Thursday July 2, 2026 Ella Dershowitz

Ella Dershowitz followed in her father's footsteps and constructs crossword puzzles. Wait, that's not right. She's was inspired by her dad to become an actress! Hmm, that's not right either. Well, you can look up Alan Dershowitz, but in the meantime, Ella keeps providing entertainment for us.

11D. Engage in some strength training, or what this puzzle's circled letters do: LIFT WEIGHTS. The revealer sort of tells us that the WEIGHTS will LIFT i.e. spell vertically from the bottom up.

7D. Skeptical remark: YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS. STONE, from the Imperial System used Britain. 

9D. Key influencers?: PIANO TEACHERS. TON, from U.S. Customary and Imperial Systems. Also a great clue!

18D. Cartesian concept that questions the reality of waking life: DREAM ARGUMENT. GRAM, from the Metric System. A DREAM ARGUMENT is a philosophical thought experiment that questions whether we can distinguish waking reality from a highly vivid dream.

24D. "Can you believe this scam?": WHAT A RACKET. CARAT, from the Metric System specifically for gemstones.

This puzzle was hard enough with the hidden weights being presented vertically and upside down. It would've been near impossible without the circles. For instance, if you somehow caught the theme, you might confusingly note that 7D also has TON (part of STONE) inside of it.

On the plus side of the scale, I like how these units of mass are typically used to measure different things, from cargo to gems, and they range from very large to very small. I'd have liked her to toss in a DRAM (Apothecary) or GRAIN (Troy weight) to add a variety of measuring systems.

Let's see how the rest balances out:

Across:

1. Jazzy improvisation: RIFF. I wrote SCAT, and was off to a roaring stop!

5. Taylor-Joy of "The Queen's Gambit": ANYA. In the popular mini-series, ANYA played a pawn who was rooked. 

9. Whimper: PULE. Unknown, but PULE also refers to a rare Serbian cheese made from donkey milk, and is considered the most expensive cheese in the world. You'll whimper when you see the price tag.

13. Vulgar one: BOOR.

14. Bird on the Canadian dollar coin: LOON. These coins are often called Loonies.

15. Hard to erase, perhaps: IN INK.

17. "Today was rough": I NEED A HUG.

19. High cost for the Super Bowl: AD FEE. And up to $50k for great seats!

20. "... at the very least": OR MORE.

21. Dame introduction?: NOTRE. Have you met Our Lady, Notre Dame?

22. "Parks and Recreation" town: PAWNEE. From the popular TV show that served as a springboard for Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman and Aziz Ansari. 

25. Red friend of Cookie Monster: ELMO. Also, Natasha Lance Rogoff, author of Muppets in Moscow.

Have you also met my Red friend?

27. Was first: WON.

28. "Close enough": ISH. This clue is okayISH.

29. Yemen port that faces the Somaliland port Berbera: ADEN.

31. "I am in this meme": IT ME. I'll never get used to this.

33. Checkpoint for the terminally on line?: TSA. Fun clue #1. Transportation Security Administration at a terminal security line in an airport.

34. Banh mi spread: MAYO. 

35. Fashion week focus: DESIGN. This year, their focus was on the historic 100+ degree heatwave in Paris. Models were misted and given cooling towels, ice packs and folding fans to keep from passing out, especially when showcasing the winter collections.

"Hot" couture?

38. Health insurance giant: AETNA.

40. Update from a Lyft driver: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

42. Big mad and not hiding it: AGGRO. A slang abbreviation for aggravation or aggression.

43. Floor connectors: STAIRS.

45. Architect's constraint, for short: SPEC. Specifications are important! 

47. Feminine pronoun: HER.

48. Meaty sauce: RAGU.

49. Engrave on glass: ETCH.

50. Kilt companion: TAM. They were plentiful on Miami Beach last week. Go USA!

51. HS fundraiser: PTA. A Parent Teacher Association may hold a high school fundraiser, such as a car wash or a bake sale.

