Saturday, September 26, 2026, Adrian Johnson

 Saturday Themeless by Adrian Johnson

  

Our Wyoming native who went to college in Minnesota is now doing greatwork for a startup group called BetterFi, a nonprofit working to end predatory lending in Tennessee.

I made great progress and soon had the NW to SE swath done and then had to go in to finish off the other corners which was a fun challenge with a lot of international cuisine and filmakers. 

Across:

1. Releases: EMITS.

6. Ardent supporter: MEGAFAN - This Raider fan qualifies

13. Island country that changed the shape of the International Date Line by skipping December 30, 2011: SAMOA.

14. "Anything you say": SURE SURE.

15. Guttural sound: CROAK.

16. Outermost meningeal membrane: DURA MATER.

17. Hot: IN DEMAND.

19. "Bad idea": DON'T.

20. High return: LOB.

21. 41-Across teacher: SENSEI and 41. Dojo discipline: KARATE.

23. Army __: ANTS.

24. Double-reed woodwind related to the shawm: OBOE - Adrian muddied the waters by adding a shawm in the clue 

26. Seldom seen: SCARCE.

28. Racing headgear: CRASH HELMET - 76-year-old comedian Andy Huggins says at his age he worries about falling and so he wears a HELMET. To keep from looking foolish, he also carries a skateboard.

30. Tailgating area: LOT.

33. Angiogram image, perhaps: AORTA - It kinda stands out, doesn't it

34. "__ bien": MUY.

35. Durable fabric: CHINO.

37. Drug featured in the Dock Ellis biopic "No No: A Dockumentary": LSD.

38. "How's it hangin'?": WHAT'S SHAKIN'

42. Bernie Sanders' mittens, for one: MEME.

What's shakin' Bernie?

43. Singer known as the "Goddess of Pop": CHER - Depends on who you ask. 

  

47. Harsh critics: HATERS.

49. PC IDs: IPS.

50. Martinican poet Césaire who helped found the Négritude movement: AIME ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

51. Dessert often made with espresso: TIRAMISU.

53. "Chocolate in every bite" cookie maker: CHIPS AHOY.

56. Sonicare rival: ORAL B.

58. Herb in fines herbes and herbes de Provence: TARRAGON - Fines Herbes (fēnz erbs - literally fine herbs): Made with a specific combination of four fresh herbs in equal parts: parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil.

59. Bring up: RAISE.

60. Welcome words?: IT'S OPEN.

61. Wrapped: ENDED.


Down:

1. Key hit in panic: ESC.

2. Platform game that debuted in 1983: MARIO BROS - I loved playing their lo-res game on my Apple IIe

3. "You sold me": I'M ON BOARD.

4. Bufotoxin source: TOAD - Bufotoxin is a milky, poisonous defense chemical secreted by the skin and parotoid glands of true toads in the genus Bufo.

5. Array at an izakaya: SAKES Izakaya (居酒屋) are casual drinking establishments, similar to tapas bars, where customers order a variety of small dishes of food that can be shared at the table. 

6. Genre in which readers are clued in to the plot?: MURDER MYSTERY.

7. Time to study: ERA. 

8. Beaut: GEM.

9. Taqueria option: ASADA - When you're done at the izakaya, you can drive on over to a taqueria for some carne ASADA (grilled meat) food.

 

10. Guest room fixture: FUTON.

11. "__ you sweet!": AREN'T.

12. "Aw, phooey": NERTS.

14. Vinyasa sequence also called Surya Namaskar: SUN SALUTATION ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  - Vinyasa is the movement between poses. This slowly revealed itself.

16. Event one must prepare for exhaustively?: DANCE MARATHON - A DANCE MARATHON was the subject of this movie 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The trailer

18. Vibe well: MESH.

20. Word in many union names: LOCAL - Hormel's LOCAL 22 Union has sponsored champion softball teams here in town for years.

22. Halo-halo base: ICE - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More exotic food! This is a Filipino shaved ICE treat.

25. Part of i.e.: EST.

27. Make a lasting impression?: ETCH.

29. Skateboarding star Tony: HAWK - Tony now "hawks" Qunol products

30. "This bears repeating ... ": LIKE I SAID.

31. Instinctively: ON IMPULSE - I bought a Mazda Miata on impulse many years ago and regretted it. It always needed repairs and wouldn't handle snow.

