Saturday, August 1, 2026, Emily Biegas

 Saturday Themeless by Emily Biegas

In my last puzzle by Emily I came up a few cells short and today it was one cell with the coffee crossing modern "dish the dirt" show. I had a hard time starting this puzzle but had fun once I left the starting block and then had to finish  the NW. It was populated by clues and fills that were not in my vocab, so I had to get help on two cells to unlock that corner. I'll get over it. Does the picture suggest to you that Emily and I may have different life experiences? 😊

Across:

1. Many a Maximum Fun collaborator: PODCASTER ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

10. Signal to change a battery: CHIRP - Smoke detectors leapt to my mind.  It would be a real chore to count all the batteries in this house and most just quit working when they need replacing. 

15. Espresso variety: AMERICANO - I was so sure of some variation of ARABICA for too long

16. Norse pantheon: AESIR ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

17. Makes: GENERATES.

18. Buttoned-up sort: PRUDE.

19. Fashion designer Saab: ELIE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Here he is with some of his creations. 

20. Noted law maker: NEWTON - I have taught NEWTON's Laws hundreds of times

22. "__ of Me": PJ Harvey album: RID ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  - No idea on the artist or the song. I looked up some of her lyrics and they match the tenor of her picture.

23. Impetus: REASON.

25. Poivre partner: SEL.

26. Ten ahead?: DECA 😀 DECADE

27. WashU's city: STL - A 12-minute drive from The Gateway Arch

28. House Stark patriarch: NED - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ From Game Of Thrones 

30. Fed action: RATE CUT.

32. Show stopper?: SERIES FINALE 😀 The most watched TV episode of all time - 106 million viewers.

34. "Measure twice, cut once," for one: MOTTO - Adage, Maxim

37. Sentimental one: SAP.

38. Golf course halves: NINES - The first NINE holes are called the front and the second NINE holes are called the back

39. Discount emporia: THRIFT STORES.

42. Look down upon: SCOFF AT.

43. Goss: TEA - Slang double header: Goss is short for gossip and "stir the TEA" means share the goss.

44. UFC style: MMA - Mixed Martial Arts. Not a fan.

47. Feature of an ungulate: HOOF.

48. Title choice on some forms: MRS - On the old What's My Line show, John Daly's first question of a female contestant was her marital status. Uh, that would not fly today.

50. Contests: ARGUES.

52. Fender Deluxe Reverb, e.g.: AMP - Fender says guitar and Reverb says AMP.

53. "Help me out, would ya?": BE A PAL.

55. WNBA positions: Abbr.: CTRS - The best of the new NBA CTRS is 7' 4" Frenchman Victor Wembanyama .

56. Take care of: SEE TO.

58. Joint tissue: CARTILAGE.

60. Shinto shrine entrance: TORII - The TORII Gate in Omaha's Lauritsen Gardens was a gift from Omaha's sister city Shizuoka, Japan.

61. Race unit: KILOMETER - My granddaughter regularly runs 5K and 10K races

62. First name in landscape photography: ANSEL.

63. Drag event?: SNOREFEST.

Down:

1. Motorola devices: PAGERS - Many hospitals still use them. They are great for professional purposes, almost never get spam calls and can get service where cell phones can be blocked.

2. Tamagoyaki, e.g.: OMELET ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

3. No answer?: DENIAL - No answer: "On advice of counsel..."

4. Grand Council of the __: political body in Canada: CREES 

5. Cause of inflation: AIR 😀

6. Security line machine: SCANNER.

7. The Village Voice critic Greg who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2024: TATE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   Uber obscure to this solver

8. TMZ alternative: E-NEWS.

9. Athletic position?: ROSTER SPOT - Here is a list of 87 players trying to make a ROSTER SPOT on the 2026 KC Chiefs 53-man squad.

10. Skipper, for short: CAP'N.

11. "That girl?": HER.

12. "Consider it done!": I SURE CAN - My reply when C.C. asked me if I could blog the Saturday puzzle about ten years ago.

