This is Joel Woodford's second publication; his first was a NYT puzzle last year in August. Today we have a letter-replacement-at-the-end-of-phrases theme, with "d" becoming "i", and a very clever reveal. A simple solve ( for me ) this time, stumbled just a little in the center and down in the SW. Standard grid, no circles, just a handful of names, a couple of twurds, two 9-letter Downs, 15 3LWs - and four Coopers~! The themers and reveal;
20. Small car that can only follow a single route?: ONE-TRACKMINI - One-track minD, like me and 14A.; the Mini was a British car, then it became the Mini-"Cooper" (#1), and now a line from BMW - I think; it's hard to tell who owns them, manufactures them, and markets them . . .
An A I visual evolution - I am beginning to appreciate A I
29. Songs heard during a colorful spring festival?: MUSICONHOLI - Music on holD; we appreciate your patience - please enjoy this 20min flute solo . . .
43. First dish made at a cook-off?: OLDESTCHILI - Oldest chilD - I am the oldest of two, but my brother likes to behave like the alpha, so I let him; speaking of my brother, I am going to be house-sitting and walking my buddy in June~! Yay~! AND, I have found a place to adopt a schnauzer puppy, but I have to stabilize my work schedule before I commit, then fence in a part of my yard.
Cooper (#2)
52. Designer's asset, or a phonetic description of 20-, 29-, and 43-Across: EYEFORDETAIL - parsed differently, it reads "I" for "D" tail - the last, or "tail" letter of the theme answers changes from an i to a d - very clever reveal~!
Но подожди, И это ещё не всё~!
ACROSS:
1. Meat in some fried rice: SPAM - I like Spam, buy it in bulk at BJs, get the low(er) sodium one
10. Inspiration for the DC Comics hero Green Arrow: ROBINHOOD - I did not know this - filled via perps. I grew up with Robin Hood imagery , as my parents were born & raised in Nottingham England
11. Consumed: ATE
12. Barbie, e.g.: TOY - Doll, Name, Movie - several choices, but I like one-to-one vague cluing, as long as we're talking words, not names - it feels like I am learning something . . .
13. 24-hour care ctrs.: ERs
21. Scuttlebutt: RUMOR - I thought 'scuttlebutt' was a person, not a term
25. Aim: GOAL - I have struggled with what my aim/goal/intent/dream/purpose ( see yesterday's puzzle ) is to be for the 'second half' of my life - the first was to buy my own home, which I accomplished in 2022. I am going to focus on the production of my board games; found an intellectual property lawyer, have a business plan - amd I'm beginning to embrace A I as an effective tool, too.
A trial playing of one game, back in 2017
26. "One more thought ... ": "ALSO... "
27. Parks it: SITS
30. Like Guinness: IRISH - Dah~! Not STOUT -and a SO to Miss
31. Crew team leader: COX - the lightweight "jockey" at the back of a boat with the rowing guys
32. Biker trying to miss the bus, perhaps?: DAREDEVIL - I love this clue/answer. I had just been griping about people who do NOT get up to speed at a highway on-ramp - I acually said "if you were jumping 26 buses, do you want to be going 40, or 140mph~?!"
OK, so it was only 14 buses, and just 95mph . . . 51D.
35. Per: APOP - possibly the worst twurd, not the word "EACH"
36. Chorus syllables: LA-LA - meh. I tried TRAS
37. Shipshape: TIDY
38. __ drop: MIC - yeah, I went with DEW
39. English county: SHIRE - Sweet~! The generic, crossword answer, not the crossname ESSEX
41. Eye affliction: STYE
42. Trudged: PLODDED
44. Authoritative retort: "SAYSME."
45. "Jackpot!": "I'MRICH~!" - No, I am Rich~! ( when I'm not Splynter ) name(ish), twurd(ish)
46. "You're being cruel!": MEANIE - this was part of my mom's affectionate email address, "Mrs. Meanie" - a moniker she earned over 30 years as a teacher's assistant
47. Formats, as text: ALIGNS - I use center align for my images and "justify" for text on the blog
48. Archipelago units: ISLETS
51. "Even so ... ": "STILL . . ." Evel Stunt Cycle
54. "Metamorphoses" poet: OVID - ooh, good WAG on my part; name #5
56. NYC ave. on the East Side: LEXington - ah, forgot about that one. The Chrysler Building is located on Lexington @ 42nd street; the whole structure is in dire need of modernizing . . . and pays rent to Cooper Union (#3)
Cooper again~! This time, the Square (#4)
Numbered 'backwards', east to west, 1st - 12th
57. Sushi option: AHI - interesting that the last Down fill ends with an "i"
Zachary David Levy is a man with a plan. We last saw him here a few
months ago in January with "Speak Up," another synonym theme where words
spelled upwards on the grid.
