Sunday November 2, 2025 Marc Goldstein

Theme: "RETRACE YOUR STEPS" - The second word or second part of each common phrase is dance style, which is repeated like taking the same step twice.

22. Dance of the moonlighters?: SIDE HUSTLE HUSTLE.

40. Dance of the mothers-to-be?: BABY BUMP BUMP.

32. Dance of the anglers?: SANDDAB DAB.

69. Dance of the homebodies?: PORCH SWING SWING.

98. Dance of the flamboyant?: SHOW PONY PONY.

106. Dance of the investigators?: WIRETAP TAP.

123. Dance of the pickpockets?: OLIVER TWIST TWIST.

I like these new dance crazes and the images they project. 

We have another Sunday debut. Congrats, Marc! I wish there's a site like XWord Info that analyzes all the LAT puzzles. I bet we debuted more Sunday puzzles than other papers. 

Across:

1. Comforting touches: PATS.

5. Perceived: SEEN.

9. Puck's flagship restaurant: SPAGO. Wolfgang Puck

14. Wound remnant: SCAR.

18. 2-Down's love interest: ERIC. 2. Rebellious mermaid: ARIEL.

19. Long skirt: MAXI.

20. Classic quilted handbag maker: CHANEL. A bit heavy due to the chain.

21. Goddess of marriage: HERA.

25. Garden spot: EDEN.

26. Many a first-time voter: TEENAGER. Also 29. Wiser companion?: OLDER.

27. Night, in the Eternal City: NOTTE.

28. Blow up, in a way: TREND.

30. Terra firma: LAND.

35. Tear: RIP.

37. Upper limb: ARM.

39. Blessed event?: SNEEZE. Bless you.

46. Middle sch. math class: ALG.

47. Temporary repair material: TAPE. Our old water pipe had a pin hole a few weeks ago. No tape worked.

51. __ cube: ICE.

52. First-year student working toward a JD: ONE L.

53. Poet's "at no time": NE'ER.

55. Troubled: HASSLED.

57. "Whiskey Lullaby" singer Paisley: BRAD.

59. Prefix with -pathic: IDIO. Idiopathic is a new word to me: medical term that describes a condition with an unknown cause.

61. Savor: RELISH.

63. Work unit: ERG.

64. Coin from the Royal Mint: SOVEREIGN. Also unknown to me. From Wikipedia: The sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of one pound sterling and contains 0.2354 troy ounce of pure gold. 

66. Roman garb: TOGA.

67. Concern: ISSUE.

73. Sleepy housemate: HAPPY. The Disney dwarfs.

76. Flag: TIRE.

77. MLB team playing in Sacramento ahead of their move to Las Vegas: ATHLETICS. The move is planned for the 2028 season. "Juiced!"

81. Mathematician Lovelace: ADA.

82. Spotless: CHASTE.

85. Israeli airline: EL AL.

86. Give kudos at a poetry slam: SNAP.

87. Stressful position: HOT SEAT.

89. Tolkien's Shepherds of the Trees: ENTS.

92. Surrounded by: AMID.

94. Evergreen with upright cones: FIR.

95. Tennis icon Arthur: ASHE.

96. King or queen: BED. 93. King or queen: DYNAST.  I love clue echoes.

101. Principles: VALUES.

104. Musician and peace activist Yoko: ONO.

105. Once __ while: IN A.

110. Biblical mariner: NOAH. Our lesson next week is "Creator of Heaven and Earth".

113. Insider parlance: ARGOT.

117. Not moving: INERT.

118. White Rabbit follower: ALICE.

120. Silica gel packet target: MOISTURE.

122. Undershirt, briefly: CAMI.

126. Put in stitches: KNIT.

127. "__ percent of the game is half mental": Yogi Berra quip about baseball: NINETY.

128. How to get in on a deal?: ANTE. Fun clue.

129. Natural balm: ALOE.

130. Tantalizing: SEXY.

131. "Hedda" actress Thompson: TESSA.

