Friday, Jul 24th, 2026 ~ Kelsey Dixon & Sarah Sinclair

 "MAKEUP" YOUR MIND

Generations, and as a consequnce, the Gaps

and I did NOT wear ( Grunge ) plaid 

Today's puzzle comes to us from two "younger" generation constructors; their last LA Times was here, in 2024, with TTP at the helm.  I did not recall solving that one, but I got a laugh from TTP's link to the "dap".  As for this one, it wraps up a week of dreadful crossnames constructions, and made me feel I am either too old, or too cynical; it feels more like an Tik-Tok post than a crossword, but YMMV.  Four theme answers where one needs to turn a "blind" eye to the 'blush' synonym in the common 'phrase' answers in order to make sense of the * clue; the reveal is definitely not in my wheelhouse, but I think I got the gist of it . . . an under-sized grid, 15 x 14, with a more than a blush of abbrs and names, Twenty-six 3LWs, and a 21st century-speak Twurd, but I can relate to it.  The themers, and the short-spanning reveal;

16. *Lesser: SECONDARY COLOR - a 14-letter spanner, this is the 'tone / tint' definition of blush

20. *Fit for a queen: ROYAL FLUSH - this is the 'verb' definition of blush

33. *Home of the Magic and the Magic Kingdom: ORLANDO BLOOM - also verb, name #1(ish)

46. *Relay rod: BATON ROUGE - and last, the actual noun 'makeup' definition of blush

53. Tendency to overuse a certain cosmetic, or what has caused a mismatch between the starred clues and their answers?: BLUSH BLINDNESS

Sabrina Carpenter may be suffering from blush blindness - and perhaps 

even over-doing the lipstick, too - but I still find her attractive 😁

But Wait There's More~!

ACROSS:

1. 7-Eleven convenience: ATM - same fill, different clue; abbr #1

4. Bubble tea "bubbles": BOBA - becoming a popular clue/answer

8. Influencer devices, for short: MICs - I am aware that "influencer" is now a "thing", dare I say a "career" in the Social Media Digital 21st Century~? A millennials clue

12. Olympic sprinter Richardson: SHA'CARRI - name #2, no clue; filled via perps - when I Googled, her Instagram link came up before her Wiki; born in 2000, so . . . millennial (ish) 

14. ID on a map: IDAHO - Dammit.  Got me.  I just could not get past "I Dentity" - geo name

18. Transcript fig.: GPA - abbr #2

19. Beyoncé song about the joy of human existence: BE ALIVE - millennial

24. Corp. title for Jane Fraser of Citigroup: CEO - I had C_O, so it was either F, E, I, O, or T; name AND abbr #3

25. BBC competitor that airs "Love Island": ITV - Learned about this TV channel when I watched the history of Top Gear - the Gen X series started in 2002; the orignal show dates back to 1977; abbr #4

My, how it changed; I think the 2002-Grand Tour version may have been

the best TV show ever - funny, informative, dramatic, and entertaining

26. 1980s cool: RAD - I was an 80's kid, but by no means was I "Rad"(ical) - or maybe I was - a long-haired 'headbanger nerd' . . . how's that for outcast~?  The cigarette-smoking heavy metal fans hated me for being "smart" and doing well in school, and I simply terrified the geeks . . . Gen X, & abbr #5

27. Unspoken agreements?: NODS

28. "You wish!": "DREAM ON~!" - Gen X would have gone with Aerosmith on this one

The "Toxic Twins", 1973

31. Fed. south of Iran: UAE - United Arab Emirates, abbr #6

37. With 30-Down, Paul Rudd role: ANT - AND - 30D. See 37-Across: MAN - I thought it was THE Ant, which wasn't going to work - I have seen parts of the movies

38. Pride symbol: RAINBOW

40. 1975 thriller with a two-note leitmotif: JAWS - A John Williams composition for Steven Spielberg's movie, which does sound "borrowed" from Igor Stravinsky; we saw 'leitmotif' yesterday - Gen X

EEEEE f . . . . eeeee F . . . . E F E F E F . . . .

