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 BROIL is an outdated word for an argument.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!

 

Thursday October 1, 2026 Cameron Barr & Annabel Blitzer

Happy October from Cameron Barr and Annabel Blitzer! Cameron is student writer and puzzle constructor for The Riverdale Review, the student-run newspaper of the Riverdale Country School where they serve milk in the cafeteria. Along with co-constructor Annabel, they've published crosswords for the paper's game section. Today, they usher in the fourth quarter with their joint entry into the big time LAT. Woohoo!

17. "Top Gun" and "Top Gun: Maverick" actor: VAL KILMER. VAL reprised his role as Iceman despite having throat cancer requiring the use of AI to alter his voice.

25. Insect such as Bombyx mori: SILK MOTH. As everyone (?) knows, Bombyx mori is the scientific name for a SILK MOTH.

36. "The Kiss" painter: GUSTAV KLIMT. The Austrian symbolist painter depicted a couple embracing in 1908. 

51. Appear as: SEEM LIKE. This creates an impression.

61. Ice cream treat, or what can be found in 17-, 25-, 36-, or 51-Across?: MILKSHAKE. The revealer tells us that the letters in the word "MILK" are SHAKEn (not stirred) in all the theme answers. 

Being Thursday, the scrambled letters M, I, L and K are not circled. Usually, in this kind of puzzle, the theme is of no help in the solve - once revealed, you look back and see how it all fits. But in this case, I couldn't come up with GUSTAV's last name and had blanks until I saw the letters of MILK had to be in there somewhere and then it clicked. The rest was uneventful short fill that went quickly. Overall, a fine first effort.

Continuing through the Milky Way:

Across:

1. Pride letters: LGBT. This abbreviation is almost an abbrev. itself as it's often appended with Q, as in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer.

5. Latch (onto): GLOM.

9. Pricey strings, familiarly: STRAD. I wanted STRAT, of course. David Gilmour's 1969 Fender "Black Strat" sold for $14,550,000 in March 2026, breaking all previous records. This Stratocaster was used on the classic Pink Floyd albums The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall.

14. Geometric calculation: AREA.

15. Spiritual energy: AURA.

16. Canines, e.g.: TEETH. Buster has an underbite that we sometimes wonder if other dogs see as a snarl.

Our canine showing his canines.

17. [theme]

19. Spy collection: INTEL. Everyone's favorite British spy not named Bond, James Bond.

20. Do-nothing: IDLER.

21. Fastest qualifier in auto racing: POLE CAR. From my exhaustive research (I used the Google) a POLE CAR is not a proper term. It is the polesitter who starts in the pole position.

23. Welcomes: SEES IN.

25. [theme]

28. Possesses: HAS.

29. All ready: SET. On your mark, get SET, go!!

31. "I disagree": NAY. As in a "no" vote. 

32. Word with flat or late: FEE. Flat FEE; late FEE.

33. Plemons of "The Power of the Dog": JESSE. He made a good first impression on me in Breaking Bad (recently voted the #1 Best TV Show of the 21st Century by the NYT) and has since seen his star rise.

35. Lends a hand: AIDS.

36. [theme]

40. Without a date: STAG. "STAG" historically meant an adult male deer, which became a slang term for an all-male gathering.

42. Like many a chimney sweep: SOOTY.

43. Resistance unit: OHM.

44. Show stoppers?: ADS. Fun clue.

47. Org. overseeing LA28: IOC. The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is overseen by the International Olympic Committee. 

48. Part of B&B: BED. When RightBrain and I go on vacation, we usually pick a BED & Breakfast to stay at. The last one we enjoyed was the Forsyth Park Inn in Savannah, GA. A grand old house with large rooms and 12ft ceilings located across from a beautiful park.

51. [theme]

54. "Friends" friend: PHOEBE. PHOEBE was played by Lisa Kudrow.

56. Lady Gaga, for one: POP DIVA. Lady Gaga dressed so outlandishly, I initially thought she was just a curiosity. But I soon realized that she is a very fine musician, and used her whimsical persona to break through. Costumes may open the door, but talent keeps it open.

