Thursday January 1, 2026 Jill Rafaloff & Michelle Sontarp

Happy New Year! It's RustyBrain kicking off 2026. Starting today, I'll be your host every Thursday. NaomiZ, who always did a fabulous job on Thursdays, is moving to Mondays to take over from sumdaze who is retiring after an incredible run. Big shoes to fill all around (not to imply they have big feet!). Moving on before I get in any more trouble this year...

Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp have me at a disadvantage here. I never got into women's clothing, so I didn't know most of the designers. We picked the wrong day for Naomi to move! That being said, the perps were fair so the solve went smoothly. All the themers are compound nouns for everyday things, but one or more of the words is also an article of clothing. Let's try them on for size:

17. Crossover design from Vivienne Westwood and Diane von Fürstenberg?: BUBBLE WRAP. Our fashion show begins with two models on the catwalk: Westwood's BUBBLE skirt and von Fürstenberg's WRAP dress. Iconic looks from their signature designers that should never be worn together.

29. Creative team behind Lilly Pulitzer's signature frock?: SHIFT WORKERS. Pulitzer's bright, colorful clothes were very popular and worn by the likes of Rockefellers and Vanderbilts. She rose in prominence when her original SHIFT dress, a simple loose-fitting garment that allowed a women to "shift" around, was photographed on Jackie Kennedy.

47. Item in Giorgio Armani's 50th anniversary collection?: BIRTHDAY SUIT. The devil wears NADA! I know Armani also makes SUITs for men, as I have a closet full. Not. 

62. Line of Mary Quant's trademark skirts?: MINISERIES. I'm familiar with Quant creating the MINIskirt only because of crosswords (I swear, honey, I never even looked at one!).

So, everything fits but this puzzle didn't have anything to do with the New Year. Not the constructors' fault as puzzles are created months in advance, but I'll see if I can work some magic for you!

Across:

1. Complete failures: BOMBS. BOMBS can also be explosives, just like the fireworks used to ring in the New Year over Sydney Harbour.

6. "Now!": STAT. I wrote ASAP at first, but I was too quick.

10. A couple of bucks?: DEER. Fun clue!

14. Oak tree, once: ACORN. This little fella has a secret ACORN stash.

15. Words of dismay: OH NO.

16. New Age artist who often sings in Irish: ENYA. ENYA is Irish, but I'd like to hear her sing this old Scottish favorite:

17. [theme]

19. Suds: BEER. Hopefully you didn't overdo it last night!

20. Former quarterback Manning: ELI. Peyton's younger brother, Archie's son and Arch's uncle.

21. __-Caps candy: SNO. Is your maple syrup candy SNO-Capped on January 1st?

22. Give a damn?: CURSE. Fie on you!

23. __ gel: contents of "Do not eat" packets: SILICA. Interestingly, SILICA gel is non-toxic. It's the packets themselves that may pose a choking hazard to children and pets.

26. On the decline: WANING.

29. [theme]

33. Liturgical vestment: STOLE. Sorta related to the women's fashion theme. 

36. Really, really enjoy a joke: ROAR.

37. Madre's sister: TIA. Your mother's sister is your aunt.

38. Greek cafe: TAVERNA.

40. Alive and __: KICKING. I'm happy to be here!

43. Viking weapon: AXE.

44. Pinnacle: ACME.

46. Affection from a dog: LICKS.

47. [theme]

51. Patterned fabric woven on Jacquard looms: DAMASK. The fashion show continues. DAMASK is woven by periodically reversing the action of the warp and weft threads. This creates a fabric that when flipped over makes a mirror image of the often intricate pattern. 

52. Orates: SPEAKS.

56. __ shorts: CARGO. You probably won't find these hanging in a fashionista's closet. Then again, you might. Everything I know about fashion would fit in a thimble.

