Sunday March 22, 2026 Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: "WE DID IT!" - We is added to each theme entry. 

22. Motto of an intrepid cotton farmer?: I WILL FEAR NO WEEVIL. I will fear no evil. 

33. Presentation on professorial fashion trends?: TWEED TALK. Ted talk.

38. Light lunch in a haunted cafe?: COBWEB SALAD. Cobb salad. 

66. Like text anyone is allowed to edit?: YOURS FOR THE TWEAKING. Yours for the taking.

96. Data from a middle school track meet?: TWEEN SPEEDS. Ten-speeds.

100. "I like the cut of your jib!"?: SWEET SAIL. Set sail.

117. Take new profile pics at the gym?: SWEAT FOR A PORTRAIT. Sat for a portrait. 

So happy to see the great Jeffrey back! It's been over two years since we saw his byline. 

Jeffrey is a master in this type of letter addition/deletion/swapping theme. Today is another strong example of his craftsmanship.

Across:

1. Some neutral tones in a designer's palette: GRAYS.

6. Jokers: WITS.

10. The "B" of RBG: BADER. The Notorious RBG. 

15. "Dear old" family member: DAD.

18. Shakespeare hero in the lyrics of Taylor Swift's "Love Story": ROMEO. 49. Last words of 18-Across: I DIE. Then he died.

19. French cap: BERET.

20. Nimble: AGILE.

21. Patterned after: A LA.

25. "Fresh Air" broadcaster: NPR.

26. Abandons all hope: DESPAIRS.

27. Stuns: AMAZES.

28. Feathery, perhaps: AVIAN.

30. Hardly encountered: RARE.

31. Apple product: MAC.

32. For one: A PIECE.

42. Small crowns: TIARAS.

43. "Or so": ISH.

45. Gulliver of "Gulliver's Travels": LEMUEL. Don't think we had him before. 

46. Paris's Paris's Musée d'__: ORSAY. Home to many Impressionist masterpieces.

47. Thing that may be open and shut: CASE.

49. Things: ITEMS.

50. Adages: SAWS.

54. Some guinea pigs: PETS.

55. Component of some firm-textured fabrics: WORSTED.

57. Turns red, say: DYES.

59. Sportage maker: KIA.

60. Matthew of "Stranger Things": MODINE.  He played Dr. Martin Brenner.

62. First word of "Simple Gifts": TIS.

64. Winemaker's concern: AGING.

72. Thicket: COPSE.

73. __ milk: SOY.

74. Fencing sword: RAPIER. 70. Fencing sword: EPEE.

75. Assent asea: AYE.

76. Wise one: SAGE.

80. Harvested: GLEANED.

82. Accomplishes: DOES.

86. __ salt: ROCK. Lots of Chinese desserts feature rock sugar. 

88. "Great performance!": BRAVO.

90. Lyft service: RIDE.

91. Concentrated: DENSE.

92. Act as an intermediary: LIAISE.

94. Big flower pot: URN.

95. Life, for one: CEREAL.

103. Bring back: REVIVE.

104. Grocery payment sys.: EBT. Electronic Benefits Transfer. 

106. "What __ is new?": ELSE.

107. Goddess of peace: IRENE.

108. Angelic being: SERAPH.

111. With 116-Across, useful tool for some crossword solvers: ERASABLE. And116. See 111-Across: PEN.

120. __ Alamos, New Mexico: LOS.

121. Yankee manager between Showalter and Girardi: TORRE (Joe) 1996-2007. We also have 19. Yogi in the Hall of Fame: BERRA. That's Whitey Ford in the middle.

122. Transmit: RELAY.

123. Marsh wader: EGRET.

124. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO.

125. One-for-one deals: SWAPS.

126. Silly sort: TWIT.

127. Summer of disco: DONNA.

Down:

1. Crossword component: GRID.

2. Mike of "Dirty Jobs": ROWE. Some dirty jobs pay very well. 

3. French friends: AMIS.

4. Site for maligning poor dining: YELP.

5. Basis for standard timekeeping: SOLAR DAY.

6. Ferret kin: WEASEL.

7. Not perfect, as mdse.: IRR. Irregular. 

8. Midmorning hr.: TEN AM.

9. Tolerate: STOMACH.

10. Folk legend Joan: BAEZ. 

11. "The African Queen" screenwriter James: AGEE. The original novel is written by C. S. Forester.