32. Hues: TONES.

36. Muffuletta ingredient: HAM ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More unknown (to me) food. The classic New Orleans sandwich combines a homemade olive salad with layers of thin-sliced Italian cold cuts. Man it looks so good!

39. Derisive laugh: HAH.

40. "Buona __": SERA.

43. Tacos de nopales need: CACTI - Our buffet continues: 

To make cactus tacos, scrape thorns off nopales (duh), boil them for 15 mins with onions, bay leaves, and cilantro, then sauté with chilis and jalapeños.

44. Percussion set: HI HAT.

45. Dubai rulers: EMIRS.

46. High-quality proof, for short: REPRO - Repro stands for reprographics (or reproduction), but in publishing, printing, and design, a REPRO specifically refers to a high-quality proof of text and images. It is used as the final checkpoint to verify that everything looks perfect before the final print run.

48. Camping treat: SMORE.

52. Home country of filmmaker Asghar Farhadi: IRAN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

54. Chump: SAP.

55. Sit in a cellar, perhaps: AGE.

57. Sack: BED.

Friday, Sep 25th, 2026 ~ Rebecca Goldstein

 IF THE CLÜE FITS . . .

The full line of Diane von Furstenberg's crossword fashions clip

Rebecca Goldstein returns with a Friday foray into fashion - Five fills framed as (out)FITs, with their associated attire in the answers ( see what I did there~? ).  This is Ms. Goldstein's sixth puzzle this year, and I blogged a streak of her constructions on Wednesdays in, Jan, Feb, and March of 2025.  I found today's puzzle less difficult than yesterday's.  For a change, we had no add-in/on letters as a theme, a standard grid - which is unusual for Rebecca - no 'outlier' squares, just a handful of names ( but a crossing pair, thus a Natick ), no circles, and 17 3LWs, one more than the 5-letter word count.  The themers, with 38A. at the center, and no reveal;

17. Fit to eat?: LOBSTER BIB - You can eat the lobster, but not the bib

38. Fit for a king?: PAJAMAS - A king-sized bed, very clever

62. Fit for work?: SUIT AND TIE - Thankfully, I've never had to wear a suit & tie for work

11. Fit to a tee?: GOLF SHIRT - Not the "T" shirt, the "tee" prop of a golf ball

34. Fit for service?: CHOIR ROBE - Here's Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture

with a full, robed choir and pipe organ ( in the background )

Perhaps you prefer a choir with real cannons - this one

But Wait - Get Dressed - There's More~!

 

ACROSS:

1. Diminish: WANE - Think the Moon, and thus - 32D. 1-Across opposite: WAX - now makes sense

5. "Too rich for my blood": I'M OUT." - Poker reference, but the "catch phrase" of Shark Tank, too

10. "My word!": "EGAD~!"

14. Fusses: ADOs

15. Bay area on the East Coast: TAMPA - Kinda vague, kinda Friday, Geo name #1

16. Olden times: YORE

19. Enthusiasm: ELAN - "E"lliteration . . . 🙄

20. Uno e uno e uno: TRE - Español:  English - 1 and 1 and 1 is three - I only saw "uno" = Italian 😜

The Beatles, lyric @2:42

21. Arabian aristocrat: EMIR - we're "A & E"ing all over this blog . . .

22. Hurled: LET FLY - e.g., insults

24. Nintendo princess: ZELDA - the original video game is now 40 years old; name #2

26. Archrivals: NEMESES - the plural spelling

28. __ Minor: URSA

30. Event that may have drawings: ART SHOW - very clever clue / answer; LOTTERY fit, too

33. Single ant, say: SCOUT - I tried DRONE to start - had just the "O", but "totes" correct . . . 🙄

35. Hon: BAE - cringe.  I don't care for this abbr at all, even IRL, not just crosswords . . . 😖

OK, the Shein "Bae" outFITs are pretty attractive . . . 

36. "Proud Mary" singer Turner: TINA - name #3

37. "Don't think so": "NAH."

