Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | (2024)

AVCXuntimed (Amy)

LAT3:30 (Gareth)

NYT5:35 (Amy)

WSJ4:02 (Jim)

Alexander Liebeskind’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Between the Two of Us”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that have had their letters I changed to letters U. The revealer is “IF I WERE YOU…” (58a, [Lead-in to a bit of advice, and a hint as to how 17-, 24-, 37- and 45-Across might arise]).

• 17a. [Pickup that’s a steal?] CHEAP TRUCK.
• 24a. [Big cat with a passion for the Ramones?] PUNK PANTHER. Or maybe the Pink Panther painted on someone’s mohawk?
• 37a. [Artisans who make decorative scarves?] BOA CONSTRUCTORS.
• 45a. [Source of music in the Amazon?] JUNGLE BELLS.

Nice. Fun phrases and no extraneous I’s left unchanged. I will say that the theme is employed rather loosely since there are so many potential theme answers left by the wayside (RAT FUNK, MOBY DUCK, PRUDE PARADE, etc.). But barring adding an additional constraint, as long as the entries we get are lively, fun, and have good surface sense, I’m relatively happy. There’s definitely something to be said for going for entertainment value over technical rigidity.

I had a brief thought that the title should be read as “Between the Two of U’s”, but there aren’t two U’s in any of the answers, so I think the phrase is just a synonym for the revealer.

Good long fill: Sonia SOTOMAYOR, SMELL A RAT, INDY CARS, and POLO BALL. And hardly a thing to scowl about either. Nice!

Clue of note: 11d. [Only planet not named after a deity]. EARTH. The word comes from the old English/German word for “the ground.” Yawn.

Good puzzle. 3.5 stars.

Bill Thompson’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

The theme is three evil spells and one neutral one, plus four entries that “break” the spells in that the letters are at the beginning and end of those four entries.

HEX is in [First U.S. secretary of war] HENRY KNOX. Holy cats, we’re supposed to know this name before the Saturday puzzle? A CHARM is in CHICKEN PARM. CURSE is in a CRASH COURSE. A POX of the non-viral sort feels awfully antiquated and that word’s broken by PENCIL BOX clued as [Container in a kid’s backpack]; I’m not sure kids have actual pencil boxes in their backpack–when I was a kid, I had a pencil box in my desk at school and nobody had backpacks yet. Maybe a zip-up pencil case in the backpack? My sister works in an elementary school and reports that pencil boxes stay in the desks.

Fact check: Is the Times certain that Crayola brought out a HOT MAGENTA crayon in 1972? The Crayola fandom wiki says it was 1990. I was a Crayola user in 1972 and I sure as hell don’t have childhood memories of a hot magenta crayon.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this puzzle. APPLE BETTY and HOT MAGENTA are longer than two of the Across theme entries. OLEATE, OAST, AD RATES, STET, HOBS, KING RAT, green-painty NPR TOTE, plural EMMAS, and ARMY clued in a way I needed all the crossings ([“Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the ___” (song from “White Christmas”)])? Not for me.

2.75 stars from me.

Rebecca Goldstein’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up

More crossword intrigue from The New Yorker – it’s a themed puzzle on a Wednesday! I can’t recall seeing an announcement about a format change in the weekly lineup. It will be interesting to see comments from regular New Yorker solvers who will be expecting an easy themeless today.

So then: this puzzle is brought to us by Rebecca Goldstein. On the webpage there’s a blurb* that says “Today’s theme: Do you follow?”. The theme answers have something in common:

• 17A [Breed sent after a scent] BLOODHOUND
• 25A [Phone download for the health-conscious] FITNESS APP
• 36A [Piece of filming equipment that allows for a smooth moving shot] STEADICAM
• 49A [Structure for monitoring flights or weather] RADAR TOWER

The revealer is 59A [“Sounds about right”…or a description of 17-, 25-, 36- and 49-Across] “THAT TRACKS”. So a bloodhound tracks a scent, a fitness app tracks health, a steadicam tracks a scene (or maybe it’s an intransitive verb in this context), and a radar tower tracks flights or weather. I found it interesting to uncover the link and the theme entries are a nice collection in their own right.

