Thursday January 8, 2026 Laura Dershewitz

Laura Dershewitz has published several children's books but is a relative newcomer to the crossword game. I believe this is only her second solo puzzle in the LAT.

This theme is rather dense (or I am!). It took a paragraph to explain it and it still wasn't clear to me. In the end, I think this is just a list of kinds of SPACEs, and the THIRD one happens to be in the position foretold by the revealer. Any of them could have landed in that slot and made no difference. I tried to sequence them into some sort of "series," but that was a red herring.

56. Gathering place that's neither work nor home, or an apt description of 36-Across in the series that includes 17-, 24-, and 46-Across: THIRD SPACE. A THIRD SPACE (or Third Place) refers to social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home (first place) and work (second place), such as churches, clubs and gyms. It's often the one that you choose to belong to with people who share your interests, fostering civic life.

17. Leeway: WIGGLE ROOM. → Extra SPACE. This gives one the flexibility to deviate from a plan and make adjustments or allow for errors.

24. Hard-to-find opening on street-sweeping days: PARKING SPOT. → Parking SPACE. A little different from the others as it can only be described by using the same word as in the clue.

36. Low Earth orbit, for one: SATELLITE LOCALE. → Outer SPACE. This is also the THIRD themer about SPACE per the revealer.

46. Period of quiet reflection: TIME TO THINK. → Head SPACE. A person's current emotional state, often implying a need to eliminate mental clutter to process thoughts.

Pretty easy for a Thursday, with lots of short fill and many abbreviations (!) necessitated by the five themers. But I liked learning about the social construct of a THIRD SPACE, so that's a plus.

And now, off to the wide open SPACES:

Across:

1. Some pricey insulated mugs: YETIS. These are very good, but are they that much better than other steel double-walled insulated coffee mugs available at half the price?

6. Juicer byproduct: PULP. 

10. Keeps posted privately: BCCS. Abbrev. #1. Blind Carbon CopieS on emails. 

14. Buzz word?: APIAN. APIAN is an adjective meaning relating to bees. Buzzy bees!

15. Potatoes, in Indian cuisine: ALOO. ALOO is becoming the "Oreo" of contemporary xwords.

16. "No way, no how!": UH-UH. The opposite of UH-HUH.

17. [theme]

19. Title fit for a king: SIRE. Title fit for King: B.B. (aka the Beale Street Blues Boy).

20. Possible title for a B-school grad: CEO. Abbrev. #2. Chief Executive Officers often graduate from Business schools, then suddenly are worth hundreds of times more than the COGs who work there.

21. Cam button: REC. Abbrev. #3. RECord button on a video camera. 

22. Spine-tingling: EERIE. This one is very strange...

23. Hair of the dog?: FUR. Fun clue!

24. [theme]

27. Tickling targets: ARMPITS. ...and there's something funny about this one.

29. Small part of a machine: COG. In 1962, The Jetsons envisioned a future where we all work for a few very wealthy people. Prophetic. 

30. Grease again: REOIL. Odd looking word that isn't used much.

31. Part of WYSIWYG: SEE. This abbreviation is only in the clue, so it gets a pass. Pronounced wizzy-wig, the acronym for "What You SEE Is What You Get" originated with software whose displayed image closely resembled its final user appearance.

32. Graceful waterbird: SWAN.

36. [theme]

40. With sharp resolution: IN HD. Abbrev. #4. IN High Definition.

41. Seer's gift: ESP. Abbrev. #5. ExtraSensory Perception, often called the "sixth sense."

42. Actress Berry: HALLE. HALLE Berry won the Oscar for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in Monster's Ball, making her the first and, to date, only Black woman to ever receive this award.

43. __ Arbor, Michigan: ANN. ANN Arbor is home to the massive (50K+) University of Michigan, the 9th largest university in the U.S.

44. Troublemaker's opposite: GOOD KID. Like my boys, the little angels.

46. [theme]

51. Western treaty gp.: OAS. Abbrev. #6. The Organization of American States is a group of 34 member countries from North, Central, and South America.

