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"Rise and shine!" / TUES 7-7-26 / "Barbie" actress Issa / Portmanteau for a screened-in feline lounge / Delphi prophet / Fruit from a tree that can self-pollinate
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Hello, everyone! It’s Clare coming at you a little late (why does immigration court have so many deadlines?!), this time for the first Tuesday of July. I hope no one has suffered too much in this insane heat! D.C. was pretty miserable for a few days, and I had to get creative to find ways for my dog to run off some of the energy that she built up from not going on our usual walks or trips to the dog park. But staying inside has also coincided with getting to watch so many sports! The World Cup has been amazing (though I just watched the USMNT lose embarrassingly badly to Belgium). The England-Mexico game? The Argentina-Cabo Verde game? So great! Wimbledon has had some entertaining matches, too. Go, Coco!
Anywho, on to the puzzle…
Relative difficulty: Medium for a Tuesday
THEME: WARM AND FUZZY (50A: Like a feeling of tender happiness ... or how you might feel after reading both halves of the answers to the starred clues?) — The first half of each theme answer describes something “warm,” and the second half is an animal that’s “fuzzy.”
Theme answers:
- BEACH BUNNIES (20A: *Surfer girls, in old lingo)
- HOT DOGS (28A: *Frankfurters)
- SUN BEAR (36A: *Relative of a grizzly that's named for its bright chest patch)
- FIREFOX (45A: *Internet browser borrowing a nickname for the red panda)
Spamalot, also known as Monty Python's Spamalot: A New Musical (Lovingly) Ripped Off from the Motion Picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail) is a musical with music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle, and lyrics and a book by Idle. Based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical offers a highly irreverent parody of Arthurian legend, with the title being a portmanteau of Spam and Camelot. The original 2005 Broadway production directed by Mike Nichols received 14 Tony Award nominations, winning in three categories, including Best Musical. During its initial run of 1,575 performances, the production was seen by more than two million people and grossed over $168 million (Wiki)
• • •
That was a pretty average Tuesday puzzle that made me feel somewhat WARM AND FUZZY inside. It’s a nice idea and a cute phrase, and I came around to liking the theme more than I thought I did initially. The theme was very straightforward: literally just a word that is (mostly) WARM followed directly by an animal that could plausibly be described as FUZZY. I have some qualms with the FUZZY answers, as I think “furry” might be a better descriptor — or even “fluffy.” I’m just not sure I’ve ever thought of BUNNIES or a FOX as being FUZZY. And a BEAR? (Even if Fuzzy Wuzzy was a fuzzy bear. Or was he?) My DOG is wonderfully cuddly and has some impressive hair on top of her head that I can make into a mohawk, but I still don’t think of her as FUZZY. And have you ever been to a BEACH in winter? I have, because my parents live in a beach town, and it’s not WARM… The puzzle had some nice pairings, with GET UP (9A: "Rise and shine!") directly above AWAKE (16A: No longer in dreamland). Then there’s LEIA (59A: Rebel Alliance princess) above TRON (62A: Sci-fi franchise with light cycles). MUSH (51D: Sled dog command) (which I know because of the movie “Snow Dogs”) was crossing SNOW (61A: Fresh powder, e.g.). Though in the opposite vein, we also had both HBO (21D: "Curb Your Enthusiasm" network) and PBS (33D: "This Old House" network) in the puzzle. Did we really need two network abbreviations?
I liked BABA (1A: ___ ghanouj) as the answer to start the puzzle. It’s delicious, and upon googling it for this write-up, I learned that it might translate to “father of coquetry.” GAME OVER (9D: Last words on a pinball machine) is a great expression and one that I unfortunately saw many times as I played my family’s pinball machine over and over as a kid. NAMES (49A: What to call people … or what not to call people) is basic fill that was clued in a clever way. I like the word FANDOM (45D: Obsessive pop culture subculture) (as I am in several fandoms myself. And only mildly obsessive.). GO POOF (25D: Vanish into thin air) is cute and fun to say. My favorite clue/answer was 30D: Start a long drive, in a way as TEE OFF, which got a chuckle out of me.
