Thursday April 30, 2026 Joseph A. Gangi

We interrupt our regularly scheduled puzzle for this special coverage. Joseph Gangi has been constructing for several years now, and this time he has delivered our morning paper with headlines that become attention grabbers to hook readers.

17. "Local Couple Makes a Commitment," e.g.: EXCLUSIVE REPORT. When a couple decides to be EXCLUSIVE, it means they won't be seeing other people. It's a stepping stone between casual dating and a committed relationship.

27. "China Falls From Top Spot," e.g.: BREAKING NEWS. My favorite themer with a fun play on words with that country being in the NEWS all the time. Here, "China" is dishware BREAKING when dropped on the floor. 

48. "Final Finalist Finally Arrives," e.g.: LATEST UPDATE. LATEST as in the last one time-wise.

63. "Photographer Embraces Traditional Darkroom Techniques," e.g.: DEVELOPING STORY. DEVELOPING pictures the old-fashioned way.

A fun outing where most of the names were very common instead of obscure, and no reveler was needed. For a Thursday, this was pretty easy...plenty of "E"s but no "Z"s - almost a pangram! At first, I thought all the"X"s would play into the theme, but that was incorrect.

Let's see what's in the rest of the paper:

Across:

1. Gimli's weapon in "The Lord of the Rings": AXE. Grimli is a dwarf warrior, and a major character in Tolkien's fantasy trilogy.

4. Mine passage: SHAFT. Some miners get the elevator, others get the SHAFT.

9. Healthy side: SALAD. Unless it's loaded with excessive toppings and high-calorie dressings.

14. __ lunch: BOX. I don't remember having a lunch BOX. I guess we were a brown bag family.

15. Peninsular Arab state: QATAR. One of the few answers with a "Q" not followed by "U". These words are usually anglicized from other languages that do not use the English alphabet.

16. Act with feeling: EMOTE.

17. [theme]

20. Nephew of Donald Duck: LOUIE. Huey, Dewey and LOUIE are the triplet nephews of Donald Duck and grand-nephews of Scrooge McDuck, 

Huey (red), Dewey (blue), & LOUIE (green)

21. Word with tea and toast: TEXAS. TEXAS tea always reminds me of the theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies.

22. Diner slice: PIE.

23. Meat product with a museum in Minnesota: SPAM. I keep getting unsolicited emails to go visit it.

25. July's namesake: CAESAR. Julius CAESAR. His great-nephew CAESAR Augustus got the following month.

27. [theme]

32. Civil rights leader Wilkins: ROY. ROY Wilkins led the NAACP as executive secretary and director for over 20 years (1955–1977).

33. Emotionless: STONY. Emotionless: STOIC.

34. Olympic skater Cohen: SASHA. Not to be confused with Sacha Baron Cohen. 

Skater vs. Jester

38. Lotion additive: ALOE.

40. Carriers powered by pantographs and overhead lines: TRAMS. A pantograph is a roof-mounted apparatus on electric trains, TRAMS, and trolleybuses used to collect electricity from overhead wires.

42. Early operating system: UNIX. My dear RightBrain was an early UNIX programmer who developed accounting software for small businesses. The real brain in the family!

43. Drink carelessly: SLURP. Meanwhile, I just SLURP and make a mess.

45. Puts one foot in front of the other: STEPS. And pretty soon, you're walking!

47. Conduit shape: ELL. Having worked with electrical conduit most of my life, I thought it's a tube shape, not how it is bent.

48. [theme]

51. Video meeting need: CAMERA. But not pants.

54. Cozy alcove: NOOK. A good place to curl up with an e-book.

55. Prefix with meter: ODO. ODO (by itself) is probably the weakest answer in the grid. An ODOmeter measures distance traveled.

56. "The Three-Body Problem" genre: SCI-FI. The Three-Body Problem is the first book in Cixin Liu's Hugo Award-winning Remembrance of Earth's Past science fiction trilogy. Volume 1 has been made into a TV series on Netflix.

60. "Cannot __": slangy expression of mock horror: UNSEE.

63. [theme]

66. Flared dress style: A-LINE. As the name implies, it's a dress that flairs like the letter “A” -otherwise known as "a dress" to me. I'm a modemuffel, a German colloquial term for someone who disregards fashion, typically wearing whatever they want, focusing on comfort, or having no interest in current trends.

