Thursday, November 6, 2025, Ilana Levene, Scott Hogan

Theme:  Not the real thing, but an amazing FACSIMILE!

Ilana Levene is a British neonatal intensive care physician who started working on US crossword puzzles as a distraction, and has now published several, including one previous puzzle in these pages.  Scott Hogan is a patent attorney in Michigan who has collaborated with others to construct crosswords -- often Katie Hale -- and published one in the NYT with Ilana Levene.  Today Ilana and Scott treat us to some close copies or spitting images, and they manage to cross them in the grid.

Ilana Levene        and        Scott Hogan

The big reveal is:

55-Across. Betray, or what can be found three times in this puzzle: DOUBLE CROSS.  

      All of the words for which "copycat" is the clue are a kind of "double."

25-Across. Copycat: REPLICA.  A close reproduction of an original item.

27-Across. Copycat: STAND-IN.  A person who substitutes for another.

5-Down. Copycat: FACSIMILE.  An exact copy.

9-Down. Copycat: LOOK-ALIKE.  A person who greatly resembles someone else.

40-Down. Copycat: CLONE.  A genetically identical copy.

Those are the DOUBLEs.  How do they CROSS?  Here's the grid:

We have six words for "double" (including DOUBLE), and they CROSS in three places.  It's a nifty structure, with lots of lovely words and phrases.  Let's take a DEEPer look.

Across:

1. Bundle of wheat: SHEAF.

6. Social media annoyance: BOT.  A bot is an automated program designed to simulate human interaction on social media platforms.  Some are malicious.

9. Endures: LASTS.

14. Accord, for one: HONDA.

15. Dazzle: AWE.

16. Earthy colour: OCHRE.  DH and I were sitting in a cafe in Pernes-les-Fontaines in Provence, when a local couple told us we should see the village of Roussillon.  I understood them to say it was very colorful.  So a day or two later, there we were, and completely astonished by the ochre cliffs and quarries.  I grew up knowing OCHRE as a crayon color, and had no idea that it was a natural clay pigment, mined in Roussillon from the late 18th century until 1930.

I took this photograph of the OCHRE cliffs of Roussillon in 2019.

17. Urgent care specialist, briefly: ER DOC.

18. Work of fiction?: LIE.

19. Was part of a row: OARED.

20. End of an academic address: EDU.  Website or email address.

21. Start to knock?: SILENT K.

24. Actress Noblezada: EVA.  Eva Noblezada is an American theatre actress and singer. Her accolades include a Grammy Award and two Tony Award nominations.  Besides roles in stage productios of Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, The Great Gatsby, and Cabaret, she has earned some film and television credits.  News to me, but good for her.

Eva Noblezada

25. [Theme clue]

27. [Theme clue]

29. Pinged online: IM'ED.  Instant Messaged.  To ping a device is to send a quick signal and then measure the response time as a way of assessing network performance.  But for the average person, "ping" has come to mean sending a quick message to get someone's attention or to see if they are available.

30. "Carpe diem" hashtag: YOLO.  "Carpe diem" is Latin for "seize the day."  YOLO is an acronym for "you only live once."  Both suggest you should do something impulsive.

31. Like streets in Dickens novels: GASLIT.  Streets were lit by gas lamps before electric lighting. 

gaslit street

34. Lobster claw: PINCER.

A lobster's front pincers are considered to be legs.
They are used for self-defense and for grabbing and tearing prey animals.

38. "__ we meet again": UNTIL.

39. German pronoun: ICH.  In 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave a speech in West Berlin, in which he spoke the famous words, "Ich bin ein Berliner" or "I am a Berliner."  It was an anti-communist speech delivered at the height of the Cold War.

42. Arboreal marsupial: KOALA.

43. Kin of equi-: ISO.  Equi- and iso- are prefixes meaning equal or same.

44. Oft-pierced body part: EARLOBE.

47. __-fi: SCI.

48. "The Idol" star Lily-Rose: DEPP.  Lily-Rose Depp is the daughter of American actor Johnny Depp and French singer/model/actress Vanessa Paradis.  She starred in the HBO television drama series The Idol and in the 2024 film Nosferatu.  If you solved Marc Goldstein's puzzle in the LA Times this past Sunday, you've met her already.