41. Nero Wolfe creator Stout: REX - I read the whole series, have a boxful of the paperback books I am still waiting to display, as the shelves I have planned still need to be built; name #4

42. Book jacket blurbs: BIOs - a biography, in a few words 

44. Lip-smacking word: YUM~!

45. Air ways: DUCTS

47. Masterful demonstrations: CLINICS - typically related to sports professionals, musicians, etc.

49. Capital city with a Museum of the Viking Age set to open in 2027: OSLO - I'd like to visit that kind of place - still, a geo name, #5

50. Home body?: REALTOR - Har-har

52. Diving aquatic birds: LOONS

56. One sister in "King Richard": SERENA - The "S" being a Natick crossing with another name, #6, I had no clue, was thinking Shakespeare's "Richard III", then King Lear, but no - this is the story of "Richard", the father of sisters Venus & Serena, and his drive for making them successful tennis pros

58. Treadmill setting: PACE - I finished 45mins at level 5 on the Stairmaster; this week I started level 6

60. D.C. MLBer: NATional

61. The whole shebang: A TO Z

65. Broccoli __: RABE

66. Law of __: trigonometry equation: SINES - for the math geeks; for the Law(yer) of SIGNS . . .

And many more, here

67. Mud: JAVA - coffee slang

68. Sudsy mugfuls: ALES

69. "Tough crowd!": "YEESH~!" - I usually spell it "SHEESH" in my journal

70. Zoomed: SPED


DOWN:

1. Flounce: WALTZ - "you think you can just come ___ing in here dressed like that~?!?"

2. Be wild about: ADORE

3. Prize first awarded in 1901: NOBEL - name(ish) - the 'explosive' & tragic life of  Alfred Nobel

4. Slow start?: ESS - metaclue, "S" starts the word sLOW

5. Object: ITEM - nailed it, but wondered if it might be the legalese verb, "I object, your honor~!"

6. Yacht spot: MARINA - and SERENA, look at us rhyming~!

7. Color gradient technique: OMBRE - never heard this term, usually related to hair, and of Frawnche origin, meaning "shadow"; I found this "Fire" version, and while I've not seen it IRL, it's mesmerizing. . .

Here's a YouTube clip on how to D-i-Y

8. News initials: UPI - United Press International, and it's American, too . . . 😁

9. Rehearsals a cast generally won't stand for?: TABLE READS - made me think of a Family Guy episode; Seth MacFarlane and cast have done live ones at Comic Cons, but they're definitely NSFW

10. Reason to look one's best?: EYE TEST - very clever, that kind of "look"

Can you read line seven~?

12. Central Asia's North __ Sea: ARAL - Geo name #7

13. Say "It wasn't me," say: DENY

18. Start to cry: TEAR UP - start to cut a rug; TEAR it UP~!

Gramatik, Tearin It Up

23. Rough fig.: ESTimate

25. Pair: DUO - Dah~!  Not TWO

27. "M'lady": MA'AM

29. Sarcastic response to rude behavior: STAY CLASSY - Yeah, or Meh~?

31. Individuals: ONES

33. Travel as the wind blows: SAIL - ah, another good clue / answer; if you're on a submarine, does one still "set sail~?" - I'm reading a book that involves U-Boats, and I thought this description a bit odd . . .

35. Comic book onomatopoeia: BAM~!

37. "SVU" network: NBC - the Law & Order "Special Victims Unit" spin-off

39. A second ago: JUST - We missed it~? When~?

"Just now~!" @ 1:40

40. Morose: SULLEN

43. Seasonal allergy symptoms: SNEEZES

46. Murmur: COO

48. "What We Can Know" novelist McEwan: IAN - name #8

49. Pontificates: ORATES - AND . . . 

51. Pontificate: OPINE - nearly a pure clecho

                                                             

53. Ready to pour: ON TAP - not Spïnal Tap - but speaking of umlauts . . .

54. Inexperienced: NAÏVE - from the Frawnche - and another umlaut

The ümlaut bänds wëbsite

55. Place: STEAD

56. Singer-songwriter Bareilles: SARA - the crossing "S" name, a bit harsh, but guessable, name #9

Written to appease the recod label, it's a clever NOT "Love Song"

57. Bibliography abbr.: ET. AL. - Latin et alia(i) - and others

59. Paper money: CASH - couldn't be ONES, that was up at 31D.

63. Driver's one-eighty: UIE - U-Turn abbr.; got burned by this in a recent puzzle

64. Turntable pros: DJs - and now, it's time for "PJ"s . . .

Splynter

Grid Flow 35.2

Thursday September 24, 2026 Yijing Chen

Yijing Chen is becoming a regular following her LAT debut earlier this year. 

