Wednesday, Oct 29th, 2025 ~ Sheri Steinmetz & Katie Hale

 THYME OUT

This one needed to go back to the drawing board.  Not to discredit the co-authors, but the puzzle, at best, is clunky, with a mediocre theme, too many names, and egregious fill - and that's on the editor.  YMMV, but fills like 5 and 53D., with names not only at 1D. - Chairman Moe mentioned certain editors will not allow abbrs to start, and I agree - but also as theme answers ( even if I know two-thirds of them ) makes this grid lose lustre . . . Congratulations to Sheri, as this looks to be her debut, and Katie has constructed and co-authored several crosswords for the LA Times, "et al."; I do hope to see more collaborations.  Standard grid, only 13 3LWs - all the "worst" ones - and an oversampling of  'generic' crossword fill - but hey, no circles~!  The themers and the reveal;

20. Winner of the first Olympic gold medal in men's snowboard slopestyle: SAGE KOTSENBURG - name #1 - really vague - more here

34. "White Christmas" co-star: ROSEMARY CLOONEY - name #2

43. "Peanuts" character with a tendency to sleep through class: PEPPERMINT PATTY - name #3

58. Shampoo brand that claims to be "plant obsessed," and what 20-, 34-, and 43-Across all have: HERBAL ESSENCES

* -  I see that there's a new analytic on the XWord Info page that tracks "Grid Flow", created at a site called Crosserville.  There is a mathematical algorithm involved, and so far, the highest flow recorded has been 219.2, and the median 31.8 - turns out that Friday and Saturday crosswords show higher flow #s; I'm gonna keep an eye on this moving forward.  Today's grid~?  20.0

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. Dreary: DRAB - this definitely describes my feelings about this puzzle

5. Shock: JOLT - when I filled in 53D., I certainly got a shock - I mean, really~?

9. Improvises vocally: SCATS

14. Currency in 20 countries: EURO

15. Desire: URGE

16. Like days long ago: OLDEN

17. Has-__: BEEN - hmmm . . . filled via perps

18. Cornhusker st.: NEBRaska - HuskerG nailed this one; abbr, geo name #1 - and meh.

19. McDonald of "The Gilded Age": AUDRA - name #4 in the Hahtoolah Convention -her IMDb

23. Not even: ODD

24. Pilot's approx.: ETD - Estimated Time of Departure, crossword "alt" staple to ETA

25. Dads: PAs - yes, but semi-meh.

26. __-la-la: TRA - crossword staple . . . . sheesh

29. Problem in one's pants or pantry: ANTS - "ants in your pants" = nervous, twitchy, "antsy"

32. Burro: ASS

40. Where to see the big picture?: IMAX

41. "Rudy" coach Parseghian: ARA - I screwed up and went with ARI - name #5

42. Erté's style: DECO - I like Art Deco; since the skyscraper was born in that ERA, we still see it's influnce 100 years later - I would get me this book

48. Soccer fan's "Bravo!": OLÉ - oh yay, more generic answers~!

49. Tennis great Arthur: ASHE - name #6, even if it's a crossword staple

50. Michigan's __ Locks: SOO - Joins the Great Lakes Superior and Huron - geo name #2

And there's another crossword staple in there - Sault STE Marie

51. Wee: SMA - meh. 

54. Rocket ending: EER - RocketEER - semi-meh, in terms of fill

56. Speed Wagon automaker: REO - this one is getting as boring as ERA and ATM

64. Like sun bears and pandas: ASIAN - Naomi showed us a sun bear in this BUNS puzzle

65. __-Seltzer: ALKA

66. California roll ingredient: CRAB - I am east coast; this was a WAG from perps

And I don't care for sushi, either, but crab is good

68. Italian soccer great Maldini: PAOLO - name #7 - if you want to know more

69. __-back: LAID

70. Like a fairy tale duckling: UGLY

71. Fragrant compound: ESTER

72. Postseason honorees, briefly: MVPs - at the time of this write-up, the World Series was 1 - 1; I'm rooting for Toronto, because their NHL Maple Leafs are playoff confounders

