Thursday February 19, 2026 Alisya Reza and Shannon Rapp

Newcomer Alisya Reza and up-and-comer Shannon Rapp have teamed to create a puzzle featuring some fancy swordplay. Be careful! You might get a paper cut!

I found this puzzle to be much harder than last week's. You remember, the one everybody thought was too easy? Be careful what you wish for! I blanked on most of the names in the NW when just getting started. If it weren't for circles, this could be a Friday. The 16 x 15 grid is over-sided, with bilateral (left-right) symmetry that always reminds me of Space Invaders.

18. "Espresso" singer: SABRINA CARPENTER. SABER. In 2008, she was one of 7,000 to enter the online singing contest The Next Miley Cyrus Project. She placed third, which opened doors for her, but my favorite CARPENTER is Karen.

30. Taking time off from school?: CUTTING CLASS. CUTLASS. RightBrain will always make time for a Brad Pitt movie. She calls him "a man with a view!" (Should I be worried? Nah! He's got nuthin' on me, except for wealth and fame and...)  Here he is in his first major role circa 1989 when he was 25.

49. Pet adoption that wasn't planned: FOSTER FAIL. FOIL. Despite how it sounds, a FOSTER FAIL just means their temporary home became permanent - a good thing! We adopted FuzzyBrain during COVID. A FOSTER success! Here's the puppy we fell in love with.

65. Metaphor for something with positive and negative consequences, or what 18-, 30-, and 49-Across literally are?: DOUBLE EDGED SWORD. Each of the theme answers begin and end in letters that spell out types of swords. That is, both "edges" of the answers.

I thought the theme was fine, but got dragged down by too many names, only half of which I knew off the bat. A game show contestant?!

Let's see if the pen is mightier than the sword:

Across:

1. Wood used by luthiers: ALDER. I own a lot of guitars, but this one eluded me as I was thinking of traditional acoustic guitar woods, such as cedar and maple (which both fit), spruce, mahogany and rosewood. Lesser-known ALDER is used in making solid-body electric guitars, primarily those by Fender. Note the light grain of the ALDER Stratocaster body on the left vs. the pronounced grain of an ash body on the right. (Don't get me started talking about guitars!)

 6. High-five sound: SLAP.

10. One of many in Indonesia's Kepulauan Seribu: ISLET. Kepulauan Seribu means "Thousand Islands."

15. He-Man's twin: SHE-RA. I don't see the resemblance. I think they were switched at birth.

16. Area: ZONE.

17. "I have a good lawyer and I'm not afraid!": SUE ME. Unfortunately, in today's litigious society, we hear that more and more, instead of, "Let's work this out."

18. [theme]

21. 2024 Korean Air merger partner: ASIANA.

22. More haunted: EERIER.

23. "Jeopardy!" champion Amodio: MATT. MATT is a mathematician who won $1.5 million over 39 games, ranking him third in winnings. And who cares? 

24. Collectible card protector: SLEEVE.

29. Wee: ITTY. I had the "Y" of TERRY Gross, so wrote "TINY," then replaced that with "ITSY," before reaching the promised land.

30. [theme]

33. Flavor of fermented foods: UMAMI. The "fifth taste" wasn't known to me in the 20th century. Back in the olden days, we had to rely on MSG for our meat fix.

35. Secure, as a boat: MOOR.

36. Mississippi formation: DELTA.

39. Something to shoot for: PAR.

40. Start to fix?: PRE. PREfix, meaning before it's been fixed, i.e. still broken.

42. Tub with jets: SPA. Tug with jets: SPRAY

44. Product of a redox reaction: ION. Redox reactions frequently produce IONs through the transfer of electrons, where one species is oxidized (loses electrons to become a positive ion or higher oxidation state) and another is reduced (gains electrons to become a negative ION or lower oxidation state). Got it? Here, let me draw it out for you.

45. Tranquil: SEDATE. I entered "serene" first, which seems like a better answer.

47. "Make it __!": SNAPPY. And for you tap dance aficionados:

49. [theme]

54. Infield call: SAFE.

56. Taquería drink: AGUA. A taqueria is a Mexican restaurant specializing in tacos - and glasses of water, apparently.

57. European range: ALPS. "Beyond the Alps lies more Alps. And the Lord 'Alps those that 'Alps themselves." Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers, 1932. I watched all the Marx Brother's movies when I was in high school, hence what's wrong with me today.

