Wednesday, July 24, 2024 | (2024)

LAT3:47 (Gareth)

NYTuntimed (Amy)

WSJ5:28 (Jim)

Dave Rus’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Pea Soup”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases with first words normally starting with L, except now a P has been tacked on to the beginning.

• 18a. [Fat wad of bills?] PLUMP SUM.
• 24a. [Daredevil magnetism?] PLUCKY CHARM.
• 39a. [Advice for a football tackle or end?] PLAY IT ON THE LINE.
• 50a. [Advocate for the “Tao Te Ching”?] PLEAD THE WAY.
• 61a. [Charge for the breakage at a Greek wedding?] PLATE FEE.

A fine add-a-letter theme and I like the added constraint of having the original phrases start with L, otherwise the theme is too wide open. As it is, it’s still fairly loose, but it’s tighter than it would’ve been.

The title “Pea Soup” feels too generic, however. Also, when I think of soup, I tend to think of things all jumbled together in a mishmash, which is the opposite of having every entry start the same way. On the other hand, you could argue that pea soup is a “starter” before the main course, so that might hint at the P always showing up at the beginning.

The fill is mostly smooth, and I liked SQUARISH, LIE DOWN, and MEDUSA. I’m not so keen on TELL A FIB which feels much less in-the-language than “tell a lie.”

3.25 stars.

Shaun Phillips’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

I was perlexed by the entries displaying in yellow, not seeing how they depicted a CLAW MACHINE GAME (that term for it seems … off), but it’s the black squares that show a claw dropping the black plus sign towards the exit. AMUsem*nT ARCADE doesn’t feel like a term I’ve ever seen (though it has a Wikipedia page), and “HOLD ON A MINUTE” doesn’t quite feel like the theme needs it. But yes, a CRANE OPERATOR would grasp the process of picking something up with a joystick-controlled claw, so that’s fun.

Fave fill: STUBHUB, INDY CAR, CAROTID, BRAND NEW, and HIT IT BIG. Not so keen on PIER ONE (the business was called Pier 1 Imports, not One) or RERINSE ([Clean again, as hair]? No. If you’ve rinsed the shampoo once, cleaning it again would be reshampooing).

Two interesting bits of fill:

• 3d. [Soccer org. that runs the Champions League], UEFA. European soccer. The top four teams in each key country’s professional league compete in the Champions League. The European soccer tournament that just finished up was national teams rather than league teams. (Talking to my husband while he’s driving to get this info.) Not entirely sure I’ve seen UEFA in a puzzle before, but it’s household knowledge here.
• 49d. [Fashion designer Cohn with an eponymous rhinestone-encrusted suit], NUDIE. A Nudie suit is not naked. If you don’t know Nudie’s work, check it out.

3.25 stars from me. Word to the wise: Save your money and don’t try your luck at the claw crane!

Aidan Deshong’s Universal crossword, “Creative Spelling” — pannonica’s write-up

A theme with more than one layer.

• 16a. [*Type of Oreo with extra creme] DOUBLE STUF.
• 26a. [*”Stairway to Heaven” album, as it’s commonly known] LED ZEPPELIN IV.
• 46a. [*Resealable plastic pouches] ZIPLOC BAGS.
• 61a. [*Crowdsourced movie review website] LETTERBOXD.
• 67/68a^R [… deceive, or a hint to how the spellings of the starred clues’ answers were formed?] FAKE | OUT. The letters F-A-K-E are missing from the ‘correct’ spellings of those elements:stuff, lead, -lock, -boxed.

Very nice.

• 5d [ __ Khan, founder of Khan Academy] SAL.
• 10d [Grill for too long] CHAR. Needs a ‘perhaps”-type qualifier?
• 37d [What a child may stand on] TIPPY-TOE. Deft how the invocation of a child distinguishes the answer fromtiptoe ortoe-tip.
• 1a [Spanish for “Enough!”] NO MÁS. I confidently filled in BASTA right off the bat.
• 41a [Spicy Mexican chip brand] TAKIS, which are unfamiliar to me.
• 50a [Chess pros, for short] GMS,grandmasters.

Michael Schlossberg’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary

Michael Schlossberg’s puzzle today is ambitiously tightly defined: the central answer is PETPROJECTS, and three of four starred answers are things that one could build for a pet that can also be used metaphorically: PIGPEN, GOLDFISHBOWL, HAMSTERWHEEL… That’s a mighty specific pair of criteria to fulfill, and so, the fourth theme answer, CATNIP is noticeably different. The clue tries to pretend like growing CATNIP is like building the other three, but it’s a big stretch… Still, this is a refreshingly imaginative theme idea regardless of the imperfect execution.

Not much more to add. I do wonder if the more modern meaning of [1990s fad disc], POG, “excellent”, will appear any time soon?

Gareth

Katja Brinck & Matthew Brinck’s USA Today Crossword, “Airline Food” — Emily’s write-up

Catch a bite while solving!

Theme: each themer begins with the name of an airline and ends in a food

Themers:

• 20a. [Tex-Mex cook-off entry],SOUTHWESTCHILI
• 35a. [Bakery items based on Portuguese sweet bread],HAWAIIANROLLS
• 53a. [Versatile food known for being very meltable],AMERICANCHEESE

What a tasty trio of themers in today’s set! I had the end of SOUTHWESTCHILI before the first half. The only baked good that came to mind was an egg tart so HAWAIIANROLLS took me a few crossings. AMERICANCHEESE was the hardest of the three for me, since it’s not something I use (or even think of often) though the cluing is spot on, even though it seemed cryptic to start. With the theme, we get the airlines SOUTHWEST, HAWAIIAN, and AMERICAN, along with the foods CHILI, ROLLS, and CHEESE.

Favorite fill: GUAVA, ELLIPSIS, HOTSAUCE, and LICHEN

Stumpers: ICILY (needed crossings), SHALE (new fact to me), and FIT (also needed crossings)

Delightful puzzle today! What a fun collab! Loved the theme, themer set, and all of the lovely bonus fill. Despite my time, the solve felt smooth and the grid design is great. I hope we see more from this duo!

4.75 stars

~Emily