73. Memorization technique: ROTE

DOWN:

1. Food blogger Perelman: DEB - name #8

2. Feels bad about: RUES - I feel bad about my review, but I'm being honest

3. Geometric calculation: AREA

4. Salsa hand drum: BONGO - or CONGA~?

More Here

5. Outdated term for noncoding genetic material: JUNK DNA - Maybe it's a great fill, but as a theme crossing, as part of a name, on a Wednesday, it's meh.  Everything you ever wanted to know

6. Cookie with many specialty flavors: OREO - yet another crossword trope

7. Pride Month letters: LGBT

8. Not wordy: TERSE - I thought this read "worLdly" - so I was thinking CLERGY - Bzzzt~!

9. Scoundrel: SO AND SO - I do not see these as the same; "so-and-so" to me is someone anonymous, or that person whose name you cannot remember - at least that's how my mother used it

10. Country __: CLUB

11. Tally: ADD UP

12. __ firma: TERRA

13. Glitches: SNAGS - Tragedy~!  A travesty~!  For shame~!

Chairman paid a fine for breech of contract last Friday

21. Red-coated cheese: EDAM

22. List ender: ET AL. - abbr, Latin for "and others"

26. Klutz's move, perhaps: TRIP

27. "Ben-Hur" setting: ROME - even if I know this, it's geo name #3

28. "Hurry!" letters: A.S.A.P. - As Soon As Possible - and it's not the same as "hurry~!"

30. Peak transport: TRAM - I had T-bar, as in a ski lift to the peak

31. Lebanon neighbor: SYRIA - geo name #4

33. Bubbly beverage: SODA - good WAG; could have been COLA

35. Convention center event: EXPO - I have attended the Toy Fair in NYC twice

The Javits Center in Lego, from 2017

36. Tuna holders: CANS - NETS is next; my ARI at 41A. left the "I" in, so I did not get my ta-DA~!

37. Brooklyn B-ballers: NETS - B-ballers are basketball players, even tho Baseball could work as well; and they're name(ish)

38. Start for -derm or -plasm: ECTO - These guys knew all about Ectoplasm

"That's great Ray - save some for me~!" Ghostbusters

39. Toy on a string: YO-YO

44. "__ Rigby": ELEANOR - name #9 - and I spelled it wrong, too

45. Rod's partner: REEL - CONE worked, if we were talking eyes, as in Sunday's puzzle

46. Duds: THREADS - CLOTHES fit too, but Bzzzt

47. Hammer head: PEEN

51. Rhombus, e.g.: SHAPE - ah.  Here's the actual 'classification' of four-sided polygons:

We had "kite" on Monday

52. Southwestern flattops: MESAS

53. Eliciting many laughs: A RIOT - Cringe.  Even if you claimed to parse this as "the place was ariot with laughter" it still doesn't work, and sounds "meh" at best

55. Domain: REALM

57. Happen: OCCUR

59. Packed hay: BALE

60. Many an Eastern European: SLAV

61. YouTube ad option: SKIP - And I do this ASAP - now that's how to clue it~!

62. Therefore: ERGO

63. Shaker filling: SALT - Who's looking for their lost shaker of salt~?

 I thought the third verse line was "and soon a Veranda" - hey, it makes sense . . . 

67. "Toodles!": BYE

adieu to you, and you, "meh."

Splynter

Monday September 1, 2025 Lynn K. Watson and Katie Hale

  

Happy Labor Day, everyone! sumdaze here. Today's puzzle is a Lynn K. Watson and Katie Hale collaboration. This is Lynn's fourth LAT puzzle and her first collaboration with Katie, whom we know as the assistant crossword editor for the LAT. 

Theme:        CSO to C.C.  

An early peek at the grid explains it all:  

17 Across. *Grinning creature in Wonderland: CHESHIRE CAT.  

I bought this Coffee Cup the last time I visited Disneyland.
It is oversized so I use it for soup.

29 Across. *Only "Friends" star never nominated for an Emmy during the show's run: COURTENEY COX.  I did not realize she spelled her name that way.

