Thursday June 25, 2026 Jeffrey Wechsler

Jeffrey Wechsler is pretty sharp. He was here last month with a CORNY puzzle, but this one has more of an edge to it. CUTTING CORNERS is never a good idea, but in this case, I'll make an exception!

Always hire licensed contractors (like me)!

40A. With 42-Across, risky business practice, or what can be found in this puzzle's circles?: CUTTING CORNERS. Wrapping each of the grid's CORNERS are types of CUTTING implements: KNIFE, SNIPS, SWORD and BLADE. Circles made them easy to find.

I like that the corners are read clockwise around the grid, and that each cutter comes to a sharp point at the corner. No long themers; the grid is broken up and nothing is longer than seven letters. Very breezy for a Thursday.

And now, I'll go through the rest with a scalpel.

Across:

1. Positive reply to "How's your health?": I FEEL OK. This doesn't sound very positive, or even the proper response to this odd question. Most people would ask, "How do you feel?" but that would spoil the answer so I guess he was stuck.

8. Carrot relative: PARSNIP.

15. Reminiscent of an almond's flavor, say: NUTLIKE. If you look up NUTLIKE in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of me!

16. Guises for gamers: AVATARS. Maybe I should change my AVATAR to an almond.

17. Activity of a rogue: KNAVERY. Trickery or deceit from a Knave, originally a servant boy, the lowest rank in a royal court. In the 19th century, American card decks switched this to Jack, because Kn and K (for "King") were confused when fanning out hands. "Jack" was colloquialism for a common man, one also at the bottom of the pecking order. Originally a domain of royalty, the King was the highest card until mass production let even commoners play, and they elevated the lowly Ace during the French Revolution to reflect their rise to the top. 

This a Swedish deck: Kn = Knekt (Knave), K = Kung (King), D = Dam (Queen), E = Ess (Ace).

18. Voids: NEGATES.

19. Dazed and confused: IN A SPIN. I don't use this phrase, but the Google says it's popular in Britain.

21. Superlative suffix: EST. This is the averagest 21A clue ever!

22. Outfits: RIGS.

25. Sharp: ACUTE.

28. "Sorry, but it's __ from me": A NO. Simon Cowell's catchphrase on the Idol and Talent TV shows.

29. Shea successor: CITI. Shea Stadium was the iconic, multipurpose home of the New York Mets from 1964 until it closed in 2008. It was demolished in 2009 and replaced by CITI Field, a modern baseball stadium built on the former site's parking lots.

Citi (left) and Shea (right) briefly coexisted.

32. Tax cheat: EVADER.

36. Hush-hush doc: NDA. A Non-Disclosure Agreement protects information that's on a need-to-know basis...and you don't need to know!

37. Carmichael who plays Lady Edith on "Downton Abbey": LAURA. Laura Carmichael is an English actress, most widely known for her performance as Lady Edith Crawley. Since I've never seen this show, I now know how others feel when a clue is about Game of Thrones.

39. Land of the Minotaur: CRETE. The Minotaur is a mythical creature (I hope) from Greece with the body of a man and the head of a bull.

40. [theme pt1]

42. [theme pt2]

44. "Will all great Neptune's __ wash this blood / Clean from my hand?": Macbeth: OCEAN. Your daily dose of Shakespeare. 

45. "__ bleu!": SACRE. This French exclamation originated from "Sacré Dieu" (Holy God). But because Christians feared taking the Lord's name in vain, they substituted the rhyming word "bleu" (blue) for "Dieu" (God) to avoid blasphemy.

47. Actress Whitman: MAE. MAE was a childhood actor who has appeared in numerous films and TV shows. I've somehow missed most of them, but liked her in Good Girls, a crime/comedy drama about three suburban mothers who resort to robbery.

48. Bring out the blue pencil again: REEDIT. First you REED IT, then you RE-EDIT it.

50. Slow-cooked dish: STEW.

51. Mass. summer hrs.: EDT. Massachusetts summer hours are in Eastern Daylight Time.

52. Sings like Ella Fitzgerald: SCATS. Doo-be-doo-bah!

54. Laudatory lines: ODES. 

Not laundry lines...

55. "Captain's __, stardate ... ": LOG. Famous opening line from Star Trek.

58. Cause of a blank photo: LENS CAP. We had a very small wedding, and my future brother-in-law told us he had the photography covered...by the LENS CAP. That's right, we have no pictures from the big day. 46 years later we look back and laugh.

