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Last language alphabetically on Google Translate / MON 10-20-25 / Music genre that Joan Jett "loves" / Two-part steakhouse entree / 50 years, for Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit"
Monday, October 20, 2025
Constructor: Adam Aaronson
Relative difficulty: Challenging (when solved Downs-only; otherwise probably "Easy," I don't know)
Theme answers:
- COOKIES 'N' CREAM (20A: Milkshake flavor made with Oreos)
- ROCK 'N' ROLL (30A: Music genre that Joan Jett "loves")
- SURF 'N' TURF (48A: Two-part steakhouse entree)
- SCRATCH 'N' SNIFF (60A: Like some scented stickers)
Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿 or 宮﨑 駿, Miyazaki Hayao; [mijaꜜzaki hajao]; born January 5, 1941) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished filmmakers in the history of animation. [...] Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, writing and directing films such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), and Porco Rosso (1992), which were met with critical and commercial success in Japan. Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (1997) was the first animated film to win the Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year and briefly became the highest-grossing film in Japan; its Western distribution increased Ghibli's worldwide popularity and influence. Spirited Away (2001) became Japan's highest-grossing film and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature; it is frequently ranked among the greatest films of the 21st century. Miyazaki's later films—Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013)—also enjoyed critical and commercial success. He retired from feature films in 2013 but later returned to make The Boy and the Heron (2023), which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. (wikipedia)
• • •
[8D: Band with the aptly titled debut album "High Voltage"]
As a Downs-only solve, this ended up being brutal for me. Fatal, in fact. There was just no way I was ever going to get VERY SAME. I don't even feel that bad about the fail. If I'd been more patient, maybe I could've gotten there, but I needed to get on with things, so I looked at an Across clue or two; thus: fail. VERY SAME ... [Aforementioned] ... I suppose those are equivalents, but I was not looking for a two-word phrase, and even when the first part looked like VERY, I couldn't imagine how the phrase would conclude. I was thinking of common uses of "aforementioned," and in most cases VERY SAME would be a very unclear substitute. Here's the first (recent) real-world example of "VERY SAME" at m-w.com:
The Public happens to be the very same venue where Hamilton made its off-Broadway debut in February 2015, before moving to Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre that August.—Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 19 Oct. 2025
Doesn't mean "aforementioned" in that case at all. These examples are better:
Yet the very same murmur can also appear when the heart is structurally normal and healthy.—Joshua Hutcheson, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2025Because Kacie herself was also asking that very same question after finding out that her ex-fiancé Patrick Suzuki was there.—Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Oct. 2025
VERY SAME is way more colloquial than mere "aforementioned." and requires a much clearer, more proximate referent. I could drift away from my topic and then use "aforementioned" to bring you right back, whereas if I used "VERY SAME," I'd need to have just been talking about whatever I was talking about for it to make sense. Again, [Aforementioned] is a defensible clue, just a vague and rather unclear one, to my brain (obviously). I had V-R-S--E and no idea. All the crosses could've been other multiple things: AGE / AGO, FRAT / FRET, LIMO / LIPO. I also had no real idea about FACTOR, which seemed so oddly clued (49D: Decision-making consideration). Seems like a synonym of [Consideration] all on its own. I wrote in FACETS, and then eventually did write in FACTOR, but wasn't at all sure of it. The fact that HA--O looked like nonsense, like I must've had an error, didn't help matters. Even if I had been able to look at the clue at 56A: Filmmaker Miyazaki, I'm not entirely confident I could've remembered his first name without help from crosses. This is only HAYAO's third NYTXW appearance, and the first on a Monday. "Miyazaki" is a name I know very well, but HAYAO ... not so much; inability to see HAYAO definitely factored into my VERY SAME failure. Can't believe we've had Miyazaki's first name three times now, but still haven't had Yasujiro OZU's last name even once. "Widely regarded as one of the world's greatest and most influential filmmakers" (wikipedia), and still ... nothing. [note, as with Miyazaki, I know OZU's last name extremely well but always have to look up his first name to be sure]
A couple other answers gave me some trouble, from a Downs-only perspective. That NW corner was a disaster for me at the start, as I had PERIOD before PAROLE (2D: End of some sentences), I guessed AFROED but it felt wrong, and then I had the talk show host's "furniture piece" as a SOFA, not a DESK (4D: Furniture piece for a talk show host). I also found BRING ON hard to get, as well as CUP. I was thinking of "units" that flour actually comes in, how it's packaged. A unit of anything is a CUP if you want it to be. Anything liquid or granular, anyway. The CUP is the unit. The "flour" part seems arbitrary. I also have no idea what notes are in a G major scale, so -SHARP was a crap shoot. Just had to wait to see what the Across looked like. Not exactly fun. Oh well, better luck next Monday. Or tomorrow.
