Theme: The beat goes on!
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| Erik Agard and Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis |
Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis is an audio and digital producer on the NPR Music Team, and an avid crossword solver. This may be her first published crossword puzzle. If so, congratulations! In the photo above, Sofie was reporting on a crossword tournament at the University of Chicago in October 2025 for radio station WBEZ Chicago. For today's puzzle, Sofie teamed up with constructor extraordinaire Erik Agard, former crossword editor at USA Today, currently at Apple News+. It's wonderful to have these young folks making puzzles.
Today's puzzle features three starred clues, and one that reveals their connection:
28-Down. "Genius of Love" band, or what the answers to the starred clues are members of?: TOM TOM CLUB. Although I was a fan of the band Talking Heads in the 1980s, I did not know about Tom Tom Club, a side project of two of the members. Their song "Genius of Love" made it to the US top 40 in 1981.
Now that I've heard the song, I'm going to forget it, along with the band. Happily this ignorance on my part did not keep me from solving the puzzle. The reveal even helped me complete the starred clues. They are:
20-Across. *Jelly Roll Morton jazz composition: BLACK BOTTOM STOMP. I know about Jelly Roll Morton -- the jazz bandleader who was recording in the 1920s -- because of Van Morrison's lyrics:
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like Jelly Roll
And it stoned me
But I didn't know Black Bottom Stomp:
47-Across. *Pronunciation dichotomy popularized by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: TOMAYTO TOMAHTO. This difference in pronunciation is highlighted in a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film Shall We Dance. In the movie, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sing it while roller skating. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded it in 1957.
27-Down. *One minuscule step at a time: ATOM BY ATOM. Keeping in mind that Sofie is involved with broadcasting music, it's likely that she has a song in mind here, too. Is she thinking of the British band Satan, with the 2015 album (and song) Atom by Atom? (There's also a London-based alternative rock group called Atom by Atom. Listen here: https://atombyatom.bandcamp.com/album/dirty-bag )
If you've ever wished that NaomiZ would post more links, your wish has now been granted.
Oh, and by the way -- TOM TOMs are drums. But you knew that. And -- the word TOM appears twice in each of the starred answers. But you knew that, too.
Here's the grid, with all those TOMs peeping out:
Now that we've dealt with every TOM, let's see about Dick and Harry, and whoever else.
Across:1. One-third of a cereal mascot trio: SNAP. Crackle and Pop wouldn't fit.
5. Start fishing: CAST. A fisherman casts the line by pulling the rod back and then snapping it forward, releasing the fishing line and launching it forward.
9. Astounds: WOWS.
13. __ d'Ivoire: COTE. A West African country with a French colonial history.
14. Spa treatment: FACIAL.
16. Pelee Island's lake: ERIE. The largest island in Lake Erie.
18. Mamá's mamá: ABUELA. Abuela is Spanish for grandmother. The accent on mamá was your clue for Spanish.
19. Rodgers of the band Chic: NILE. Co-founder of the band Chic, Nile Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 100 million singles worldwide. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has received six Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement/Special Merit Award. You may not know his name, but I'll bet you've heard the songs:
20. [Theme clue]
23. "Beloved" protagonist: SETHE. Beloved is a 1987 novel by Toni Morrison. This harrowing tale of a runaway slave is based on a true story. In 1856, U.S. marshals broke into a cabin in the free state of Ohio, where a mother who had escaped brutal slavery in Kentucky was hiding with her children. The mother attempted to kill her own children to prevent their return to Kentucky under the Fugitive Slave Act. Imagine how awful her experience in Kentucky must have been, to want to spare her children in this way.
24. Many a YA hero: TEEN. YA = Young Adult, a category of literature aimed at teenagers.
25. Yellowfin and albacore: TUNAS.
26. Green vegetable in aloo matar: PEA. Curry with peas is part of our standard rotation! We use tofu instead of potatoes.
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| Aloo Matar |
28. 2,000 pounds: TON.