53. Very, informally: UBER. This is a very nice taxi, usually.

55. Ocean escapades?: HEISTS. Danny Ocean's gang robbed casinos in the Ocean's Eleven film franchise. Ocean was originally played by Frank Sinatra, and later by George Clooney.

57. Command to attack: SIC 'EM.

59. Middle-distance runners: MILERS. 

61. Bracelet spot: ANKLE.

62. Potbelly that needs constant feeding?: COAL STOVE. Ye olde potbelly STOVE...or the family pig from Hooterville.

Arnold Ziffel on Green Acres

66. Oktoberfest souvenir: STEIN.

67. Bread for an Italian sandwich?: EURO. Fun clue #2. 

68. Boo-boo: OWIE. 

69. "Like, yesterday": STAT.

70. "The Pat McAfee Show" network: ESPN. Former NFL punter Pat McAfee highlights the day's top stories in sports.

71. Turow book set at Harvard: ONE L. OK, class. We went over this last Thursday and it'll be on this week's test.

Down:

1. Sac fly result: RBI. 

2. Atom with a sign: ION. IONS may be positive or negative, denoted by + and - signs.

Atom Ant with signs

3. Adversary: FOE.

4. Refrigerant trademark since the 1930s: FREON. DuPont Freon®. It's a gas, gas, gas!

The Stones are cool!

5. Tree-lined walkway: ALAMEDA. The Spanish word ALAMEDA can also mean a public promenade. The city of ALAMEDA, Calif. was the original west coast terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad, which could be thought of as America's first major cross-country promenade.

6. NYC nabe below Union Square: NOHO. The neighborhood North of Houston [Street] in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

7. [theme]

8. Figure in a halo: ANGEL. Figure in Halo: CHIEF, the most popular action figure from the Halo video game.

9. [theme]

10. Go back a step: UNDO. CTRL + Z on a PC keyboard, Command + Z on a Mac.

11. [theme]

12. First page of el calendario: ENERO. January is the first month on a Spanish calendar. 

16. Peachy follower: KEEN. Peachy (meaning excellent or fine) and KEEN (meaning enthusiastic or splendid), expressing a highly positive, cheerful state of being.

18. [theme]

22. Deli pockets: PITAS. Watch your pockets in Delhi! Street thieves frequent busy markets and train stations there.

23. Portfolio piece: ASSET.

24. [theme]

26. Prefix with day or way: MID. Like half-day or halfway, but one letter shorter.
 
30. __ shadow: EYE. 

32. Umami enhancer, briefly: MSG. MonoSodium Glutamate has generally been found to be safe and is healthier than table salt. It was stigmatized in 1968 when a doctor wrote a since debunked letter to a medical journal claiming he felt unwell after eating at a Chinese restaurant. I got sick after eating too much Easter chocolate as a kid. My mom thought it was some sort of reaction so she only got me white chocolate bunnies for years afterward while my brothers got the tasty real ones!

Don't bet on it!

36. Dane introduction?: GREAT. This clue is clechoISH with 21A. The Great Dane is a massive, gentle German breed renowned as the "Apollo of Dogs." Buster sometimes thinks he's a Greek god.

It's good to be the king!

37. Social rules: NORMS.

39. Actress Vardalos: NIA. NIA is a Canadian actress and screenwriter of Greek descent. You may remember her wedding.

41. Fitting: APT.

44. Long sammich: SUB.

46. Level of authority: ECHELON.

51. Spots for education?: PSAS. Fun clue #3. Public Service Announcements. 

52. Subtle hair dyes: TINTS.

54. Awards ceremony host: EMCEE. 

56. Childish comeback: IS TOO. There are a lot of childish comebacks on the crossword playground. 

58. Director Kazan: ELIA. Mr. Kazan was described by the NYT as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history."

60. Take part in an outdoor fantasy game: LARP. Live Action Role-Play ranging from murder mystery dinner parties to massive weekend-long fantasy campaigns with hundreds of participants.

63. Possess: OWN. 

64. Contend (for): VIE.

65. Nigiri topper never served raw: EEL. I prefer nigiri, just a slice of fresh fish on a small mound of rice, over rolled sushi.