The master plan becomes clear with the revealer:
37. "Let's do this thing!," or what can be said about each set of circles in this puzzle: SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN.
The circled letters create made-up sound-alikes for words that mean
PLAN. They all can fill in the blank, "What is your ____?"
17. Some tissue in the central nervous system: GRAY MATTER. AYM sounds like AIM.
23. Quantum mechanics phenomenon: SUPER POSITION. PERPOS sounds like PURPOSE. For those of you that aren't physicists, a SUPER POSITION is the principle that physical systems can exist in multiple states, locations, or configurations simultaneously. Got it?
47. Sweet and tart fruit drink: MANGO LEMONADE. GOL sounds like GOAL.
58. Therapeutic canopy for some respiratory ailments: OXYGEN TENT. ENTENT sounds like INTENT.
I
don't mind circles, but I'm bad at anagrams. However, the first one was
easy, only three letters - either MAY or YAM. Now I'm looking for
months or tubers. When I couldn't unscramble PERPOS, I figured it must
be some foreign name I'd never heard of. Fortunately, the revealer came
up in the middle and saved me from tearing my hair out on the rest of
them. No anagrams, just imaginary homophones for synonyms of "PLAN". And
you have to use your imagination to see beyond their spelling to
hopefully pronounce them correctly. So, this puzzle was OKAY, although
like last Thursday, it seems a bit easy for this late in the week.
Let's see how his strategy plays out:
Across:
1. Hajj destination: MECCA.
6. Foxtrot follower: GOLF. Actually, after the Foxtrot came the Charleston. But in this case, the letters "F" and "G" are from the NATO alphabet.
10. Took off: LEFT.
14. Brilliance: ECLAT. ÉCLAT (pronounced "ay-KLAH") is a French term meaning doing something with great style.
15. Actress Taylor-Joy: ANYA. I liked ANYA in The Queens' Gambit,
then was disappointed in The Gorge. She and a single Russian
counterpart are tasked with protecting all of mankind from unknown evils
that reside in a gorge. With humanity at stake, wouldn't you assign
more than two people to do this?
16. Land division: ACRE. Land division: GORGE.
17. [theme]
19. Brit's trunk: BOOT. Britt's trunk: BOOTY.
Brittany Spears
20. Not to be trusted, in slang: SUS. I SUSpect this sounds SUSpicious.
21. Condo gp.: HOA. HomeOwners Association.
22. Elusive picture book character: WALDO. Hiding in plain sight was a skill he learned as a child when there were chores to do.
Waldo, please take out the trash. Waldo? Waldo!
23. [theme]
28. Frozen gutter problem: ICE DAM. Not a problem in Florida.
30. "Saturday Night Live" unit: SKIT. "Saturday Night Live" is abbreviated SNL. Oh wait, it's usually the other way around.
31. "Ditto": SO DO I.
32. Not great, say: OKAY.
34. Sanskrit title of respect: SRI.
37. [theme]
41. Mont Blanc, e.g.: ALP. Mont Blanc, e.g.: PEN.
42. Mystery writer Buchanan: EDNA. In addition to crime novelist, EDNA is a journalist who won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for General News Reporting "for her versatile and consistently excellent police beat reporting."
43. Lego unit: BRICK.
44. Yogurt bowl berry: ACAI.
46. Homes: ABODES.
47. [theme]
52. Not of this world: ALIEN.
53. Messy class, often: ART. I've noticed that many artistic people seem to thrive in organized mess.
54. Uno y uno: DOS. 1+1=2 lección de matemáticas (math lesson in Spanish).
57. __ diagram: VENN.
58. [theme]
62. Board VIP: EXEC. An EXECutive is a Very Important Person, or so they think.
63. McEntire of country: REBA. REBA, also known as "The Queen of Country," has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.She's had over 100
singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with 25 reaching
number one. In spite of all that, she seems very down-to-earth.
She's a real VIP.
64. Italian bowling game: BOCCE. It's like curling without the ice!
65. __ a soul: NARY.
66. Tree of Knowledge location: EDEN.
67. A bit off: ASKEW. Just look up "RustyBrain" in the dictionary.
Down:
1. Gig segments: MEGS. My first thought was SETS, as in a band playing music for the evening. But this is a computer reference to Gigabytes which are made up of 1000 Megabytes.
