Feb 27, 2026

Friday, Feb 27th, 2026 ~ Sara Muchnick & Doug Peterson

CROSS [ I ] EYED

Iron Maiden's Cross-Eyed Mary cover - I grew up with these guys,

but if you prefer the Jethro Tull orignal . . .

This is the second LA Times collaboration between Sara & Doug; Moe had the other one two years ago. Mr. Peterson is a regular, and I found this link to a crossword blog from Sara - I like the phrase she used to 'celebrate' her first published NYT puzzle. We have a "sort-of" visual theme to the puzzle, as the sans serif font of the LA Times crossword makes a capital "I" look like a vertical line; when rotated, or "rolled", it becomes a hyphen. Took me a bit to suss, but once "EYE" did, "EYE" smiled - a fresh, thought[ I ]provoking theme -AND - there are NO other wandering "I"s in the entire frame. Well done, constructors~! A standard grid, a handful of names, no circles, a balance of twenty 3LWs, and, having added in the "I"s, the 'straight definition' themers become unique;

17. *Inlay material, often: MOTHER [ I ] OF [ I ] PEARL - mother-of-pearl

28. *Not cooped up: FREE [ I ] RANGE - free-range

49. *Flexible: OPEN [ I ] ENDED - open-ended

61. *Lightheaded ones?: JACK [ I ] O' [ I ] LANTERNS - jack-o'-lanterns

37. Silent display of skepticism, or a phonetic hint for making sense of the answers to the starred clues: EYE ROLL - that is, one takes the "I"s in the themers and "rolls" them 90° ( either clockwise or counterclockwise, it works the same 🙄), and now they make sense~!

But Wate, There's More ~!

ACROSS:

1. After-dinner drink: DECAF - Oh, coffee; "EYE" went straight to alcohol 😜 A rolled-eye [ I ] Easter Egg in the clue, too~!

6. Players who may have to start over many times: NOOBS - short for 'Newbies', one who is unfamiliar with whatever they're involved in; here's my Revit T-shirt ( it's a drafting inside joke )

BIM = Building Information Modeling - essentially 3D CAD

11. Cannabis compound: THC - TetraHydroCannabinol - what gives the "buzz/high" of smokin' the (Cross-eyed) mary jane, weed, ganja, pot, herb, grass, dank, chronic, etc.

14. Tickle: AMUSE - some of the slang for marijuana does tickle me

15. Home of the first jet bridge: O'HARE - EYE love clues/answers where EYE learn something new

16. Peach or plum: HUE - it was fruitless trying to fit FRUIT 🙄

20. Opposite of very: A TAD - Atwurd

21. "iZombie" setting: SEATTLE - no clue, but perps gave me all but the two "E"s

Never heard of this bizarre [ I ] but intriguing [ I ] concept for a show

22. Lip __: BALM

25. "The Phoenician Scheme" director Anderson: WES - name #1; more from IMDb

27. Surgical tool: LASER

32. Boris Johnson, for one: TORY - no ( British ) politics at the Corner~! Name(ish)

33. Keeps (off): FENDS

34. Treats embossed with flowers, dots, and dashes: OREOs - well, it's not just one OREO today

36. Blue: SAD - another color con clue

40. Cash back?: COW - "Cash Cow"

Dunk your Oreos in your cash cow "output" 🙄

43. Leavening agent: YEAST

44. Lorna of literature: DOONE - NOT the cookies; name #2

46. Typical choice: GO-TO - e.g., when EYE get Chinese, my "go-to" choice is General Tso's Chicken

52. Totally believed: ATE UP - believe it - EYE "ate up" my egg roll, too 🙄 ( and a Thusday dupe )

54. Rx writer: DOC

55. Price points: TAGS

56. Moseys: STROLLS

59. "Poppycock!": "TOSH~!"