52. Project on stage: EMOTE.

53. Alphabet starter: ABC. Three letters, but not really an abbreviation. 

54. Travel stop: INN. Holiday Inns used to be ubiquitous along the highways of America. My parents took us on extended summer trips in our old station wagon (no AC!), often staying there or under the orange roof of a Howard Johnson.

55. Drive-__: THRU. Abbrev. #7. Ad-speak for "through."

56. [theme]

60. Melon covering: RIND.

61. __ bene: NOTA. Latin for "note well."

62. Wickerwork twig: OSIER. A small Eurasian willow that grows mostly in wet habitats.

63. Altar alcove: APSE.

64. Mattress choice: TWIN.

65. Inferior: WORSE.

Down:

1. Swerve off course, as a ship: YAW. YAW, along with pitch and roll, also describes the same motions in aircraft.

2. Fond of fine food and drink: EPICUREAN.

3. Insect with striped wings: TIGER MOTH. My grandmother used to call moths "millers." I always thought it was because they milled around lights, but looking it up now (the internet wasn't available when I was a wee lad) I see it was due to their fine scales that rub off, resembling the dusty flour on millers' clothing.

4. Othello's betrayer: IAGO.

5. "Weekend Update" show, for short: SNL. Abbrev. #8. Saturday Night Live.

6. Apple gadgets: PARERS. I wasn't fooled by the tech misdirect, but still wrote "corers" first.

7. Horseshoe-shaped security device: U-LOCK. A letter-shaped descriptor, like T-shirt, is not an abbreviation. 

8. Bathroom, in Bath: LOO. 

9. Fluffy pup: POM. Abbrev. #9. Pomeranian.

10. School fleet: BUSES.

11. Keyless entry sound: CHIRP.

12. Knickknack: CURIO. A knickknack is bric-a-brac!

13. Paper unit: SHEET.

18. Latin 101 verb: ERAT. ERAT is the third-person singular imperfect tense of the verb esse (to be), meaning "he/she/it was." I knew taking Latin in high school would come in handy one day!

22. What applesauce may replace in vegan baking: EGG. Unsweetened applesauce can be an EGG replacement in many baking recipes, primarily functioning as a binder and adding moisture.

23. Tehran tongue: FARSI.

24. Tablet: PILL. 

25. Frozen treat served with a stroon: ICEE. It's a straw! It's a spoon! It's a STROON!!

26. Yuletide: NOEL. NOEL means Christmas in French, stemming from the Latin for "birth." 

28. Like a calico cat: PIED. PIED describes an animal having two or more colors.

31. Fuel additive brand: STP. Abbrev. #10. Scientifically Treated Petroleum.

32. Whole bunch: SCAD. Usually used in plural as in "SCADs of abbreviations."

33. Feel euphoric: WALK ON AIR.

34. Close associations: ALLIANCES.

35. Must-haves: NEEDS. 

37. TV host Jay: LENO. Nowadays, he's noted for his vast automobile and motorcycle collection. And to think RightBrain says I have too many guitars! Just kidding, she lets me have my toys because they don't take up garage space.

38. "That __ true!": ISN'T. Abbrev. #11. Is not.

39. "Now I understand": OH OK. OK is oddly not an abbreviation. Okay came later, OK?

43. Was full of beans, maybe?: ATE. "Full of beans" usually means one is lively and enthusiastic.

44. "The Prophet" author Kahlil: GIBRAN. "The Prophet" is a 1923 poetry collection where different people in a town ask a prophet his opinion on anything: marriage, death, love, generosity, etc.

45. Like many audiobooks, once: ON CD. Abbrev. #12. ON Compact Disc. Some people debate whether listening counts as reading. I say yes, what do you think?

46. Colorful aquarium fish: TETRA.

47. "Got it, dude!": I'M HIP. Abbrev. #13. I am HIP.

48. Daybreaks, poetically: MORNS. Abbrev. # 14. Short for MORNings. 

49. Piano student's assignment: ETUDE. An ETUDE (French for "study") is primarily a musical composition for practicing a technical skill, such as rhythm or dynamics. Here's a simple exercise for beginners by Chopin to help build finger dexterity.

50. Creole-speaking nation: HAITI.

54. __ facto: IPSO. That's a fact!