62. Oregon Trail cry, or an apt title for this puzzle?: WESTWARD HO. WESTWARD HO was an encouraging cry used by pioneers along the historic 2000 mile migration route. And if you can imagine hundreds of thousands of people walking across the U.S. in the mid-1800s, they needed all the encouragement they could get! Although if you were a movie star, they let you ride in a wagon.

As a title reveals, HO is to be appended to the west end (left side as in an ATLAS) of each theme answer, turning a common phrase into something jolly.

17. *Urn that self-returns?: HOMING VASE. A MING VASE that returns like a HOMING pigeon. 

24. *Spreading the gospel of continental breakfast, turndown service, and free Wi-Fi?: HOTEL EVANGELISM. A TELEVANGELIST is usually a Christian minister who preaches via TV broadcasts and solicits donations. Here he's singing the praises of luxury HOTEL amenities.

37. *Corny, sappy, or cheesy?: HOKEY WORD. A KEYWORD is a word of great significance that describes the main idea of a text or a search query. Adding HO makes it HOKEY to match the clue.

53. *Treating guests to some honey, perhaps?: HOSTING LIKE A BEE. "Float like a butterfly, STING LIKE A BEE" is a famous line by boxer Muhammad Ali. The HO out front changes this to HOSTING like at a party serving BEE honey. 

It took me a while to catch onto the West Side Story. I had several blanks in the themers until I got to the revealer and had my O-HO moment. Overall, I liked the mash-ups even though I found this puzzle to be more difficult than usual for a Thursday. Or maybe the last few Thursdays were easier than usual. In any case, very few proper names made this a winner.

Onward HO!

Across:

1. Bit of baby talk: DADA. DADA was also an art movement, but I don't think that's the kind of movement a baby talks about.

5. Soothe operator?: BALM. Fun clue right off the bat!

9. Hutches: PENS. I was thinking furniture for way too long. Hutches are generally cages for small animals.

13. Rink leap: AXEL. 

14. Geography buff's compendium: ATLAS.

16. Milquetoast: BLAH.

17. [theme]

19. "Purple Haze" rocker Hendrix: JIMI. I have a life-size photo of Jimi playing my dream white Fender Stratocaster.

20. __ Strauss & Co.: LEVI.

21. Discord figs.: MODS. Not knowing that Discord is an online messaging and gaming app made this one hard. But I inferred it had something to do with social media, so someone who handles discord (the verb) would be a MODerator. 

23. Flat cap: TAM.

24. [theme]

28. Took in: ATE.

29. The Roaring Twenties, e.g.: ERA. 

30. Target of some recycling drives: E-WASTE. The world generates 66 million tons of Electronic Waste every year, and only about 20% gets recycled.

31. Some 35mm cameras: SLRS. Single-Lens Reflex cameras.

33. Woes: ILLS.

36. Submitter's button: ENTER. When I first started using computers (pre-PCs), I sometimes got a message to press any key to continue. I'm still looking for the ANY key...

37. [theme]

40. Discord fig.: ADMIN. A near clecho of 21A with my same logic arriving at ADMINistrator.

43. Seafaring wood: TEAK. We have several Danish Modern furniture pieces made of TEAK. Because of its natural oil content, it is unfinished and never needs polishing. Just wipe it down once in a while with TEAK oil to restore it's luster. This property makes it repel water so it works well on boats.

44. Isolate, in corporate jargon: SILO. I need to brush up on my jargons.

48. Small diadems: TIARAS.

50. Member of the fam: MOM.

52. Drops in the morning: DEW.

53. [theme]

57. Quitter's button: ESC. Is the ESCAPE key anywhere near the ANY key?

58. __-poly: ROLY.

59. Tex-Mex extra, for short: GUAC. This is just a little guacamole. 

60. Screen type at many a science museum: IMAX. As Ed Sullivan purportedly said, "It's a really big shoe." 

62. [theme]

66. CarPlay companion: SIRI. Apple CarPlay projects your iPhone interface onto your car's built-in display.

67. "Bo-ring!": SNORE.