12. Pts. of sports leagues: DIVS. Divisions.

13. Yale grad: ELI.

14. Setback: RELAPSE.

15. Webster who had a way with words: DANIEL.

16. Andes grazer: ALPACA.

17. "Well, I'll be __!": DARNED.

23. Authoritative orders: FIATS.

24. Baylor University city: WACO.

29. Little bottles: VIALS.

32. Treat quite poorly: ABUSE.

33. Former Corvette option: T-TOP.

34. Send a telegram: WIRE.

35. Memphis-to-Chattanooga direction: EAST.

36. "In Praise of Folly" writer: ERASMUS. Google says Erasmus wrote the work in about a week while staying at Sir Thomas More's estate in England.

37. Mugs: KISSERS.

39. Alphabetical order?: BLT.

40. Garden invader: WEED.

41. "The Bear" award: EMMY. "Yes, Chef!"

44. Good to go: SET.

47. Do: COIF.

48. River of Florence: ARNO.

51. Similar (to): AKIN.

52. Improvise, with "it": WING.

53. Submit to gravity: SAG.

55. Dict. entries: WDS.

56. __ alcohol: ETHYL.

58. Sushi pairing: SAKE. We've also seen SOJU in the gird. It's the Korean liquor. 

61. Useful minerals: ORES.

63. Uses a colander: STRAINS.

65. Skyscraper beams: GIRDERS.

66. Cellist Ma: YO-YO. Yo means "friend" in Chinese. Ma means "Horse".

67. Cartel founded in Baghdad in 1960: OPEC.

68. Like food truck orders: TO GO.

69. Lip gloss applicator: WAND.

71. Help: AID.

72. Saturn or Mercury: CAR.

77. Demean: ABASE.

78. Climber's asset: GRIP.

79. Fluency: EASE.

81. "To __ is human ... ": ERR.

83. Draft status: ONE A.

84. Actor Morales: ESAI.

85. Hawk: SELL.

87. Vox co-founder Ezra: KLEIN. He has a popular podcast. 

89. Capital of Vietnam?: VEE. Vietnam. 

91. Couldn't stand: DETESTED.

93. Takes stock?: INVESTS. Literally. 

94. Basic interface for a PC: USB PORT.

95. Civil rights activist Chavez: CESAR.

96. Big hit: TRIPLE.

97. "It's time, everyone! Break a leg!": WE'RE ON.

98. "Despite that ... ": EVEN SO.

99. Part of CODA: DEAF. Child Of Deaf Adult.

101. Shed tears over: WEEP AT.

102. Judy Jetson's brother: ELROY.

105. Lost on purpose: THREW.

108. Organic fluids: SERA.

109. Wyatt of Tombstone: EARP.

110. GPS offerings: RTES.

112. Golden Fleece ship: ARGO.

113. Rural structure: BARN.

114. Bank claim: LIEN.

115. "Tell Mama" singer James: ETTA.

118. "Incredible!": WOW.

119. Journalist Velshi of MS NOW: ALI.

C.C.

Saturday, March 21, 2026, Kyle Dolan

 Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

I liked Dr. Dolan's puzzle and never felt I was not going to solve it. My issue became trying to decipher what Kyle meant by his "off-the-wall"cluing. My experience was the frequent recitation of 48. Exasperated cry: DOH! once I saw what he intended, the fill was fun to enter and also unlocked big sections of the puzzle. Today's exercise had only 28 blocks which gave us 103 open squares and only six three-letter words. I'll share with you some of the circuitous thinking that I used to cut through Dr. Dolan's obfuscations. :-)  As has become my custom, I did have a one-cell problem where you see the red cell in the grid, but I'll get over it. I thought ARE WE OK/ALAIK worked.

Across:

1. Shell station?: PASTA BAR - Just when I thought of every shell I could...

                  

9. Yet: IN TIME.

15. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, e.g.: AUTO RACE - This great movie is about personal rivalries and corporate machinations but the climax is The 24 Hours Of Le Mans.

