Wednesday, Nov 26th, 2025 ~ Daniel Hrynick

 U HAUL

This is my third installment blogging an LA Times crossword from Daniel - the one I reviewed almost a year ago had a similar symmetry, being mirrored on the Y-axis.  I have a mixed opinion about this one; on the one hand, it's clever, with a meta-clue reveal, but then I seem to think that either the "shape" of the puzzle's symmetry needed to somehow 'reflect' the "U" shape as well - OR - perhaps more than just three "U" entries~?  It feels as though the answers to 22- and 42A., 9- & 11-letter fills, might have been part of the theme as well.  YMMV.  I count eight names, NINE abbrs, with twenty-three 3LWs but no circles in a standard-sized grid.  The themers and reveal; 

17. *Device whose poles are close together: HORSESHOE MAGNET

24. *Polish sausage: KIELBASA

28. *Commuter's cushion: NECK PILLOW

31. Ed Sheeran hit, and a phonetic hint to the answers to the starred clues: SHAPE OF YOU - Not my "thing" - all I know about this artist is that at one time he was the biggest name in music - here in the 21st century - with a #1 album and singles ( his Wiki ), but I can't listen to most of the material coming from "musicians" lately; it all sounds digitized and just lacking depth, IMHO.  Here's the video, which happens to mention "magnet";

the "attraction" @ 0:59

And Away U Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Deep purple berry: ACAI - Deep Purple "Blackmore" berry

Closer to my "thing"

5. Worker with lots to attend to?: VALET - parking lots, har-har

10. Actor Guinness: ALEC - name #1, but "U" know he portrayed "Obi Wan"

14. Primer, e.g.: COAT - paint, not reading

15. "Who gives a hoot?" response: "I CARE."

"What do U think of her~?" - Luke's respone to Princess Leia

16. "De __": "Gracias" response: NADA - Espaniol #1, translates to "Of Nothing" = U R Welcome

20. Rio Grande city: EL PASO - name #2

21. Fusses with feathers: PREENS

22. Find a valuable deposit underground: STRIKE OIL - Great fill, but how 'bout BIKE LOCKS~?

26. Rage: MANIA

29. Actress Long: NIA - name #3, this actress

30. Compact __: DISCS - CDs

34. "You said it!": "AMEN~!" - "U" said it~?

35. Once-__: quick studies: OVERS

37. Spiced tea: CHAI

38. Snap: PIC

39. Lattice for vines: TRELLIS

41. Starter course, informally: APPetizer - not going smart phone this week

42. Chess piece on f1 or f8: KING'S BISHOP - another great fill, just not what U'd expect

45. Home __: DEPOT - HD is like my second home . . . .

47. Khaki kin: TAN

48. The Most Stuf cookies: OREOS - and there U are, in a crossword again

51. Actor/director Ken: OLIN - name #4 

52. Misplaces: LOSES

54. NYSE listing: CORPoration

55. 128 oz.: GALLon - could have saved an abbr here and gone with

a GAL in turkey socks~!

56. Wipe data from: ERASE - Are U sure~?

57. Medication-approving gp.: FDA - Food and Drug Administration

58. Exercise similar to yoga: PILATES

61. Floofy canine breed: SAMOYED - Not sure I would have understood "floofy", but I do the Down clues first, had most of the crossings, and the rest was easy to fill out on this one

I will be seeing my buddy Cooper tomorrow~!

Still no luck with a pet of my own, but I am not giving up

64. Battery terminals: ANODES

65. Spanish title: SENORA - Espaniol #2

66. Cry after a successful team effort: "WE WON~!" - there's no "U" in TEAM . . . 

67. Plain awful: LOUSY - probably how the other team feels . . . .

DOWN:

1. Tooth trouble: ACHE

2. "Sweet!": "COOL~!"

3. Lobby group for seniors: AARP - American Association of Retired Peoples - I qualified in February four years ago, at least in terms of age - but - I am a looooong way from being able to retire.

4. "What a terrible thing to do": IT'S A SIN - It's A Song - from Pet Shop Boys, classic 80s, which is more my "thing" - but even better, here's Ghost doing a metal-style cover

