Friday, Jan 9th, 2026 ~ Rebecca Goldstein & Rachel Fabi

 EARLY ONSET CROSSWORDESE

( I fudged it; the cartoon actually said "the NYT...Sunday" )

Rebecca Goldstein and Rachel Fabi have paired up once more - I have blogged one other construction from the duo, back here - and now they only need a Thursday publishing to hit the "EGOT" ( or Grand Slam ) for all seven days with an LA Times crossword.  ALAS & SADLY, I seem to have the same snags whenever I solve one of their puzzles.  Today we have yet another non-standard, 15 x 16 grid, with prefix~? 'kickoff' clues and their 'dawning' definitions.  No circles, a few names and abbrs, a balance of 20 3LWs and 5-letter ones, but a lot of meh fill, IMHO - your mood may vary.  The themers, with no reveal; 

17. Pseudo?: FALSE FRONT - e.g. a pseudonym, such as Theodore Geisel *

25. Neo?: NEW BEGINNING - No, not Keanu

"Neo", from The Matrix

38. Mono?: SINGLE ORIGIN - Learning moment for me

54. Mega?: GRAND OPENING - I goofed; my original fill in the grid was "GREAT", and while 60% correct, still wrong.  I let the computer find my error(s), the black triangles in the solution below

64. Anti?: NONSTARTER - the only outlier, as this is not a two-word phrase

Ah -  I found sumdaze's first ruler of the colony, "Ant I" - get it~?

But Wait - There's More~!

ACROSS:

1. Framing pieces:  JAMBS - I do the Downs first, had J - - B -, and this is true from a carpentry point of view; windows and doors are, technically, framed with jambs

6. Layer under a tee: CAMI - T-shirt abbr, camisole abbr

10. Basketball commentator Rebecca: LOBO - filled via perps; name #1, and a self-shoutout for RG~?

14. Swings and misses three times, say: IS OUT - A poor at-bat in baseball - so many clunky two-term phrases in this crossword - and yet, none unique; I'm naming this type of fill "Twurds", #1

15. Nudge: PROD

16. Leaving less of a bad taste, maybe: RIPER - mmmmaybe~?

19. Annual EDM festival in 22-Down: ULTRA - no clue.  I actually like Electronic Dance Music - yet I recognize no one from the lineup at this "concert", held in 22D. -  I am surprised there was no circumreferential cluing here, being that it's Friday

Daft Punk was one of the artists I liked

20. Fashionably nostalgic: RETRO - I'm "retro" simply because I'm old, and never changed . . . 

21. __ the consequences: DAMN - Oooo, swear word

23. Evil act: SIN - Oooo, more badness

24. Lab coat?: FUR - Labrador, that is.  I have not given up on getting a dog - but I need a little more financial stability in the new year

Cooper tore up the pink octopus - but I had gotten him new chew toys for Christmas~!

29. Word of woe: ALAS - alas, I did not care for some of the fill . . . .

31. Biological pouch: SAC

32. Maxims: SAYINGS

33. Portions (out): METES

35. Covered in crystals?: ICY

37. Stalter of "Hacks": MEG - name #2, my total WAG crossing 28D; Sigh. Meg RYAN was Monday

42. Also: TOO - one too

43. Pair: DUO - "two twos, too" - not tu-tu; too many 'to's

44. Spot targeted by butterfly stretches: GROIN

47. Takes up a lot of space: SPRAWLS - I had SPREADS, which is 5/7ths correct, 71.42%

51. "__ been a minute": IT'S - a minute is an endless amount of time in our instant gratification world

53. Ibiza, por ejemplo: ISLA - Español lesson

57. Shade tree: ELM - crossword staple

58. Tax counterpart: TIP - think dining, not death 😜

59. Missing GI: AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave

60. Concession speech?: "I LOST." - "Twurd" #2 

62. Down in the dumps: MOPEY

68. Location, location, location: AREAS - Now this is a clever clue/answer - I'd like to see more of this, and less "Twurds". 

69. Transcript figs.: GPAs - Grade Point Averages

70. Racing shell: SCULL - oaring - not roaring - like, say, F1

71. Leave in the lurch in the church: JILT - even the word sounds unpleasant - is that a variation on onomatopoeia~?

72. "Abominable" character named Everest: YETI - Abominable 4-letter . . . yada, yadi, yati - YETI~!

