Opera with a baritone Iago / WED 6-25-2025 / Rite place at the rite time? / 2008 romantic drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow

Constructor: Ben Zimmer and Zach Sherwin

Relative difficulty: Hard (21:46)

THEME: CENTRAL AC — Eight answers in the grid (four across, four down) have their central two letters, AC, in their own box

Theme answers:

• [Historic agreement of 1215] for MAGNA CARTA
• [Expansive parcels] for TRACTS
• ["Dream a Little Dream of Me" singer of 1968, familiarly] for MAMA CASS
• [Healthful snack brand] for TERRA CHIPS
• [Onomatopoetic breakfast trio] for SNAP CRACKLE POP
• [Source of prophecy] for ORACLE
• [907, for a high one] for AREA CODE
• [Popular stocking stuffer?] for SANTA CLAUS

Word of the Day: TETRA (Flashy fish) —

The Characidae and their allies are distinguished from other fish by the presence of a small adipose fin between the dorsal and caudal fins. Many of these, such as the neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), are brightly colored and easy to keep in captivity. Consequently, they are extremely popular for home aquaria. [wiki]

• • •

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Malaika MWednesday!! (Although I am writing this at nighttime on Tuesday-- it's been a fantastic night in Brooklyn.) Zach Sherwin! He is a comedian / songwriter who does a show called "The Crossword Show" which I was lucky enough to contribute to back in 2023. I don't think I've ever solved one of his crosswords, but he has solved many of mine! So it's fun to have the tables a little bit turned.

Incredibly apt puzzle today, as NYC is getting obliterated by a heatwave. I have a very high tolerance for heat (+ live in a very dense, cool, pre-war building with high ceilings and a courtyard) and have resisted installing my AC unit for soooo long... but today (or rather, Tuesday) was the day that I cracked. 105 degrees is simply too hot to tough it out!! (So maybe the puzzle wasn't quite apt for me personally, as I have had CENTRAL AC for exactly two years out of the past twelve.)

Very interesting to see a rebus puzzle on a Wednesday! I think on Wednesdays, the rebus squares should have circles. But I also think that generally every puzzle should be slightly easier than how it was published, so maybe ignore me. This played hard for me in terms of cluing though! I finished three-quarters of this puzzle in about ten minutes, and then used over ten minutes just aimlessly guessing in the top-left corner. Those two stacked long answers (MAGNA CARTA and ALBATROSS) both had trivia clues that just didn't click for me, plus Bobbsey Twins trivia (NAN), space trivia (PLASMA), and referring to a TAMALE as a treat which just felt weird. It's a food item! Would I call a sandwich a treat, or an empanada a treat?

The theme itself was executed well. It's interesting to see how an idea for a theme can get implemented in different ways-- I think that this could have very well been a Monday puzzle with four long across answers that had AC at their center and no rebus at all. Adding the rebus made it a Wednesday level. I wish there had been a bit more of a rationale for why they were squished together in a box (I was expecting a revealer like "AC unit"), but I guess we wouldn't have gotten the down answers if the AC's weren't rebusified. 

Stay cool everyone!!!

Bullets:

• [Flanged girder] for IBEAM— I read this clue over and over again and thought "those can not possibly be words. Are those words." Well, let me tell you, they are words!! "Flanged" means that it has a ridge on the end, and a "girder" is a piece of a framework.
• [Miscellaneous collection] for RAGBAG — Really??? Not "ragtag"???? What on earth!! 
• [Bit of gear for Vermeer] for PALETTE — Was so stuck here thinking that the entry would be something super-specific to Vermeer and my hours spent rereading the YA book Chasing Vermeer would finally pay off but alas no
• ["Quickest way to Harlem," in song] for A TRAIN — This is the best train in NYC, in my opinion (so fast!! Manhattan Brooklyn Queens!! Beach!! JFK!!!!) but this entry took a bit to click because I associate the A with Washington Heights
• [Rite place at the rite time?] for ALTAR — Very good clue

xoxo Malaika

P.S. One of my crosswords was published today! It's small and themeless and you can solve it here.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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Sing like Ella Fitzgerald / TUES 6-24-25 / Ouzo flavoring / Regular at the Met, maybe / "Yadda, yadda, yadda"

Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday in June. Hope everyone is staying cool in the middle of this crazy heat wave — D.C. is currently horribly hot and humid. I’m writing this after attending an outdoor concert where the temperature was 90-plus degrees (the concert was amazing but ended a few songs early because of the extreme heat), and I’m now enjoying the AC in my apartment… In more important news, this month, the rest of the BTS members returned from their military service, so get ready to hear a lot more about them in future write-ups:) 

Anywho, onto the puzzle…

Constructor: Ingrid Steffensen

Relative difficulty: Medium (if you're not solving the crossword at a concert)

THEME: PARAS (54D: Law firm aides, informally … or a hint to 17-, 26-. 48- and 62-Across) — Each theme answer is a “pair o’” something and when combined with “para” forms another word

