Crossword Fiend | Reviewing the best crosswords in newspapers and on the Web

Monday, September 15, 2025

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Sophia Maymudes

BEQ 14:38 (Eric) 5*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 1:59 (Stella) 3.5*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 [3.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 2:49 (Sophia) 5*: 4 | 4*: 3 | 3.5*: 4 | 3*: 2 [4.00 avg; 13 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker 7:27 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 3.5*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 3 | 1.5*: 2 | 1*: 2 [2.32 avg; 11 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 2 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 [2.00 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (?) rate it
WSJ N/A (Jim Q) rate it

***The WSJ puzzle will feature an entire week of metas to celebrate its 10th Anniversary of puzzle publication. The puzzle suite will be written about as a whole once the meta answers are released***
Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Anna Shechtman, Brendan Emmett Quigley, Freddie Cheng, Katie Hale, Matthew Stock, Michael Lieberman, Zachary David Levy | 20 Comments

Fireball Contest September 10, 2025

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Conrad

Grid: untimed; Meta: got a nudge

Continue reading →

Posted in Contests | Tagged Alex Eaton-Salners | Comments Off

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Eric Hougland

LAT tk (Gareth) 3.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [2.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 13:02 (Eric) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 4 | 2*: 4 | 1*: 5 [2.55 avg; 21 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Darby) 3*: 1 | 1*: 1 [2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Universal (Sunday) 6:10 (Jim P) 4*: 2 | 2*: 2 [3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Norah) 5*: 1 | 3*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 [3.38 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
WaPo 5:38(Matt G) 5*: 4 | 4.5*: 3 | 4*: 3 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 [3.85 avg; 13 ratings] rate it

Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Daniel Grinberg, Evan Birnholz, Michael Schlossberg | 44 Comments

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Amy Reynaldo

LAT 3:18 (Stella) 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 2 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [3.08 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Newsday tk (pannonica) 5*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 2 [3.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 7:25 (Amy) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 4 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 [3.21 avg; 17 ratings] rate it
Universal tk (Matthew) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 1 | 1*: 1 [3.63 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Matthew) 1*: 1 [1.00 avg; 1 rating] rate it
WSJ 17:25 (Eric) 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Alex Jiang, Jeff Chen, Jess Rucks, Sam Koperwas | 40 Comments

Friday, September 12, 2025

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Amy Reynaldo

LAT tk (pannonica) 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [2.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:55 (Amy) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 11 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 2 [4.03 avg; 18 ratings] rate it
Universal 5:10 (Jim P) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 2 | 1*: 1 [3.70 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Emily) rate it

Programming note: Crossword constructor Paolo Pasco is on Jeopardy! Tune in.

Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Joe Marquez, Sarah Butkovic | 15 Comments

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Eric Hougland

BEQ 9:33 (Eric) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 [3.50 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
Fireball untimed (Jenni) rate it
LAT tk (Gareth) rate it
NYT 7:11 (ZDL) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 2 | 4*: 5 | 3.5*: 3 | 2.5*: 3 | 1.5*: 1 [3.57 avg; 15 ratings] rate it
Universal 7:41 (Eric) 5*: 1 | 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [3.20 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
USA Today 10:34 (Emily) 4*: 1 | 1*: 2 [2.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ tk (Jim Q) 4*: 2 | 2*: 1 [3.33 avg; 3 ratings] rate it

Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Brendan Emmett Quigley, Geoffrey Schorkopf, Gia Bosko, Kevin Shustack | 24 Comments

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Eric Hougland

AV Club 7:31 (Amy) 4*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [3.00 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
LAT 6:42 (Gareth) 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [2.00 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
NYT 4:48 (Amy) 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 3 | 2.5*: 2 | 2*: 4 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 2 [2.53 avg; 16 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker tk (Kyle) 5*: 1 | 4.5*: 1 | 3.5*: 2 | 2.5*: 1 [3.80 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Universal untimed (pannonica) 2*: 3 | 1.5*: 1 [1.88 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today 10:31 (Emily) 4*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 [2.17 avg; 3 ratings] rate it
WSJ 7:40 (Eric) 4*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 2*: 2 [2.75 avg; 4 ratings] rate it

Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Alex Stoneman, Bill Conner, Cole Vandenberg, Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, Harit Raghunathan, Olivia Mitra Framke, Peter A. Collins, Sally Hoelscher | 20 Comments

MGWCC #901

Posted on September 9, 2025 by joon

MGWCC crossword 2:47
meta ? 4.5*: 1 | 4*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [3.40 avg; 5 ratings] rate it
Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | 5 Comments

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Erin Milligan-Milburn

Jonesin’ 5:38 (Erin) 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 [2.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
LAT untimed (Jenni) 3*: 1 | 1*: 1 [2.00 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
NYT 6:04 (Eric) 5*: 2 | 4.5*: 3 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 2 | 3*: 1 | 2.5*: 1 | 2*: 3 [3.57 avg; 14 ratings] rate it
The New Yorker untimed (pannonica) 5*: 1 | 4*: 4 | 3.5*: 1 | 2*: 1 [3.79 avg; 7 ratings] rate it
Universal 5:47 (Eric) 4*: 1 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 | 2*: 1 [3.13 avg; 4 ratings] rate it
USA Today tk (Sophia) 2.5*: 1 | 1*: 1 [1.75 avg; 2 ratings] rate it
Xword Nation tk (Ade) rate it
WSJ 4:38 (Jim) 3.5*: 1 | 1.5*: 1 [2.50 avg; 2 ratings] rate it

Continue reading →

Posted in Daily Puzzles | Tagged Adam Wagner, Amanda Rafkin, Amie Walker, Andrea Carla Michaels, Marshal Herrmann, Matt Jones, Zhouqin Burnikel | 22 Comments

WSJ Contest — Friday, September 5, 2025

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Conrad

WSJ (Contest) Grid: 15 minutes; Meta: 8 more 5*: 2 | 4*: 2 | 3.5*: 1 | 3*: 1 [4.08 avg; 6 ratings] rate it
Continue reading →

Posted in Contests | Tagged Mike Shenk | 11 Comments

Monday, September 15, 2025

Fireball Contest September 10, 2025

Sunday, September 14, 2025

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Friday, September 12, 2025

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

MGWCC #901

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

WSJ Contest — Friday, September 5, 2025

Search

Blogroll

Recent Comments

Archives

Tags

Meta

For Bloggers