Saturday June 27, 2026 by Zhouqin Burnikel

 Saturday Themeless by Zhouqin Burnikel

Solving C.C.'s clever puzzle had me following a familiar pattern. I searched for a solid foothold which came up at the grid-spanning PLEASE BE PATIENT/AND YET HERE WE ARE and everything grew out from there. I had a very pleasant 29-minute exercise where C.C.'s construction skills always made me feel I would never COME UP DRY. Another lovely feature was that she only used six 3-letter words.

Across:

1. Early revolutions: WARM UP LAPS 😀 Tradition at the Indy 500 has a pace car leading the cars around for the last WARM UP LAP.

1964 Indy 500

11. Exam with a max score of 180: LSAT.

15. Only shopped at farmers markets, perhaps: ATE ORGANIC.

16. Set in stone: ETCH.

17. Help in obtaining top-shelf products: STEP LADDER 😀

18. "Educated: A Memoir" writer Westover: TARA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

19. Homes for some queens: HIVES. 😀

20. Instrument invented by Hermes: LYRE.

21. Bamia or sambar: STEW. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

22. Frosted: ICED.

23. "Fore!" site: TEE 😀

24. Bundles: WADS.

26. Earring parts: POSTS.

28. Ending of "Oedipus": SIGMA - Oedipus is spelled Οιδίπους in Greek. The last letter is the lower case Greek letter SIGMA

31. Put on a bashful front: ACT COY.

35. Overdrive: HIGH GEAR.

37. Line for waiters: PLEASE BE PATIENT - All these peeps are in line and waiting to get to the top of Mt. Everest

39. Cannes Film Festival prize: PALME D'OR - Golden Palm

40. Prankster with opposable thumbs: MONKEY.

41. Aisha of "Archer": TYLER.

42. Oman neighbor: YEMEN.

44. Go, to the dogs: MUSH - 😀 The comma in the clue made this was my fav clue.

46. General concern: WAR.

47. Material for some biodegradable bags: HEMP.

51. Kitchen work: PREP.

53. St. __ Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub: IVES ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

55. "Brave" studio: PIXAR - It netted a $350 M profit at the box office

56. Zest source: RIND - I loved orange marmalade before I knew it was zest from the RIND that gave it such a distinctive flavor

57. "Great, now we're pouting": REAL MATURE.

59. Smell: ODOR.

60. Messages that something's gone wrong: ERROR CODES.

61. Word in skin care ads: DEWY.

62. One who has seen it all: EYEWITNESS.

Down:

1. Paper used in origami: WASHI ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

2. Unfinished story, perhaps: ATTIC 😀 Oh, the top story of a house

3. "Still Me" memoirist Christopher: REEVE - My favorite movie portrayer of Superman wrote this after his horse riding accident left him paralyzed.

4. Wore a long face: MOPED.

5. Addresses with dots: URLS. 😀

6. Org. with many excellent drivers: PGA - Fore!

7. Big scoops: LADLES.

8. "... somehow nothing has changed": AND YET HERE WE ARE.

9. Huntington Beach landmark: PIER.

10. Item that's often turned in: SCREW 😀

11. "Our food's getting cold!": LET'S DIG IN.

12. One who might crunch numbers for fun: STATS GEEK - Uh, I might be guilty 

13. Orchard unit: ACRE.

14. Spring break?: THAW.

23. Trifled (with): TOYED.

25. Running back Jeanty who was runner-up for the 2024 Heisman Trophy: ASHTON.

26. Tough puzzles: POSERS.

27. Nurse: SIP.

29. Thick hair: MANE.

30. Like some indie movies: ARTY.

31. Cal. entry: APPT.

32. Roland Garros surface: CLAY - The CLAY court in Paris is named for WWI air hero Roland Garros who died in combat in 1918 but never played tennis.

 

33. "I can't wait for an answer!": TELL ME NOW.