Lily-Rose Depp

50. Bread: MOOLA.  Both are slang for money.

51. Comics icon Lee: STAN.  Stan Lee wrote and published comic books, and helped create Spider Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, and others.

52. "What __ can I do?": ELSE.

53. Like some monologues: INNER.

54. Pom sounds: YAPS.  Pomeranian dog -- a miniaturized German Spitz.

Pomeranian

55. [Theme clue -- the big reveal.]

58. Home for lanternfish: DEEP SEA.  Lanternfish may account for 65% of all deep-sea fish biomass.  They use bioluminescence to emit pale blue, green, or yellow light.  Most are less than 6 inches long.

Lanternfish

60. Broadcast hour: AIR TIME.

63. How a detective might work: ON A LEAD.

64. Drew back: RECEDED.

65. Motive for a cover-up?: MODESTY.  A bathing suit cover-up will get a woman from the hotel room to the beach or pool without feeling like she is walking around in her underwear.  Depending on the style, it may also offer some protection from sunburn.

Cover-up at the shore

66. Genre portmanteau: DRAMEDY.  A portmanteau blends the sounds and meanings of two words.  In this case, two entertainment genres are blended:  drama and comedy.

Down:

1. Like chiffon: SHEER.  Originally a French fabric made of silk, chiffon is now mass produced with synthetic fibers.

2. Swarm: HORDE.

3. Land: END UP.  "Land" can be a verb meaning "end up" or "arrive at a final place or situation."  For instance, they landed in a real mess -- or better -- they landed in paradise.

4. Hustle and bustle: ADO.

5. [Theme clue]

6. "The Hunger Games: The __ of Songbirds & Snakes": BALLAD.  If you know, you know -- or you make a good guess based on perpendicular entries.

7. Scrape covered by a Welly Bravery Bandage, e.g.: OWIE.

8. Itty-bitty: TEENSY.

9. [Theme clue]

10. Spanish "here": ACÁ.  The Spanish words "aquí" and "acá" have almost the same meaning.  Aqui is right here, next to me, and acá is in my general vicinity.  Lucina, any additional notes?

11. Create ribbons: SHRED.

12. Rome's __ Fountain: TREVI.

13. Accord, for one: SEDAN.  Same clue as for 14-Across, but with a different answer.  That makes this a clecho, or clue echo.

22. "Gangsta Rap" rapper: ICE T.  Yes, the same Ice T you know and love as NYPD detective/sergeant Odafin Tutuola on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

23. Partly removable roof: T-TOP.

26. Reinhart of "Riverdale": LILI.  Lili Reinhart is an up and coming actress known for her roles in the teen drama series Riverdale, the crime film Hustlers, and the romantic drama Chemical Hearts.  Look for her in next year's horror film, Forbidden Fruits.  Or so I read.

28. Taboo: NO NO.

31. Manual: GUIDE.

32. Adams who photographed 36-Down: ANSEL.  Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was a landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West.

Ansel Adams circa 1950

33. Freezes: STOPS DEAD.

35. Put out of one's mind: CAST ASIDE.

36. Yosemite summit, informally: EL CAP.  An Ansel Adams photograph of El Capitan:

El Capitan, Sunrise, Yosemite National Park

37. Falls from the sky: RAINS.

39. Thatcherism creator, familiarly: IRON LADY.  Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.  She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the position.  As prime minister, she implemented economic reforms that came to be known as Thatcherism.  A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady," a reference to her leadership style.

Margaret Thatcher

40. [Theme clue]

41. Undisclosed advantage: HOLE CARD.  Per Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, a HOLE CARD is:

1 : a card in stud poker that is properly dealt facedown and that the holder need not expose before the showdown

2 : something (such as a reliable advantage) that is held in reserve especially for use at a strategic moment

45. "Stick a fork in me!": AM I BEAT.  The saying goes, "Stick a fork in me, I'm done!"  It means that the speaker is exhausted.  I imagine this comes from cooking, where we stick a fork into a potato or other food item to test for doneness.

