Thursday, October 16, 2025, Chandi Deitmer

Theme:  Innovative inventories

Chandi Deitmer is a frequent crossword constructor here and elsewhere.  Slate hilariously says, "Chandi Deitmer is a Slate crossword constructor from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her puzzles are most recognizable by odd visuals, long entries featuring her favorite foods, and references to pop lyrics people barely cared about when they were released 20 years ago."  Chandi has redeemed herself from these charges today!  I could go on and on about the reasons why, but Chandi herself has enumerated enough, reinterpreting common two-word phrases as inventories.  Each two-word phrase ends with a word that means enumeration or inventory.

The theme clues and answers, in symmetrically placed rows across, are:

17-Across. Amex, Visa, Discover, etc.: CARD CATALOG.  As a former cataloging librarian, the CARD CATALOG is a subject close to my heart, but in this case, it's just an enumeration of "What's in your wallet?"

27-Across. Dell, Acer, Apple, etc.: COMPUTER MENU.  Nowadays, rather than searching through friendly file drawers, we click on COMPUTER MENUs, wondering where the latest software update has hidden our favorite options.  But in this case, the MENU is just an enumeration of computer brands on the market.

45-Across. Ones, fives, tens, etc.: CASH REGISTER.  When my mother was young, she worked downstairs in a department store, making change for sales slips and cash sent by pneumatic tube from the sales desks upstairs.  She taught me the useful art of counting change.  Today's cash registers make that art unnecessary.  But in this case, the REGISTER is just an enumeration of currency denominations.

59-Across. Whites, knits, delicates, etc.: LAUNDRY LIST.  A LAUNDRY LIST is a long list of things, perhaps an overwhelming or unrealistic list.  But in earlier times, when you might not have been able to afford your own washing machine, you might have taken your clothing to a commercial laundry, where it was important to make a record of what you left there.  By the 1860s, commercial laundries were using pre-printed forms with exhaustive lists of all the possible articles of clothing you might submit.  All you needed to do was jot a number next to socks, shirts, etc.  Eventually the actual, exhaustive LAUNDRY LIST became the metaphorical, exhausting LAUNDRY LIST.  But in this case, the LIST is just an enumeration of categories of items we throw in our washing machines.

I like a theme that reinterprets common phrases.  Very creative.  Let's see what other clues and answers are on Chandi's to-do list for today.

Across:

1. Hairstyle of Diana Ross and Bob Ross: AFRO.  Diana Ross, the "Queen of Motown," was the lead singer of the Supremes in the 1960s.  She celebrated her African American hair with an exaggerated Afro style, aided by extensions and wigs.  Bob Ross was a painter who hosted a PBS instructional television show called The Joy of Painting from 1983 to 1994.  When Bob launched his career, he permed his hair to save on the cost of frequent crew cuts.  When his "Afro" appeared on his art supplies company packaging, he felt locked into the style forever.

Diana Ross and Bob Ross -- no relation

5. Ruffle playfully: TOUSLE.  To tousle is to playfully disarrange someone's hair.  Don't you dare!

11. Sound of disgust: ICK.

14. Wasn't colorfast: BLED.  A real problem if you don't separate the colors on your LAUNDRY LIST.

15. Sounded hoarse: RASPED.

16. Lad: BOY.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Get it wrong: ERR.

20. Occasion for pampering: SPA DAY.

21. Inclination to stay put: INERTIA.

23. Overlook: SNUB.

24. Japanese honorific: SAN.  I have a Japanese client who calls me Naomi-San.

Anna Sawai as Mariko-San in Shōgun

26. "We're __ crossroads": AT A.

27. [Theme clue]

32. Therapeutic application on a 20-Across: MASK.

35. 63-Across's cry: OUT.

36. Vandykes, e.g.: BEARDS.  A Van Dyke, or Vandyke, is a style of facial hair named after the 17th-century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck.  A Van Dyke specifically consists of any growth of both a mustache and goatee with all hair on the cheeks shaved.