66. Short-horned bighorn: EWE - Another rolled-eye [ I ] Easter Egg in the clue, plus a change-up from the "ewe"sual 🙄

Feb 26, 2026

Thursday February 26, 2026 Patti Varol

As you know, Patti Varol is not only the LAT crossword editor, she is also an accomplished constructor. Today, she has delivered our paper by HAND with a well-themed crossword on the puzzle page, so let's start with the revealer:

33. Walk with one's sweetie, and what 16-, 23-, 49-, and 58-Across do?: HOLD HANDS. Each of the themed answers actually HOLD HANDS of one type or another. Very nice and straightforward.

16. See 33-Across: CLOCK FACES. When the big hand is on the 2, it means you're late for work.

23. See 33-Across: CARD PLAYERS. Got any 2s?

49. See 33-Across: RANCH HOUSES. Actually, bunkhouses hold the ranch hands, but close enough.

58. See 33-Across: WOOL GLOVES. These were made for ewe.

I loved this theme, very well executed. At first I was bothered by the "See 33-Across" clues. Like many of you, I usually start at the top. This one required jumping down to discover the revealer first. Once the center was done, the rest of the themers fell into place. For most of them, I had the second word then asked myself, "How would these HOLD HANDS?" Each became a little AHA moment. Lots of fun! But what wasn't so fun was all the people's names - about a dozen of them, not counting a half-dozen other proper names. DIOS MIA!

Names of rivers or schools seem fair; a plethora of people do not. The NE corner was particularly troublesome with 2 short names crossing GIRARDI (assuming you don't know this off the top of your head, like me). Ida, Ila, Ima, Ina, Ira, Iva - nope, not one of those. Then Tala, Tama, Tana, Taya. None of those either. I eventually settled on an "M" at the intersection of TARA. Close, but no cigar.

Let's HOLD HANDS as we traverse the grid together.

Across:

1. Former "Top Chef" host Lakshmi: PADMA. Padma Lakshmi is an Emmy-nominated producer, television host, author, and activist. Oh, and she began her career as a supermodel.

6. Imperfection: FLAW.

10. Tennis champion Swiatek: IGA. IGA Świątek was born in Warsaw, Poland, and has won the French Open four times, and the U.S. Open and Wimbledon once each. Her primary weapon is a powerful extreme-topspin forehand that is very difficult to return.

13. Second calling?: ALIAS. Good clue.

14. Untimely?: LATE. Another good clue.

15. Carpentry wedge: SHIM.

16. [theme]

18. "Educated" memoirist Westover: TARA. TARA s an American essayist and historian. Here she is receiving the National Humanities Award in 2023.

19. Creative inspiration: MUSE.

20. "In __ of gifts ... ": LIEU. In LIEU of gifts...No! You may send me gifts!

21. Coffees, casually: JAVAS. "I'll have a cup of JAVA, please," said no one, ever (at least in this century).

22. Branch: ARM.

23. [theme]

25. Marcus partner: NEIMAN. I misread this as Marcus painter. I briefly wondered, "What famous painting is called Marcus?" Note to self: Buy new reading glasses.

Marcus Aurelius

27. __ baseball: esoteric knowledge: INSIDE. Knowing how to spell GIRARDI was INSIDE baseball to me.

28. Dove bar: SOAP. When my mom got mad and wanted to wash my mouth out with soap, I suggested this. It didn't help.

29. Pacific resort, casually: CABO. CABO San Lucas is at the southern tip of Baja California. You can get there via Tijuana Taxi or CABO.

32. "__ but a scratch": TIS. Here is King Arthur fighting the Black Knight who says "Ni" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"We'll call it a draw."

33. [theme]

37. General on a takeout menu: TSO. He's only outranked by King Pao Chicken.

40. Financial services co. for mil. families: USAA. Originally called the United Services Automobile Association, it provides insurance, banking, and investment products exclusively to military members, veterans, and their families.

41. Checkout device: IPAD. Checkout device: BINOS.

44. Down counterpart: ACROSS. This could've had a meta clue, such as "This clue." But it plays nicely into the the next one...

