Wednesday February 11, 2026 Jill Singer

Happy Wednesday, everyone! sumdaze here, playing substitute blogger. Constructor Jill Singer has given us a puzzle without a unifier, starred clues, or circles to help identify the theme. Instead, the gimmick is revealed through parallelism in the clues. Once you clock it, everything falls into place in proper Wednesday fashion.

Theme:      

I think I have mentioned this book in a previous post.
It is a collection of over 1,100 collective nouns
for groups of animals, people, and abstract concepts.

In today's puzzle we find four themed answers. Each is an in-the-language phrase such that one of the words in the phrase is the collective noun for the animal in the clue. If you are new to solving, you might wonder how to spot this. In my case, I first noticed that all of the clues to the long answers have an animal in them. 

Let's look at them now. I have used yellow highlight to connect the animal to its collective noun and blue highlight to connect the other part of the answer.

20 Across. Fish exhibit only viewable by appointment?: PRIVATE SCHOOL.  

The collective noun for fish is school.

A PRIVATE SCHOOL is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. (I think it is interesting that their definitions are pretty much switched in the U.K.)

36 Across. Procession of new arrivals to a lion sanctuary?: PRIDE PARADE.  

The collective noun for lions is pride.

A PRIDE PARADE (also known as a pride event, pride festival, pride march, pride protest, equality parade, or equality march) is an event celebrating LGBTQ social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride.  (Wiki)

Mexico City (2019)

43 Across. Gorillas who give glowing testimonies?: TRIBUTE BAND.  

The collective noun for gorillas is band.

This one got a little muddy for me because there is an English virtual band called Gorillaz. They are as original as can be -- not a tribute band. Sure, one can say that the final "z" makes all the difference, but I found this one distracting. Here is one of their most popular songs.

58 Across. "The Case of the Disappearing Crows," e.g.?: MURDER MYSTERY.  

The collective noun for crows is murder.  

a MURDER on the beach

Time to collect up the remaining clues:

Across:

1. Needlework?: TATS.  I like how we start with a bit of misdirection. We are not talking about embroidery. We are talking about using needles to create TATtooS.  

5. Engineer Nikola: TESLA.  [1856-1943] Tesla was born in the Austrian Empire (now Croatia). He became a U.S. citizen in 1891. "Top 11 Things You Did Not Know About Nikola Tesla" (U.S. Dept. of Energy website)  Disclaimer:  I generally bristle at article titles that say "You Did Not Know". How could they know what we do know or do not know?

10. Not exciting: BLAH.  

14. Color name that means "unbleached" in French: ECRU.  I sometimes mistakenly equate ECRU with ochre.

Left: A model looks happy wearing an ECRU sweater.
Right:  Australian cyclist Jay Vine looks happy wearing the ochre leader's jersey 
in the Tour Down Under earlier this year.

15. Mermaid whose best friend is Flounder: ARIEL.  

Ariel and Flounder
Shouldn't he be in SCHOOL?

16. Spa wrap: ROBE.  I could not find a collective noun for ROBE so I am going to suggest a wardrobe of robes.  😉 

someone getting a seaweed wrap at a spa
(I considered the 4-letter seaweed and XWD favorite, nori.)

17. Brontë novel locale: MOOR.  The 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is set in the Yorkshire MOORs of northern England. 

18. Silver screen lovers: CINEPHILES.  Is CINEPHILES a collective noun for movie lovers? If so, Easter egg alert!

22. Inception: ONSET.

23. "XO, Kitty" creator Jenny: HAN.  This is an American rom-com TV series that aired for two seasons on Netflix.  Han was the solo creator.  😉

24. Himalayan bovine: YAK.  

Meet Senji the YAK.  (2:57 min.)

27. "Oh my!": YOWZA.  This interjection is used to express surprise or amazement.  

31. Invitation to eat: DIG IN.  If someone tells you to DIG IN, they are inviting you to help yourself to plentiful food.

33. 1990 accessibility law, for short: ADA.  Americans with Disabilities Act

39. Tree with an edible heart: PALM.  

I encounter these in Southeast Asian cuisine.
They have a firm texture and mild flavor.