2. Earth tone: ECRU.
3. Brought elegance to: CLASSED UP. It's what happens when I walk into any joint. So I'm told.
8. NaOH, more familiarly: LYE. RightBrain took a break from
perfecting sourdough breads and decided to try her hand at Bavarian
pretzels. The recipe called for soaking them in LYE (sodium hydroxide),
just like bagels. It's highly caustic so she made a baking soda bath
instead, but if used, the LYE will break down in the oven.
The knots were hard to do...but they tasted great!
9. Not walkable, say: FAR.
10. Canadian brewery: LABATT. LABATT is now part of the Anheuser-Busch InBev family.
11. Cause of some food poisoning: E. COLI.
12. Baggins of the Shire: FRODO. This also could have been Bilbo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings. Frodo is Bilbo's second cousin, once removed, but Bilbo affectionately considers him a nephew.
13. "Grand" peak visible from eastern Idaho: TETON.
18. "Standing right here!": AHEM. "You know I can hear you, right?"
22. Mario Kart platform: WII. WII was a popular Nintendo gaming console discontinued in 2013. It lives on here because it has two "I"s. Like most of us.
24. Soba alternative: UDON. UDON and soba are staple Japanese noodles with distinct differences: Udon is thick, chewy, and white (wheat-based), while soba is thin, earthy, and brownish (buckwheat-based).
25. No longer in arrears: PAID.
26. Port city east of Kobe: OSAKA.
27. __ terrier: SKYE. SKYE Terriers were originally bred in the 1600s on Scotland's Isle of Skye to protect farms and livestock by hunting and killing predators,
such as foxes and badgers. Their low-slung, sturdy bodies,, tough, long
double coats, and fierce, intelligent nature allowed them to tackle
prey and thrive in harsh, rocky Scottish weather.
28. Actress Rae: ISSA. ISSA Rae is an Emmy-nominated actress, writer, producer, director and entrepreneur. And she has lots of usable letters in her name.
29. Refrigerate: COOL.
32. Tune rarely played on Top 40 radio: OLDIE. Unfortunately, every song I used to listen to on Top 40 radio is now an oldie. I wonder what that says about me?
33. Family: KIN.
34. PowerPoint file, essentially: SLIDE DECK. I wanted SLIDE SHOW.
35. Zoom: RACE.
36. Signs, as a contract: INKS.
38. Animal that goes with the floe?: SEAL. Winner: Best Clue.
39. "Fernando" band: ABBA. Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden, and 400 million albums later...
ABBA won singing "Waterloo"
40. Egg on: PROD.
44. Ability to shape one's own future: AGENCY.
45. Fleece: CON.
46. Poker stake: ANTE.
47. Whiz: MAVEN.
48. Wrestler Bliss known as "Five Feet of Fury": ALEXA. What made her furious was her Amazon Echo that answered every time someone called her.
49. West Coast NFLer: NINER. The San Franciso 49ers, named after the thousands of prospectors who flocked to Northern California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. "Dwelt a miner, forty-NINER..."
50. "It's always possible": MAYBE.
51. Church fixture: ORGAN. I love the massive sound of a pipe organ in a large church. And if one ever breaks, call 1-800-SPLYNTER.
55. __ in a while: ONCE.
56. Hearty bowlful: STEW.
58. Seam contents: ORE.
59. Crossed (out): XED. "X" is often used as shorthand for "cross," as in xwords.
60. Org. for Jazz quintets?: NBA. The Utah JAZZ from the National Basketball Association. Basketball is played with five players on each side.
61. Talking-__: TOS. And in the "terrible twos," the tots talk back!
Chairman
Moe here for his monthly recap. Unlike the April Fool's Day puzzle,
the first Wednesday of May puzzle is a bit more straight-forward. Maybe
too easy as I don't recall having much difficulty solving it
Today's
constructors appear to have had one other collaborative puzzle
published (@ WSJ last August). A Google search for their names did not
offer much additional information; perhaps one or both will stop by,
read the blog, and offer their comments
The puzzle's reveal was probably unnecessary as the starts to 18-23-37-47 Across are all very common POKER terms. Maybe using CHECK
as a fifth term would have made more sense, and eliminate the reveal
completely. Also, POKER NIGHT sometimes consists of playing DRAW POKER
and/or 5-card and 7-card STUD POKER - all of which do not feature an
"ALL-IN" play as does TEXAS HOLD EM. But I bet they didn't think of
that ... care to wager if they did or didn't?