56. Demo stuff: TNT. Abbrev. #15. TriNitroToluene is a powerful explosive sometimes used in demolition.

57. "Please explain": HOW.

58. Female pig: SOW.

59. Afore: ERE.  

And now we're out of space!
Be good. RB

Friday, October 24, 2025 - Katherine Baicker and Laura Dershewitz

 Theme: Where's _aldo?

Puzzling thoughts:

Well, this one didn't cause the Chairman to do shots at a bar, but it did take a while to figure out where (and why) the dubyas went.  When you examine the grid, you see that two of them exited as a homophone (WRAP and WHOLE) and the other two exited to fulfill the play-on-words, (WHIP and WHEELS) as these two use the "W" sound

The "reveal" can be parsed two different ways but I think the constructors were referring to this one: 

60-across. Accept victory, however dubious, and a hint to 17-, 24-, 37-, and 52-Across: TAKE THE W IN.  Taking the W in (or from) the highlighted letters (see grid below) support the odd clues. However, if you add a W to the highlighted letters (see grid below) the four entries take on a much different meaning - and are actually the names of a brand of salad dressing (Miracle Whip), a type of packaging material (Shrink Wrap), the start of a refrain from a kid's song (Wheels on the Bus), and a very expensive grocery store (Whole Foods)

It is a clever concept and puzzle, but the reveal seems a bit of a stretch.  I almost feel as if I wanted a fifth entry with both a whacky clue and answer that followed the vanishing double-u

Oh well.  Maybe next time!  Here are the four entries:

17-across. Replacement joint that's even better than new?: MIRACLE HIP.

24-across. Linguistic battle between psychologists?: SHRINK RAP.

37-across. Jerks riding public transit?: HEELS ON THE BUS.

52-across. Donuts, bagels, et al.?: HOLE FOODS.

So, Moe, if you were adding a fifth entry to this puzzle, what might it have been?

"What Hawaiian greeters do with a lei to an unruly visitor?": RING HIS NECK

For the record, I thought all of the entry clues were hilarious 

Here is the grid:

Across:
1. Many Chi-town homes: APTS.  There are some crossword puzzle editors who insist the word in 1-across be a complete word, not an abbreviation - this puzzle has nearly a dozen abbr's, if you are also counting contractions

5. Sore with: MAD AT.  Having an abbreviated first word in the puzzle??? 😂😉

10. Sleep under the stars: CAMP.  "What groupies do" was too long to fit into this space (re-read the clue!)

14. Grab and go?: LOOT.  Clever clue

15. 14th century Russian ruler: IVAN I. Aka, Ivan Moneybags

16. Not even close: AFAR.  "Cold" could fit, yes?

[theme entry]

19. __ Reader: UTNE.  "Read all about it!"

20. Common lease period for 1-Across: ONE YEAR.  Two-year also fits (without the hyphen, of course)

21. Support column: PILE.  This is what my co-pilot says:

23. Journalist Lesley: STAHL.  She, along with Walter Cronkite, provided the news in a very unbiased manner for CBS - I hear that they (CBS) are trying to revert back to that position with their newly appointed news editor in chief

[theme entry]

29. Location of une bouche: TETE.  Tête

30. Actor Bridges: BEAU.  

31. Safe havens: ASYLA.

32. Color TV pioneer: RCA.  Three-letter and an abbreviation

34. Informed Delivery org.: USPS.  United States Postal Service

36. Ref. that added "horror show" in 2024: OED.  Oxford English Dictionary

[theme entry]

41. Novelty lips stuff: WAX.  These? 42. "__ it obvious?": ISN'T.

43. Clinch: ICE.  Friday worthy clue

44. Marshmallow spread: FLUFF.

46. Bluish green: TEAL. <== this was as close as I could come

48. Howard, for one: Abbr.: HBCU.  Historically Black College or University

[theme entry]

54. "Oppenheimer" director: NOLAN.  Looks a bit like Alec Baldwin here

55. Word with stress, or a common source of stress: TEST.

56. One who might take a stand: WITNESS.  Can I get a Witness?  (2:15 through 2:35, but listen to it all)

58. Like some contracts: ORAL.  Unlike some toothbrushes that are ORAL B

[reveals the theme]

63. "La Brea" actress Skye: IONE.  

