Monday, February 2, 2026, Zachary Edward-Brown, Jude White

Theme:  OBX.

Today's big reveal should be a gimme for our east coast crowd, or for fans of the Netflix series:

52-Across. Drama set on the North Carolina coast, and what 16-, 27-, and 39-Across have?: OUTER BANKS.  I have heard of NC's Outer Banks, a 200 mile stretch of barrier islands and deposition bars separating a series of lagoons and estuaries from the Atlantic Ocean.  I had not heard of the Netflix teen mystery that premiered in 2020 and will have its fifth and final season this year.  What do the OUTER BANKS have to do with 16-, 27-, and 39-Across?  Let's take a look.

Outer Banks AKA OBX (on TV and in general)

16. Work promoted by the American Library Association every autumn: BANNED BOOK.  It's been a while since I worked as a professional librarian, but this campaign still makes me proud.  Note that the OUTER edges of the answer spell BANK.

27. Color associated with tutus: BALLERINA PINK.  From prima ballerinas to tiny tots in tutus, pink seems popular.  Note that the OUTER edges of the answer spell BANK.

Prima Ballerina by Edgar Degas (detail)

39. Euphemism that conveys disapproval: BLANKETY BLANK.  Why, you darned blankety blank!  (You can mentally fill in the strong language of your choice when so addressed.)  Note that the OUTER edges of the answer spell BANK -- and that the BANK has been shifting from one side to the other, very much like the sand BANKS of the barrier islands in North Carolina, except that those shift westward, as the mainland retreats in the same direction.  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse -- the tallest in the country -- had to be moved 2,900 feet from its original location to avoid being swallowed by the ocean.

Are you feeling buoyed up by all this offshore banking?  Let's see what the rest of the clues and answers do for us.

Across:

1. Eisenberg of the "Now You See Me" heist films: JESSE.  This seemed like a tough start for a Monday puzzle, but since Mr. Eisenberg has starred in *three* movies in this series, they are clearly popular.  He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010), and has played Lex Luthor in two recent DC Comics superhero films, as well as many other roles.

Jesse Eisenberg

6. Disobey: DEFY.

10. Miso paste source: SOY.

This is the brand sitting in my fridge.

13. Fundamental truth: AXIOM.

14. Guthrie of folk: ARLO.  Son of Woody Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie is a singer-songwriter known for songs of protest against social injustice.

Arlo Guthrie in 1979

15. Source of ruin: BANE.  BANE can mean a source of ruin, like a curse; it can mean death or destruction; or woe; or poison; or a more trivial cause of misery.  "Mosquitos are the bane of my existence."

16. [Theme clue]

18. Three or four: A FEW.

19. Texting format: SMS.  Short Message Service is a widely used mobile communication standard.

20. Deprives (of): ROBS.

21. "Shaqtin' a Fool" host: O'NEAL.  Also a little tough for Monday, but anything "Shaq" is likely to be O'Neal.  Shaqtin' a Fool is a weekly segment from the TV show Inside the NBA on ESPN.  The title is a play on "actin' a fool."  Shaqtin' highlights humorous and unusual basketball plays that have occurred during the past week.  O'Neal is the host and presenter, while other analysts in the studio react and provide commentary. 

23. Pumpkin picking time: FALL.

24. Turf: SOD.

25. Copacabana city: RIO.   Copacabana beach is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  There's a nightclub called the Copacabana in New York that has existed in various NYC locations since 1940.

27. [Theme clue]

30. Rice field: PADDY.

31. Narcissist's problem: EGO.

32. Foil alternative: ÉPÉE.  Modern fencing uses three types of sword:  foil, épée, and sabre.

Mind where you poke that thing!

33. Walks in shallow water: WADES.

34. Mover's vehicle: VAN.

35. Like horror movies: SCARY.

36. Classic soft drink: NEHI.  An American brand of soda pop since 1924.

37. Actor Beatty: NED.  Ned Beatty (1937-2021) acted in more than 160 film and television roles.  Married four times, he was a busy guy.  You may have seen him in Deliverance, Nashville, All the President's Men, Network, Superman (1978), The Big Easy, etc. etc.  RIP.

