Thursday, September 26, 2024 | (2025)

BEQtk (Darby)

LAT4:49 (Gareth)

NYT11:10 (ZDL)

WSJ8:47 (Jim)

Frank Longo’s Fireball crossword, “Vwllss Crsswrd 13″—Amy’s recap

It’s Amy subbing for Jenni.

Ah! I always enjoy a good vowelless crossword, and Frank Longo may well be the best in the business at making these. I opted for the harder version, with no multi-word tags or enumerations.

There isn’t a whole to discuss in these, since the clues are pretty straightforward and Peter Gordon includes the answers with the puzzle email. A ton of the expanded answers are terrific, though. PUFFER JACKETS, FUZZBALL, EQUAL FOOTING, MINNESOTA TWINS, CHELSEA CLINTON, INQUISITIVE MIND, TATTOO ARTISTS, FATHER FIGURE, LEFT OUT IN THE COLD, RUMPLING—these would all be welcome in a regular crossword grid. A themeless or a Sunday-size, something that could accommodate the longer phrases.

Thanks for the mndbndng treat, Frank and Peter!

Karen Steinberg’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Interplay”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide a game title and the clues ignore the letters in said titles. The revealer is GAMIFICATION (55a, [What’s caused a mismatch between the starred clues and their answers]).

• 20a. [*Distributed appropriately]
  PROLIFERATED. Pro-rated.
• 30a. [*Social stratum]
  CASSETTE. Caste.
• 38a. [*Stake]
  BRISKET. Bet.
• 40a. [*Airstream occupant, in brief]
  RUN OVER. RVer.
• 46a. [*Depressing person, slangily]
  DOG OWNER. Downer.

I enjoyed this. I struggled at first, as one should with a tricky theme. I spotted the hidden words in the first two entries but didn’t see the game angle until the third one. I’m not so keen on a term like “RVer” being part of the theme, but there’s almost nothing else that could be done with UNO (I looked).

My solve proceeded fairly smoothly (for a Thursday) in the top half, but things slowed down quite a bit at the bottom, despite grokking the theme. That SE corner messed me up when I put in AMPED [Keyed up] at 54d and TOLD [Ordered] at 69a. This made it impossible to get the revealer. It didn’t help that I had NUEVo España instead of NUEVA and next to nothing for the stacked proper names at 62a and 65a (OZUNA and POSEY). Eventually I deleted AMPED and got back on track.

Note that the revealer is 12 letters long which causes all the theme entries (six of them!) to be scrunched together in the nine central rows. Despite this, the fill is mostly smooth, some proper names notwithstanding. NEEDLE NOSE and “IT’S NOT GOOD” were fun to uncover, as were the symmetrically paired entries ATTRACT and “I REFUSE.”

Clues of note:

• 33a. [Pump up]. ADD TO. Hmm. Not quite synonymous in my mind. I suppose it’s technically okay, but I don’t have to like it.
• 67a. [Like many U.S. senators]. AGED. And presidential candidates, too?
• 33d. [Uriah Heep claimed his was “‘umble”]. ABODE. I was misled into thinking the answer would start with a silent H. Anyone else?

Four stars.

Jesse Guzman’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Difficulty: Average (11m10s)

Today’s theme: DOUBLE/REVERSE(With 63-Across, tricky football play … as represented by this puzzle’s shaded squares?)

• CRUELLA (Cure all)
• GLOATS(Go last)
• SET POINT(Step on it)
• TARNATION (Tarantino)
• LAS VEGAS (Salvages)

Very unique architecture. Long theme entries on the margin are tricky, forcing you to stack at least two more lines of fill (of equal length!) before you get any black square reprieve. And a stagger-stack of three more theme entries in the center of the grid to boot.

Cracking:LEVY, perfection

Slacking: Bell jar, sure; BELL LAP, surely not

Sidetracking: Maya ANGELOU for Froot Loops!, the greatest thing SNL ever did that got exactly zero laughs, so funny that it transcends the guffaw

Sam Cordes’ USA Today Crossword, “Showerheads” — Emily’s write-up

Be sure to grab a towel for this one!

Theme: each themer begins with a word that can prepend “showers” to make a new phrase

Themers:

• 20a. [Banknotes and coins, idiomatically],COLDHARDCASH
• 36a. [Crustaceans native to frigid northern oceans],SNOWCRABS
• 54a. [Chili’s meal with an iconic jingle],BABYBACKRIBS

A fun themer set today with COLDHARDCASH, SNOWCRABS, BABYBACKRIBS. Each filled easily, especilly the third which was hard not to get the jingle stuck in my head. With the theme, we get: COLD SHOWER, SNOW SHOWER, and BABY SHOWER. Funny enough, the –Y– in the third themer crosses with YMCA which is also another easy ear worm.

Favorite fill: LEGOSETS, DRAGONS, NOUGAT, ASANA, and TOEBEAN

Stumpers: CONGEST (needed crossings), IMTOAST (also needed crossings), and IDA (new to me)

Smooth solve and flow for me today. Cluing seemed easier and clicked for me today, which is always enjoyable. Lots of great entries and lengthy bonus fill as well!

4.5 stars
~Emily

Amie Walker & Wendy L. Brandes’ LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

A slightly off-beat trick theme is provided by Amie Walker & Wendy L. Brandes. The revealer is VANILLA/EXTRACT. And the seven letters of VANILLA are spelt out in circles. These letters are ignored by the across clues, but not the down ones. The squares are still double checked due to VANILLA.

Gareth