely!”] and 16a. [“Definitely not!”] for YEAH and NOPE make nice bookends in the second row.
• 69a. [Herring family fish]. SPRAT. You know, I don’t think I knew there was a fish with this name. Looks like they’re mostly found in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Glad to learn about them after years of Jack SPRAT clues.
• 37d. [Their creation resulted in record losses]. CDS. I see what they did there, and I’d say a question mark is in order for this clue. But aside from that, I would have thought the cassette tape and not the CD is what really put a dent in LP record sales. Well, if the below video is to be believed, they both had a hand in the initial demise of vinyl, so the clue is accurate.

3.5 stars.

Jared Cappel’s New York Times crossword—Evan’s review

Jared Cappel’s NYT crossword solution, Tuesday March 11, 2025

Today’s crossword features the ancient art of ACUPUNCTURE. The 3 themers run vertical and all contain common phrases that could be used to describe the practice. GET THE POINT (I kinda don’t TBH), STAB IN THE BACK (ouch), MOVE THE NEEDLE (careful!).

Why acupuncture needs a moment in the cruciverbal limelight beats me, but at least it’s a fun solve, and the theme is applied consistently, albeit somewhat formulaically. Call me old-fashioned but I just don’t like that each themer has a VERB THE NOUN set-up. It feels a bit duplicative. For what it’s worth, acupuncture does seem to help a lot of people, and it probably has a pretty low risk for harm. However if we’re trying to say it’s definitively medically beneficial, I would tend to side with the camp who feels the evidence really isn’t there. Nevertheless, it’s a thing, and I guess a thing can merit featuring.

The non-theme fill was decent but nothing really grabbed me. SKITTLES, ROSEBUDS, CANAPES, they’re kind of cute but aren’t really that fun. NICE PUTT – made me think of nice butt, and I get that it’s said during golfing, but to me it’s also borderline green paint. You can pretty much put nice in front of anything and have it be a phrase. Take the phrase NICE SHIRT for example. It probably doesn’t belong in a crossword, even though it could be argued to have a place within fashion.

2.5 stars from me. Decent idea, fun but formulaic phrases, unclear rationale for featuring acupuncture.

Doug Peterson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Jenni’s write-up

Good morning! We had a great trip and I am also glad to be home and reunited with my laptop. This puzzle was a nice welcome-home treat. An enjoyable solve and an amusing revealer – who could ask for anything more on a Tuesday?

The theme clues are starred.

Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2025, Doug Peterson, solution grid

• 3d [*Sophocles tragedy] is OEDIPUS REX.
• 21a [*Tennis racket’s optimal impact point] is the SWEET SPOT.
• 29d [*Athletic shoe introduced in 1987] is the NIKE AIR MAX.
• 58a [*Explorer on the red planet] is the MARS ROVER.

And the revealer: 39a [Military IDs on chains, and what can be found at the ends of the answers to the starred clues?] is DOG TAGS. REX, SPOT, MAX, and ROVER are all classic dog names. I usually don’t care for revealers in the middle of the puzzle, but every dog I’ve ever had has always wanted to be RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING so that works.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that there are Honey and Berry Berry varieties of KIX cereal.

Brooke Husic’s New Yorker crossword, “À la Mode” — pannonica’s write-up

New Yorker • 3/11/25 • Tue • “À la Mode” • Husic • solution • 20250311

Surprise! A theme, on a Tuesday. This is tied in to the Spring Fashion issue, or something close to that (it went by quickly on my way to opening up the crossword).

• 17a. [Easy mode?] ATHLEISURE.
• 29a. [Night mode?] EVENING WEAR.
• 45a. [Eco mode?] SLOW FASHION.
• 62a. [Beast mode?] GOBLIN CORE.

Nice and economical.

• 2d [2022 Rosalía album whose cover features the singer wearing only a helmet] MOTO MAMI. I know of her, but am not familiar with any details beyond that. Okay, I think I’ve listened to one song of hers, but can’t recall anything about it.
• 3d [Degree in theoretical mathematics?] NTH POWER. Power and degree have different meanings, so the question mark is practically mandatory. The disambiguation page at Wikipedia has this to say: “A mathematically specious phrase intended to convey that something is raised to a very high exponent (as in “to the nth degree”), where n is assumed to be a relatively high number (even though by definition it is unspecified and may be large or small)”
• 10d [Korean spirit] SOJU. The drinking kind.
• 24d [ __ reserve (something one might test when trying for pregnancy)] OVARIAN. Fresh cluing.
• 43d [Container that’s just for kicks?] SHOE BOX. Tried SHOE BIN.
• 45d [Small amount of liquid, in a recipe] SPLASH. Thought of JIGGER, but the first crossing I came to changed my mind.
• 47d [Hairy, slender gay men] OTTERS. New term to me, presumably in contrast to burlier bears. 6d [ __ Major (constellation that contains the Big Dipper] URSA.
• 56d [Middle March?] IDES. Not the book, obviously.
• 23a [“Crescat scientia; vita excolatur,” for the University of Chicago] MOTTO. Their official translation is “Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched.”
• 25a [Freundin : German :: __ : French] AMIE (girlfriend).
• 28a [Like crudo or carpaccio] RAW. 60d [Bordeaux and Barolos] REDS.
• 57a [Dinner booking, briefly] RES, reservation. Meh.
• 61a [Like much top-shelf tequila] AGED. 28d [Salted part of a margarita glass] RIM.
  