68. On in years: AGED.

69. Rapa Nui monoliths: MOAI. MOAI are giant stone statues carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island between the 13th and 16th centuries. Today, the eye sockets are empty, but white coral fragments discovered nearby suggest they originally had white eyes like this restored one.

70. Tried to get home, say: SLID. Baseball reference.

71. Journo's hook: LEDE. Journo is slang for a journalist and a LEDE (pronounced leed) is the introductory first line of an article. Newspapers changed the spelling to avoid confusion with "lead," the heavy metal used to typeset in old printing presses.

Down:

1. Morse code unit: DAH.

2. Mexican salamander found in mountain lakes: AXOLOTL. An AXOLOTL is a fully aquatic salamander, it never leaves the water.

Smile for the camera!

3. Greek goddess of the harvest: DEMETER. DEMETER is the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture, grain, and the harvest. Her Roman equivalent is Ceres, from which we get our modern word "cereal." Apparently, no one wanted DEMETER and milk.

4. Still in it to win it: ALIVE.

5. Purse: BAG.

6. Off-rd. rig: ATV. All-Terrain Vehicles travel off-road. 

7. Vicuña kin: LLAMA. Vicuña wool is the rarest, finest and most expensive animal fiber in the world. I knit my socks from it.

8. George __ University: MASON. GMU is located in Northern Virginia near Washington D.C. It is named in honor of George Mason, one of our Founding Fathers and frequent visitor to the colonial capital of Williamsburg, VA. 

9. Vegan sando: PBJ. Who knew that I was a vegan throughout elementary school with my daily Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches? Mine were never cut on a diagonal like the rich kids.

Gourmet PBJ

10. Gatekeeping type: ELITIST. Smith Corona type: ELITE

11. Word often said over prayer hands: NAMASTE. NAMASTE is a respectful Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain greeting meaning "I bow to you."

12. Sequins effect: SHIMMER.

15. Grasslike plant: SEDGE.

18. Murchison Falls river: NILE.

22. Setting of the animated film "Flushed Away": SEWER. 

24. Consumes: HAS.

25. "Black Panther" villain Killmonger: ERIK. Killmonger sounds like a Marvel supervillain, but his first name is ERIK? That's like saying Darth Vader's first name is Bob.

26. Worker who gets around a lot: VALET. My other favorite clue.

27. Touches down: LANDS.

32. Henley, for one: SHIRT. 

34. Curing agent for century eggs: LYE. The preservation process of century eggs (usually duck or quail) actually only takes 40 to 100 days. But that's still about 40 to 100 days older than I like my eggs.

35. Ashram leader, perhaps: SWAMI.

38. Broadcasting: ON AIR.

39. "I get the point already!": OK OK.

40. Pascal's wager subject: ATHEISM. Pascal's Wager is a pragmatic philosophical argument stating that a person should live as though God exists and believe in Him, because the reward of believing is infinite and the loss of being wrong is small. I never heard of this rationale, perhaps because it was posited 400 years ago.

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)

41. Spanish expression of shock: DIOS MIO. Oh my God! (I'm covering all bases now thanks to Monsieur Pascal.)

42. Lash thickener: MASCARA.
 
45. Lanyard attachment: ID BADGE. If you don't have an Identification badge, you'll just have to remember your own name.

46. Freeloaded: LEECHED. Equating a bloodsucking worm to a human parasite who drains someone else's resources dates back to 1784.

47. Have debts: OWE. I OWE, I OWE, so off to work I go...

49. Makes a winter blanket?: SNOWS. It didn't snow much in Williamsburg, VA as I grew up, but when it did, the blanket of SNOW turned the colonial area into a Currier & Ives print.

51. Grand opening?: MEGA. MEGA as a prefix for great or mighty. 

54. Secluded valleys: GLENS. 

55. Wipes brand: LYSOL. 

56. Hearing-related: AURAL.

61. Number on an old clock: XII. I like the number 12 in Roman numerals at the top, but IIII instead of IV for 4 not so much. They do it to help balance the visual weight of VIII on the opposite side of the face.

63. Numeric prefix: TRI. TRI is the only prefix (from 1 - 10) that is the same in both Greek and Latin. 

64. Married: WED.

65. Lines from an admirer: ODE.

HOped you liked it!

Be good. RB