She might not have won and Emmy but she did get a star. 

Courteney with co-stars Jennifer (l.) and Lisa (r.) in Feb. 2023
at Cox's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony

48 Across. *Gingerbread shaper: COOKIE CUTTER.  This answer is a noun so no hyphen is needed. On the other hand, when used as an adjective as in "COOKIE-CUTTER houses", Merriam-Webster calls for a hyphen.  

65 Across. *"A Chorus Line" event: CASTING CALL.  A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater. It follows 17 dancers auditioning for spots.

The reveal is the last Across clue:

73 Across. "Oui! Oui!" in Oaxaca, and a phonetic description of the answers to the starred clues: SÍ! SÍ!.  

A French "Yes! Yes!" becomes a Spanish "SÍ! SÍ!" in Oaxaca, Mexico.  

The reveal tells us that each of the four starred clues is a two-word answer where both words begin with the letter C. Note that it specifies, "a phonetic description". Works for me! 

This is the cover of the 10th studio album by the British band, Madness (2012).
Ska fans can click here for a 4 min. video
about how the album was named plus more background.

Next we will look at the other Crossword Clues:

Across:

1. Life line location: PALM.  Coincidentally, last Wednesday's 1-A was PALMS.

Scientists call the lines on our PALM palmar flexion creases. They begin to form around the 12th week of gestation. They help the skin in our hands squeeze and stretch. 

5. Touches on an edge: ABUTS.  The two U.S. states with the most shared borders are Tennessee and Missouri. They each ABUT eight other states, including each other, sometimes leading to a Cultural Clash.  

10. Outfit for a lazy day at home, for short: PJS.

13. Chemistry test subject?: ACID.  I liked this play on ACID test.

14. Tropical verandas: LANAIS.     and     28-Across. Tropical garland: LEI.

16. Weeding tool: HOE.  Using one might turn up a Creepy Crawler.

19. Monogram on a Libre perfume bottle: YSL.  I was not familiar with this perfume but this monogram shows up frequently in crossword puzzles so I gave it a try.

20. Japanese pond fish: KOI.  6 Interesting Facts about KOI fish on PetMD

21. James of jazz: ETTA.

22. Tiny bit: MORSEL.  Did you ever notice the bag says MORSELs, not "chips"?  

Chocolate Chips

24. Whale locator: SONAR.  Captains use SONAR to locate whales for whale watching trips.  

26. "Uh ... ": ERM ....  a Communication Crisis???

34. Eases off: ABATES.

37. Half a laugh: HEE.

38. "Big Blue" tech co.: IBM.  This clue is a bit too close to 67-Down.

39. Classic Battleship game piece: CRUISER.  

41. "You look just like me!": TWINSIE.  

44. Dah's partner: DIT.  This clue refers to Morse Code. When expressed as sounds or light, they are DITs and dahs but are written as a series of dots and dashes. The duration of a dah is three times the duration of a DIT.  

45. Queen guitarist Brian: MAY.  Sir Brian Harold May was born July 19, 1947.  

Queen   ~   Keep Yourself Alive  ~   1973

(May is playing on stage left.)

<BTW, this video is brought to you through a Creative Commons license.>

47. Strong blackjack hand: ACE-TEN.  

10 + 11 = 21

52. Golfer's goal: PAR.  an admirable alliterative allusion

53. __-friendly: ECO.  

54. Monopoly surface: BOARD.

58. Zigzag on skis: SLALOM.

61. "Lonely Boy" singer Paul: ANKA.  He also composed Johnny's Theme, the theme song for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.  

63. Member of a slapstick trio: MOE.  a CSO to C-Moe!  

inspirations for many a Class Clown

64. Part of mpg: PER.  Miles PER Gallon

68. Have breakfast: EAT.  

69. Hand-to-hand combat style: KARATE.

70. Texter's "Or ... ": OTOH.  On The Other Hand ...  

Or, as they say in the KARATE dojo, OTOH2H.

71. Items in jewel cases: CDS.  Here we have a case of intentional misdirection. The plastic cases that CDs come in are called jewel cases or sometimes jewel boxes.  

