Thursday October 22, 2026 MaryEllen Uthlaut

MaryEllen Uthlaut is no stranger to the Corner. Today, she takes us from port to port.

20. Port: AVIATOR'S LEFT. The directions and colors were borrowed from boats. 

28. Port: RED DESSERT WINE. Turns out this this is the best way to stain a white tablecloth. Don't ask me how I know.

47. Port: CRUISE STOPOVER. Apologies to cruise fans, but it seems a bit overwhelming when several huge ships descend on a small island.

St. Maarten in the Caribbean

53. Port: COMPUTER SLOT. A port is a place to plug in something external to a COMPUTER, while a SLOT usually means a socket on the motherboard inside that holds various circuit cards.

Ports vs SLOTs

Well, this puzzle started off like a Monday, but ended like a Friday in the south-central area. U-EYS had to change to U-IES, but then I wrote AION instead of PION. There went my Greek poet out the window.

Maserati Quattroporte = 4 doors

No revealer, just four types of ports. The resulting theme answers are all reasonable phrases, which is always appreciated. 

Here's the report on the rest:

Across:

1. Cartoon girl whose best friend is Boots the Monkey: DORA. 

DORA & Boots

5. Brand of body wash: DIAL.

9. Meant but not said: TACIT.

14. Sigh of woe: ALAS.

15. Slip (past): EDGE.

16. Residence: ABODE.

17. Sharp taste: TANG. Ironically, TANG (the powdered drink) isn't tangy - it's over 90% sugar.

18. Russian blues, e.g.: CATS. A cat breed from northern Russian that is blue because it's so cold there. Or maybe it's just because of their thick silver/blue coat.

19. Foldable bed: FUTON.

20. [theme]

23. Kept on teasing: RODE.

24. Isl. with four provinces: IRE. Ireland is traditionally divided into four provinces - Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster.

25. Basic nutrient: FAT. FAT is a macronutrient, like proteins, carbohydrates and water. Needed in lesser amounts are the micronutrients vitamins and minerals.

28. [theme]

32. Wetland ecosystem: FEN. A FEN is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the four main types of wetlands, alongside marshes, swamps and bogs.

33. __ poker: DRAW. You can also paint poker.

34. Holy people: SAINTS.

35. Adapter letters: AC/DC. It converts Alternating Current to Direct Current.

37. "Okey-dokey": YEP. My cousin, who has the voice of an angel, hosts a singing and DJ service called Okey-Dokey Karaoke.

39. Breathing organ: GILL.

40. Moved with haste: RUSHED.

43. Formerly, quaintly: ERST. 

46. Leaves in hot water?: TEA. Fun clue.

47. [theme]

50. Telepathic ability: ESP. ExtraSensory Perception is commonly known as a sixth sense, and is uncommonly known as cryptaesthesia. That just came to me.

51. Part of a pod cast?: PEA. Perhaps the trickiest clue. I had PEE for a while as it's the first letter of pod. 

52. Whodunit game: CLUE. In this case, CLUE is the answer! Just ask Professor Plum.

53. [theme]

58. "Until we meet again, mon ami": ADIEU. "FAREWELL, my friend," in French.

61. Unstable subatomic particle: PION. I wrote AION, which made for an unstable answer.

62. "__ might say ... ": SOME.

63. Cough drop brand: HALLS.

64. Group driven to stay together?: HERD. Unless, of course, they're cats.

65. Neck and neck: EVEN.

66. Talus locale: ANKLE.

67. Mount of Greek myth: OSSA. Twin giants Otus and Ephialtes tried to pile Mount Pelion on top of Mount OSSA to scale Olympus! I couldn't find a photo of either giant. 

68. Give temporarily: LEND.

Down:

1. Facts and figures: DATA.

2. Royal figure in Norwegian history: OLAV.

3. Royal figure in Indian history: RANI. They're the ones who performed the RANI Dance. Sort of. Indians do dance in the rain to celebrate the return of the monsoons which supply three-quarters of the water the country needs.

4. Home of Odin and Thor: ASGARD. It's the Mount Olympus of Norse mythology. No Viking twins, though.

5. Reader of secret messages: DECODER. 

6. "Seems to me ... ": I DARE SAY.