5. Helmet attachment: VISOR - I tried SPIKE - hey, it's attached, too...and it's called a pickelhaube

6. German cry of dismay: ACH - Ach~! I put my helmet on upside down~!

7. Southeast Asian language: LAO - spoken in, uh, Laos . . .name(ish)

8. Before, in ballads: ERE

9. Arrangement speed: TEMPO - not how fast U can deliver flowers . . . .

10. Remarkably well-behaved: ANGELIC - I do not recall being referred to as this when growing up

11. Bowling assignment: LANE

12. Garden that needs no improvement: EDEN - Perhaps the fruit should have been kept out of reach~?

13. Pets with toe beans: CATS - I tried DOGS

18. Spanish pronoun: ESTA - Espaniol #3

19. Very dry: ARID - like my humor

23. Wall Street figures: INVESTORS - I was thinking BROKERS

25. Tendency of an eager beaver, maybe: EARLINESS - I'll get up at 4am on Black Friday for these

26. Poster on a subway wall: MAP - my first thought was ADS

27. Friend who likely celebrates Bastille Day: AMI - that friend would be Frawnche

32. Topper in a Super Mario costume: CAP

33. Taste: SIP - don't overdo the spirits this weekend

35. Alternative to com: ORG - internet domains; COMpany and ORGanization

36. Member of the fam: SIS - based on its location in the grid, I figured it was SISter

39. Blast letters: TNT 

40. Cable TV abbr.: SHOwtime - abbr #10

43. Cyclotron particle: ION

44. Lumbering Tolkien creature: ORC - or ENT~? name(ish) #5

45. Apt tattoo for a lover of pooches: DOG PAW - I see so many twenty- and thirty-something girls at the gym, covered in tats - legs, arms, whole sleeves - looks "dirty" to me . . . . just my humble opinion

Subtle, and more appealing

46. "Seinfeld" role for Julia: ELAINE - yada yada yada name #6

49. Calls for takeout: ORDERS - I caved in and got General Tso's chicken last Friday

50. "Me time" outing: SPA DAY - I figure my gym trainer is gonna let me slide this weekend 😜

52. Winery discard: LEES

53. Sail the seven __: SEAS - Rhyming answers, LEES and SEAS

59. "Without further __ ... ": ADO - "Let us, tomato . . . . "

60. Decimal base: TEN

62. Voice artist Blanc: MEL - name #7 - Pork Pig's history

Well, not quite . . . . ono more clue

63. Singer Yoko: ONO - name #8

Splynter

Today's puzzle has a "Grid Flow" of 41.8 - by comparison, the Holy Grail puzzle two weeks ago was low - only 15.9 - basically, it's the crossings that give you connectivity to a section with more than a single letter . . . .

And the solution with low Flow:

Just a curiosity

HAPPY THANKSGIVING~!

Tuesday November 25, 2025 Theresa Brady and Gene Leganza

You Can Ring My Bell.

18-Across. Debt security sold to raise funds for World War I: LIBERTY BOND.  //  Liberty Bell.

23-Across. Unexpected and undeserved fortune: DUMB LUCK.  //  Dumb Bell.

51-Across. Singer dubbed the "Mother of the Blues": MA RAINEY.  /  Ma Bell.  Ma Bell was the name for the Bell System, a telecommunications monopoly led by AT&T.  It provided telephone service in North America for about 100 years.  It was the "mother" [Ma] company that provided all telephone services Alexander Graham Bell (Mar. 3, 1847 ~ Aug. 2, 1922) is credited with inventing the telephone, hence, the Bell.  The monopoly was ultimately broken up by a federal court antitrust case in 1984.

A brief bio of Ma Rainey.  She was an African-American from Georgia and has been called the Mother of the Blues.  Sadly, she died at the young age of 53 of heart disease.

56-Across. Weekly promotion in some Tex-Mex restaurants: TACO TUESDAY.  //  Taco Bell.

And the Unifier:

36-Across. Start of the stock exchange trading day, or a feature of 18-, 23-, 51-, and 56-Across: OPENING BELL.  Each theme answer Opens with a Bell.

Across:

1. Twosome: DUO.

4. Long-tailed parrot: MACAW.  They are beautiful birds.

9. Pitch, as a tent: PUT UP.

14. Mork's planet: ORK.  Mork and Mindy was a sit-com from the late 1970s-early 1980s.  Mork, an alien from the planet Ork on a mission to Earth to study human behavior.  He met up with Mindyr, travels to 1970s Boulder, Colo., where he meets up with Mindy, a young journalism graduate.  Mork was portrayed by Robin Williams (July 21, 1951 ~ Aug. 11, 2014) and Mindy was played by Pam Dawber (b. Oct. 18, 1951).

15. "Yay for me!": I RULE!

16. "When the moon hits your eye" condition: AMORE.  Today's Latin lesson.

17. Soda can opener: TAB.  Also the name of a discontinued soda.  Tab was introduced in 1963 and was the Coca-Cola's first diet drink.  It was discontinued in 2020.

20. "Orinoco Flow" singer: ENYA.  The given name of this Irish singer and composer is Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (b. May 17, 1961).  No wonder she goes by Enya.

22. Glacier-forming periods: ICE AGES.

If you go to hockey games, you will understand this cartoon.

26. Airport surface: TARMAC.  The history of the word Tarmac.

29. Essential login info: USER ID.

30. Ray gun sound: ZAP.

31. iPad program: APP.