47. Margaret who was the first editor of the New York Times crossword: FARRAR. Her stint ran from 1942 through 1969, and she created many regulations that have become standards, such as limiting the number of black squares in the grid, creating a minimum word-length of three letters, requiring grids to be symmetric and forbidding unchecked squares. Great shout-out to a fellow editor from Patti.

49. [theme]

53. Molecule in some vaccines: RNA. RibiNucleic Acid.

54. "No fooling!": TRUTH. Believe it or not!

55. Mousetrap brand: D-CON.

56. Supermodel Hadid: GIGI. Supermodel? Yes. An Emmy-nominated producer, television host, author, and activist? No.

57. Land measure: ACRE.

58. [theme]

60. Take five: REST.

61. Ponte Vecchio river: ARNO. Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone arch bridge over the ARNO in Florence, Italy.

62. "25" and "30" singer: ADELE. She names her albums after her age at the time of recording. I hope Van Halen doesn't do the same thing. I mean they're old, but not that old.

63. Afore: ERE.

64. 403(b) IDs: SSNS. Social Security Numbers.

65. Early PC platform: MSDOS. The MicroSoft Disc Operating System.

Down:

1. Arcade classic with ghosts: PAC-MAN. The "Ghost Gang" of Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde chased after PAC-MAN, and made my wrist sore in the process.

2. Draws: ALLURES.

3. "¡Ay, caramba!": DIOS MIO. "Oh my gosh!": MY GOD! Spanish exclamations.

4. Spice cookie spice: MACE. MACE is an aromatic spice derived from the covering of the nutmeg seed, offering a warm, delicate, and slightly sharper flavor.

5. "Thought you'd never __": ASK.

6. 14-time WWE Women's Champion Charlotte: FLAIR. Charlotte is the daughter of popular wrestler Ric FLAIR. She is part of World Wrestling Entertainment.

7. Like most sneakers: LACED. These shoes are LACED with alcohol:

8. Devoured: ATE UP.

9. Bentley of "Yellowstone": WES. He's not just another pretty face! Well, okay, he's just another pretty face.

10. "Found a solution!": I HAVE IT. I'd prefer, "I've got it!" but you gotta fit what fits.

11. Yankees manager after Torre: GIRARDI. Joe GIRARDI managed the Yankees from 2008 to 2017, and winning the 2009 World Series. He was born in Peoria, that's why he played.

12. Racks up: AMASSES.

15. Hotel bookings: STAYS.

17. Custard dessert similar to crème caramel: FLAN. My daughter-in-law is of Cuban descent. She says FLAN is popular there because it can be made without baking when power is out, which is often.

21. First mo.: JAN. JANUARY is the first month.

23. Guitar accessory: CAPO. Yay! A guitar-related clue! A CAPO can be clamped onto the neck of a guitar, effectively shortening the strings and raising its pitch.

24. Animal in the Premier League logo: LION. The Premier League is England's highest level of professional association football (aka soccer).

26. __-jongg: MAH. MAH-jongg looks like fun. I'll have to learn how to play it.

29. Pre-iTunes stack: CDS. Pre-CDs stack: LPs - although I cringe when I see records stacked this way. Years ago, my cousin ran a load of them through the dishwasher after a party! I'm still in therapy.

30. Cry with a finger snap: AHA. Vastly better than an "oho" moment.

31. Response to Bo Peep: BAA. That is, if she can find her sheep.

34. Rich: LUSH.

35. Semana parts: DIAS. Parts of weeks are days, en español.

36. Beautiful time of yr. at a botanical garden: SPR. It's almost SPRING! I'm sure those of you up north can hardly wait.

37. Raw preparation: TARTARE.

38. Harder to find: SCARCER.

39. Hosp. caregiver during surgery: OR NURSE. The Operating Room NURSE in a hospital.

42. Got somewhere: ARRIVED.

43. Beverly of the "Vacation" films: D'ANGELO. She was perfect playing the wife of the "expert in exterior illumination," Chevy Chase, in one of my favorite Christmas movies.

45. Largish jazz combo: OCTET.

46. "Quiet, you!": SHH.