Who wore it best?  Anthony van Dyck or Johnny Depp?

37. Type: ILK.

38. Decorated, in a way: HONORED.  One thinks of a decorated war veteran.

Audie Murphy was the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in U.S. history.

40. "Golly!": GEE.

41. Servings of cheese or oranges: SLICES.

43. According to: PER.

44. Light rope: CORD.

45. [Theme clue]

48. Undergrad deg. option: BLA.  Bachelor of Liberal Arts.

49. Nosh: EAT.

50. UNESCO World Heritage Site in England: BATH.

53. Edible arrangement: FOOD ART.

I don't touch these at parties.  They seem over-handled.
And who wants to ruin the centerpiece?

56. Well-trained groups: CADRES.

58. Latto genre: RAP.  Alyssa Stephens, known professionally as Latto (formerly known as Mulatto), is a rapper and singer from Atlanta.  She has picked up some awards and Grammy nominations.  DNK.

Latto

59. [Theme clue]

62. Mined find: ORE.

63. Stay-at-home worker?: UMPIRE.  In baseball, the home-plate umpire stays at the plate when there are runners in scoring position.

64. "What __ is there?": ELSE.

65. Degs. for House and Grey: MDS.  TV doctors.

66. Wasn't straightforward with: MISLED.

67. Scores: SLEW.


Down:

1. Basics: ABCS.

2. Book jacket pair: FLAPS.

3. Played anew: RERAN.

4. Curious character: ODD DUCK.

5. Airline passenger's table: TRAY.

6. Stout grain: OAT.

7. Chant from fans dressed in red, white, and blue: USA.

8. First-aid item: SPLINT.

9. "Bet Ain't Worth the Hand" singer Bridges: LEON.  Leon Bridges is a singer, songwriter, and record producer.  His 2018 single, "Bet Ain't Worth The Hand," won Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.  Another DNK for me in contemporary music.

Leon Bridges

10. __ case: EDGE.  An edge case is a situation that occurs only at an extreme operating parameter. For example, a stereo speaker might noticeably distort audio when played at maximum volume.  It is challenging to engineer for edge cases because of unpredictable user behavior, product complexity, and resource limitations.  DNK this either!

11. "Just look at the time!": I BETTER GO.

12. Raita herb: CORIANDER.  Raita is a side dish served with Indian cuisine that provides a cooling contrast to spicy foods.  It is yogurt, often mixed with chopped cucumber, and seasoned with coriander, cumin, mint, and other herbs and spices.  Finely chopped red onions and tomatoes are popular additions, along with lemon or lime juice.  Raita is not as thick as Greek tzatziki, and has a greater potential variety of ingredients.

13. Sedgwick of "The Closer": KYRA.  Kyra Sedgwick is a film and television actress best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on The Closer (2005–2012), for which she won a Golden Globe in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010.  Another celebrity DNK for me, but I recognize Kevin Bacon, to whom Kyra Sedgwick has been married since 1988.  They have two children.

Kyra Sedgwick

18. Resort town near El Arco, familiarly: CABO.  El Arco de Cabo San Lucas -- the Arch of Cabo San Lucas -- is a rock formation at the southern tip of Baja California.  When DH and I flew with the family to San Jose del Cabo in January, instead of heading west to see the Arch and Cabo San Lucas -- which I imagine to be mostly golf courses and bars -- we took dirt roads east to enjoy empty beaches and watch the grey whale migration.  Biggest surprise -- Cabo del Este, the East cape, is part of the Sonoran desert.  Saguaro cacti march right down to the beaches of the Sea of Cortez, and the birds were familiar to me from Arizona.

El Arco de Cabo San Lucas

View of a grey whale from my front porch in Cabo del Este.

22. Epic hero of Indian mythology: RAMA.  In Hinduism, Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu (one of the principal deities), and is the protagonist of the Ramayana.  In the story, Rama is born to royalty, but suffers difficult circumstances and ethical challenges.  His behavior serves as a model of moral life.