29. The Black List items: SCRIPTS. The Black List is a platform for writers to share scripts with Hollywood professionals and get high-quality evaluations from vetted readers. https://blcklst.com/
33. Polite: CORDIAL.
37. "I'm sorry" response: THAT'S OK.
38. Vast: IMMENSE.
39. Chows down: EATS.
40. Instant: MOMENT. One meaning of instant is a precise moment of time. At that very moment ... or, at that very instant ...
43. Dreary routines: RUTS.
44. CT scan kin: MRI.
45. Ford SUV: BRONCO.
46. Govt. org. established by Lincoln: IRS. President Lincoln signed the Revenue Act of 1862, which created the position of Commissioner of Internal Revenue within the Department of the Treasury, and levied the nation's first progressive income tax. Income tax was repealed in 1872, reinstated in 1894, ruled unconstitutional in 1895, and reinstated through the 16th amendment in 1913. The taxing agency was renamed "Internal Revenue Service" in 1953. You're welcome.
47. [Theme clue]
52. Govt. org. established by Nixon: EPA. President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency by executive order in 1970 to consolidate federal environmental responsibilities and to respond to growing public concern over pollution and environmental degradation.
53. Movie tech: CGI. Computer-Generated Imagery.
54. "Did you start already?": AM I LATE?
58. Type of grill or haircut: FLAT TOP.
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| flat top grill flat top haircut |
62. Spot for the cheapest seats in the house, maybe: LAST ROW.
63. "Beauty and the Beast" candelabra: LUMIÈRE. French speakers have an advantage, since lumière means light.
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| Lumière from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" |
65. Partner of "aided": ABETTED. Aiding others is usually a good thing; abetting is very bad.
Down:
1. Line crossers?: SCABS. Scabs cross the picket line.
2. Of high morals: NOBLE.
3. Royal appearance?: AT BAT. Kansas City Royals appear, one at a time, at bat.
4. Fruit parts in some noyaux recipes: PEACH PITS. Noyaux is a liqueur which infuses the kernels found inside pits of stone fruits into spirits like vodka or rum. Be sure to roast those kernels to avoid cyanide poisoning!
5. "The Princess Diaries" novelist Meg: CABOT. The Princess Diaries is a series of young adult novels by Meg Cabot, and is also the title of the first volume, published in 2000. The series follows an American teenager who turns out to be Princess Regent of a small European country. The 2001 Disney film starred Anne Hathaway in her film debut as the princess, along with Julie Andrews as her grandmother and Queen regnant.
6. Like some angles: ACUTE.
7. This clue's number en español: SIETE. Spanish for "seven."
8. Hawk's weapon: TALON. Photographer Mark Smith call talons "murder mittens."
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| Mark Smith's photo of a juvenile Bald Eagle |
9. Sank: WENT UNDER.
10. Night hunter: ORION. Most visible during winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
11. Activist and social reformer Mankiller: WILMA. Wilma Mankiller (1945-2010) was a Native American activist and Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. One of her projects was the subject of the film The Cherokee Word for Water.
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| Wilma Mankiller 2022 quarter dollar |
12. Oozes: SEEPS.
14. "Gorg!": FAB. Gorgeous! Fabulous.
15. On the __: LAM.
21. Holds on to: KEEPS.
22. Rush angrily: STORM. Picture storming off ...
27. [Theme clue]
28. [Theme reveal]
29. Brain __: STEM.
30. Graph that may resemble a pie: CHART.
31. Embarrass on social media, in a way: RATIO. Ratio as a verb on Twitter: to flood a tweet or its author with negative replies such that commenters take control of the message away from the original poster. This makes sense as it influences the ratio of positive to negative responses.
32. Field hockey garment: SKORT.
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| Looks like skorts are strictly for the ladies. |
33. Seis menos uno: CINCO. Spanish again! Six minus one: five.
34. Indigenous people of Greenland: INUIT.
35. Houston baseballer: ASTRO.
36. "I couldn't care __": LESS.
41. "Click, Clack, __: Cows That Type": Caldecott Honor book: MOO. By Doreen Cronin, 2000.