I struggled a bit in random parts of the puzzle. I didn’t know LAYNE (7D: ___ Staley, original lead singer of Alice in Chains), who felt obscure for a Tuesday. I couldn’t come up with ELF HATS (43A: Accessories pointed at the North Pole?) for the longest time and wanted to make it “elf ears,” even though ears clearly aren’t an accessory. I forgot that a CATIO (60A: Portmanteau for a screened-in feline lounge) is a thing, and while I had CAT immediately, I had to rack my brain for a while as to how to finish the word. HAWAII (44D: Luau locale) also took me an inordinately long time to get, likely fueled by my confusion over CATIO (60A). Then I also just stared at ON AUTO (26D: Acting unthinkingly) for a while, reading it more as “on a uto” and being very, very confused.
I’m feeling slightly more WARM AND FUZZY about the puzzle than when I finished it. Or maybe that’s the herbal tea I’m drinking. Who’s to say?
Misc:
Signed, Clare Carroll, writing from a very hot and not at all fuzzy DC (unless you count the algae in the Reflecting Pool)
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Misc:
- It felt fun to have REF (47D: Yellow card wielder) in the puzzle as I was watching yellow cards be given in the U.S. men’s game against Belgium. But no red cards. Not that it would have mattered.
- I used to play the Alphabet Game in the car with my soccer carpool as our parents took turns driving us the 30 minutes to and from practice twice a week, and we always had the particular PED (13D: ___ Xing) sign we’d use to get “X.” Playing this game on a road trip with my dad and sister, I got so excited when I finally got a “Q” that I yelled out “Quality [Inn]” so loudly that my dad nearly drove off the freeway.
- I was following along on TikTok and social media with Kelsey Pfendler as she rowed from California to HAWAII (44D), and she just arrived! It took her just under 44 days to row 2,400 miles solo, setting the record for the fastest solo journey — man or woman.
- I’ve hiked ZION (53D: Last U.S. national park alphabetically), and it was beautiful… for the most part. When I hiked Angel’s Landing, I slipped on a rock near the edge and saw my life flash before my eyes.
- If anyone is looking to try a new OREO (32A: Subject of Weird Al Yankovic's "The White Stuff") flavor, my favorite band, BTS, has a collab with OREO. The two released a brown sugar-pancake-flavored OREO that's inspired by a common Korean street food called hotteok. Can confirm: They’re quite tasty!
- Because I know you were all waiting, here’s a picture of Red’s mohawk, where she’s very furry and maybe just a little FUZZY.
[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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53 comments:
Easy and easier than yesterday’s for me.
No erasures and I did not know LAYNE (hi @Clare) and YANG.
Not much junk, cuddly theme, liked it.
Monday Easy on Tuesday. No overwrites; one WOE, LAYNE Staley at 7D.
* * _ _ _
I loved this theme in that the puzzle adhered to it, they're all common phrases without stretching, and the revealer works. I found the solve to be easy, but I had a lot of fun while it lasted.
The revealer is cute - Clare does a nice job summarizing the theme - it’s not overly sophisticated or nuanced but it works. I like SUN BEAR dead center.
Iration
Overall fill is fine. AVOCADO, GAME OVER, GO POOF are all solid. The cluing voice is clean and slick. I’m not so sure CATIO is a real thing or not. LAYNE is an early week stretch in 2026. A lot of shorts here but limited glue.
Red looks to be a good little puppy.
Enjoyable Tuesday morning solve. @Pablo - good to hear everything is OK - those couple of days were brutally hot.