64. Dark doings: EVILS.

65. Tech company that owns the Chinese microblogging app Weibo: SINA.  Are there any Weibo followers here?  Not I

66. Fantasy franchise letters: LOTR.  Lord Of The Rings

67. Answer: REPLY.

68. Firebird roof option: T-TOP.

Down:
1. Nearly: ALMOST.  Here is a trailer to a movie with the word "Almost" in it

2. Ballet class: POINTE.

  

I hope Splynter doesn't sue me for showing some "leg" 😀

3. Attempted to rip open: TORE AT.  When I looked at crosswordtracker.com to see the frequency of the use of this phrase, the last 5 venues to accept it were LA Times Crossword - must be a favorite expression for Patti

4. "Don't leave!": STAY HERE.  From what I am told, the length of a Minnesota "goodbye" is measured in hours (or even days), not minutes ... 

5. Actress Kunis: MILA.  Her IMDB page

6. Unwilling (to): AVERSE. Moe-ku:

        You think the Chairman

        Dislikes other's poetry?

        I am not AVERSE 

7. Mark longer than a dit: DAH.  As in Morse Code characters ... the "dit" represents the dot, and the dah represents the dash

8. Padm 's beloved: ANI.  First off, the clue refers to a character in Star Wars - Padmé Amidala.  Don't follow Star Wars?  You're SOL, because you're likely then to not know that she was married to Anakin Skywalker (Ani is his nickname) and is the mother of both Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia

9. Hedren of "The Birds": TIPPI.  Quite the cast of actors

10. Doesn't let anything fall through the cracks?: CAULKS.  Hah Hah.  Moe-ku:

        "Home Alone" actor's

        Nickname inspires plumbers:

        Macaulay CAULKS-in

        

11. "Please, go first": AFTER YOU.  Just being polite

12. Guy: MAN. 

13. Start to check?: PRE-. If pre means before (as in pre-check), and post means after (as in post-script), what would it mean if both of these were used together? Why, it would be pre-post-erous 

18. Goofy frame: CEL.

22. "Be right there!": IN A SEC.

25. Plagued: HAUNTED.  Halloween is coming soon

26. Sign of aging: RUST.  As in rust bucket 

27. Drafts that are lighter than stouts: ALES.

28. Sketchy area?: PAD.

30. Striped __: BASS.  In the Cheasapeake Bay, these swimmers are known as Rockfish

33. Precipitous drops: CLIFFS.  Moe-ku:

        Book report grade took

        Precipitous drop. Teacher

        Found I used CLIFFS Notes

35. Alpine skier Mahre who won 27 World Cup races: PHIL.

37. Virtuous circle: HALO.

38. Thrilled: EXULTANT.

I suppose I can accept "thrilled" as a synonym (adj.)

39. Glom __: ONTO.  Seems to be a British phrase

40. "I can handle the truth!": BE HONEST.  

41. Skip the daily commute, for short: WFH.  [sigh] It seems that there is a text shortcut for everything these days ... Work From Home

45. Tentative inquiry: FEELER.  Moe-ku:

        Crustaceans would make 

        Great detectives. They're equipped

        With many FEELERs

47. Too: AS WELL.

49. Choked: BLEW IT.  Back when Europe actually lost the Ryder Cup (on American soil) this was known as one of the all-time choke jobs ... Langer would go on to become the most winning golfer on the Senior/Champions PGA Tour, and still regularly shoots a score lower than his age (68) for 18 holes.  The Chairman regularly shoots 68 or lower when golfing, but then has to play the remaining 5 or 6 holes

50. Sin City attraction: CASINO.  Sin City = Lost Wages, NV

51. Open up: UNSNAP.  I wonder how many takes that scene took?? 😀

53. Marine scamp: OTTER.

54. Some degree: NTH.  BFA fits, yes?

57. Teeny: ITSY. 

 

58. Frying need: OIL.  Make mine extra virgin olive

59. Kanga's kid: ROO.  Milne character

61. St. crosser: AVE.  BLVD was too wide to fit

62. Currency of Laos: KIP.  Do you remember how I felt about the clue/answer for 1-across?  No different for 62-down.  All perps

See you next month 

Thursday, July 24, 2025, Katherine Baicker, Laura Dershewitz

Theme:  It's just your imagination.