Rama

24. Like some textiles: SPUN.

25. Racetrack attraction at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris: AUTOPIA.

28. Many a native of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom: MOOSE.

29. Critic Roger: EBERT.

30. Crimson: RED.

31. Like most flea market goods: USED.

32. Catchall abbr.: MISC.

33. Conductor's call: ALL ABOARD.

34. Run-down areas?: SKI SLOPES.

38. She/__ pronouns: HER.  As opposed to he/him and the myriad other choices now available.

39. Take a time out: REST.

42. Home to the Lakes of Ounianga: CHAD.  The Lakes of Ounianga are 18 lakes in the Sahara Desert, in northeastern Chad. The lakes were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012.  Water from an ancient aquifer supplies the lakes, which evaporate quickly because of the arid environment.  Some of the lakes are saline, but others are fresh due to varying vegetation and topography.  Early human settlers in the area tried to stop the desertification that buried their orchards and crops at the end of the last ice age, 11,000 years ago.  Alas, climate change wiped them out.

Lakes of Ounianga

44. Carries protectively: CRADLES.

46. Outfits: GETUPS.

47. Site for a bidding war: EBAY.

51. Flutist's quaver: TRILL.

52. "Siddhartha" novelist: HESSE.  Siddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German and was published in the United States in 1951. The character Siddhartha attains enlightenment through his experiences, which Hesse was also seeking through his studies of Hinduism and Buddhism, and through his reclusive life.  The book sparked a lot of interest in Buddhism in the 1960s and 70s.

Hermann Hesse

53. Born in: FROM.

54. Grad: ALUM.

55. Actor Malek: RAMI.  Rami Malek is an American actor whose parents immigrated from Egypt.  He portrayed Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.  He played a computer hacker in the television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Rami Malek

56. Rep: CRED.  Reputation: credibility or credit. 

57. Étouffée, for one: STEW.  Étouffée is a dish found in Louisiana's Cajun and Creole cuisines, consisting of a thick sauce made with crab, shrimp or crawfish, along with onions, celery, bell peppers, and roux, and served over rice.  In French, "étouffée" means "smothered."

Crawfish étouffée

60. Low, low score: NIL.

61. Beats by __: DRE.  Popular headphones.

Beats by Dre

Here's the grid:

Solvers, how is our constructor's CRED with you now?

Do you feel HONORED to have been offered this puzzle?

Or did the experience put you on EDGE?

I BETTER GO.  Let us know in the comments!

-- NaomiZ

 

 

 

Notes from C.C.

 

Happy Birthday to our beloved Dave (CrossEyedDave)! Your warmth, humor, and perfect birthday cakes bring smiles to us all. We're so grateful to have you in our corner, Dave!

 

 

Thursday, October 9, 2025, Dan Caprera

Theme:  Tousled topknots. 

Some messy buns are truly casual, and others are carefully calculated, like the lovely coiffure pictured above.  Today's puzzle constructor has at least a couple dozen crossword puzzles under his belt, including six in the L.A. Times.  And he's a funny guy!  Dan Caprera:  Writer. Comic. Barrel-Aged to Perfection.  More at DanCaprera.com.

Today Dan has deliberately messed up some BUNS, scrambling them in the theme answers.

17-Across. *Vessel secretly ridden by Indiana Jones in "Raiders of the Lost Ark": GERMAN SUB.  The movie Raiders of the Lost Ark came out in 1981.  I don't remember many details from 44 years ago!  Perpendicular entries saved the day for me.

Indiana Jones and the U-Boat in the Marvel Comics adaptation

24-Across. *Hank Aaron's record 2,297: RUNS BATTED IN.  Wow!  That's a lot!  Famous baseball batter, not too hard to guess the statistic category.

1976 Topps trading card

39-Across. *Ursine critter with a distinctive orange patch on its chest: SUN BEAR.  This arboreal bear is found in tropical forests of Southeast Asia.

Sun Bear

50-Across. *Don't pull any shenanigans: MEAN BUSINESS.  Be determined and firm.

"I look like I mean business, and, by golly, I do!"