HAWAIIan Roller Coaster Ride
Yes, this grid was all about great pairings... (a bottle of red with.... ). Tried to do it downs only for a while just for practice, but couldn't finish it off that way at all. CATIO was the entry that made me start looking at the across clues, cuz I said to myself "that has to be wrong!!!". The bottom line is nice... we're going to END IT with a HYMN, a SONG. Great write-up, Clare! I agree with everything you said, so rather than repeating it all, I'll just say "IM DOWN". Thanks, Brad, for this perfect WARM AND FUZZY Tuesday puzzle : )
I agree with Clare's analysis. Reasonable theme, even if it doesn't aid the solve. I needed one alphabet run, for the PINE/PBS cross, after guessing correctly on IDINA Menzel.
Things that are warm: BEACH, SUN, FIRE, and...HOT? The phrasing on the revealer--"How you might feel after reading" those clues--is a pretty lame way to dodge that massive theme consistency problem..
Very nice Tuesday with enough difficulty to keep it interesting. It got a little trivia-heavy closing out the SE corner with Star Wars and another Sci Fi flick, a national park and yet another SNL alum. They are all at least familiar though if you do a fair number of crosswords, so no real harm there (and if you are a beginner, well then welcome to the NYT).
It seems to me that the “guess which network this show airs on” clues may have had some merit a million years ago when there were basically four major networks and a handful of regional networks to chooses from. These days it just seems like more boring useless trivia.
If you feel warm after reading the word "BEACH," you have some psychic resonance capacities that I, for one, lack.
Theme is cute but wobbly—things that are warm … or *mean* warm … or are warm sometimes (BEACH), followed by things that are, as Clare says, furry, not fuzzy.
But I came here to give a standing ovation to CATIO. π π⬛ Not often you get cool new (and very real) 5-letter words π«‘
Could easily have made that answer PATIO—but no! Bold, cat-positive move!
I solved the puzzle without cheating but I didn’t like it.Catio? Layne? Elf hats? The meh theme? Noπfor me.
WARMANDFUZZY was not just the theme in this case but the entire puzzle. Nothing particularly hard, very little junk, little tidbits left all around like the pairing of GETUP and AWAKE and HYMN and SONG. And an OREO sighting. Along with furry creatures of all different shapes and sizes. Ahhhh…..
Brad's puzzles have bounce, that is, they don’t feel like “just another puzzle”. The themes feel anything but stale, there are clues that have angles not seen before, not to mention a handful of lovely debut and non-debut answers.
Brad’s puzzles delightfully ring with his voice. He sure has the attention of the editors – this is his third puzzle in less than six weeks!
His themes showcase language-quirk patterns not seen in puzzles before, and they are tight. When a theme isn’t tight, you always see worthy alternate theme answers in the comments, but today, spare to none.
As for his unique cluing, may I present [What to call people … or not to call people], which makes bland answer NAMES stand out.
As for lovely debut answers, there are a pair that I can’t believe have never appeared in the Times before, BEACH BUNNIES and WARM AND FUZZY. As for lovely non-debut answers – I’M DOWN and LIVE ONE.
Your puzzles are anything but ho-hum, Brad. Bravo, sir, thank you, and more please!
Cute theme.
If you think of a BEACH as warm, you've never been to Weymouth in July.
A good rule of thumb is I never know what network any show is on. Fortunately, I never saw either of today's network clues as the crosses filled those in.
Please give Red 1,000 kisses on her adorbale face and tell her sh
Red is a very good girl. I can tell.
For a puzzle with tons of short 3-4 letter words, this didn’t feel stale. I’m not sure I’d say it felt “fresh” (for 89, you suckas) but fun cluing and a lack off egregious crosswordese obscuritania helps a lot.
LAYNE Staley is not going to be gettable for probably 98% of solvers, but you can get it through crosses. I feel like maybe “______ Meyer, John Cusack’s character in Better Off Dead” might be more gettable, although both of those references are aimed squarely at my generation (I’m 52) and probably don’t have a very wide window of relevance.
