Wednesday, July 8, 2026

AV Club 5:47 (Amy) rate it
LAT tk (Gareth) rate it
NYT 3:53 (Amy) [3.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 3:02 (Jim Q) rate it
Universal tk (pannonica) rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) rate it
WSJ tk (Eric) rate it

Kareem Ayas’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Remarkable Colors”—Amy’s recap

Blank grid for AV Club Classic crossword, 7/8/26

The colorful theme worked out fine for me in .puz/Crossword Nexus format, with theme clues saying which letters would be shaded blue or red. The revealer across the middle is 47a. [Common annotation tool that must be applied to each of this puzzle’s colored words for the answers to make sense],  YELLOW HIGHLIGHTER, which would change those shaded areas into green or orange, with those words being added to the words in the theme answers to make familiar phrases. (Note: Theme likely much less accessible and fun for those who are color-blind.)

The entries with blue-shaded words become greenHOUSE GASES, ANNE OF Green GABLES, GAVE THE green LIGHT, and Green BAY PACKERS. The reds become Orange COUNTY, Orange BOWL, orange SODA, and orange SLICES.

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 7/8/26 – “Remarkable Colors” – Kareem Ayas

Fave fill in this plus-size 17×17 grid: VEXING. Not much longer fill squeezed in amongst a whopping nine thematic entries.

Three clues:

• 60a. [“The girls in New York City, they all march for women’s ___” (line from Loretta Lynn’s 1972 single “One’s on the Way”)], LIB. I don’t know the song but I like the lyric.
• 56a. [Houston athlete], ASTRO/ 71a. [Houston athlete], TEXAN. MLB and NFL, respectively.
• 8d. [Animal that the Pokémon Heracross is based on], BEETLE. It’s a broken beetle, as it stands on two legs and has two arms, none of this six-legged business. It also stands about five feet tall, so be grateful actual insects don’t come in that size. Imagine a murder hornet that big.

Four stars from me.

Mason Hyunjin Lee’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 7/8/26 – no. 0708

Neat conception/find, this theme. Four common “X or Y” phrases where X and Y can be clued with a pair of words that differ only by their first letter:

• 17A. [[C/P]ause], MAKE OR BREAK. Cause a thing, make it. Take a break, take a pause.
• 27A. [[L/C]ure], TRICK OR TREAT. Trick or lure someone into doing something, cure or treat a disease.
• 46A. [[M/H]inds], HEADS OR TAILS. This one’s nice, particularly two noun pairs. that are direct synonyms.
• 62A. [Z/R]est], LIFE OR DEATH. Display some life, some zest. Take an eternal rest with death? Dark.

Fave fill: Mickey ROURKE (because his look-alike, a Mexican rocker, was on Telemundo’s World Cup broadcast the other day), STEALTH, EASY-PEASY. Not familiar with CHEAT MEAL, though a “cheat day” of eating, yes.

Nice debut from 16-year-old Mr. Lee! 4.25 stars from me.

Caitlin Reid’s New Yorker crossword — Jim Q’s write-up

STANDOUT ENTRIES:

New Yorker • 7/8/26 • Wed • Caitlin Reid• solution • 20260708

• TEETER TOTTER
• SHORT STRAW
• TORE IT UP
• PALM READER
• “NO SIREE!”
• “THAT SAID…”
• “SPOILER ALERT!”
• SNAIL MAIL

Damn. I TORE IT UP. Until I didn’t. Ironically, that entry was one of my two stumbles that kept me from my 3 minute goal, which I have yet to reach. I didn’t read the clue and wrote TORE INTO. The other was SHAKE. I saw “…ice cream…” in the clue and entered SCOOP.

Ah, me.

Anyway, SPOILER ALERT! Fantastic puzzle. Again. Guess that’s not a SPOILER since that’s par. More than enough sparkling entries with very little crud.

MUSINGS:

• [“The ___” (HBO medical drama starring Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa)] PITT. Great show, which I frequently have to look away from to enjoy to avoid passing out (not a blood guy). Still have to binge the rest of Season 2!
• [2025 Taylor Swift hit whose name refers to a luminous stone] OPALITE. I know neither the song, nor the stone.
• [Eyewear for Mr. Peanut] MONOCLE. Not Mr. Pennybags. That’s the Mandela Effect making you think that.

5 stars.