60. Pachakamaq worshippers: INCA. Pachacamaq was a major creator deity worshipped by pre-Inca coastal cultures as a powerful god of earthquakes and fertility.

61. Quick look: GLANCE.

63. Mammal with a saddle patch: ORCA. Mammal with a saddle bag: MULE

65. [theme]

68. Freelancer's targets: OUTLETS.

69. Gave meaning to: DEFINED.

70. Knight rider's companions?: STEEDS. This knight got his STEED in the mail.

71. "Nothing yet!": NO NEWS. 

Down:

1. Tea in masala chai, perhaps: ASSAM. Masala chai is a fragrant Indian tea made by brewing strong, robust black tea—typically ASSAM—with a mixture of aromatic spices, milk, and sweetener.

2. Tibet's capital: LHASA.

3. Payment method: DEBIT CARD.

4. Printing gaffe: ERRATUM. This is normally seen in plural: ERRATA.

5. Part of the water cycle: RAIN. Part of the water cycle: SNOW. With the Winter Olympics in progress, I've become an armchair judge of ice skating routines. But, as usual, I'll soon forget my expertise in Salchows and Lutz's for another four years. Go Team USA!

6. Kendrick Lamar's Grand National Tour co-headliner: SZA. I don't like when there are so many names and I have to find photos of all these people.

7. Follower of wisdom or love, in hairstyling: LOC. LOC as in lock of hair. It's usually just a single dreadlock, often placed in the back to signify spiritual, personal growth (wisdom) or to honor someone (love). Cool concept; I'll have to keep my eye out for it
.

8. Actress Gasteyer: ANA. Like many comedians, ANA Gasteyer got her start on SNL.

9. A pop: PER. A pop: PERE (in France, anyway).

10. "Got it": I SEE. Uh-huh.

11. Daily spectacle: SUNRISE. Here's a photo I took last year of the SUNRISE on Fort Lauderdale beach. I later found out that the sun comes up every day.

12. Accidentally reveal: LET IT SLIP.

13. Do a virtual interview, say: E-MEET. Turns out you can add an "E " to just about anything.

14. "Fresh Air" co-host Gross: TERRY. She's been at NPR (National Public Radio) since 1975 and has interviewed thousands of guests. 

19. Condé __: NAST.

20. Orange skin: PEEL. Lime skin: PEEL.

25. Citrus fruit: LIME. Citrus fruit: ORANGE.

26. Indigenous people of North Carolina: ENO. I don't know the ENO. 

27. Alter __: EGO. But I do know the EGO!

28. Devices for watching old home movies: VCRS. Video Cassette Recorders were once a household staple, but they made lousy clocks.

31. Sneak (around): TIPTOE. 

32. "Minor Detail" novelist Shibli: ADANIA. ADANIA Shibili is a Palestinian author and essayist. Her award-winning crime novel Minor Detail was controversial because of its portrayal of Israelis.

33. Shipper with brown trucks: UPS. Brown is the least used color for corporate identities, but I thought UPS used it because it looked like cardboard boxes. They say it imparts "reliability and stability." OK, if they say so...

34. Astronaut Jemison: MAE. MAE Jemison became the first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. You go girl!

37. Be better than: TOP. Better than that: ZZ TOP!

38. Whichever: ANY.

41. In medias __: RES. Latin for "in the middle of things," it's a literary technique where a story begins in the midst of the action to immediately engage the reader, with backstory revealed later through dialogue or flashbacks. Its been hijacked by the film industry, where it seems every movie opens with an action scene known as a "cold open."

43. Educational ad: PSA. Public Service Announcement. 

46. Warm: AFFABLE.

48. Admit: ALLOW IN.

50. Lore: TALES. Lore: HEADS. "Lore heads" are passionate, dedicated fans who deeply analyze the backstories and universes of fictional worlds, primarily in gaming.

51. "Holy moly!": EGAD. 

