Friday, February 13th, 2026 ~ Barbara Lin

 CATWALK-ING

Superstitious~?  The Quadruple Whammy

THIS is what a real crossword looks and solves like - with gratitude from my heart to our constructor, whose last appearance for the LA Times was here.  The puzzle has a standard 15 x 15 grid, no gimmicks, no circles, a level of difficulty hinting at what's to come with the Saturday themeless ( I'm looking at you, 11D. ).  Just six names, maybe a few too many abbrs ( and a high 3LW count ), with with two pairs of nines in the Downs, and enough vagueness/deception to make me have to think about the answers.  The themers, "add-ING" to common phrases, are all unique, and such that if a solver can get a hold on one, they can go back and get some assistance for the others; no contrived reveal or 'forced' fill, either.  I give it Four Moe ⭐ stars~!  The themers;

19. Reservation with impeccable timing?: THE GOOD BOOKING - The Good Book, better known as The Bible; add ING, and you get the last room available at Comic Con - I so want to dress up and go~!

27. Task for a pet store with too many cats?: KITTY HAWKING - I thought this might be an outlier, with Kittyhawk being one word, but no - the town in North Carolina is Kitty Hawk - more here

A kitty hawking "real estate"

45. Sport that combines football and sparring?: TACKLE BOXING - Sounds like this could be fun - but then again, I think we have this sport already - it's called MMA

54. Night when one leaves the closet?: COME OUT EVENING - Gaming, gambling, etc., where one "buys in" and leaves at the end with the same 'investment'; I have had many a poker night where I was glad to have "come out even"

But Waiting, There's Moreing

ACROSS:

1. Elevator choice: FLOOR - Ah.  Clever; I was thinking brand name, then "LOCAL", as opposed to express; overthinkING it, so my NW was messy

6. Tech giant headquartered in Armonk, N.Y.: IBM - I did not know the home office was residING in my old state; name(ish)

9. Mixes in: ADDS - no mixing, just tackING on ING

13. Future family member: FIANCÉ -  Ah. The groom side of the equation; fiancée is the lass

14. Cal. neighbor: ARIzona

15. Sniffed item in some tastings: CORK - I pondered "NOSE"  - more here - the aroma ( not odor ) of a wine at a tasting; cork sniffer has a negative connotation these days

16. Intelligence, sense of humor, etc.: ASSETS

17. Aunt's sis: MOM - my step-grandfather married my grandmother and his brother married her daughter, my mother's sister - figure that one out 😜

18. Like half of an MLB team's games: AWAY - not just baseball, most team sports have half their season played at another team's arena, not on/at their home field

22. Med. nation: SYR - I had the "Y" in place from doing the Downs first; Mediterranean / Syria

23. WNBA player: PRO - clever deception; NBA players are PROfessionals, too - I was overthinkING again, that the "W" factored into the answer

24. Forensic drama franchise: CSI - totally misread this clue, put in NSA 😝

25. "Christopher Robin" hopper: ROO - from Winnie The Pooh, name #1

30. "Frozen" character with antlers: SVEN - The reindeer in the Disney animated film; name #2

33. "Told you!": "SEE~!"

34. One metal in bimetallism: SILVER - LearnING moment for me; I thought bimetallism referred to the two metals, typically brass and steel, that make an old thermostat work - more on the financial "standard" here

Technically, I am correct - help me out here, HuskerG

35. Peninsula between the Gulf of Thailand and the Strait of Malacca: MALAY - geo name #3

37. Fuel additive brand: STP - crossword staple

39. Prolonged battle: SIEGE

40. Polar mass: ICE CAP

42. Facial twitch: TIC

44. Indoor rowers: ERGS - I knew this because my brother has one in his basement

48. Sinus specialist, briefly: ENT - Ears, Nose, Throat - crossword staple

49. Not well: ILL

50. "Or so __ heard": "I'VE"

51. Soccer great Hamm: MIA - name #4, but a frequent visitor to crosswords

58. Drive: FIRE - Friday cluING; drive has several definitions; cars, golf, passion, etc

59. Ironman competition, for short: TRIathlon; SwimmING, CyclING, RunnING 

60. Brainstorm: IDEATE - $2 word

61. Light up: BEAM - think facially, like 'happy' tics

62. Crew blade: OAR - Crüe Axe

Mick Mars - Mötley Crüe - I have a similar BC Rich "axe"

63. Tickled pink: ELATED - This one cost me two minutes trying to find my error;  I went with "S" at the end, not "D", never noticed the "tense" of either crossing

