Sunday, July 26, 2026 ~ Zhouqin Burnikel

"9 to 5"

Hi All!
Today we get a letter-substitution puzzle from our very own C.C.. Each themed clue is straight forward but the fill seems a bit of(?).  Let's dig in and see what she has in store.

23. *Command to turn: FACE LIFT. In the Army, it was "LEFT, FACE." //Drill gave the direction first to give us a moment to remember our left from our right :-)

He Flunked Flanks

29. *Recovers somewhat: FEELS BITTER. FEELS BETTER. If you've only somewhat recovered from defeat, you may still feel bitter.

45. *Flourishing: LIVING WILL. LIVING WELL - yeah, I'm doin' alright.

49. *Perform a daring act: BILL THE CAT. The expression "BELL THE CAT" derives from a fable about mice agreeing that putting a bell on the cat is a great idea. The hitch - it's a great idea if someone else is dumb enough to try - so no one does.

Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County's Bill The Cat

70. *Makes explicitly clear: SPILLS OUT. SPELLS OUT. #Snitch :-)

94. *Person who works a lot?: AUTO DIALER. An AUTO DEALER works the car lot a lot.

96. *Ink-filled tool for illustrators: DRAWING PIN. A PEN for DRAWING pictures.

112. *Places to drop envelopes: LITTER BOXES. Put your post in a LETTER BOX.

Letters go here -- dogs, maybe, but not cats.

123. Start of a spelling rule, or a rule to keep in mind while answering the starred clues: I BEFORE E.

I before E except after C (unless it sounds like an A as in neighbor and weigh (unless the word is just weird)).
//I found this silly sentence on Reddit: I before E except when your "foreign neighbor Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from weird feisty caffeinated weightlifters."
One can always count on the internet for giggles.

Ahem.

I forgot to read the Sunday Title first. As I came upon 29a, I thought, "What's the theme?"
I read "9 to 5" (?) and thought, "I'll title the puzzle 'I Before E.'"
Then I got to 123a, and realized that's where C.C. was already going.  Alas.

But wait, what is 9 to 5? Simple, it's like a substitution cipher. Take the 9th letter of the alphabet and put it where the 5th letter goes. 9 to 5. Cute. But it gets better...

Everything's better w/ Dolly

Across:

1. Do something: ACT.

4. Career fair haul: SWAG.

Cybersecurity SWAG for the bath.

8. Claim forcefully: ASSERT.

14. Insert, as a link: EMBED. I was thinking a chain's LINK b/f an HTML hyperLINK.

19. Prepping period: LEAD TIME. The more lead time, the more you better prepare.

21. Mammals with big calves: WHALES. Ha!

22. Stains with ash: SOOTS.

23. [See: Theme]

24. Winter cap feature: EARLAP. LAP or FLAP? I looked it up: Earlap - A flap connected to headgear to protect the ear from cold or physical harm. From Old English ēarlæppa.

25. Jam: SNARL. Think traffic, not preserves.

26. Clarifying phrase: AS IN. PAT - P as in Pterodactyl, A as in Aisle, and T as in Tsunami. //Thanks RustyB!

27. Too sure of oneself: SMUG. Can you think of a three letter donkey-related word for this trait? I can ;-)

29. [See: Theme]

31. Coup target: ETAT. French: coup is "blow" or "strike" and état is "state."

33. Small camping shelter: PUP TENT. A small triangular shelter fit more for a dog than humans. In the Army, you & a buddy carried half-shelters.

They're pretty small

35. Slowpoke's place: REAR.

36. "Despacito" singer Fonsi: LUIS. A Puerto Rican singer.

39. Part of LAPD: LOS.

40. Nonprofit org. with a school for aspiring moviemakers: AFI. American Film Institute (which named Blazing Saddles the Funniest Film of All Time on Brooks' 100th Birthday //thanks Ray-O!).

42. Infatuated: GAGA. Is Lady GAGA infatuated with herself or ladies?

45. [See: Theme]

49. [See: Theme]

52. Dedicated poem: ODE.

53. Tudyk of "Firefly": ALAN. I've never seen Firefly, but Alan was great in Resident Alien. [TV-MA]

Alan Tudyk

54. Emulate Alysa Liu: ICE SKATE.

Alysa won gold in the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic games

