Sunday August 16, 2026 Rich Katz

Theme: "THREE'S COMPANY" - Each common phrase is reimagined as the names of three well-known people, two of whom share the same given or last name.

22. Ron + (Kristen + Alexander Graham): SILVER BELLS. Ron Silver.  Kristen Bell. Alexander Graham Bell. 

24. Clint + (Francis Scott + Keegan-Michael): BLACK KEYS. Clint Black. Francis Scott Key. Keegan-Michael Key.

30. Sally + (Julia + Philip): FIELD GLASSES. Sally Field. Julia Glass. Philip Glass.

48. Barry + (Elliot + Jimmy): WHITE PAGES. Barry White. Elliott Page. Jimmy Page.

51. Nia + (Elton + Tommy): LONG JOHNS. Nia Long. Elton John. Tommy John.

63. Grover + (Alton + Helen Gurley): CLEVELAND BROWNS. Grover Cleveland. Alton Brown. Helen Gurley Brown.

81. (Adam + Minnie) + Helms: DRIVER'S ED.  Adam Driver. Minnie Driver. Ed Helms.

83. Fiona + (Lemmon + London): APPLE JACKS. Fiona Apple. Jack Lemmon. Jack London.

98. Cleary + (Faith + Jonah): BEVERLY HILLS. Beverly Cleary. Faith Hill. Jonah Hill.

109. Keith + (Garfunkel + Carney): URBAN ARTS. Keith Urban. Art Garfunkel. Art Carney.

111. (Underwood + Fisher) + Johnny: CARRIES CASH.  Carrie Underwood. Carrie Fisher. Johnny Cash.

I don't recall seeing this theme idea before. Very creative. 

 

It may look like an overwhelming number of names at first glance, but nearly all of them are confined to the theme clues as a natural consequence of the concept. The fill is so clean. 

I think this Rich is our constructor. 

Across:

1. Best of the best: A-ONE.

5. Syrup source: MAPLE. I don't think sugar maples grow naturally in China. Maple syrup wasn't part of my childhood.

10. That partner: THIS.

14. Fistfuls of dollars: WADS.

18. Authorize: ALLOW.

19. Cookies with a "You asked for it" collaboration with 29-Across: OREOS. 29. Peanut butter cup brand: REESE'S.

20. Surrounding glow: AURA.

21. La Scala solo: ARIA.

26. NYC drama award: OBIE.

27. Slangy contraction: AIN'T.

28. Land between Can. and Mex.: USA.

34. Like stress balls and fidget spinners: SENSORY.

35. End of term?: ITES. Termites.

36. "Knock yourself out!": PLEASE DO. 43. Knocked out: LAID LOW.

39. Suzuki who won nine batting titles in two countries: ICHIRO. Coolest player ever. 

44. Some reservoir residents: FOWL.

54. Othello's betrayer: IAGO.

55. Bulgarian, e.g.: SLAV.

56. Endow with, as authority: VEST.

58. Autonomous vacuum: ROOMBA.

59. Utmost degree: NTH.

60. Aligned: EVENED.

62. Labors mightily to accomplish: TOILS AT.

68. Term of endearment?: IT'S LOVE. This clue doesn't quite click for me. 

71. Leveraged __: corporate acquisition: BUYOUT.

72. "Print to" option: PDF.

75. Really sad: MOROSE.

76. Sound from a kettle or a snake: HISS.

78. Actor Epps: OMAR.

80. Island home of the Hana Highway: MAUI.

85. Speaker brand: BOSE.

86. Theater reviewers: CRITICS.

89. Plug's place: SOCKET.

90. Channel that rarely fails to make one cry: TEAR DUCT. Fun clue.

92. Matinee hrs.: AFTS.

94. "The Return of the King" king: ARAGORN. Played by Viggo Mortensen.

104. Small donkeys: BURROS.

105. Ballerina's turning point: TOE.

107. Ancient France: GAUL.

108. "So Sick" R&B singer: NEYO.

114. New Mexico art hub: TAOS.

115. Santa's specialty: TOYS.

116. Leading: AHEAD.

117. Nikon rival: CANON. 118. Nikon products: SLRS.

119. Novelist mile: ZOLA.

120. Baking gloves: MITTS.

121. Pt. of IMF: INTL.

Down:

1. Defense witness, often: ALIBI.

2. Basic skateboard trick: OLLIE.

3. Many a Seanan McGuire work: NOVEL. New name to me. Seanan McGuire received five Hugo Award nominations in 2013. 

4. Sheepish sort?: EWE.

5. Crib accessory: MOBILE.

6. Venues that often have corporate names: ARENAS.

7. Nails, as with snowballs: PELTS.

8. "U r 2 funny!": LOL.