Have a safe and happy 4th, everyone!

Be good. RB

Thursday June 25, 2026 Jeffrey Wechsler

Jeffrey Wechsler is pretty sharp. He was here last month with a CORNY puzzle, but this one has more of an edge to it. CUTTING CORNERS is never a good idea, but in this case, I'll make an exception!

Always hire licensed contractors (like me)!

40A. With 42-Across, risky business practice, or what can be found in this puzzle's circles?: CUTTING CORNERS. Wrapping each of the grid's CORNERS are types of CUTTING implements: KNIFE, SNIPS, SWORD and BLADE. Circles made them easy to find.

I like that the corners are read clockwise around the grid, and that each cutter comes to a sharp point at the corner. No long themers; the grid is broken up and nothing is longer than seven letters. Very breezy for a Thursday.

And now, I'll go through the rest with a scalpel.

Across:

1. Positive reply to "How's your health?": I FEEL OK. This doesn't sound very positive, or even the proper response to this odd question. Most people would ask, "How do you feel?" but that would spoil the answer so I guess he was stuck.

8. Carrot relative: PARSNIP.

15. Reminiscent of an almond's flavor, say: NUTLIKE. If you look up NUTLIKE in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of me!

16. Guises for gamers: AVATARS. Maybe I should change my AVATAR to an almond.

17. Activity of a rogue: KNAVERY. Trickery or deceit from a Knave, originally a servant boy, the lowest rank in a royal court. In the 19th century, American card decks switched this to Jack, because Kn and K (for "King") were confused when fanning out hands. "Jack" was colloquialism for a common man, one also at the bottom of the pecking order. Originally a domain of royalty, the King was the highest card until mass production let even commoners play, and they elevated the lowly Ace during the French Revolution to reflect their rise to the top. 

This a Swedish deck: Kn = Knekt (Knave), K = Kung (King), D = Dam (Queen), E = Ess (Ace).

18. Voids: NEGATES.

19. Dazed and confused: IN A SPIN. I don't use this phrase, but the Google says it's popular in Britain.

21. Superlative suffix: EST. This is the averagest 21A clue ever!

22. Outfits: RIGS.

25. Sharp: ACUTE.

28. "Sorry, but it's __ from me": A NO. Simon Cowell's catchphrase on the Idol and Talent TV shows.

29. Shea successor: CITI. Shea Stadium was the iconic, multipurpose home of the New York Mets from 1964 until it closed in 2008. It was demolished in 2009 and replaced by CITI Field, a modern baseball stadium built on the former site's parking lots.

Citi (left) and Shea (right) briefly coexisted.

32. Tax cheat: EVADER.

36. Hush-hush doc: NDA. A Non-Disclosure Agreement protects information that's on a need-to-know basis...and you don't need to know!

37. Carmichael who plays Lady Edith on "Downton Abbey": LAURA. Laura Carmichael is an English actress, most widely known for her performance as Lady Edith Crawley. Since I've never seen this show, I now know how others feel when a clue is about Game of Thrones.

39. Land of the Minotaur: CRETE. The Minotaur is a mythical creature (I hope) from Greece with the body of a man and the head of a bull.

40. [theme pt1]

42. [theme pt2]

44. "Will all great Neptune's __ wash this blood / Clean from my hand?": Macbeth: OCEAN. Your daily dose of Shakespeare. 

45. "__ bleu!": SACRE. This French exclamation originated from "Sacré Dieu" (Holy God). But because Christians feared taking the Lord's name in vain, they substituted the rhyming word "bleu" (blue) for "Dieu" (God) to avoid blasphemy.

47. Actress Whitman: MAE. MAE was a childhood actor who has appeared in numerous films and TV shows. I've somehow missed most of them, but liked her in Good Girls, a crime/comedy drama about three suburban mothers who resort to robbery.

48. Bring out the blue pencil again: REEDIT. First you REED IT, then you RE-EDIT it.

50. Slow-cooked dish: STEW.

51. Mass. summer hrs.: EDT. Massachusetts summer hours are in Eastern Daylight Time.

52. Sings like Ella Fitzgerald: SCATS. Doo-be-doo-bah!

54. Laudatory lines: ODES. 

Not laundry lines...