56. Bark beetle target: ELM.

57. Fancy-schmancy: POSH. If you get too fancy in our hacker Discord channel, someone will inevitably post this:

Ooh La La

59. Previously: ONCE.

61. Relaxed sigh: AHH.

62. Novel at the center of Bloomsday celebrations: ULYSSES. Bloomsday is a commemoration of James Joyce.

64. Westernmost city in Texas: EL PASO. I did Basic there [Ft. Bliss] in '88... In July!

66. McIntosh or Macintosh: APPLE. Cute - the fruit and computer, respectively.

68. Poison Ivy, to Robin: ENEMY.

She debuted in '66's Batman #181

69. Seasoning for kimchi: SALT.

70. [See: Theme]

72. Insects in a colony: ANTS.

75. Apex predators of the sea: ORCAS.

77. New York City's __ Place: ASTOR. The WikiP.

78. Baseless: UNTRUE. Alternative facts?

80. Vidal of hair care: SASSOON. If you don't look good, we don't look good. #Tagline

83. Vader's childhood nickname: ANI. Star Wars franchise.

84. Southernmost Ivy: PENN.

86. Party leader?: HOST. Ha!

87. Software-driven F/X: CGI. Computer Generated Images create the special effects (F/X).

88. Improviser's concluding phrase: AND SCENE.

Colbert

91. Fat-heavy diet: KETO.

93. "Look what I found!": OHO.

94. [See: Theme]

96. [See: Theme]

99. Org. running many missions: NASA.

100. Snack for a frog: FLY.

101. Of vital importance: KEY.

102. Speak unclearly: SLUR.

103. Ione of "La Brea": SKYE.

Ione Skye

105. Lions and tigers: FELINES.

109. Gets the picture: SEES.

112. [See: Theme]

115. High-five sound: SLAP.

118. Starts to work together: GELS.

120. In flames: AFIRE.

121. Make public: EXPOSE.

123. [See: Theme]

125. Spot of land: ISLET.

126. Lower in fat: LEANER. Opposite of KETO.

127. Trial spin on a bike: TEST RIDE.

128. Parts in a play: ROLES.

129. Daisylike flowers: ASTERS.

A Purple Daisy - Gregor [98d], you have some 'splain' to do.

130. Tuck away: STOW.

131. Telepath's ability: ESP.

Down:

1. __ Romeo: motorsport brand: ALFA.

'86 Alfa Spider

2. Discontinue: CEASE.

3. Implicit: TACIT.

4. Busiest airport in MO: STL. St. Louis, Missouri's Lambert International Airport. When visiting Pop, we'll sometimes opt for STL instead of connecting into SPI through ORD.

5. Nintendo consoles that debuted in 2006: WIIS.

6. Switch on the radio?: AMFM. Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation are methods of imposing information onto a carrier wave.

7. "Rise and shine!": GET UP.

8. Dazzle: AWE.

9. Vertical passages: SHAFTS.

10. Draped wedding garment: SAREE. I looked it up - sari and saree are both acceptable spellings of the same dress.

11. Discovery astronaut Ochoa: ELLEN.

She was the director at JSC, Houston.

12. "I'm gonna be straight with you ... ": REAL TALK.

13. Cough syrup amts.: TSPS.

14. OPI rival: ESSIE. Youngest uses Holo Taco.

Her Starry Night Nails

15. Sequence of film cuts: MONTAGE.

16. Regattas: BOAT RACES.

17. Raison d'__: ETRE.

18. High-end camera initials: DSLR. Digital Single-Lens Reflex.

20. National park north of Anchorage: DENALI. Before and after it was Mt. McKinley.

28. Shorebird with webbed feet: GULL.

30. Easily broken: BRITTLE.

32. Salade niçoise fish: TUNA.

Yummers!

34. __-sci: POLI. Political Science.

37. Nome dome home: IGLOO.

38. Bird with a long neck: SWAN.

41. Display flagrantly: FLAUNT. Should I EMBED [14a] Brooks' The Producers' [2005] Uma? Heck yeah!

43. Destructive wind: GALE.

44. Bank lobby devices: ATMS.

45. Leisurely gait: LOPE.

46. Subjects of fan clubs: IDOLS.

47. "Roman Holiday" scooter: VESPA.

Hepburn & Peck on a Vespa

48. Like some heated posts: IN CAPS. e.g. I'M YELLING AT YOU!!!!

49. Command: BEHEST.

50. "Kinda": ISH.

51. "What's up, bro!": HEY MAN. The opening lyric to...

Suffragette City

55. Reports by hotline: CALLS IN.

58. Head lights?: HALOS.  Cute - a ring of overhead light.

60. Prefix with graph or gram: EPI.

63. Electronica instrument: SYNTH.

Geddy's Steampunk-themed Synth (it's a mini-MOOG underneath)

65. Hybrid thoroughfare with frequent access points: STROAD. A portmanteau of Street and Road. Trying to figure out what stroad means took me down a traffic engineering labyrinth. Google at your own peril.