62. Really gets to: ENRAGES. While a screw-up like that ENRAGES some brides, RightBrain took it all in stride. That's when I knew I had married the right girl.

65. Backless tops: HALTERS.

69. Makes softer, as sound: DEADENS.

70. Electric current units: AMPERES.

71. Montana neighbor: ALBERTA.

72. First name of the 28th U.S. president: WOODROW. WOODROW Wilson. In Hollywood, FL, where the longer streets are named sequentially after presidents, Wilson Street follows the much busier Taft Street. I guess Taft was more popular!

Down:

1. Calligraphy supply: INK. It takes a lot of INK to spell "calligraphy."

2. Merriment: FUN. Are we having merriment, yet?

3. Fig. texted en route: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

4. "Jailhouse Rock" star: ELVIS. Here he is dancing away, right out of jail!

Hey! Someone left the door open!

5. Property claim: LIEN. This lean will lead to a property claim.

6. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA.

7. Things on rings: KEYS. Things on rings: GEMS. Well, that's half right.

8. Lose it under pressure: PANIC.

9. Path: AVENUE.

10. Old cloth: RAG. Linen made from flax fibers was used in Egypt thousands of years ago, but the cloth he's referring to is probably not that old.

11. RR stop: STA. A RailRoad STAtion. 

12. "The Greatest Average American" host Bargatze: NATE. I haven't seen his new game show, but I really like his stand-up specials. He is a "clean comedian" who pokes fun at everyday life.

13. Really gets to: IRES. This really gets us to a clecho of 62A.

14. Furtive call: PSST.

20. Impetus for a bluff, perhaps: PAIR. Two Knaves, perhaps?

22. Animosity: RANCOR.

23. Bring about: INDUCE.

24. Vandyke kin: GOATEE. "Van Dyke" is usually two words, just like the facial hair is in two parts.

26. Team working off camera: TV CREW. When a TV reporter comes upon a bunch of rubbernecks at a crime scene, the accompanying team is all business, lest they become CREW necks.

27. Come by honestly: EARN.

29. Care center: CLINIC. 

30. Actor McKellen: IAN. 87 year-old Sir IAN McKellen has won a Tony Award, a Golden Globe, and seven Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards and five Emmys. In spite of all that, he is perhaps best known for his role as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.

31. Helpers in harbors: TUGS.

33. Thought to be: DEEMED.

34. Online NYSE choice: E*TRADE. E*TRADE is a digital investment brokerage that allows people to lose money on the New York Stock Exchange.

35. Puts back to zero: RESETS.

38. Bank holding: Abbr.: ACCT. Please enter your bank account number in the space provided: __________ I will keep this data strictly confidential. Trust me. 

41. Small amounts: TADS. This is what's in my ACCT right now.

43. Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. Bauxite is the primary ORE for aluminum.

46. Org.: ASSN. An Organization can be an Association.

49. __ scout: TALENT. Have I been discovered yet?

53. Thompson of "Selma": TESSA. TESSA has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies over her 20+ year career including as civil rights activist Diane Nash in the 2014 historical film Selma.

54. Chose: OPTED.

55. Helen of Troy's mother: LEDA. According to the most legends, Zeus, the king of the gods, transformed into a swan and seduced (or assaulted) LEDA, the Queen of Sparta. As a result, LEDA laid an egg from which Helen hatched. I'm not sure I buy this.

56. Scott Turow work: ONE L. ONE L is an autobiographical book by Turow that chronicles his grueling first year at Harvard Law School. It is the only one of his 14 novels that is of interest to crossword constructors.

57. Seize: GRAB.

59. "Saint Joan" playwright: SHAW. George Bernard SHAW's play about the 15th-century French military figure Joan of Arc.

60. Mil. print: CAMO. Military print is CAMOuflage. 

61. Blue Buffalo rival: ALPO. Here's Buster as a pup getting ready for dinner.

63. Beverage suffix: ADE.

64. Austrian lang.: GER. The official language of Austria is GERman.

Wait, that's not right.

66. Do the wrong thing: ERR. Jim Carrey meant Australia. 

67. __ Speedwagon: REO. Here REO again!