Theme answers:

• DOCKS DOCKS (17A: A couple of places to secure boats ... or a logical contradiction?) [Paradox]
• DICE DICE (26A: A couple of sets of game cubes ... or heaven?) [Paradise] 
• LIES LIES (48A: A couple of fibs ... or incapacitate?) [Paralyze] 
• FRAYS FRAYS (62A: A couple of melees ... or put into new, simpler words without changing the meaning?) [Paraphrase]

Word of the Day: “SMELLS Like Teen Spirit” (43A: Nirvana's "___ Like Teen Spirit") —

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records. Having sold over 13 million units worldwide, it is one of the best-selling songs of all time. The success propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts and is often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream. It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain. (Wiki)

• • •

The theme was quite inventive. It took me a while to understand, but once I did, I really appreciated it. Though, the theme answers looked quite strange on their own, without reference to the revealer (DOCKSDOCKS, LIESLIES, etc.). The repetition really helped with the solve after you got the first couple, but the theme itself did skew a bit later in the week for me. I enjoyed the multiple layers to each clue and answer and how it all came together. But — and this is a huge one — I will go to the ends of the Earth to shout from the rooftop that PARAS (54D) is not a short form for “paralegals.” I don’t care what Google or Wikipedia or anyone else may say (though I think they mostly agree with me anyway). It’s just not a common way to refer to that profession. I work in the legal field and work with a lot of paralegals, and I’ve never once heard someone be called a PARA (54D), let alone heard that word around the office. Sorry, that soured me some, apparently! 

Otherwise, the puzzle felt like a pretty standard Tuesday solve. There were some fun words in there — SCOFF (43D: React to a ridiculous suggestion, maybe), BUNGLE (19A: Muff), DRAM (67A: 1/8 fluid ounce), and SCRUM (23D: Rugby pile), to name a few. If you say each of those words out loud, they just have a certain panache (another favorite word) to them. APOGEE (4D: Pinnacle) is also a good word. And then the answer YEA (63D: Word said in passing?) was clever.

Overall, the fill was fine but nothing much to write home about. The long answers outside the theme were okay. OPERA FAN (56A: Regular at the Met, maybe), I can see. SEATBELT (21A: Thing to be clicked in a "Click It or Ticket" campaign) wasn’t horrible. MINISTERS (35D: Preachers) was meh. NANNY CAMS (3D: Surveillance systems installed by parents) was probably my favorite of the long answers other than the themes, though they’re rather creepy (unless you put one in your room when you go to a concert to keep an eye on your puppy to see if you need to ask your roommate to look in on her). 

22A: 1917, 1984, 2001 and others with YEARS seems really basic. Having RPMS (61D: Tachometers measure them, in brief) plural is redundant, as the R stands for “revolutions.” And I don’t have any idea if it’s proper, but DEWS (37D: Morning condensations) as a plural also looks weird, and I’m not sure I’ve seen it written like that before. I struggled a bit with ASSAI (41D: Very, in music) and GELID (33D: Very cold), particularly with them so close together in the puzzle.

Misc.:

• With PACER (10D: Indiana basketballer), all I feel is sadness for the team and Tyrese Haliburton and his stupid Achilles tendon. Poor guy. (For those of you who didn’t watch the NBA Finals — he led his team to the seventh game of the Finals, and into the lead, despite a serious calf injury, then tore a tendon.) Having that answer in the puzzle next to ANKLE (11D: Body part that may be twisted), clued as something that can be twisted, felt ominous. 
• My puppy has an ID TAG (15D: Canine collar attachment) that, on one side, says “Red” and has my phone number. On the other side, it says “Oh f*** I’m lost. Call my mama.” 
• MANO a MANO (16A: (how two foes confront each other) is an interesting one to me because many people seem to think mano a mano means man to man, but it means hand to hand. 
• LEO (6D: Actor DiCaprio, in the tabloids) doesn’t make me think of Leonardo DiCaprio but rather my cousin’s son who’s only five and is trilingual. (My cousin is American, her husband is Italian, and they live in Spain, so little Leo speaks three languages quite well). I feel inadequate. 
• Right now, instead of APRIL (51D: T.S. Eliot's (and the I.R.S.'s) "cruellest month"), June is feeling like the cruelest month because of this heat! 

And that’s all from me. Here’s to cooler weather (HAR) and a great month of July!

Signed, Clare Carroll (I’m signing off now, so I guess that makes me a PARAGON) 

P.S. I really did solve the puzzle at the concert—

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Paypal 
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✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• Westwords (Berkeley) (Sun., Jun. 22, 2025)
• Boswords (Boston) (Sun. July 27, 2025)
• Lollapuzzoola 18 (NYC) (Sat., Aug. 9, 2025) 
• Midwest Crossword Tournament (Chicago) (Sat., Oct. 4, 2025)

=============================
📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...