16. Networking aid: ROUTER - If we need a generator after a power loss, the order for plugging in would be fridge/freezers and then the modem and ROUTER. 😀

17. Exams with answers provided by parents: DNA TESTS 😀

18. World capital named for a river: OTTAWA - fun to learn

19. Headgear that sparked a riot in 1922 New York City: STRAW HAT - Really? Talk about your fashion police.

20. Christmas delivery?: NOEL 😀

21. Floral gifts for some graduates: LEIS - Three-letter (plural) floral gift? Ya gotta go Hawaiian! 

22. American painter James __ Whistler: MCNEILL - Of course his famous work below was entitled Arrangement In Gray And Black No. 1 which we all know by its more famous name. A fascinating bio

25. Chef's coat?: TEFLON 😀 Well actually, Kyle, the coat is on the pan.

28. Is revealing: TELLS ALL.

29. Harlem Renaissance writer Locke: ALAIN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

30. Waiter's annoyance: DELAY - I never even thought it might be about a food server. The DELAY waiting in the line at Space Mountain was always very long and annoying.

31. Bucket brigade?: NBA Groan. A made basket in basketball is also called a bucket.

32. Flooring option: TILE - My first two floor coverings  were

C

A

R U G S

P

E

T

33. Unbroken?: FIXED - Now that's funny!

34. "Estoy __": Spanish "I'm doing all right": BIEN. 

35. Joint-stabilizing band, for short: ACL.

36. Gold __: PLATE - Sometimes all that glitters is not gold, it's gold PLATED

37. Tree cultivated for its seeds more than 5,000 years ago: CACAO.

38. Magic City residents: MIAMIANS - Not Orlandoans 😀

40. Grows darker: LATENS - If spellcheck is all right with this, so am I

41. Offer to treat: IT'S ON ME - A phrase a friend of mine never uttered

42. "The Leavers" novelist Ko: LISA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

43. Marvel hero Cage: LUKE  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

44. Lines from the heart: LOVE NOTE - Ketty Lester had a beautiful 1962 song with this theme

48. Exhausts: DOES IN 

50. Basis of some ratings: AGE LEVEL.

51. "Nearly there": ONE SEC - A familiar phrase I heard waiting for three women in the car

52. Reef denizen: MORAY EEL - Yikes!

53. "Knock on wood": HOPE SO.

54. "I won't ask again!": ANSWER ME.

Down:

1. Exaggerates, in a way: PADS - I had an expense account once that may have not been all that accurate 😁

2. Family member: AUNT.

3. Outstanding: STAR.

4. Blatant fabrication: TOTAL LIE - This is one of the worst.

5. Confirmation question: ARE WE ON.

6. Open, as a piñata: BASH IN.

7. Represent: ACT AS.

8. Musical pause: REST.

9. Battleship precursor: IRONCLAD - The Civil Wr featured the battle of the IRONCLADS, the Monitor and the Merrimac.

10. More than: NOT ONLY.

11. Contracted pupils, perhaps: TUTEES - Wow! I suppose a tutor would have a contract with TUTEES who are also pupils. No eyes involved!

12. Granita kin: ITALIAN ICE.

A Sicilian treat

13. Bit of Persian language?: MEW 😀

14. Young fig.: ERA - The winner of MLB's Cy Young Award usually has a low Earned Run Average.

22. Rumble: MELEE.

23. Outfitter with signature boots: L.L. BEAN.

24. Grassy plains: LLANOS - Pampas or LLANOS coin flip

25. Flooring option: TATAMI.

26. Bring out: ELICIT.

27. Go out: FALL ASLEEP 😀

28. Scholarship materials: TEXTS - As a teacher since 1968 I can tell you just seeing a student with a TEXT does not guarantee any scholarship is going on.

30. Designer von Furstenberg: DIANE.

33. Spanish steps?: FLAMENCO 😀

34. React: BAT AN EYE.

36. Small digits: PINKIES.

37. Guide for future rulings: CASE LAW - Not the actual law or statute but a compilation of how different jurisdictions have applied laws.

39. Do stuff?: MOUSSE - Oh, that kind of "do".

40. Natural detox centers: LIVERS.

42. Access, in a way: LOG ON - Remembering User Names and Passwords can be a real chore

44. Eastern priest: LAMA.

45. Simple wager choice: OVER  - The OVER/Under for the recent Super Bowl was 45.5 points. The final score was 29 - 13 which adds up to 42 and that means you'd be a loser if you bet the OVER.