42. Otolaryngologist, for short: ENT. An otolaryngologist, commonly called an ENT doctor, specializes in conditions of the ear, nose, and throat.
48. Cheesy sammies: MELTS. A melt is a hot sandwich with melting cheese. The tuna melt is a classic example.
49. Not together: APART.
50. Finest form: A GAME.
51. "Cue the music!": HIT IT. Back to Sofie's choice!
54. Flying fig.: ALT. Altitude.
55. Ruin: MAR.
56. Ames sch.: ISU. Iowa State University is in Ames, Iowa.
57. Mother in a meadow: EWE.
58. Ga. neighbor: FLA.
59. Vietnamese New Year: TET.
60. One of five resources in Catan: ORE. Catan is a board game in which players establish settlements on a fictional island while acquiring and trading resources. The resources include wool, grain, lumber, brick, and ore.
61. One on foot: Abbr.: PED. Pedestrian.
32 comments:
Good morning!
Good thing I didn't look at the constructor names. I probably wouldn't have attempted this one. Wasn't as obtuse as I would've expected. I'll take the eight shoutouts for the win, even with that tortured definition for RATIO. WILMA and LUMIERE were unknown, but perps to the rescue. Thanx, Sofie, Erik, and NaomiZ.
I recognized Eric
Agard’s name as someone whose Saturday cw puzzles are notoriously difficult, so I wondered how I would do on his Thursday puzzle. I ended up solving it, but in terms of the reveal, to borrow a phrase from Irish Miss, “the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.” Nevertheless , FIR, so I’m happy.
2 out of 3 themers are just meh. You've got two ATOMS and two TOMATOes there (though I loved the answer at 47A), so it's no surprise that there are two TOMs. BLACK BOTTOM STOMP actually has the TOMs in two different words, which is how this sort of theme is usually done.
FOR, but hors->COTE, black bottom stoop->BALCK BOTTOM STOMP, and balcony->LAST ROW.
When I saw Agard was the co-author I thought about skipping this one, but I looked at 1A and saw that it was the obvious SNAP so decided to try it. I'll call this one my "Jinx gets a prostate exam" puzzle. Yes, I'm glad I did it, yes, it resulted in success, and yes, I'll be happy to wait a year before I do it again.
IMO, the worst of this one was the cross of NILE and WILMA. Not the fill, but the "I'm in Mensa" cluing. Also IMO, the best was "night hunter" for ORION. When I met my wife, she had just adopted an Irish Wolfhound named ORION. When he passed away, we got another wolfie and named him Sirius, ORION's hunting dog.
Thanks to NaomiZ for another fun review. You were right - I knew Le Freak music, but the title nor the band.
Jinx, I’ve been passing around your “Prostrate exam” comment at the day program I go to. So witty!
-SubG
Enjoyed it. Came here to learn something new: ratio. Thanks for that.
In August 1983 I had the great pleasure of seeing the Talking Heads in concert in Saratoga, New York. They performed some Tom Tom Club songs. The next day I moved to New Hampshire to start Law School. Now, 42 years later, after practicing law for nearly 40 years, I’m contemplating retirement and my son is a student at the University of New Hampshire.
Not bad. Came close to a DNR, a few near Naticks. So some WAGs lol
Tom tom club? Anyway didn’t catch on to the theme.
The band “Chic”? NILE “Rodgers”?
I thought “Black List” referred to the went-on-too-long James Spader series.
“Ma Rainey's Black Bottom” is a 2020 movie, great performance by Viola Davis …. CÔTE d’Ivoire = Ivory Coast
Paris is called La Ville LUMIÈRE (first to get gas street lights and role in the Age of Enlightenment and culture )
Remember when a substance called Laetrile supposedly made from PEACH PITS was touted as a cancer cure. Contained cyanide.
Wilma “Mankiller”! Yikes (LIU she was married twice so they were not out off by her name)
“Greenland” INUITS, you guys are off the hook for now since we will be too busy invading Venezuela…
Have a great day 😃
You mean SPAC? I saw “The Who” there at 19 in 1969. Cost one dollar if you sat on the lawn!!