47. __ shui: FENG.

48. Hikes: RAISES.

50. Baking soda targets: ODORS.

51. NCAA school with the most first-round WNBA draft picks: UCONN. The women's team at the University of Connecticut is perennially top-ranked, leading many players into the professional Women's National Basketball Association.

52. Pilots' milestones: SOLOS. To get your pilot's license, you must fly so high and SOLO.

56. Mercury and Neptune: GODS. Roman gods and their namesake roamin' planets. "Planets" (from Greek planētēs) means "wanderers," a term used by ancient astronomers for five bright, naked-eye objects (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) that roam across the fixed starry background.

58. Once cost: WAS.

59. Go on the __: LAM.

Be good. RB

Feb 25, 2026

Wednesday, February 25, 2026, Brian Callahan

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a melodious puzzle constructed by NYT, LAT and USA Today veteran constructor Brian Callahan. At four places in the grid Brian has inserted the names of singer-song writers with each name consisting of two words. The first words all begin with the letter P and the second names begin with the letter S. The theme was inspired by the answer to the unifier which is found at:

59 Across: Beatles hit on "Please Please Me," which could be dedicated to 16-, 24-, 35-, and 50-Across: PS I LOVE YOU.

Here are the four themed answers none of which require explanation beyond their clues:

16 Across: "Because the Night" singer-songwriter: PATTI SMITH.

24 Across: "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" singer-songwriter: PETE SEEGER.

35 Across: "You Can Call Me Al" singer-songwriter: PAUL SIMON.

50 Across: "Poetry Man" singer-songwriter: PHOEBE SNOW.

Thank you, Brian, for the opportunity to revisit all of those great songs. Now, after all of that, if anyone still has the time and energy, here's how it all appears in the grid:

. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Campbell's container: CAN.

Andy Warhol's Take On The Subject

4. Sports complex: ARENA. From the Latin harena meaning sandy place.

9. Air quality factor: SMOG. A portmanteau of SMoke and fOG.

13. The Jazz, on scoreboards: UTA.

14. Cuddly pooch: LAP DOG.

15. University of New Mexico athlete: LOBO.

18. Siberian city: OMSK.

19. Twitter: CHIRP. An avian reference - not a tech reference.

20. Grumpy person: CRAB. CRABs (the animals) have a reputation for being feisty and unpleasant.

22. Fed. health law: ACA.

23. Dialect in some Black communities, for short: AAVE. All you might want to know:

African American Vernacular English

27. Tear sheet?: KLEENEX. Not tear as in to rip a piece of paper. Tear as in crying.

29. Flair: TALENT. A cake entered a TALENT contest. The Judge asked, "What's your talent?" "Icing", replied the entrant.

30. "Mars Attacks!" creatures, in brief: ETS. ExtraTerrestrial BeingS

31. Celtic priest of old: DRUID. Did this one stump you?

34. Son of Zeus: ARES.

38. Ralph Lauren brand: POLO

41. Buff: TONED. Buff, here, was used not as a verb but as an adjective

42. Sked abbr.: TBD. To Be Determined. Sometimes it turns out to be TBArranged.

45. Device for smoking shisha: HOOKAH. Shisha is is a wet tobacco that is soaked in a combination of glycerin, molasses or honey, and flavoring.

48. On an elite level, informally: GOD TIER. This expression is new to this solver.

53. Wine category: REDS. As opposed to, for example, white wines or rose wines.

54. Jungfrau, for one: ALP. elevation 13,642 feet

55. Balm-yielding succulent: ALOE. ALOE, there. Vera nice to meet you!

56. Small but powerful group: CADRE. CADRE entered this solver's vocabulary during the Mao Tse Tung era.

57. History: PAST. The PAST, the present, and the future walked into a bar . . . and things got a little tense.

62. Yale students: ELIS. From the eponymous Mr. Elihu Yale.

63. "Praying" insect: MANTIS.

64. Dawn goddess: EOS. A frequent visitor.

65. __ and file: RANK.