61. Casual updos, or what can be found in the answers to the starred clues?: MESSY BUNS.  An updo is a hairstyle in which the hair is swept up and fastened away from the face and neck.

Before the rage for messy buns, there were more formal buns:

Not being much of a hair hopper, I'll jump right into the rest of the clues and answers.

Across:

1. Distracted boyfriend and Surprised Pikachu: MEMES.  Folks put their own text to these popular images.

"Distracted boyfriend"

"Surprised Pikachu"

6. Giants slugger Mel: OTT.  Another famous batter.

9. Grows faint: DIMS.

13. Glorify: EXALT.

14. __ Beta Kappa: PHI.  The oldest academic honor society in the United States, founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

15. Waiting, as champagne: ON ICE.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Saw: MAXIM.

20. Brief fight: SET TO.

21. "X" and "Pearl" actress Goth: MIA.  Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth (born 1993) is an English actress.  DNK.

Mia Goth

23. Loan option, for short: REFI.  Short for refinance.

24. [Theme clue]

27. Divine: FORESEE.  Divine as an intransitive verb.  Per Merriam-Webster:  to seek to predict future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers : to practice divination : prophesy

30. Clothing line: SEAM.

31. Instrument commonly made from African blackwood: OBOE.

32. Prefix with net or com: INTER.

35. Abate: EBB.  Abate is to decrease in force or intensity.  Ebb (as a verb) is to fall from a higher to a lower level.

38. Gym unit: REP.  Short for repetition, as gym is short for gymnasium.

39. [Theme clue]

41. Couple: DUO.

42. Go green, perhaps: DYE.

43. Shredded __: WHEAT.

44. Euro forerunner: LIRA.  Lira was the basic monetary unit of Italy, until replaced by the euro in 2002.

45. Actress Remini: LEAH.  Actress Leah Remini, know for roles on sitcoms The King of Queens and Kevin Can Wait, wrote a book about her upbringing in the Church of Scientology and produced an Emmy Award winnning documentary series on the same subject.

Leah Remini

47. LeBron James and Steph Curry, by birth: OHIOANS.  LeBron plays basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Steph for the (San Francisco) Golden State Warriors.  Steph's father also played on an NBA team.  LeBron's father was a criminal and not involved in his life, but LeBron moved into the home of a youth football coach who introduced him to basketball at age nine.  Sometimes the road is crooked.  

50. [Theme clue]

54. "Let There Be Rock" band: AC/DC.

55. Laid low: HID.

56. Rizzo of "Midnight Cowboy": RATSO.  Dustin Hoffman played "Ratso" Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy, the 1969 film that is the only X-rated film ever to win an Academy Award.  It won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy

59. Musical endings: CODAS.

61. [Theme clue]

64. Woeful words: ELEGY.

65. Flock sound: BAA.

66. Emma Roberts, to Julia Roberts: NIECE.  Emma Roberts has played a number of roles in horror films and has a reputation as a scream queen.

Emma Roberts' hair color is in a constant state of flux.

67. Really ticks off: IRES.

68. PC key near Z: ALT.

69. City east of the Great Salt Lake: OGDEN.


Down:

1. "Family Guy" daughter: MEG.

Meg Griffin      

2. Awkward people to run into, perhaps: EXES.

3. Frutti di __: Italian seafood dish: MARE.  Seafood in Italian is "fruits of the sea."

Fettuccine ai Frutti di Mare

4. One of many in Boston Common: ELM TREE.  The Boston Common is the oldest city park in the United States, established in 1634.  Its Great Elm Tree was destroyed by a storm in 1876, but many others grow there today.

Boston Common

5. Position: STATUS.

6. Black __: OPS.  Black ops, or black operations, refers to secret missions that are hidden from public knowledge, and sometimes even from personnel of the organizing agency.  The CIA is said to conduct black ops to protect national security.

7. Flip (through): THUMB.

8. Leg bone: TIBIA.  The tibia, also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee; it connects the knee with the ankle.