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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51 comments:
If it makes you feel any better, I had a personal Natick at VERYSAME/HAYAO to finish the puzzle, and had to blindly just put in letters until the puzzle completed.
Axl Rose at least was a pretty prolific social media poster over on Twitter at one time, and stayed in character by shortening every “and” in every tweet to ‘n’. This puzzle reminded me of that.
I left my PAD to go pick up my BRIDE to be, LOBNUNLOO, and take her to the ACDC CAFE to hear a POP SONG or two and try
food. MERCI, her UBER friend suggested we eat some RAVIOLI or maybe have a SHORT RIB TURF. The FRAT BRO in charge had a BDAY so we ate some COOKIES. "I like CREAM with them" whispered ARLO but after one SNIFF, we had to SCRATCH that because it went bad...
The CAFE was fun. The TURF belonged to the ZULU BRO and YOU never TIRE of watching him ROLL REFERS or drink RED ROCK ALE. Never a SLOG and the POP SONG playing on the DRUM is AD FREE; you can even SURF for a TRIVIA SONG.
"You should come to our OASIS" shouted LOBNUNLOO. "YOU can eat EXTRA RED TURF or if cook ASKS, the ICU BLAS fish is the SURF to go with the TURF."
A MERCI ALERT LEAPS out for the TRIVIA game. "Does AGUA go into an ICE CAP IGLOO?" My BRIDE is AT BAT and she LEAPS to answer SI SI SI. No ERRS for her so she gets COOKIES N CREAM. "We're on a FREE ROLL, so we ACT VERY UBER" they all shouted.
The TRIVIA game is OVER and people are now at EASE. The ACDC CAFE is slowly emptying and now it's time to take LOBNUNLOO back to my PAD in the waiting LIMO. This is VERY HAYAO and now it's time to celebrate a BDAY.
The time FLU by but we had LEAPS of EXTRA UBER FUN today. And that's the truth, don't you think
I was OK with VERYSAME/HAYAO cross, but I Naticked with "top song" instead of POPSONG. I think my answer fits the clue better.
By no means a Real Crossword Solver, but I thought this was rather enjoyably engaging for a Monday. More like a Tuesday in terms of difficulty. No complaints!
Tough one today - but a rare opportunity to link to Tim Minchin's off-key melody: https://youtu.be/5Ju8Wxmrk3s?si=8E5ilc0_RJB_xFuf
I was surprised when I got the happy music, as I didn’t trust VERY SAME as the answer (but couldn’t think of anything else to try) and HAYAO means nothing to me. Rex gave VERY SAME a fair shot, and it’s probably close enough for CrossWorld, so we’ll leave it there and move on.
I don’t recall seeing NIHAO in a puzzle before, which seems a little weird because it looks pretty grid-friendly. I doubt it will ever reach the same Xword stature as ALOHA though.
I enjoyed seeing OREOS in the clue instead of as an answer for a change (and Joan Jett - I wonder if she likes COOKIES N CREAM).
I don’t agree “aforementioned” is a legitimate clue for “very same,” even when one could be swapped for the other in a sentence. “Very same” means “identical.” It doesn’t mean “previously stated.” The gulf is just too wide.