58. Be in debt: OWE.

60. Briny: SEA.

61. Vaping device: ECIG. Electronic Cigarette.

62. [theme]

66. Place for pews: NAVE. These congregants in the central NAVE of a church in Chicago are celebrating the Lunar New Year, an ancient tradition in Chinese and other Asian cultures. It typically falls between January 21st and February 20th.

67. Legend: ICON.

68. Wet bars?: SOAPS. Another fun clue!

69. Even: TIED.

70. Keyboard locale: DESK.

71. Really hard to see: EENSY.

Down:
1. Innocents: BABES. 

2. Circular openings in domes: OCULI.

3. Synergy Supreme+ gasoline retailer: MOBIL. Pegasus was part of the MOBIL logo for many years.

4. "Putting my phone down a sec": BRB. Be Right Back in textspeak.

5. Weekly skit show, for short: SNL. Saturday Night Live.

6. Scattered: SOWN.

7. Target in a game of catch: THROW TO. I thought "target" was a noun at first and went through a list of people one could THROW TO.

9. Blouse: TOP. And yet another fashion reference.

10. Expose as false: DEBUNK.

11. Peppy: ENERGETIC.

12. Seeing things: EYES.

13. Redder than medium: RARE. Unless we're talking about your EYES on the morning after a NYE party!

18. Actor Morales: ESAI.

22. Round fig.: CIR. A CIRcle is the roundest of FIGures.

24. Remote getaway spot: ISLE. Remote getaway spot: SOFA. 

.
25. "Moonstruck" Oscar winner: CHER.

27. Faces the day: AWAKES. This is the perfect time to try something new.

28. Musubi seaweed: NORI.

30. Brawl: FRACAS.

31. Playing surface surrounded by boards: RINK. 

32. Droops: SAGS. Just like these banners!

33. Try: STAB.

34. Call with a raised hand: TAXI.

35. State of ramped-up productivity: OVERDRIVE.

39. Zilch: NADA. The number of days left in 2025. 

41. Rate of speed: CLIP. The years seem to go by at a faster CLIP as I get older. It can't be 2026 already?! It seems like only yesterday that Y2K was a problem. Now that's a quarter century ago.

42. Beach toy: KITE.

45. Greek island in the Cyclades: MYKONOS. Known for luxury and high-end tourism, MYKONOS is a great place to greet the New Year...if you can afford it.

48. Caught off base?: TAGGED.

49. Med. plan option: HMO. Health Maintenance Organization is a medical plan option, but you already knew that.

50. Functions: USES. Functions: NYE parties!

53. Nepali, e.g.: ASIAN.

54. Stays fresh: KEEPS. How long will you KEEP your New Year's resolution?

55. "Listen to __": podcast that covers a classic teen magazine: SASSY.

56. Penny: CENT.

57. Berry native to the Amazon rainforest: ACAI.

59. "Don't take me too seriously" indicator: WINK.

62. Prefix with way or wife: MID. MIDway or MIDwife.

63. Raw bar need: ICE. Also a NYE bar need!

64. Language suffix: ESE. 

65. Caviar: ROE.

Thank you, C.C., for this wonderful opportunity to be a permanent part of the smartest and friendliest corner of the web. And for those of you who are frequent visitors but haven't commented yet, here's a New Year's Resolution for you: introduce yourself and join the conversation. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy (and Natick-free) New Year! 
Be good. RB

Sunday November 30, 2025 Rafael Musa & Rebecca Goldstein

When our mistress of ceremonies sent out the call for RustyBrain, I was sleeping and missed the spotlight in the sky. But she has mysterious ways, and when I awoke, I remembered part of a dream, "Must call C.C. Must call C.C..."

Rafael Musa and Rebecca Goldstein have collaborated before with great success, but this time they may have thought a little too hard to find gemstones whose letters are the only ones used in quasi-anagrams of the answers. These precious gems proved oddly worthless as this solved as a theme-less. Here's the revealer to help explain:

117. Cold-hearted, or an apt description of the answers to the starred clues: MADE OF STONE. Nobody says someone's heart is MADE OF STONE. They simply say someone has a "heart of stone." But it does describe what is happening here. The letters of each gemstone (and only these letters) are required to spell out the answers to the clues. 

