Friday, Jul 3rd, 2026 ~ Jay Silverman

 D'Art BOARD

Girls Eye~!

I had a run of Jay Silveman puzzles on Wednesdays back in '24-'25, and his last LA Times post was in March of this year.  Today we have four 'pun-ishing' clues that "repronounce" an English word as a its foreign counterpart, with some humorous results - if that's your thing.  I liked the theme, just got stuck trying to find the one wrong square when I did not get my "ta-DA~!", and it was a name crossing one of those foreign words, compounded by a low Grid Flow.  Standard grid, a mere eight 3LWs, twice as many four- as five-letter words, no circles, two handfuls of names, three "others", and nary a Twurd to be found~!  The themers; 

17. Comfort that can only come from French bread?: PAIN RELIEF - It was the last themer that sent the V-8 can flying, and thus today I learned that the Frawnche word for "bread" is "pain" - pronounced all in the nose, sorta "puuhh(n)"

26. Creating perfect sunbathing conditions on an Italian beach?: SOLE PURPOSE - I was stumped at this themer, and the low grid flow meant only one crossing for help; don't know why I struggled to think of the Italian word for "sun", = "sole", with a 'flair' on the e, "sol-uh"

43. Positive review in a German newspaper?: GUT REACTION - pronounced "goot", this one made sense on my second pass . . .

58. Home for the king of Spain?: REAL ESTATE - and again with a differing pronunciation, "ree-ahl", which means royal, as opposed to "not fake" - learned from Spanish football / soccer teams

If you're American when entering a bathroom, and American when exiting, what are you inside~?

European . . .

Mais Aspettare Es Gibt Más~!

ACROSS:

1. Path behind a mower: SWATH - There's a guy who lives near me on rte 32 who takes the most meticulous care of his grass . . . and last weekend, I saw this thing cruising his lawn 

It's this $5349 mower AND snowblower 😮

6. Cheese in a Greek omelet: FETA - semi-Easter egg of old language, new crossword

10. Whack with snowballs, say: PELT

14. Goosebump-causing: EERIE

15. Person with a fan club: IDOL - person with a fan club; Billy Idol

Yeah, I've used this image before . . . 

16. Cooking spread: OLEO - learned by doing crosswords

19. Gradually introduce to solid foods: WEAN

20. Isfahan's country: IRAN - geo name #1

21. Claims that won't pass fact checks: LIES

22. Posh and __: nickname of a British celebrity couple: BECKS - name (ish) - the duo of 'Posh Spice' Victoria and David Beckham, he of European football ( soccer ) fame . . . 

Married 27 years tomorrow~!

23. Mesopotamian empire that included parts of 20-Across: ASSYRIA - geo name #2, but the circumreferential clue made it easier this time

25. Likely to be mouthy: PERT - I'll wash that mouth out with Pert shampoo . . . 

Plus~!

31. Software demos: BETAS

35. Capital of British Columbia: VICTORIA - geo name #3, and the #1 "other" Victoria . . . 🙄

36. Employs: USES

37. Spot: SPECK - Spot was sooo last week . . . 

39. Staple that's often helpful in a pinch?: SALT

40. Chased: RAN AFTER - I had WAS AFTER to start

42. Bench press muscles: DELToidS - AND - 38D. Bench press muscle: PECtoral - this one-arm out, one-arm curl & press is brutal - as you can tell from my grimace . . . down to 203lbs~!

46. Clairvoyant: SEER

47. Lost one's cool: SNAPPED

52. Word with act or action: CLASS - class act, class action

54. Political alliance: BLOC

56. Conditional programming word: ELSE

57. "Only Murders in the Building" home: HULU - Ah.  Where this show is to be streamed

60. Salchow kin: AXEL - Friday cluing for this crossword Olympics staple

There, that oughta clear things up . . . 

61. Zealous: AVID

62. Asked too many questions, say: PRIED

63. Unwelcome visitor: PEST - there has been a preponderance of big black ants cruising my home this spring, even with a dozen traps in the usual corners . . .

Look closer . . .

64. Funeral rite pile: PYRE

65. Senators' staffers: AIDES - the #2 "other" Senators . . . 🙄 - see below

DOWN:

1. Instagram filter shade: SEPIA - good WAG to start my Downs

2. Models: WEARS - I went with the noun, tried TYPES

3. Met highlights: ARIAS - "Met" = Metropolitan Opera

4. Lacking resonance: TINNY

5. Gender-specific pronoun: HER - HIS, HIM, or SHE, take your pick

6. Relating to offspring: FILIAL - how kids behave in respect to parents

7. Actress Falco: EDIE - name #4, crossword staple

8. Wiggled body parts: TOES - I can spread my toes like a hand - I'll refrain from posting an image

9. ET from Melmac: ALF - from the 80's TV sitcom

10. Confidence-enabling stance: POWER POSE - Had me thinking "Captain Morgan"

11. __ college: ELECTORAL - nailed it

12. Security breach: LEAK - Dah~! I tried HACK, 50% correct

13. Jillions: TONS - oh no~! is it a Twurd~?  ALOT, ATON~?

18. 2025 Pixar title character: ELIO - name #5 that caused me grief on my last themer fill

22. Muppet who lives in the basement of 123 Sesame Street: BERT - name #6; I tried ELMO

24. Blog feed letters: RSS - Really Simple Syndication - yes, really; more here

25. Senators target: PUCK - Got me.  Dammit.  I was thinking baseball - but they're the Nationals these days - this is the Ottawa NHL team, and I am ashamed I missed it on the first pass . . . 😒😞

27. Navratilova rival: EVERT - Tennis greats, but SELES was the wrong decade and name, #7

28. Camera shot: PIC

29. Sandy sediment: SILT

30. Noshes: EATS

31. Nondescript town: BURG

32. Biblical twin: ESAU - the birthright brother

33. Events in retail parking lots: TENT SALES - huh - a unique crossword fill . . .

34. Thus: AS A RESULT - three-word fill for a Friday four-letter clue

37. Elite athlete: STAR

41. Extra charges: FEES

42. Cold case sample: DNA

44. Tristan's beloved: ISOLDE  - crossword couple, name #8

45. Fairy tale start: ONCE - upon a time . . .

48. __ dish: PETRI

49. Flannel pattern: PLAID

50. Name in the makeup aisle: ESTÉE - Lauder, name #9

51. Monopoly stack: DEEDS - not MONEY

52. Bloke: CHAP - I tried GENT, 100% wrong

53. Quite posh: LUXE - the #3 "other" Posh

54. Quail group: BEVY - Right.  That's the word I could not recall

55. Bear necessity?: LAIR - a 'barely' bearable punny clue . . . 

58. Ice Spice genre: RAP - three-letter music genre~? Ektorp EMO or RAP

59. Ballston __, New York: SPA - geo name #10, but I had help - I lived in upstate NY for years, in Colonie, which is outside of Albany, not far from this place - and where Rusty Brain hails from

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Splynter

Grid Flow a LOW 16.1