7. Business reps: AGTS. Agents can be business representatives.

8. Nielsen of "Airplane!": LESLIE. There's a fine between movies that are a successful FARCE and ones that are simply inane. LESLIE Nielsen played it straight and made Airplane! a classic.

9. Stiff fabric: TAFFETA. I always thought that TAFFETA was delicate. But then again, most of my knowledge comes from FARCEs. Here's a touching (?) scene from Young Frankenstein.

"Taffeta, darling. The dress is taffeta. It wrinkles so easily."

10. Be against: ABUT.

11. Foldable bed: COT.

12. Promising words: I DO. 

13. Oscar count for 1961's "West Side Story": TEN. This feat was only bested by three movies that won 11 awards: Airplane! Ben-Hur, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. 

21. "Hello It's Me" singer-songwriter Rundgren: TODD. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is considered a pioneer of electronic music, music videos, computer software, and Internet music delivery.

Todd playing "The Fool" - a 1964 Gibson SG he got from Eric Clapton

22. Flubs: ERRS.

25. Having measurable limits: FINITE. 

26. Buck topper: ANTLER. 

27. Electrical pioneer Nikola: TESLA. Nikola invented the TESLA coil, an electrical transformer that produces artificial lighting. It's mostly used by mad scientists. 

Another scene from Young Frankenstein

28. Comes up again: RECURS.

29. Turns out to be: ENDS UP.

30. "Awesome!": SWEET.

31. Barrister's head covering: WIG. Horsehair WIGs are traditionally worn as a symbol of authority, and as way to soften individual identity in the courtroom.

32. Absurd situation: FARCE. See Airplane! and Young Frankenstein.

36. Letter between phi and psi: CHI. The Greek letter CHI looks like an English "X". Because it starts the Greek word for Christ, "X" is commonly used as an abbreviation for Christ, such as in "Xmas." Which reminds me, there are only 64 shopping days until Christmas - so I only have 63 days left to think about it.

38. "Time's up" callers: PROCTORS. PROCTORS are persons who supervise or monitor students and test-takers during an examination to ensure rules are followed and to prevent cheating.

Mr. Bean takes an exam in another FARCE.

41. Embrace, as a cause: ESPOUSE.

42. Judge to be: DEEM.

44. Sugar substitute with sucralose: SPLENDA. There are recipes to make TANG at home using SPLENDA, but the sugar-free variety in stores uses aspartame.

45. Series of gigs: TOUR.

48. Lyric poet of Lesbos: SAPPHO. SAPPHO was an ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. She is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. Once again, it's hard to find a photos of ancient Greeks for some reason. Maybe they need new AGTS. 

49. Frigate, for one: VESSEL. In a modern navy, a frigate is a medium-sized war VESSEL primarily used to protect fleets, hunt submarines, and patrol waters.

53. Spreadsheet unit: CELL.

54. Informal reversals: UIES. I had UEYS at first, but made a U-turn and corrected it.

55. Emotion expressed with heart hands, perhaps: LOVE.

56. Gathering clouds, say: OMEN.

57. Lean (toward): TEND.

58. Triumphant cry: AHA. Much better than OHO. Thanks, MaryEllen!

59. Auerbach of the Black Keys: DAN. The Black Keys are an indie rock band from Akron, Ohio. DAN is noted for playing eccentric, budget-priced, and obscure vintage pawnshop guitars. 

Dan with his rusty trusty 4-pickup (!) Tedesco 

60. Sort: ILK.

"May the FARCE be with you."

Be good. RB

Thursday October 15, 2026 Wyatt Johnston

Wyatt Johnston is a PhD student in Operations Research at UT Austin who creates and publishes his own custom crossword puzzles. Today he makes his LAT debut. Congrats!

No revealer, just clues that pit one entity against another, and answers that end in synonyms for "conflict." 

17. Gas vs. electric?: OVEN BROIL. BROIL is an outdated word for an argument. And ovens have a broiler, so there's that. This one had me speculating if the "B" was added to ROIL as part of a theme, but that was a red herring. In and of itself, OVEN BROIL isn't anything but it does characterize the gas vs. electric debate.