I was moving along, thinking that this was an uninspired theme, then got to the revealer which completely saved it.
I don't think I ever saw the clue for HAYAO, but that would have been a big WoE for me, as was NIHAO, where I wanted NIHAu or NIHAi. And with that weird clue for KNOTS I almost went with NIHAi/KNiTS.
I had the VERY SAME errors in the NW, and the VERY SAME fatal gap in the SW (as a downs-only solve).
Apparently I've been reading this blog long enough that I'm actually channeling Rex now...
So good to see you again!
Great post, Rex!
NIHAO has definitely appeared before. I was surprised to see it in a Monday though.
I never even saw the revealer. That down clue just filled in with all the acrosses. So it left me very underwhelmed.
I liked the puzzle more than @Rex but it’s a bit strange when right out of the box you see 1a and you are working the puzzle on an IPAD. I’d also note that I didn’t even pause in filling in the grid (I do that weird thing of “across” solving)until I got to Joan Jett. Hey…I said I paused…I didn’t say “ I (don’t) love ROCKNROLL.”
Interesting that VERYSAME gave me pause. I agree with Rex it is NOT colloquial BUT…as an attorney, I spent a lot of time looking at legal documents with “aforementioned” this and that.
All in all a pleasant Monday!
I liked how uncovering the solo N in two theme answers easified getting the other two. I liked uncovering AD FREE after trying hard to guess it, and smiled at how clever it is.
Truly, give me a tough smart riddle, and I’m happy if I get it and happy if I don’t (because the sweet effort satisfies my brain’s workout ethic).
I liked having my five senses pinged through the theme answers alone, and echoed elsewhere in the grid. I heard a DRUM SOLO, tasted RAVIOLI, took in the aroma of COOKIES N CREAM, even flashed on an image of TRACHEA.
I liked that AT BAT is up – Hah! I liked the four U-enders (FLU, ICU, YOU, ZULU, and wannabe IGLOO). I liked the AD in IPAD as a theme echo.
Thus, a splendid outing. Thank you so much for making this, Adam!
Hey All !
I for one thought the Revealer was a hoot! A-D-FREE! I was wondering how to get the AND(&) in there, ended up getting NOR to see the N in SURFNTURF, then got to the Revealer, saw it as ADFREE, and chuckled at such an apropos reveal.
Even has an F looking SHARP! Har
Neat puz. Common "AND" things with the N.
Guns N Roses is another. I thought the fill was OK. Clunkers (or junk, if you prefer) are in every puz. Nature of puzzledom.
I do see a potential tough spot in the cross of VERY SAME/HAYAO. That Y was my letter in. Also, NIHAO is known-ish, but tough to remember how to spell. But, that one is fairly crossed.
Anyway, back to my DESK to do Wordle and Connections. Have a great Monday!
Six F's - BRO!
RooMonster
DarrinV
I thought the puzzle was fine. The revealer was cute and placed perfectly. My only criticism is in an ad-free puzzle why would you have an ad in 1a? Which also lead to the unfortunate afroed.
Rex, welcome to the world of the downs-mostly solve, where I usually spend my Mondays and Tuesdays. Nothing wrong with the occasional peek at an across clue, especially when the down answer is a real head-scratcher like VERY SAME.
With that easing of the downs-only pressure, I found this a very satisfying Monday. Cute theme, good execution. My only nit: the clue for F SHARP was too keyboard-centric. Oboe players don’t think of G major in terms of black keys and white keys. On the other hand, their instrument shows up in the grid more than any other.
The puzzle was indeed Monday easy if solved using both across and down clues. It was fun! However “very same” was the last one in for me even with crosses.
I didn’t even see VERYSAME, it having been filled in with the acrosses.
Very easy solving normally. I start across only, just typing answers as fast as I can read them, then make a pass doing the remaining down squares, then touch up the few leftovers.
Good revealer, fun enough for a Monday.
VERY SAME problem = Same
Down only disaster! Had to look at across clues early on. Maybe, like Rex, I could have struggled and persevered more, but I lost patience. Not a bad puzzle, though!