Ned Beatty

38. Asterisks: STARS.

39. [Theme clue]

42. Wong of "Beef": ALI.  Ali Wong and Steven Yeun star in Beef, a Netflix comedy series in which two strangers are involved in a road rage incident that escalates into a prolonged feud.  Originally broadcast in 2023, a second season is planned for 2026.

Steven Yeun and Ali Wong

43. Google : Android :: Apple : __: iOS.  Google phones run on the Android operating system.  Apple phones run on the iPhone Operating System.

44. Drei minus zwei: EINS.  Three minus two is one in Germany, just like here.

45. "No Time To Die" actress Ana de __: ARMAS.  This beautiful lady has shown up in several puzzles I've blogged recently.  She looks just like I do -- in my imagination.

Ana de Armas

47. Seething: IRED.  Some folks are IRED by the use of IRED as the past tense of IRE, to make angry.  After all, IRE has not been used as a verb since the year 1500 or so.

48. Duracell size: AAA.

51. Off-the-neck style: UPDO.

Ana de Armas with an updo

52. [Theme clue]

55. Sir counterpart: MA'AM.  "Sir" and "ma'am" (short for madam) are traditional English honorifics used to show respect for men and women, respectively, especially when their names are unknown or they are in authority.

56. The "U" of CPU: UNIT.  A central processing unit (CPU) is the primary processor in a computer.  Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of computer programs.

57. Some high-end coolers: YETIS.

$300 for this one.

58. "__ second now": ANY.

59. Defeat: LOSS.

60. Fragrance: SCENT.

Down:

1. Boxing punches: JABS.

2. Crammer's concern: EXAM.

3. Biblical don'ts: SINS.

4. Male offspring: SON.

5. Green gemstones: EMERALDS.

6. Work casually: DABBLE.  Many of our Cornerites dabble in guitar playing.  Others are serious rockers.

7. Deity often depicted as a winged youth: EROS.  The god of love -- renamed Cupid by the Romans.

Eros

8. Cheery aproned agent in Progressive Insurance ads: FLO.  Flo is a fictional salesperson portrayed by comedian Stephanie Courtney in advertisements for Progressive Insurance.

Flo

9. John Lennon's "Unfinished Music" series collaborator: YOKO ONO.

10. Zoolike attraction: SAFARI PARK.

11. Short jokes: ONE LINERS.

12. Evergreen with poisonous berries: YEW.

15. Sweetie: BAE.

17. "Queen of Country" Parton: DOLLY.

22. Sensitive info doc: NDA.  A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract that outlines confidential information that two or more parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but to which they agree to restrict other access or uses.

23. Cinematic transition: FADE IN.

24. Autograph: SIGN.

26. "__-dokey!": OKEY.

27. Reason to don a cap: BAD HAIR DAY.

28. "__, set, go!": READY.

29. Pie nuts: PECANS.

30. Spanish rice cooking vessel: PAELLA PAN.  Paella is prepared in a wide, shallow pan, typically on a grill or over an open fire.

Paella in the pan

33. Caitlin Clark's org.: WNBA.  Caitlin Clark is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Caitlin Clark

34. Longtime players on a team: VETS.

35. Travelers not guaranteed a seat: STANDBYS.  Standby passengers may have arrived early for their flight, or arrived too late to board, and they wait at the gate to see whether a seat becomes available on another flight.

37. Genre for Maxwell and D'Angelo: NEO SOUL.  A couple of one-named musical artists associated with neo soul in the late 1990s.  Proving that even 30 years ago, this blogger was completely un-hip.

38. Foxier: SLIER.  We had this in last Monday's puzzle!  As noted last week, this answer works in the USA, but Brits are slyer.