24. Kenwood vs. Sony?: RADIO STATIC. On the other hand, RADIO STATIC is a real thing and also depicts an argument between stereophiles. 

41. Old World vs. New World?: CONTINENTAL RIFT. Here he's changed the rules and dropped a letter to create a pun. Instead of continental Drift, we have CONTINENTAL RIFT.

51. Montagues vs. Capulets?: ITALIAN BEEF. Now we're back to a real thing again. The Montagues and Capulets are rival ITALIAN families in Romeo and Juliet. Their feud may be described as a BEEF.

66. Carnivore vs. vegetarian?: FOOD SCRAP. A SCRAP over FOOD. Although after dropping a letter in "drift," and possibly adding one for "roil," I wondered if this should be SCRAPE, which also can be a fight.

These themers seem to be all over the place. Real phrases vs. meaningless ones, and complete vs. omitted letters. I also found this puzzle to be a little tricky because of the afore mentioned odd phrasing. So, I'm a bit conflicted but it's still a valiant first effort.

Let's look at the rest:

Across:

1. __ bass: SLAP. SEA was too short so we're talking about a percussive playing technique on a bass guitar. Well-known examples of SLAP bass are the scene transitions in Seinfeld. 

My trusty 1976 Rickenbacker 4001 bass

5. Support before a run, perhaps: T-BAR. A T-BAR is a surface lift that drags pulls skiers up a slope before a run.

9. One way to take the bull by the horns?: LASSO. Fun clue.

14. Gilded element in some religious art: HALO. A gold HALO in paintings represents divine light, holiness, royalty, and spiritual illumination. One often appears magically above me in my photos.

15. "The Good Dinosaur" dinosaur: ARLO. ARLO Guthrie may be old, but I wouldn't call him a dinosaur...

16. In base eight: OCTAL.

17. [theme]

19. Play lightly: STRUM. While I sometimes STRUM, I'd rather play lead. 🤘

20. Course selection for a student with senioritis, maybe: EASY A. A "gut" course in my old college parlance.

21. Mind: OBEY. 

23. Hose shade: NUDE. Designed to look like you're not wearing hose. Go figure.

24. [theme]

27. Benders: SPREES.

31. Ruling to restart court proceedings: LET. On a tennis court, when a served ball strikes the net but still goes in, it is a do-over called a LET.

32. Arctic Monkeys lead singer Turner: ALEX. The Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band that has won seven Brit Awards (like Grammy Awards) and has sold over 30 million records. ALEX also cowrites the songs.

33. Denny's rival: IHOP. The International House Of Pancakes rebranded itself as IHOP because they were paying by the letter on signage. Probably.

37. Subtle vibes: AURAS. These are often depicted in art as a luminous cloud or ring (like a HALO) around the head or body of a deity or sacred figure.

41. [theme]

44. Katana, e.g.: SWORD. A katana is a traditional Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a long grip designed for two-handed use.

45. Average: MEAN.

46. Home of the Taj Mahal: AGRA. Luckily for xword constructors, the Taj Mahal will always be in AGRA, no matter how they clue it. And this one was as straightforward as they come.

47. The whole lot: ALL.

49. Country legend Willie: NELSON. In the '60s, Willie played a Baldwin 800C acoustic-electric guitar. In 1969, a drunk person accidentally stepped on and crushed it during a performance in Texas. When he found it couldn't be fixed, his repairman sold him the now-famous Martin N-20 classical guitar that he named Trigger.

Willie back in the '60s with his Baldwin 800C

51. [theme]

57. Sufi mystic who wrote the six-volume poem the Masnavi: RUMI. A masnavi is a poem written in rhyming couplets. It is the workhorse long form of Persian poetry, the most famous of which is the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, a spiritual epic by the thirteenth-century Persian poet Jalal al-Din RUMI.

58. See 48-Down: POOL.

59. "You got that right": FACTS. FACTS is slang to express strong agreement. FACTS!

64. Green shade: OLIVE.

66. [theme]

68. Stanley's "The Devil Wears Prada" role: NIGEL. Stanley Tucci portrays NIGEL Kipling, the sharp-witted Art Director at the fashion magazine Runway.

