Monday, June 17, 2024 | (2024)

BEQtk (Matthew)

LAT2:18 (Stella)

NYT2:50 (Sophia)

WSJuntimed (Jim)

Kiran Pandey’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up

Hi folks! Thanks for bearing with me as this write up is published a little later than usual – I’ve been traveling for a wedding this weekend.

Today’s theme is AYE AYE CAPTAIN, taken literally – the theme answers are phrases where the final word is the name of a famous fictional captain, and there are two “I”‘s earlier in the phrase. The I’s are circled in the puzzle to make this even clearer. We’ve got:

• 20a [2018 Childish Gambino hit that won the Grammy for Song of the Year] – THIS IS AMERICA
• 31a [Pixar film that takes place mostly underwater] – FINDING NEMO
• 41a [Holder of bait] – FISHING HOOK
• 55a [Affirmative at sea … or a phonetic hint to what’s found sequentially in 20-, 31- and 41-Across] – AYE AYE CAPTAIN

I am kind of stunned that this theme set exists – it’s just perfect. The added level of the AYE AYE really brings it a cut above a standard “all these words have something in common” theme. All three CAPTAINs – Captain America, Captain Nemo, and Captain Hook – are well known characters in pop culture. As for the theme answers themselves,FINDING NEMO is a classic and I loved seeing it in the grid. THIS IS AMERICA is an incredibly important song with a very powerful video (check it out, but content warning for gun violence).

The rest of the grid is great too, very Monday smooth. NICE CATCH, TOMATILLO, OY VEY, GAY PROM, and I MEAN IT were standouts to me. There were some answers that felt a little repetitive to me – I CARE and I CALL, ON TOP and ON TV – but that’s a very nitpicky complaint. I also liked that ON TOP was literally ON TOP of the grid. Some clues that were tricky for me: [Telemachus, to Odysseus] for SON, and [What fits the Venn diagram of “Computers” and “Pastas”?] for MAC (although that was just due to not understanding what this clue was going for more than the actual difficulty).

Happy Monday all!

Geoff Brown’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Perfect Pitch”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that answer to the clue [Pitch].

• 17a. KNUCKLEBALL
• 24a. SOCCER FIELD
• 36a. CAST ASIDE
• 51a. SALES PATTER
• 61a. ROCK AND ROLL

Haven’t seen a theme like this in quite a while. What I look for in one of these puzzles is for the theme answers to all be in-the-language phrases. SALES PATTER is a bit iffy in this regard, but it’s close.

But the biggest outlier is ROCK AND ROLL. While it’s certainly an in-the-language phrase, there’s some additional wordplay going on here that’s different than the others. I’m interpreting the entry to mean the physical motions of rocking and rolling, like a ship pitching back and forth on rough seas. Normally I would question whether having an entry this different is suitable, but since it’s placed last it almost turns into a punchline or a zinger at the end of the puzzle, so I think it works.

Fill-wise, some tough-for-Monday entries make themselves known in that NE corner: ORT and MOA. Also, INK MARK looks a little suspect to me since “ink spot” seems like the far more common phrase. Nothing stands out as especially sparkly, but it all gets the job done.

3.5 stars.

Renee Thomason & Zhouqin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

As the most recent winner ofRuPaul’s Drag Race and a queen who often includes banana motifs in her costumes, Nymphia Wind would probably dig this puzzle. The revealer at 37A [Head honcho, and a hint to the first word of 3-, 8-, 21-, or 24-Down] isTOP BANANA, because a word that can followBANANA to make a new word or phrase appears at theTOP of each theme entry. (The themers need to be Downs, not Acrosses, for the theme to work.)

• 3D [Features of dress slacks] isBELT LOOPS. I had not heard the term BANANA BELT before, but Wikipedia tells me it’s a geography/weather term.
• 8D [Disney pair who live in a big oak tree] isCHIP AND DALE. BANANA CHIPs are a carb you can eat a lot of if you’re not careful.
• 21D [Fight to the finish] isSLUG IT OUT. I will never not be amused by UC Santa Cruz’s choice of theBANANA SLUG as their mascot.
• 24D [Blink of an eye] isSPLIT SECOND. BANANA SPLITs are kinda retro, I think? I can’t remember the last time I saw one on offer at an ice cream shop, but then Brooklyn ice cream shops are kinda bougie.

I pedantically don’t love this theme, becauseTOP BANANA to me implies that the top word will be atype of BANANA, not a word that can follow BANANA. I did like the unusual grid shape, which felt like it had more 6s and 7s than usual for a Monday. Nice evocative ones too, likeOREGANO,PEACOAT,DAHLIAS, andERSATZ.

Susan Gelfand’s Universal crossword, “Laugh Lines” — pannonica’s write-up

Super-smooth and super-easy. The grid practically filled itself like spreading water, or perhaps like fast-flowing 2d LAVA.

The theme entails comedians’ surnames.

• 20a. [Former hospital volunteer gig for comedian John] CANDY STRIPER.
• 31a. [Former baseball infield gig for comedian Martin?] SHORTSTOP.
• 43a. [Former apiarian gig for comedian Samantha] BEEKEEPER.
• 49a. [Former fortunetelling gig for comedian Billy?] CRYSTAL GAZER.

Not too exciting, but it all works.

• 39d [Spotted wildcats] LEOPARDS.Wildcats, to me, indicates more diminutive species.
• 50d [Scatters seeds] SOWS. 42a [Hemmed a skirt, say] SEWED.
• 51d [Moderate horse gait] TROT. 12d [Little kid] TOT.
• 1a [Modeling material] CLAY. Yep, I put this one in first, right away, and never looked back.
• 66a [Vague quantity] SOME. I must have misread it during the solve because I hesitated and considered AURA.

Natan Last’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap

When I see a Fiend comment complaining about one of Natan’s New Yorker puzzles before I’ve solved the puzzle, I know I’m in for a treat. Today’s was no exception—a complaint about the names in the grid translated to a smooth solve for me. I didn’t know a couple of the short names, but the crossings did the heavy lifting and the puzzle was in the easier half of Monday New Yorker themelesses.

Things I learned:

• 34a. [Italian political tendency known as “workerism” in English], OPERAISMO. Figured the first letters would relate toopus and I’ve seen the -ismo ending before, came together just fine.
• 48a. [“The Legend of Korra” character ___ Beifong], LIN. The show aired 2012-2014 on Nickelodeon, when my kid was 12 to 14 years old and watching little Nickelodeon anymore.
• 49a. [“Siluetas” artist Mendieta], ANA. Her Wikipedia page outlines her body of work.
• 20a. [Tribe whose community was centered around a lake in New Hampshire], OSSIPEE.

Fave fill: EMBASSY ROW, “OH SNAP,” LATE RISERS, GO HARD, John MULANEY, “LET’S BE REAL,” “I’M SO OLD” (it really snuck up on me, this age thing), “FREE PALESTINE” (regardless of your stance, you can’t argue this hasn’t been a term of global significance this year), SERIES REGULAR.

Four stars from me.