  (I haven’t decided if this is good or awful)
• 67a “Ganja & __” (cult-classic 1973 horror film)] HESS. New spin for common common crossword fill.

Shmuel Schmell’s Universal Crossword, “Turn of Phrase” (ed. Taylor Johnson) — Matt F’s Review

Universal Solution 03.11.2025

In today’s puzzle, each theme clue is a commonly spoken phrase, and each theme answer is a description of that phrase. The meaning of the in-grid theme answer is tweaked from its more common usage, in order to aptly describe the quoted phrase.

• 19A – [“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” e.g.?] = JUST SAYING
• 32A – [Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,” e.g.?] = PARTY LINES
• 41A – [“I do,” e.g.?] = SWEAR WORDS
• 53A – [“No soup for you,” e.g.?] = STOCK QUOTE

I was pleasantly surprised by this theme. It’s elegant, tight, and amusing. When I first ran through the clues, I found it interesting that at least 2 of the theme answers had straight parallels that fit the slot lengths – GOLDEN RULE for 19A, and WEDDING VOW  for 41A – and I plopped those in without thinking (even though the ? should have tipped me off to some trickery), so I had to untangle the theme answers by cross-checking the down clues.

Fill seemed smooth, though I noticed a couple crossings that might have been tough for less experienced solvers. For instance, for [“Star Trek” lieutenant] UHURA crossing [“Yeah, I doubt it”] UHNO, the “H” could plausibly be an “M”. Similarly, for [Hyphen’s longer cousin] ENDASH crossing [“The Lion King” lioness] NALA, the “N” could easily be an “M.” Overall, the fill seemed smooth to me and the grid flowed nicely. HAVA NAGILA was a tough bonus but enjoyable to unpack with fair crossings – I’m sure some people more familiar with Jewish traditions were able to plonk that one easily. FRERE is a French word I haven’t seen much in crosswords, but again, fairly crossed. I liked the modern clue at 26D, instead of something like [2nd part of a Julius Caesar quote].

Elizabeth C. Gorski’s Cr♥ssw♥rd Nation puzzle (Week 719), “Water, Water Everywhere!”—Ade’s take

Crossword Nation puzzle solution, Week 719: “Water, Water Everywhere!”

Hello there, everyone! Beware the Ides of March … but not of the weather, at least where I’m at. Hope you’re all doing well and experiencing a spring thaw outside. 

Some of that thawing may be some water that’s been melted, and there’s water all over the place with this grid, as each of the words making up the perimeter of the puzzle are words that can come before “water.” The answer smack dab in the middle, SIDES, acts as the reveal (36A: [Grid locations of the surrounding “waters” (12 answers) in this puzzle]). 

• • • • SOFT, OCEAN, SALT, TOILET, TAP, TIDE, ROSE, FRESH, DISH, GROUND, ICE, SODA

Of course the theme is water, but there’s an answer that’s another name for a watering hole, ALE HOUSE (8D: [Pub]). Though not verbatim, I’m definitely hearing a lot of chants akin to GO TEAM GO as I’m covering all these basketball tournaments on the way to March Madness (39D: [Pep rally shot]). I’m loving this time of year because, almost without fail, there’s at lest one school that many people might have never heard of before March, and will hear of it because of the tournament. At the moment, that title goes to SIU-Edwardsville Cougars in Edwardsville, Illinois, whose men’s team just won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The team’s head coach, Brian Barone, hung a pair of scissors in the team locker room upon taking the head coaching job in 2019, symbolizing the goal he had for his team to win a conference tournament and, afterward, cut the net during the trophy ceremony with those scissors. Six years later, his prophecy came to be. Love these stories! 

“Sports will make you smarter” moment of the day: ISLAM (33D: [Imam’s religion]) – No specific person or team to highlight, but want people to be cognizant that thousands of Muslim athletes around the world are now engaging in their sports while fasting because of Ramadan, whose first night was on March 1.

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