68. NNE U-turn: SSW. Making a wide U-turn in a Speedwagon was like navigating a boat. It definitely wasn't a Sportwagon.

Happy Birthday, Mom! Wish you were around to see how I turned Dad's corny jokes into even cornier blog posts. The apple didn't fall far from the tree! I miss you both.

Be good. RB

Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Sala Wanetick & Dena R. Verkuil

 

Good Morning, Cruciverblists.  Malodorous Manatee here with a recap of a puzzle co-authored by Sala Wanetick and Dena R. Verkuil.  I recently (May 27th of this year) blogged one of Sala's puzzles.  Dena made her L. A. Times crossword debut in September, 2025 and has also had puzzles published in the N.Y. Times.

Today, they team up in the hope that we will all have a blast working out the answers.  Let's start with the unifier:

64 Across:  Finish dramatically, or what the answers to the starred clues do: END WITH A BANG.

Each of the answers to the four starred clues are comprised of two words.  In each case, the second word is, more or less a description of, well, as the clue put it, something dramatic.  Some are more dramatic than others but we surely get the gist of it.

Here are the four starred clues and answers:

18 Across:  *Time of financial growth: ECONOMIC BOOM.  

26 Across:  *What may follow kids in a candy store?: SUGAR CRASH.  . . . after the sugar high.  This one might have been linked to 18 Across.

40 Across:  *Handshake alternative: FIST BUMP.

Nares Bump

54 Across: . *Stressful contest?: POETRY SLAM.  In this case, stress refers to how poets create meaningful experiences for readers.  A SLAM is a competitive art event in which poets perform spoken word poetry before a live audience and a panel of judges.

This is how everything appears in the completed grid:

Here are the rest of the clues and their answers:

Across:

1. Getting off the fence: OPTING.  Someone who is undecided as to how to proceed is said to be sitting on the fence.

7. Indian state known for silk and tea: ASSAM.  A place frequently visited in our puzzles.  Five letters and four of those are A and S.

12. Nothing special: MEH.  We can take it or leave it.

15. Subdued: LOW KEY.

16. High wispy clouds: CIRRI.  Plural of CIRRUS

17. 'Twas the night before Christmas?: EVE.  Not sure about that question mark.  The preceding night really is the EVE.

20. Antidiscrimination HR initiative: DEI.  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

21. Replace with a grawlix, say: CENSOR.  This solver had never come across the word grawlix although I was certainly familiar with the c0ncept.

22. Helping: AIDING.

24. Gush: SPEW.

29. Elixirs: TONICS.  What is a Genie's favorite drink?  A Djinn and TONIC.

32. "To __ is human ... ": ERR.

Paul Ehrlich

33. Past regulation, briefly: IN OT.  Regulation, in this case, refers to the normal length of a sporting contest (e.g. four quarters, three periods, sixty minutes).  It the score is tied at the end of regulation it goes INto OverTime.

34. Blooper reel bit: OUTTAKE.

36. Sounding shocked: AGASP.

39. TD's six: PTS.  A  football reference.  A TouchDown scores six PoinTS

42. Knight's title: SIR.

45. Italian scooter: VESPA.

46. Try to be like: EMULATE.

48. Eye ailment: STYE.

51. Puppy's bark: YIP.  Have you heard about the zoo where the only animal is a single dog?  It's a Shih Tzu.

53. Speechified: ORATED.

58. Antacid brand: TUMS.

 

59. "Let me check": I'LL SEE.

60. Someone who has a trying job?: TESTER.  One who tries things out.

63. Manicure choice: GEL.  More often clued with a reference to hair.

69. Andrea Gibson's "__ to the Public Panic Attack": ODE.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.  If you wish to listen to this ODE, here it is:

70. Oktoberfest mug: STEIN.  What's the smallest amount of beer you can order at an Oktoberfest gathering?  Ein STEIN.

71. Soul legend Franklin: ARETHA.

72. Craggy hill: TOR.

73. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.  Supreme Court Justices often visit our puzzles.   We know many of them by their first names.  Samuel and Ruth and ELENA come to mind.

74. "Let's hear it!": DO TELL.  Gossip.

Down:

1. Fútbol chant: OLE.  Often heard at the FIFA World Cup games.

2. Abbr. that includes many racial identities: POC.  Person Of Color

3. Opinion: TWO CENTS.  There are several theories as to the origin of this expression.

4. "Didn't fool me!": I KNEW IT.   Yes, we did.