69. Not on board with: ANTI.

70. Whipped up: MADE.

71. Twitch: SPASM.

72. Overflow (with): TEEM.

73. Quaint cry: EGAD.

Down:

1. Card dispenser: SHOE. A dealer's SHOE is a gaming device used mainly in casinos to hold multiple decks of playing cards.

2. Heavy-duty soap made by WD-40: LAVA. The key natural ingredient of LAVA is pumice (ground volcanic ash). It works very well to remove heavy grease and even TAR.

3. Some drafts: ALES.

4. Petting zoo ride: PONY.

5. Paving gunk: TAR. If you get some on your hands, try using LAVA.

6. Clutch: BROOD. These aren't quite the same. A clutch is a group of eggs laid together in a nest, while a BROOD is the group of young offspring that hatch from those eggs.

7. "I was home watching TV all night," e.g.: ALIBI. "I was watching crime dramas."

8. Birling contest: ROLEO. Birling is commonly known as logrolling. It is an event at a lumberjack ROLEO (a twist on a RODEO).

9. Spanish article: LOS.

10. "Quick, look like you're not up to something!": ACT NATURAL. "Hey, I'm just watching TV!"

11. Confident gait: STRUT.

12. __ Arabia: SAUDI.

13. Early Mesoamerican civilization: OLMEC. Like last week, the answer wasn't Aztec (which I tried) or Mayan. The OLMEC civilization was the first major culture in Mesoamerica (southern Mexico), dating approximately from 1200 to 400 BCE.

18. Expose: BARE.

22. Runway letters: YSL. Yves Saint Laurent.

25. "That is to say ... ": AS IN. This one doesn't quite click either.

26. Aqua kin: TEAL.

27. Egg pouches: SACS.

28. Snowbank creator: PLOW. In South Florida, our garbage trucks double as snowplows.

29. Silver State city: RENO.

30. Boosts in some games: EXTRA LIVES.

34. Cutting edge of fashion?: HEM. Winner: Best Clue. 🏆

35. Common Scrabble tile value: ONE. 

36. School org.: PTA. Parent-Teacher Association.

38. Semis: RIGS. Semi-trailer trucks are big RIGS.

39. Curly coif: AFRO.

40. Superfan: STAN. I'm finally getting the hang of this one. It only took twenty-five years. 

42. Asian rice cake: IDLI. "An IDLI cake is the devil's food." Or something like that.

IDLI is a traditional South Indian steamed rice cake

43. Green Gables girl: ANNE.

48. With 58-Across, exercise venue: LAP.

50. Really bad grades: EFFS. Why no "E"s on a report card? I once got straight "E"s and I told my parents that meant Excellence, not near failing. They almost bought it.

51. Does a laundry chore: IRONS. I wrote FOLDS at first, which briefly screwed up the SW corner.

52. Spring bloom: TULIP. Last March, my son and DIL visited the Skagit Valley TULIP Festival near Seattle. Amazing fields of color!

53. Latina friend: AMIGA.

54. Like some lean products: NO FAT.

55. Yankees manager Aaron: BOONE. The former infielder has been the Yankees manager since 2018.

56. Street corn often topped with cotija: ELOTE. ELOTE is a popular Mexican street food consisting of grilled or boiled corn on the cob slathered in a creamy sauce and topped with cheese and spices.

60. Cartoon supplier of instant roads: ACME. ACME also makes Portable Holes.

I think that's where our highway department gets them.

61. Steep rock: CRAG.

62. "I did it!": TADA.

63. Went fast: SPED.

65. Shade tree: ELM.

67. Darken: DIM.

Be good. RB

Thursday October 8, 2026 Rebecca Goldstein

She's back! And this time, Rebecca Goldstein has given us a puzzle that won't tear your hair out.

37. "Why must you overcomplicate everything?," or what can be said about 16-, 24-, 49-, and 58-Across: IT'S NOT THAT HARD. Each of the following themed answers are not "hard" in one way or another.

16. Christ the Redeemer veneer material: SOAPSTONE. SOAPSTONE ranks very low on the Mohs hardness scale. Made mostly of talc, it is a very soft rock that is easy to carve.