67. Smoothing tool: PLANER.

68. Shout of discovery: EUREKA.  What Archimedes famously shouted when he realized he could calculate the volume of any shape by putting it in a bath (with rubber duckies, I presume).

70. Open-toed shoe: SANDAL.

71. Alley-__: OOP.

73. Scouting unit: TROOP.

74. Gimbap alternative: SUSHI. Gimbap is Korea's take on sushi. WikiP has the History of the dish.

Looks good (& the fish is cooked :-))

76. Cypress, for one: CONIFER. Needled trees.

78. Up to: UNTIL.

79. Ian Fleming's alma mater: ETON. A POSH school.

80. Glance over: SCAN.

81. Amazon contents: AGUA.

82. Quits fidgeting: SITS STILL. Yeah, not my strong suit. #ADHD

83. Card with a single pip: ACE.

85. Front page material: NEWS.

89. Cunning folks: SLY FOXES.

90. Garden with forbidden fruit: EDEN.

92. Responsibility: ONUS.

95. Home for a squirrel: OAK TREE. Which is, famously, not a conifer.

97. Some deli loaves: RYES. Ok, no!, C.C., you can't get away w/ RYE w/o me mentioning

Ziggy's Reuben

98. Genetics pioneer Mendel: GREGOR. Of crossbreeding pea [and daisies?] fame.

101. Piehole: KISSER. Your maw, yap, trap, mouth.

104. Throws, in slang: YEETS. What the kids say when wanting to forcefully dispose of something. E.g. "Yeet it off the balcony."

106. Kiwi in Kyoto, say: EXPAT. LOL! A New Zealander in Japan.

107. Sierra __, Africa: LEONE.

108. Features of some skirts: SLITS. Where's Splynter when we need him? :-)

110. Quietly unnerving: EERIE.

111. Snow day rides: SLEDS.

112. Dragon's place: LAIR. When I played video games, Dragon's Lair cost $1 whilst the other games were $0.25. Ergo, I only watched arcade buddies blow $$$ just to die at this scene (again).

Dragon's Lair - a LaserDisc "cutscene" video game.

113. "In that case ... ": IF SO.

114. Grammy-winning banjoist Fleck: BELA. Not Steve Martin? Ok, let's hear him.

Bela's Youtube Channel

116. Help out on a heist: ABET.

117. Cozumel coin: PESO.

119. Ooze: SEEP.

122. Workplaces for some RNs: ERS. Some Nurses work the Emergency Room.

124. Texter's "Victory!": FTW. For The Win! we get The Grid.

The Grid

WO: last -> REAR (35a)
ESPs: LUIS, ASTOR, SKYE, SAREE, STROAD
Fav: I really enjoyed the alliteration in IGLOO's clue.

I hope y'all found a LINK or two in the expo for a nifty diversion this Sunday morning.

Cheers, -T

Tuesday, June 30, 2026 ~ Scott Earl & Katherine Baicker

Pocket Money

Good day Cornerites! Today, Scott & Katherine give us some things you can scratch. Let's take a look...

17. Old 45, perhaps: VINYL RECORD. Run DMC talked about doing Walk this Way w/ Aerosmith. They had no idea who Aerosmith was except it was the scratch on Track 4 of that Toys in the Attic album which all street rappers used. Here's a 45 where the B-side is the bigger hit -- it better not be scratched...

A-Side

B-Side

24. Hiker's annoyance: INSECT BITE. Those make ya' scratch.

35. Lucky purchase, one hopes: LOTTERY TICKET. The Big Money!

We had LOTERIA in my last Tuesday expo

48. Yen for adventure: TRAVEL ITCH. If you've got the time & scratch, scratch that itch.

57. "Never mind!," or what could be said about 17-, 24-, 35-, or 48-Across: SCRATCH THAT.

Close enough.

Across:

1. "Heated Rivalry" co-star Williams: HUDSON. A TV show of two hockey players on rival teams hiding their romance. Heard of it but never seen it.

7. Mountain goat with long horns: IBEX.

Alpine ibex

11. Pigpen: STY.

No.  This is Pig-Pen

14. Boxer's punch combo: ONE-TWO.

15. The whole __ yards: NINE. Here's Words Unravelled on idioms. //Listen long enough and you'll hear our sports BAGEL explanation.