13. Lampoon: RIDICULE.

14. Antecedes: PREDATES - Precedes was a decent first guess

21. "Frozen" character who sings "In Summer": OLAF - Naive OLAF sings this ironic song

24. Ad hoc: ONE OFF - Several TV characters were intended to be ONE-OFFs, only appear once and then leave the cast. Some made such a lasting impression they became regulars. Examples: Frasier Crane, Saul Goodman, Max Klinger, Gomer Pyle, et al. Others?

26. "Train Dreams" writer Johnson: DENIS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

29. Fighting words?: DISS TRACKS - DISS has become a familiar fill and here it serves to describe musical answers to artists who felt they were "disrespected'.

31. Lack of sensitivity: TIN EAR - Oho, that's not what you meant...

32. Shortchange: STIFF - I would never STIFF a server because of a bad meal

33. "I could __": EAT.

34. Stratovolcano in NorCal: MT SHASTA.

35. "Gimme a break": OH COME ON.

36. Highway enforcers: TROOPERS - A truly thankless job

40. Mild: TAME.

41. Many a "Selling Sunset" cast member: REALTOR. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

44. Re-strain?: MUTATE 😀 Kind of a stretch?

45. Picks a lane?: MERGES.

46. Declare: ASSERT.

49. Valencia's country: SPAIN.

51. Sign of treble?: G CLEF - Named for the second note on the staff. The stylized "G" wraps around that second line

53. Get hot: BOIL.

54. "Alligator Boy" in a 2021 Netflix animated film: ARLO. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

57. Runoff cause, perhaps: TIE - It wasn't an actual TIE but no one got more than 50% of the vote.

59. "__ Mine": George Harrison book: I ME - Song video and book cover:

  

Friday, Jul 31st, 2026 ~ Betsy Ochester & Andrew Gutelle

ACROSS & . . . 

DOWN  - ON THE CORNER

I do like an "outside the box" kind of puzzle - we had a similar Friday with "Sides Add LE" on April 24th this year from James Mattina.  Today we have a crossword from constructors Betsy O and Andrew G - this is their third LA Times collaboration; the others were (1) on Thursday, and (2) on Monday, both with Naomi at the helm to guide us.  Today's themers can be resolved by adding corner "around" the corner(s) of the grid, and Bob (Feller)'s Your Uncle.  Standard size, no Twurds, typical run of proper names, with TWO Leslies & Penguins today. The themers, reveal, and an expanded graphic of the grid:

1A. *Executive space with great views: [ corner ] OFFICE - Here's a "great view" of my executive blogging command center, taken from the corner at the ceiling 😜

I'm not done with the space yet - still working on the closet area

and a cool set of shelves for the opposite wall

7A. *Area in Westminster Abbey where Chaucer is buried: POETS [ corner ] - More from their website

65A. *Place to find a date?: [ corner ] STONE - ah.  That kind of 'date'

66A. *Stop sign locale: STREET [ corner ] - "Hey, baby, what's your sign~?"   "Stop."

12D. *Scoring opportunity in soccer: [ corner ] KICK

14D. *Defensive player who's often the fastest on the football field: [ corner ] BACK - The NY Jets used to have ESPN's #9 choice, Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner, but he's with the Colts now

47D. *Eeyore's home: POOH [ corner ] - "Winnie the" and friends' website

53D. *Challenging stretch at Augusta National: AMEN [ corner ] - more from the PGA Masters, here

37. Not far off, or where to look to make this puzzle's starred clues match their answers?: 

AROUND THE CORNER

And a shout-out to the all the Crossword CORNERITES~!

Grid Flow 34.5

    W
     a
     i
But
          There's
                   M
                    o
                    r
                    e(s)~!

ACROSS:

-

-

12. Quaint term for "patella": KNEEPAN - Google says it's one word, and a learning moment for me

13. Supporting Mideast unity: PAN-ARAB - I got stuck on NON-arab, which cost me 2 minutes of looking for my mistake; the Wiki

15. Björk's country: ICELAND - sssss, close - I know of her, went with FIN-land; name #1

16. Ferrera of "Ugly Betty": AMERICA - name #2 - I do the Sunday puzzle on Friday, since I had solved today's puzzle back on Sunday - here's a "slit" for Anon-T's write up 😁