41. Accustom: INURE.  Example sentence from Oxford languages:  You'd think my Southern nature would INURE me to this weather.

42. Outfielder Tommie in the Mets Hall of Fame: AGEE.  link to Mets Hall of Fame

Here are some collective nouns for baseball:

    a crouch of catchers

    a mound of pitchers

    (Collectively, the pitcher and  catcher are a battery.)

    a deck of batters

    a spit of benchwarmers

    a myopia of umpires

    a wave of baseball fans

46. 1960s youth activist org.: SDS.  Students for a Democratic Society

47. Like some pads: LEGAL.  

The collective noun for lawyers is eloquence.  

48. In motion: ASTIR.

50. Yang counterpart: YIN.  "As a general rule, anything more subdued and calm is YIN, while something with more energy is yang."  Feng Shui Modern by Cliff Tan

51. Up to, briefly: 'TIL.  until  -->  'til

54. Celeb's image problem: BAD PR.  "Celebrity is shortened, so is "Public Relations".  

63. Comfortable in social settings: GREGARIOUS.  Def.:  (adj.) enjoying the company of others; marked by or showing a liking for companionship.

65. Oklahoma city: ENID.  It is 1,163 mi. (1,872 km.) from Enid, OK to Erie, PA. Better pack some Oreos and a CD with oboe music for the road trip!

66. Classic video game: PONG.  

The collective noun for ping-PONG players is smash.

67. Words of concession: I LOSE.  I had "I LOSt" but then decided the Belgian river needed a vowel.

68. Turn on a __: DIME.  This expression means to change direction almost instantly.

69. Tunneling pests: ANTS.  

The collective noun for ANTS is colony.

70. Less vulnerable: SAFER.

71. Love, in Lima: AMOR.  The official language of Peru is Spanish.

Down:

1. Pace: TEMPO.  We often see this word associated with music.

2. Source of a mighty oak: ACORN.  

I took this photo of a Coastal Oak adorned with lichen
 while hiking last weekend in Ft. Ord National Monument.
(Just to clarify, I was hiking -- not the oak.)

3. Sept moins quatre: TROIS.  No idea...but it looks like French and sept makes me think of a septagon (polygon with 7 sides & 7 angles) and quatre makes me think of a quadrilateral (polygon with 4 sides & 4 angles). Then a perp or two helped me to see the French word for "three" (as in ménage à trois). With that, this clue likely means 7 - 4 = 3. The commentors can let me know if I am mistaken.

4. Questionnaire: SURVEY.  

5. Discretion: TACT.

6. Lake known for walleye: ERIE.  I filled this because it asked for a lake with four letters in its name. However, now I know that the walleye is a native fish to Lake Erie and that it is named for its pearlescent eyes that help it see in dark and muddy water.

7. Greed, lust, wrath, et al.: SINS.  I liked that 7-Down refers to the "Seven Deadly Sins"? The list includes these three, along with PRIDE, envy, gluttony, and sloth. The editors did a good job of avoiding a dupe with "pride".

8. Little sucker: LEECH.  I wondered how "little" they are so I did some research. LEECHes are parasitic or predatory worms. Only around 10% of LEECH species are parasites that feed on the blood of their hosts. Most prey on small invertebrates and larvae. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. Most LEECH species are quite small and can initially go unnoticed by their hosts but the Amazon giant LEECH can measure up to 17.7 inches long and 3.9 inches wide. This species can live up to 20 years. YOWZA!

Amazon giant leech on human ankle

9. Generation after Z: ALPHA.  

10. Élan: BRIO.  Def.:  (noun)  enthusiastic vigor; vivacity; verve.

11. Idles: LOLLYGAGS.  This was a fun fill word!!  

12. 16th pres.: ABE.  President Abraham Lincoln

13. Bucks and boars: HES.  "Males" has too many letters.

19. Odyssey maker: HONDA.  This clue might be using the capitalize-the-first-letter-of-a-clue convention to misdirect solvers. Yes, HOmer made a book entitled The Odyssey but the lack of title quotation marks lets us know that this clue is about a minivan.  