I never do downs (or acrosses) only, but the acrosses were so easy I just filled in the entire grid without having to look at the down clues, in way less than my normal Monday time. When I went back to look at the downs, I had to laugh because the clues n’ answers seemed so much harder than the acrosses. Sure enough, this is the first Monday I can recall Rex giving a “challenging” rating.
Got the gist of the theme after COOKIES N CREAM and ROCK N ROLL (it’s a Monday, after all). Jumped down to the revealer and couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it might be. I organically got to that part of the puzzle and had enough crosses to get it, but it took me a second to parse it properly. When I did it gave me a big grin. I enjoyed it a lot.
I quite liked the theme and didn’t see the amusing revealer coming. The theme made me think about examples that must carry the ‘N’ because 'and' would be wrong (like Guns N’ Roses), versus instances in which ‘and’ and ‘N’ are interchangeable and both are acceptable. It strikes me that the four themers here are mostly in the latter category – you often see them written with ‘N,” but they’re equally correct and comprehensible with ‘and.’ The possible exception is COOKIES ‘N’ CREAM when used as a trademark.
I avoided the potential Asian-language naticks. I didn’t see the clue for NIHAO because I happened to be solving downs in that area and, with HAYAO, I less trouble than some in getting VERY SAME, although I thought it had at best a slippery relationship with its clue.
Noted the mini-land-transportation theme with LIMO, UBER, PEDAL and TIRE. My husband and I are feeling positively disposed toward Michelin TIREs these days, as we had to acquire one on an emergency basis during a recent trip. We drove to Prince Edward County, a triangular peninsula that sticks into Lake Ontario from its northern shore. It’s a lovely spot with wineries, cideries, cheeseries, craft breweries, art galleries and artists’ and craftspeople’s studios, two provincial parks, and a bunch of friendly inhabitants. On the way there, we hit a level crossing that wasn't level enough, and it dealt a fatal blow to one of the back tires. We didn't discover it until the next day, when we were leaving the charmingly named Mad Dog Art Gallery (which, contrary to expectation, featured two amiable cats who followed us around looking for pats as we examined the art). When we came out and approached the car, we saw a large, scary bulge on the side of the afflicted tire. CAA came and put on the donut spare and we knew it was fine for all the sightseeing we wanted to do but, according to the specs, it was unwise to drive home on it. So, temporarily, we had to remove our tourist hats, and research the local tire shops. We found an accommodating one which was able to get the tire we needed for the next day. Yay! Some day I’ll tell you the related story of the Great Alfa Romeo Migration – stay tuned.
Inuit luxury is an IGLOO LOO. And I'm not even gonna get into the ZULU, 'cuz it's for the birds.
If you wanna play a T-Ball game, you better get ATBAT.
You could tell that the anagrammer was geographically confused when he said NIHAO in HANOI.
I love the perfectly placed NOR at 50D. If you happened to start the puzzle at 48A, you might think that the gimmick was negating "and" in familiar phrases to produce hilarious new ones like SURF NOR TURF. Could be a vegan entree.
Clever how the puzzle starts right out with IPAD, which in ADFREE speak becomes IPN. Combined with 31D, this becomes IPN CUP, which is what I say at my monthly doping test. I liked the puzzle, although the answer to 10D was just BAZAAR. Thanks, Adam Aaronson.
Easy downs only. Can someone explain BLAT to me, though? That was a happy guess.
This theme ain’t half b, in fact, it’s the best thing since sliced bre. I ore it.
onomatopoeia for a poorly played trumpet sound.
Good one! Your affinity for language is amazing.
Hand up with the rest of the crowd who had trouble with VERYSAME crossing HAYAO. Completely missed the revealer, so thanks Rex and fellow bloggers. NIHAOma(?) rolls off the tongue in Mandarin as a question with a slight tonal dip in the HAO part. It’s generally a warm greeting but without the upbeat inference of an Aloha…anyway, that’s my feeling for it..