I composed this blog days before I read RustyBrain's post -

great minds think alike 😁

43. Roughly: "ISH" - AND - 34D. Roughly: OR SO . . . clecho #1

44. Ring spot: TOE - A whole three-letter word~!  EAR would work, too

45. Accessibility law, for short: ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act - 1990 

50. Online friends, colloquially: MUTUALS - must be 21st century-speak, so millennial

52. Apple platform: iOS - AND - 60. Apple assistant: SIRI - clecho #2; I tend to think the younger you are, the more likely you'll be an Apple person - see the first image above.  I'm Android, as all of the Apple products I ever came into contact with crapped out on me at critical moments . . .

58. Far from shore: AT SEA

59. Like farmers market produce: IN SEASON

61. Title derived from "caesar": TSAR

62. Smallest prime number: TWO - Jeez, math again on Friday~!

DOWN:

1. Donkey: ASS - How's that for a whole three-letter word . . .

2. English article: THE - THE English scored SIX goals in the World Cup, four to France - total 10, yet NOT the record

3. Jury-rig with what's on hand, informally: MACGYVER - today's Friday highlight clue/answer for me

4. Not just unoriginal: BANAL - I tried BLASÉ; 60% of the correct letters

5. Chicago airport code: ORD - I was close - I put in ORL, but that's the smaller field in the "other" Orlando - Florida - not Bloom.  ORD comes from the original name of O'Hare, Orchard Place; abbr #7

6. Bandeau, e.g.: BRA

7. "Ain't no rule say the dog can't play basketball" film: AIRBUD - Didn't see this movie - IMDb

8. Parsons who was NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021: MICAH - I knew this name, #4, because he was a Dallas Cowboy hold-out last season - his Wiki

9. Megastar: IDOL

10. Multicolored cat: CALICO

11. Pushed: SHOVED

13. Club in a Manilow hit: COPA - sheesh, pick a Generation already - "makeup" your mind~!

Copacabana, 1978, Barry Manilow

15. Cookies with a "design your own" option: OREOs

17. Ouija board word: YES

A little history

20. Free (of): RID

21. Bad Bunny's "__ Atardecer": OTRO - aaand back to millennials - Español, "Another Sunset"

22. Phony persona: FRONT - much of Social Media, IMHO

23. Touch down: LAND - Dah~!  Not ALIT

27. Gas in an inner tube?: NEON - trying too hard to be witty, this one fell flat

29. "Welp!": "ALAS~!" -  I learned today that "welp" is "sadly", in texts; millennial

31. German equivalent of the Tube: UBAHN - short for untergrundbahn, the subway

32. Romance novelist Hazelwood: ALI - Friday vague name #5

35. Most dense: OBTUSEST - just saying this is obtuse

36. Synthesizer pioneer: MOOG - name #6, more here

39. Atomic: WEE - ah; size-related

40. Brand that dropped "Juice" from its name in 2019: JAMBA - name(ish), and Friday vague-ish, but maybe that's on me because there's only two locations in CT - I've never heard of this "refreshment" store

The name ( #6 ) change story

41. Grown-ups: ADULTS - I'm Gen X, and I still don't care for "adulting" . . . 😜

42. 1960s dance: WATUSI - aaaand back to Baby Boomer

"Luci Watusi"

43. Party line?: "IT'S LIT" - aaaand millennial again, aaaand Twurdish; here's the slang definition; back in my drinking days, "I " was lit . . . 😵

46. Faith based in Haifa: BAHÁ'Í - No clue; more here

47. Clerical tunic: ALB - Another whole three-letter word, and I nailed it~!

48. One subject to a height requirement, say: RIDER - think amusement parks

49. Chaplin of the Netflix miniseries "Treason": OONA - not the OONA this Gen Xer was thinking of; name #8

51. App ad target: USER - meh.  vague.

54. Geico's bus.: INSurance - abbr #8

55. Intel org.: NSA - "No Such Administration", abbr #9

56. Piglet's mother: SOW - I got my Piglets mixed up; I went with ROO - the other Pooh character

As a goalie, I loved the incredible World Cup final saves

on the part of the Agentina netminder . . . and look - 

I can Instagram~!

57. __-cone: SNO

Splynter

Grid Flow 22.9

Notes from C.C.: 

I'm thrilled to tell you that Naomi and I made today's USA Today crossword, edited by Amanda Rafkin. 

Give it a whirl when you have some extra time. We'd love to hear what you think. And a special congratulations to Naomi on her crossword debut!