55. "Captain's __, stardate ... ": LOG. Famous opening line from Star Trek.

58. Cause of a blank photo: LENS CAP. We had a very small wedding, and my future brother-in-law told us he had the photography covered...by the LENS CAP. That's right, we have no pictures from the big day. 46 years later we look back and laugh.

62. Really gets to: ENRAGES. While a screw-up like that ENRAGES some brides, RightBrain took it all in stride. That's when I knew I had married the right girl.

65. Backless tops: HALTERS.

69. Makes softer, as sound: DEADENS.

70. Electric current units: AMPERES.

71. Montana neighbor: ALBERTA.

72. First name of the 28th U.S. president: WOODROW. WOODROW Wilson. In Hollywood, FL, where the longer streets are named sequentially after presidents, Wilson Street follows the much busier Taft Street. I guess Taft was more popular!

Down:

1. Calligraphy supply: INK. It takes a lot of INK to spell "calligraphy."

2. Merriment: FUN. Are we having merriment, yet?

3. Fig. texted en route: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

4. "Jailhouse Rock" star: ELVIS. Here he is dancing away, right out of jail!

Hey! Someone left the door open!

5. Property claim: LIEN. This lean will lead to a property claim.

6. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA.

7. Things on rings: KEYS. Things on rings: GEMS. Well, that's half right.

8. Lose it under pressure: PANIC.

9. Path: AVENUE.

10. Old cloth: RAG. Linen made from flax fibers was used in Egypt thousands of years ago, but the cloth he's referring to is probably not that old.

11. RR stop: STA. A RailRoad STAtion. 

12. "The Greatest Average American" host Bargatze: NATE. I haven't seen his new game show, but I really like his stand-up specials. He is a "clean comedian" who pokes fun at everyday life.

13. Really gets to: IRES. This really gets us to a clecho of 62A.

14. Furtive call: PSST.

20. Impetus for a bluff, perhaps: PAIR. Two Knaves, perhaps?

22. Animosity: RANCOR.

23. Bring about: INDUCE.

24. Vandyke kin: GOATEE. "Van Dyke" is usually two words, just like the facial hair is in two parts.

26. Team working off camera: TV CREW. When a TV reporter comes upon a bunch of rubbernecks at a crime scene, the accompanying team is all business, lest they become CREW necks.

27. Come by honestly: EARN.

29. Care center: CLINIC. 

30. Actor McKellen: IAN. 87 year-old Sir IAN McKellen has won a Tony Award, a Golden Globe, and seven Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards and five Emmys. In spite of all that, he is perhaps best known for his role as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.

31. Helpers in harbors: TUGS.

33. Thought to be: DEEMED.

34. Online NYSE choice: E*TRADE. E*TRADE is a digital investment brokerage that allows people to lose money on the New York Stock Exchange.

35. Puts back to zero: RESETS.

38. Bank holding: Abbr.: ACCT. Please enter your bank account number in the space provided: __________ I will keep this data strictly confidential. Trust me. 

41. Small amounts: TADS. This is what's in my ACCT right now.

43. Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. Bauxite is the primary ORE for aluminum.

46. Org.: ASSN. An Organization can be an Association.

49. __ scout: TALENT. Have I been discovered yet?

53. Thompson of "Selma": TESSA. TESSA has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies over her 20+ year career including as civil rights activist Diane Nash in the 2014 historical film Selma.

54. Chose: OPTED.

55. Helen of Troy's mother: LEDA. According to the most legends, Zeus, the king of the gods, transformed into a swan and seduced (or assaulted) LEDA, the Queen of Sparta. As a result, LEDA laid an egg from which Helen hatched. I'm not sure I buy this.

56. Scott Turow work: ONE L. ONE L is an autobiographical book by Turow that chronicles his grueling first year at Harvard Law School. It is the only one of his 14 novels that is of interest to crossword constructors.