Or, as you may have learned:

The foot bone's connected to the leg bone

The leg bone's connected to the knee bone

The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone

Doin' the skeleton dance

Tibia -- frontal view.

9. Abbey title: DOM.  Monks are called "'Dom,'" an abbreviation of "Dominus" which means "Lord."  Let us all recall fondly Dom Pérignon, a Benedictine monk whose labors in the vineyard were focused on Champagne.

NaomiZ and DH on pilgrimmage in 2018

10. Covered by one's insurance: IN AREA.  Insurance is often limited to a particular geographic coverage area.

11. Found object art, often: MIXED MEDIA.

12. N.K. Jemisin genre: SCI-FI.  N. K. Jemisin is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.  She is the first African American author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the first author to win that award in three consecutive years, and the first to win it for all three novels in a trilogy.  Guess we'd better read her Broken Earth series.  She went on to win a fourth Hugo for Best Novelette, and a fifth for Best Graphic Story.  Wowza.

N. K. Jemisin

16. Key with one sharp: Abbr.: E MIN.  E minor.

18. Zero: NONE.

22. Totally stumped: AT SEA.  Idiomatically, to have lost one's bearings, to be bewildered.

25. River to the English Channel: SEINE.  The Seine originates northwest of Dijon, flows through Paris, and northward into the English Channel at Le Havre.

26. Region: Abbr.: TERR.  Territory.

27. Expedition maker: FORD.  A full-size SUV.

28. Comply: OBEY.

29. Obstacle course component, often: ROPE LADDER.

33. Org. for LeBron James and Steph Curry: NBA.  See 47-Across.

34. Grand __ National Park: TETON.

36. Aloe target: BURN.

37. Fluffy accessories: BOAS.  A boa is a fluffy fashion accessory, worn around the neck like a scarf, and often made of feathers.  Let's go faux for the sake of the birds.  These are pretty costumey anyway.

39. Deckhand: SWAB.  A ship's crew member may be a deckhand, whose duty is to mop or "swab" the deck of the ship, and is therefore called a swab or swabbie.

40. "Totally!": UH HUH.  Yep, I agree with you.

44. Got clobbered: LOST BIG.

46. Coop up: ENCAGE.  Not a word we use every day.  

48. Feminine possessive: HERS.

49. "My vote is to skip it": I SAY NO.  Want to go see the new Superman movie again?  I SAY NO.  DH says yes.  He happily accepted younger son's invitation without mentioning he'd seen it already.

50. Scotch cookie spice: MACE.  Scotch spice cookies are made with molasses, cinnamon, and mace, which is the outer coating of the nutmeg seed.  In 2019, a Reddit user was investigating a murder that occured in their Maine home in the 1930s, and happened upon a contemporary cookie recipe in the course of the investigation.  The cookies have become an internet sensation of sorts, called "murder cookies" because of the source.  Another Reddit user explains, "They're KILLER!"  All news to me.

another item for our crossword picnic

51. Biotech bacteria: E. COLI.  Most Escherichia coli strains are part of the normal microbiota of the gut.  These bacteria are harmless or even beneficial to humans.  Some types cause food poisoning, mostly through fecal-oral transmission.  (Don't eat poop.)  E. coli is easy to grow in a laboratory and is used in biotechnology and microbiology as the host organism for recombinant DNA.

52. Disney lion: SIMBA.  The title character of The Lion King (1994).

Simba as a cub and as an adult lion

53. Perfect: IDEAL.

57. Courted?: SUED.  Took to court.

58. As soon as: ONCE.  I'll be ready once I finish the crossword puzzle, darling!

60. Pt. of GPS: SYS.  Global Positioning System.

62. Convened: SAT.  

63. Capitol fig.: SEN.  A figure you encounter in the capitol might be a senator.

Here's the grid:

I cannot FORESEE what the comments will be.

Will our cruciverbalist crowd EXALT today's puzzle and constructor?

Or will they THUMB their noses if they LOST BIG?

Please weigh in!

-- NaomiZ