Her raw meat dress at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards

58. Moral standard: ETHIC. PETA condemned the meat dress but others saw it as a statement against women being seen as a piece of meat. 

59. Burp: BELCH.

61. [theme]

63. Nebraska city: OMAHA.

64. Fancy party spread: PATE. PATE may be fancy, but I usually don't like it. 

65. Like leap years: EVEN.

66. Some sushi fish: TUNAS. On the other hand, I like TUNA. My mom said it made her ill, so I rarely got it for lunch (ref. PBJs last week). Other kids in the cafeteria would bemoan, "TUNA again," while I thought it was a special treat. With MILK, of course.

67. Lock lips, in London: SNOG. SNOG means to kiss, and shag means to...

68. Musical pause: REST.

Down:

1. Extravagant: LAVISH.

2. Top-notch: GRADE A.

3. Some ball attendees: BELLES.

4. Opinions, informally: TAKES.

5. Lass: GAL.

6. Gravy imperfection: LUMP. On special occasions growing up, I was tasked with whipping the potatoes. In an attempt to make them LUMP-free, I overworked them creating a gluey texture. Fortunately, no one complained.

7. Cookies with many limited-edition flavors: OREOS. As many flavors as ways to clue them.

8. Miami baseball player: MARLIN.  I was at the first Florida Marlins game in 1993. They were renamed the Miami Marlins in 2011 after moving to their new stadium in Miami. 

A spring training program from 1994

9. Like flypaper: STICKY.

10. Brunch hr.: TEN AM.

11. Supply with updated parts: RETROFIT. Part 4?

12. Feasted on: ATE.

13. UPS competitor: DHL. United Parcel Service vs. Dalsey, Hillblom, and Lynn, named after the three founders who started the company in 1969.

18. Van Gogh flowers: IRISES. The IRISES were originally purple, but researchers found the red pigment he used was sensitive to light and faded to blue over time.

The original on left with a restored version on right.

22. She, in Portuguese: ELA.

24. Tree house?: NEST.

26. Danson of "The Good Place": TED. People seem to like this show, but me? Not so much.

27. Bucks and rams: HES. Attendees at a STAG party.

30. ID checkers at an airport: TSA. The Transportation Security Administration is actively considering allowing TSA PreCheck passengers to bring water bottles through security. Yay! After 20 years of making us throw our water away, they are finally coming to their senses.

33. Big container: JUG. It's not like I'm trying to bring a JUG of moonshine aboard a plane!

34. Chargeable autos, for short: EVS. Electric Vehicles.

35. "Good Hang" podcaster Poehler: AMY. AMY always delivers good content, starting with her stint on SNL.

36. Locker room strategy: GAME PLAN.

37. Fish that turns into a dragon, per myth: KOI.

38. Roller coaster feature: LOOP. My favorite roller coaster is the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg where I used to work summers.

The only coaster in the world with interlocking LOOPs

39. Desires: ITCHES.

40. "Help us!": SOS. As I've mentioned before, SOS does not stand for anything. It's just easy to type in Morse Code ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ).

41. Not just a: THE.

44. Socially dominant types: ALPHAS.

45. Accomplished: DID.

46. Cuts corners: SKIMPS.

48. "Don't act up!": BEHAVE. It's Austin Powers Day!

49. Battery-powered rides: E-BIKES.

50. Clothed, so to speak: DECENT.

52. Frappuccino flavor: MOCHA.

53. Water brand: EVIAN.

55. Last multiple-choice choice, often: OTHER.

57. Midrange voice: ALTO.

59. Many a customer service assistant: BOT.

60. Animal mascot for Liberty Mutual: EMU. Liberty Mutual is sometimes abbreviated as LiMu, which rhymes with EMU. Of the big three insurance mascots, I like the gecko best.

LiMu EMU, GEICO Gecko, AFLAC Duck

62. Beer dispenser: KEG.

BTW, I'm not a huge Austin Powers fan, but the references just seemed to fit so I milked it for all it's worth!

Be good. RB