52. Step on a ladder: RUNG. Step on a rake: RUNG (one's bell).

53. Stood up to, say: FACED.

54. Aardvark feature: SNOUT. Aardvark feature: CLOUT. It's the first animal alphabetically. Name your locksmith shop after it and everyone will call you first!

55. Like some accents: ACUTE. In English, the mark over an é is called an ACUTE accent and changes the 'e' to an 'ay' sound, as in cliché and passé.

58. Given (to): PRONE.

59. Item in an Ikea kit: SCREW. This refers to what happens to you if don't follow their "simple" directions - you're SCREWed.

60. Wedding exchanges: I DOS. I DOS seem to be getting more popular than VOWS in xwords.

61. Understands: GETS. I see it now.

62. Starter home?: EDEN. Fun clue.

64. Puts together: ADDS. This one ADDS up.

66. Was in charge: LED. 

67. NorCal hub: SFO. SFO is the airport code for San Francisco International Airport in Northern California. The "O" is for Oakland.

Be good. RB

Thursday, November 21, 2024, Owen Bergstein & Shannon Rapp

  Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Today's constructors are Owen Bergstein and Shannon Rapp. Shannon is a veteran and Owen is taking his opening bow on the Corner.  Their theme was a little unusual today as it is ROW based rather than CLUE based.  To make that a little clearer I'll start with the reveal ...

62A. Tune that can soothe an aching heart, and a feature of rows 3, 5, 8, and 11 in this puzzle: BREAKUP SONG.  To try to make that a bit clearer I've snipped the aforementioned 4 rows out of the grid to make them easier to annotate (don't worry I'll put them back in a bit).  Also I've left the original clues and fill in their original locations below.

Here's ROW 3:
 

The first thing we observe is that our constructors' "break up songs" are not necessarily sad songs (a la maestro Neil Sedaka in our opening number).  They are merely "broken up" by a BLACK space.  The second thing is that they are genres of songs, not specific songs.  This is the a cappella group Pentatonix with a Christmas CAROL ...

Here's ROW 5:
 

Our genre is the DIRGE, a lament often sung at funerals.  Here's Buffy Sainte-Marie's rendition of the haunting Lyke Wake Dirge ...

Lyrics and explanation

Here's ROW 8:

An ANTHEM is a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause.  Here is a famous one by Canadian Leonard Cohen called simply Anthem.  He is one of my favorite poet/songwriters, but as he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, here is a cover of the song by fellow Canadian singer Eleuthera (and a CSO to CanadianEh!) ... 

Here's ROW 11:
 

Our final genre is one of the oldest musical forms, the BALLAD, a song that tells a story.  Here's a modern one by Bobbie Gentry -- her 1967 hit Ode to Billy Joe MacAllister ...

Here's the grid ...
 

Here's the rest ...

Across:

1. Volleyball official: REF.

4. Nirvana genre: GRUNGE.  And right out of the gate we have an Easter Egg.   Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture which emerged during the mid-1980s in the U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal.  While Nirvana was the most commercially successful grunge group, there were many others, including several all female bands, e.g. L7.  Here's their Pretend We're Dead ...

10. Style alternative to MLA: APA. -- Modern Language Association vs American Psychological Association -- what's the difference?

13. "It's __ good": ALL.

14. Service provider based in Tehran: IRAN AIR.  Iran Air, officially known as The Airline of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the flag carrier of Iran, which is headquartered at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. As of 2024, it operates scheduled services to 72 destinations in Asia and Europe.  No service to the US as yet.

15. Gentle touch: PAT.

16. Transportation for those who are plugged in?: ELECTRIC CAR. [Half of a clue song]

18. World Cup cheer: OLE.  [The other half]

19. Former union members?: EXES.  All of George Strait's EXES live in Texas ...

20. Fix, as a sock: DARN.  Hand up if you still DARN socks?

21. Earnest request: PLEA.

22. Low point: NADIR.  [Half of a clue song]  The opposite of ZENITH.

24. "Take it elsewhere, lovebirds!": GET A ROOM.  [The other half]

26. Sequenced sequence: GENOME.  A GENOME consists of the sequence of all of the GENES in the DNA of a species, determined by a process called DNA sequencing.  A  massive 13 year multi-disciplinary project to sequence the entire human genome began in 1990 and gave rise to a new science -- GENOMICS.  Here is a brief overview of the project ...