I find any term for women that involves BUNNY to be kind of sexist and objectifying, but I think throwing “in old lingo” acknowledged that without getting bogged down. Thinking about all of the fuzzy animals in today’s grid overall makes me happy.
Good Tuesday.
GOP. OOF.
Much to like today. My experience was similar to Clare's, though at first I winced a bit at some propers right off the bat up top that I didn't know. Crosses were all fair so I I warmed (and fuzzied) up to this fairly quickly.
Noticed and appreciated all the parings that Clare pointed out along with the creative cluing that made some rusty fill shine.
Now... I am not a cat person (don't judge, I don't dislike them, much respect for them, just not that into them...) but CATIO is an outstanding word! Likely my favorite new word I got from crosswords in a very long time. That gave the puzzle some real spark for me. Maybe it'll make me a cat guy, who knows??
The theme was fine for early week, a bit basic and straightforward but cute and clever enough for me.
Thank you for this, Brad. It was fun!
Oh yes, our SW counter has been reset again..... thanks for noticing : )
The theme is ridiculous… a reach.
We didnt notice that it could have been Ape x Patio versus ACE x CATIO. Entered CATIO without crosses, as we owned one! We had an indoor cat who sat sadly on the windowsill when we sat outside. Bought a CATIO and she was able to keep us company, or vice versa. But the passing traffic noise spooked her, and she never really got comfortable. However, once she lost her hearing (age 18, maybe), that fear went away, and she spent longer stints outside with us. Gave the CATIO (haha...autocorrected to all caps) to a family member. Miss our feline, Sasha.
Hi Clare, nice write-up. Good point about the beach - it is where people go to catch a cool breeze, or refreshing dip in the heat we've had recently - although sharks decided it would be a good time to come close to shore.
Surprised Rex is off so soon after returning: Was it LEIA, or just couldn't muster WARMANDFUZZY for this one? (I thought he was all sunshine on his return, then a bit harsh on yesterday's Monday offering).
If anyone is counting on my contributions "with range - sometimes funny, sometimes strange" per Barbara's poem, I'll be out of easy access for most of the summer. See you in the fall!
Thanks for the concern. Turns out it was more of a reaction to a tick bite, but I've got meds for that and they should take care of it.
For early week themes, I much prefer “both words” revealers to “first word” or “last word,” so that made me happy.
Didn’t know CATIO, and for a while wondered, “Is it a CATDO??? That would be dumb.” Indeed it would, and no it is not. Glad to learn CATIO.
That, along with also writing ELF EARS (I mean, they’re accessories when they’re at the mall…) and misspelling ARIAL as the Little Mermaid made HAWAII also take embarrassingly long to see; I wondered if it would be a Hawaiian word for..something.
Only other big mistake was misreading “Delphi” as “Delhi” and thus assuming I’d need every cross since I couldn’t name any Hindu prophets. But whether or not I felt WARM AND FUZZY when I corrected those errors, I did upon reading Clare’s write-up, so well done.
Elf ears before elf hats. Held me up longer than it should have.
As a Californian with several fruit trees (including two AVOCADOs) in my yard and dozens more in my neighborhood, the cluing on AVOCADO is a really odd choice. Lots of fruit trees are self-pollinating, citrus and stonefruit being two obvious examples.
But while it's technically true that AVOCADO trees can self-pollinate, they have a much harder time doing it. Some varietals of AVOCADO either release their pollen in the morning and open their flowers in the afternoon. Other varietals do the opposite. One is called type A and the other is type B, though I can never remember which is which. But the point is you'll have a much easier time pollinating your AVOCADO trees if you have at least one of each. Otherwise you're relying on pollinators to gather pollen in the morning and still stick around to drop it in the flowers in the afternoon. Which does happen especially with bigger trees.
But the point is that while AVOCADO trees can self-pollinate, they are very fussy about it, and are absolutely not a good example of a self-pollinating tree. Literally I read the clue and had AVO and thought "it wouldn't be AVOCADO, it must be some scientific term I don't know."