132. Drive up a phone bill, in a way: ROAM.

133. Longings: YENS.

Down:

1. Sauce made with basil and pine nuts: PESTO. My favorite sauce has been miso peanut butter lately. 

3. Helped through hard times, with "over": TIDED.

4. Set crew's responsibility: SCENERY.

5. Arrogant: SMUG.

6. Support for a work in progress: EASEL. Artwork. 

7. Over-the-top: EXTRA.

8. World Cup score, maybe: NIL.

9. Closes: SHUTS.

10. Angel hair and linguine: PASTAS. Been loving edamame pasta lately.

11. Radio receiver: ANTENNA.

12. Take shape: GEL.

13. World Cup "Score!," maybe: OLE.

14. Fruity, frozen desserts: SHERBETS.

15. Surrendered: CEDED.

16. Final Four venue: ARENA.

17. H.E.R.'s genre: R AND B. H.E. R. stands for "Having Everything Revealed". Her "Fight for You" won an Oscar.

20. Margaret of "Drop Dead Diva": CHO.

23. Big name in gummy bears: HARIBO.

24. Evasive maneuver: END RUN.

28. Toon devil: TAZ.

31. Catch: NAB.

33. India Gate city: DELHI. War memorial. Looks like Arc de Triomph.

34. "L'Absinthe" painter: DEGAS.

36. Less sizable: PUNIER.

38. Butterfly honorific, for short: MME. Madama Butterfly. Such a sad story. 

40. Lobster dinner accoutrements: BIBS.

41. Prefix with -polis: ACRO.

42. Wally's sitcom bro: BEAV.

43. Combat caregiver: MEDIC.

44. Predicaments: PLIGHTS.

45. "Evita" name: PERON.

48. Some Belgian blondes: ALES. Belgian blonde ales.

49. Cradle of the Inca Empire: PERU.

50. Slight advantage: EDGE.

54. Jamaican genre: REGGAE.

56. Gleam: SHINE.

58. "Nosferatu" actress Lily-Rose: DEPP. Daughter of Johnny Depp.

60. Not remote: ON SITE.

62. Racer's final chance to win: LAST LAP.

65. Rolls-__: ROYCE.

66. Precursor to overtime: TIE.

68. Some military figs.: SGTS.

70. Small but loud songbirds: WRENS.

71. Hula Hoop maker: WHAMO.

72. "Fighting" team of the Big Ten: ILLINI.

73. "Ur so funny!": HA HA.

74. Kerfuffles: ADOS.

75. Trail: PATH.

78. Facts, for short: INFO.

79. Abel's brother: CAIN.

80. Chipper: SPRY.

83. "Se __  español": HABLA. "Spanish spoken here".

84. Devoured: ATE UP.

88. Harshness: SEVERITY.

90. E'en if: THO.

91. Many a Petrarch poem: SONNET.

97. Holds back: DETAINS.

99. Curry favor with: WOO.

100. Not quite (there): PART WAY.

102. Court fig.: ATT.

103. Ointments: SALVES.

106. Candle threads: WICKS.

107. Silly: INANE.

108. New version of an existing song: REMIX. What's the your favorite remix of a popular song?

109. Michelangelo masterpiece: PIETA.

111. __ acid: AMINO.

112. Shade-loving perennial: HOSTA.

114. Cunning: GUILE.

115. "Citizen Kane" director Welles: ORSON.

116. Heads of France: TETES.

119. Get teary: CRY. Jinx, there aren't words for this sorrow. We're holding you and your wife in our thoughts and prayers. And we'll keep holding you in the days after. 

121. One thing alone or two people together: ITEM.

123. Que. neighbor: ONT.

124. Whopper: LIE.

125. "Why Can't We Be Friends?" band: WAR.

C.C.

Saturday, November 1, 2025, Ryan Patrick Smith

 Themeless Saturday by Ryan Patrick Smith

Ryan Patrick Smith lives in Austin, TX and is a writer, editor, gamer and frequent moviegoer who has been constructing word puzzles for over a decade. His work has previously appeared in the NYT and other venues. He and I have been visiting via FaceBook messaging and he is a very nice guy.

I did tell Ryan I had a huge issue in the SE corner where, as the grid shows below, he had a stack of ten unique fills.😳 He replied, Thanks for the kind words, and for giving the puzzle a fair shake! I look forward to your blog post.

Across:

1. "For me? You shouldn't have!": AW HOW SWEET.