34. Left empty-handed, in a way: CAME UP DRY - In this state that depends heavily on irrigation this can be a big problem

36. Fortnite streamer, e.g.: GAMER ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  An online streaming game

38. Little dude: BOY.

43. Psychologist who created a notable hierarchy: MASLOW - I'm sure I memorized this list when I got my M.A. in Counseling.

45. New team member: HIREE.

47. Suddenly come up with: HIT ON - Dick Fosbury HIT ON the idea of high jumping with his face up and completely changed the sport.

48. Radiate: EXUDE.

49. Some stable parents: MARES 😀

50. Iron: PRESS.

51. Nudge: PROD.

52. Wheels: RIDE.

54. VIP member?: VERY 😀

55. Formal agreement: PACT.

58. Scan that may diagnose a torn ACL: MRI - “An MRI has confirmed that Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes sustained a torn ACL in his left knee in today’s game. Patrick and the club are currently exploring surgical options.”

Friday, Jun 26th, 2026 ~ Jeremy Venook

  DISMISSED A SPOT

See Spot run . . . out the door

This is Jeremy's second LA Times puzzle; RB had the first one a year ago.  Today we have the addition of "DIS" to phrases that I found to be not as common as I would have liked, and therefore left me feeling a little DISsatisfied with the results.  YMMV.  Ektorp returns with two examples, a standard grid, one-third the # of 3LWs to four-letter words, a handful of names, and I'm DISappointed that the crossword had no circles - we already had two this week.  The three themers and reveal;

20. Hours at an art gallery?: DISPLAYING TIME - The base phrase refers to the equal distribution of on-field activity for all team members of a little league, etc.  - and here's the Dissed version . . . 

Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"

25. Factory that produces bad vibes?: DISCONTENT MILL - The base phrase is more broadly recognized as "Content Farm" - with more here from Wiki; the Dissed version . . .

Santa's Elves Unite~! Local N.P. 33

44. Admit to wearing a dental prosthetic?: DISCLOSE THE GAP - The "gap" being a wide variety of things, but mostly bringing technology and eductaion to those without - and the Dissed version . . .

He was my first thought - here's a list of other 'gap-toothed' people

51. Process of detachment, or an apt title for this puzzle: DISASSOCIATION - what's the difference between ignorance and apathy~?  I don't know, and I don't care . . .

But . . .

Wait , , ,

There's . . .

More~! ! !

ACROSS:

1. Carrefour's country: HAITI - Jeremy likes Haiti - it appeared in his first LA Times puzzle, too - geo name #1

6. Cuticle oil spot: NAIL - this made no sense until I looked up cuticle oil - it's lotion for the unguis

10. Trellis part: SLAT - I had to rebuild one in April

14. "Snowy" bird rarely found in snowy places: EGRET - five-letter snowy bird~? - Ektorp

15. Hindu mentor: GURU

16. Pixar film set partially in the afterlife: COCO - half-filled via perps

17. Inner self, to Jung: ANIMA - Mentioned frequently in Jordan Peterson's Psychology of the Bible series

18. Soup noodle: UDON - crossword staple

19. Bicycle attachment: HORN - training wheels didn't fit

I like this attachment - the wire basket, that is 🙄

23. Munich article: EINE - Deutsch - we saw this last Saturday

24. Memoji platform: IOS - I am PC ( Android ) - so I didn't get this one

32. Irrefutable point: FACT

33. Fad: RAGE - memoji~?  obvi it's totes all the rage

34. Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA - I had _ AA from perps, and not being into baseball . . .

35. Concise concession: "I LOST."

37. Part of some uniforms: HAT

38. Judicial pauses: STAYS - I get it, but pauses~? . . . meh

40. Mum's mum: NAN

41. Word in a Samin Nosrat cookbook title: ACID - HEAT, and two others I couldn't recall

43. Burden: ONUS

49. Broadcast: AIR

50. Ivy in New Haven: YALE - collegial reference

58. Slam dance: MOSH - now this one I knew, but I do not participate - seems a bit silly to me; guess I'm old now

59. Viola clef: ALTO - filled via perps

60. Getty Images download: PHOTO - Getty being one of the image sites that sometimes "license" a photo, and therefore, ones I avoid at all costs when writing the blog . . .

