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Pharynx setting / WED 9-16-26 / Mononymous Irish singer / Dip target, maybe / Pho soup garnishes / Gas brand seen in Edward Hopper's "Portrait of Orleans" / Fruits named after a mythical drink / "A form of madness," it's said / Small hound that doesn't bark
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Constructor: Peter Gorman
Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (more fussy than hard, though)
Theme answers:
- SH[UT] / A[UT]OPSY (14A: Close / 3D: Post-mortem)
- SPRO[UT]S / L[UT]E (15A: Pho soup garnishes / 8D: Guitar relative)
- ASTRONA[UT] / [UT]URN (24A: The remotest of remote jobs? / 26D: Remedy for a missed exit)
- YO[UT]H / EXEC[UT]ION (27A: Kid / 11D: Concern for a gymnastics judge)
- PL[UT]O / ANY MIN[UT]E (66A: Noted cartoon dog / 39D: Very soon)
- YO[UT]UBE / CREWC[UT]S (67A: Its first video, "Me at the zoo," has over 400 million views / 45D: Military hairstyles)
- [UT]AH /PEAN[UT]S" (68A [see above] / 51D: Classic comic strip that's the source for nine Emmys and two Tonys)
1950 // View looking across an intersection in a rural town, with an Esso gas station on the right, and a row of shops across the street. The streets are deserted except for a woman looking in a store window, and two cars parked along a tree-lined street in the distance. (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco M. H. de Young Memorial Museum Golden Gate Park San Francisco California 94118 Accession Number: 1991.32) [Smithsonian]
• • •
Your job is to track down "UT' squares. It's a good old-fashioned "UT" hunt. Like they have in Utah. I assume. So there's at least some challenge. I mean, your brain has something to do besides simply answer fairly straightforward clues. But the (mild) challenge of the "UT" hunt was the only thing that kept me awake. It's an easy puzzle, but the "UT-iness" (or "U"-"T"-ness) (rhymes with "fruitiness") keeps you on your toes. Still, once you get that first "UT" (for me, the one at SH[UT] / A[UT]OPSY), and you know what you're looking for, even the challenge of the "UT" hunt isn't that challenging. I guess I learned a few things. Like the fact that Coco Gauff's name is CORI. "Coco" is no shorter than CORI, but I suppose it's more fun to say. I also learned that TANGERINES has the same number of letters as NECTARINES (63A: Fruits named after a mythical drink). Really glad NECTARINES ended up being the answer 'cause I was really struggling to believe that "Tang" was a "mythical drink." Lastly, I learned that the first video on YOUTUBE was called "Me at the zoo." Sounds boring, but ... let's find out.
Wow. Somehow even more boring than I'd imagined. Amazing. Real trouble spots today were few. Getting that initial "UT" took a bit of struggle, a bit of thinking. I thought the [Guitar relative] (L[UT]E) was a UKE and so screwed up the second "UT" square, though in my defense, at that point I didn't know I was hunting "UT"s specifically. It seemed possible that any state code might pop out at me. What else? I started writing in BASSETT before fully reading the clue, backing up, and writing in BASENJI (one of the cooler dog breed names) (36D: Small hound that doesn't bark). My most consequential screw-up was certain writing in PET for 44A: Dip target, maybe (PEC). Isn't a "flea dip" a thing that PETs get? Yes, it is. A kind of medicated bath to eliminate flea infestations. But sadly (for me) the "dip" in question is the kind I actually (occasionally) do at the gym. This kind:
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| [Yes, that is me pictured, I am young and very muscular and transparent] |
Bullets:
- 2D: Pharynx setting (THROAT) — "Pharynx" is one of those words ... seems familiar, but ... I keep staring at it thinking "I know I know that word ... why does it look like it's missing a letter? ... wait, am I thinking of 'larynx,' I might be thinking of 'larynx'..." It doesn't help that "Sphinx" is also in this puzzle (49D: The Sphinx, for one). Does the Sphinx have a pharynx? We'll never know...
- 59A: "A form of madness," it's said (WAR) — by whom? When? I need names. I had -AR and thought "EAR ... Van Gogh cut off his EAR, was he 'mad'? Or CAR? Our dependence on CARs is a form of madness, but ..."
- 12D: Certain pickleball shot (FOREHAND) — not everything has to be pickleball. There should be some spaces where pickleball isn't. The U.S. Open just concluded, you've got Coco Gauff in here, come on, just give us regular old tennis why don't you?