This puzzle was not a good fit for me. Too many unknown names, WILMA crossing NILE missing the L, SCRIPTS, CABOT, AT BAT as clued, the theme entries and too many oral phrases.
Noyaux is the French word for pits.
Thank you NaomiZ for your clever remarks and nice review.
Very tough puzzle I thought, but fun in the end. Especially liked seeing Lumiere, as that was also the name of a major location in the best video game that came out this year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
When I saw the shared byline, I was tempted to skip it, anticipating yet another Erik Agard vanity project.
But, hoping that his contributions might be minimal, I forged ahead and FIR in 12:22.
There were a few clues that had his obvious fingerprints on them, but not enough to ruin the puzzle.
I ignored the theme but the perps filled those on easily.
My favorite clue was for ATBAT...very clever. I give this puzzle a 7/10.
*in easily
Hola! SIETE and ABUELA were the only fill I was absolutely sure of, but slowly, square by square, the grid filled. I, too, shudder when I see Erik Agard's name but since he had a partner, I thought he might have eased off and so, yes, I was able to finish. WILMA Mankiller's name came to me after WOWS emerged. That finished STOMP, of which I was not sure.
SETHE was another unknown for me. Yikes, it's a wonder I even finished this puzzle. But thank you, Sofie and Erik for the challenge.
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
FIR but hated this puzzle
Really liked this one. It was very different.
15 names, DNK 7, and one that I DID know, took a while to bring to mind: "COTE". Thanx to NaomiZ for 'splainin' 3D. Filled after I finally brought to mind COTE, then looked at ATBAT and could not figure out what that had to do with royalty. So the NW was the last to fill, but eventually FIR in 16. This CW is about the right difficulty for a Thursday or Friday. Thanx SH-S&EA. Too many names, but that seems to be the trend. Never heard of TomTomClub, but I did get the TOMTOM theme.
Musings
-What a hoot! To paraphrase a familiar movie catchphrae, “I ain’t afraid of no Agard!” Humbled sometimes but not afraid. :-)
-We’ve had ERIE so often, I recognized Pelee Island instantly as a variation on its cluing. FWIW, it is the most southern point of Canada.
-An obscurity like SETHE is understandable because a fill was needed. Obscure cluing of NILE, PEA, RATIO and WILMA (Fred’s wife a backseat to a Mankiller) seemed to work themselves out.
-AM I LATE? TRUST ME, you will never hear those words said by left-brained me.
-LAST ROW is the first to fill up in college classes and churches
-I did not know LUMIÈRE but taught the light unit of lumens in my physics classes
-Realizing that Royal was from my KC baseball team made me smile. An alphabet run at AT BA_ finally yielded the answer.
-Colleges are trying to stop fans from STORMING the field after a win
-How in the world did “I couldn’t care LESS” get replaced by the now common “I could care LESS”?
-This fall’s very active FB coaching carousel has moved ISU’s successful coach to Penn State.
-Nicely done, Naomi.
“I could care less” is one of my least favorite, and all too common, nonsensical expressions.
Almost as bad as “I was thinking in my head…”
I finished, but I googled TOMboyCLUB, so I can’t quite claim I FIR.
ATOM BY ATOM was a particularly difficult get among the three obscure theme answers.
Aside from the theme, I needed a lot of Wite-out. The NILE Rodgers/WILMA Mankiller Natick made the STOMP alongside JELLY ROLL hard to suss. I didn’t know what the Black List was, so SCRIPTS didn’t dawn on me readily. When I reported on high school field hockey in Vermont, the girls were wearing skirts, not SKORTS. I didn’t trip over the Royal AT-BAT clue, but it was a reach. MAR is not as harmful as “ruin.” RATIO as a verb? C’mon!
It took me a second to remember LUMIERE. And I found myself hoping someone would miss the COTE clue and try “Hors.” And I see Jinx came through! And Jinx's "I'm in Mensa" line was a Corner classic!
I was put off by a couple of glaring Naticks that resulted in an alphabet run finish, with no aha moments... otherwise, a challenging puzzle.