61. Otherwise: ELSE

62. Standard choice: GO-TO

63. Took effect: SET IN

64. Shredded side: SLAW - I'm a fries / onion rings kind of guy

65. School founded in 1440: ETON - four letter old school~? = Ektorp

66. Clear one's name, perhaps?: ERASE

DOWN:

1. Eye site: HEAD - Once again, had most of my Downs wrong; starting with filling in FACE

2. Hindu god of fire: AGNI - more here

3. Eye piece: IRIS - Dah~!  Not LENS

4. Storms: TEMPESTS - I love this album cover image

Nanci Griffith  - storms

5. Bold alternative: ITALIC - Ah.  Referring to fonts / type

6. "The Sympathizer" Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh: NGUYEN - Friday name, #2, filled via perps

7. German auto: AUDI - Yay~! I got a Down answer right~!

8. Nutrient in beans and rice: IRON - Ah.  My mind had "protein" polarity

9. Putting one foot forward, in a way: LUNGING - some of the most difficult exercises working with my gym trainer involve lunges and squats - my knees are aging faster than the rest of me . . . 

10. Doctrinal rupture: SCHISM - I read this as "doctoral", and went with HERNIA . . .😜 It's also one of my favorite "Tool" songs; 

Tool, from Lateralus, "Schism"

11. Arachne's device: LOOM - I knew we got "arachnid" from this myth, but WEB didn't fit

12. Land division: ACRE

13. Boatload: TON - thank you for not being the A TON Twurd~!

21. "It's __-brainer!": A NO - aaaaand I spoke too soon . . . 

22. "For sure!": "TOTES~!" - 21st century-speak for totally, dude . . .

25. Start of a Tibetan religious title: DALAI - a gimme; "ocean" master / teacher

26. Taskbar lineup: ICONS - I was forced to upgrade to Windows 11 while writing this blog - but so far, I have not had any issues . . . 🤞

27. Swap: TRADE

28. Consume: EAT

29. Glazer of "Broad City": ILANA - the single, opening cel where I didn't bother to do the alphabet run - A~? E~? - in retrospect, I needed to see MILL as the logical end of the themer.  Sigh.  Her IMDb; Name #3

30. Easy bucket: LAYUP - Wiki says it's one word

31. Miss: LASS

32. Happen across: FIND - Ah, right - I "happened across" an article I saved from a Cincinnati newspaper detailing the movie "The Golem" that I worked on half my life ago . . . 

Most likely the best time of my life

36. "The Godfather" actress Shire: TALIA - a, a, name, #4

37. Third-person possessive: HIS - I got locked into OUR

39. As one: TOGETHER - as in the next clue/asnwer

42. Boutonnière partner: CORSAGE - nailed this Frawnche pair - buttonhole and bodice in English

Awww, matching . . . 

45. Nut used to make cheese or butter: CASHEW - this and ALMOND fit, but I waited on perps

46. Titan of industry: TYCOON - crossword staple

47. Japanese assent: HAI - the equivalent of "yes"

48. Pass: ELAPSE

51. Barbie or Ken: DOLL - it could have been a, a, a NAME

52. Rae of "Barbie": ISSA - a NAME, a crossword staple, aaaand #5

53. Opening at the post office: SLOT - not an employment opportunity, but this 🠋

54. Springfield Elementary bus driver: OTTO - knew it, "The Simpsons", still name #6

55. Wee bit: IOTA - Yay~! not the Twurd ATAD

56. Elevator name: OTIS - aaaaand #7

57. __ of the above: NONE - which name did I like most in today's puzzle~? . . . 

58. Mayo o diciembre: MES - I knew what we were looking for, didn't know Español for 'month'

Splynter

Grid Flow 32.6

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