67. Timed perfectly: ON CUE.

68. Cone-bearing tree: FIR. Cone-wearing dog - with fur. 

69. Disreputable: SEEDY.

70. Tandem pair: SEATS. On a bicycle built for two (unless you have a toddler).

71. Start of a giant recital?: FEE. This clue was my FAVE. 

The giant from Jack and the Beanstalk

Down:

1. Genesis brother: ABEL. Funny how all these early guys have 4-letters in their names.

2. Love letters?: XOXO.

3. "Did I just hear what I think I heard?": EXCUSE YOU.

4. Rodent proof?: SQUEAKS. Fun clue. Rodent-proof (with a hyphen) is something completely different.

5. Gives birth to: HAS. 

6. Bumping heads: AT IT.

7. Bestest: FAVE. Words like "bestest" are my least FAVE.

8. Predatory dino: T-REX. Dino is short for dinosaur, and T-REX is short for Tyrannosaurus REX, just like its arms. That's why it has trouble playing the piano. 

9. Goes back and forth: SEESAWS.

10. Psych (up): AMP.

11. Cereal shapes: LOOPS. They also make other shapes.

12. Open-air rooms: ATRIA.

13. Try to stop: DETER.

18. "Radical Optimism" singer Dua: LIPA. Dua LIPA is an English singer and songwriter who describes her style as "dark pop."

Best New Artist Grammy in 2019

19. 5K, for one: RACE. A five kilometer RACE is just over three miles.

24. Baker's protection: MITT.

26. Genesis twin: ESAU. Almost a Biblical clecho.

27. Some undergarments: BRAS.  Some other undergarments: BVDS.

28. $2 worth of nickels, e.g.: ROLL. It costs the U.S. Mint 13.78 cents to produce and distribute a single nickel, thus this roll of 40 is worth $5.54. A penny for your thoughts?

29. Like Vikings: NORSE.

30. Swarming pests: GNATS. 

31. Citi Field MLBer: NY MET. From Major League Baseball's New York Metropolitan Baseball Club.

35. Leaves unnoticed: SNEAKS OFF.

36. Dagger handle: HILT.

37. Wheelbarrow part: AXLE.

39. Dashiell contemporary: ERLE. Dashiell Hammett and ERLE Stanley Gardner both wrote hard-boiled crime novels. They were egg-cellent.

41. Twirled: SPUN.

44. Pesto option: PARSLEY.

46. Marriage partners: SPOUSES.

49. Folded fare: TACO.

50. Word of warning: DON'T.

51. Musical endings: CODAS.

52. One-named singer whose surname is Adkins: ADELE. 

Who's your Grammy?

53. Theater showing: MOVIE.

57. NYSE investment opportunities: IPOS. An Initial Public Offering from the New York Stock Exchange.

58. "Whatever": FINE.

59. Highlander of ancient Peru: INCA. Highlander of ancient Loch: NESS.

61. Cleveland's lake: ERIE. Speaking of lakes, they never ask about the other Cleveland area lakes, like Wallace, Coe or Shaker Lakes. 

62. Brontë governess: EYRE. Jane EYRE from the novel by Charlotte Brontë.

64. Frame : bowling :: __ : curling: END. And a split END may result from curling.

65. Tear down to the studs: GUT.

Be good. RB

Thursday April 23, 2026 Jeffrey Wechsler

Jeffrey Wechsler made a triumphant return to the LAT with a fun Sunday puzzle just last month. While I know he has no control about when these are published, I think this one came out of the oven a bit too soon.

Golly Gee! For all you fans out there that love proper nouns, this is the puzzle for you. All five themers are peoples' names, both real and fictional, and they all end with GG. 

17. "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" novelist: FANNIE FLAGG. She was also a frequent panelist on the Match Game.

30. Rapper featured on the Dr. Dre song "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang": SNOOP DOGG. That SNOOP is mentioned in a song with a "G" in the title, is the closest thing I found to a deeper theme.

37. Circumnavigator in a Jules Verne novel: PHILEAS FOGG. As a boy growing up on Verne, this was the one answer I filled in without hesitation, except I thought he was PHInEAS with an "N". 

41. English actress who played Emma Peel on "The Avengers": DIANA RIGG. DIANA RIGG as British spy Emma Peel in the 60s TV series was everything a young boy could hope for (when not reading Verne).

58. "The Road to Wellville" role for Anthony Hopkins: JOHN KELLOGG. "K-E-double L, O-double Good, Kellogg's best to you!" Whee! Are we having fun yet?

The real Dr. John Harvey Kellogg

I like the majority of the puzzles I do, but this one didn't excite me. I kept waiting for something to happen, a clever reveal, maybe something to do with movie Gigi, but it never materialized. It's just a list of names that end in GG. 