22. *Kitchen gadget fashioned from pearl?: APPLE PEELER. The letters P, E, A, R, L, are needed to spell the answer. Note some letters are reused.

24. *Orange jam produced with emerald?: MARMALADE. Similarly, the letters E, M, E, R, A, L, D, are mixed to spell MARMALADE. What threw me is that there are 2 "E"s in emerald and only one in the answer.

36. *Latin cornerstone phrase etched by diamond?: ANNO DOMINI. Same thing happened here, where "diamond" has 2 "D"s. So, some letters of the gems must be repeated and others dropped.

45. *Approach bearing garnet?: GET NEAR. This one is the closest match of stone to answer.

68. *Knockout competition formed with tourmaline?: ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT. I'm sure it was hard to find a gemstone for a grid-spanner. Tourmaline was new to me but is apparently popular for its electrical and spiritual properties. It comes in many colors to suit any mood.

90. *Gym amenity filled with opal?: LAP POOL. Not to be confused with the German car, although it can have a fancy paint job.

100. *Newspaper figure who works with peridot?: OP-ED EDITOR. A gem that's fairly common, in crosswords anyway.

115. *Hockey puck drop spot composed of citrine?: CENTER ICE. A gemstone with the color of citrus.

I'm not sure what the title "Think Hard" refers to. The gems are "hard," as all stones are, but they are not in any order of hardness (as "diamond" is in the third position, yet is obviously the hardest). And they didn't make the answers harder. Clever over all, but something that was probably more exciting for the constructors than the solvers. Please let me know if I need to Think Harder about this.

Some more gems:

Across:

1. Corrupt payoff: BRIBE. 

6. Courts: WOOS. 

10. Contract detail, for short: SPEC. SPECification.

14. Laura of "Marriage Story": DERN. 

18. Alternative to finger pointing: LASER. The modern way to accuse someone.

19. Polo or tee: SHIRT. Or tea after polo!

20. Dynamic opening?: AERO. 

21. Peppa Pig's baby sister: EVIE. Peppa Pig is a British preschool animated children's television series. I had to binge-watch an entire season so I'd be able to comment on it. You're welcome.

22. [theme]

24. [theme]

26. Texter's "Speak soon": TTYL. Talk To You Later.

27. Paramore's "__ It Fun": AIN'T. No it AIN'T.

28. Primatology focus: APES. Primatology is the scientific study of non-human primates, such as my brother (I hope he isn't reading this). Can you spot him in this old family photo?

30. __ oneself on: PRIDED.

31. Big pigs: HOGS. Nothing like Peppa Pig.

33. __ Ababa: ADDIS.

35. Mulligans: DO OVERS. 

36. [theme]

40. Enjoys a fine meal: DINES. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

42. Start to stop?: ESS. A letteral clue.

43. Played on repeat: LOOPED. Played on repeat: LOOPED. Played on repeat: LOOPED...

44. Bout-ending letters: TKO. Technical KnockOut.

45. [theme]

47. Sphere: ORB. 

48. Heads south?: SAGS. I wanted a Spanish word bathroom or one's skull, but it simply equates to  "droops." 

50. Text scam portmanteau: SMISH. Unfamiliar term for SMS phishing, a type of cyberattack seeking personal information or downloading malware. The middle "I" crossed PIDGIN in an unfortunate spot.

52. Conductor Zubin: MEHTA. He may be internationally renowned, but I still can't spell his name.

56. Scale button: TARE.

58. Wise biblical king: SOLOMON.

60. Soaked up the sun, say: LAID OUT. 

62. Captain's band location: ARM. A sergeant's band location is among the flowers.

64. Outdoor dining spot: PATIO. Some outdoor dining spots are hard to clean.

65. Asian ethnic group in "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down": HMONG. This 1997 book chronicles the struggles of a HMONG refugee family from Laos and their interactions with the health care system in California.