21. On: ATOP.

25. Helped: AIDED.

26. Capped joints: KNEES.

28. __ large: WRIT.  This phrase means "on a larger scale or in a more prominent manner," sort of like bold type.

29. Fan pub: ZINE.  Merriam-Webster does not consider ZINE an abbreviation; nevertheless, "pub" for "publication" was helpful.

30. "The Residence" actress Uzo: ADUBA.  her IMDb page

The collective noun for leading ladies is preen. 

32. Golden yrs. fund: IRA.  "Years" is abbreviated, so is "Individual Retirement Account". 

33. Appropriately: APTLY.

34. "Would it be too bold of me?": DARE I.

35. Chiropractor's concern: ALIGNMENT.

37. Noted times: ERAS.

38. Bottled (up): PENT.  Think, "PENT up frustrations".

40. Deg. for many a Wharton grad: MBA.  The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was established as the world's first collegiate business school in 1881.  History of Wharton

44. Extreme: ULTRA.  Def.: (adj.) going beyond others or beyond due limit.

45. Call for a reservation?: DIBS.  I liked this clue. When your sibling calls DIBS on shotgun, they are "reserving" the front passenger seat.

49. Like decent bonds: RATED A.  

This is the Jenga scene from The Big Short (2015).

It explains the 2008 global financial crisis in 8:17 min.

52. Elba who voices Chief Bogo in the "Zootopia" films: IDRIS.  Hi Lucina! 

The collective noun for leading men is pride.

53. "The Translator" novelist Aboulela: LEILA.  goodreads link  

The collective noun for authors is advance.

55. Fabric first known as "sergé de Nîmes": DENIM.  Perps helped a lot with this one. "DENIM" started as a contraction of that French phrase. Sergé is a type of fabric and Nîmes is the name of a place.

56. Excellent: PRIMO.  In this case, PRIMO is a slang term meaning "of the finest quality". We see it a lot in advertising and branding.  

57. Truck rental choice: RYDER.  

59. Some fluffy boots: UGGS.  

The collective noun for shoemakers is blackening.

If you are interested ... back in 2022, Planet Money did an episode 
on how UGG became the center of an international trademark dispute.

60. Solar panels spot: ROOF.  CSO to unclefred!

61. Contemplate: MUSE.

62. Belgian river: YSER.  We seem to be having a mini French subtheme today. This river begins in Northern France, flows through Belgium and empties into the North Sea. It is 48 mi. (78 km.) long.

Note the helpful map inset.

63. Graduation stat: GPA.  statistic and Grade Point Average

64. Director Howard: RON.  I enjoyed reading The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family, a book Howard co-wrote with his brother. In it, he writes about his road to being an Oscar-winning director.

The collective noun for directors is guild. 

The grid:  

Bonus points for alternating the placement of the collective noun!

One more before we go:  

Note:  Except were noted, all of the collective nouns in this write-up are found in An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton.

That's all for today. I look forward to reading about your solving experiences in the comments section.

 

 

Notes from C.C.:

For those who missed my note last Friday, the ORCAS season here here. Our dear Sumdaze (Renee) has been nominated for Best Crossword Commentary. This year, all of the ORCAs-nominated puzzles will be available together in one special pack. The voting is open there through midnight Thursday, February 19.

Monday December 29, 2025 Keegan Edgar

  

Happy Monday, everyone! This is Keegan Edgar's second LAT puzzle. His debut was on Feburary 6, 2025. Today's theme is:  

We will begin with the four fin-tastic themers:

17 Across. Hangout with ramps and rails for boarders and bladers: SKATE PARK.  I liked the bit of misdirection with hangout the noun versus hang out the verb. In this case, it is the place where skateboarders and rollerbladers can practice their tricks.  

23 Across. Exclamation of surprise: HOLY MACKEREL.  This phrase goes back at least 200 years. It likely originated as a minced oath, substituting mackerel for "Mary" or the archangel "Michael".  

46 Across. Diving stance with bent hips and straight legs: PIKE POSITION.  

57 Across. A-OK: HUNKY-DORY.  This slang expression means "everything is quite satisfactory". It is believed to have Dutch origins and was first spotted in English in the mid-1800s.

