Sunday May 24, 2026 Zachary Gallardo & Joe Marquez

 

Theme: "TRACK RECORDS" - Each theme entry is a song title re-imagined as a different kind of  "record".

24. Permanent record?: TOGETHER FOREVER.

32. Criminal record?: MACK THE KNIFE.

51. Historical record?: BACK IN THE USSR.

71. World record?: HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH.

85. Broken record?: I FALL TO PIECES.

108. Medical record?: LIKE A SURGEON.

116. Fossil record?: WALK THE DINOSAUR.

This type of theme may look simple on the surface, but it's actually quite restrictive. The entries all have to be recognizable song titles, the [? record"] phrases must be solid in the language, and each answer has to match the first word of the clue. 

This is the LAT debut for Zachary Gallardo and Joe's first Sunday. Congrats to both!

Across:

1. Costco rival, informally: SAM'S. Any of you are Costco members? There fresh coconuts are so good.

5. Undergrad lecturer: PROF.

9. Morehouse, for one: Abbr.: HBCU. Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
 
13. Mix, as a salad: TOSS. And 23. Grocery section: AISLE.

17. Plop (down): PLUNK.

19. iPad assistant: SIRI.

20. Word of sorrow: ALAS.

21. Sign into law: ENACT.

27. Goddess often depicted with a throne headdress: ISIS.

29. __ nouveau: ART.

30. Megacity of India: DELHI.

31. "__ news?": ANY.

37. Asides: TANGENTS.

39. Marvel's Punisher, for one: ANTI-HERO. Flawed protagonist. We also have 98. Attractive guy in Marvel Comics?: MAGNETO.

40. Beltway Series ballplayer, familiarly: NAT.

42. Mesh on a field: GOAL NET.

43. Comb target: KNOT.

44. Community of flora and fauna: BIOME.

47. Gender prefix: CIS.

49. Places where forks may be found?: ROADS. Fork in the road.

50. Terse confirmation: I AM.

55. Thumbs-up vote: YEA.

57. Shahidi of "Black-ish": YARA.  She was born in Minneapolis.

58. Jedi foe: SITH.

59. Curly coif: AFRO.

63. High-level perfidy: TREASON.

67. Mineral once used in baby powder: TALC.

69. Also: TOO.

70. Honeylike substances: GOOS.

75. Memo heading: IN RE.

76. Portuguese "Hello": OLA.

77. Newcastle upon __: TYNE.

78. Vampire squid's habitat: DEEP SEA.

79. Largest loch by volume: NESS. Fresh clue angle.

80. Pancake recipe instruction: FLIP. And 97. No longer on the table?: EATEN.

82. "Not one more step!": HALT.

84. Astrological big cat: LEO.

89. Jun. and Jul.: MOS.

92. Valuable violin: STRAD.

96. WNBA great Bird: SUE. She and Megan Rapinoe recently announced their split.

98. For a __ pittance: MERE.

99. Springsteen, to fans: THE BOSS.

102. Fuming: MAD.

104. Namesake of the AL batting title: ROD CAREW. He bowled in Boomer's league for a while.

106. Assessed anew: REVALUED.

111. Have a life: ARE.

112. Harsh in one's nose: ACRID.

114. LBJ's party: DEM.

115. __ colada: PINA.

121. Outdoes: BESTS.

124. Asparagus unit: SPEAR.

125. Totenberg of NPR: NINA. NPR's longtime legal affairs correspondent.

126. Use a mountain trail: HIKE.

127. Squirrel away: STORE.

128. Annual: Abbr.: YRLY.

129. Site with handmade goods: ETSY.

130. Longtime "Jeopardy!" host Trebek: ALEX.

131. Black gem: ONYX.

Down:

1. Mud bath venue: SPA.

2. "True Detective" actor Mahershala: ALI.

3. "Just the news I needed!": MUSIC TO MY EARS. 60. "Not sure why, but ... ": FOR SOME REASON. Stunning pair of 13's.