67. Noninvasive 3D scan: MRI. Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

68. [theme]

73. Shouted advice in a horror film: RUN. 

74. Snoops (around): NOSES.

75. En __: MASSE.

76. Auto that may have large blind spots: SUV. Sport Utility Vehicles generally have larger blind spots than cars, particularly in the front and rear, due to their size, higher hoods, and wider pillars.

77. Was humiliated: ATE DIRT. I had ATE CROW at first.

79. Body art sacred in Maori culture, briefly: FACE TAT. A New Zealand facial tattoo, known as a Tā moko, is seen as a sacred marker of their heritage and lineage. Men often cover their whole face.

81. Fashion house in "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris": DIOR.

84. Blood component: SERUM.

85. With 96-Down, "My Way" singer: FRANK. With 96D, SINATRA.

87. Jeans cut: SLIM.

89. Cold open?: SNO. 

90. [theme]

93. GPS heading: SSE. I actually like this versa traveling between two cities I've never heard of. Just pick a direction.

95. Blue-green Muppet who plays the guitar: ROSITA.

97. Stage name of Park Jae-sang: PSY. The South Korean singer does it "Gangnam Style." Op, op,op, op!

99. Cookies with a Golden variety: OREOS. A travesty!

100. [theme]

102. Quietly: FAINTLY.

104. Pooh's creator: MILNE. A. A. MILNE was primarily a poet and a playwright until a fateful visit to the London Zoo with his son, Christopher Robin. Christopher became enamored with a tame and amiable bear named Winnipeg that provided inspiration to his father.

106. Genesis location: EDEN. Genesis location: HYUNDAI dealership.

107. Soft wool: ANGORA.

108. Seller of Poäng chairs: IKEA. Because when you sit on one, it goes, "Poäng!"

109. Red Muppet who plays the piano: ELMO. He can play along with ROSITA!

111. Border on: ABUT.

115. [theme]

117. [theme]

120. Plant with a trunk: TREE. Animal with a trunk: ELEPHANT.

121. Jet-black: INKY.

122. Many Wix sites: BLOGS. Wix is a cloud-based website builder platform that makes it easy (?) to build you own website.

123. Wear down: ERODE.

124. HS safety gp.: SADD. Students Against Destructive Decisions is a High School safety group that began as Students Against Driving Drunk, but now encompasses everything from drug abuse to suicide.

125. Utters: SAYS.

126. Lip: SASS.

127. Official and authentic content: CANON. CANON is the official and authentic camera of the Olympics.

Down:

1. Harsh trumpet note: BLAT. Even the word BLAT sounds harsh.

2. Transfixed: RAPT.

3. Car trip game: I SPY. I SPY with my little eye...

4. Someone dealing with a lot of baggage?: BELLHOP. Here's a young actor's first on-screen role in 1966 as “uncredited bellhop” in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round. It's 23-year-old Harrison Ford, seven years before American Graffiti.

5. Poetic preposition: ERE.

6. A question of time: WHEN.

7. Fuel storage option: OIL TANK.

8. Subject of a miner dispute, maybe: ORE. Fun clue.

9. Prized violin, familiarly: STRAD. A violin by Antonio Stradivarius fetches over $10 million nowadays. The bow is extra.

10. "OMG, twins!": SAMESIES.

11. Pod veggies: PEAS.

12. __ on the side of caution: ERR.

13. Write music: COMPOSE. Erase music: DECOMPOSE.

14. iMessage status: DELIVERED.

15. Gets around: EVADES. Gets around: TREATS.

16. Bus customers: RIDERS. Bus customers: SCHOOLS.

17. Deems essential: NEEDS.

19. Big shake: SEISM. A less common name for an earthquake, the term comes from the Greek word seismos, meaning "to shake".

23. Tiered temples: PAGODAS.

25. Unlikely to catch feelings, informally: ARO. As we cruciverbalists are learning, ARO is short for aromantic, meaning a person who experiences little to no romantic attraction.

