Thursday May 14, 2026 Sam Brody

Sam Brody doesn't ABIDE by "measure twice and cut once," so he cut each piece of wood twice instead. At least he was consistent! He's been constructing for a few years, but this is his LAT debut. Welcome!

A woodcut of a wood cutter.

39. Artistic printing method, and a feature of rows 2, 5, 11, and 14 in this puzzle: WOODCUT. A WOODCUT is a relief printing technique where an artist carves an image into the surface of a wooden block leaving raised areas to be inked and printed. For this puzzle, however, it means the four types of WOOD hidden in the grid (HICKORY, MAHOGANY, CHERRY and CHESTNUT), are CUT into pieces.

May must be circles-on-Thursday month, but without them, they would be hard to find (hard wood?). Also, circles are cross-sections of logs, so there's that. This puzzle had appropriate difficulty for today, so I wasn't board. My only hang-up was the intersections of TORTA, ARCH and WAR, which took some guessing.

Lumbering on...

Across:

1. Novice gamers, informally: NEWBS. Slang term for beginners, similar to "newbies." 

6. Thurman of "Pretty Lethal": UMA. She has appeared in more than 50 films and television shows since the 1980s. Perhaps because she is 5'-11" tall, UMA is often cast as a tough cookie.  

9. Pizzeria array: PIES.

13. Moral principle: ETHIC.

14. "M*A*S*H" setting, for short: KOR. KORea. Both the movie and the TV show took place in South Korea during the Korean War.

15. "Butterfly Dance" artist: YANNI. We don't play this at out house because RightBrain has lepidopterophobia, the fear of butterflies. I don't think she likes the way they flit around near her.

16. Put away: STASH.

17. Under a spell: ENTRANCED. Out for a spell: EXITED.

19. College where Robert Frost taught English: AMHERST. “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” ― Robert Frost.

21. "Let's do it!": I'M GAME.

22. NYC home of Matisse's "Landscape at Collioure": MOMA. The Museum Of Modern Art in New York City.

"Landscape at Collioure"

23. Fail to share: HOG.

25. Taylor-Joy of "The Northman": ANYA. Her wide-set eyes were a point of insecurity growing up, so she stopped looking in mirrors and became a star. Excellent advice.

26. Skillets: FRY PANS.

29. Area exposed by an updo: NAPE. When hair is tied up, it exposes the NAPE of the neck.

31. Teases: RIBS.

32. "__ it down!": TONE. Could also be TURN.

34. "Downton Abbey" cook: DAISY. DAISY is played by actress Sophie McShera. Never seen it; never will.

38. Here, in Honduras: ACA. "Here" is a little Spanish for you.

39. [theme]

41. Mod About You polish maker: OPI. OPI nail polish is famous for its creative, pun-heavy shade names, such as Polly Want a Lacquer? and Let Me Bayou a Drink. I have no idea what colors they are, but they sound like fun!

42. Mexican sandwich: TORTA. A TORTA is a popular and hearty Mexican sandwich served on a crusty roll and filled with ingredients like refried beans, avocado, cheese, and a protein such as carne asada, often topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and jalapeños. Gotta try it!

44. Like a bowstring: TAUT.

45. Trade: SWAP. Swap: TRADE. Yep, it works.

46. Playfully sly: ARCH. I filled in the word, but had to look it up to see how it meant "playfully shy." An ARCH person or expression is playfully roguish or mischievous. It combines a sense of being sly or cunning with a witty, often impish demeanor. So, not your ARCH enemy.

48. Endearment: PET NAME. 

50. Electrically adaptable: AC/DC. In the late 19th century "War of Currents," there was intense competition about building power grids. Thomas Edison championed DC, while George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla promoted AC. AC won due to its superior long-distance efficiency, while DC is common in battery-powered devices. 

53. __ Majesty: HER. Or HIS - only your perps know for sure. 

55. Sazerac options: RYES. The Sazerac is a historic New Orleans cocktail, often considered America's first, traditionally made with RYE whiskey or cognac, bitters, sugar, and an absinthe rinse.

56. Carefree: BLITHE.

58. Abu Dhabi, e.g.: EMIRATE. At the beginning of this month, the United Arab EMIRATEs (UAE)—representing Abu Dhabi's oil interests—formally exited OPEC after nearly 60 years of membership.

61. Expanse crossed by Odysseus: IONIAN SEA. The latest remake of the Odyssey, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, will be released in a few months. I rarely see movies in a theater, but this one may be the exception.