Anyway, sharing this less to complain about the cluing (which, whatever, it's a Tuesday, it didn't slow me down very long) and more because I suspect readers of this blog will enjoy the fun facts.
I should add that some varietals of AVOCADO have been selectively bred to be better at self-pollination, but they aren't (to my knowledge) common commercially. Hass AVOCADOs, by far the most common AVOCADO in the US, is a type A, for example.
Aging Detroit Lions fans would have appreciated LAYNE being clued by "QB Bobby." He's in the Football Hall of Fame and brought the Lions the NFL title three times in the fifties. Wikipedia also discusses his "curse." Miffed upon being traded by Detroit in '58, Layne said the Lions would "not win for 50 years." Although some call it a hoax, the Lions followed up by having a pretty unimpressive half-century.
WARMAN D. FUZZY, Car Talk Sec'y of Defense
Couldn't see where we were going with all the themers, the revealer still only works in a "kind of" way for me. The first halves are all WARM, except HOT, and the second halves need some imagination to be seen as FUZZY .So more of a "yeah, guess so" from me.
Hand up for no idea about LAYNE as clued. Swore I'd remember IDINA, which I did not. I may have heard of a SUNBEAR but I definitely have not heard of a CATIO, nor have I beheld an example of one. Oh brave new world, that has such conveniences for cats in it.
I do remember seeing ELFHATS in a previous puzzle. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now.
Pretty nice Tuesday, BL,But Lots of FUZZY things are hard to find.
Too bad about the USMNT, but you can't give up two layups and an empty netter and expect to beat a good team. I expect Belgium-Spain to be 0-0 and be decided on PK's.'
Health update--lab results came back and it turns out I've got anaplasmosis., for which there is a cure. Thanks to @Roo for the suggestion to drink and drink. I think I'll take him up on that.
Layne may have been a bit tough for a Tuesday but what an amazing singer/artist. So tragic passed way too soon RIP
Never heard of a "catio." I put in "catdo" , ie, a "cat's condo". LOL
Just figured out why ELFHATS are "pointed at the North Pole." Very cute.
Pretty clever first & last words puztheme mcguffin. Didn't catch on to it, early-on, so had a nice ahar moment.
Also, a pretty routine solvequest, with only a coupla no-know pauses, at:
1. IDINA.
2. The SUN in SUNBEAR, made extra-fuzzy, within the sorta tricky NAS/ELFHATS region.
staff weeject picks: HBO & PBS networkin mini-theme.
some faves included: CATIO [word debut meat]. GOPOOF. VERTEX. SPAMALOT [M&A has attended a production of this weirdball play]. Sneaky ELFHATS clue.
Thanx for the fun, Mr. Lively dude.
Thanx for the cool blog write-up, Clare darlin. Nice mo-hound/hawk coif, btw.
Masked & Anonymo6Us
p.s.
Runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
Yes. Bobby was a great one as was Otto Graham of the Browns and my favorite.. Charlie Conerly of the Giants. He was coached by Vince Lombardi. We watched them from the bleachers for $2.50.
Prof—- My meatloaf is unimpressive, the Lions were abysmal for half a century.
Really nice Tuesday puzzle, and great write up! Very summery. I always called it a cattery but I like CATIO. The story about Kelsey Pfendler’s row to Hawaii is impressive!
I did enjoy Seth’s AVOCADO facts!!
No. Spain 1 or 2-0
No extra.
Yikes. This theme was wide of the mark for me. On a thermal scale a BEACH can at times be WARM but the SUN is hot enough to melt metals, HOT is, well, hot, and FIRE is hot as hell. And if I was asked what animals would I consider FUZZY, I think BUNNIES might make the list but the others probably not.
The theme did remind me of the children's nursery rhyme
FUZZY Wuzzy was a BEAR,
FUZZY Wuzzy had no hair,
FUZZY Wuzzy wasn't FUZZY,
Was he?