(I get those mixed up but I think this mnemonic will help now.)

The reveal spans the equator:  

36 Across. "This doesn't seem right," or what can be said about 17-, 23-, 46-, and 57-Across: SOMETHING'S FISHY.  

In case you have not yet smelt the gimmick, there are four types of fish hidden in the themed answers, making them FISHY. 

(clockwise from top-left)  skate, mackerel, dory and pike

This puzzle earns a gold-starfish for its separation between the themed answers and the reveal. Additionally, note the alternating pattern of the fish word placement. Well done, Keegan! No trout about it!

Now, let's see what other clues we can catch....

Across:

1. "You snooze, you __!": LOSE.  ... said the tortoise to the hare.

5. Not doing anything: IDLE.  not the same as snoozing  

9. Data on baseball cards: STATS.  CSO to our former Monday sherpa, Boomer.

14. Consumes a 15-Across: EATS.     and     ↙

15. Lunch or dinner: MEAL.  

I love a good Venn diagram.

16. Cockpit figure: PILOT.  One of the noun definitions for figure is "bodily shape or form especially of a person".  

19. French "between": ENTRE.  

20. Nine-digit ID: SSN.

21. Hard drive capacity prefix: TERA-.  If you are truly curious, this article explains the basics.  

22. Gemstone with colored stripes: AGATE.  all about AGATE

26. British nobles with low ranking: BARONS.  By comparison, Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey was two steps up:  Earl.

It could be worse....

29. Scottish gal: LASS.  Have you heard of Ally Crowley-Duncan, aka Ally the Piper? She was a guest on WWDTM a while back. Ally was born in Latham, New York in 1995. She is known for playing songs from rock, pop, and metal music on the bagpipes. Although she is not from Scotland, her piper skills surely give her LASS cred. In this video, she plays The Session, the title track from her 2025 album.  

30. Grows older: AGES.  

31. __ pie: dish with corn chips: FRITO.  

recipe

33. Tennis server's success: ACE.  An ACE is a legal serve that is not touched by the receiver, winning the point for the server.

40. Self-image: EGO.

41. Aired again: RERAN.  Think "old TV shows".

42. __-Ball: target game in arcades: SKEE.  

43. Add to the payroll: HIRE.

44. Places for bracelets: WRISTS.  "Ankles" was too long.

51. Actress Tatum: O'NEAL.  [b. November 5, 1963]  Tablet claims her father Ryan named his daughter after the jazz pianist Art Tatum.  source

52. Convent residents: NUNS.  CSO to Lucina!

53. Spot for a facial: SPA.  

56. Blue-gray color: SLATE.  

These walls are painted with Glidden's blue-gray SLATE.

59. Guiding principle: TENET.

60. Length x width: AREA.  

61. Sunburn-soothing succulent: ALOE.  

62. Small earrings: STUDS.  Basically, they are earrings that do not hang down past the lobe.

63. Trial run: TEST.

64. Archery items: BOWS.  "Arrows" was too long.

Down:

1. Not as expensive: LESS.  

2. Acorn droppers: OAKS.  

3. "Thunderbolts*" actor Sebastian __: STAN.  Thunderbolts is a Marvel movie that came out earlier this year.

4. Approximate fig.: EST.  Another noun definition for figure is "value, especially as expressed in numbers".  In this case, that figure is an ESTimate.

5. Spurs to action: IMPELS.

6. Sweetie pie: DEARY.  

7. SoCal NFL player: LA RAM.

8. Large deer in the Rockies: ELK.

9. Talks about: SPEAKS OF.  

The Gossips   ~   Norman Rockwell  ~  1948

10. Touches of color: TINGES.  A TINGE of color is like a "splash of color", only more subtle.

11. "I do" venue: ALTAR.  

Notice what is in their hands.

12. Rich layer cake: TORTE.  

This one certainly has a lot of layers.

13. Construction girder metal: STEEL.

18. Historic British school: ETON.

23. Hydrant hookup: HOSE.  Hee!Hee!

24. Arrange in a row: ALIGN.  You know ... so they line up.

25. Purring pets: CATS.  

I have been cat-sitting for my neighbor.
This gray tuxedo looks sweet but she will not let me get any work done.