Nice, basic puztheme with a cool revealer. But, but ... All the themers are D-free, but not A-free, btw.
AFROED? har
staff weeject pick: AGE. Mainly because it was a piece of unknown Bilbo Baggins TRIVIA, at our house.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {Thanks, in France} = MERCI. Always appreciate a MonPuz that ain't a no-merci solvequest.
other faves: VERYSAME [debut]. ZULU. RAVIOLI. ALL+YOU can eat.
no-knows: HAYAO. NIHAO. Bilbo's AGE. And maybe borderline, on that there BLAT.
Merci for the ad-free fun, Mr. Aaronson dude.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
... and now for a Friday Flick Schlockfest inspired rodeo ...
"Colorful Spooky Flicks" - 7x7 themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
Spooky M&A
Thanks, that was terrific!
from a typical solving perspective, I enjoyed this one - lots of Monday quickness with enough tricky bits to make me feel like I was solving a puzzle. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but I thought the revealer was cute - especially since the gimmick is clear, and I had no idea what was going to tie them together. Plus, always happy to start the week with Joan Jett.
Rex, I think you've got it backward. VERY SAME doesn't always mean aforementioned, but aforementioned always means VERY SAME. At least, that's how I always read words. As for CUP, I can see one wouldn't think of that word while shopping for flour; but once you start to cook with it, the CUP is the relevant unit of measure (at least in the USA--I guess most other place will measure in grams).
My eldest son and his wife named their second cat NIHAO. It was a couple years later I learned that it wasn't spelled 'knee-how,' and a few more when I learned what it meant. But that long process reinforced the memory -- I'd never have got it otherwise.
I'm in "the revealer makes it all worth it" camp.
I've been thinking of giving Downs-only a try, but I'm glad I didn't start today. I found this slightly harder than a normal Monday, even with the acrosses in hand. If Rex found Downs-only challenging, I'm not sure what hope I would have had.
It's just my twitchy nature that the shortening of "and" to 'N annoys me somehow. Part of it may be that the shortening gives a whiff of an advertiser's contrivance, to make the product name seem jazzily colloquial, and this to me has a ring of fakeness to it. (In other words, not AD-FREE! Since advertiser-speak is embedded in the phrases.) Anyway, such phrases did not endear me to this puzzle. But clearly this is a me-thing. If the 'N thing gladdens your heart, then I'll be happy for you.
All that said, I thought the intended meaning of AD-FREE was very clever. Certainly this theme has potential.
Like Rex, I fell into the trap of putting in PeRiod before PAROLE, and like Rex I thought AFROED looked weird. Very weird.
I'm not sure I feel as strongly as he does about VERY SAME. To me, "aforementioned" is pretty close to "same as above", and VERY SAME would function as an emphatic variant. One version of Joaquin's Dictum that works for me is that the answer should be capable of subbing in for the clue, where "capable of" implies "under some circumstances", and not necessarily "under all circumstances". The better examples that Rex gave in his write-up show that this principle of cluing is being adhered to here.
I just looked to check whether ARLO Guthrie is still alive. He is, but not performing so much these days. Not quite a ROCK 'N ROLL guy; that would be more for the professionals like AC/DC. His only real POP SONG (one that hit the top 40) was City of New Orleans, which I love. Not so much the song Alice's Restaurant; I'd much rather read the lyrics, which I can do at my EASE and at my own speed, rather than submit to the 18' 34'' of Guthrie's discursive telling of a shaggy dog story. (As I said, I can be a little twitchy.)
Time to get to work. Hope you have a pleasant day.
You're right. I guess you could put "accidental" instead of "black key", but I think that might take it out of Monday territory.
Good to see you lady!
So wonderful to have you back here, @GILL! Especially for one of your your crazy, imaginative and slightly off-the-wall Monday sagas. Hope to be seeing you here often again!
Hola! Demasiado tiempo sin verte.