40. Sportage automaker: KIA.

41. Flat French hats: BERETS.

46. Parenting blog visitor, maybe: MOM.

47. "No kidding?": IT IS.  "No kidding, the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal in the world?"  "It is!"

48. Poker buy-in: ANTE.  Jinx sometimes reminds us that the buy-in happens earlier, when a player buys chips, but the ante is the buy-in for any given hand, is it not?

49. Similar (to): AKIN.

50. Exec's helper: ASST.  An abbreviation in the clue calls for an abbreviation in the answer.

51. Actress Thurman: UMA.  Uma Thurman is an American actress.  Known for her collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, she has performed in over fifty film and television productions since the 1980s.

Uma Thurman

53. Draw Four card game: UNO.  In UNO, the Wild Draw Four (+4) is a special action card that forces the next player to draw four cards and skip their turn.

UNO cards

54. Nuclear agcy. depicted in "Oppenheimer": AEC.  Atomic Energy Commission.

Here's the grid:

Solvers, did you find A FEW of today's clues to be tough for a Monday puzzle?

Were some of them SCARY?  

Or did you pass this EXAM easily and get a big EGO boost from the experience?

Let us know in the comments section!  It's the friendliest place on the internet.

-- NaomiZ

Friday, April 11, 2025 - Zachary Edward-Brown

  Theme: "ALL righty then ..."

Puzzling thoughts:

Today's Friday offering from Zachary Edward-Brown (who, after doing some research, appears to be a newbie constructor - having had published puzzles this year in both Universal and AV Club) features the type of puzzle that our Irish Miss 🍀loves almost as much as she does a puzzle that contains a plethora of three-letter words, abbreviations, and uncommon names:  the add/subtract a word/letter with corny clues 😜

Ok, that being said ... let's look at the "good", the "bad", and the "so-so" that Zachary provided us today:

As my theme heading suggests, the word ALL appears once in three of the across entries and twice in another.  We'll get to that in a Moe-ment ... 

As the reveal in 53-down. states: "Bold poker play, and an apt title for this puzzle:" ALL IN is the bold move Zachary uses to change the meaning of the entry phrases.  How?  Let's check out the entries:

18-across. Performance in which dancers avoid center stage?: SIDE BALLET.  In this example, the word all changes the familiar term side bet to fit the clue.  A side bet is usually one made at a Texas Hold'em table after one of the players goes "all in".  A side bet can be made by the remaining players who have called the "all in" bet, and that wager does not affect the outcome of the other

31-across. Fearlessness shared by characters such as Rocky and Rambo?: HEART OF STALLONE. By far, my favorite of the entries.  Perhaps my all-time favorite add/subtract clue/answer.  Well done Zachary! How about a little Rolling Stones "Heart of Stone" to bring this one home?

40-across. Decide it's time to harvest oniony bulbs?: CALL THE SHALLOTS.  This entry is the outlier as it has the word ALL in two places of the answer: after the first letter (Call) and word of the phrase, and again in the word shallots.  "Call the shots" is the phrase that's being punned, and in keeping with what appears to be a gambling theme (the reveal is a poker term, as is the first entry), this phrase, too, can be used in various forms of wagering.  Have you ever played "HORSE" in basketball?

58-across. Vehicle built for Yao Ming and Shaq?: TALL-MOBILE.  And then this entry threw all of the monkey wrenches into the mix, as the word, minus the "all", T-Mobile, has nothing to do with gambling.  It is a wireless phone carrier service and internet provider ... although some users of that provider might say that you're "gambling" with getting good coverage

So, the good: HEART OF STALLONE (as well as the phrase "SNAIL MAIL" and the word "HOLYOKE")

The bad: TALL-MOBILE (as well as the entries of "HTC", "EEL POT", "T-BEAM", "ODOR EATER" and "E-BOAT") 

The so-so:  SIDE BALLET (that phrase just doesn't make any sense) and CALL THE SHALLOTS (due to its use of the word "all" twice) as well as the entries: "IMAGO" "A LOT" "ESAU", "ABC NEWS", and "BEEP" (as clued)

Overall rating for this one: ⭐⭐ and 1/2⭐

Perhaps one of the clued entries that was left on the cutting room floor:

00-across.  Convention activity for clowns that involves creating blown-up animals from colorful latex?: BALLOONDOGGLE

Here is the grid ... 