64. Spot in the sea: ISLE - this corrected my other messy corner; I had "ATF" for 63D.

65. Bill addressing climate change?: NYE - filled via perps, but "Bill Nye, the Science Guy" is also a regular visitor to crosswords; name #5

66. Flower part: SEPAL

DOWN:

1. Suspicious: FISHY - Ah.  I was thinkING human perspective, went with LEERY - this is somethING generally soundING questionable - but not my "Y"

2. Hair-removal option: LASER - HOT WAX did not fit.  Ouch.

3. Thou: ONE G - the slang for a thousand, one Grand, not the Biblical thou / thee / thine

4. Army creatures?: OCTOPI - Clever, but perhaps this is better clued as Arm-y~?   I did get it

5. Vacation spots: RESORTS

6. Foot that's part of a meter: IAMB - poetry, e.g.

7. Jewelry box item: BROOCH - Earring, Necklace, Bracelet were too expensive in terms of letters

8. Brunch cocktails: MIMOSAS

9. Nutrient-rich berry: ACAI

10. With the current: DOWNRIVER - Dictionary says it's one word

11. Unhatched prize in Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" series: DRAGON EGG - name(ish), complete unknown, but I had enough crossings to figure it out; here's the Wiki

I'm going to try out this read

12. Much of a sunset photo: SKY - Dah~!  I went with "RED"

Surreal - and a contest winner - more here

13. Jazz legend Waller: FATS - name #6, no clue.  We are in Feb, Black History Month; more here

20. Lavishes affection (on): DOTES

21. Auckland residents, informally: KIWIS - Aussies are too fat to fit

26. Big brutes: OGRES - unless you're Shrek

27. Special skill: KNACK - I have a knack for complicatING simple things

28. "__ Come": BTS hit song: "YET TO" - no clue; here's the video link if you care to watch

29. Big name in bright lights: KLIEG - this one I knew, from working on movies - more here

30. Dispatch, biblically: SMITE - lots of Bible today

31. Openings: VACANCIES

32. __ college: ELECTORAL

36. New Haven undergrad: YALIE - Ah.  Eli didn't make the grade . . . 

38. Short cut: PIXIE - Haircut - I call my Pruis C 2 "Pixie"

Short cut - Short car - both cute

41. Pack of cyclists in a race: PELOTON - Tour de Frawnche taught me this word

Now that there's a piece of equipment called Peloton, it's

all that comes up on a Google search 😜

43. Out-of-uniform garb: CIVVIES - Ha~! Nailed it, the rare double "v" spelling and all; civilian attire

46. DVD alternative: BLU-RAY - I have a Blu-Ray player and a few movies

47. Pine leaf: NEEDLE - Yup, that's what the needles are - leafs; they're Leafs in Canada, Eh~?

51. Mazda roadster: MIATA - One of the employees of the pipe organ company has a 2005 model - he let me drive it to get coffee; no power steerING, and manual shiftING - a true drivING experience~!

I'll have the 2026 - in blue, with the fold-away hard top - Vroom-Vroom~!

52. Recon acquisition: INTEL - GatherING whilst spyING

53. Like wine and cheese: AGED - PAIRED didn't work - DUET~?

55. Eager volunteer's cry: "ME~! ME~!" - not the internet meme

56. Lose steam: TIRE - It's Friday, I pondered "FLAG"

57. Semimonthly tide: NEAP

58. DOJ arm: FBI - Department of Justice, and "Fart, Barf & Itch" ( from the Dave Robicheaux series books ).  Also possible were ATF and DEA; not fitting in were the Bueau of Prisons and the US Marshals

** Thanks to all at the Corner for the B-day comments, and I truly appreciate "Eh!" who had me down for five years younger 😁 I am surprised at the number of folks who said that "double nickel" was in the rearview mirror for them - keep on solving crosswords~!  I do miss the pipe organ job - such a cool place to work, and I am still planning on getting my very own Cooper - loved the links and pics; my brother's card said "I can't drive 55~!" **

Splynter

Grid Flow a low 23.7

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 ~ Barbara Lin

Hold On!

Blues Brothers Band covers Sam and Dave.

Today Barbara gives us four things one can hold. Only one you do for someone else...

20. Hard core exercise?: PLANK POSITION. It strengthens your "core."

27. Conference room activity: STAFF MEETING.

45. Portal to another level: ELEVATOR DOOR. Be nice; don't hit the close-door button.

53. Postgraduate pursuit: MASTERS DEGREE. One of my professors had this on his door:

Eldest just got her Masters on her way to a PhD.
//if the characters look familiar that's because
  Matt [Letterman] is also creator of The Simpsons.

58. "Not so fast!," or what one can do with 20-, 27-, 45-, and 53-Across: HOLD IT.