66. Short-lived Ford model: EDSEL. Often taken on road trips in our puzzles.

67. Private chats on soc. media: DMS. Abbreviated clue . . . Direct MessageS

Down:

1. Treat baked in a fluted liner: CUPCAKE.

2. No longer moving: AT A HALT.

3. Longtime residents: NATIVES.

4. Some Energizers: AAS.

5. Turntable meas.: RPM. Abbreviated clue . . . Revolutions Per Minute Remember when we'd talk of tone arm counter weight, Sure vs Audio-Technica cartridges, and direct drive vs. belt drive?

6. Order: EDICT. Not order as in what you do at a restaurant. Not order as in an array. Order as in some directive to be obeyed.

7. __-Dame de Paris: NOTRE.

An Unforgettable Moment

8. Shocked: AGHAST. A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget's Thesaurus crashed losing its entire load. Witnesses were stunned, startled, AGHAST, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.

9. __-mo replay: SLO.

10. Certain representative for a child actor, casually: MOMAGER. A portmanteau formed from, MOM and ManAGER.

11. More than indecent: OBSCENE. We'll skip the graphics on this one.

12. Kids' racers: GO KARTS.

14. Sass: LIP. See also The Sex Pistols "Don't Give Me No Lip, Child"

17. Cherry or lime: TREE. Flavor, fruit and pie filling were all too long. Soda would have fit.

21. Arthur in the Television Hall of Fame: BEA. Best known for her role as Maude.

24. Lima's country: PERU. A reference to either the country or to the beans which were grown in PERU even before corn was grown there.

25. Jump for joy: EXULT. See also Van Halen "Jump"

26. Flair: ELAN.

28. Secret-protecting doc: NDA. NonDisclosure Agreement

32. Late start?: ISO. The beginning (start) of ISOlate.

33. Down Under canine: DINGO.

35. Jab: POKE. Not in the "Lonesome Dove" sense.

36. __ Mix cat food: MEOW.

37. "That's strange": ODD.

38. Element of a basic reading test?: PH PAPER. PH PAPER can be used to determine, or read, where something falls on the acidic, neutral, alkaline (base) scale. Nice wordplay.

39. "How swanky!": OOH LA LA.

40. Keeps updated: LOOPS IN.

42. Like much Grateful Dead merch: TIE DYED. Okay, so there's no TIE DYE in this video but the images are great (no pun intended) and how could we pass on the opportunity?

43. Double space?: BEDROOM. A place for a double bed.

44. "The Lorax" creator: DR SEUSS. Written in 1971, "The Lorax" was a relatively early piece of work focusing on environmental issues.

46. Legal org.: ABA.

47. "I could use a hand": HELP ME. In keeping with today's theme (and I would guess that this was an intentional "move" by Brian). Of course, we could also have gone with The Beach Boys.

49. Four-time NBA All-Star Young: TRAE. In 2017–18, TRAE tied the then NCAA Division I single-game assists record with 22 and became the only player to ever lead the NCAA in both points and assists in a single season.

51. "Deeply unfortunate": SO SAD. . . . and the opposite from Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker (almost went with Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" but it is SO SAD that I could not bring myself to use it):

52. Düsseldorf denials: NEINS. Today's German lesson.

56. Walgreens rival: CVS. A drugstore reference.

58. Disappointed cluck: TSK. We never know, at first, if it will be TSK or TUT but we can go ahead and fill in the T either way.

60. Cell service letters: LTE. All you might wish to know: Long Term Evolution

61. Part of EVOO: OIL. I always thought that the concept was quantum but what do I know??

Well, that will wrap things up for this musical Wednesday. Have a Grate(ful) Day, everyone!

_________________________________________________

MM Out

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Feb 27, 2026

Friday, Feb 27th, 2026 ~ Sara Muchnick & Doug Peterson

Feb 26, 2026

Thursday February 26, 2026 Patti Varol

Marcus Aurelius

Feb 25, 2026

Wednesday, February 25, 2026, Brian Callahan

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