9. Start at the beginning?: ESS. The starting letter in Start.

10. Guitar player's aid: TABS.

11. Hawaiian dance: HULA.

12. Nest egg letters: IRA.

13. Holy: SACRED.

14. Boat trailers?: WAKES. Powerful wakes.

15. Schoolyard retort: ARE SO.

16. Certain hardware store patron, casually: DIYER.

17. Smart-alecky: SASSY.

18. Lead-up to a date?: AS OF.

23. Convertibles: RAGTOPS.

25. Lotto game: KENO.

28. Thrifted, perhaps: USED. Anyone here use Poshmark?

31. Bleak: DIRE.

32. Spots for scrubs: SPAS.

33. "ManningCast" brother: ELI.

34. In stitches: SEWN.

37. "__ well that ends well": ALL'S.

38. Smokestack dust: SOOT.

39. "Game, set, match": I WIN.

40. Puss, in Paris: CHAT.

41. Top temperature: HIGH. Beautiful weather here in Minnesota the past few days.

42. Skater Midori: ITO.

43. 101, for one: LEVEL. Biology 101, e.g.

44. Tricks: FOOLS.

45. Measures of resistance: OHMS.

46. Liberty org.: WNBA. The New York Liberty.

47. Hurdle for a DA-to-be: LSAT.

49. Pain relief brand: ALEVE. Can you believe I hurt my lower back picking up an empty watering can?

50. Donated: GAVE.

52. "Oh, __ up!": GROW.

53. Connect: JOIN.

56. Williams with five Wimbledon singles titles: VENUS. 97. Wimbledon surface: GRASS.

57. Whirlpool: EDDY.

61. Captures: NABS.

62. Completely wreck: TOTAL.

63. Eggnog spice: CLOVE.

64. Concede a golden goal, say: LOSE. A golden goal immediately ends overtime in some soccer and hockey competitions.

65. Of all time: EVER.

66. Nose-tapping sounds: BOOPS.

67. Kind of roast: RUMP.

68. Site for film fans: IMDB.

69. Lawnmower brand: TORO. Based here in Minnesota. 

70. Sanskrit honorifics: SRIS.

72. Rat or Brat follower: PACK.

73. Team led by Mike Krzyzewski for 42 seasons: DUKE.

74. Clenched hand: FIST.

76. Munich mister: HERR.

77. Terse affirmative: I DID.

79. Provide a new look: RESTYLE.

80. Prefix in many a Scottish surname: MAC.

82. Printer function: SCAN.

83. Closer at the Globe: ACT V. The Globe refers to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Many of his plays end with Act V.

84. Kid: JOSH.

87. __ sock: TUBE.

88. Winter puddle topper: ICE.

90. Many a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" character: TOON.

91. Fake: ERSATZ.

92. Landing spot of Noah's Ark: ARARAT. Noah was 601 years old then!

93. Liquids: FLUIDS.

94. Borders: ABUTS.

95. Like most farmland: RURAL.

96. Shady spot: ARBOR.

99. Everglades wader: EGRET.

100. Like Machu Picchu: INCAN.

101. Listed, to a Brit: LEANT. We leaned.

102. Antibacterial brand: LYSOL.

103. Kind of Kind, in Köln: SOHN. Tricky bilingual clue. The second Kind is the German word for "child." Sohn means "son."

105. Texter's "Bye for now": TTYL.

106. Peak near Olympus: OSSA.

110. Aussie hopper: ROO.

111. Vid taker: CAM.

112. Sashimi choice: AHI.

113. Ecol. or geol.: SCI.

 

Today we celebrate the 76th birthday of our own witty Wednesday sherpa, MM (Joseph). Here he is in Chiang Rai in 2017, looking as adventurous as ever. Wishing you a very happy birthday, Joseph, and many more wonderful journeys ahead!

Chiang Rai, 2017

C.C.

Saturday, August 15, 2026, Barbara Lin and Jess Rucks

 Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Barbara Lin and Jess Rucks

Me and Jess

Barb

I was very pleased to see Jess's name come up today as a co-constructor. I have had the fun of blogging her Saturday themeless puzzles before and am always amazed by her work and, uh, creative clues 😀, a tradition she maintained here as well. As you can see in the picture at the left, Jess and I met up on a very cold night in Lincoln for a delightful dinner last year and hashed over a lot of crossword minutiae. She lives in Colorado with her husband and son and  is retired from the Air Force where she was an Urdu translator. Yes, she was a Division 1 volleyball player as well.