If you put it in the fridge, you will have a Cold Case. (ba dum tss!)

72. Muscle-bone connector: SINEW.

Down:

1. Prepares for a trip: PACKS.  

2. Sneeze sound: ACHOO.

3. Hit snooze, perhaps: LIE IN.  

4. Health care pros: MDS.  An abbreviated clue hints at an abbreviated answer.

5. Fluttered down to a perch, say: ALIT.

6. Negotiate a trade: BARTER.

7. Dig up: UNEARTH.  

8. Tic __: mint brand: TAC.  Do you remember these commercials telling us that one Tic Tac had only two calories? It was a Madison Ave. miss. I always wondered:  (1.) They are so tiny, what do you expect? (2.) Who eats just one? and (3.) Are people concerned about gaining weight from breath mints?

9. "The King and I" kingdom: SIAM.  This story takes place in Siam during the early 1860s. Siam first changed its name to Thailand on June 5, 1939, changed it back in 1945, then became Thailand permanently on May 11, 1949.

10. Stephen Hawking, for one: PHYSICIST.  Stephen William Hawking (1942 - 2018) wrote A Brief History of Time. It was on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks.

11. "Feliz Navidad" singer Feliciano: JOSÉ.  José will turn 80 years old in nine days. Feliz cumpleaños, José!

12. Put on the market: SELL.  

15. Winter wrap: STOLE.  

I bought one of these with my Credit Card but someone STOLE it.

18. Epic protagonists: HEROES.

23. "Video Games" singer Lana Del __: REY.

25. Start of a play: ACT I.

27. "Nice to __ you": MEET.  

30. "I can help": USE ME.

31. Starting to learn: NEW AT.  It could not be "NEW to" because "to" is in the clue.

32. Theater award: OBIE.  Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards bestowed by The Village Voice newspaper for certain productions in New York City.

33. Marvel Comics mutants: X-MEN.  

The Caped Crusader (Batman) is in a different universe.

34. Band with a thunderbolt in its logo: AC⚡DC.

35. Pizzazz: BRIO.  Def.:  (noun) enthusiastic vigor; vivacity, verve.

36. Spark plugs, wiper blades, etc.: AUTO PARTS.  👍👍

40. The Indy 500, e.g.: RACE.

42. Swelling reducer: ICE BAG.  In movies, they use a bag of frozen peas.  

43. Wolfe of detective fiction: NERO.

46. Mexican peninsula: YUCATAN.  

49. "House" actor Penn: KAL.  his IMDb page

50. Self-congratulatory cheer: I ROCK.

51. This evening, in ads: TONITE.  

55. Valued violin: AMATI.

56. Candies that resemble lampshades: ROLOS.  Lampshades and ROLOS have the shape of a conical frustum (also called a truncated cone).

(Click to enlarge.)

57. Indian metropolis: DELHI.  The weather forecast for Delhi today is 84°F/76°F (28.8°C/24.4°C) with periods of rain.

58. On __: without a contract: SPEC.

59. Main role: LEAD.  think "theater"

60. Barnyard bleats: MAAS.  

These goats are helping to clear potentially flammable brush.
I was fortunate to see similar working goats on my bike ride last Thursday,
 along with two Great Pyrenees dogs!
Their mouths were too full to say MAA.

62. More than guessed: KNEW.

66. __ Lanka: SRI.  Colombo, Sri Lanka is 1,490 mi. (2,398 km.), as the plane flies, from Delhi, India.

67. Businesses: Abbr.: COS.  Companies (Some, like IBM, are Cash Cows.)

We had a bit of a theater mini-theme with CASTING CALL, ACT I, OBIE, and LEAD so I will add some Closing Credits.  

I hope this puzzle is now Crystal Clear! Thank you for visiting the Crossword Corner!

Friday August 22, 2025 Brian Keller and Katie Hale

Phew! I just got Chairman Moe squared away, and now Malodorous Manatee is taking a few Fridays off. I'd better oil the RustyBrain, this could take awhile.

Brian Keller is an up-and-coming constructor who has paired with Katie Hale, a freelance crossword editor who moved to London so she could learn proper English.