46. Swarm (with): TEEM.

49. Chef Jiro of the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi": ONO - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Jiro ONO is in the middle below

Friday, Mar 20th, 2026 ~ John Liber

CROSSOUTWORD PUZZLE

No power(lift), no flower

It's the first day of Spring, which officially arrives at my house @10:46am EDT.  Here's my strike-through clue review of the first puzzle of spring, from John Liber, whose name I could not find with regard to any crossword construction; if I'm correct, then congratulations on your debut~!  The theme, however, is not vernal equinox related, but instead consists of "extra" words in the clues, specifically 'pain' and 'gain' - take those out, and the clues are straight defintions of the answers.  Quaint, but for me, a long way to go for otherwise unrelated theme fills.  An over-sized 15x16 grid, 26 3LWs, and a few too many names - one of which created a Natick - see 44A./42D.  The themers, and reveal;

19. *One who's overly concerned with pain control: MICROMANAGER - take "pain" out of the clue = the def. of 'micromanager'; I once had a boss who left a Post-It note on everything we needed to work on, with exactly what steps needed to be taken; paint this🠆, fix this🠆, cut here🠆 . . . 🙄

The World's Most Interesting Micromanager

24. *Gain ground, to a general: BATTLEFIELD - take "gain" out of the clue = . . . 

39. *Capital gain recordkeeper: NATIONAL ARCHIVES - take "gain" out of the clue = . . . 

51. *Highly effective pain relievers: BULLPEN ACES - take "pain" out of the clue = the baseball pitchers that come in to "relieve" the starter 

59. Fitness mantra, and a hint to making the starred clues match their answers: NO PAIN, NO GAIN

How I feel after leaving the gym sometimes

But Gain Weight, There's More Pain

ACROSS:

1. Sack: BAG - I do the Downs first to have some perpendicular fills crossing the themers; it also gave me the "G" here, so this is the 'container', not the 'AXE', kind of sack

4. Dominated, in gaming: PWNED - 21st centuy-speak

9. Living __: LARGE

14. Copier tray abbr.: LTR - "letter", the 8-1/2" x 11", or 'A' paper size, if you're a drafter

15. "Do you think I was born yesterday?": "OH, SURE..." - a bit of a twurd

17. Ale hue: AMBER

18. Forever stamp letters: USA

21. Cheesemaking need: RENNET - I knew this from watching "How It's Made"

Swiss Cheese; the enzyme rennet is mentioned at 1:20

23. Jerry Rice, notably: NINER - NFL's San Fran wide receiver, name #1

27. Citation abbr.: ET. AL. - crossword staple, Latin "and others"

31. "That's strange": "HOW ODD."

32. Bright courtyards: ATRIA

33. Sounds of hesitation: UHs - I filled in UMs, and crossing the name at 34D., which I did not recognize, made it hard to find that I was, er, um, uh, . . . "wrong"

36. Unwelcoming: ICY -11-letters synonym for 3-letters

37. Help in making things go smoothly for furniture movers: CASTERS - I once "wished" that all the freight I handled at Roadway Express came with its own set of wheels; the next night, I got a 28ft trailer filled with 300 shopping carts - be careful what you wish for . . . .

43. Grungy clothing?: FLANNEL - back in the 90's, when "Grunge" was all the rage, members in bands of the genre were typically seen wearing some sort of flannel shirt

Not exactly flannel, but since it came up last Friday, 

"The Man Who Sold The World", Nirvana from Mtv Unplugged 

44. Country music's __ Brown Band: ZAC - the "Z" was a semiWAG; name, #2, but crossing a foreign language word = Natick for me.  Not a fan of this genre, but I found this . . .

"Toes", typical country lyrics, but the video is worth it

45. Altar affirmation: "I DO." - I.D.~? - O, Nevermind ( that guy from 43A. again )

46. Skip over: ELIDE - typically syllables of words, as in "Y'all"

47. Unfair accusation: BUM RAP - skirts are a kind of "bum wrap"

In spring pastels~!