46. Obstacle: BARRIER.

49. Third word of the Constitution: PEOPLE.  "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

51. Buddy __: SYSTEM.

56. Exploits: USES.

57. Largest member of the dolphin family: ORCA.

58. __ Pérignon: DOM.

59. Musician Brian who used a Mac to compose "The Microsoft Sound": ENO.  Brian ENO and Yoko ONO are our favorite musicians in the Crossword Corner.  

61. Rx order: MED.  Prescription order : medication.

62. Big name in ice cream: EDY.

The grid again, because I'm used to putting it here:

Solvers, did you END UP with the correct entries in the grid?

Or did you encounter a TEENSY problem along the way?

Inquiring minds want to know.  Please comment!

-- NaomiZ

Monday October 7, 2024 Ilana Levene

  

Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. Congratulations are in order for today's constructor on her LA Times debut! Way to go, Ilana Levene!!

Theme:  

20 Across. Chicago's Italian beef, for one: STEAKSANDWICH.  more info.  

Did anyone else think "vendetta"?

34 Across. Pronouns on a towel set, in some families: HIS AND HERS.  

41 Across. La Jolla sch. with a top-ranked surf team: UC SAN DIEGO.

University of California, San Diego is one of ten campuses in the UC system. The other nine locations are Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Berkeley was founded in 1868, making it the oldest on the list. Merced is the youngest (2005). 

Next the reveal:

55 Across. Metaphor for constant, unpredictable change, or the pattern made by this puzzle's circles: SHIFTING SANDS.

Looking at the grid, we see that the word SAND  SHIFTs from top-center to right-of-center to left-of-center to more-right-of-center. One can imagine sand flowing downward through the grid.

I like how the letters S, A, N, and D span across two words in two of Ilana's themers.

Across:

1. Feature of most debit cards: CHIP.  I needed a perp or two to narrow this one down.  

5. Missing sections: GAPS.  

9. Flower in a chain: DAISY.  There are four dogs in my neighborhood named DAISY -- a Bichon, a Jack Russel, a Basset Hound, and a mix.  

Left: a flower DAISY chain
Center:  The line of blue straps on the backpack is also called a "DAISY chain".
Right:  Backpack DAISY chains are good for attaching carabiners.

14. Sitarist Shankar: RAVI.  RAVI is one of four crossword regulars in today's puzzle. We also have:

• 16 Across. Heroic knight of medieval Spain: EL CID.  Read about him here.
• 27 Across. New Yorker who's the youngest woman to serve in Congress, familiarly: AOC.
• 31 Across. Human rights lawyer Clooney: AMAL.
  

15. Norwegian capital: OSLO.  

17. Newspaper opinion piece: EDITORIAL.

19. Appearances: MIENS.  MIEN is a somewhat literary term that refers to a person's appearance and behavior toward others. It shares its etymology with the word demeanor.

22. Distress call: SOS.  

23. Staple __: upholsterer's tool: GUN.

24. Timeworn: AGE-OLD.  Def:  having existed for ages; ancient.  

28. Curly coif: AFRO.

30. __ Mahal: TAJ.  Sometimes we need to know that the Taj Mahal is located in Agra, India.

37. "Can't you get anyone else?": MUST I.     and     18 Down. "Take it away!": OK GO.     and     35 Down. "Sign me up!": I'M IN.

39. Early web portal: MSN.  Microsoft Network was launched in 1995.

40. Figure out: SOLVE.  

44. Exam for jrs.: PSAT.  Basically, it is a 'practice' version of the SAT for high school juniors.

45. Feminine pronoun: SHE.

46. Penny: CENT.

47. Driver's one-eighty: U-IE.  informal for U-turn 

49. West Coast nabe known for Chicano culture: EAST LA.  This yale.edu website is about the Chicano culture.

51. Addams cousin: ITT.  

52. Informal promise of payment: IOU.  

59. Sing a lullaby, perhaps: CROON.  

Jack Johnson with Matt Costa sing Lullaby.

