Sunday, March 15, 2026
Friday, March 13, 2026
Friday, the 13th, Mar 2026 ~ Tracy Gray
"EDGE"SSENTIAL WORKERS
Six years ago, to the day - Friday the 13th, March - most were told to stay home for two weeks . . . . 😜
She's a meteorologist, so, um, essential - don't "skirt" the issue 🙄
Tracy Gray had two puzzles last year, one landing 51 weeks ago, also on a Friday, that had the themers 'turn' on the word DIME. Today's construction is another "visual" theme from her, offering us a series of ten fills that are "jobs", found on the perimeter, or "side" of the grid - very clever. We have seen this type of theme before, and I liked the puzzle, but it felt like the author had to "RAM IN" some of the fill - I'm looking at you, 18A~! Perhaps having the solution to begin will be the best way to explain the reveal;
38. Secondary gig, or a literal description of 10 answers in this puzzle: SIDE JOB - the edge, or "side" fills are careers, or "jobs", but clued synonymously;
Top Across:
1. Undergarment brand: JOCKEY
their logo 'hints' at professional racehorse riders
7. Single-story home: RANCHER - just called a "ranch" where I grew up
Down Right:
13. Enc. or dict.: REFerence, encyclopedia & dictionary; one of two abbrs - REFEREE
29. Representation built to scale: MODEL - not the meteorologist🠅, this🠇
Scale model of a Mercury Cougar, with the actual name plate from the car I once owned
52. Perry of classic TV: MASON - Stonemasonry - name #1
Ozzy~!
Across Bottom:
65. One who is a real sport: TROOPER - I linked the Iron Maiden" Eddie" trooper two weeks ago
66. "Heaven Can Wait" Oscar nominee Jack: WARDEN - name #2 - the main character was 'supposed' to die almost a year ago today - 'proclaimed' in the 1978 movie ( also the name of an Iron Maiden song )
Left Up:
57. Confirm the credentials of, say: VET - the straight verb, and the other abbr, VETERINARIAN
33. Test episode: PILOT - "Pilot~? What's a pilot~?"
Pulp Fiction
1. 2017 AL Rookie of the Year: JUDGE - NY Yankees baseball slugger, Aaron, name #3
B u t W
M a
o i
r t
e ,
T h e r e' s
ACROSS:14. Starts a revolt: UPRISES - my incorrect Down fills seriously hindered my progress in the NW
16. Good-natured: AMIABLE - the Corner discussed AMICABLE not too long ago
17. Fresca, for one: DIET POP - a Coca~Cola product - an interesting history
19. Extra product: GUM - clever misdirection; this product
20. Some surfers: WAHINES - Downs gave me - - HINES, and I recalled this 'Hawaii Five-O' term
22. Collaborate on Microsoft Teams, say: eMEET
25. "The Man Who Fell to Earth" director Nicolas: ROEG - name #4, and I am shocked that I had never heard of this 1976 Sci-Fi movie staring David Bowie - more here
Some other "versions" from IMDb
30. Big to-do: RUCKUS - in another Sci-Fi movie, Agent J asks why all the "ruckus"
32. 1990s fitness fad: TAE BO
33. High-performance German cars: PORSCHES - I'll have the plug-in hybrid 918 - name(ish)
Yes, it shoots blue flames - only 918 were made; I can have this one for $2.9mil
36. Frank: CANDID
37. Brewpub fave: IPA
40. Beth Ann Fennelly's "__ to Butter": ODE - name(ish) - Quite raunchy - I love it~!
41. "Grumpy Old Men" actor: LEMMON - I remembered these movie outtakes; name #5
Jack Lemmon and Burgess Meredith
43. Spot for horsing around?: CAROUSEL - Great clue/answer~!
45. Film production company named for a constellation: ORION - they put out a lot of winners
47. Shades at the beach: TANS
48. Daycation locations: SPAS
49. Earthquake: SEISM - the "def" from Greek seismos
53. Tops of most org charts: C-SUITES - CEO, CFO, COO, etc.
56. __ salt: SEA
57. No longer occupied: VACATED
60. Option not available for most low-tier streaming subscriptions: SKIP ADS - worth every penny to have uninterrupted music on Pandora
63. Paragon: EPITOME - uh PIT oh mee - like hyperbole 😜
64. Starting line?: "HERE I GO - again", Whitesnake~!
DOWN:
2. Yves Saint Laurent perfume: OPIUM - name(ish)
.jpg)
3. __ anglaise: CRÈME - I thought HABLA, but no - it's this Frawnche sauce
4. Word with mess or press: KIT - ah... Not HOT 😏
5. Unusual ability: ESP - Friday, so no indication that this is an abbr~?
6. Pained cry: YEOW~! - I had OUCH to start; I've told co-workers in the past that if I exclaimed "Ouch~!", it was no big deal; if I sucked my teeth, however, maybe they need to call me a doctor . . .