Her partner in crime construction is Barb Lin who lives just outside Philadelphia, PA, where she dabbles in gardening and excels in computer engineering. Here is a lovely interview of Barb Jess conducted.

 

                                  

Across:

1. Teddy bear: SOFTY - I thought this might be a brand name but no, it's just a tender-hearted person. Even Elvis knew this: "Oh let me be, your teddy bear". Hey, I heard you sing along! 😊

6. Carousel rider?: BAG 😀

9. Basaltic plain on the moon: MARE - MARE is latin for Sea and here we see the location of  The Lunar Sea Of Tranquility which hosted Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969.

13. Roadside snack: STREET TACO.

16. Driver on a movie set: ADAM - 😀 The answer below is no.

17. Sign that means it's time to turn around: NO ENTRANCE - How it's done in the UK

18. Spam musubi wrapper: NORI - Musubi (結び), translates to “tie” or “bind,”

19. White-hot: SEETHING.

20. Lights up: SMILES.

22. Quick kiss: PECK - Not a BUSS

23. Useful spot: PSA - Here's a Public Service Announcement from the 50's about saying Good Night after a date

24. Some sci-fi villains: ETS.

25. Multipurpose tool: SPORK - We really like KFC, but we opt for real silverware.

27. Verb coined in "Stranger in a Strange Land": GROK - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Author Robert Heinlein said GROK is a Martian word that literally means "to drink" .Metaphorically, it means to understand something so completely and deeply. Jess is fluent in Urdu but not Martian. 😀

28. Hindi honorific: SRI.

29. Berry grown in Ohio?: HALLE - She took her stage name from Halle's Department Store in Cleveland.

30. Jordan who won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay: PEELE.

31. Org chart leader: CEO.

32. "Sure, that tracks": I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN.

35. "J to __ L-O!": 2002 remix album: THA - Some hip hop slang 

36. Replacements after leaving marks?: EUROS - Germans now use EUROS for currency after having used marks since 1876.

37. Huffs and puffs: PANTS and 40. Huffs and puffs: RANTS.

38. __ de deux: PAS - a ballet duet, literally translating from French as a "step of two", typically performed by a male and a female dancer. Below is the Grand PAS de Deux from the Nutcracker. Play as much of this 5:37 cut that you like to beautify your day.

39. Mass agreement: AMEN 😀

41. "Yes, captain": AYE.

42. Clear (of): RID.

43. Clear of contaminants: PURE - Clear in the clue is an adjective and not a verb

44. Varied: RANGED.

46. Opportunities to learn the hard way: MISTAKES - Do guys like this ever learn?

50. Mil. no-show: AWOL.

51. "Mine! Mine! Mine!": I WANT IT ALL.

53. "The Goonies" role for Ke Huy Quan: DATA - Saturday cluing for sure, Ke is in the bottom row, second from the right. 

54. Brings the temperature down, maybe: TALKS SENSE.

55. Googly-__: EYED - From a cartoon first published in 1919. A popular song of the day was, "Barney Google With the Goo, Goo, Goo Googly Eyes"

56. Fashion letters: YSL.

57. Trapped, in a way: TREED.

Down:

1. Fed. IDs: SSNS.

2. Della Warrior's heritage: OTOE is the first and only woman to date to serve as chairperson and chief executive officer for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe.

3. Priceless?: FREE.

4. One-night stand, perhaps?: TENT POLE 😀

5. Frustrated expression: YET HERE WE ARE.

6. [All of a sudden!]: BANG.

7. Stanford's gp.: ACC - With all the conference alignments up in the air, Stanford and  Cal Berkley (formerly in the Pacific 10) had to get into some conference even if it was on the other coast (Atlantic Coast Conference).

8. Disbands?: GOES SOLO - Michael Jackson had great success when he left this brothers 

9. Digital art, informally?: MANI 😀

10. Juvenile: ADOLESCENT.

11. Special indulgences: RARE TREATS.

12. Targets of smog checks: EMISSIONS.

14. Bridge unit: TRICK - 😀 A trick in a card games is a single round of play where each person plays one card, and the highest card wins.

   
15. Choke: TANK - These are both failures. In sports, if a player chokes, he might fail to make a winning play even though he is trying. If a player TANKS, he also fails but might be trying to lose or throw a game.

21. One who tries not to overshadow the star?: MAKE UP ARTIST 😀 Gotta love this one!

23. Feeds (on): PREYS.

25. "Shantay, you stay" opposite: SASHAY AWAY - During our dinner in Lincoln, Jess said she enjoyed RuPaul Drag Race and this phrase is part of that show.

  

26. "This is important": PLEASE NOTE.