Across:
1. Make a splashy attempt: GO BIG or go home.

6. Cartoon cry of alarm: ACK.

IIRC, the last Cathy.

9. Beer ingredient: MALT.

13. Expert in resolving tense situations?: EDITOR. Ha! Verb tense.

15. __ favor: please, in Spanish: POR.

16. Conversely, briefly: OTOH. On The Other Hand.

17. Mark in the margin: NOTATE. Not doodle.

18. Polish brand at a nail salon: OPI.

Cajun Shrimp is the color (for Lucina :-))

19. Egg on: URGE.

20. [See: Theme]

23. Syst. of hand symbols: ASL. American Sign Language.

25. Photographer Goldin: NAN.

26. Beehive State resident: UTAHAN.

27. [See: Theme]

30. Tofu source: SOYA.

31. Right-angle bend: ELL.

32. Actress Sarandon: SUSAN.

36. Daredevil Knievel: EVEL. As a kid, I loved his stunts.

37. Angioplasty tube: STENT.

40. Land unit: ACRE.

41. Succinct: TERSE. I would say more, but it defeats the fill.

43. Neither here __ there: NOR.

44. Oblong tomato: ROMA. Love 'em for sauce.

45. [See: Theme]

49. Sneezer's need: TISSUE.

51. Feel bad about: RUE.

52. Best 5K times, e.g.: PRS. Google says it means "Personal Records."

53. [See: Theme]

56. Constellation bear: URSA.

57. Buckeye State sch.: OSU. Ohio State University (not to be confused with Oklahoma State University).

58. [See: Theme]

61. Tart-tasting: SOUR.

62. Writing tool: PEN.

63. To the max: SO MUCH.

64. 13-Across's override: STET.

65. Yellowstone ruminant: ELK.

66. Matter of debate: TOPIC.

Down:
1. __ Z: Zoomers: GEN.  My kids are.  Keeps me young (at least insofar as the modern-day vernacular).

2. Automotive prefix with meter: ODO. The odometer measures milage (or kms for C, Eh!).

3. Performer with a small role: BIT PLAYER.

4. Slanted type, for short: ITAL. Italics.

5. Failed, in a way: GOT AN F. Most of my spelling tests in grade school. Spellcheck makes me look smarter than I am #dyslexia!

6. Informal pricing words: A POP.

7. Flimsy excuse: COPOUT.

8. Figure skater Yamaguchi: KRISTI.

9. Device that protects teeth and gums: MOUTH GUARD.

10. Bright and airy areas of some malls: ATRIA.

11. Connect after entering credentials: LOGON.

12. "And __ what happened?": THEN.

14. Gives a new handle to, as a rescue pet: RENAMES.

21. Prepared to propose, possibly: KNELT.

22. Writers McEwan and Fleming: IANS.

23. Money in the bank, say: ASSET.

24. Hot appliance: STOVE.

28. Sprinter's before-the-gun error: FALSE START.

Football False Starts

29. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA. When she was 8yrs old, Youngest listened to Sotomayor's hearings on NPR in the back seat on the way to school. About a week later, she announced she was going to be a Supreme Court Justice. She's studying for the LSAT as I type.

33. Grabbed with both hands: SCOOPED UP.

34. Knight's suit: ARMOR.

35. Comes close: NEARS.

38. "The Hunchback of __ Dame": NOTRE.

Youngest was in Paris a few weeks back and snapped this.

39. Slop holders on a farm: TROUGHS.

42. Otherwise: ELSE.

46. Liechtenstein's continent: EUROPE.

47. Boat or gravy boat: VESSEL.

48. Propagate anew: REROOT. The girls & I repotted our cacti yesterday. We rooted the "arms" of Bullwinkle that broke off in our effort.

49. Divination deck with 78 cards: TAROT.

50. Matter of debate: ISSUE.

53. Dishevel, with "up": MUSS.

54. Action with a basketball or a cookie: DUNK. Eldest bought Pepperidge Farm's London Fog w/ Earl Grey. They were delicious w/ milk. //so I got two more packages :-)

55. Ticklish Muppet: ELMO.

59. Here, in Quebec: ICI. I'm assuming that's French.

60. CBD-like compound in some edibles: THC. Can's miss the seemingly hundreds of CBD stores that have popped-up in the last few years. They're at every strip-center (along with a liquor store, a massage parlor, and a kids' learning center(?!?)). Tetrahydrocannabinol - the part of "the devil's lettuce" that makes one high.