Across:

1. "Casablanca" role: ILSA.  Some SparkNotes for ILSA Lund

5. Postop therapy: REHAB. 

10. Sound from R2-D2: BEEP.  meh

14. Family nickname: NANA.  My maternal grandparents were called "NANA and Gramps"

15. Insect stage: IMAGO.

  

IMAGO = The adult stage

16. Syllables repeated in Rihanna's "Umbrella": ELLA.  Fast forward the video to the 1:20 mark to find the refrain that repeats the syllables, ella ella eh eh eh 

17. Place for Jazz players to practice: UTAH.  Utah Jazz basketball team (NBA)

[entry #1]

20. Take to the hills?: SKI.  Something my fellow Friday co-blogger, Malodorous Manatee, has done often this past ski season

21. Like supernovas: HOT.  Hot?  Ya think?

Literally, an exploding star

22. Some flight destinations: ATTICS.  Not a fan of the plural use of the word attic, but the clue was very clever

23. Underwater trap: EEL POT. Moe-ku #1

        Underwater trap

        Set by narcs had effect. Caught

        Users of eel pot

25. Digging: INTO.  

27. Pig's place: STY.

28. Needs to: MUST.  As opposed to "wants to" --- and its somewhat related clue/answer from 25-down:  Refuses to bargain: INSISTS.  

29. Holiday melodies: NOELS.  Some biblical history on the use and meaning of the word Noel

[entry #2]

37. Voyage: TRIP.  

38. Flair who was the first wrestler to complete the WCW's Triple Crown: RIC.

 

Also known as, "The Nature Boy"

39. Noisy commotions: ADOS.

[entry #3]

45. WWII craft: E-BOAT.  German "fast attack craft" known as Schnellboot.  The British donned it "E"-Boat with the "E" standing for enemy

Schnellboot

46. Oaf: BOOR.  I tried "clod" until I knew it wasn't correct

47. Dockworker's gp.: ILA.

50. Part of BPOE: ELKS.

51. Purchase that's worth a shot: CAMERA.  I really wanted the word here to be "whisky"

54. Amount after deductions: NET PAY.  Moe-ku #2:

        Trapeze artist earned

        Full salary, 'til he fell.

        Then, he got net pay

56. "Your point being?": AND.

57. Feel sick: AIL.

[entry #4]

61. Etc. kin: ET. AL.  Fun Faux Fact:  the abbreviation et. al. really stands for (Extraterrestrial Aliens)

62. Biblical twin of Jacob: ESAU. Moe-ku #3

        Jacob and his twin

        Discovered the first fulcrum:

        Called Esau's seesaw

63. "Bam!": KAPOW.

64. Alien-seeking org.: SETI.  Fun Fact:  This doesn't mean: Seeking English Translators Intergalactically 

65. Suffix that means "without": LESS.  Moe-ku #4:

        Crossword puzzle came

        With just a grid; nothing else.

        Left us all clueless

 
66. Les __-Unis: ETATS. Mandatory foreign phrase entry

67. Prefix in some juice names: CRAN.  

Down:

1. Unavailable: IN USE. As opposed to this:

Not in use

2. Potato pancake: LATKE. Not to be confused with:

Any "Taxi" fans out here??