27. Mount: GET ON - How The Lone Ranger accomplished this with Silver.

29. Top tunes: HIT PARADE - When The Lone Ranger was mounting Silver in the 50's, The Hit Parade was telling us the top songs of the week. Listen to as much of this 30-minute show (complete with cigarette commercials) as you like from over 70 years ago.

30. Trimmed (down): PARED - By the first game, NFL teams must have PARED down to a 53 man roster from the 100 or so that are trying out.

33. Hair curler?: HUMIDITY.

34. 1982 Hall & Oates song: MANEATER.

40. Shows signs of age: RUSTS.

43. Chappell Roan's "__ Pony Club": PINK - A fav of my granddaughters. 

45. Chuffed: GLAD - This is more of a UK expression.

46. Edina, Minnesota is home to the first U.S. indoor one: MALL - 1956. This would go along with The Lone Ranger and Your Hit Parade!

47. Lucci role: KANE - Susan Lucci played Erica Kane on All My Children for 41 years.

48. Conditional word in Python: ELSE - Barb is a computer engineer

49. Blair Braverman vehicle: SLED.

52. Portrayed: WAS - I first had DID, as in an impersonator DID Cary Grant.

More from Jess: Barb and I met at ACPT in 2025, and since then have been wanting to make a puzzle together. We finally made that happen with this one! Barb did a lot of the heavy lifting on the gridding and we collaborated on the clues. Hope you enjoyed it :) This one was fun to make. Barb is a great constructor, so I felt some pressure to push myself working with her -- I tried to clue with more wordplay and generally at a higher difficulty than I may have on my own. She clued, too, but I clued more of the entries since she ended up making more of the grid. 

Friday, Aug 14th, 2026 ~ Katie Hale

 FOURTH SUNDOWN & INCHES

Actually, it's #5, and Across, but . . .

LA Times assistant editor Katie Hale is back - her last crossword offering was a month ago, on a Monday, here.  The last one I blogged was a co-authored puzzle that had too much of a cringe factor ( for me ) to be enjoyable.  Today, however, was a pleasant, and partially humorous construction, with four themers, including two grid-spanners, that added our star, the three-letter word SUN, to common phrases, giving them 'solar' power.  There were maybe a few too many 2-word entries, especially in the Downs, but it was Friday-level, if not easier.  Standard grid, no "outlier add-ons" this week, with 10 names, no circles, and a near-perfect balance of 3-, 4-. and 5-letter words.  The themers and reveal;

18. *Action figure at the bottom of a pool?: SUNKEN DOLL - I first thought maybe G.I. Joe~?

I had the 80's "action figures" the same size as the Star Wars ones

23. *Naval officer's very quiet "ahoy there"?: LITTLE BOSUN PEEP - Bosun, how one pronounces "boatswain" 

35. *Jokes about miscellaneous items?: SUNDRY HUMOR

48. *Essential for authors who work at the beach?: WRITER'S SUNBLOCK

56. Clean energy option, or a hint to what the answers to the starred clues have?: SOLAR POWER

But Wait There's More~!

ACROSS:

1. "Cor, blimey!": "I SAY~!" - Brit-speak

5. Oxygen co-creator: OPRAH - Oxygen, the network, not the element from THE Creator -  name #1

10. Mascaron image: FACE - filled via perps, WAGed the "C" - this architectural detail

14. Drive-__: THRU

15. Tricky tennis serve: SLICE - meh.  It's called an "ace" where I play tennis

16. Traffic-dependent figs.: ETAs

17. Azaria of "Brockmire": HANK - I know him from the Simpsons; name #2

20. WSW reversal: ENE

21. Virtual citizenry: SIMS - Another good guess on my part - but I have played Sim City & The Sims

22. Dad's sister: AUNT

28. Outdoor dining spot: PATIO

29. "Oh, now I see": "A-HA~!"

30. TV controller?: FCC - The Federal Communications Commission - I cound not recall what the second "C" stood for

31. 19th Greek letter: TAU

33. Cryptography org.: NSA - Thursday dupe

34. Mineralogist who created a scale: MOHS - this puzzle's themers gave me a laugh, so I'm giving it the "other" kind of star, a 4 / 5⭐ from on the "other" Moe's Scale - name(ish)

38. 2025 WNBA champions: ACES - I follow no basketball at all, tried the SUNS - but knowing the theme after the fact meant it could not be - plus I missed the "W" part of the clue as well . . . 😜

40. Solstice mo.: DECember - Monday, the 21st of this year, 12:50pm on the LA Times coast

41. Live and __ live: LET - in 1973, Wings "used to say . . ."

Live & Let DIE~!, Mr. Bond - James Bond

42. "Starship Troopers" backdrop: WAR - had it, filled it in, then took it out . . . an overdone movie with egregious graphic violence - I loved it.  The IMDb

43. Zing: PEP

44. Gives, but not forever: LENDS - I had perps from doing the Downs first, so it was not LOANS

53. Olympic swimmer Torres: DARA - name #3 - her website

54. Cruising: ASEA

55. __ leaf: stew herb: BAY - why you shouldn't eat one~!?