Across:

1. Revels (in): BASKS.

6. Kremlin cash: RUBLE.

11. Part of the DHS: TSA. The Transportation Security Administration is a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

14. Like sparrows and swallows: AVIAN.

15. One of several mistakes in a Shakespeare comedy?: ERROR. Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest and shortest plays, known for its farcical humor, slapstick, and mistaken identity, revolving around two sets of identical twins separated at birth.

16. Ashen: WAN.

17. [theme]

19. See 34-Down: ORA. Rita ORA.

20. Naval groups: FLEETS.

21. Fresh start?: NEO. From the Greek meaning "new."

22. Govt. figure: POL. POL is short for a government politician.

23. Whispery: LOW. LOW as in volume, not in tone. Cows LOW to communicate hunger or distress.

Psst! The grass is greener on the other side.

24. Observed furtively: SPIED.

27. Florence's river: ARNO.

28. One-named singer from Donegal: ENYA. ENYA has sold an estimated 80 million albums worldwide and now lives in a castle.

30. [theme]

33. Warble: TRILL.

36. Custardy desserts: FLANS. This is rarely seen in the plural, unless we're talking about the all-girl group from Mexico.

37. [theme]

39. Greek island in "The Two Faces of January": CRETE. The Two Faces of January is a 2014 thriller film set in Greece. Also see 29D.

40. Stay put, in Paris: RESTE. French lesson. It's interesting when a foreign word looks like a English word with a different etymology, yet has a similar meaning. "Rest" has Germanic roots.

41. [theme]

43. Fret (over): STEW.

47. eBay caveat: AS IS. I buy and sell often on eBay, and have had surprisingly good interactions with people. Especially gratifying are fair resolutions when something doesn't go quite right on either end.

48. Opposite of o'er: NEATH.

51. Lille pal: AMI. A little more French.

52. Oz. and mg.: WTS. Ounces and milligrams are WEIGHTS.

53. "The View" airer: ABC. The View is a daytime talk show hosted by women, now in its 29th season.

55. Driver's lic. with an added star: REAL ID. Starting on May 7, 2025, a REAL ID license or authorized alternative (like a passport) is required for U.S. domestic flights, entering secure federal buildings, and military bases.

57. Born: NEE. And even more French.

58. [theme]

61. Round topper for a scepter: ORB.

62. Part of the Dutch Caribbean: ARUBA. ARUBA is an island off the coast of Venezuela.

63. Netflix category: GENRE. 

64. Vane dir.: NNE. I'm glad more recent xwords have started cluing compass points this way rather than directions between two random cities.

65. Satisfy, as a debt: REPAY.

66. Good point: ASSET.

Down:

1. Perplex: BAFFLE.

2. Island where Excalibur was forged: AVALON. "Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government." 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

3. Trim and muscular: SINEWY.

4. "Citizen __": KANE. Played by Orson Wells in 1941.

5. Pique performances?: SNITS. Fun clue.

6. NFL employee: REF.

7. Brief address: URL.

8. Corleone player: BRANDO. "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."

The Godfather

9. Theater section: LOGE.

10. Therefore: ERGO.

11. Like many electric plugs: TWO PRONG. This guy's a victim of a TWO PRONG attack.

12. Some Malaysian attire: SARONGS.

13. Like Big Ben's clock: ANALOG.

18. Dubious ability: ESP.

25. Michigan's __ Royale National Park: ISLE.

26. Make bigger: ENLARGE.

27. Maxims: ADAGES.

29. Greek city in "The Two Faces of January": ATHENS. Almost a clecho. See 39A.

31. Trade-__: compromises: OFFS.

32. Gardener's parcel: PLOT.

34. With 19-Across, "How We Do (Party)" singer: RITA. RITA Ora.

35. Robert of "The Sopranos": ILER. I don't remember this young man, and he's already quit acting, but misspelling the cross of PHInEAS with an "N" sunk me.

37. "Hallelujah!": PRAISE BE.

38. Video game giant: SEGA.

39. Collector of rainwater: CISTERN.

41. Suddenly hit: DAWN ON.

42. Increase slowly: INCH UP.

44. Claws: TALONS.

45. New citizen, perhaps: EMIGRE.

46. Doohickey: WIDGET.

49. Otto meno cinque: TRE. Now we switch to Italian for a math lesson. Eight minus five equals three.

50. Hägar the Horrible's wife: HELGA.

53. Slightly open: AJAR.

54. Offer no amusement to: BORE. Zzzz.

56. Tavern quaffs: ALES.

59. Bulls org.: NBA. The Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association.

60. Big name in jewelry: KAY. Winner - Best Slogan: "Every Kiss Begins With KAY."

Well, was Jeffrey a good eGG or did he lay one?