16. Red letters?: IOU. An "I Owe You" means you're in the red.

17. [See: Theme]

19. Male turkey: TOM.

20. Dark deeds: EVILS.

21. Oscar winner Malek: RAMI. I liked him best in the first season of Mr. Robot.

22. Population fig., often: EST. An ESTimate.

23. Hard to track down: RARE.

24. [See: Theme]

27. Put points on the board: SCORED.

29. African American folk magic: HOODOO.

I had to check to see if Harvey Korman said Hoodoo or Voodoo.

30. More than wants: NEEDS. OK, I NEEDed to check Korman's words ;-)

34. Preppy tops: POLOS.

35. [See: Theme]

39. Sherri's twin on "The Simpsons": TERRI.

The Twins

40. "Stuart Little" actress Davis: GEENA.

41. Writer/editor Dave who founded McSweeney's Publishing: EGGERS.

43. X-ray follow-up, perhaps: CT SCAN. A Computed Tomography SCAN.

48. [See: Theme]

52. "__ from New York ... !": LIVE. Chevy Chase first said it back in '75.

Reminiscent of Python's

  Hungarian Phrase Book Sketch.

53. Singer DiFranco: ANI.

54. "__ not see that coming": I DID.

55. Desert refuge: OASIS.

56. Game system with Nunchuk controllers: WII.

We have a Wii; haven't used it in years.

57. [See: Theme]

59. Braying animal: ASS.

60. Person named in a will: HEIR.

61. Orange snack puff: CHEETO.

62. Emerald or ruby: GEM.

63. Greek peak: OSSA. Oh, not a look [peek] under the toga but...

this kinda peak.

64. Female sibling: SISTER. As you're reading this, I'm with one of mine in Dallas.

Down:

1. Watches overprotectively: HOVERS.

2. Pioneering mainframe: UNIVAC. What?!? A singular VACuum tube? Counts to one, does it? ;-)

3. Robert of "Killers of the Flower Moon": DENIRO. I know who DeNiro is but not in this context.  After reading the WikiP, I should probably see the movie.

4. Salon tool: STYLER.

5. Hooting birds: OWLS.

6. Neither partner: NOR.

7. Native Peruvians: INCAS.

8. Ecosystem: BIOME.

Caution, Here Be [36d] ORGANISMS.

9. Make more nutritious, say: ENRICH.

10. Crossed through, with "out": X-ED.

11. Stands by: SITS IDLE.

12. Sound from a choo choo train: TOOT TOOT.

13. "Delish!": YUM. Where's the -mers? Oh, that's right, Hahtoolah will be back soon w/ her yummers :-)

18. Directional ending: ERN. NortherERN, SouthERN, et.al.

22. Kindle unit: E-BOOK.

24. Notion, in French: IDEE. French idea.

25. Hanna-Barbera feline who hatched schemes in an alley: TOP CAT.

He's the one with the tennis banjo

26. Greek goddess of the dawn: EOS.

28. Whole: ENTIRE.

31. Rowing machine, colloquially: ERG.

32. Henna, for one: DYE.

33. Fr. holy woman: STE. French Saint.

35. Core-engaging exercise: LEG RAISE.

36. Living creature: ORGANISM.

RUSH's Natural Science w/ Anika.
(Song addresses organisms in a tide pool so that counts, right?)

37. Rome's __ Fountain: TREVI.

If you're a bit peckish, there's a gelato joint on your left.

38. Creep (along): INCH.

39. Vietnamese New Year: TET.

42. Pie servings: SLICES.

44. Lists of candidates: SLATES.

45. Non-LGBTQ+ portmanteau: CIS/HET. A cisgender and heterosexual individual.

46. Fly a plane: AVIATE.

47. "The Morning Show" actor Carbonell: NESTOR.

49. Actor Elba: IDRIS.

There you go, ladies ;-)

50. Small crown: TIARA.

51. Chi. summer hrs.: CDT. Central Daylight Time. Aka, UTC-5.

55. "Fancy meeting you here!": OH HI.

56. Move like a happy pooch's tail: WAG.

57. "Dexter: Resurrection" airer, for short: SHO. HBO's rival SHOtime

58. Includes on an email: CCS. Carbon CopieS - An anachronistic way of saying "also informed."

The Grid:

The Grid

WO: TOP kAT (thought it was spelt like Krazy Kat)
ESP: HUDSON
Fav: I liked UNIVAC, the successor to ENIAC. Anyone remember Asimov's SciFi Multivac?

I'm in Dallas w/ Eldest and the oldest of my littles Bro & Sis. #RUSH goes down tonight!

Cheers, -T

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!