8. Interspersed with: AMONG
9. African flower?: NILE - crossword misdirection - flow-er, like mower
10. Former name of a med. imaging tool: CAT SCAN - originally EMI, now CT - here's why
11. "Task" network: HBO - filled via perps
12. Rivendell resident: ELF - I know my Lord of the Rings
15. Ignited: SPARKED
21. Comfy cover-up: HOUSE COAT
23. Hesitant sounds: Ers - I had Ums to start
24. City near Saguaro National Park: TUCSON - filled via perps; geo name #7
27. Overhauls: REDOs - the noun, not the verb REDOES
28. Remain faithful to, with "by": ABIDE - meh. I filled in STAND
31. Viola holder: CHIN - Dah~! Not CASE
Pearl de la Motte - she just happened to come up on my Google viola image search
34. Palais Garnier performance: OPERA - total WAG
Buy tickets here
35. Force to fit: RAM IN - my time at UPS was spent putting 10lbs of boxes in a 5lb van
This was a US Postal delivery . . . "we care" - uh-huh
36. Heart: CORE
39. Impromptu gig, casually: JAM SESH - has actually appeared once before in another crossword
42. Sweet Italian wine: MOSCATO - WAGed the "C" - my 53A. was messed up due to my 48 Down🠇
44. Draw upon: USE
46. Biter of Miles Morales: SPIDER - mostly perps, not a comics fan, didn't "get it"; his Wiki; name #8
48. Sarcastic challenge: "SUE ME." - I filled in "SEE ME", as in "watch this~!" - Bzzzzt
50. "To refresh your memory ... ": "I SAID . . ."
51. Marsh plant used for papyrus: SEDGE - I was tempted to try REEDS
54. Discontinue: STOP
55. Misrepresent, as data: SKEW
58. Diamond birthstone mo.: APRil - I knew this; here's a comprehensive with alternatives chart
59. AFL partner: CIO - frequent crossword appearances
61. Golden yrs. fund: IRA - Individual Retirement Account; I can finally start funding mine again - let's just say I'm about to be the next "Hubby" - more to to be revealed in the coming weeks~!
62. Parts __ million: PER
Splynter
Grid Flow 40.4
Sunday, March 8, 2026
Friday, March 6, 2026
Friday, Mar 6th, 2026 ~ Patti Varol
A BIGHT of WIGHT
And "a BITE of WHITE"
Two weeks running now, we've had a construction from the LA Times crossword puzzle editor Patti - and a better submission, IMHO, than the one from last Thursday, which had the names Natick in the NE corner. Today's theme is a clever play on "~IGHT -becomes- ~ITE" words; my only nit would be the use of two "R" words - yet they are different. I was quite impressed, however, with the two 10-letter Down fills that each crossed different sets of three themers without being "meh". A solid Friday offering - most of the terse clues were in my wheelhouse. Standard grid, no circles, 3 times the number of 4LWs to both 3- & 5-LWs, two yogurts, and a dozen names. The themers, and no reveal;
20. Ceremony that adorns dollar bills?: RITE ON THE MONEY
Han Solo's shot was "right on the money"
26. Try to find pen pals in monasteries?: WRITE BROTHERS - these guys . . .
- not these guys, Wilbur & Orville Wright
44. Lo-cal beers from Canada?: NORTHERN LITES - these guys . . .
not these guys
52. Terse review of a wonky web page?: NOT A PRETTY SITE - not this guy . . .
But Wait - There's More in SITE~!
ACROSS:
1. Goes through a lot of tissues: BAWLS - I do the Downs first, had B - W L - , which did not look promising, but "Lo~!" and "Behold~!"
6. Chi-town paper: TRIBune - abbr for Chicago, abbr for the newspaper
10. Tibetan priest: LAMA
14. "If you say so": "UH-HUH."
