Jonesin’ 5:25 (Erin) [<5 ratings]
LAT tk (Jenni) [<5 ratings]
NYT tk (Evan) [<5 ratings]
The New Yorker tk (pannonica) [<5 ratings]
Common 5:05 (Eric) [<5 ratings]
USA At this time tk (Sophia) [<5 ratings]
Xword Nation tk (Ade) [<5 ratings]
WSJ 5:29 (Jim) [<5 ratings]
Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “Double, Double” — the powers of two compel you! – Erin’s write-up
Jonesin’ resolution 5/6/25
Good day lovelies! The enjoyable multiplies on this week’s puzzle, as we exchange the phrase DOUBLE with rising multiples of two.
- 17a. [Eyeglass prescription effect times 4?] QUADRUPLE VISION (double imaginative and prescient)
- 31a. [Saying that has about 8 different meanings, some of them dirty?] OCTUPLE ENTENDRE (double entendre)
- 39a. [Con game run 16 different ways?] SEXDECUPLE CROSS] (double cross)
- 54a. [Hybrid letter with 32 peaks that just looks like a long zigzag?] DUOTRIGINTUPLE U (double u)
Different issues:
- 48d. [“Rock Me Amadeus” musician] FALCO. I like the unique German-language model of this track. Combat me.
- 25d. [“The Last of Us” star Pascal] PEDRO. This man is a treasure and must be protected in any respect prices. Combat me once more.
- 28d. [“Seinfeld” character portrayed by Patrick Warburton] PUDDY. This present went off the air 27 years in the past this month.
Till subsequent week!
Dan Zarin’s Wall Avenue Journal crossword, “By no means a Bitter Observe”—Jim’s overview
Now there’s a title that gave me a great snort…after I completed the grid and grokked the revealer. I’ve by no means as soon as claimed to be above sophomoric fart humor.
What? Oh yeah…the theme. Theme solutions are musicians or musical teams whose names finish in a fruit. The reveler is THE MUSICAL FRUIT (36a, [Beans, according to a playground rhyme, and a clue to 17-, 25-, 46- and 57-Across]).
Wall St Journal crossword resolution · “By no means a Bitter Observe” · Dan Zarin · Tue., 5.6.25
- 17a. [Singer of “Johnny B. Goode” and “Maybellene”] CHUCK BERRY.
- 25a. [Band with the 1977 album “Electrified Funk”] WILD CHERRY.
- 46a. [Singer with the 1996 multiplatinum debut album “Tidal”] FIONA APPLE.
- 57a. [Band whose video for 1993’s “No Rain” featured a girl in a bee costume] BLIND MELON.
I like this theme! Kudos to our constructor for locating the grid-spanning revealer and constructing a theme round it. And kudos to Mike Shenk for operating what is actually a fart-based puzzle. I’m nonetheless chuckling.
I by no means discovered the “Beans” rhyme on the playground because the clue suggests. I discovered it from my mother once I was a child. What about you?
The fill is nearly as pretty with sparkly lengthy Down stacks within the NW/SE: MAHARISHI with BRUNETTES and FUNICULAR with LIKE A ROCK. Different goodies: DRUM PAD, STYMIED, and SIT IDLE. Didn’t know DREA De Matteo, and GMAC in all probability must be retired (else youthful solvers may assume it’s a Google Mac).
Clues of word:
- 20a. [One of the two three-letter colors in the Crayola 64 box]. TAN. 23a. [The other of the two three-letter colors in the Crayola 64 box]. RED. Cool strategy to join two in any other case unconnected entries within the grid.
- 2nd. [Hindu sage]. MAHARISHI. I attempted MAHARAJAH at first and I wager a number of different folks did as nicely, however that’s a royal title (equal to a prince).
- 45d. [Something to do behind bars?]. TEND. Do you do the Minute Cryptic clue every day? The clue from the opposite day was “Extra cops transferring somebody behind bars? (8)”. After initially considering of criminals and convicts, my thoughts went to bartenders as our clue right this moment does, however that weren’t it neither. First commenter with the reply will get a thumbs-up from me. (BTW, I extremely advocate the Minute Cryptic if you wish to be taught cryptic cluing with nice explanations.)
Great puzzle. 4.5 stars from me.
There’s a number of music on this grid while you embody the theme solutions, ELO‘s “Mr. Blue Sky” and LIKE A ROCK. However I gotta go together with this one (I like the sweat-stained janitor man):
Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Common Crossword Puzzle “Unfold Vacation Cheer” — Eric’s overview
Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Common Crossword “Unfold Vacation Cheer” — 5/6/25
The start of Might looks as if an odd time to run a vacation puzzle (except the vacation is Cinco de Mayo), however that is solely marginally holiday-themed.
4 of the 5 theme solutions comprise circled letters, with a centrally-place theme revealer:
- 17A [Clown’s hairpiece] RAINBOW WIG Ring
- 24A [Mincemeat dessert] CHRISTMAS PIE Chime
- 37A [1996 holiday comedy, or a theme hint] JINGLE ALL THE WAY
- 47A [Indiana Fever star] CAITLIN CLARK Clink
- 58A [Great minds may do it] THINK ALIKE Tinkle
The circled letters are sounds a bell makes, “unfold” out by having no less than a few of these letters separated by uncircled letters.
It’s a serviceable theme, although not one which I relied on a lot. Possibly if I hadn’t been conversant in the WNBA star, however even I pay sufficient consideration to sports activities to acknowledge Ms Clark’s title.
The grid offers just for two lengthy Down solutions, and sadly each are ho-hum:
- 9D [Quarrel] ARGUMENT
- 38D [Soldier-to-be] ENLISTEE
There are just a few extra attention-grabbing items of fill that you simply don’t incessantly see:
-
- 1A [Removed with one’s chompers] BIT OFF
- 22A [They may help you make your move] U-HAULS
- 27A [Symbolic hand gestures in Hinduism] MUDRAS Both I form of knew this or my final letter was the primary vowel, and I knew MADRAS was flawed. Some may take into account this a difficult phrase for an early-week puzzle, however the crossings are all light.
- 64A [Steamy] EROTIC
Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s New York Instances crossword—Sophia’s write-up
New York Instances, 05 06 2025, By Enrique Henestroza Anguiano
Hey of us, Sophia right here protecting for the NYT Tuesday slot. At this time’s theme re-parses the phrase COTTON CANDY into “COTT ON C AND Y” – that’s, the string “cott” sits instantly on high of the string “cy”, three totally different instances within the puzzle. That’s 6 constrained entries, plus the revealer of COTTON CANDY itself! A formidable crossword building CRAFT to make certain.
I favored all the solutions Enrique selected for the COTTs and CYs. SPACY is the shortest at solely 5 letters, however all the remainder made nice stacks. APRICOT TART/FALLACY and COTTAGE CHEESE/ICY STARES had been enjoyable and I favored how the COTT/CY had been in very totally different components of the phrases, it stored it from feeling repetitive. I had heard of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, however I didn’t know GIL SCOTT-HERON‘s title.
The puzzle is barely oversize, 15×16, so in the event you take a little bit longer than common to unravel that’s in all probability why.
Fill highlights: HIT PARADE, STOOGES, ON TILT, STYMIE (I similar to that phrase). POUTY LIPS is good too however I actually needed “duckface” there
Clue highlights: [Tank top?] for GAS CAP, [O.T. high point?] for MT SINAI (O.T. = Previous Testomony – such a sneaky strategy to work within the abbreviation!)