28. __/her pronouns: SHE.

29. GLAAD, for one: NGO. GLAAD is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since expanded to queer, bisexual, and transgender people.

31. Lends a hand: AIDS.

33. Actress Tracee __ Ross: ELLIS.  Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and Black-ish (2014–2022) receiving nominations for five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the latter.  Ross is a daughter of actress and Motown recording artist Diana Ross and Robert Ellis Silberstein.

Tracee Ellis Ross

37. Cake decorator's substance: FONDANT.  [Half of a clue song]  Fondant icing, is an icing used to decorate or sculpt cakes and pastries. It is made from sugar, water, gelatin, vegetable oil or shortening, and glycerol. It does not have the texture of most icings; rolled fondant is akin to modelling clay, while poured fondant is a thick liquid. 

Wedding cake covered
and decorated with fondant

40. Toxic plant in the carrot family: HEMLOCK.  [The other half]  Conium maculatum, known as poison hemlock is a highly poisonous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. It is herbaceous without woody parts and has a biennial lifecycle.   It is a hardy plant capable of living in a variety of environments.  It is purported to have been used as the method for the execution for the philosopher Socrates, who was accused of the corruption of youth.

Poison Hemlock

42. Last one to cross the finish line: LOSER.  And all the others following the WINNER.

43. TikTok mashup, e.g.: EDIT.  TikTok allows users to create short videos, from 15 seconds up to a minute and which often feature music in the background and can be sped up, slowed down, or edited with a filter. They can also add their own sound on top of the background music. To create a music video with the app, users can choose background music from a wide variety of music genres, edit with a filter and record a 15-second video with speed adjustments before uploading it to share with others on TikTok or other social platforms. 

45. Non opposite: OUI.  Today's French Lesson: "Yes".

46. Short time out?: NAP.  I try to get a "short time out" every day.

48. Focused while working: ON TASK.

51. Game also known as table soccer: FOOSBALL. [Half of a clue song]  Today's German lesson: "table soccer" =  "tischfußball"  The funny letter than looks like a B is actually a double S in German and so it was transliterated to English as Foosball,  a tabletop game loosely based on football (soccer on the other side of the Pond).  Its object is to move the ball into the opponent's goal by manipulating rods which have figures attached resembling football players of two opposing teams. Although its rules often vary by country and region when the game is played casually, competitive-level table football is played according to a unified code. Here's a brief clip from a competition ...

55. Pueblo material: ADOBE.  [The other half]  Adobe is a building material made from earth and organic materials.  Adobe is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of earthen construction, or various architectural styles like Pueblo Revival or Territorial Revival.  We tend to associate adobe with the American Southwest, but similar construction techniques are used throughout the world, e.g. in the Citadel of Bam in Kerman Province, Iran: the world's largest adobe structure, dating to at least 500 BC ...

Citadel of Bam, Iran

57. Woodwind commonly made of grenadilla wood: OBOE.  Let's see -- a 4 letter word for a woodwind. I wonder what that could be?  And a CSO to sumdaze for  reminding me that it's called an EKTORP.  Oh yes -- grenadilla wood?

Grenadilla wood cross section

58. Marketer's introduction?: TELE.  Classic misdirection -- TELE goes on the front end. 😀

60. Laundry pile emanation: ODOR.

61. Track unit: LAP.

62. [Theme reveal]

65. Private online convos: DMS.  Direct Messages -- A DM is a private mode of communication between social media users.

66. Lawn sign phrase: FOR RENT.

67. Korean automaker: KIA.  Kia Corporation was founded in May 1944 and is Korea’s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. 

Kia Headquarters
Seoul, South Korea

68. "Gee ... ": SAY.

69. Thomas of the WNBA or Thompson of the NWSL: ALYSSA.  Alyssa Thomas of the Women's National Basketball Association ...

Alyssa Thomas

Alyssa Thompson of the National Women's Soccer League.

Alyssa Thompson

70. Equinox mo.: SEP.

Down:

 1. Issa of "Insecure": RAE.

2. Actress Pompeo: ELLEN.  Ellen Kathleen Pompeo (born November 10, 1969) is an American actress. One of the world's highest-paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on Forbes' year-end lists. Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination.  She is best known for starring as the title character Dr. Meredith Grey in the long running ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy.