15. New York university named for a Scottish isle: IONA - geo name #1, knew it 'cos I grew up in NY
16. Tudyk of "Resident Alien": ALAN - name #2 - I recall the show, though I didn't watch
17. Condiment served with biryani: RAITA - yogurt #1 - filled via perps
18. Survivor's struggle, briefly: PTSD - breifly indicating we're looking for an abbreviation; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
19. Tie: BOND
23. Foundry delivery: ORE - a good change-up clue for this fill
24. Lav: LOO - British bathroom
25. Dove home: COTE - learned by doing crosswords
32. "I mentioned the bisque" "Seinfeld" character: ELAINE - Seinfeld aired before I was old enough to understand the show; I do like watching them now, but this scene I do not recall . . .name #3
Yada, yada, yada
34. Take from the top: RE-DO
35. Intl. broadcaster since 1942: VOA - filled via perps; Voice of America - more from Wiki
36. Quash: VETO
37. Butter square: PAT
38. Leaning: BIAS
39. Info requested by brewery websites: AGE - you'll need to enter your info at 32D.
40. Store securely: STOW
42. Old Testament collection: PSALMS - had most of this via perps
47. Ticket info: SEAT
48. Santa __, California: ANA - geo name #4
49. Little dog: PUP
56. [I like these scritches!]: PURR - the brackets are a "meta-clue" hint; again, most was perps
57. Sworn statement: OATH
58. Deserve: MERIT
59. Designer Schiaparelli: ELSA - I tried e l L a; thus began my search for the "wrong" name, #5
60. Sticking point: TINE - a "right-on-the-money" definition
Tater Tot Shepherd's Pie recipe
61. Nimble: AGILE
62. Tiny splash: PLOP
63. Michelin award: STAR - the guide IS related to the tire brand; I did not know this
Through the years, and the revolution - pun intended - of the tire
64. Hoped-for Match.com outings: DATES - I had tried Match for many years, and got all of ONE connection; I am now trying my luck with Facebook - and so far, all I've gotten are A I fakes 😜
DOWN:
1. Small donkey: BURRO - I did not make an "ASS" of myself to start . . . 🙄
2. Slimmest of margins: A HAIR - Sigh, a twurd
3. Kayaking challenge: WHITEWATER - one of the two solid 10-letter down fills
4. Instrument in a Vermeer painting: LUTE - good WAG on my part
Technically, this is a paiting of a woman with a guitar, but the story might interest you . . .
5. Temple where Chan Buddhism began: SHAOLIN - no clue, perps and WAGs; but some might have recalled this fill from the story of a TV monk, and the real place where he trained. Name (ish)
6. Tread carefully: TIP-TOE - almost alliteration
7. "Divergent" trilogy novelist Veronica: ROTH - name #7, but I knew her because I see the name on Kindle; could have been clued as a non-name, tho
8. On the sly: IN SECRET
9. Foul temper: BAD MOOD
10. Middle Eastern dairy product: LABNEH - yogurt #2 - good perps & WAGs - phew
It's Greek yogurt, strained; I'ma tryin' it - more here
11. Cream ingredient: ALOE - Ah; not "milk". That cream
12. More than a few: MANY - at least it wasn't "A LOT", "A TON", A twurd
13. Furthermore: AND...
21. Post-it scribble: NOTE
22. Miranda of "Homeland": OTTO - name #8 - I read the books, saw the movies, don't recall her
27. Carnival city: RIO - D'Oh~! I read this as "cry", not c-i-t-y - geo name #9
28. Muscle: BRAWN - Ha~! Nailed it.
29. Possessive type?: EVIL SPIRIT - the other great 10-letter fill
30. Travel aimlessly: ROAM - or ROVE~? I chose . . . wisely
31. Cheek: SASS - I've learned over the years that whenever a clue implying "tart" language, and situated on the right edge of the grid, the answer is typically crossword-friendly "SASS"
32. __ Williams bourbon: EVAN - never heard of this liquor - name #10
The website, age resticted, of course
33. Toy company that acquired the online marketplace BrickLink: LEGO - Yada yada yada toys + bricks~? = Lego - but - I was surprised Lego didn't start this company - the history here
37. Printing choice: PORTRAIT - the alternative is LANDSCAPE - which is too wide 🙄
38. Main squeeze: BAE - Cringe. I just don't like this word; are we really too lazy to finish the faint "b" sound at the end of babe~?
40. Former home of the Mets: SHEA - I grew up on Long Island, and my first 'live' baseball game was the Mets at Shea in the Keith Hernandez days - speaking of Keith and Seinfeld . . .
"That - is one magic loogie."