5. Gas in bright signs: NEON.

6. Fitness centers: GYMS.

7. Accumulate, as sick time: ACCRUE.

8. Sis or bro: SIB.  Abbreviations.  Sister.  Brother.  SIBlings.

9. "No seats" sign: SRO.  Standing Room Only

10. Like fans after great plays: AROAR.

11. Mirror: MIMIC.  Used as a verb.

12. Freeway divider: MEDIAN.

13. "And yet ... ": EVEN SO.

14. Progress that may be measured on a doorframe: HEIGHT.

19. Siri platform: IOS.  An Apple reference.

23. Coffee option: DRIP.   

24. "Quit it!": STOP.

25. Sulky look: POUT.  Y0u better watch out, you better not cry . . .

27. Snatch quickly: GRAB.  Trying to GRAB some toilet paper at Costco during the pandemic was quite traumatic.  I came away with TPSD.

28. Exchange words: ARGUE.

30. Bistro: CAFE.

31. Hits the slopes: SKIS.

35. Awards such as Best Play and Best Team: ESPYS.  The ESPY Awards (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, and often referred to as the ESPYs) is an annual American awards show produced by ESPN since 1993, recognizing individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given annual ceremony.

37. Paintballs, e.g.: AMMO.

38. Egg (on): SPUR.  The clue makes use of the idiom.

41. Long part of a comet: TAIL.

42. Drench: SATURATE.

43. Article: ITEM.

44. Cincinnati MLBers: REDS.

45. Doberman docs: VETS.  VETerinarianS

Not this Doberman

This Doberman

47. Dishonorable wager: LATE BET.  Considered to be dishonorable because the outcome may have been discernible before the wager was placed.

48. Faucet: SPIGOT.

49. Ohio city on Lake Erie: TOLEDO.

50. Loud person: YELLER.  Also the Labrador of movie renown.

52. Green film on copper: PATINA.

55. Actress Witherspoon: REESE.

56. Film starring Barbra Streisand as a woman who pretends to be a yeshiva boy: YENTL.

57. "Have we __?": MET.

61. Herring kin: SHAD.

62. Dim sum root vegetable: TARO.  If your book is made of root vegetables...You’re doing a taro reading!

65. Department head?: DEE.  The first letter of the word Department.

66. Finish first: WIN.

67. Org. emulated in "Heated Rivalry": NHL.  National Hockey League

68. Lass: GAL.  This one reminded yours truly of one of his favorite limericks:

There once was a GAL from Kilglass
Who had a magnificent ass
Not round and pink as you probably think
It was brown, had long ears and ate grass

On that note, it's probably time to haul outta here.  Everyone have a great rest of the week . . . and beyond.

___________________________________________________________

M M OUT
With A Bang

Tuesday, June 23, 2026 ~ Adam Shapiro

Games' Afoot

Hi All!

Adam Shapiro delivers a cute Tuesday puzzle which I find impressive since his 1st LAT was ~6mo ago (17 DEC 2025). I enjoyed the fresh clues for pedestrian fill and the new fill I've not seen before. Well done Adam.
Point of order - I can't figure out if Adam is related to NPR's Ari or not. If anyone knows better...

16. Disc-tossing team sport: ULTIMATE FRISBEE.

  

Ultimate Frisbee

The Game of Life

23. Contest played on a star-shaped board: CHINESE CHECKERS.

Chinese Checkers

Chess

41. Pool hall activity: POCKET BILLIARDS.

Pocket Billiards Table

Poker

54. Nintendo player's side quest, or what the circled letters of 16-, 23-, and 41-Across create: GAME WITHIN A GAME. All I can come up w/ in the reveal is the NAME Game.

So, if you're not pickin' up what Adam's putting down... A side quest is a mini-adventure for your avatar to gain coin, information, or skills within the wider scope of the game #DnD. Ergo, a game within a game - exactly what Adam found in the spanners. Let's explore the rest of the grid.

Across:

1. Voting faction: BLOC.

5. Botanical transplant: GRAFT. All you wanted to know.

10. Post that's bigger than a gig: JOB. I saw "bigger" and "gig." My first two thoughts, "Tera" & "Peta," were too long.

13. Like chocolate lava cake: RICH.

14. "Folklore" music artist Swift: TAYLOR.

15. "__ seen worse": I'VE.

I've had worse...

16. [See: Theme]

19. "Aw, so sweet!": TOO CUTE.