57. Seize: GRAB.

59. "Saint Joan" playwright: SHAW. George Bernard SHAW's play about the 15th-century French military figure Joan of Arc.

60. Mil. print: CAMO. Military print is CAMOuflage. 

61. Blue Buffalo rival: ALPO. Here's Buster as a pup getting ready for dinner.

63. Beverage suffix: ADE.

64. Austrian lang.: GER. The official language of Austria is GERman.

Wait, that's not right.

66. Do the wrong thing: ERR. Jim Carrey meant Australia. 

67. __ Speedwagon: REO. Here REO again!

68. NNE U-turn: SSW. Making a wide U-turn in a Speedwagon was like navigating a boat. It definitely wasn't a Sportwagon.

Happy Birthday, Mom! Wish you were around to see how I turned Dad's corny jokes into even cornier blog posts. The apple didn't fall far from the tree! I miss you both.

Be good. RB

Thursday June 18, 2026 Zachary David Levy

The prolific ZDL strikes again! This time, he's imparting some of his hard-won knowledge for our solving pleasure.

60A. "Say 'aye' forcefully and project confidence," e.g.: PRO TIPS. I didn't notice that this was the revealer at first. PRO TIPS are useful pieces of advice, supposedly from someone with experience in the matter. They are often called "life hacks" on the internet, so you know they must be true. 

Don't believe everything you read!

7D. "Hug the shore until you reach the ocean," e.g.: SOUND ADVICE. The clued directions tell how to go around an inlet, i.e. ADVICE to walk along a SOUND.

29D. "Pair it with thyme or rosemary," e.g.: SAGE WISDOM. Just add parsley to the mix and the SAGE WISDOM would be like Paul Simon's "Scarborough Fair."

31D. "The cinnamon version tastes better than the original," e.g.: LIFE LESSON. LIFE cereal comes in several varieties, but the LESSON I've learned is that the original always tastes best.

A TIP of the hat to Mr. Levy

I liked this puzzle. All three of the phrases work in place of PRO TIPS as they stand (vertically!). But their TIPS (the bottom ends: ADVICE, WISDOM and LESSON) are also synonyms of TIPS by themselves. A double dipper! That all the themers were puns was icing on the cake.

And that was just the TIP of the iceberg!

Across:

1. Completely smitten: GAGA. Just like Lady GAGA's fans - the Little Monsters.

5. Iraq port city: BASRA.

10. Policy chief: CZAR. Thought WONK, at first.

14. Like some history and hygiene: ORAL. Thought words that start with "H" ?

15. Cacophonous: AROAR. Thought NOISY, at first. I'm doing a lot a thinking on this puzzle...most of it wrong.

16. Sharpen: HONE.

17. Kiss, in Cancún: BESO. A Spanish kiss!

18. Piano composition: ETUDE. Not EBONY or IVORY which are the composition of the piano keys. An ETUDE is a short piece designed as a practice exercise.

19. Tiny amount: IOTA. The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet is the smallest one to write, just one little stroke of a pen, thus it eventually came to reference tiny things.

20. Email option since 1997: YAHOO. Yeah, who?

22. Genetic messenger molecule: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid. 

23. Big name in the school supply aisle: ELMER. 

Oops! Wrong Elmer!

24. Exercise that may wind up in a playground: FIRE DRILL. When I saw "wind up," my first thought (oh boy, here we go again) was how I used to twist and spin on a swing.

27. Core muscles: ABS. Body anatomy, part 1.

30. Longtime Buick model: LE SABRE.

31. Acid rock's acid: LSD. It's how you get far out, man.

34. Neck wrap: BOA. He probably meant a feather BOA.

35. Share an office workstation: HOT DESK. I guess it's HOT because whoever arrives first gets to sit there in the accompanying HOT seat. Or is that in the boss's office?

36. Debt letters: IOU. This means I. O. U. which is shorthand for, "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday..."

37. "Casablanca" star, affectionately: BOGIE. Humphrey Bogart was above par as an actor, but below par as a golfer. Just kidding. He was single-digit handicap player, and was considered one of the best golfers in Hollywood's Golden Age.