41. Cozy spots: TEAPOTS - Ah. A tea "cozy" could be found on a tea POT
Aww - you can buy them on Etsy here
43. Nurse a grudge: STAY MAD - first time appearing in a crossword = unique, like this fill
45. Feature of some sandals: T-STRAP
BTW, her name is Cecilia, JC
46. Suds: LATHER - bars, not beers
50. Serving a purpose: UTILE
51. "Oh, for __ sake!": "PETE'S" - oh for heaven's sake, name #11 - blasphemy LITE
52. __ and void: NULL
53. "In that neighborhood": "OR SO" - "ish"
54. Mediterranean volcano: ETNA - geo-name #10, yada yada yada 4-letter volcano = 😜
55. Game company with a hedgehog mascot: SEGA - name (ish)
56. Energy: PEP
Splynter
Grid flow a medium 40.1 - the 10-letter Downs helped
Friday, February 27, 2026
Friday, Feb 27th, 2026 ~ Sara Muchnick & Doug Peterson
CROSS [ I ] EYED
Iron Maiden's Cross-Eyed Mary cover - I grew up with these guys,
but if you prefer the Jethro Tull orignal . . .
This is the second LA Times collaboration between Sara & Doug; Moe had the other one two years ago. Mr. Peterson is a regular, and I found this link to a crossword blog from Sara - I like the phrase she used to 'celebrate' her first published NYT puzzle. We have a "sort-of" visual theme to the puzzle, as the sans serif font of the LA Times crossword makes a capital "I" look like a vertical line; when rotated, or "rolled", it becomes a hyphen. Took me a bit to suss, but once "EYE" did, '"EYE" smiled - a fresh, thought[ I ]provoking theme -AND - there are NO other wandering "I"s in the entire frame. Well done, constructors~! A standard grid, a handful of names, no circles, a balance of twenty 3LWs, and, having added in the "I"s, the 'straight definition' themers become unique;
17. *Inlay material, often: MOTHER [ I ] OF [ I ] PEARL - mother-of-pearl
28. *Not cooped up: FREE [ I ] RANGE - free-range
49. *Flexible: OPEN [ I ] ENDED - open-ended
61. *Lightheaded ones?: JACK [ I ] O' [ I ] LANTERNS - jack-o'-lanterns
37. Silent display of skepticism, or a phonetic hint for making sense of the answers to the starred clues: EYE ROLL - that is, one takes the "I"s in the themers and "rolls" them 90° ( either clockwise or counterclockwise, it works the same 🙄), and now they make sense~!
But Wate, There's More ~!
ACROSS:
1. After-dinner drink: DECAF - Oh, coffee; "EYE" went straight to alcohol 😜 A rolled-eye [ I ] Easter Egg in the clue, too~!
6. Players who may have to start over many times: NOOBS - short for 'Newbies', one who is unfamiliar with whatever they're involved in; here's my Revit T-shirt ( it's a drafting inside joke )
BIM = Building Information Modeling - essentially 3D CAD
11. Cannabis compound: THC - TetraHydroCannabinol - what gives the "buzz/high" of smokin' the (Cross-eyed) mary jane, weed, ganja, pot, herb, grass, dank, chronic, etc.
14. Tickle: AMUSE - some of the slang for marijuana does tickle me
15. Home of the first jet bridge: O'HARE - EYE love clues/answers where EYE learn something new
16. Peach or plum: HUE - it was fruitless trying to fit FRUIT 🙄
20. Opposite of very: A TAD - Atwurd
21. "iZombie" setting: SEATTLE - no clue, but perps gave me all but the two "E"s
22. Lip __: BALM
25. "The Phoenician Scheme" director Anderson: WES - name #1; more from IMDb
27. Surgical tool: LASER
32. Boris Johnson, for one: TORY - no ( British ) politics at the Corner~! Name(ish)
33. Keeps (off): FENDS
34. Treats embossed with flowers, dots, and dashes: OREOs - well, it's not just one OREO today
36. Blue: SAD - another color con clue
40. Cash back?: COW - "Cash Cow"
Dunk your Oreos in your cash cow "output" 🙄
43. Leavening agent: YEAST
46. Typical choice: GO-TO - e.g., when EYE get Chinese, my "go-to" choice is General Tso's Chicken
52. Totally believed: ATE UP - believe it - EYE "ate up" my egg roll, too 🙄 ( and a Thusday dupe )
54. Rx writer: DOC
55. Price points: TAGS
56. Moseys: STROLLS
59. "Poppycock!": "TOSH~!"
