Tuesday, May 26, 2026 ~ Stella Zawistowski

It's Taco Tuesday!

Hi All!
First, the elephant in the room: circles vs. no circles. Personally, I don't care.
Or, as DW told the Girls when they were little, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit."

If you've ever attempted Stella's Saturday puzzles, you know she doesn't go easy on the solver. There's one or two "This is a Tuesday?"s in today's, but overall she constructed a smooth, light on the A&E, and cruft-free grid with a bit of crunch.

So, let's grab a tortilla, toss in some carne, onion, & cilantro and take a stroll.

Fajita beef, onion, & cilantro breakfast taco.

17. Toyota pickup since 1995: TACOMA TRUCK.

Rear view of the 2025 model

26. Sarcastic "Great idea!": WHAT A CONCEPT. Not!

45. Requires sacrifice to achieve: COMES AT A COST.

61. Portable Tex-Mex snack, or a progression depicted in this puzzle: WALKING TACO.

Get it? The [circled] TACO "walks" from left to right in the grid. Cute.

Er, more like a stumbling TACO
after leaving the pub :-)

Across:

1. Treadmill settings: PACES. ??? All my treadmill says is "speed" and "incline."

6. Learn to fit in: ADAPT. Adjust, ADAPT, Overcome.

11. Fuel for some stoves: GAS. I've got a glass cooktop.  You?

14. Enticing scent: AROMA.

15. Brings to the ground: RAZES.

16. "How We Do (Party)" singer Rita: ORA.

Not my cuppa, but you might like it.

17. [See: Theme]

19. Decimal base: TEN. As a child of the '70's, I got the experimental "new math" and the metric system (this was in '77 through '80 (?)). However, both came in quite handy whilst pursing degrees in EE & CS [#6d_STEAM - I married for the Arts :-) ] .

20. "Rooster" network: HBO. Home Box Office. I'd not known of this show but, from the trailer, it looks good.

21. Coin slot directive: INSERT.

Donkey Kong's Directive

22. Bullfrog relative: TOAD.

23. Ironman race, for short: TRI. TRIathlon.

24. "Well, sort of": ISH.

26. [See: Theme]

32. Pre-1917 Russian ruler: TSAR.

34. Molecule part: ATOM.

35. Land parcels: ACRES.

37. Pancake topper: SYRUP. Here's my go-to from grocer H-E-B.

I'm a sucker for cute packaging :-)

39. Take legal action against: SUE.

40. Large herbivore in India's Kaziranga National Park: RHINO.

This Rhino's in Oregon's Zoo.

41. "Cowboy Bebop" genre: ANIME. With a perp & an educated guess...

42. "Logically, this means ... ": ERGO. #Latin

44. "Toy Story" boy: ANDY.

Fun Fact: On Buzz Lightyear's boot,
Andy's N is not written backwards [cite].

45. [See: Theme]

48. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO.

Brian Eno was commissioned by Microsoft for Win95's 3.25 second
startup sound that he composed it on his Mac.

49. Before, in classic ballads: ERE.

50. Confident and courageous: BOLD.

53. Rum cocktail: MAI TAI. A recipe.

57. Embrace: HUG.

60. Cry of realization: AHA.

61. [See: Theme]

63. Grab a chair: SIT.

64. Common feature of flannel shirts: PLAID.

For the fans like me: Python's Lumberjack Song

65. Volunteer's offer: I WILL.

66. Earth-turning tool: HOE.

67. Actress/writer Kaling: MINDY. I would have known "Mork's friend" who, according to WikiP, Kaling was named after.

Mindy Kaling

68. Vanlifer, for one: NOMAD. Not sure that Matt Foley was considered a nomad :-)

Down:

1. Hiker's trail: PATH.

2. Many a Yemeni: ARAB.

3. Pixar film set in Mexico: COCO.

Coco's Trailer

4. Punk subgenre: EMO.

5. Wiley of "The Handmaid's Tale": SAMIRA. You say so...

6. The "A" of STEAM: ARTS. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths.

7. Truth or __: DARE.

8. C te d'__, France: AZUR.

9. Substance that makes jelly gel: PECTIN.

10. "You should know better!": TSK.

11. Favorite choice: GO-TO.

12. District: AREA.

13. Temporary castle material: SAND.

Here's some more really cool ephemeral sculptures..

18. Maria's friend in "West Side Story": ANITA.

22. TV quiz show with Cash Builder rounds: THE CHASE. No clue. A few Googles later I learned that this is another US import of a UK game show. Here's the US trailer...

23. Played monotonously: THRUMMED.

25. Surgical memento: SCAR.

26. Nintendo character in purple overalls: WARIO. On autopilot, I first ink'd mARIO.

27. Completely lost: AT SEA.

28. Tennis venue: COURT.

29. Last Greek letter: OMEGA.

30. "Read the fine __": PRINT.

31. Care for: TEND.

32. Airport org. with wands: TSA.

33. Match, as a laptop and the cloud: SYNC. 

36. Tofu base: SOY.

38. Part of a hammer: PEEN.

43. Bounding main: OCEAN.

46. Mogadishu native: SOMALI.

47. Starting point: ORIGIN.

50. Wild party: BASH.

51. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's state: OHIO. DJ Donna Halper introduced RUSH to the US when she played Working Man on Cleveland, OHIO's WMMS.

Crossword's fav architect, I.M. Pei (and Co.), designed the RRHOF.

52. Not on time: LATE.

54. Astronaut Shepard: ALAN. Husker Gary, can you hit the ball "Miles and miles and miles"?

Alan Shepard slices it ;-)

55. "Just joking!": I KID.

56. In apple-pie order: TIDY.

57. Pop band with sisters Este, Danielle, and Alana: HAIM.

58. Home of the NCAA's Bruins: UCLA.

59. Top Olympic prize: GOLD.

61. Typist's stat: WPM. Words Per Minute. With copious use of the backspace key, I get about 42 wpm.

62. "It takes __ to tango": TWO.

The Grid:

The Grid

My solve:
WO: mARIO -> WARIO
ESPs: ORA, ANIME (as clued), MINDY, SAMIRA, HAIM
Fav: SUE x-ing COURT made me chortle.

Cheers, -T

Most every workday am, I get breakfast tacos
from Moderno's across from the office *chef's kiss*.