26. Acid counterpart: BASE.  This clue references the pH scale.

27. Eager: AGOG.  

28. San __, Italy: REMO.  Population ~55,000. Wiki says it is Sanremo in Italian but two words in English.  It is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. I was curious how many other municipalities fit the clue (but not the perps). Cono, Fele, Fili, Fior, Luca, Lupo, Rufo, Siro, and Vito all work.

31. "Little __ Everywhere": Celeste Ng novel: FIRES.  goodreads link

32. Genetic messenger molecule: RNA.

33. Queries: ASKS.

34. NBA player Holmgren: CHET.  [b. 2002 in Minneapolis, MN] He plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

35. Potato spots: EYES.  I always thought they were poisonous if ingested but the Idaho Potato Commission says otherwise. Nevertheless, do not take my word for it! Do your own research. 

37. Three siblings with the same birthday: TRIPLETS. This cute clue deserves a cute image.

St. Bernard TRIPLET puppies
(BTW, I recommend Googling "TRIPLET puppies images".)

38. One saving the day: HERO.  

Mighty Mouse made his debut in 1942.

39. "The proof __ the pudding": IS IN.  M-W explains this idiom

43. Like a sauna: HEATED.

44. Reassure that one's joking, in a way: WINK AT.  😉

45. Like pink cheeks: ROSY.

46. Sends with a stamp: POSTS.  To POST a letter is to mail a letter.

47. Small bay: INLET.

48. Actor Reeves who plays John Wick: KEANU.  [b. September 2, 1996] His mother was English; his father was American; he was born in Beirut, Lebanon because his mother was there for work; and yet Keanu is Canadian.  

There are four John Wick movies ... so far.

49. Become accustomed (to): INURE.  I found this example sentence online:  Does the violence on television INURE children TO violence in real life?

50. Adjusts a piano's pitch, e.g.: TUNES.  It was fun to see a verb meaning for TUNES instead of a plural noun.  

53. Brand of red plastic cups: SOLO.  When filmmakers include red SOLO cups in a scene they send the viewer a quick message about the characters and the gathering. It might be a message of formality, taste level, financial situations, group dynamics, age range, attitudes towards alcohol, or a combination of all those.  

Friends     ~     Phoebe is in charge of cups and ice.     ~     (1:26 min.)

54. Boat's front: PROW.  The bow is the front part of a boat. It includes the PROW, the stem, and the foremost part of the hull. the PROW is the part of the stem line above the waterline.  

55. Affirmative votes: AYES.

57. Part of a Santa costume: HAT.  

58. Apply gently: DAB.

The grid:  

That's all for this puzzle and that's all from me. Changes are afoot on The Corner. Beginning in 2026, another project will require my time and attention. I simply will not have enough free hours to continue in this role. I still intend to add to the comments most days. I will also be around as an occasional substitute blogger. So, I am not leaving -- just transitioning. I am thankful to C.C. for creating and maintaining this space where solvers can share a common hobby. It has been my pleasure to be a part of her team. I have learned so much! Speaking of the team, I happen to know you will be in excellent hands going forward! So long and thanks for all the fish!

~ sumdaze

 

 

Notes from C.C.:

I'm sad that today marks Sumdaze's final Monday blog post. Renee gives her all to every write-up. Her posts are always rich with images, video clips, and thoughtful, detailed explanations. Mondays won't be  the same without her.

That said, Mondays will remain in very capable hands. The incredible Naomi will begin covering Mondays starting next week. RustyBrain will take over Thursdays, and Splynter will blog Fridays, as both Chairman Moe and MM have decided to scale back and blog once a week. They'll now be sharing Wednesdays alongside Jazzbumpa and CrossEyedDave.

Hahtoolah and Husker Gary will continue their excellent work on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Anonymous T (Tony) remains our ever-reliable pinch hitter.

I can't say how thankful I am for the dedication and generosity of our blogging team. Each post represents hours of care, often three or more, spent choosing the right words, finding just the right images, and tracking down helpful links. This blog simply wouldn't exist without them.