39. Egg cells: OVA.

40. Minor disagreements: TIFFS.

42. Realm: ARENA.

43. Cars singer Ocasek: RIC. RIC Ocasek, lead singer, songwriter and oldest member of the Cars was over 30 (ancient in pop music terms) when the band struck it big. He wore a wig to fit in.

44. "What's Your Country Song" singer Thomas: RHETT. Thomas Rhett is a Grammy-nominated country music singer and songwriter who blends contemporary country with rock & roll.

45. In need of a towel: WET.

46. Tourism prefix: ECO.

47. 20-Across alternative: AOL. I haven't used WAHOO or AOL this century. 

48. Gymnast's move: FLIP. They do this to see who goes first.

50. Current fashion: TREND.

52. Chest muscles: PECS. Body anatomy, part 2.

55. Exactly: JUST SO.

57. Winter fishing tool: ICE SAW. I saw you fishing on a frozen lake.

59. Anxiety-related med. condition: OCD. Amongst other letters, I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder tendencies. I used great restraint in not fixing this problem:

How could someone leave it this way?

60. [theme]

64. "Chandelier" singer: SIA. SIA is an Australian singer and songwriter known for her powerful voice...and bizarre wigs.

65. Ipanema's city: RIO. Ipanema is a neighborhood in RIO de Janeiro, Brazil.

66. Medicine derived from the bark of the willow tree: ASPIRIN.

67. Sphere: ORB.

68. Flow stopper: DAM.

69. A few: NOT MANY. I figure this is the number of you crossword solvers who also do Sudoku. 

70. Sudoku figs.: NOS. Figures are numbers. So, how many of you also solve the Sudoku?

Down:

1. Prefer to be called: GO BY. The great Asian desert prefers to be called Gobi.

2. Region: AREA.

3. Nasty wound: GASH.

4. Cool and distant: ALOOF.

5. Sweetie: BAE.

6. Professional who specializes in oil cleanups?: ART RESTORER. Winner: Best Clue.

7. [theme]

8. Blip producer: RADAR BEACON. The government recently declassified sealed UFO files, and now we can all see fuzzy pics of blurry objects. 

9. "__ you sure?": ARE.

10. Put on ice: CHILL.

11. Google Meet alternative: ZOOM.

12. Opening payment: ANTE.

13. Backup camera's view: REAR. 

21. Output of some furnaces: OIL HEAT. The output is just HEAT, regardless of the fuel source.

23. Marvel assassin played by Jennifer Garner: ELEKTRA. In spite of her 2005 movie getting a dismal 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, she reprised her role in other Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

25. __ Speedwagon: REO. The most popular classic band car in crosswords. It is an ancestor of the pickup truck.

This 1926 Model G is 100 years old!

26. E-file org.: IRS. Internal Revenue Service.

27. "Mamma Mia!" band: ABBA. ABBA is also common crossword fodder. "Here we go again..."

28. Obnoxious one: BOOR.

29. [theme]

31. [theme]

32. Out of shape, say: SOFT.

33. Sign of disuse: DUST.

38. Lacking skill: INEPT.

41. "Wouldn't that be nice!": I HOPE.

48. Scandinavian inlet: FJORD. Before I looked at this clue, I had FJ_R_ and my rusty brain immediately went to "F-JARS." Anyone got change for a $5?

49. Saint __: Lesser Antilles island: LUCIA.

50. Body part with 27- and 52-Across: TORSO. Body anatomy, part 3.

51. Use, as a ladle: DIP IN.

53. City southeast of Alexandria: CAIRO. It looks nearly due east to me.

Oh, that Alexandria.

54. Ear cleaners: SWABS. Ear cleaners: Q-TIPS.

56. Spread: SPAN.

58. "Teach Your Children" gp.: CSNY. In only their second live show ever, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young delivered a legendary performance at Woodstock in 1969. 

"This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared s—less!"

61. Choose: OPT.

62. Actor Meadows: TIM. TIM logged ten seasons at SNL before branching out into movies.

63. 401(k) kin: IRA. Individual Retirement Account.

Be good. RB