73. Word of woe: SADLY - sadly, some of this puzzle's clue/answers . . . 

DOWN:

1. Peter Pan rival: JIF - semi-deceptive - peanut butter, not Disney & the original play - name(ish)

2. In general: AS A RULE - "I make a rule, not get involved with possessed people..."

"...Actually, it's more of a guideline"

3. "Naked" rodents: MOLERATS - "He's an ugly little spud, isn't he - I think he can hear you, Ray."  Stantz & Venkman, also Ghostbusters.  Interesting fact  about - and almost cute image of - this animal

4. Get three eights in blackjack, say: BUST - Another good clue/answer; the best hand is "21"; anything over ( in this case, 24 ), and ...

Bugs Bunny had a one-card win, remember~?

5. Unsmiling: STERN

6. Procedure practiced on mannequins: Abbr.: CPR -  Ah.  Not sword testing, Forged in Fire style

"It will kill" - Yeah, OK, it's a ballistic dummy, I know

7. Preferring platonic relationships, informally: ARO - Aromantic, a very common fill lately

8. Café du __: New Orleans shop known for beignets: MONDE - Nailed it.  It's a frequent location in the "Dave Robicheaux" books from James Lee Burke; name #3

9. Collar danglers: ID TAGS - Cooper only wears his when we go for a walk

10. Rapper __ Mama: LIL - name #4, her IMDb

11. Elects to participate: OPTS IN - "Twourd" #3

12. Strait off the coast of Siberia: BERING - geo name, #5.  A bridge~? More here

13. Indonesian apes: ORANGS - good guess on my part;  BONOBOS are "too big"

16. Over-easy serving: RUNNY EGG - strangely, this is a unique fill; I can only do scrambled eggs - otherwise, my tummy grumbles

18. Nemeses: FOES

22. Biscayne Bay city: MIAMI - Didn't know this - I once lived in Jacksonville, Florida; geo name #6

24. Sibs and 'rents: FAMily - Pa -rents

26. Make like a banshee: WAIL - Ah.  I tried YELL first; only 25% correct

27. Covertly included: BCC'ed

28. Sushi bite sometimes served on a model boat: NIGIRI - I have actually seen this in a crossword before - here - and I hit on the last letter "G" for the WAG; but then we have . . . .

30. Vegan protein option: SEITAN - Although I am not thrilled to see this in a crossword, I realize it's Friday.  I am intrigued to try using this as a pizza crust - which I currently make using ground chicken - more Seitan here

I will be happy again if it's yummy in my tummy ~!

34. Winter break?: SNOW DAYS - yeah, not so much as an adult, as CT DOT stays on top of clearing roads, so it's off to work I go 😕

36. "We doing this?": "YOU IN~?" - "Twurd" #4 - now it's getting absurd

39. Decline to take the high road: GO LOW - "Twurd" #5

40. Naan relative: ROTI - Asian "flatbreads" - the differences

41. Small bit of facial jewelry: NOSE STUD - of course I went with RING

45. "You won't get away with this!": "I'LL TELL~!" - "Twurd" #6

46. __ khao: Laotian crispy rice salad: NAM - Friday cluing for this 3LW;  my only resolution for 2026 is to completely shift my diet to healthy foods, and today's puzzle is full of some good choices

A recipe - looks good - I'ma gonna try it

47. High-ranking noncom: SGT. MAJ.

48. A __: literally, "from what is earlier": PRIORI - I have heard of this term

49. Climber's descent: RAPPEL - My first thought, but hesitated

50. Absorbent: SPONGY - also my first thought, also hesitated

52. Foul mood: SNIT

55. Have no reception, say: ELOPE - Hey - you weren't JILTed

56. Corning Museum material: GLASS - I knew of this place, in upstate NY, but I went with "PYREX"

61. Killer whale: ORCA

63. Have a snack: EAT

65. "Etc.," in Pittsburghese: N'AT - WAY too localized, IMO, even for Friday; I see no Cornerites other than 'oc4beach' in PA on HuskerG's map

The rest of the "dictionary" here

66. Fed. stipend for some people with disabilities: SSI - Supplemental Security Income; the website

67. "Srsly?": RLY - Seriously~?  Really~?  Textspeak, unique, and meh.  

* - Dr. Seuss

Splynter

Grid Flow was a high 47.8