The Grid:

The Grid

The skinny:
WOs: N/A
ESPs: PRS, NAN, ICI
Fav: I'll go with ROMAs from ITALy :-)

Cheers, -T

Monday December 25, 2023 Barbara Lin

 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

sumdaze here. I wish you all joy, peace, & love today and always -- but especially today!  

I was hoping for a holiday-themed puzzle. My thanks to constructor Barbara Lin and the LA Times Crossword Puzzle editorial staff. You did not disappoint!

Today's puzzle has five themers, including a fun grid-spanner across the equator. Each is an in-the-language phrase that is repurposed to complete a sentence telling the story of Santa's activities on Christmas Eve. I like that the activities appear in chronological order -- not an easy feat. Well done!

Let's take a look:

17 Across. Santa and his reindeer landed __: ON THE HOUSE.  the customer does not have to pay for the goods/services

We've recently had this idiomatic phrase last Monday at 61-Across and the Friday before last at 5-Across.

27 Across. Before heading down the chimney, Santa __: GOT THE SACK.  to be fired from a job 

It's OK kiddos. Santa was not fired.

33 Across. Stepping out of the fireplace, Santa left a __: CARBON FOOTPRINT.  a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc.

(This one was my favorite because Santa's boots get ash (a carbon compound) on them when he comes down the chimney. Very clever!)

42 Across. After filling the last one, Santa hung the __: STOCKING UP. to amass extra amounts of something for future use  

58 Across. All in all, Santa had a very busy __!: PRESENT DAY.  current

Let's see what else Barbara left under the tree for us:

Across:
1. Saudi Arabia neighbor: OMAN.   

5. Protractor's measure: ANGLE.  

Gotta love an clue with a math ANGLE to it! 😜

10. Caustic chemical: ACID.

14. Forbidding word: DON'T.  OK, I won't.

15. President between Harrison and Polk: TYLER.  John Tyler was the 10th president of the U.S. What I remember from 10th grade U.S. History class is that President Harrison wanted everyone to see his fancy clothes at his inauguration so he refused to wear a coat even though Washington, D.C. is cold in January on a normal year -- and that was a really cold year. So #9 got sick and died just 31 days after his swearing in and TYLER took over as #10...or something like that.

Click to expand.

16. Writer Jaffe: RONA.  (1931-2005)  bio

19. Territory near the Mariana Trench: GUAM.  (Hi D-Otto!)

20. Actress/writer Issa: RAE.

21. Many Christmas trees: PINES. 🎄     and     53 Across. Editorialize: OPINE.

So when we sing O Christmas Tree around a PINE tree, do we O PINE?  

Aretha Franklin sings O Christmas Tree (1992)

22. Oklahoma city on the Arkansas River: TULSA.

23. Correcting myopia, maybe: LASING.  LASIK eye surgery

25. Stockholm citizens: SWEDES.

26. Small snack: BITE.  

30. App reviewers: USERS.

32. Length of TV's "60 Minutes": HOUR.  I hesitated, asking myself, "Is this a trick question?"

40. Quarter or pound: COIN.  

As of this writing, one U.S. quarter equals about 0.20 Pound sterling.

41. Like some garden lights: SOLAR.  CSO to unclefred!

48. "Children of Blood and Bone" writer Adeyemi: TOMI.  Goodreads link

49. On the up and up: KOSHER.  This adjective has a specific definition in Jewish law but is often used informally to mean "genuine and legitimate".

50. Homegrown: NATIVE.  This word comes to us from the Latin word nativus, as does another word often heard this time of year -- nativity.

52. Broad necktie: ASCOT.

55. Flight takeoff approximation: Abbr.: ETD.  Estimated Time of Departure

57. Old Russian leader: TSAR.

60. French 101 verb: ETRE.  to be

61. __ tot: TATER.

62. Like a red Red Delicious: RIPE.  

63. Diana of the Supremes: ROSS.  

Diana Ross sings The Christmas Song (1994)

64. Speaker of the house?: ALEXA.  Fun clue!  ALEXA is Amazon's virtual assistant technology accessed through a Wi-Fi bug, erm, I mean "speaker" in your house.

65. Beehive State people: UTES.  

If you've driven through Utah, you've seen their beehive signs.

Down:
1. Fragrance: ODOR.

2. Da Vinci portrait in the Louvre: MONA LISA.  

This famous painting is smaller than you might think.
It is 30 in. x 21 in. (77 cm. x 53 cm.)

3. Long-tongued insectivore: ANTEATER.  Did you know that a baby ANTEATER is called a pup?  Check out this 1 min. video of an ANTEATER pup at the Nyíregyháza Zoo in Hungary.  