Very nice downs-only Monday except for one big outlier. 56A HAYAO. Working D-O, I had no idea that I was looking for a Japanese name and even if I did, I would have no idea who Mr. Miyazaki is or what his first name is. I just had to trust the crosses and pray. Not a Monday answer, I think.
But that was only part of what made the SW the toughest section for me. I had trouble connecting “Aforementioned” with VERY SAME but when I finally did I thought it was great. Another FACTOR of my difficult time down there was … you guessed it … FACTOR, which was just so straightforwardly obvious that I couldn’t see it. Aargh! FLU also tripped me up. “It goes around every year” sent me in search of something orbiting, not infecting.
The rest of the puzzle was pretty easy and fun but, of course, I still have some nits to pick. IGLOO at 21D kind of bugged me because the clue says “Inuit’s home” which implies a long-term residency. Igloos are temporary shelters usually constructed while out hunting. Once again, check out North of North to see how modern day Inuit live, and have a bit of a laugh. It’s on Netflix.
Is 2D PAROLE the end of a sentence or just a continuation of a sentence under altered terms? And who okayed AFROED (3D)?
With the exception of the aforementioned HAYAO and possibly NIHAO, all the acrosses seemed, upon review, to be pretty easy and the themers were a lot of fun. Nice way to start the week. Too bad we couldn’t fit a serving of Mac’n’Cheese in there.
Try as I might, I couldn't come up with a revealer that explained the theme. Anyone? I think it's a really good revealer. And while the theme makes the puzzle quite easy, the Mandarin and the Japanese name make it considerably harder in places than most Mondays.
I guess if something is aforementioned, it has to be the VERY SAME, right? But I challenge anyone to find a sentence in which you would substitute either one for the other one and have the sentence make much sense. Awful clue, I'd say -- I wouldn't even like it on a Saturday.
High point of the morning is @GILL's very welcome post.
All's right with the world.
I didn't think the puzzle needed a revealer - the theme answers were all the same type and I was happy with that. Reading Rex and finding out there was a revealer, I went looking and thought it very charming.
I had Rex's PeRiod before PAROLE but otherwise this puzzle was easy except for the VERY SAME area.
Thanks, Adam Aaronson!
I'm in the ??? crowd for HAYAO and NIHAO today. HAYAO was going to be impossible, as was VERYSAME but only because I misread the clue for RAVIOLI, which should have been obvious, and somehow came up with CANNOLI. This does not work.
Fun fact: ARLO Guthrie's grandson has followed the family tradition and become a good folksinger. He lives in VT and I had a chance to talk to him last summer after he performed "This Land Is Your Land" for his finale from the same spot where I had sung it a couple of months earlier during an anti-Trump rally. Nice moment.
I remember seeing someone's rant against the use of "N" for and expressed as an undertaker's business called "Caskets N Things".
Seems like I've been seeing the missing letters trick in other puzzles lately, but I like it.
Nice Monday, AA. Anything ADFREE is aces with me, and thanks for all the fun.
Thanks for the welcome backs. I'm going through some rough patches but Monday foolery is something even I look forward to. I should be back in full regalia before the holidays....cross fingers. I really miss the blog and all of you.
Medium i. HAYAO was it for WOEs and no costly erasures, just fat fingers.
I got the N thing early on but the revealer was a surprise and hoot which made AFROED forgivable, liked it quite a bit more than @Rex did.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1054 was an easy Croce for me. Less than 1.5X a medium NYT Saturday. No real problems anywhere, good luck!
Hats off to the constructor for seeing the theme potential in AD-FREE and for illustrating it with four iconic phrases. Favorite non-theme moment: figuring out VERYSAME.
Croce 1054 was a new record for speed for me - seven seconds faster than 1034.
@Nancy, you may have seen my post but unfortunately (I think many attorneys would agree) it is used in “legalese” once something is identified. Like one might say “the blue 1966 Schwinn bicycle with a banana seat” and later say “the aforementioned bicycle.” I know…Sheesh.
Can't tell you how much I miss these when you are away.
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