20. Like elevator music: AMBIENT.

21. Chicken __ king: ALA.

22. Actor Cariou: LEN.

Len's Wikipedia Page

23. [See: Theme]

32. Ascends: RISES.

33. South African language with click consonants: XHOSA. I knew the answer but not the spelling.

Trevor Noah

34. Tuna roll topper: ROE.

35. Some hazy brews, for short: IPAS.

36. Piano pieces for four hands: DUETS.

37. "You're not wrong": TRUE.

38. 28-Down amenity, maybe: SPA.

39. Ballet class rail: BARRE.

Degas' Dancers Practicing at the Barre

40. Plump pet, slangily: CHONK. Chonk: adj. fat in a pleasant way.

41. [See: Theme]

44. __ de la Cit : Notre-Dame home: ILE.

45. Coffee container: URN.

46. Not much: A LITTLE.

50. Spine-tingling artwork?: BACK TAT. Cute. A tattoo on the back would tingle the spine.

54. [See: Theme]

56. Cenozoic __: ERA. The last 66 million years and our current era.

57. Like alpacas: ANDEAN.

58. A bird flying into the house, say: OMEN. So I Googled this... Some say it's good luck others say death soon. I think it means your screen door is broken.

59. Cold War operative: SPY.

Spy Vs Spy

60. Agreements: YESES.

61. Bit of headway: DENT. I've made a DENT in this expo - I'm done w/ the acrosses.

Down:

1. Like dry champagne: BRUT.

2. Disney girl who teaches Stitch the meaning of ohana: LILO. Ohana is Hawaiian for family.  I saw this movie w/ the Girls when they were so little. It's kinda hard to believe they're both in grad school now.
 

3. Prefix meaning "eight": OCTO.

4. Sequences of tight turns on racecourses: CHICANES. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A few Googles latter... A chicane is an "S" bend in the road that forces drivers to slow down. They're also used in urban settings to not only slow traffic but also increase the amount of public space. Seems like CHICANEry to me.

A chicane in Orlando

5. Frontier departure point?: GATE. Ha! The airline Frontier.

6. Marbled bread: RYE.

7. Italian sports car, briefly: ALFA.

'86 Alfa Spider

8. Unshaped: FORMLESS.

9. NYC nabe south of SoHo: TRIBECA. SoHo is SOuth of HOuston Street.

Yep, there's Tribeca South of SoHo.

10. Align (with): JIBE. Nice.

11. Roasting appliance: OVEN.

12. Red root vegetable used in some dyes: BEET.

14. Breezy goodbyes: TATAS.

17. Cocktails made with lime, vodka, and ginger beer: MULES.

18. Dishwasher's station: SINK.

23. Like tempura: CRISP.

Yummers!

24. River-dwelling mammal that can't swim: HIPPO.

25. Sci-fi writer Asimov: ISAAC.

26. Area far from downtown: EXURB.

27. French darling: CHERI.

Pepé Le Pew

28. Tourist's base: HOTEL.

29. __ in judgment: ERROR.

30. Tournament division: ROUND.

31. Tries to find: SEEKS.

36. NBC news show since 1992: DATE LINE.

37. "What a relief!": THANK GOD.

39. I-495 in Washington, D.C., e.g.: BELTWAY.

40. About, in dates: CIRCA.

42. Toy that may get stuck in a tree: KITE.

The Kite Eating Tree

43. Greg Evans comic strip: LUANN.

A Comic Strip since '85

46. Grows older: AGES.

47. In-person fantasy event, casually: LARP. Live Action Role-Playing GAME.

48. "Thinking about it": I MAY.

49. LAX projections: ETDS. Estimated Times of Departure.

50. Lack of objectivity: BIAS.

51. Unlikely to get out of hand: TAME.

52. "Darn straight": AMEN.

53. Sleeping bag spot: TENT.

55. "__ Haw": HEE.

The Grid:

The Grid

WO: FRIzBEE
ESPs: Spelling of XHOSA, CHONK
Fav:  It's a toss-up - my fav SciFi writer, ISAAC Asimov, or XHOSA just  'cuz I've never seen it in a puzzle before.

Well, do tell - how'd you enjoy Adam's little GAME?  RISES to your definition of fun or you just gonna BLOC it out of your mind 'cuz #circles?  :-)

Cheers, -T
T-7 days 'till RUSH!