50. Disavow: DENY

56. Sphinx location: CAIRO

58. Australian currency: DOLLAR - it's a G'day to make a G'dollar

64. 24/7 hosp. areas: ERs - Emergency Rooms

65. "May I speak with you privately?": "A WORD..." - A Twurd

66. __-pants: SMARTY - half my family lives in England, and when I was kid, before there was internet, we would be treated to a delivery of British candy at the holidays - including Smarties ( like M&Ms ), Flake, and Crunchie, my favorite - I ordered a package from Amazon last week to give to my trainer Brett for his B-day on Friday, the 13th; he, of course, looked at the calories first . . . 😝

Oh, so good - honeycomb toffee centre

67. Coca-Cola HQ: ATLanta - UPS and several others are headquartered there, too

68. Long-necked birds: GEESE

69. Charley horse, e.g.: SPASM - AND - 37. Charley horse, e.g.: CRAMP - I've had both versions

70. Biblical possessive: THY

DOWN:

1. Message on a jacket: BLURB - jacket, that is, of a book, not an LP/album like I was thinking; I had pondered LYRIC

2. Clueless: AT SEA

3. 50s president?: GRANT - not HARRY ( and Ike is short a few $s), the 50s of US currency - name #3

4. Big citrus: POMELO - orange did fit . . . but that was SO yesterday . . . 🙄

5. Riesling, for one: WHITE WINE - I knew this

6. Foreign policy gp.: NSC - US National Security Council

7. Port. locale: EUR - Port(ugal) and Eur(ope) - in print, the period (.) might be hard to spot

           🠅

8. Spoke in a monotone: DRONED - this got used in the write-up title here

9. Alley division: LANE - Bowling

10. Italian macaroons made with almonds: AMARETTI  - They don't seem to be the same thing . . . 

Let the controversy begin~!

11. SCOTUS justice who said, "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time": RBG - that's a lot of clue for a 3LW, yada yada yada Supreme Court = Ruth Bader Ginsburg - name #4

12. Grand opening?: GEE - the "G" that starts the word gRAND

13. Make a typo, say: ERR

16. Russian pianist Gilels: EMIL - name #5

Heavy Metal Rachmaninov - I dig the hair, man - he gets into it

What's on his finger~?

20. "Yes, __ ... ": improv principle: AND - never heard of this; here's a blog describing the theory

22. Extreme degree: Nth - crossword staple

25. __ point: FOCAL - Several fill-in-the-blanks today

26. Pastoral poem: IDYL - learned by doing crosswords

28. Roman district with a famous fountain: TREVI - yada yada five-letter Roman fountain~?

First & Second story regarding the fountain

29. Broadcast: AIRED - slight misdirection as the clue word's present and past tenses are the same 

30. Wonder Woman weapon: LASSO

Wonder Woman remake - I grew up with this one

32. Firepit residue: ASH

33. Needing nourishment: UNFED

34. "The Little Mermaid" star Bailey: HALLE - I knew of the original animated Disney movie only - here's more on the 2023 live-action version from IMDb - name #6

35. Tough spot: STAIN - think laundry - Friday cluing

38. Certifies: ACCREDITS

40. Brickyard racers, casually: INDY CARS - Brickyard being the nickname of the Indianapolis 500 race track, the consequence of a repaving in 1909 with 3.2 million bricks

41. United: ONE - think "as" 

42. Blue, in Peru: AZUL - Español lesson; I tried AGUA

47. Flourishes: BLOOMS

48. Banksy, for one: ANONYM - the basis for "anonymous", a kind of pseudonym - I have seen his art, but did not know his name, #7

There was a series of "Girl with Balloon" - the Wiki

49. Bud: PAL

51. Container: BIN

52. Self-serve servers: URNS - I tried EGOS - Bzzzzt

53. Spiked shoe: CLEAT

54. "Pale Blue Dot" subject: EARTH - Carl Sagan's 1994 book, and reference, to "home"

The photo taken by Voyager I, a mere 4 Billion miles away from home in 1990.  Mark you calendars, 

November this year, the spacecraft will be ONE LIGHT DAY from us - fascinating

55. "4 real?": SRSLY - 21st century textspeak = seriously~?

57. Hill staffer: AIDE

59. Hound: NAG - ah - the verb, not the noun; I tried DOG - 'hound' is a homonym

60. Have debts: OWE

61. "The Cask of Amontillado" writer: POE - name #8

62. Lacuna: GAP - Learning moment; more here; I tried "EAU", Frawnche water - Bzzzzt~!

63. Legendary coach Parseghian: ARA - crossword staple, but still, name #9

Splynter

Grid Flow 31.6