Friday, March 15, 2024 | (2024)

LATuntimed (pannonica)

NYT5:16 (Amy)

Announcement: There’s a new puzzle pack fundraiser that starts to be sent out to donors on Friday, 3/15. You can see a list of the puzzle creators and editors involved here.

These Puzzles Fund Abortion 4(TPFA4), a pack of all-new crossword puzzles helping to raise money for abortion access, is now available! As the fourth iteration of thispuzzle pack, TPFA4 builds on its predecessors, expanding the range of social and reproductive justice themes. It contains 17 standard American-style crossword puzzles, three cryptic crossword puzzles, two variety puzzles, and a suite of mini variety puzzles with a meta answer. These puzzles have been lovingly made by some of the best constructors in the business, and we are so proud of the work they have put into crafting the puzzles you are about to solve. We hope the puzzles will inspire and nourish you in your own continued fight for reproductive justice. All donations through TPFA4 support The Baltimore Abortion Fund, The Chicago Abortion Fund, Indigenous Women Rising, The Tampa Bay Abortion Fund, and Fondo MARIA.

Daniel Grinberg’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

I slowed myself down a bit in the opening corner by making a typo that turned BASH into BAST (thta TALF… crossing was just not coming!) and convincing myself that the POET was spelled PHYLLIS rather than PHILLIS WHEATLEY. At any rate, I realized I didn’t know any of Wheatley’s poems, nor her life story; both are found here.

Fave fill: CARELESS MISTAKE (see preceding paragraph for examples), VIETNAM, ESPRESSO MARTINI (this was just in a TV commercial I saw today … possibly for Guinness??), HALFTIME REPORTS, LIV TYLER, REWRITE HISTORY, AT HOME, MASON JAR, and CALABRIA.

Clever clue: 47a. [Bit of deductive reasoning?], TAX TIP. As in tax deductions, of course.

Question about 10d. [Words from a paper pusher?], “EXTRA, EXTRA, EXTRA”: Am I the only one who thinks the third EXTRA wanted to be “READ ALL ABOUT IT”?

Four stars from me.

Freddie Cheng’s Universal crossword, “Circular Reasoning”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that have a word that can be represented with a circle.

• 20a. [Roll for one who wants it all?] EVERYTHING O.
• 34a. [Taken token?] ENGAGEMENT O.
• 42a. [Slam dunk target that aptly rhymes with “alley-oop”] BASKETBALL O.
• 58a. [Fall treat at a bakery] APPLE CIDER O.

Pfft. So apparently we have an Everything Bagel, an Engagement Ring, a Basketball Hoop, and an Apple Cider Something. A cookie, perhaps? That one’s new to me and seems like a stretch. Who represents “cookie” with an O? And I had to search online before I realized the first one was a bagel. I’ve never heard of a bagel referred to as a “roll”. The way that entry is clued, “roll” could very well be a verb. So for me, only two of the four theme entries work without issues. Edited to add: I’m told the last entry should be an Apple Cider Donut, which makes more sense but is also new to me. The cookie has its own Wikipedia page, the donut doesn’t. At best, it’s an ambiguity in a theme answer; some other type of donut would have been a better fit.

The fill is mostly smooth with highlight MAKES A WISH. I’m giving “AH RATS” the side-eye, because I wanted either “OH RATS” or “AW RATS”. Also, I’ve never seen REKT [Gamers’ spelling of “wrecked”], but if that’s what the kids these days are using, so be it.

Three stars.

Alan Levin’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up

Let’s see if I can figure out the theme as a write this, as I wasn’t able to immediately after the solve.

• 58a^R [When read as three words, suitable sponsor for “Sesame Street” and an alternate answer for 18-, 20-, 30-, 36-, 46-, and 53-Across] THE LETTERS. Not comprehending how that can be read as three words unless … is it THE LETTER S? That might work, and I had been concentrating on the theme answers, not the clues. So—
• 18a. [It concludes The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds”] CAROLINE NO. Okay, yes—S is the last letter ofSounds.
• 20a. [Character seen at the beginning and end of “Star Wars”] ARTOO-DETOO. Yep, that’s got to be it,Star Wars.
• 30a. [It comes in early September] LABOR DAY.
• 36a. [One is used in basketball but not in hockey] SHOT CLOCK.
• 46a. [What can be seen in two places in Missouri] MLB TEAMS. (The teams are in St Louis and Kansas City.)
• 53a. [One can’t print dollars without it] SPECIAL INK.

Well done on disguising the secondary significance of the clues. I was unaware that something else was going on, even as I noticed some stiltedness in the wording of a few.

The other most notable aspect of the crossword was how I needed to hunt up an incorrect crossing. It turned out to be 5-across, where I reasonably put DIES for [Fades] but was perplexed by EIRE as 7d [Marshy spot]. By the time I’d finished filling in the grid, this was forgotten. MIRE is the correct answer, making the across entry DIMS.

• 4d [Square figure?] STATUE. Needed most of the crossings.
• 30d [Soundly defeats] LICKS. Hm, okay.
  
• 39d [“Let me see …”] HMM.
• 58d [Number of digits on a keypad] TEN. Don’t forget that zero!
• 14a [Strip of wood] SLAT. Tried LATH first.
• 42a [Animal also called a forest giraffe] OKAPI. Indeed, the two are the only extant genera of Giraffids.
• 43a [Boxer’s warning] GRR. The dog, most likely.
• 68a [Physicist Bethe portrayed in “Oppenheimer”] HANS. Still haven’t seen the film; don’t feel a pressing need to.