The entries and reveal:
18 Across. "I say we're square now": CALL IT EVEN. Sounds like a compromise, to me
23 Across. Set new, higher standards: RAISE THE BAR. Sometimes, after reading a few of my fellow blogger's recaps, I wonder if they (or I) have raised the bar for how clever or unique. Today's recap will definitely "lower" the bar 😀
37 Across. Versatile home office device: ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER. Good choice of entry as the term "all-in" (for Texas Hold em) is hyphenated
47 Across. Do a wash day chore: FOLD LAUNDRY.
As my cartoon depicts, folding a fitted sheet should be part of a
contest. Miss M and I choose to make the bed with the sheets we wash,
thereby avoiding the dreaded fold of the bottom sheet
55 Across. Evening when one hopes to get a good deal, and when one might hear the starts of 18-, 23-, 37-, and 47-Across: POKER NIGHT. As I said in my "puzzling thoughts", poker night is
not just playing Texas Hold em. But hey, everything fit into place and
after reviewing each additional word or phrase in today's puzzle we can
comment on how fun it was to solve
Here is the GRID:
Across:
1. Copious quantity: SEAS. Not an often used clue for this word; I have seen the clue used to describe the word "OCEANS", though
5. Kiss or slap: SMACK. Sometimes one follows the other ...
10. Fashion designer Cassini: OLEG. [Wikipedia] "Oleg Cassini was a fashion designer born to an aristocratic
Russian family with maternal Italian ancestry. He came to the United
States as a young man after launching his career as a designer in Rome,
and quickly secured a position with Paramount Pictures. Cassini
established his reputation by designing for films"
14. Crawl (along): INCH. "Slowly I turned ... step by step ... INCH by INCH ..." Anyone care to guess who said this, and to what response?
15. Host: EMCEE.
16. Bird symbolizing peace: DOVE. An old Moe-ku, but appropriate:
A DOVE flew by and
Landed on a church steeple,
Uttering high coo
17. Canvas bag: TOTE.
[entry]
20. Uncomfortably unfamiliar: ALIEN. Adjective form; not a noun in this context
22. Handy tool for the error-prone: ERASER. Back when I solved my crossword puzzles on paper, I used an ink pen; never used an ERASER
[entry]
27. Pianist in "Casablanca": SAM. "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'" [Ilsa Lund]
29. Egrets, e.g.: HERONS. Eries: HURONS
30. Flout openly: DEFY. At first glance I thought this clue read: "Flour openly" - for which I almost entered COAT
31. Family doctor, for short: PCP. Moe-l'ick:
My new doctor is a hippie, you see;
Hallucinates, when examining me
For anything that's weird.
No worries; I'm not sceered
Because my PCP's on PCP
34. Juicy gossip: DIRT.
35. Conjure up: CREATE. See my comments to 16 and 31 Across ... (ps: there'll be a few more ... )
[entry]
40. Leavening agents: YEASTS. Also, agents that trigger the start of fermentation in wine, as these little buggers convert sugar to alcohol
41. Spool: REEL. Regurgitating another Moe-l'ick:
Going fishing, it has its appeal
At least that's what I thought; my gut feel.
Until seas got so rough
I said, "That's quite enough!
I can't handle the rod when I REEL"
42. Grads-to-be: SRS. I'm one of many SRS I know who ain't graduating from anything - been there, done that
43. Floor oppositions: NAYS. CEILINGS was too big of a word to fit
44. Appeared: SEEMED. Moe-ku:
Tailor was shocked! Man
Came back to fix loose cuffs. His
Pants SEEMED to be seamed ...
46. Hesitant utterance: ERM.
I call "foul"! The clue needs to suggest that this refers to a British
interjection. No one that I know on this side of the pond uses the
word/term "erm"
[entry]
52. "The Daily Show" genre: SATIRE. Can't comment; no use of politics or religion allowed on this blog site
54. Throwback diet: PALEO. I had to hunt (via Google) why the term PALEO would be a "throwback" diet. And after gathering the information, I immediately knew ...
[reveal]
59. Journalist Lisa: LING. It took a while before there was a
last/proper name in this puzzle. Kudos! (I don't count "SAM" as the
clue was rather easy to suss)
60. Power source: FUEL. Speaking of which, I feel myself "running out of energy", so I am going to finish the Across words and take a break. Might fuel myself with an adult beverage and see if that helps
61. Big bullies: OGRES. Crossword-ese
62. Against: ANTI. Crossword-ese
63. __-Alt-Del: CTRL. The old "three-finger salute"!