4. TV sketch featuring Chloe Fineman or Colin Jost: SNL SKIT.

5. Vancouver hrs.: PST.

6. Copacabana setting: RIO.

7. Church pipes: ORGAN.

8. Guy who hosts Food Network's "Tournament of Champions": FIERI.

9. "Take that!": HAH.

10. Changed the laundry?: BLED. Cute clue referring to colors bleeding in the wash.

11. Shift+6 symbol: CARET.

12. Old Glory: US FLAG.

13. "Young Frankenstein" actress: TERI GARR.

14. Pacific Coast Highway's route number: ONE.

15. African grassland: SAVANNA.

16. Like many shampoos: SCENTED.

18. "We the Youth" muralist Haring: KEITH. The mural is in Philadelphia.

22. Secret assignations: TRYSTS.

25. "L8r g8r!": TTFN.

26. "That's bad!": OH NO.

28. Fancy Feast alternative: SHEBA.

32. Sushi roll type: MAKI.

33. Ballerina Pavlova: ANNA.

34. Writer/illustrator Carle: ERIC. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". 

35. Outlandish: KOOKY.

36. Per person: EACH.

38. Jeff Lynne's band: ELO.

41. Links: TIES.

45. Sporty Mazda model: MIATA.

46. Utterly captivated: ENRAPT.

48. Honeymoon booking: SUITE.

51. Clear nail polish, say: BASE.

52. Hunting cry: TALLY-HO.

53. Got up: STOOD.

54. Gave an impressive performance: SHONE.

56. Nesting sites: EAVES.

59. Slack-jawed: AGAPE.

61. Memorization method: ROTE.

62. Dept. of Labor div.: OSHA.

63. Out of __ air: THIN.

64. Philosopher Descartes: RENE.

65. Switch type: ON/OFF.

66. Wafer name since 1967: NILLA. And 68. Party nibble: CANAPE. Plenty of food in this grid.

72. Moves with the wind: SAILS.

73. Singer Cruz known as the "Queen of Salsa": CELIA.

74. Unadon fillets: EELS. Unadon is short for unagi donburi, literally "eel bowl".

81. Fruit that may be crossed with apricot: PLUM. Pluot.

83. Aquarium fish: TETRA.

85. Religious devotion to an object: IDOLATRY.

86. Jacksonville Jaguars color: TEAL.

87. Corp. bigwigs: CEOS.

88. Turn out to be: END UP.

90. Treat with vanilla creme: OREO.

91. Stitched: SEWN.

92. Grasp at __: STRAWS.

93. Remedial treatment: THERAPY.

94. Mardi Gras merrymaker: REVELER.

95. Gp. of lawyers: ABA.

100. "No __ luck!": SUCH.

101. Tranquil: SERENE.

103. Carthaginian queen in Virgil's "Aeneid": DIDO. Aeneas eventually deserted her.

105. Mobile homes?: CRIBS. Fun clue.

107. "All finished!": DID IT.

109. "Praying" singer: KESHA.

110. Part of a thread: EMAIL.

113. Rackets: DINS.

117. Actor Penn: KAL.

118. Thumbs-down vote: NAY.

119. Hawaiian chordophone, for short: UKE.

120. Film critic Reed: REX.

122. Push to the limit: TRY.

123. "Kama Sutra" topic: SEX.

C.C.

Saturday, May 23, 2026, Rafael Musa

  Saturday Themeless by Rafael Musa

Rafa, a software engineer for Airbnb in San Francisco. is a frequent constructor and collaborator. 

Across:

1. Sudoku diagrams: GRIDS.

6. Snap: PIC.

9. Rib: TEASE.

14. Iconic part of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird": OUTRO - Song beginning: Intro :: Song ending : OUTRO. Depending on the tempo, the OUTRO lasts about half as long as the entire 9 minute song.