11. Froze (out): SHUT - An all too common event in a school lunchrooms and playgrounds 

15. I dropper: THE ROYAL WE - Queen Victoria may or may not have said this but it is usually attributed to her.

16. Antler point: TINE - Makes sense

17. Approximately: MORE OR LESS.

18. Derby, for one: RACE - The most famous one in America and in Britain where they pronounce Derby as Darby.

19. Org chart topper: CEO.

20. Soapstone, largely: TALC.

21. Product line?: SLOGAN.

23. Hardcore: AVID.

25. Red __: HOTS - Red HOTS candy is hot because of cinnamaldehyde, a chemical found in cinnamon bark. It's a skin irritant; when put on the tongue, that's perceived as "hot". It was a favorite in my misspent yute but "burns" my tongue too much now.

27. Youngest sister in the band Haim: ALANA - Taylor Swift considers herself the fourth sister in Haim. I'm sure you know which girl below is Taylor and ALANA is one of the other three.

28. Buy more Time: RENEW 😀

30. With 56-Down, piledriver or Polish hammer: WRESTLING and 56. See 30-Across: MOVE.

                   

Polish Hammer

Pile Driver

32. Milwaukee rival: DREMEL.

34. "Got it": I SEE.

35. "Auld Lang Syne" time, for short: NYE - It is sung on New Year's Eve

36. Plan for a night out?: STAR CHART 😀 Tonight's sky

39. Common thing to clasp behind one's back: BRA 😀 or unclasp

42. Chicken __: KIEV.

43. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" role: MARTHA - Elizabeth Taylor won her second Academy Award for portraying MARTHA. Martha to her husband: I hope that was an empty bottle, George! You can't afford to waste good liquor, not on YOUR salary!

47. Take courses in the evening?: EAT DINNER 😀

50. SoFi Stadium pro: LA RAM.

51. Pays for hand delivery: ANTES 😀

52. Word before or after what: THEN.

54. NOLA squad: PELS.

55. Self-evident observation: TRUISM.

57. Plays that create one-on-one scoring opportunities, in basketball shorthand: ISOS -  All members of the red team have moved to one side of the court so the one red player left is ISOLATED on one defender.

59. Block letters: ABC.

60. Animated musical film set in a theater: SING.

61. Radiohead album with the single "Paranoid Android": OK COMPUTER. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

64. Brand in some bathrooms: MOEN.

65. Phase when one stops being a pushover: VILLAIN ERA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

66. Travel itinerary info: ETDS - When you are departing

67. Cartoon Network series about a trio of similarly named friends: ED EDD N EDDY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Down:

1. Item that's easy to swipe: ATM CARD. 😀

2. "Anyone'll do": WHOEVER.

3. Captain Marvel, for one: HEROINE.

4. 31-Down material: ORE and 31. Underground band: SEAM.

5. Triumphant cry: WOOT.

6. Red choice: SYRAH.

7. Refuse to move on, say: WALLOW.

8. Quiet ride: ELECTRIC VEHICLE - A nice freebie grid spanner

9. Disgusted chorus: EWS.

10. Novelist Gerritsen: TESS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

11. Mosey: STROLL - I believe we have a poster here who is prone to sashay.

12. Follow-up start: HI AGAIN.

13. Preternatural: UNCANNY.

14. Adolescent: TEENAGE.

22. Rugby pass: LATERAL.

24. Hill side, for short: DEMS - DEMocratS are one side on Capital Hill

26. Meet: SESH - Slang for session

29. Smooch from a pooch: WET KISS - Awww...

33. Edward R. Robinson's "Hymn for Soldiers Who Have __ in the Snow":  Not a pleasant read

37. Number for a letter?: RENT - Let is a synonym for rent so a renter is also a letter

38. "It's a __!": TRAP.

39. [Shrug]: BEATS ME - A symbol I use a lot: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

40. Went berserk: RAN RIOT - Yeah, I put RAN AMOK first too

41. Listening carefully (to): ATTUNED.

44. Got a round, say: TREATED.

45. Renaissance weapon: HALBERD - They all have one

46. "Go jump in a lake!": AMSCRAY - I haven't heard Pig Latin in a long time

48. Condescends: DEIGNS.

49. Like many concert tickets: RESOLD - If you buy a ticket on the secondary market, you are at the mercy of "supply and demand". Some Taylor Swift tickets for her Era Tour went for $14,000.

53. Itinerant: NOMAD.

58. Get around?: SPIN - Very different from "Get a round".

62. Tyke: KID.

63. Article indéfini: UNE - Je conduis UNE Buick (I drive a Buick).