29. Simplified speech: PIDGIN. It's often seen as PIDGIN English and has it's own unique grammar. I initially wanted an "O" at the cross of this with 50A SMISH.

32. Praising poetry: ODES.

34. Spanish "My god!": DIOS MIO. Luckily, the Almighty also speaks Spanish.

35. Cozy spot: DEN.

36. Often: A LOT.

37. Filmmaker Ephron: NORA. NORA Ephron was an American journalist, screenwriter, director, producer, novelist, and blogger. She was a key figure in the New Journalism movement of the 1960s, and became known for her sharp wit and social observations.

38. Choice that requires little thought: NO BRAINER. Also something my dear RightBrain calls me. 

39. "I should get going": IT'S LATE.

41. For the __ time: NTH. I'd prefer "umpteenth" here. 

46. Compañeras: AMIGAS. Compañeras are girlfriends en español, thus AMIGAS has the feminine "A" ending.

49. Exceed: GO PAST.

51. VMA figure: MOONMAN. MTV's Video Music Award features an astronaut known as MOONMAN.

53. House call: HOME VISIT. 

54. Time to roll the dice, maybe: TURN. 

55. Working hard: AT IT.

57. Vocal stumble: ERM. "ERM," said no one, ever.

59. Elevator innovator: OTIS. His career had its ups and downs.

60. "Because you're worth it" brand: L'OREAL.

61. Basketball Hall of Famer Meyers: ANN. She was a standout player in high school, at UCLA, and the Olympic Games.

63. Low points: MINIMA. The opposite of maxima.

65. Water way?: HOSE. Another fun clue.

66. Like can't-miss attractions: MUST SEE.

68. Taylor Swift's "The __ Tour": ERAS. All I know about Taylor Swift is the name of this tour.

69. Guitarlike instrument: LUTE.

70. Conjunction used in logic: NOR. NOR is a logical operator that outputs a 1 (true) only when all of its inputs are 0 (false).

71. Adds to: TACKS ON.

72. Contents of some inedible cakes: MUD. I've only had MUD pies.

78. "Roger that": DULY NOTED.

79. Synthetic lash strip: FALSIE. I was surprised when I discovered that a girl I was dating in high school was wearing FALSIEs, but she didn't bat an eye.

80. Done with: TIRED OF.

82. "__ the next!": ONTO.

83. Lion's share?: ROAR. I guess he's sharing his vocalization with you.

85. Enemy: FOE.

86. Check-in items: ROOM KEYS. These have mostly been replaced by key cards.

88. Eco or sport, in some cars: MODE.

91. Ursa Minor star: POLARIS. Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper) features Polaris (the North Star) which appears stationary above the North Pole. Used for millennia as a navigation aide in the northern hemisphere, there is no equivalent star in the south.

92. Ask for details about a breakup, say: PRY.

94. Swimwear in Fire Island Pines, often: SPEEDOS. Fire Island Pines is a small, gay-friendly community on a barrier beach island located near Long Island, New York, and is accessible by ferry. 

96. See 85-Across: SINATRA. Old blue eyes.

97. Franchise with a Crème Brûlée Latte: PANERA. 

98. Name dropped?: SIGNED. Sorta, but not very clear. 

101. Expo presentations, perhaps: DEMOS.

102. Trivia fodder: FACTS.

103. Uno, due, __: TRE. 

105. "The Silence of the __": LAMBS. I like to sit down and watch this with some fava beans and a nice chianti,

108. Nasty: ICKY.

110. Chair supports: LEGS.

112. Lucky break: BOON.

113. __ send: handy feature on some email platforms: UNDO. 

114. Ump's following?: TEEN. Maybe this is why they didn't use it for 41D.

116. "Barefoot Contessa" host Garten: INA.

118. __ plancha: A LA. In Spanish cooking, "A LA plancha" means "grilled on a metal plate," and is often served sizzling hot.

119. Quick moment: SEC. It's just half a second.