Curious George soundtrack (2006)

61. House key that can be memorized: ENTRY CODE.  

These are pretty handy ... and easy to install.

62. Language of runes: NORSE.  

63. Land unit: ACRE.

64. Ballpark level: TIER.

65. "Rudolph the Red-__ Reindeer": NOSED.  A couple of weeks ago waseeley gave us Burl Ives singing Riders in the Sky. Today Burl CROONs his signature song...plus a cute cartoon.  

66. Demonstrate: SHOW.  

"Evince" is a later-in-the-week clue.

67. Some 35mm cameras: SLRS.  I know this from doing crosswords.

Down:

1. Easy-to-grow herb in the mustard family: CRESS.  

It is peppery tasting. Try it in a 4-Down with hummus.

2. "You __ be there": HAD TO.  

3. Wall-climbing vines: IVIES.  

4. Bread often cut into triangles: PITA.  

5. Neil who has been a Supreme Court justice since 2017: GORSUCH.  He was born in Denver, CO in 1967.

6. From Japan, e.g.: ASIAN.  There are 48 countries and three territories in Asia.

7. Think ahead: PLAN.  

8. Gavel banger's word: SOLD.

9. Beings who are part deity, part human: DEMIGODS.  Def. a mythological being with more power than a mortal but less than a god.

10. Jazz great Coltrane: ALICE.  (1937-2007) Alice Coltrane was an American Jazz musician. She was an accomplished pianist and harpist. This is Alice playing harp in Lovely Sky Boat on her first solo album, A Monastic Trio, released in 1968.  

11. Businesses that face liquidation every year?: ICE HOTELS.  If the ICE melts it will liquify. (har, har, har)

12. Transgression: SIN.

13. Gridiron distances: Abbr.: YDS.  "Gridiron" is a nickname for a football field.  

the backstory

21. Caution: WARN.  "Caution" is a verb here.

25. Butterfly stage: LARVA.  

Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed plants.
People can help by planting them in their yards.  more info. on what to plant

26. Dance party mix: DJ SET.  I doubt any DJ SET ever included Jack Johnson, Burl Ives, and Alice Coltrane.

27. Utah ski resort: ALTA.  

28. Valuable item: ASSET.  In business, ASSETs can be tangible, e.g., land, equipment, and buildings or intangible, e.g., reputation, goodwill, and brand awareness.

29. Rattlesnake tooth: FANG.

31. Entertain: AMUSE.

32. Very, in Spanish: MUCHA.  MUCHA is used to modify singular, feminine words.  

33. Property tax calculators: ASSESSORS.  A local tax ASSESSOR's primary responsibility is to annually determine the proper taxable value for each property so the owner is assured of paying the correct amount of property tax for the support of local government. In some places this position is call the 'county appraiser'. Their selection process varies by state with some officials elected by the public and other officials appointed by county government.

36. Optimistic feeling: HOPE.

38. In the mood: INCLINED.  

42. Like many Gallaudet students: DEAF.  Gallaudet University is a private, federally chartered university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children.

43. Got too big for: OUTGREW.

48. "The __-bitsy spider ... ": ITSY.  It is basically a nursery rhyme version of the myth of Sisyphus.

50. The ones over there: THOSE.

51. Opening words: INTRO.  I wanted it to be "sesame".

INTRO can be a noun that means "introduction" or it can be a prefix.

52. How smoked oysters may be packed: IN OIL.  

53. More weird: ODDER.

54. Operators: USERS.  Think "computers".

56. Bigelow products: TEAS.

57. Fraction of a foot: INCH.

58. Plays a role: ACTS.  This one is a theater clue. I miss Ol' Man Keith and his diagonals.

59. "This Morning With Kasie Hunt" channel: CNN.  

She was born Kasie Sue Hunt in Dearborn, MI in 1985.

60. Joey of kid-lit: ROO.  A joey is a baby kangaroo. This clue makes use of the capitalize-the-first-letter convention to misdirect us towards a possible human character from children's literature.  

Winnie, Roo, and Tigger, too!

Alas, all the SAND has run out of the hourglass. Have a great week, everyone!