20. Diamonds can cut glass, corundum can scratch most other minerals, et al.?: COOL HARD FACTS. I wanted COLD HARD FACTS for the longest time, which lead to 4D = SEA-something (like SEA-worthy?) and messed up the entire NW corner. The reason I wanted COLD HARD FACTS is it's a common expression, while COOL HARD FACTS is just a rather odd phrase.

34. Director's guidance to be more affable?: PLAY IT WARM. Got PLAY IT WARM quickly from perps, but again it's an odd phrase, while PLAY IT COOL is a very common expression. 

41. Stuffed animals that go viral?: HOT FUZZIES. Here we go again. The expression is WARM FUZZIES not HOT FUZZIES. At this point, I was looking to swap temperatures between these answers. Take COOL from the first one to replace WARM in the second, then take WARM and move it down to third to replace HOT. Then move HOT to...? And I got lost going down a rabbit hole.

55. Increase pressure, or an apt title for this puzzle?: TURN UP THE HEAT. The themers progressively increase in temperature: COOL → WARM → HOT. In my fantasy revision, the progression would be: COLD → COOL → WARM which would make all the answers real phrases. But I guess "Some Like it Hot" (a must-see comedy classic!).

Across:

1. Signal and Line: APPS. Signal and Line are both messaging APPS (applications) for mobile phones. Signal was in the news recently because of it's improper use by the presidential staff.

5. Is into: DIGS. "I dig your new DIGS!" 

9. Espresso or cappuccino, to Italians: CAFFE. Those Italians! It's like they have a different word for everything.

14. King's address: SIRE. 

15. Lot of land: ACRE.

16. Group calling strikes: UNION. Umpires also call strikes and are part of a UNION - the MLBUA (Major League Baseball Umpires Association). I betcha C.C. knew that.

17. Heartfelt request: PLEA. 

18. Plane section: TAIL. Plane sections are also common in geometry. In anatomy, the horizontal section is the "transverse plane."

19. Clichéd: TIRED. I'm sick and clichéd of this.

20. [theme]

23. Contented: AT PEACE.

24. Blanketed: COATED. I grew up in Williamsburg, Va. The occasional blanket of snow transformed the colonial area.

27. Crime lab evidence: DNA. DeoxyriboNucleic Acid - you can tell that I'm fun at parties.

28. Some Kellogg grads: MBAS. The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is named after the inventor of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, due to hefty endowments from his son. My first son, when he was little, asked for "chicken cereal." Took us a while to figure it out.

30. "Breaking Bad" org.: DEA. Drug Enforcement Administration - the name sounds like they’re federally sanctioned drug dealers.

31. Quadri- doubled: OCTO.

34. [theme]

37. Staff leaders: CLEFS. We're all familiar with the treble and bass clef symbols, but that alto clef is just plain weird.

39. Colonial insect: ANT. Frequent visitors to Colonial Williamsburg. Uncles, too.

40. Take root: SET IN.

41. [theme]

44. Bottom of the barrel stuff: LEES. 

45. Brink: EVE. Brink seemed to be an odd clue for EVE until I thought of "brink of collapse," meaning something imminent. Suitable for a Friday.

46. Votes of no confidence: NAYS.

47. "The __ and the Pussycat": OWL. "The OWL and the Pussy-Cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870. In it, he made up a "runcible spoon," now commonly called a spork.

49. Listing agent's field: REALTY.

51. Baja breaks: SIESTAS. 

55. [theme]

58. Fast Amtrak train: ACELA. Although pretty slow compared to other nation's trains.

60. Euphoric feeling: GLEE.

61. Org. concerned with ergonomics: OSHA. The ever popular Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

62. Suddenly took interest: SAT UP.

63. Moon goddess: LUNA. The Roman goddess was often depicted with a crescent moon on her head. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, Sol, those aren't horns!"

64. Designer Cassini: OLEG.

65. Book maker: PRESS. Here's a book made for me by an old friend in Williamsburg's bookbinders shop (he needed the practice). The PRESS, however, was in the print shop. Pages were printed, then delivered for binding. Creating the marbled endpapers was yet another craft.