66. Short-horned bighorn: EWE - Another rolled-eye [ I ] Easter Egg in the clue, plus a change-up from the "ewe"sual 🙄
67. Key in: ENTER
68. Acrobat's platform: ADOBE - oh so very clever; not a performing acrobat - Adobe Acrobat - the PDF managing software; EYE was stumped for a while
69. "¿Qué __?": Spanish greeting: "TAL~?" - Español, which filled via perps, but still doesn't look right; the literal translation is "¿~What [is] such~?"
70. Run-down: SEEDY - rolled-eye [ I ] Easter Egg in the clue
71. Rub it in: GLOAT - EYE did not have to reach out to the other Corner bloggers for help with an explanation of the theme; EYE figured it out all by mEYEself~! 😁 🙄
DOWN:
1. Reservoir creator: DAM - a dam good way to start the Down clues 🙄
2. Punk subculture: EMO - three-letter "music" genre~? = EMO
3. Share of the profit: CUT - members of Ocean's Eleven got an even cut of . . .
"My advice to you is this [ I ] run and hide"
4. Fearing disgrace: ASHAMED - slighly meh; feeling seems to work better
5. Stanza units: FEET - LINES and IAMBS were just inches too long . . . 🙄
6. "Ask someone else": "NO IDEA." - what do you call a blind Bambi~? no "EYE" deer 🙄
7. Exultant cry: "O-HO~!"
8. Bumblers: OAFS
9. "The Marvels" star Larson: BRIE - the EYE in her name was my one error; EYE had BREE, ergo, did not get my "ta-DA~!". It took a while to find my mistake; once I grasped the theme and changed the vowel - "O-HO~!" name #3
10. Floral leaf: SEPAL - had this one two weeks ago
11. "For real?": "THAT SO~?"
12. Starter, e.g.: HURLER - baseball reference; one of the team's pitchers
13. Sticks in the refrigerator: CELERY - Ah. Not BUTTER
18. Cutesy growl: "RAWR~!" - this is becoming acceptable, I guess
19. Divisions d'une nation: ETATS - Franwche for states ( of the nation )
22. Pair sharing halves of a heart charm, informally: BFFs - Best Friends Forever
23. Environs: AREA
24. Furnish temporarily: LEND - I had LOAN, which is {teeth-suck} close, but 50% wrong
Close, but, definitely wrong
26. Expressed contempt: SNORTED
29. "10-4": "I SEE." - eh, a bit meh, but a rolled eye [ I ] in the clue again
30. Miracle-__: GRO - another rolled-eye [ I ] Easter Egg clue; EYE ordered new house plants through Amazon; they sat on my cold February porch for a few hours - but it looks like they'll be OK . . .
31. Serpentine creature: EEL - ASP would work, too
35. Ye __ Shoppe: OLDE
38. NBA legend Ming: YAO - name #4, crossword staple
39. Predict-ability?: ESP - Har-har; ExtraSensory Perception - another rolled-eye [ I ] in the clue
40. Musical conclusion: CODA - and Led Zeppelin's "last" studio album
41. Earth's pull, for short: ONE G - one (unit) of gravity
42. Settles down, in a way: WEDS - I used to blog WEDs
43. "Just checking in": "YOU OK~?"
45. Discreetly, in slang: ON THE DL - the "Down Low" - not a unique fill
46. Chemistry lab fixture: GAS JET - "HAL" doesn't like this; EYE kept getting GAS KET suggestions
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do jet"
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do jet"
47. National Gallery of Canada locale: OTTAWA - nailed it, but six-letters Canada~?
48. Old Toyota subcompact: TERCEL - had it, took it out; crossing 'go-to' eluded me at first
My buddy Mark in Florida called his the "turbo Tercel"
50. Public figure?: NOTARY - that person at the bank, e.g., that can attest to your signature
51. Symbol: ICON - Dah~! Not RUNE
53. Works at, as a trade: PLIES
57. Solitary: LONE
58. Venue: SITE
60. __ beetle: STAG - EYE am not posting a picture of this insect 😝
62. Took charge: LED - Zeppelin - no, wait . . . we had that already 🙄
63. Joey of fiction: ROO - Winnie the Pooh, and Kanga's "Roo"
64. "Space Jam" org.: NBA - Not a basketball fan, but I did know this
65. Fully taken care of: SET - win the lotto, and you're "SET" for life~!
Splynter
Spent a few minutes looking for my error
Grid Flow a very low 17.4
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)