24. Hoppy brew with a low ABV: SESSION IPA. A SESSION IPA is a lighter beer with only a 3% to 5% Alcohol By Volume. Definitely not a hard drink, so you can enjoy a longer SESSION without getting drunk.

49. Contents of a cheese pull, often: MOZZARELLA. MOZZARELLA is a semi-soft, unaged Italian cheese with a high moisture content versus a hard cheese like parmesan. 

58. Genre originally known as the West Coast sound: YACHT ROCK. YACHT ROCK features clean vocals, sophisticated studio production, and mellow melodies, as opposed to hard rock.

IT'S NOT THAT HARD is an apt title for this puzzle. Rebecca's puzzles can be challenging, but not today. I like that the themers utilized a different kind of "hard" in each. That plus a low proper name count made for smooth yachting. The grid is a bit unique as it is narrower than usual with only 14 squares across.

I did have one hang-up though. I wrote DUH at 55A and never went back to check where it crossed 47D BAHT, so I had BADT instead. Bzzzzt! But in my defense, I've never bought anything in Thailand. 

The rest isn't so hard either:

Across:

1. Hydrocortisone target: ITCH.

5. Glissade garb: TUTU. In mountaineering, a glissade is a technique used to descend a steep ice or snow field quickly. HUH? Oh, it's also a sideways glide in ballet. That makes more sense.

9. "Wanna hear a secret?": PSST. Present Some Secret Things?

13. Animated blue tang of film: DORY. DORY's friend in the Pixar movie was Hunky Nemo.

Nemo is a Clownfish and Dory is a Regal Blue Tang.

14. Heavy burden: ONUS.

15. Behind schedule: LATE.

16. [theme]

18. Gets lawyers involved: SUES. Lawyers seem to get involved way too often.

19. Sound heard around a crib: COO. If your crib is full of doves.

20. Places that are all fun and games: ARCADES. My company installed the data cabling for the Blockbuster Golf & Games entertainment complex in Sunrise, FL back in the '90s. It had multi-story all-digital ARCADE that featured a virtual reality flight simulator. 

The future 30 years ago.

22. Verbal finger wag: TSK.

24. [theme]

27. Cut with an axe: HEW.

28. Tree in the name of a Bay Area city: OAK. As in Oakland, California on the San Francisco Bay. 

29. Palindromic family member: DAD. Coulda been MOM.

30. Line of symmetry: AXIS.

32. Palindromic family member: SIS. A clecho of 29A. There are several palindromic family members including a TOT.

34. Part of a routine: STEP.

37. [theme]

41. Perceived: SEEN. This answer may be SEEN as correct.

42. Instrument in a "Baker Street" riff: SAX. Gerry Rafferty's single was a huge hit in 1978 with it's repeating earworm SAX riff. Unfortunately, none of the other songs on the album sounded like it.

43. Body image?: X-RAY. An X-RAY of a brain can reveal everything except if it is rusty.

44. Brain scan letters: EEG. An ElectroEncephaloGram records the electrical activity of the brain. I'll have to try it and see if I have any.

46. Spider's spinning: WEB. 

48. 5G predecessor: LTE. 5G is the fifth generation of cellular technology, offering significantly faster speeds, lower latency, and higher capacity than 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution). It's 1 better! 

49. [theme]

53. "You know it!": YES.

54. Surf shop?: ETAILER. Winner: Best Clue.

The famous Ron Jon Surf Shop is also online.

55. "Well, whaddaya know!": HUH. I though DUH would fit.

57. __ Whip: frozen pineapple treat: DOLE. DOLE Whip is a line of frozen soft-serve deserts with flavors that include pineapple, mango and orange. Now in stores, it was first available only at Disneyland.

58. [theme]

63. College town in Iowa: AMES. Home of Iowa State University.

64. Figs. that may be delayed by weather: ETAS. Estimated time of...oh, you know this.

65. Territory "where America's day begins": GUAM. GUAM is west of the International Date line and has it's own time zone (Chamorro Standard Time). Residents wake up 14 or 15 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, depending on Daylight Saving Time.