Car Talk was great!! I miss those guys.
Anon 2:29. Nicely put.
Kitshef
How about Miami Beach almost anytime?
Rex made the same comment (before expressing his liking for CATIO) I don’t see the point Most people go to beaches when it is warm. Unless they don’t have a choice ( personally I hate warm beaches but that’s me) I think the theme works fine.
Burtonkd
Dennis on Cape Cod over the 4th weekend 87 deg. Maybe it’s me ,When I think beach I think warm or hot (except maybe in Maine) Anyway in July and August, when they are most crowded, beaches are only relatively cooler than the city. Perhaps you haven’t been to beaches with wall to wall beach chairs and blankets many baking themselves in the sun. Others saying I gotta jump in water to cool off. Needless to say I hate beaches on a summer afternoon.
Seth
I understand your point but this might be a case of knowing too much ( It happens to me as a retired lawyer with crossword legal answers). Crosswords routinely have answers like this. Based on what you said there is nothing wrong with the answer ( I wouldn’t have a clue myself).
Anonymous 4:18 pm
About Car Talk. I do too.
pabloinnh
I excuse elf hats because of the clue word play. ( pointed at the North Pole) Good for a Tuesday I thought. I usually don’t like Santa elf references
Cute puzzle. Who doesn't like animals? Theme might have been a bit imprecise, or FUZZY (har), but close enough for xwords.
As a '90s grunge kid, I was happy to see LAYNE in the puzzle. Shame that so many grunge musicians were addicted to heroin/drugs. Staley, Cobain, Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden). They all had their own iconic voice, and their music helped me through some dark times. RIP to them all.
Thanks to Brad for the puzzle and to Clare for the review and glorious pic of Red!
Yeah, Pablo, "Too bad about the USMNT", especially when they had presidential assistance. Can you imagine the crowing that ass would be doing had you managed a victory.
Sorry. FIFA is just so corrupt. I'm having trouble warming to this fuzzy spectacle.
Anoa Bob
Did you notice that many ( including Rex in his short appearance) were critical but said the exact opposite:that they thought of a beach as a place cool off! I am not critical and think it’s close enough for crosswords.
I liked the theme. Warm & Fuzzy was close enough for crosswords.
¡Arriba y a brillar!
Thanks Clare!
Cuteness. I loved this puzzle. You had me at BEACH BUNNIES, gave me a CATIO, and wrapped up the romp with WARM AND FUZZY. Overall delightful fill and a great way to end a long day.
I'm not entirely sure if I love all the paired clues, but it does feel different so that's good probably.
The debate today on FUZZY v. FURRY is why I come here. We need to hash out the really big issues.
Taught my first UKE class for the summer on Monday and I am exhausted from leaving it all on the floor over Frère Jacques. Is the puzzle mocking me?
❤️ MOJO. ELF HATS. GAME OVER. GO POOF.
People: 10 {boo}
Places: 2
Products: 7
Partials: 4
Foreignisms: 0
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 23 of 76 (30%)
Funny Factor: 7 π
Uniclues:
1 Add "ISANIDIOT" onto each proper noun.
2 That one girl who wouldn't give me the time of day.
1 DEFAME NAMES
2 UTTER ICEBAG (~)
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Oh ye snapping lizard / I worship you and your gizzard / you make Floridians vanish like a wizard / with your menace a-blizzard. I TRY CROC ODE.
¯\_(γ)_/¯
Be sure to wear sunscreen if it’s Doxycycline! We once took a beach vacation when our son was on Doxy for Lime Disease., And he actually got sunburned under his fingernails! Very painful when that skin peeled!
OK, so my husband just finished it as well. We both agreed it was one of the most unpleasant puzzles we’ve done in a long time. The purpose necessary to even begin to figure out the star clues were often obscure at best and the reveal, and the “gimmick” were just stupid.
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