3. Delivery for those who haven't gone paperless: SNAIL MAIL.

4. Spa sigh: AAH.  If you didn't look carefully, you might have thought the clue said: "Spa sign"

5. Starchy dish that requires attentive stirring: RISOTTO. How to be a risotto master:

6. Radiate: EMIT.

7. Bore: HAD.  Took me a while to suss this ... think of birthing a child, and now re-read the clue and entry ... 

8. Grow old: AGE.  

9. Bubbly drink?: BOBA TEA.  In this case, I think the word "bubbly" should have been in quotes, and the clue does not include a question mark. The "bubbles" in boba tea refer to tapioca beads, not CO²

11. "Black-ish" star Tracee __ Ross: ELLIS.  This person.  To be perfectly honest, I have never seen this actor in any of her movies and/or television series

12. Put in office: ELECT.

13. Gullible one: PATSY.

19. Bikini, for one: ATOLL.  Here is some interesting history regarding the atoll called Bikini

21. Emcee: HOST.

24. Color of Fear in the "Inside Out" films: PURPLE.  This one solved via perps, but I have seen this animated short from Pixar.  Just didn't recall that the Color of Fear was purple

26. "Take it down a __, please": NOTCH. "It's creepin' a bit"

30. Super G event, e.g.: SLALOM.  

31. Taiwanese electronics co.: HTC.  High Tech Computer corporation

32. Cy Young stat: ERA.  All of Cy Young's stat's

33. "Let your __ flag fly": FREAK. An idiomatic phrase that refers to being singular and expressive

34. Shoe insert: ODOR EATER.  A lot of us carp about certain words or phrases in crossword puzzles being erroneously pluralized; but in this case, I've never heard of the branded name product used to mask the smell in one's shoes called by its singular ... they're always referred to as "Odor-Eaters"

35. "Psych!": NOT.  For those who are not into either internet jargon nor youthful slang:

36. Start of spring: ESS. The letter ess is also the start of start

41. Construction girder: T-BEAM.  Here <== is a link to many of the different kinds of construction girders, including the t-beam, as well as the i-beam and h-beam ... "Beam me up, Scotty"

42. "The Paper City" of Massachusetts: HOLYOKE.  So why, in my intro, did I target this word in the "good" category?  Well, for starters, that is the city where C-Moe spent some of his early career in sales.  Holyoke is situated on the Connecticut River, in Western Massachusetts, and was, in the 1870's a leading producer of various paper and textile products.  Paper mills in Holyoke produced everything from paper napkins to cotton-fiber printing paper, as well as wall coverings (textile-based wallpaper) used during the early 20th century. The city is also home to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame ... most folks, when looking at the city's name, would pronounce it "holy - oak".  But true natives say it as: "whole'-yolk"

And now you know!

43. "GMA" production co.: ABC NEWS.  Good Morning America = "GMA"

44. Burden: LOAD.  Onus fit, too

47. Brand of chips: INTEL.  Moe-ku #5:

        Recent stock market

        Trend shows Lay's gaining speed, while

        Intel takes a dip

48. New car option: LEASE.  Remember when new car options included: automatic transmission, AM/FM radios, A/C, power brakes and power steering, power windows, carpeting, cloth-interior, white-walled tires, et al??  And soon after, cruise-control and cassette-radios were options?  The question now is:  what isn't included 

49. Book filled with world views: ATLAS.  This clue uses great play-on-words

52. Vaquero's rope: RIATA.  Only the second foreign phrase used in today's puzzle; kudos!

[reveal]

55. Bonus: PLUS. Let's see if the Thesaurussaurus agrees:

Yup!

56. Very much: A LOT.  OK, I included this in the "so-so" group of entries today.  I am not a big fan of using a lot in crossword puzzles.  How could Zachary have avoided this?  Here is how I might have constructed the bottom center of the grid.  The new look would get rid of ETATS, BAT, IPA, and most importantly, the dreaded "a lot":

59. Critter under Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas: BAT.  Learning Moe-ment  <=== every crossword puzzle should have at least one of these as a clue, IMO.  I had no idea that a ginormous colony of bats was a feature of the capital city of TX

60. Hoppy brew, briefly: IPA.  So, if Zachary had used C-Moe's version, the clue would have been: URL addresses:  IPS 

61. Key above ~: ESC.  Fitting clue/answer for the last one of the puzzle ... it's now time to escape this blog and wait for your comments and thoughts to today's puzzle