64. Heavy landing sound: THUNK. Really? I thought this word was the conjugation of "think and thank" - you know, like "drink, drank, drunk"
65. First lady between Eleanor and Mamie: BESS. This first lady was known for her privacy and had a few classic quotes (at least that's what AI said)
[time for a drink and a break and to begin fixing dinner - 4/30/26, 5:30 pm MST]
[OK, I am back - 5/01/26 10:30 am MST - dinner last night was stuffed peppers and a nice Beaujolais]
Down:
1. Instrument that may have 21 strings: SITAR. So, after a quick Google check, sitars can have between 18 and 21 strings - found this YouTube video that will explain
2. "__ Holmes": Millie Bobby Brown film: ENOLA. Enola Gay, I've heard of; Enola Holmes? Nope
3. Brand of microwave popcorn: ACT II. I like to make my microwave popcorn using a device similar to the one shown below:
8. A-listers: CELEBS. Lots of abbreviated words in the "Down" section
9. Knightley of the Netflix series "Black Doves": KEIRA.
Best known for "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies
10. Lyrical tributes: ODES. This is how you clue a mid-week level use of the word "ode". When I solved today's puzzle (May 1st - Friday) the clue was a title ("An ODE We Own")
11. Small sofas: LOVE SEATS. I wonder if the term love seat came
from the shape of one's butt? Keeping this "clean" here, the person in
the middle definitely has a heart-shaped tush; could you say that it's a
"love seat"??
12. Until the end of time: EVER AFTER. Sounds like a fairy tale, to me
13. __ X: GEN. "SPACE" had too many letters to fit
19. Road goo: TAR. I'm guessing now that winter has finally passed, the road crews will be filling in some potholes with road goo
21. "You __ worry": NEEDN'T. Ok, I won't
24. Charlie's Angels and the Powerpuff Girls: TRIOS. I'm guessing that this clue was trying to appeal to both Boomer's and GEN Y's
25. Traffic jam sound: HORN. I suppose you could use HONK or TOOT, too
26. Joined: ENTERED. As in a Zoom meeting or Chat room?
28. Austin Powers player Mike: MYERS. International Man of Mystery
30. Study: DEN. Study (noun), as in a room; not study (verb), as for an exam
31. Writer/director Alexander with two Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay: PAYNE. This clue really got my knickers in a twist; "Golfer Stewart:" would've been a far easier clue for this solver
32. Empties completely: CLEARS OUT. ERASES was too short
33. Team leader on offense: PLAY-MAKER. Usually a wide receiver or running back
35. Mexican condiment: CREMA. CSO to Lucina - perhaps she could elucidate this for us?!
36. Agitate: RILE UP. Never the intention of my blogs
38. Facility that may see 16 sunrises a day, familiarly: ISS. International Space Station
39. Fruit covering: PEEL. RIND also fit
44. Santa's ride: SLEIGH. Moe-ku:
Santa "crushed" Christmas.
Folks 'round the world called it a
One-horse open slay
45. Paternity testing site: DNA LAB. When I did the math, there are 12 abbreviations in today's puzzle. That seems to be a bit on the high side
47. Aromatic tree: FIR. Aromatic hair: FUR
48. "... never mind, then": OR NOT. Hmm
49. NFL tackling gp.: D-LINE. They are ones trying to restrict 33 Down from making a big play (Defensive LINE)
50. Monopoly income: RENTS. Really? Rent can be pluralized?
IMHO, this would have been a perfect spot to use a clue that yielded an
abbreviated word ... 'rents - as in the slang for one's mom and dad
51. Ashram leaders: YOGIS.
53. Unintentional giveaway: TELL. Good use of this clue today as the theme is based upon poker
55. Rank below cpl.: PFC. Private First Class
56. Steve Carell voice role: GRU. Gruis a grouchy, quick-witted, and cynical supervillain and the boss
of the Minions, who also serves as a secret agent in order to fight
other supervillains [Wikipedia]
57. Coop resident: HEN. I prefer my hens to be "free range"
58. Judgy sound: TSK. [sigh]
Epilogue:
First
off, you might have noticed that I used zero hyperlinks today. I figure
you all need a while to get over last month's recap
Second, my
score for today's puzzle is ⭐⭐and 1/2⭐'s. I would like to give it a
higher mark but the nicks are for assuming that POKER NIGHT consists
only of Texas Hold Em, and the over-use of abbreviations. Positives for
the entries; my favorite was ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER
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