66. Lean to one side: LIST.

67. Glum: DOWN.

68. Blows it: ERRS. Blows it: AIRS.

Down:

1. Cards at a casino?: IDS. You must be 21 years old to gamble at most casinos, so they may check your Identification card. 

2. Also: TOO.

3. Act the class clown: CRACK WISE. I've never heard this phrase reversed like this (it's usually wisecracking) but it makes sense. 

4. Prefix with -dermic or -thermic: HYPO. Hypodermic (under the skin) and Hypothermic (low body temperature). The prefix HYPO- comes from Ancient Greek meaning under or below, and is the opposite of Hyper- (over or excessive).

5. Little one: TOT. A little palindromic family member.

6. Spanish one: UNO. When playing UNO, you shout this to indicate you only have one card left.

7. Bluefin, yellowfin, and blackfin: TUNAS. With canned TUNAS, I prefer skipjack. Skipjack is a smaller, faster-growing species, meaning it naturally accumulates far less mercury than larger species like albacore or bluefin, making it safer for frequent consumption.

8. Password preceder: USER ID. You must be 18 to use a computer, so it checks your USER ID. Wait, that's not right.

9. Texting etiquette?: PLS AND THX. Textspeak for Please and Thanks.

10. Riyadh resident: SAUDI. Riyadh is the capital and largest city of SAUDI Arabia.

11. Pricey: STEEP.

12. Thompson of "Hedda": TESSA. TESSA starred in the film based on Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler about a woman trapped in a marriage she doesn't want. 

17. Not great, not terrible: SO SO. This answer is meh.

21. Take the path of least resistance, say: COAST.

22. Pad see ew cuisine: THAI. I saw "pad" and knew it was THAI. Pad simply means "stir-fry," so it applies to many dishes.

23. Suggestive messages: SEXTS. These seem to always come back around and bite the senders.

25. Only cardinal direction not in a state name: EAST. There was an EAST Florida from 1763-1821. It split from West Florida after the Seven Years' War in Europe when Spain ceded it to Great Britain in exchange for the release of Havana.

26. Funny sketches: SKITS.

31. Most susceptible to collecting dust?: SNEEZIEST. This is another word that I'm sure exists but I've never heard uttered. Gesundheit. 

33. Prayer __: SHAWL.

35. Four or five, maybe: EARLY HOUR. It's also EARLY BIRD HOUR!

36. Ramble on: PRATE.

38. Lakers legend Shaquille: ONEAL. Before LeBron James brought his talents to South Beach, Shaq teamed up with Dwayne Wade to win Miami Heat's first national championship.

2006 NBA Champs

39. Rink leap: AXEL.

40. Lends color: DYES. If one washes a new red t-shirt with whites, it DYES them pink. If only it lends color, it would be fine, but usually its permanent.

45. Lost colour: GREYED. In England, they spell "gray" with an E (and "color" with a U). Those crazy Brits!

47. 22-Down currency: BAHT. I got this one wrong because of the aforementioned cross. DUH! I mean HUH!

49. Wearable prize: MEDAL.

50. Some indigenous Mexicans: OTOMI. Unlike the Mayans and the Aztecs, the OTOMI people still inhabit central Mexico.

Costumed OTOMI performing a traditional folk dance

51. Diamond chain: ZALES. "Every kiss begins with Kaye" is a much better slogan than "Zales starts with Zzzz."

52. Muse of poetry: ERATO.

56. Spur to action: URGE.

59. Murder-ous cry: CAW. The call from a murder of crows. I'm fascinated by the odd names ascribed to various groups of animals. Recently, China gifted us an embarrassment of pandas.

60. Sales channel: HSN. With so many online options now available, the Home Shopping Network (and sister QVC) faced financial challenges leading to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

61. Vehicle that may be self-driving: CAR.

62. Tour de France distances, informally: KMS. Kilometers.

Be good. RB

 

 

Notes from C.C.:

Happy 85th birthday to dear Jayce (John)! Your warmth, kindness, and steady presence make our little crossword family a better place. Wishing you a wonderful day filled with good memories and plenty of love. Sheng Ri Kuai Le, John!