Her Harness page

17. Winnow: CULL - ah; I was thinking M innow

18. Simple shelters: TENTS - made my "RIM OF FIRE" at 19 Down Bzzzzt

20. Rat (on): NARC

21. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" novelist: KESEY - I knew of Ken, name #3

23. Period: DOT - not the "ERA" kind of dot, this one . . . ↙

24. Albanian currency: LEK - Friday.  Vague.

25. "Tubular!": "RAD~!" - two weeks in a row for me

27. Fire (up): REV

29. Texter's "Just a sec": BRB - Be Right Back - I gotta "P"

30. Atlanta-based health agcy.: CDC - Centers for Disease Control

33. String of dried chile peppers: RISTRA - filled via perps - and a unique fill 😁

35. Reign: RULE

40. Jazz singer Sylvia: SYMS - no clue, name #4 - more here

41. One on parental leave, perhaps: NEW DAD

42. "A Boy Named __": Johnny Cash hit: SUE - name (ish)

43. Navy noncom: CPO - Chief Petty Officer

44. Simple shirt: TEE

45. Pained cry: "YOW~!!"

47. Kung __ chicken: PAO

48. Trippy drug: LSD - LySergic Acid Diethylamide - "acid"

50. Molten rock: MAGMA

Liquid Hot MAG - MA

54. Luxury hotel chain: OMNI

56. Label again: RE-TAG

58. Word: TERM

59. Wedding crasher's destination, perhaps: OPEN BAR - Crossing - 31D. College with an alcohol ban: DRY CAMPUS (a unique fill ) - how's that for a "mixer"~?

61. Pen pal's signoff: "WRITE ME." - Penguin's (#1) sign off - "White Me"

63. "House __": longtime HGTV series: HUNTERS - Here's an episode about a village near my old stomping ground of Long Island - about 20mins south of where I lived

Setauket to Patchogue

64. "Airplane!" star Leslie: NIELSEN - A gimme Leslie #1, name #5 - "I just want to tell you both good luck, we're all counting on you . . ."

DOWN:

1. At just the right moment: ON CUE

2. Senses: FEELS

3. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob who won the World Series in 1948 with Cleveland: FELLER - also no clue, name #6, more from the Hall of Fame here

4. Bitter brew, briefly: IPA - was not working with my FINLAND

5. Jargon: CANT - def.  #3b

6. Over and done: ENDED

7. Tennis player Shriver and actress Grier: PAMs - know both "names", #s 7 & 8

Pam #7 is not quite square to the net, but still a pretty cool A I image

8. Low digit: ONE - Dah~!  This time, it was not TOE

9. Merit: EARN

10. Dress rehearsals: TRIAL RUNS

11. French cry of surprise: "SACRE BLEU~!!" - Frawnche expletive

13. Spoke rapidly: PATTERED - I was not giving up N-attered

19. The Pacific __: NORTHWEST - not the "Rim of Fire"

Ah.  Pacific RIM was the movie . . .

22. Knitter's ball: YARN

26. Neglected to: DIDN'T

28. Holiday, casually: VACAY

29. Cool remark: "Brr~!" - I think this may have benefitted from a "?", but it filled via perps, so . . . 

30. __ in Charlie: 'C' AS . . . meh.  CHarlie is a "chuh" sound, not a "kuh", as in Careless editing mistake

32. Part: COMPONENT - solid vague one word 4-letter clue + 8-letter answer

34. Pittsburgh team: STEELERS - PENGUINS (#2) fit, too, name(ish)

36. Afore: ERE

38. GI show gp.: USO - United Service Organization

39. Leslie __ Jr. of "Hamilton": ODOM - Leslie #2, name #9

46. Turkey appendage: WATTLE - for some reason, I went with GIBLET, but thought it was spelled GIBBET - that's something else that "hangs" . . . 

49. New beginnings: DAWNS

51. Gaggle birds: GEESE

52. Mascot Hall of Fame inductee from Queens: MR. MET - I knew "him", forgot what he was called

I grew up with the Mets, did not know he had a "Mrs."