63. Sanctions: OKAYS.

65. Like van Gogh and Vermeer: DUTCH. He went double DUTCH on this one.

66. Superlative suffix: EST. That's the bestest there is!

67. __-Grain: NUTRI.

68. Breyers rival: EDYS. EDY'S and Dreyer's are the exact same ice cream sold under different names based on geography. Dreyer's is sold west of the Rocky Mountains and in Texas, while EDY'S is sold in the eastern/midwestern United States to avoid confusion with Breyers. 

69. Tiny: WEE.

70. Blades for some Olympians: EPEES. 

Down:

1. Super Mario Bros. console: NES. Nintendo Entertainment System.

2. Jazzy James: ETTA. She needs no introduction.

3. Guitar accessory that may create vibrato: WHAMMY BAR. Vibrato is an oscillation in pitch, which on a guitar is caused by stretching or loosening the strings with a lever popularly known as a WHAMMY BAR. Leo Fender famously misnamed his a "tremolo" arm, which should be oscillations in volume. 

Press down to lower pitch, pull up to raise it.

4. Knights' neighbors: BISHOPS. 

5. Blueprint: SCHEMA. I wanted SCHEMe. A SCHEMA is a structured framework—mental or technical—that organizes information to facilitate understanding, efficiency, or data management. I guess a blueprint falls under that definition.

6. Luau instruments: UKES.

7. May, say: MONTH. 

8. Skill: ART.

9. Prehistoric supercontinent: PANGAEA. You can see how everything fit together like a puzzle before continental drift moved them to their present locations over 300 million years. The landmasses shift at the same speed as fingernails grow. 

10. Like some pyramids: INCAN.

11. Moriarty, to Holmes: ENEMY.

12. Musician's better half?: SIDE A. The first side of a vinyl record, but sometimes DJs flipped them over and SIDE B became the unexpected hit, like "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, with every drummers' dream solo.

 "Surfer Joe" on SIDE A wiped out.

15. Sweet potato: YAM.

18. Latvian capital: RIGA.

20. Cost: RAN TO.

24. Recipe quantity: ONE CUP.

26. Greek life group: FRAT. FRATernities and sororities use Greek letters to represent secret, values-based mottos that often define their principles, such as leadership, charity, and friendship. The tradition originated with Phi Beta Kappa in 1776 at the College of William & Mary (where I met RightBrain 200 years later!).

27. Part of P.R.: RICO. Puerto RICO. I tried to abbreviate Public Relations, but to no avail.

28. Calm: SOOTHE.

30. S.F. summer hrs.: PDT. Pacific Daylight Time in San Francisco.

33. Leak prevention measure, briefly: NDA. A Non-Disclosure Agreement usually hides something that should be known to all.

35. Home of the Cyclones: IOWA STATE. Aptly named as their campus in Ames, Iowa is in Tornado Alley.

36. Hormel product: SPAM.

37. Cry in pain: YIPE. Similar to"yikes," I guess.

39. Biblical rider of a red horse: WAR. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are biblical figures from Revelation 6:1–8, representing divine judgment. Their horses appear as White (Conquest/Christ), Red (War), Black (Famine), and Pale (Death).

40. Development sites: UTERI.

43. Elements of a strategy: TACTICS.

45. Move stealthily: SNEAK UP.

47. Steve who co-founded YouTube: CHEN. He sold YouTube to Google for the bargain price of $1.65 billion in 2006. Don't worry, he made out okay.

49. Power of classic films: TYRONE. TYRONE was an American actor who became a matinee idol in the 1930s and ’40s and was best known for his action-adventure film roles.

50. Stand: ABIDE.

51. Easy part of a sky in a jigsaw puzzle, maybe: CLOUD. RightBrain took a photo of our fam on vacay in Key West, and had it turned into a puzzle. We put the pieces into another jigsaw box, and saved it for a family night. Part way through, my DIL exclaimed, "Hey, I have a dress with this same pattern!" Then it began to dawn on them...

52. __ Moore: canned stew brand: DINTY.

54. Oscar winner Witherspoon: REESE. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of June Carter in the biopic Walk the Line in 2005. REESE did all her own singing and that helped put her over the line. 

Reese with Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash

57. "As if!": HAH.

59. Londoner's pal: MATE.

60. Brontë orphan: EYRE. To EYRE is human...

62. Darn: SEW. This answer is so clever.

64. Certain sib: SIS. A sibling may be a SISter.

Be good. RB