15. Admirable sorts: CLASS ACTS - There's this blogmistress in Minneapolis I know...

17. Piano part: PEDAL.

18. Store for a little while?: POPUP SHOP.

19. "La Classe de Danse" painter: DEGAS - Even I can translate this title

21. Tale designed to tug at one's heartstrings: SOB STORY.

22. Parade locale since 1890: PASEDENA

24. Approves: OKS.

25. Seuss character who lives in a pond on Sala-ma-sond island: YERTLE.

26. Greek goddess of discord: ERIS.

29. "Use your inside voice": DON'T YELL.

31. Challenging direction to sail: UPWIND.

35. __ Bauer: EDDIE - Not a chance for Hank

36. Not well: ILL.

38. Cartoon hero with a blond bob: HE-MAN.

 

39. Hudson Valley college chartered by a brewer in 1861: VASSAR.

41. "Hola" follower, perhaps: COMO ESTA.

43. "__ bon!": TRES.

45. Packaged meals that might contain tamagoyaki: BENTOS.

46. Big Mac rivals?: PCS. 😊

49. Requirements for some brick buildings: LEGO SETS - This LEGO SET has a titanic price of $929.

51. Water wings?: SEA PLANE 😀

54. "The Social Network" Oscar winner Sorkin: AARON.

56. Urban prowlers: ALLEY CATS.

58. Jeopardy: PERIL.

60. Small digit: LITTLE TOE. 😀

61. Outerwear option: PARKA.

62. Shot not allowed in some pool halls: MASSE.

63. Chemistry suffix: ENE.

64. Warm compress targets: STYES - _ _ _ E S was not ACHES

Down:

1. RNC group: GOP.

2. Wished undone: RUED.

3. "Maybe": IT DEPENDS.

4. Queen, maybe: DRAG ARTIST.

5. Way out?: SO LAST YEAR.

6. Main doc: PCP.

7. Words of resignation: I LOSE.

8. Graham's "Boardwalk Empire" role: CAPONE.

Al CAPONE                   Stephen Graham

9. Qt.'s 192: TSPS.

10. Right way?: EAST - On a map

11. Sound before some blessings: ACHOO 😀

12. Wading bird that communicates with bill clattering: STORK An annoying 25 second example

13. Awards for top plays: ESPYS - Last year it was Saquon Barkley's hurdle effort.

16. Car company that hosts Share the Love community events: SUBARU.

20. Counter offer?: SALE 😀

23. Spot with a sandwich board: DELI.

25. Jedi of Dagobah: YODA.

27. Safari and others: IPHONE APPS - I use the Safari browser on my MacBook and iPhone

28. Pick-me-up indulgence: SWEET TREAT.

29. Coder, colloquially: DEV - Isn't it obvi? Totes adorb!

30. Bus. type: LLC - Limited Liability Company

32. "My bad!": I'M SO SORRY - This is close enough to post this great emo song of my yute

33. D.C. team: NATS.

34. Cellular plan?: DNA 😀

37. University of New Mexico mascot: LOBO.

40. Adjust, as a corset: RELACE - I'll bet you can name this character whose corset is being RELACED.

42. Table outside?: MESA 😀

44. American century: SENATE - The less common second definition from Merriam-Webster

46. Song of worship: PSALM.

47. "La Vida Es un Carnaval" singer Cruz: CELIA - Even I could translate this.

48. Cures, in a way: SALTS.

50. Board: GET ON.

52. Some rescues: PETS.

53. Singing crocodile voiced by Shawn Mendes in a 2022 film: LYLE.

55. Largest company headquartered in Oregon: NIKE - Makes sense

57. "Capisce?": SEE.

59. "__ Mañanitas": LAS - Translation

Friday, May 22nd, 2026 ~ David P. Williams

 GET THE "LED"OUT

Tough call, depends on my mood, but I think this 🠉

is my favorite Zeppelin song

There's also a tribute band of the same name

Our constructor David has been a regular for the LA Times since 2021, and mostly Saturday themeless puzzles at that.  Today he turns lead into "crossword gold", as he has a change-in-the-clues theme, rather than the fill - and as suggested at 34A., we are looking to take the "l, e, a & d" out from the four starred themer clues ( not the Periodic Table symbol for lead, Pb, Latin 'plumbum', which showed up nowhere, as I first thought ).  Quite deceptive if you don't know to look "outside the 15x15 grid", so to speak.  I like it when I finish a puzzle and go "Hmm, what am I missing~?"  Just a handful of names, none too obscure ( OK, one was pretty vague - I'm lookin' at you, 14A.~! ),  a balance of 17 3LWs to 20 four-letter ones, a few abbrs, no Twurds, but a couple of "fishy" entries . . . The reveal, and the "*" theme clues;