The YouTube link

59. Snitch (on): NARC

60. "Copacabana" bartender: TONY - had this Barry Manilow reference three weeks ago; name #4

61. Hugo or Edgar: AWARD - Both for literature, one Sci-Fi, the other Mystery and other genres

62. Wayfair rival: IKEA - I have bought home items from Wayfair, only shopped once at an Ikea

63. Referendum side: PROS

64. Like some buns: MESSY - Ah.  Those kinds  of bun

There's a red-haired beauty at my gym,

always on the Stairmaster when I am

65. Join (up): TEAM

DOWN:

1. Networking assistance: IT HELP - 2-word #1 - AND - 51D. 1-Down callers: USERS

2. Grammy winner Twain: SHANIA -  name #5 

A knock-off of Robert Palmer's video, which has more leg in it

3. "Is This Thing On?" star Will: ARNETT - name #6

4. Big laugh: YUK

5. Activist/actor Davis: OSSIE - learned by doing crosswords, name #7

6. Straight up: PLUMB - the same client with the pantry doors just got a new pocket door installed

7. Classic laundry soap: RINSO - I have heard of this brand, but I used Tide, then switched to soap flakes as suggested by the book "Laundry Love" which I learned of from sumdaze - name(ish)

8. "Jeepers!": "ACK~!" - Dah~! Not "EEK~!"

9. Little laugh: HEE - waited on perps; HEE, HAW or TEE~?

10. Beyond irritated: FED UP - the name chosen for the new merger of Federal Express and UPS 😜

11. Try to make right: ATONE FOR - 2-word #2

12. Pasadena research univ.: CAL TECH - 2-word #3

13. Pre-naturalization test course, for short: ESL - "English as Second Language" - Do you have to take the test/course these days~?

19. Meemaw alternative: NANA - no one in my family has ever used either term for "Granny"

21. "McSorley's Bar" painter: SLOAN - John, name #8

24. "__ Andronicus": TITUS - T.I.L. this is a Shakespeare play, name #9

25. Ceremonial accessory: SASH - I tried VEIL first

26. Rental after closing, maybe: U-HAUL - I was thinking a place to sleep after closing on the sale of a house, but you haven't bought a new one, like "HOTEL"

27. Hardware for Xbox: PCs

32. Cow's milk source: UDDER - this is udderly true . . . 🙄

33. US Open locale: NYC - I figured it was the tennis Open

34. Interstate stopover: MOTEL - so my HOTEL was looking wrong now . . .

35. Fig. for ordering replacement parts: SERIAL No. - 2-words, yeah, but I like this fill, #4

36. Set pieces: REPS - at the gym.  I am now 193.0lbs - I took a pic of the scale last Saturday; my trainer allows 3lbs for sneakers and clothes - when I picked up the phone for the image, it added .5lbs~!

Now my trainer thinks I can get down to 160lbs - Yikes~!

37. Peach __: MELBA - Pie & Cobbler didn't fit the dish

38. "So sweet!": "Aww. . ."

39. Side mirror spot: CAR DOOR - I clipped the one on the passenger side on my Dodge Grand Caravan, bought a replacement unit, but to get to the screws I have to strip out half the dashboard - I'm in no hurry, and the mirror isn't actually broken - it's the remote motor that doesn't work - 2-word #5

43. Cider source: PEAR - never heard of cider from pears - it's called Perry; a recipe here

45. Like some cheesecake: NO-BAKE - technically, there's a hyphen, so not a 2-word answer

46. Region with many Nats fans, briefly: D.C. AREA - 2-word(ish)

47. Overview producer?: SKYCAM - Big Brother is watching . . . 😶

49. Canteen stack: TRAYS

50. Perceived to be: SAW AS - aaaand Twurd~!

52. Uncool: NERDY

56. Auto care brand: STP - Crossword staple

57. Actress Grier: PAM - two mentions in three weeks for me, name #10

58. Come up short, maybe: OWE

59. Minor quibble: NIT - "can't you see that man is a nit~!"

No, dagnubbit~!

Splynter

Grid Flow an even 30.0 - and it was the Katie puzzle I blogged

where I first introduced this parameter