Thursday, March 11, 2021
Today's puzzle was a toughie -- you might need to BURNTHEONEAMOIL in order to solve it. The top-left corner was a particular quagmire -- 4A, Drink served hot or cold, SAKE, 3D, Added assessments, SURTAXES, and 1A, Kerfuffle, FUSS all caused, well, a kerfuffle. Mike also had to battle demons in the bottom left corner, unwisely answering 44A, Abbr. in many an urban address, as AVE, leading to the conclusion that 45D, Dense spinning celestial body, was VULCAN, which while true on some plane of e...
12 Mars 202111min
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
TOOMANYCOOKS ... clearly was not a problem with this crossword -- there were TWO cooks, and they've served up a delicious Wednesday crossword for your enjoyment. The theme was the beginning of three adages -- truncating them right where the word SPOIL appeared, e.g., 45A, Start of a saying about parental discipline, SPARETHEROD. Very clever, Nancy Stark and Will Nediger! A few rarer words made an appearance -- 51A, Quick, possibly controversial bit of commentary, HOTTAKE and the always...
11 Mars 20219min
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
If you like cars, or perhaps we should say, if you like srac, then you'll love this crossword, which features a series of car manufacturers, embedded, in reverse, in various names. For instance, 17A, They often come out at night, FALSETEETH, includes, reading backwards, TESLA; and our favorite, 28A, First Lady of 2001 to '09, LAURABUSH, includes SUBARU. Besides that, the injection of several unexpected I's caught our I, er, eye -- 6D, Longtime "All Things Considered" host Robert, SIEGEL, an...
10 Mars 202110min
Monday, March 8, 2021
There is always a DEMAND for good crosswords, and contributing to the SUPPLY is Eric Bornstein. whose ECONOMICS themed crossword would've made ADAMSMITH proud. Both Jean and Mike, although solving independently, were temporarily naticked in the same location: 47A, Actor Philip with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, AHN, ran into 38D, Tennis score after deuce, ADIN. Fortunately, that troublesome N was part of the themed answer, DEMAND, which ran diagonally through the puzzle, and saved the...
9 Mars 20219min
Sunday, March 7, 2021
Today's crossword had an ingenious theme. as one would expect when Celeste Watts and Jeff Chen are at the keyboard. Two letters, extracted from each themed clue ,when pronounced, formed a homonym for a word or phrase, as part of a second phrase, that described the original clue. For instance, 49A, LUXUR_ _AUGHT, UNWISEINVESTMENT, and 93A, POI_T OF _IEW, UNENVIABLEPOSITION. Amazing! Jean made short work of this crossword, but Mike, as usual, hit some choppy waters due to his unfamiliarit...
8 Mars 202110min
Saturday March 6. 2021
The force is strong with this one, this one being Sid Sivakumar, author of a crossword with a distinct sci-fi/nerd/geek vibe going for it. It starts off with 1D, "Star Trek" character first played by 12-Down, DATA, and the 12D counterpart, Actor Spiner, BRENT. It doesn't let up with 14A, Side opposite 41-Across in a sci-fi clash, ALIENRACE, and its counterpart, 41A, See 14-Across, HUMANS. Even 44A, School science project involving a vegetable and a voltmeter, POTATOBATTERY (not, as Mike origi...
7 Mars 20219min
Friday, March 5, 2021
A strenuous Friday workout from Sridhar Bhagavathula, with lots of challenges ... pretty much everywhere. Jean had a spot of bother with the top-left corner, with 1A, Pitched poorly, OFFKEY, and 3D, Resource for music performers, FAKEBOOK being particular sticking points. Mike found the top right corner a tough slog, with 7A, Trace element?, STENCIL (cute); 17A, The Statue of Liberty, for one, COLOSSUS; and his personal favorite, 9D, If all ________ were laid end to end, they would not ...
6 Mars 202114min
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Jean's favorite crossword device makes an appearance today -- a rebus! The revealer was two clues, spelling NBA JAM, and the rebus required NBA be JAMmed into one square (we see what you did there, Blake Slonecker, author of today's puzzle). A few crossword friends take a bow today, including the apparently contractually obligatory 35A, Male actor with the most primetime Emmys (7), ASNER, the official monster of the New York Times crossword, 46A, Folklore fiend, OGRE, and the off...
5 Mars 202110min