 34. "Move it!," or how to make this puzzle's starred clues match their answers:

GET THE LEAD OUT

 Every classic rock station I grew up with usually did a 3 to 5-song run, typically Friday at Rush Hour, of  Led Zeppelin's music in a segment that they all affectionately titled "Get the LED out"

18. *Mis[lead]s in an alley: GUTTER BALL - Miss in an alley, a bowling reference; our dear-departed Boomer preferred calling the venue the "lanes", not the alley . . . "misleads in an alley" conjures up some questionable ethics . . .

23. *Word[le ad] collection: DICTIONARY - Word collection = dictionary; I got done in by the Wordle with a "_vowel _ E R" solution the first week of May - too many choices 😡 By my count, there are 150 ways to fill this in, plus two "Y" versions as well

50. *Storied Gi[lead] locale: OMAHA BEACH - Storied G.I. locale - Normandy on D-Day

I want to go see "Pressure" at the end of the month

57. *P[lea d]eal venues: BELL TOWERS - "Peal" venues - now that's funny

I came into contact with this insturment through the pipe organ company - 

a carillon playing the "Theme from Harry Potter" at the end

Wait, There's Morel Bud, Eat~!

🙄

ACROSS:

1. Give and take: SWAP - Made my EDMONTON @ 2D. Bzzzzt~!

5. Blister: SCATHE - think reviews, as in " _ _ ing . . ."

11. Tango number: TWO - it does take Five . . . Two, Sir~!

14. Mother of Beyoncé and Solange: TINA - no clue, filled via perps, name #1

15. William Sydney Porter's pen name: O. HENRY - name #2

16. Fresh: RAW - Dah~! Not NEW

17. Pop artist Warhol: ANDY - Knew him, but it filled via perps anyway, name #3

20. Hospital figs.: RNs - Registered Nurses

21. Of two minds: TORN - Left-handed people ( like me ) are in their "right" minds . . . 😁

22. Sub-par performance?: EAGLE - Golf scoring terminology, Eagle is 2 under par

27. Fog: MIST

28. Kicked off: OPENED

29. Has a strong influence on: IMPACTS - I was close - I had impaRts, just 14% wrong

31. Posting on the side of a food truck: MENU

32. Summer music?: DISCO - Donna Summer, that is - clever.  Name(ish)

"On The Radio" - in keeping with the theme

The week this song was released, Nov 1979, Led Zeppelin

set a new record . . . 

40. Walking aids: CANES - I have one, but walking my neighborhood is too dangerous - no sidewalks, narrow streets, angry dogs . . . I have started going in to the gym to climb the Stairmaster for 30mins on my off-days from training classes

41. Icy response?: Brrr~!

43. Reaction creators: STIMULI

47. The __ Brothers: blue-eyed soul band: DOOBIE - "red -eyed", maybe, I don't know if I'd call them 'blue-eyed', but they come up on the classic rock stations as well - name(ish), and their best song, IMHO

Also released in 1979, it hit #1 in April, and they won the "Song of the Year" Grammy

49. Tsukiji market buy, perhaps: TUNA - Good WAG on my part; fishy #1

53. __-Latin: medieval language: ANGLO

55. Only: LONE

56. Night of revelry, initially: NYE - New Year's Eve

60. Sashimi's lack: RICE - half perps, but a learning moment for me - and I like rice, plus I'll stick to cooked food, thank you - fishy #2

More about sashimi - or just see Rusty Brain's post yesterday

61. Work of fiction: LIE - that it is~!

62. Carry too far: OVERDO

63. "__ come to me ... ": "IT'LL" - unlike raw fish, it's on the 'tip of my tongue' 🙄

64. Northern limits?: ENs  the limits of the word, NortherN

65. Speed up: HASTEN

66. Some drones: BEES - the animal kingdom ones, not the package delivery ones . . . then I wondered if they are in the "animal" kingdom - so I looked

Yup~!