32. Perfect place: UTOPIA.  Also the title of a 1516 book of fiction and political satire by Sir Thomas More (Feb. 17, 1478 ~ July 6, 1535).  The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.  It was before my time.

35. Earnest entreaty: PLEA.

39. Abundant supply: GLUT.

41. Little house, in Spanish: CASITA.  Today's Spanish Lesson

42. "I'd rather __": NOT.

43. Tiny ammo: BBs.

45. Apply a cipher to: ENCODE.

49. Unit of coffee: CUPFUL.

53. Greek goddess of the hunt: ARTEMIS.  Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and the twin sister of Apollo.  Because she is the huntress, she is often depicted with a bow and arrow, accompanied by hunting dogs.  As a virgin goddess, she protects young unmarried women and is also associated with childbirth, forests, wild animals, and archery. 

55. Bunco trio: DICE.  I am not familiar with this game, but apparently it is played with 3 die.

60. Fla. NBA team: ORL.  As in the Orlando Magic.

61. Any ABBA member: SWEDE.

62. Made off with: STOLE.

63. Previously named: NÉE.  This French word is becoming a crossword staple.

64. Mexican bucks: PESOS.  As of this writing, 1 Mexican Peso is worth 0.054 Dollars.  Or another way, $1 is worth 18.47 Pesos.

65. From Nepal, e.g.: ASIAN.

66. The best is __ to come: YET.

Down:

1. End of a school email address: DOT EDU.

2. Planet between Saturn and Neptune: URANUS.  William Herschel (né Frederick William Herschel; Nov. 15, 1738 ~ Aug. 25, 1822) discovered the planet in 1781, which he wanted to call Georgium Sidus, which means George's Star in honor of George III, King of England (June 4, 1738 ~ Jan. 29, 1820).   Other astronomer, however, had other ideas and they won out.  So how did Uranus get its name, which becomes name official in 1850.

3. "I'm fine with that": OK BY ME.

4. The Brewers, in box scores: MIL.  As in the Milwaukee Brewers.

5. Former NPR host Shapiro: ARI.  Ari Michael Shapiro (b. Sept. 20, 1978) is a radio journalist.  He had been one of the hosts of All Things Considered.  He left NPR in September of this year.

6. Three-dimensional: CUBIC.

7. Smart __: ALECK.

8. "Now __ talking!": WE'RE.

9. Wage inequality: PAY GAP.  Yup, it's real.

10. Natural pigment darker than ocher: UMBER.

11. Like shoes that cause blisters, perhaps: TOO SMALL.

12. Ornate flowerpot: URN.

13. Thin sock worn to try on shoes: PED.

19. The "TT" of TTFN: TATA.  Textspeak for TaTa For Now.

21. Sudden: ABRUPT.

24. Low-calorie, in ads: LITE.

25. Japanese soup noodle: UDON.  These tasty noodles appear often in the puzzles.

27. Mimic: APE.

28. Tax prep pro: CPA.  As in a Certified Public Accountant.

30. Zigs and __: ZAGS.

33. "__ or it didn't happen!": PICS.  That used to be true, but now ...

34. Cookbook writer Garten: INA.  Ina Rosenberg Garten (b. Feb. 2, 1948) is known as the Barefoot Contessa.

35. Serene: PLACID.

36. Runs faster than: OUTPACES.

37. Order in a German pub: BIER.  Today's German lesson.

38. Active Sicilian volcano: ETNA.  This Sicilian volcano makes frequent guest appearances in the puzzle.

39. Chain known for health products: GNC.  Formerly known as General Nutrition Centers.

40. Bud's bud in comedy: LOU.  Abbott and Costello were an American comedy team composed of comedians Bud Abbott (né William Alexander Abbott; Oct. 2, 1895 ~ Apr. 24, 1974) and Lou Costello (né Louis Francis Cristillo; Mar. 6, 1906 ~ Mar. 3, 1959).

43. Narrow flat-topped hills: BUTTES.  //  And 54-Down. Wide flat-topped hill: MESA.

44. "Sacré __!": BLEU.  More of today's French lesson.

46. Like some pungent dips: ONIONY.

47. Official directive: DECREE.

48. Doily loop: EYELET.

50. Hobbit who travels to Mount Doom: FRODO.

51. Waters gently, as a houseplant: MISTS.

52. "Same here," formally: AS DO I.

56. Recipe amt.: TSP.  As in a Teaspoon.

57. Feeling of wonder: AWE.

58. __ mode: À LA.  More of today's French lesson.

59. Urge: YEN.  Also Japanese currency.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Notes from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Picard (Robert), who visited Splynter last June. Picard and his wife have also met with MM and his girlfriend Valerie a few years ago.