4. Utmost degree: NTH.  Basically, the nth term is a mathematical expression that enables us to find the value of any term in a sequence. The 'n' stands for the term number. So if I have 5+n and if n=1 then it would be 5+1 = 6. Likewise, if n=2, it would be 5+2=7. And so on. Since there are an infinite amount of values we can give to n, the sequence can go on to infinity. That idea of "going to infinity" has given us the idiom "nth degree", meaning "as much as possible" or "extremely".

5. "I haven't __ to wear!": A THING.  I knew this one right away but I am not sure why. 

6. "Black Panther" star Lupita: NYONG'O.  Lupita is a Mexican-Kenyan actress born March 1, 1983 in Mexico City. In 2014 she won an Oscar for her work in 12 Years a Slave. Here she is in her Nakia role from Black Panther.

7. Sticky stuff: GLUE.  

8. More or __: LESS.  

9. "I heard him exclaim, __ he drove out of sight ... ": 'ERE.  🎄

This famous poem, originally titled A Visit or A Visit From St. Nicholas, was first published anonymously on December 23, 1823, in a Troy, New York (another Cornerite CSO!) newspaper called The Sentinel.  article from "The Parade"

10. Bickers: ARGUES.

11. May've: COULDA.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda  -- all three are colloquialisms that replace the verb "have" with "a". Likewise, the clue replaces "have" via the use of an apostrophe.  

another CSO

12. "Almost ready!": IN A SEC.

13. Fabric named for Syria's capital: DAMASK.  This fabric is named for Damascus, which is where this textile product originated. Known for its intricate and reversible patterns, DAMASK fabric is prized for its ornateness. These days, however, it is easy to make incredibly complex damask patterns with modern textile machines.  Read more here.

18. Prefix with center: EPI-.  Earthquakes come to mind. (Hi Jayce!)

22. Whippersnappers: TWERPS.

24. Croat's neighbor: SERB.  

25. Tightly closed: SHUT.

26. Tampa Bay NFLer: BUC.  

28. Havaianas shoe, e.g.: THONG.  

Click to expand.

Speaking of Hawaii, here is Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters with a Hawaiian Christmas song:  

Mele Kalikimaka (1950)

29. Additionally: TOO.

31. Lightbulb's place: SOCKET.  Did someone say that it's Sock It To Me Time?  

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967-73)

How many faces do you recognize?

34. Gritty film genre: NOIR.

35. Classic Cadillac feature: FIN.

36. Round flatbread: ROTI.

37. "Five stars!": I LOVED IT.  Answer to, "What did I think of today's puzzle?"

38. Personalized iron-on: NAME TAPE.  The "NAME" part filled quickly. Some solvers might not be familiar with the "TAPE" part. In the military, a NAME TAPE is a rectangle-shaped piece of fabric with one's surname stitched into it then permanently sewn onto one's uniform. It stays on through the laundry and the life of that uniform; whereas, a name tag is a metal pin that is attached when wearing the uniform and removed when laundering the uniform. Do other professions share this lexicon? Perhaps some of those professions use an iron-on variety. 

39. Bi- plus one: TRI.

42. Adam Rippon, for one: SKATER.  

43. Play catch with: TOSS TO.

44. Hollywood awards: OSCARS.

45. Washing dishes, doing laundry, etc.: CHORES.

46. Not gender-specific: UNISEX.  

47. Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich chain: PANERA.

51. Number of digits in a billion: TEN.  1,000,000,000

53. __ hygiene: ORAL.

54. Folk icon Seeger: PETE.  

Pete Seeger (1919-2014) sings The First Noel (1967)

56. Changes color, perhaps: DYES.

58. Org. that may support a school board: PTA.  "Organization" is abbreviated, so is Parent Teacher Association.

59. Hilton brand: TRU.  TRU by Hilton is an American chain of hotels owned by Hilton Worldwide.

Time to wrap things up. Here's the grid:

I hope you enjoyed today's puzzle, the CSO's, and the holiday music. I'm going to leave you with one more tune. It's an extraordinary version of The 12 Day of Christmas by the acapella group Straight No Chaser. It might not be what you are expecting so don't give up on it too early.  

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy birthday to dear Kathy (Yellowrocks). So glad you're back on the blog again.

 

Kathy (Yellowrocks), Dec 10, 2020

2) Happy Birthday to Lorraine (Fermatprime) also. Her good friend Malcolm reads our blog regularly and emailed me this: "She is still living in her house in the San Fernando Valley,  playing a Word Solitaire game, which she consistently gets the highest score of all other players, but every so often she gets  an even higher score before any other player.  Her feistiness and the peculiar rules of the game allow her to get the extra two points before any other player of the game does."