Constructors Katherine Baicker and Laura Dershewitz have entertained us here before, together, separately, and with other co-constructors.  Today they make us stop and wonder whether it's all been real, or just our imagination.

The theme clues and answers, placed symmetrically in the grid, are:

20-Across. Spot where parallel lines appear to converge: VANISHING POINT.

33-Across. Sensation experienced after a long day of sewing: PHANTOM THREAD.  Seamstresses sometimes go home and still feel the sensation of a thread between their fingers.

42-Across. Erroneous result on a medical test: FALSE POSITIVE.

57-Across. Snide dismissal, and what can be said about 20-, 33-, and 42-Across?: THAT'S NOT A THING.  Current slang for “that's not real/true” or “that doesn't happen.”

In every case, we see or feel evidence of something that is not real.  But you know what is real?  We have 132 other mysteries to solve!  Here they come.

Across:

1. Move with a hop and a step: SKIP.

5. Circle dances: HORAS.  Not just a Jewish dance enjoyed at weddings and b'nai mitzvah celebrations, variants of the hora (called hora or oro) have folks holding hands and moving in circles in Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, and elsewhere.

10. Tendril: WISP.  While a tendril is part of a climbing plant, and a wisp is any little thin mass, both words can be used to describe strands of hair that fall away from the main mass of hair on the head.  It's a thing.

Hayden Panettiere with straight wisps, and Chloe Sevigny with tendrils.

14. Office assistant: AIDE.

15. Maker of a Breakout hit: ATARI.

16. Poker buy-in: ANTE.

17. One past 12?: TEEN.

18. Name, in Latin: NOMEN.  From which we have the English nomenclature, the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.

19. Money mgrs.: CFOs.  Chief Financial Officers.

20. [Theme clue]

23. Green prefix: ECO.

24. Protected: SAFE.

25. Electric creature: EEL.

26. Knucklehead: OAF.

29. Yale student: ELI.  A nickname derived from Elihu Yale, the primary benefactor of  Yale University.

31. Vague threat: OR ELSE.

33. [Theme clue]

37. Root in tropical cuisine: TARO.

38. __ juice: MOO.  A cutesy way of saying "milk."

39. Backyard spot that's shovel-ready?: SHED.  It's ready to store your shovel.

42. [Theme clue]

47. Work together: TEAM UP.

49. "I don't trust stairs because they're always up to something," e.g.: PUN.  MalMan!  Have you used this one?

50. Number of fielders in slow-pitch softball: TEN.  Did Not Know.

51. Old tape dispenser?: VCR.  Video Cassette Recorder.

52. Animated pics: GIFs.  The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format developed by a team at CompuServe and released in 1987.  Usage of the format has declined, often being replaced with newer formats such as PNG for static images and MP4 for videos.

This GIF is a real Thriller.

55. "Eww!": ICK.

57. [Theme clue]

62. Home of the "American Gothic" house: IOWA.

American Gothic is a 1930 oil painting by Grant Wood.

63. Avis rival: ALAMO.  Car rental companies.

64. __ contendere: NOLO.  "Nolo contendere" is a Latin term meaning "I do not wish to contend" or "no contest."  In a legal context, it's a plea in a criminal case where the defendant doesn't admit guilt but accepts the consequences of a conviction.  It's often used when a defendant wants to avoid the implications of a guilty plea in potential future civil lawsuits.  Remember in 1973 when Vice President Spiro Agnew pleaded nolo contendere to a felony charge of tax evasion?  As part of the plea bargain, he resigned from office, was fined $10,000, and sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation. 

66. Average in math class?: MEAN.

67. Pipe alternative: CIGAR.

A little play on The Treachery of Images by René Magritte.

68. Picked, as a Scrabble tile: DREW.

69. Sherbet brand: EDY'S.  Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream makes Dreyer's brand frozen desserts for the Western US market, and Edy's brand for the Eastern and Midwestern US, so named to avoid confusion with Breyer's ice cream in those regions.  Nestlé acquired Dreyer's in 2007, and in 2020, Nestlé sold all its US ice cream businesses to Froneri, the global ice cream manufacturer that Nestlé co-owns with PAI Partners.  Big business!