55. A fan of: INTO - I am more into hockey . . . The NHL Eighty-Four game season starts Sep 29th

56. Uncommon: RARE

57. Spunk: GRIT

60. "Severance" director Stiller: BEN - name #10, I "neglected to" know ( 26D. ) he directed; sounds like a thrilling TV series

62. Suffix with front or cash: IER - frontier, cashier

Splynter

Thursday July 30, 2026 Jeffrey Wechsler

In keeping with MalMan's second-in-a-row from Sala and Dena yesterday, I raise him a Jeffery Wechsler. This is his third Thursday puzzle that I've reviewed. People are starting to talk! 

No reveal, just answers that start with CHE plus one letter in an alphabet run: V, W, X, Y and Z. Why CHE? Maybe Jeffrey was trying to be revolutionary! He certainly revolved through some letters.

17. Car named for a California beach city: CHEVROLET MALIBU. For a while there, Chevy named several of its models after trendy places on or near the ocean: Laguna [Beach], Biscayne [Bay], and Bel Air (upscale coastal neighborhood).

23. Carefully considering something: CHEWING IT OVER. This idiom may have derived from how farm animals like cows "ruminate" by bringing up food and chewing it a second time.

35. Cereal-based snack: CHEX MIX. An old friend in Kansas sends us a batch every Christmas so we can get our annual CHEX MIX fix. 

46. Home of the Frontier Days rodeo: CHEYENNE WYOMING. The capital city of Wyoming.

55. California restaurant opened by Alice Waters in 1971: CHEZ PANISSE. The Berkley restaurant lost it Michelin star years ago, but apparently, it's still pretty good.

The solve went smoothly with only one monkey wrench - I'm looking at you, TITI. The mirror image symmetry and extra-tall grid made for an interesting visual. Is that CHE's face?

Let's CHEck out the rest:

Across:

1. Thompson of "Creed": TESSA. She played Bianca Taylor in 3 Creed movies that spun off from the Rocky franchise.

6. One crunch, e.g.: REP. A single REPetition. 

9. Accord, for one: SEDAN. It's also available as a 2-door coupe.

14. Dined on, quaintly: ATE OF.

15. Big bird: EMU. 

16. Año Nuevo month: ENERO. ENERO is January en español, the beginning of a New Year.

17. [theme]

20. South American monkey: TITI. TIL that TITIs are small furry primates also known as "jumping monkeys" because of how the leap from branch to branch.

21. In and of itself: PER SE. I found PER SE hard to PARSE.

22. Toolbar image: ICON. Tool ICONs prior to personal computers:

23. [theme]

26. Alien-seeking field: Abbr.: SETI. The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. They didn't find any down here, so they started looking elsewhere. 

27. Pin number?: TEN. Fun clue, as in bowling pins.

28. Loch with a legend: NESS. Lock with a legend: ELVIS. A lock from his pompadour sold for $115,000 at an auction in 2002!

29. Mach 1 breaker: SST. SuperSonic Transports are jets that exceed the speed of sound (approx. 767mph = 1 Mach).

31. Author Rand: AYN. Her novel, Atlas Shrugged, constantly ranks near the top in reader's polls. I read it but it wasn't my cup of tea.

32. Catch a few winks: NAP.

35. [theme]

39. With 59-Down, "Tommy" band: THE. THE? THE who?

42. Land measure: ACRE.

44. Strong suit?: ARMOR.

45. Due, as an apology: OWED.

46. [theme]

49. "__ hoping!": HERE'S.

50. Nav. rank: ENS. Naval ranks in xwords are always ENS (Ensign) or ADM (Admiral), which is odd because Ensigns are the lowest ranking officers in the Navy, while Admirals are the highest.

51. __-nez: PINCE. When I first start wearing reading glasses, I found them uncomfortable when using headphones. I briefly tried PINCE-nez that "pinch the nose", but they were even more annoying and kept falling off. Growing old is no fun.

Besides, I didn't look cool like Morpheus.

52. West Texas city: ODESSA.

54. Having raised surfaces, as teeth: CUSPED. Cuspids have one point (aka canine teeth) while bicuspids have two.

55. [theme]

59. "Hold your horses!": WHOA.

61. Yank at: TUG ON. How my dentist removed my bicuspid. Note to self: get better dental insurance.

62. Pet food brand: IAMS. This is as good a place as any to pander to the crowd:

Buster and his cuspids

65. Like some cheese: HARD.

66. Revise, as prose: EMEND.

67. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA.

