LAT untimed (pannonica) 
[4.00 avg; 4 ratings]
NYT 5:31 (Amy) [3.79 avg; 7 ratings]
Common 2:50 (Jim) 
[3.70 avg; 5 ratings]
USA Right this moment tk (Emily)
August Lee-Kovach’s New York Instances crossword—Amy’s write-up
NY Instances crossword resolution, 5/16/25 – no. 0516
Enjoyable Friday puzzle! With a themeless puzzle, I typically begin by studying the Throughout clues until I discover one thing I do know. On this case, … it was crosswordese AGORA. Opened that complete nook up for me! Just a bit mad to be rewarded for figuring out the phrase.
Fave fill: SPACESHIP, MEGASTORE, and “I CAN’T EVEN” make an excellent stack. “LET ME GO,” DOOMSDAY MACHINE, and LEGO ART populate the center. Additionally preferred EASY MONEY, GOOGLEBOT, STEFFI Graf, hypnotist’s PENDULUM, “FOR THE WIN” (which I normally see simply in its written, abbreviated type of “ftw”), and a sports activities FREE AGENT.
Reply that took a beat to assemble: 32D. [Tough draw], LOSE A TURN. Now, you lose a flip in Uno if somebody performs a SKIP card on you. In what recreation(s) do you draw a LOSE A TURN card? I’m blanking on it.
I want a mnemonic to do not forget that Mary-Kate and Ashley (and their MCU sister Elizabeth) are the OLSENS and never OlsOns. There’s an E as a result of Mary-KatE and AshlEy every have an E?
Not satisfied that I NAILED IT is any higher than the too-commonly seen I RULE. Ideas? Additionally not eager on LINE A. Any individual discover me some IRS schedule types that truly begin with a “line A.” Schedule A begins with line 1. So do another schedule types I glanced at.
4 stars from me.
Lewis Rothlein’s Los Angeles Instances crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 5/16/22 • Fri • Rothlein • resolution • 20250516
The theme clues are all single phrases with an typographical hole launched, and the solutions handle that peculiarity.
- 17a. [Pa ss] SPLIT TICKET.
- 25a. [Fi rm] PARTED COMPANY.
- 43a. [Shis hito] CRACKED PEPPER.
- 56a. [Bo nds] SEVERED TIES.
Easy, elegant.
- 6a [Verb with thou] SAYST. Oof. And within the first row, too.
- 19a [Dark site of the moon?] SEA. The seas, or mares, or maria, seem darker than different components of the moon’s topography.
- 20a [Members of a sub group] HOAGIES. <groan once more> No query mark on this clue, hmm.
- 34a [Overlord of the rings, for short?] IOC, the Worldwide Olympic Committee; the video games’ emblem is after all 5 interconnected rings.
40a [Planters] SOWERS. I ought to in all probability learn Octavia Butler’s prescient Parable of the Sower, which many individuals say fairly eerily predicted our present state of affairs.- 2nd [Intel collected during a race] OPPO. 32a [Sought office] RAN. 62a [Campaign topic] ISSUE.
- 5d [Fortes] MÉTIERS. 53d [French noun suffix] -IERE. Too shut?
- 22d [Best or bests] TOPS. I like this one.
- 25d [Minor offense] PECCADILLO. etymology: Spanish pecadillo, diminutive of pecado sin, from Latin peccatum, from neuter of peccatus, previous participle of peccare (m-w.com)
- 28d [Cain genre] NOIR. James M.
- 38d [Get the drift, perhaps] SCAN. I’m all the time cautious of this contranym. Oversight is one other harmful one.
- 39d [Folks who might say, “Cruses! Foiled again!”?] FENCERS. <groan>
- 48d [Kick] TANG. Had BANG for a second.
- 50d [Some NASA missions] EVAS. Extravehicular actions.
- 57d [Gettysburg address feature?] EDU.
Drew Schmenner’s Common crossword, “Conversion Desk”—Jim’s evaluation
Theme solutions had been initially acquainted phrases with the bigram IT current, besides IT has been changed with letters spelling out models of weight. The revealer is “WAIT FOR IT” (57a, [“Be patient … we’re almost there,” and a homophonic hint to the substitutions in the starred clues’ answers?]).
Common crossword resolution · “Conversion Desk” · Drew Schmenner · Fri., 5.16.25
- 18a. [*Roo’s first jump?] WEE BOUNCE. Wee bit.
- 27a. [*Present survey results in detail?] EXPOUND POLLS. Exit polls.
- 45a. [*Steal a conducting stick?] TAKE THE BATON. Take the bait.
This was a considerably complicated theme with a pair theme solutions that introduced some crimson herrings. The payoff didn’t appear price it as soon as I lastly understood it.
An informal have a look at the primary theme reply made it appear to be WEEB OUNCE and since I knew “weeb” is a slang time period (derogatorily referring to a fan obsessive about Japanese tradition), I used to be attempting to sq. that with the clue and failing. The ultimate theme reply is itself a identified idiom (although I normally hear it as “take up the baton”). In order that was not useful in finding out the theme, particularly when TON is tough to note as a unit of weight hidden inside an extended theme reply. EXPOUND POLLS isn’t with out issues both because it feels quite tortured.
So…not my favourite theme, however I’m actually digging the fill: ROOTED OUT, TOURIST TRAP, “WHAT A PITY!” and HAT TIP are all vigorous, sparkly entries. I’ve by no means heard of FOREST BATHS [Therapeutic walks in the woods], however I’m glad to study the phrase. because it’s one thing I’ve carried out and am apt to do once more.
Clues had been pretty easy, permitting for a speedy remedy time (for me), but they nonetheless felt contemporary.
I didn’t get lots of pleasure from the theme, however I did from the fill. Three stars.