Be good. RB

Thursday April 16, 2026 Carolyn W. Stewart

Carolyn W. Stewart is a veteran constructor that for some reason or another, hasn't published here in the LAT before - probably because she has trouble spelling "GEARS." But she's turned that into an asset in today's Los Angeles puzzle. I'm glad she finally found us!

Here's the revealer:

59. Shift, or what the ends of 17-, 23-, 38-, and 48-Across do: CHANGE GEARS. In each of the themers, the order of the five letters that spell GEARS are CHANGED (scrambled). 

Since the themers don't relate to each other (except for sharing the last 5 letters) I'm going GEAR up by inventing new definitions for each of them:

17. Some fines: LATE CHARGES. A fine imposed when returning GEAR late.

23. Group leaders: TEAM MANAGERS. People who may select GEAR for a team to use.

38. Old name for neon or argon: RARE GAS. GEAR to contain gases include tanks and cylinders.

48. Prom purchase: WRIST CORSAGE. Floral GEAR worn on a wrist.

Now you're all in GEAR. This theme was one that needed the reveler to decode. Circles would have clued us in earlier that something was happening at the end of each answer, but then it wouldn't be Thursday. 

Let's CHANGE GEARS and shift into Drive!

Across:

1. Headcheese ingredient: ASPIC. Headcheese is not actually cheese. It is a spicy appetizer mold made of pork roast. For me, the gelatin is the worst ASPIC of this dish.

6. Nave-y bases?: PEWS. Ha ha! "Nave" as in the central area of a church. 

10. Ad __: HOC.

13. Like bagpipes and wetlands: REEDY.

14. Overly familiar: TRITE. 

16. Forest hooter: OWL.

17. [theme]

19. Messenger __: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid is essential for life (as we know it).

20. Marked down: ON SALE.

21. One with snappy comebacks: WIT. If you can't come up with a clever retort, you are WITout.

22. Attach a patch, say: SEW. A mini poem!

23. [theme]

27. Broccoli __: RABE. Broccoli RABE (pronounced ROB) isn't broccoli at all. AKA rapini, it's a leafy, bitter relative of the turnip. Mine is missing - I've been RABED!

30. Go without a destination: ROAM. Or ROVE. 

31. Carol contraction: TIS. 'TIS not the season yet, but it starts earlier every year, so who knows? And remember folks, there's only 252 shopping days until Christmas, so you'd better get going! To save time, you may contact me here for my list. Just sayin'...

32. Didn't waste: USED.

33. Landscaping supply: SOD. In South Florida, it's very difficult to grow grass from seed in our sandy soil, so I recently added some SOD to my lawn. Per instructions, I laid it green-side up.

34. Take exception to: RESENT.

37. None at all: NIL.

NIL (not pictured)

38. [theme]

40. San Francisco's __ Hill: NOB. NOB Hill is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the US. You can hobnob with snobs there.

41. Long rowboat, or a long kitchen: GALLEY.

43. Square on a waffle: PAT. A PAT of butter.

44. Best guesses: Abbr.: ESTS. Abbreviations is abbreviated, so we must double abbreviate ESTimateS?

45. In medias __: RES. Latin for "in the midst of things," it is a narrative technique where a story begins in the middle of crucial action rather than with a traditional preamble. You see it at the beginning of every action movie, as director's try to stay fresh by emulating Homer's Odyssey from the 8th century BC.

46. The Smiths guitarist Johnny: MARR. Johnny MARR is an English-born Irish musician, singer and songwriter. Fender now offers a signature model Jaguar built to his specs. 

Johnny and his Jaguar

47. Political satire that won 17 Emmys in seven seasons: VEEP. It's on HBO, so many of us haven't seen it. 

48. [theme]

52. Many, many years: EON. Many, many years: EVEN. The rest are odd years.

53. "Color me intrigued!": OOH. Tell me more!

54. Drive-in server: CARHOP. Before the drive-thru, meals came to you! You were still eating in your car, but at least you were parked. So civilized.

58. Shakshuka ingredient: EGG. Shakshuka is a popular North African and Middle Eastern dish of EGGs poached in a flavorful sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions, seasoned with spices like cumin, paprika, and cayenne pepper. I'm glad this clue wasn't the other way around - Egg dish: SHAKSHUKA. That would've been ridiculous. 

