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Relative difficulty: Easy...? (7:06 on my phone while walking home)
THEME: QUIP — In a classic "Quip Puzzle," the clues are just there to show you where to write each part of the quote. Here, each clue (phrased just like they would be in a Quip Puzzle) is a literal description of the entry. More details below!
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: Apple pan DOWDY —
Hey squad! Happy Malaika MWednesday! Short write-up from me today as I have some work I need to finish :( I wondered what trick they'd throw at me for their April Fools' Day puzzle, and this seemed pretty tame. I think I could see it as a Thursday puzzle if it hadn't been April 1st.
- [Quip, part 1] for QUICK START
- The first part of the term "quip" is the letter Q, so that is circled
- Additionally, the "start" of the word "quick" is the letter Q
- [Quip, part 2] for YOUNG AT HEART
- The first part of the term "quip" is the letter U, so that is circled
- Additionally, the "heart" (or center) or the word "young" is the letter U
- [Quip, part 3] for SECOND IN LINE
- The third part of the term "quip" is the letter I, so that is circled
- Additionally, the "second" in the word "line" is the letter I
- [Quip, part 4] for PAY UP FRONT
- The fourth part of the term "quip" is the letter P, so that is circled
- Additionally, the "front" of the word "pay" is the letter P
Word of the Day: Apple pan DOWDY —
Grunts, pandowdy, and slumps are Canadian Maritimes, New England, and Pennsylvania Dutch varieties of cobbler, typically cooked on the stovetop, or in an iron skillet or pan, with the dough on top in the shape of dumplings. They reportedly take their name from the grunting sound they make while cooking. Another name for the types of biscuits or dumplings used is dough-boys. In the United States, additional varieties of cobbler include the Betty, the buckle (made with yellow batter [like cake batter] with the filling mixed in with the batter), the dump (or dump cake), and the sonker. The sonker is unique to North Carolina: it is a deep-dish version of the American cobbler. [wiki]
• • •
Constructors can be so creative! I could imagine brainstorming aspects of this theme, but no way could I have come up with every part and got them all working together. Quip Puzzles are a very polarizing type of theme. Everyone I know (including me) hates them. (I only say they're polarizing as opposed to hated bc presumably some people must like them if they keep getting published??) So I think it makes a lot of sense to theme a puzzle around making a solver think it's a Quip Puzzle and then pulling the rug out from under them.
I don't solve cryptic crosswords, but I understand that the clues in them are similar to what's going on here. You are plucking letters that will be in the entry from parts of the clue, with words like "start" or "second" giving you hints. We've seen cryptic-esque clues in Sam's April 1st puzzle from several years ago. And even regular puzzles will occasionally employ cryptic techniques like [Enrollment center?] as a clue for ELS.
I wonder how many phrases they brainstormed for each of the letters! I could imagine, e.g. PICK FIRST as an entry for [Quip, part 4], so I think part of the challenge comes from getting everything to have a symmetrical number of letters. With some puzzles, if you have (e.g.) two theme answers that are ten letters and two that are thirteen letters, you can swap the positions of theme answers 1 & 4 and answers 2 & 3. Here, the order matters.
I wonder how many phrases they brainstormed for each of the letters! I could imagine, e.g. PICK FIRST as an entry for [Quip, part 4], so I think part of the challenge comes from getting everything to have a symmetrical number of letters. With some puzzles, if you have (e.g.) two theme answers that are ten letters and two that are thirteen letters, you can swap the positions of theme answers 1 & 4 and answers 2 & 3. Here, the order matters.
On top of the cleverness of the theme, there were some great long entries with I GOTTA SAY, INDIE POP, HOT DATES, WATCH THIS, DOG TOY, and TREE FROG. So impressive! I found the clues throughout to be really easy, which I think made the theme entries fall into place for me. Even though I didn't clock what was going on until the puzzle was fully done (I knew it wasn't a Quip Puzzle, but I didn't get what the theme entries meant), my time was still average.
Bullets:
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Bullets:
- [Go a-courtin'?] for SUE — Cute!
- [Nash who wrote "Who wants my jellyfish? / I'm not sellyfish!"] for OGDEN — I comment on a lot of the older references that are lost on me, but I know and love Ogden Nash. (Because my grandparents had a book of his rhymes at their house lol.)
- [Kind of burger that lacks meat] for SOY — I've heard of VEGGIE burgers, black bean burgers, impossible burgers, beyond burgers.... I have never heard of a soy burger!
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️
- American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration closed!)
📘 My other blog 📘:
- Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)