70. Party throwers: HOSTS.

71. "You said it!": AMEN.

Down:

1. Didn't play: SAT.

2. Chicken __: KIEV.  Chicken Kiev is chicken fillet, pounded and rolled around garlic butter and parsley, coated with egg and bread crumbs, and then fried or baked.

3. "Eureka!" elicitor: IDEA.  "Eureka" (Ancient Greek for "I have found it") is an exclamation used to celebrate a discovery or invention. It is attributed to Archimedes, who stepped into a bath and noticed that the water level rose, whereupon he understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged.  He was so excited that he forgot to dress and ran naked in the streets yelling "Eureka!"

Archimedes has a revelation.

4. Pasta with angled ends: PENNE.

5. Longtime Harrison Ford role: HAN SOLO.

6. Texter's equivocation: OTOH.  On The Other Hand.

7. "Ghostbusters" actor Harold: RAMIS.

Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis

8. The Eras Tour venue: ARENA.  Taylor Swift's fans filled large arenas on her recent "Eras" tour.

9. Entertain, in a way: SING FOR.

10. Baylor University home: WACO.  Baylor University is a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas.  It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas.

11. Dribbler that gets a batter on base, e.g.: INFIELD HIT.  An infield hit in baseball is when a batter hits the ball within the infield and safely reaches first base without the defense making an error that allows him to advance. It's typically a slow-rolling ground ball or a ball that is hit with enough speed to reach the infield but not the outfield, and the batter is able to beat the throw to first base. 

12. Cairn elements: STONES.  A cairn is a human-made pile of stones, typically used as a marker, a memorial, or a burial mound. 

13. Mortar's companion: PESTLE.

The pestle is gripped and used to grind items in the mortar.

21. "Rhyme Pays" rapper: ICE-T.  You may know him from his acting role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Tracy Marrow AKA Ice-T

22. Napoleon's father: PÈRE.  Père is French for "father."  It's not Napoleon's father's name.

26. Stop waffling: OPT.  Choose!  Decide!  Pick one!  

27. "Eureka!": AHA.  See explanation at 3-Down for Archimedes's "aha!" moment.

28. Like the galaxy from which 5-Down hails: FAR, FAR AWAY.  Harrison Ford played the character Han Solo in the Star Wars movies, which take place in a galaxy far, far away.

30. "Gotta do my thing!": I'M ME.

You do you.

32. All-Star side: EAST.  In the MLB All-Star Game, the National League represents the "East" side, facing the American League (AL).  In the traditional NBA All-Star Game format, the Eastern Conference All-Stars play against the Western Conference All-Stars.  

34. Linguist Chomsky: NOAM.

35. Blouse: TOP.

36. Stud alternative: HOOP.  Earring styles.

Hoop with dangle, regular hoop, stud.

40. Night before: EVE.

41. Cozy spot for 47-Down: DEN.

43. Hauls with effort: LUGS.

44. Ingredient in a Florentine dish: SPINACH.  Chicken Florentine, Pasta Florentine, Eggs Florentine ... apparently people in Florence, Italy, love spinach.

45. Beaus: SUITORS.

46. Yardstick division: INCH.

47. Period between homework and dinner, for some kids: TV TIME.

48. Made a comeback: ECHOED.

53. Shakespearean volume: FOLIO.

54. Antlered deer: STAGS.

56. Ish: KINDA.

58. Catches some rays: TANS.

59. Amo, amas, __: AMAT.  We had Greek earlier, so it's time for Latin:  "I love, you love, he/she/it loves."

60. Par for the course: NORM.

61. Delight: GLEE.

65. BYOB part: OWN.  Bring Your Own Beverage/Bottle/Booze/Beer.

Here's the grid:

Did you SKIP all the way to Finish It Right?

Was that a SOLO effort, or did you TEAM UP to solve the puzzle?

Or did you finally come close, but no CIGAR?

Let us know in the comments!

-- NaomiZ