69. Single a donkey: SEE ABOVE

DOWN:

1. Fame: STARDOM - shoulda known this 

2. Manitoba's capital: WINNIPEG - I tried the city in Alberta; both are hockey towns, so that's how I knew them at all - Montreal moves on, wins game one in the conference round~!  

Buffalo lost, at home, in OT, to end game 7.  Sigh.

3. Director's cut?: "AND . . . SCENE~!" - OK, maybe a twurd, but I worked on two movie sets, and this is a "phrase" used tongue-in-cheek to direct your attention to the fact that the performance is over

4. Cough up: PAY

Can you name these two characters~?

5. Rave review: SO GOOD

6. Old-fashioned farm apparatus: CHURN - "I can't believe it's not butter . . . yet"

7. CVS Health subsidiary: AETNA - half perps

8. Big bang letters: TNT - dynamite big bang

9. Charlemagne's domain, briefly: HRE - [the] Holy Roman Empire

10. Governess who breaks the fourth wall: EYRE - I started filling in this name, #4, but waited; "breaking the fourth wall" is when a character "speaks" to the reader/watcher - e.g., "Deadpool" et al.

Top 10 Fourth Wall breakers; YMMV

11. Star-crossed: TRAGIC

12. Financial nabe in NYC: WALL ST. - 'nabe' being an abbr for neighborhood  

13. Little hooters: OWLETS

19. Auburn rival, to fans: 'BAMA - Hah~!  I threw in [ Crimson ] "TIDE"; two Alabama (ooops) universities in a sports feud that turned into a deplorable act of pure malevolence against trees . . . over football.  Sheesh.

The Iron Bowl and the poisoned oaks

21. Draw: TIE

24. Hardware with flanges: T-NUT - we've seen these before

25. Goes up: RISES - like the F*&king price of gas

Exactly

26. Community pool org.: YMCA - ah - we have a YMCA in my neighborhood, and it does feature a pool; apparently, there used to be a pool in my gym back when it opened

30. Entertainment medium, for short: POD - Cast.  Meh.

32. Fabric named for a Frawnche city: DENIM - sergé de Nîmes; I tried TULLE; it's Frawnche as well

33. Tahiti, par exemple: ILE - plus Frawnche, for island

35. Ft. Worth school: TCU - I had the "U" part correct 😜 - Texas Christian; speaking of  Jesus . . . 

36. Heavenly sign: HALO

Om, I'm tellin'~!

37. Wind instrument featured in R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming": OBOE - I know of R.E.M., but not this song - the oboe comes in at 3:00

38. City slicker: URBANITE

39. Early wheels: TRICYCLE - nailed it

42. Does a cobbler's job: REHEELS - I went with RESOLES

Another person doing a cobbler job

43. Bridle suite?: STABLE - Didn't fool me here, either

44. Listen: TUNE IN - perhaps you'll "tune in" to the various music genres posted today

45. Spanish English: INGLES - Español - oooh, symmetry . . . 

46. Chambers of commerce?: MALL - Har-har.

47. "A Man on the Inside" actor Ted: DANSON - name #5, but a good WAG again

48. Honor bestowed by HM King Charles III: OBE - the Order of the British Empire - and a list of who has declined . . . 

51. With it: ALERT

52. Teeming crowd: HORDE

54. Brief "Then again ... ": OTOH - "on the other hand . . . "

58. Reproductive cells: OVA

59. Montgomery of jazz: WES - I knew of him through Eric Johnson, who emulated his style in this song.   Name #6

"East Wes", from Ah Via Musicom, 1990

60. Umbrella spoke: RIB

Splynter

Grid Flow 24.1