66. Dr. Frankenstein's assistant: IGOR. "It's pronounced eye-gore."

67. Tiny bits: TADS.

Down:

1. Pet welfare org.: ASPCA. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - but you already knew that.

2. Series opener?: PILOT. "What's our vector, Victor?" This one wasn't series-ous. (Hey, they all can't be good!)

3. Scrub-up stop: PRE-OP. I found this one hard to parse, especially with my COLD error.

4. Leakproof: SEALED OFF. And this one, too, for the same reason.

5. Fixed point in a mobile contract: DATA CAP. America OnLine, who is discontinuing its dial-up service soon (wait, they still have it?), once sent out promotional CDs offering 10 hours of free service! At 56 kilobits per second, you could download about two minutes of high-def video before hitting the DATA CAP. An entire movie in standard def would take several days!

6. "My thoughts are with you": I CARE. 

7. Calendar page, maybe: GRID.

8. __-control: SELF. 

9. Save on spending: CUT COSTS.

10. Singer Baker: ANITA. ANITA Baker is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter known for her soulful ballads and three-octave vocal range.

11. What one might Bumble into?: FIRST DATE. Fun clue. Hopefully, they've heard the "birds and the bees" lecture already. 

12. Cheetah, to Wonder Woman: FOE.

13. Wrap up: END.

21. Kylo's father: HAN. HAN Solo. In the Star Wars universe, Kylo Ren's real name is Ben Solo. I guess that's true, but it's like finding out Yoda's real name is Joe.

22. Berry in a yogurt bowl: ACAI. After years as a common crossword clue, I thought you'd might like to see some. ACAI berries are about the size of grapes and nutritionally similar to blueberries.

25. Uncanny: EERIE.

26. Consigns to hell: DAMNS. Confines to hall: DORMS.

28. Buffing and painting services: MANIS. I don't know about my nails, but my car could sure use the help.

29. Tera- finisher: BYTE.

31. Shade in the desert: OCHER. I'm always on the lookout for a twisted clue, especially at the end of the week, so I wasn't fooled into thinking oasis.

32. Orange studder, at Christmas: CLOVE. CLOVE oranges, also known as pomanders, release a pleasant, spicy scent as the fruit dries. I remember these festive holiday decorations from my youth in Williamsburg.

33. Private meeting: TETE-A-TETE.

35. Averse to work: LAZY. I know I should finish up my crossword review, but first I think I'll sit back in my La-Z-Boy and watch the late... night... mooovie... zzzz...

36. "Gosh darn it": WELL SHOOT. 

38. South-facing gardens, maybe: SUNTRAPS. New to me. A SUNTRAP is a location, often in a garden or outdoor space, that is strategically designed to capture and retain sunlight beneficial for plants.

42. "Pillowtalk" singer: ZAYN. ZAYN Malik is an English singer-songwriter who went solo after a successful career as part of the five-piece boy band One Direction. Yes, this is him as a child (tats added later - I hope).

43. "Rumor has it": SO I HEAR. Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" was released nearly 50 (!) years ago. I'm getting old...

48. Teeny-tiny: WEE.

50. Humdingers: LULUS. 

51. Dictation taker: STENO.

52. Physicist Nikola: TESLA. Few people know that he invented the TESLA coil while working as a "special effects" tech in early horror films. Well, that's what IGOR told me, anyway. 

53. Reacted to a laser show, perhaps: AAHED. Ooh, AAHED is bad.

54. Bambi and others: STAGS. STAGS usually refer to mature male deer, so including a fawn or young buck like Bambi is a stretch.

56. Knobbly citrus: UGLI.

57. Socket filler: PLUG.

58. Egyptian viper: ASP.

59. Token in The Game of Life: CAR. When Monopoly first replaced the flat iron with a cat in 2013, I was mad they didn't nix the thimble instead. Every other token was a miniature version of something, but the thimble was virtually life-size so should be the odd man out. Also, if lost, it could easily be replaced by a real one. 

End of rant.