59. [theme]

62. Low grade: DEE.

63. "Home Alone" boy: KEVIN. KEVIN! Played by Macaulay Culkin.

64. Will of "Blue Bloods": ESTES. Will ESTES is an actor, apparently, who stars in something. 

65. Orchestra sect.: STR. The STRING section.

66. Tide type: NEAP.

67. Surgical tube: STENT.

Down:

1. "Collapsed in Sunbeams" singer-songwriter Parks: ARLO. ARLO Parks is a performer perhaps better known by her English countrymen, although now living in the States. Since the only ARLO I know is Guthrie, I assumed she was a he. And you know what happens when you assume...

2. Astin of "The Goonies": SEAN. SEAN Astin is an accomplished American actor who started as a child in Goonies. I liked him as the Hobbit Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's best friend in Lord of the Rings.

3. Dependents that can't be claimed as tax deductions: PETS. Actually, they can be deducted if they are also service animals. Here's Buster patrolling the beach as a tax-deductible life guard.

4. Contributed to a brainstorming session: IDEATED.

5. Repetitive sequence: CYCLE. Ever felt like you're getting nowhere?

6. Org. that may take summers off: PTA. Like many school-related organizations, the Parent Teacher Association follows the academic calendar and has summer vacation.

7. Miss a cue, say: ERR.

8. Native American hut: WIGWAM. A WIGWAM differs from a teepee in that there are less ways to misspell it.

9. Hofbrau vessel: STEIN. Hofbräu is a Bavarian beer from Munich traditionally served in a German beer STEIN.

10. Good judgment: HORSE SENSE. You can trust a horse's advice if he's wearing glasses.

Mr. Ed talking sense into Wilbur

11. One with a title: OWNER. 

12. Scratches (at): CLAWS.

15. Lots of rich folks?: ESTATES. See sNOB HILL.

18. Word of mouth: HEARSAY.

24. "Wuthering Heights" setting: MOOR. The MOOR in this story is in northern England, thus no bagpipes. It lies between Liverpool and Leeds, near Haworth where the Brontë sisters wrote most of their novels.

25. Met expectations, in a way: MADE PAR. This clue was average.

26. PX patrons: G.I.S. G.I. is a nickname for an US soldier, thought to be mass-produced "Government Issue." Originally stamped on trash cans and equipment made of "Galvanized Iron" in WWI, it's adoption is an even more cynical take. In any case, soldiers shop at Post EXchanges, retail stores on an Army base.

27. Stepladder step: RUNG.

28. Land east of the Urals: ASIA.

29. Quasimodo, for one: BELL RINGER. Yeah, I know. His face doesn't ring a bell.

34. Daily grind: RAT RACE.

35. Pay attention to: NOTE. Because if you miss a NOTE, the melody sounds wrong.

36. Cookbook meas.: TBSP. A TaBleSPoon measure.

38. Update, as inventory: RESTOCK.

39. Needle-nosed swimmers: GARS.

42. French article: LES.

44. Highest point: EVEREST. While Mount EVEREST is the highest point above sea level, it's interesting that there are taller mountains on Earth, but they start on the sea floor.

46. Natives of the Colorado river valley: MOHAVE.

48. Works the garden: WEEDS. The difference between WEEDS and flowers is whether you want them there or not. We're trying to grow more wildflowers around our South Florida home that add color and thrive naturally in the sub-tropics with low water requirements. 

Not our yard, but it's certainly colorful!

49. Thesaurus creator: ROGET. In junior high, I thought it was Roger's Thesaurus, but that's a different word.

50. Financier Steve who owns the New York Mets: COHEN. He seems very popular.

51. Green plums: GAGES. Greengages (or Green GAGE) are a cultivar group of the European plum recognized for its small, round shape and intense sweetness. That's plum crazy! The things you learn from xwords.

55. Can't stand: HATE. Can't stand: SITS.

56. __ Ishii: Lucy Liu's "Kill Bill" role: O-REN. I stumbled upon Kill Bill: Volume 1 while flipping channels years ago, and was immediately riveted. Watched it from the middle, then again from the beginning. I like Tarantino's incongruent music choices.

Lucy Liu as O-Ren Ishii

57. "Over here!": PSST.

60. Actress Vardalos: NIA. It all started at her wedding...

61. Economic fig.: GNP. This figure representing a country's wealth, the Gross National Product, is outdated though still in common use. In 1993, the United Nations renamed it GNI, the Gross National Income, to better reflect their intent to measure residents' income vs. product manufacturing.

Be good. RB