Ellen Pompeo

3. Geometric paper toys: FLEXAGONS.  In geometry, flexagons are flat models discovered by the British mathematician Arthur H. Stone in 1939 and were made popular by mathematician Martin Gardner in his Scientific American articles on mathematical games.  Flexagons are usually constructed by folding strips of paper, that can be flexed or folded in certain ways to reveal faces besides the two that were originally on the back and front.  They are usually square or rectangular (tetraflexagons) or hexagonal (hexaflexagons).  

Hexaflexagon

The geometry of flexagons can be extended to the folding of 3 dimensional surfaces studied in a branch of mathematics called knot theory.  The simplest example of such a fold is the trefoil knot ...
 

4. [I'm mad!]: GRR.

5. Brand with anti-ant products: RAID.

6. Free: UNCAGED.

7. Shiny shell material: NACRE.  Also known as mother-of-pearl --  this is how it gives birth.

8. Titans: GIANTS.

9. Make a blunder: ERR.

10. Olympian Ohno: APOLO.  Apolo Anton Ohno (born May 22, 1982) is an American retired short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics. Ohno is the most decorated American at the Winter Olympics and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019.   Here he wins 1,500-Meter Gold In 2002 ...

11. Diet inspired by hunter-gatherers: PALEO.  What is it and why is it so popular?  I'm sorry, but as writing hadn't been invented yet, I can't give you any recipes. 😀

12. Starters: A TEAM.

14. "Score!": ITS IN.

17. Give up: CEDE.

21. Green shampoo brand: PRELL.

23. Speckled horse: ROAN.  There are many breeds of ROAN horses.  This one is an Appaloosa ...

Appaloosa horse

25. "Beg pardon": AHEM.

27. Plant pest: MITE.  Of the many species of mites spider mites are the ones who are most damaging to plants.  They are members of the family Tetranychidae, which includes about 1,200 species. Spider mites generally live on the undersides of leaves of plants, where they may spin protective silk webs, and can cause damage by puncturing the plant cells as they feed.  Spider mites are known to feed on several hundred species of plants.  They look like this close up ...

Spider mite

29. Gp. with Lions and Bears: NFL.  National Football League.

30. Gunk: GOO.

32. __ guard: SHIN.

34. Compilations for fashion influencers: LOOK BOOKS.  In the over 50 men that Elaine Benes dated in the Seinfeld series, one of the most fashionable was J. Peterson, purveyor of his own eponymous LOOK BOOK ...

35. Critical hosp. area: ICU.  Intensive Care Unit -- the hospital destination for those with life threatening injuries transferred from the ER, or those recovering from serious surgeries.

36. Enjoy the slopes: SKI.

38. Thick: DENSE.

39. Many an Egyptian: ARAB.

41. Jazz legend James: ETTA. Here her Somethings Got a Hold On Me ...

44. Hong Kong currency: DOLLARS.  Here's how many Hong Kong Dollars you can get for one US Dollar.

47. Keep the beat?: PATROL.  A policeman making the rounds of the neighborhood -- from the idiom "pounding the beat".

49. Add to the family: ADOPT.

50. Rolls up to the front door?: SODS.  Up to the front porch, maybe. 😀 Also insulting British slang ...

51. Plays with 3-Down, e.g.: FOLDS.  Folds and unfolds a FLEXAGON.

52. "The Light We Carry" writer Michelle: OBAMA.  The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times is a nonfiction book written by Michelle Obama and published on November 15, 2022.  According to the Associated Press, the author "shares the contents of her 'personal toolbox' - the habits and practices, attitudes and beliefs, and even physical objects that she uses to overcome her feelings of fear, helplessness and self-doubt." 

53. "My bad!": OOPSY.

54. Untrusting: LEERY.

56. Bert's buddy: ERNIE.   Ernie gets Bert to exercise ... 

 59. __ out a living: EKES.

62. Deg. for creatives: BFA.  Bachelor of Fine Arts.

63. Spanish article: UNA.  Today's Spanish lesson: "One".

64. Space: GAP.

Cheers,

Bill

And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and for her constructive criticism.

waseeley