- 15A: Pho soup garnishes (SPRO[UT]S) — isn't pho "soup" by definition? Is there a non-soup pho? "Pho soup" seems like a ridiculous redundancy.
- 7D: Grab-and-go breakfast option (POP TART) — did Andy Warhol ever paint POP TARTs. Did Lichtenstein? It seems like the perfect subject. Bright. Commercial. One letter off from Pop Art. About this clue, though—don't like "option" here when OPT is in the grid (two answers over => 5D: Decide one will (OPT TO)).
That's all for today. See you next time.
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16 comments:
I got the rebus immediately at SHUT/AUTOPSY so it was Monday easy for me. Reasonably pleasant solve.
I’m in total agreement with you about today’s puzzle, Rex.
Easy. Very Easy once I realized there were rebus squares (which at first I thought might refer to the University of Texas or Tennessee).
* * _ _ _
Overwrites:
Before recognizing the rebus, I had uke for the 8D guitar relative (L[UT]E).
BASsett before BASENJI for the 36D hound.
One WOE, I didn't know that Coco Gauff's name is CORI (42D).
Basenji x Jada = Natick
Magnificent puzzle. All rebuses are delightful, but this one also folds back on itself by having the rebus letters arranged in the shape of the state the rebus letters represent. The fill was crunchy and there was a goodly amount of sparkle. Absolutely lovely.
I concur!
Okay. Best as I can tell, there’s never been a connect-the-dots Times puzzle depicting a state. Furthermore, never have the dots been rebuses – they’ve always been single letters.
Two never-before-seen elements in this crossword genre.
To which I say: A[UT]HOR! A[UT}HOR!
One more thing re the constructor. He’s had four puzzles in the Times, all for different days of the week, so he still has a chance to do what only one other constructor (Andrew Ries) has done in the 80+ years of the Times – hit the cycle (a puzzle for every day of the week) in their first seven puzzles.
Go for it, Peter – and thank you for a splendid outing today!
I love a midweek rebus but I agree with the big guy here - why? The UTs were simple enough to find - the trick fell quickly with AUTOPSY - the self referenced revealer is a waste. We don’t even get crossword darling sego lily.
Golden SMOG
Overall fill was fine I guess - Rex summarizes nicely. PROTOTYPES - NO CAN DO are solid. I didn’t love the BONO - ENYA pair. Rough karma to start with ETA x ESPN in the NW.
Ladies of the Canyon
The trick was enjoyable - the subject maybe not so much.
Prefab SPROUT
It was fun to fill in a couple of the UTs just by completing the geometry. That might’ve helped me get those answers quicker.
I hit the first rebus square and got my hopes up for a puzzle with a medieval solmization theme, continuing the rebus chain with RE, MI, FA, etc., all of which would form a portrait of Guido of Arezzo. Alas, it was not to be.
But “pho soup” got me thinking about some of my other favorite foods: borscht soup, gazpacho soup, clam chowder soup . . .
And Rex: nice form, but you need to do something about that ridiculous necklace you’re wearing.
Yup, that’s definitely Utah. And I’m definitely going to recommend Basenji hounds to all my neighbors…
p.s. – My favorite connect-the-dots Times crossword? 11/12/25, by Brad Wiegmann and Nicole Wiegmann, which features an ingenious square, IMO.
Would love to go to the WAMU event, but the timing is terrible.
I must point out that The New Yorker anointed Bridgeport, Connecticut 's WPKN as "the greatest radio station in the world" in 2021.
Harder for me than for, apparently, everyone else. Very few automatic fill-ins today, so a lot of answers required at least one cross. For example, "Cartoon dog" or "By" could be any number of things.
Surprisingly two stars, yet a relatively upbeat write-up. When I see only two stars, meaning it's below the (as I call it) Mendoza Line of puzzle satisfaction (three), I buckle up and await anything from snarky criticism to full-throated rant. Today Rex was more humorous, even whimsical, than off-putting.
Did not know BASENJI, but knew JADA was right, so we weren't confident about success; but got the happy music.
Decide one will and OPT TO were a matching pair (clue and answer) in that they both were a bit grating on the ears. "I will OPT TO..." said no one I've ever listened to.
If the first YOU TUBE was a season on tv, would it have been renewed? Remarkable what (1) passes for entertainment and (2) makes people rich.
Rebus on a Wednesday?? Why didn’t they make this puzzle tomorrow’s?
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