Question, how do you find the bio's on the constructors?
Do you just google, or is there a specific crossword source? (Like how do you know it was an LAT first?)
Aloo Matar, mmmmm..... just looking at it makes me hungry
(I'll trade you a Hakuna matata for some aloo matar...)
Speaking of India, they have their own version of a kind of tom tom.
are you playing your Damaru correctly?
Tough but still interesting Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Sofie and Erik. And thanks too for your always helpful commentary, NaomiZ--always appreciated.
Well this puzzle started with a CAST that WOWS an audience, letting us know we're probably in a theater that has performances from groups like ABBA. The audience is likely to be full of TEENS who are enjoying TUNAS for lunch before studying some SCRIPTS, hoping to get a MOMENT on the stage one of these days. Let's just hope when they show up at a show asking AM I LATE? they'll be told THAT'S OK, and let's just pray that they'll get A PART.
Have a healthy, happy, and productive day, everybody.
Took 10:40 today TO Make my way from the top to the botTOM.
I generally do not look at the constructor's name prior to solving (and often not after), but I may have to be on the look-out as the juice was definitely not worth the squeeze today.
Unknowns today included: Cote, Wilma, Nile, Tom Tom Club, Black Bottom Stomp, Sethe, ratio, aloo matar, & Cabot.
How about Sonny Sixkiller, a great college quarterback for Washington who also played in the original movie with Burt Reynolds, The Longest Yard.
Erik Aagard is always interesting. Fun to learn while solving his puzzles.
DNF. Had I looked at the constructors name, it would have been DNS. (Did not start.) "What a clever fellow am I" show-offy cluing gives no "Aha!" moments, and results in no feeling of accomplishment. TOMAYTO? Really?
Right up there with the beloved “irregardless”…
====> Darren
Hi, CrossEyedDAve at 12:43 PM! Our blog has a "search this blog" feature on the right side of the main page where you can search for author's names, along with other text. Other than that, I just Google the constructors' names. Some of our more clever or experienced bloggers may have favorite sites to check. I'm impressed when bloggers reach out to constructors for comments. (I'm looking at you, Husker Gary!) I've never done that, and it's not that simple to discover email addresses online.
Quite the music fest today! I’m thinkin’ Eric was tempered a bit by Sofie, but he still got in his (speaking of music) licks — has anyone here ever done any project ATOMBYATOM? OK, it fits the theme, but…strettttch!
Most of the clues were on the straight and narrow, except for “Gorg!”; if’n y’all’re gonna create a slang contraction from a regular word, it needs to be spelled like y’want it to sound — “Gorge!”. The “!” gives it away as slang, so no confusion with the river ditch. IMHO, anyway.
Does anyone ever wear their hair in a FLATTOP these days? Haven’t seen one outside of any movies recently.
I sure hope WILMA Mankiller did not ascend to chief by doing just that 🤣
Jinx, you were in fine form today! Had me LMAO all the way. And Lucina, between the arithmetic and relatives en Español, you must’ve been in cielo de cerdo doing today’s CW!
That an agency like the EPA was enacted by Reagan, a figurehead of Republican partygoers, and is now being destroyed by the current administration speaks volumes of how the nation has changed…
Speaking of gov’t agencies —NaomiZ, you keep raising your A-GAME with each subsequent review you post! The exposé on the IRS was quite the learning moment — I had no idea that the department had such an on/off history. As much as we hate the outfit, it’s a necessary evil for the maintenance of our Republic. Also, I really enjoyed your choice of music clips to augment SH-S’s backtheme — thank you!
====> Darren / L.A.
Well, I did the puzzle.
Thanks to Sofie and Eric and congrats to Sofie! I did manage a FIR but that required a lot of intuitive guessing at numerous unknowns. For me, it was an odd case of the reveal helping me to suss the themers while simultaneously the themers were helping me to suss the reveal.
Thanks, also, to NaomiZ for all the work she put into helping us understand this one! I thought Jelly Roll was the guy who is currently dropping music. So, as you can see, there were a lot of learning moments.
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