Other highlights:

• I appreciate that Rebecca, a biomedical researcher, brings science into her puzzles. Here it’s [Gene therapy field] for BIOTECH and [Bacteria that can produce human insulin] for E. COLI.
• Bonus fun fill: PLOT SUMMARY, NOISEMAKERS, “BAD IDEA”, “I’M A MESS”, DEEP CUT.
• I liked the imperative clue on SCOOT: [“Make room on the couch”]
• HSA [Pre-tax funds for medical expenses: Abbr.] is rare as a three-letter entry in crosswords. The Cruciverb database shows only one other appearance, and that was in another puzzle by Rebecca Goldstein (with Rachel Fabi) that ran in the LA Times last year. A bit odd we don’t see this entry more often, no? given the ubiquity of medical insurance and medical expenses in American life. (Those initial stand forhealth savings account, if you didn’t know.)

Thanks Rebecca!

*Why don’t they just run a title with the puzzle?

Dylan Schiff’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Fetching Looks”—Amy’s recap

The name of the game is DOGGY STYLE, [Certain sex position … or a possible description of 17-, 21-, 39-, and 57-Across]. Those four themers are items of apparel whose names start with types of dogs. I have never, ever heard of POM BEANIES. Is that just knit hats with pom-poms on top? I miss the good old days when nobody called a hat made of yarn a “beanie.” The dog is a Pomeranian. POODLE SKIRT doesn’t mesh great with the other three because that skirt often had a poodle dog appliqued onto it, vs. some other non-dog sense of the word as in the other three themers. There’s a LAB COAT, no relation to a Labrador retriever, and BOXER BRIEFS, connected to boxer shorts and boxing rather than the dog called a boxer.

Fave fill: POP-TOP CAN, SHOE PHONE, YAMMERS ON, BACKRUB, and ROSE ROYCE, working at the car wash.

3.5 stars from me. Liked it overall, but the POODLE SKIRT’s deviation from the other themers’ norm distracts me.

Trent H. Evans’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

Sigh. I feel like the theme type in today’s puzzle by Trent H. Evans is a little over-exposed. GARDENVARIETY = “anagram” garden, then find it between two parts of long across answers. I kind of miss the days when this revealer would mean each answer’s first word fit the pattern “___ GARDEN”:

• [*Splashy arrival], {GRANDE}NTRANCE
• [*Like a conversation covering many topics], WI{DERANG}ING
• [*Friendly signoff], KI{NDREGA}RDS

The puzzle itself had a Monday/Tuesday layout with smaller stacks – it fell rather easy for a Wednesday, but the distinctions can be a tad arbitrary.

There were some playful clues though:

• [Webb designer?], NASA
• [Org. that says no to some drugs], FDA
• [Place to eat while on the go], DININGCAR

Kind Regards
Gareth

Shannon Rapp & Will Eisenberg’s USA Today Crossword, “Ladybird” — Emily’s write-up

Feeling some late night inspiration while writing up of this awesome puzzle–girl power!

Theme: each themer begins with a type of bird

Themers:

• 20a. [She played both lead roles on “Liv & Maddie”],DOVECAMERON
• 37a. [She played Kim Wexler in “Better Call Saul”],RHEASEEHORN
• 56a. [She played Claire Underwood in “House of Cards”],ROBINWRIGHT

In addition to the theme, the entire set is female as well which is hinted at by the title as well. The set of actors includes DOVECAMERON, RHEASEEHORN, and ROBINWRIGHT. Even if any were new to solvers, the crossings were fair and easy enough to fill.

Favorite fill: MEALPLAN, SLEUTH, MOSES, and SHES

Stumpers: TENSORI (new to me), LIMIT (kept thinking “lid” something), and INANE (needed some crossings)

Love the grid and it was a smooth solve overall, except for the northern section; TENSORI, INTRO, and ITEM crossing with an actor new to me meant that was the last are that I filled in and it was tricker than it might have been for others. So fun to see many other women and female references included in entries or clues too, plus HER and BRA crossing. Nice!

4.25 stars

~Emily