68. Shoppe adjective: OLDE. It could've been a MALT shoppe.

69. "Mighty" batter who strikes out in a classic poem: CASEY. As a high school English project, I made an 8mm movie of this poem starring several classmates. I narrated over the edited film and got an A. Watch out Spielberg!

70. Tiny amt. of time: NSEC. A Nanosecond is one billionth of a second. In that time, light travels one foot!

Down:

 1. Social finesse: TACT. 

2. Standards of right and wrong: ETHICS. 

3. Stew: SEETHE. SEETHE seems a lot stronger than stew, but  I SEE THE ire.

4. Sputnik launchers: SOVIETS. I thought of ROCKETS at first, but dismissed it while waiting for the Russian equivalent. Turns out he wanted the people who launched it, not the vehicle.

5. Chad's continent: Abbr.: AFR. Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central AFRICA.

6. Cave: RELENT. Ah, cave as a verb, not a NOUN.

7. Come to light: EMERGE.

8. Antes up: PUTS IN. "You put your right chip in, you take your right chip out"...wait, that's Hokey Poker. 

9. Zooplankton habitat: SEA. Zooplankton are tiny, drifting animals in oceans, but they are also found in lakes and rivers.

10. Jazz up: ENLIVEN.

11. Frees of frost: DEICES. Frees of Frost: NIXON. Richard Nixon rued the day in 1977, three years after the Watergate scandal brought him down, when he selected British TV personality David Frost to conduct a series of interviews believing it will be easy to mislead Frost and rehab his image. It didn't turn out well for Tricky Dick when he publicly admitted abusing power and obstructing justice.

Frost vs. Nixon

12. Leafy retreats: ARBORS.

13. Gin or tonic: NOUN. NOUN for me, thanks. 

18. Nail polish brand: OPI. It's taken years, but I finally wrote this in without hesitation. What can I say, my brain is rusty.

19. Came together: MET. This couple MET at the Met.

24. Cheesehead's st.: WISC. Wisconsin is the largest cheese-producing state, so I guess residents there are born this way. 

25. Semiprecious stone with black-and-white bands: ONYX.

30. Holier-__-thou: THAN.

31. Well-ventilated: AIRY.

32. __ cheese: NACHO. In Wisconsin, they say, "It's NACHO cheese, it's mine." 

33. Was sore: ACHED.

34. Prepare for later broadcast: PRERECORD. 

36. Coastal raptor: ERNE.

37. Marvel Comics mutants: X-MEN. And as we've recently learned, X-Men are a cohort.

38. Does lawn work: MOWS.

39. Cult classic of 1990s TV: TWIN PEAKS. I missed this quirky crime-drama when it first aired on ABC, but have seen it since. I liked the surreal aspects of it.

40. Therefore: HENCE.

41. "O, turn thy __ sword another way; / Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help": "Henry VI, Part 1": EDGED. Your daily dose of Shakespeare.

43. Sun visor: EYESHADE. Turns out that OPI only makes nail shades, not eyeshades.

45. Sin of __: OMISSION. I could've done without this one.

47. To be, in Latin: ESSE.

48. Cataloged work: OPUS.

53. Pyramid builders of Mexico: AZTEC. I'm hoping to visit these or the Mayan ones this fall.

Aztec (L) and Mayan (R)

54. Supermodel Crawford: CINDY. How can it be that she just turned 60? I guess it's time to take down her poster.

Cindy with her daughter Kaia Gerber

56. Big cat: PUMA.

57. Seemingly forever: AGES. That's when Crawford first appeared on poster.

58. Zip: NONE.

59. See 39-Across: WHO. Oh, THE WHO!

60. Shakespearean prince: HAL. "I'm Henry the Fifth, but you can call me HAL." Prince HAL is William Shakespeare's dramatic name for the young Henry V of England. Not to be confused with Henry VI quoted above. 

63. Army fare, briefly: MRE. A Meal, Ready-to-Eat is a self-contained individual U.S. military ration.

64. Cul-de-__: SAC. And we've reached the end of the road.

Be good. RB