Thursday, April 18, 2024 | (2024)

BEQtk (Darby)

LATtk (Gareth)

NYT12:48 (ZDL)

WSJ6:01 (Jim)

Peter Gordon’s Fireball Crossword, “Themeless 166” – Jenni’s write-up

I struggled a bit with this one because I don’t follow golf and I temporarily forgot Peter’s penchant for starting and finishing a themeless with similar entries. 1a [Golfer Viktor who won the 2023 FedEx Cup] turns out to beHOVLAND, notHOLLAND, as I first thought. 64a [Thing with diamonds] isHOV LANE, which at least I’ve heard of.

Things I noticed:

• 3d [Sheet used to prep for an English test] is aVOCAB LIST. That’s what finally gave me the V inHOVLAND.
• 14a [They might be covered by coverslips] areAMOEBAE. Coverslips are the little pieces of glass that go over a specimen on a microscope slide. Hey, being premed had to pay off somewhere.
• 37a [“You can start now”] isIT‘S NEVER TOO LATE. This is not precisely true. I can’t ever be an astronaut.
• 38d [Stamp that changes with each use] is aNUMBERER. I can figure that out but have never heard the term.
• 51d [Veep 10 before Kamala] is a tricky way to clueSPIRO.

What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: oh, so many things. See above re:HOVLAND, I also didn’t know thatRYAN Gosling played Lars in “Lars and the Real Girl” or thatAMPERE and Fourier were contemporaries or that “A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder” won theAGATHA.

Alan DerKazarian Wall Street Journal crossword, “It’s a Robbery!”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are unclued familiar words and phrases that contain a world currency. When the currency is removed, the remaining letters match the clues. The two-part revealer is TAKE THE / MONEY AND RUN (57a, [With 62-Across, 1976 Steve Miller Band hit, and what you do to make the answers to the starred clues make sense]).

• 17a. [*Aces, in poker slang] BULL MARKETS. Take away the MARK to get BULLETS.
• 21a. [*Support staff] CAYENNE. No YEN = CANE.
• 30a. [*Wins at chess] MATERIALS. Removing the RIAL leaves you with MATES.
• 38a. [*Earner of merit badges] SCOPES OUT. Abscond with the PESO to get SCOUT.
• 51a. [*Scorpion attack] STRANDING. Stealing the RAND leaves STING behind.

Pretty good, eh? I generally prefer it when theme answers are colloquial phrases rather than just run-of-the-mill words, but that probably would’ve been too difficult to pull off in this case, and we certainly wouldn’t have had five theme answers (on top of the two-part revealer). I do appreciate having a different currency for each theme answer; that makes sussing out each entry just that little bit more challenging.

Despite seven theme answers, we do have some long non-theme fill: START IN ON, NOT A TRACE, EVENTIDE, and GET SORE. That last one feels rather iffy to me, and I did scowl at all the preposition-ended phrases (in addition to the two already mentioned, we have LOSES AT and ALIEN TO). But seven theme answers, including a nine-letter entry across the middle, could’ve had a much worse effect on the grid, so I’m not complaining (too much).

Clues of note:

• 27a. [Wanders in LAX?]. TSA. Ones who wave wands.
• 45a. [Fodder for many crossword clues]. TRIVIA. It feels like there’s less of this in a Thursday WSJ than there used to be—a fact for which I’m grateful.
• 73a. [Someone who’ll help you to look better, informally]. EYE DOC. I sure thought this was going for some version of “eye candy.”
• 48d. [Gray, in a way]. AGE. These are verbs, not nouns.

Solid grid heavy on the theme material. The fill bends, but doesn’t break. 3.5 stars.

David Kwong’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up

Difficulty: Average (12m48s)

Today’s theme: A STAR IS B OR N(Thrice-remade movie … or, when parsed as six words, a hint to the theme clues in this puzzle)

• ELECTION DAY(Ballot time)
• MOTHER OF PEARL(Nacre on the ocean floor)
• RIVIERA(Nice is found on it)
• THE CRETAN BULL(Bovid of Greek mythology)
• MCCARTNEY(Bassist in a foursome)
• HATCHLING(Nascent stage for a bird)

“Thrice remade” = four separate releases, for those keeping score at home. 1937 (Gaynor/March/never saw it), 1954 (Garland/Mason/never saw it), 1976 (Streisand/Kristofferson/never saw it), and 2018 (Gaga/Cooper/never saw it). But that’s okay! I can turn *s to Bs. I can turn *s to Ns. I can tune STARZ to a better channel. I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine!

Cracking: ArsPOETICA, from whence “in medias res”, from whence a puzzle I once constructed that was summarily rejected by every outletsub sole novum. I’ll pick it up again some day, but not to worry, I don’t have to start from the beginning.

Slacking: ELHI? Elbye.

Sidetracking: PeterLORRE

Sam Brody’s USA Today Crossword, “Firecrackers” — Emily’s write-up

Ooh, aah!

Theme: each themer breaks apart (or “cracks” the word FIRE

Themers:

• 20a. [Greeting that conveys confidence],FIRMHANDSHAKE
• 36a. [Alternative to live bait],FISHINGLURE
• 54a. [Requirement for a black-tie event],FORMALATTIRE

What an incredible theme! The set starts with a FIRMHANDSHAKE, pulls you in with a FISHINGLURE, and then shows off its FORMALATTIRE. The second themer stumped me for the longest time of the three. But that theme—wow. My favorite part is the fact that it’s a traveling theme, so the first splits it as FIR—E, then as the puzzle proceeds, the split shifts further left into the word, shortening it to FI—RE then the final one is F—IRE, just like a burning firecracker burning down to the end. Bravo!

Favorite fill: GIFTOFGAB, ASL, and ALICIA

Stumpers: PYLON (kept thinking “pyramid” related), ANGER (“irate” was that came to mind), and ASOF (needed crossings)

A challenging one for me today! Still enjoyable but took a while to break into the W and S areas. Cluing wasn’t particularly tricky so maybe it was just an off day for me. Also, not quite a 5 for me but I loved the theme hence my rating. Glad to see that OOH made it into the puzzle though it would have been fun and fitting to have get “aah” into there too (instead of OWL for a sweet paired placement too, though from personal experience sometimes things just don’t fit).

4.5 stars

~Emily