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Slangy "mouth" / THU 9-3-26 / Many a "Bridgerton" lady / One might feature rivers and bluffs / Its motto is "Industry" / Luxuriates outdoors, in a way / Cause of a squeaky voice, maybe / Islamic "commander" / What choreologists study
Thursday, September 3, 2026
Constructor: Zhou Zhang
Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium to Medium
Theme answers:
I admire this theme, though I will say I found it a bit FUSSY to solve. Something about the theme density and all the cross-referencing, plus the preponderance of short answers, made the solve feel more like work than fun. For the first half of the solve, I didn't really grasp the meaning of all the cross-referencing (i.e. I didn't get that the "holes" were actually found in very specific and appropriate places. I thought it was just a "O" / "hole" rebus with no particular point, or with a point that would be made clear by a revealer. So I was just ignoring the cross-reference part of the "hole"-answer clues because ... I didn't seem to need it. I got PIE[HOLE], so I didn't feel the need to go looking to see where the PIE[HOLE] was "found." When I'm solving, I don't like to jump around in the grid if I don't have to, so cross-references are things I only follow if I absolutely have to for solving purposes. Sometimes they're actually helpful, but mostly they're a FUSSY nuisance, so if I can get the answer without having to hunt down a cross-reference, that's what I do, and then I just keep going. Once I saw that the "holes" were placed with purpose, I appreciated this theme a lot more. I also like (and I only just noticed this) that both the "O"s in CLASSROOM get turned into "holes." Still not over the idea of a CLASSROOM as a [School unit] ... though I guess, technically, that is what it is. You'd never call it that, but ... OK. Not my favorite clue, but again, love the double-"hole" thing.
- PIE [HOLE] / N[O]GGIN (2D: Slangy "mouth" found in a 20-Across) / 20A: Noodle)
- CUBBY [HOLE] / [HOLE] PUNCH / CLASSR[O]OM (11D: Place for storing belongings in a 32-Across / 33D: Tool found in a 32-Across / 32A: School unit)
- [HOLE] CARDS / P[O]KER GAME (50D: Pocket rockets, e.g., found in a 49-Across / 49A: One might feature rivers and bluffs)
- MAN[HOLE] / R[O]AD (61D: Underground entrance found in a 73-Across / 73A: It might be paved with good intentions)
Polyhymnia (/pɒliˈhɪmniə/; Greek: Πολυύμνια, lit. 'the one of many hymns'), alternatively Polymnia (Πολύμνια), is, in Greek mythology, the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance and eloquence, as well as agriculture and pantomime. [...] Polyhymnia is depicted as serious, pensive and meditative, and often holding a finger to her mouth, dressed in a long cloak and veil and resting her elbow on a pillar. Polyhymnia is also sometimes credited as being the Muse of geometry and meditation. [...] As one of the Muses, Polyhymnia is the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne. She was also described as the mother of Triptolemus by Cheimarrhoos, son of Ares, and of the musician Orpheus by Oeagrus. (wikipedia)
• • •
I laughed (appropriately?) at HYENA CUB because it seemed so weirdly made-up and desperate. I mean, HYENA CUBs exist, but the idea that you would just go through your wordlist and add "CUB" to the ends of any animals that have CUBs seems absurd. The answer is somehow both original and ridiculous, which is good today, because the grid really needed some pepping up. The theme answers themselves are not very showy, and as I said, most of the rest of the grid is an assemblage of boring-ISH 3-4-5s. CAME DUE, PET NAME, DEBUNK and ENERGIZE all energize the grid a little. With the exception of some crosswordese here and there, the grid holds up pretty well, but never really shines. "AW HELL" is one of those annoying combo answers, [two-letter exclamation] + [mild oath or other expression of some kind], so even though it's kinda sassy and colloquial, I didn't love it. I had "AW HECK" since "HECK" seemed to go better with "AW" (AW GEE, AW SHUCKS, AW ... HELL? I guess). You could put "OH" in there and it's basically the same. This is like a longer version of the whole "OK" genre (e.g. "UH, OK," "UM, OK," "OH, OK" ... "ER, OK" someday, probably, etc.). Funny that HECK did eventually show up, though. Speaking of HECK, that SW corner was (outside the theme) the hardest part of the puzzle for me. The clues on UTAH (56A: Its motto is "Industry"), PATINA (49D: Surface of a well-used wok), HECK (57D: "Tarnation!"), END CUT (!?) (68A: Steak option), and NUM (extreme frowny face) (65D: ___ Lock (PC key)), all made me wonder if I didn't have an error down there somewhere. Oddly, I got the theme answer [HOLE] CARDS easy down there—the surrounding fill, not so much.
Oh, and I finished with an error. Stupid error, really, one I caught relatively quickly when I went back over the puzzle: I had written in HEIRESS for PEERESS (8D: Many a "Bridgerton" lady) and apparently didn't check the crosses thoroughly. No, wait: I remember looking at INABLE and thinking "that is not how you spell that ... oh, well, maybe it's some variation ... like ENSURE/INSURE ..." This means that I didn't check on HITCH, which makes no sense as the answer for 8A: Sales spiel (PITCH). Always check your crosses (he said, primarily to himself)! Surely some of those Bridgerton ladies are HEIRESSes, right? I tried to watch that show once and it didn't take. See also SEINFELD (jk, I've seen some Seinfeld, but like poker, it just wasn't ever really my thing) (though JLD is an idol to me for her post-Seinfeld work, specifically Veep).
Bullets:
- 13A: She can speak more than 20 languages (SIRI) — stop personifying these stupid machines. They got you all used to thinking of bots as people with SIRI, but she was just laying the groundwork for the A.I. invasion. Put "She" in quotes. Not a human, not a she. I have owned an iPhone for something like 14 years but I have never once talked to that *****. I know my phone's spying on me regardless, but I'm not going to help it.
- 59A: Luxuriates outdoors, in a way (GLAMPS) — glamorous camping = glamping. Camping for people who hate camping but vaguely like fresh air I guess. I've never done it.
- 73A: It might be paved with good intentions (ROAD) — minor complaint, but I don't like this clue here first because it's the "ROAD to hell" that's paved with good intentions, and second because this is a theme answer, which means the "O" in ROAD is a MAN[hole], and there are no MAN[hole]s on this explicitly metaphorical ROAD.
- 12D: Cause of a squeaky voice, maybe (HELIUM) — loved this one. Reminded me of being like 12 and blowing up balloons with my sister and stepsister for some party my parents were having, We were definitely sucked down some HELIUM and made our voices squeak, but I think my stepsister passed out at one point, so I really can't recommend this practice, despite the fun memories.
- 47D: 2, 4, 6 and 8, e.g. (AGES) — uh ... sure. I mean, you can't argue with that. People are those AGES.
- 72A: Letters found near some bars (LTE) — the bars on your cellphone telling you how strong your signal is.
I watched some US Open tennis last night just for fun. I used to play and be a fan, but that all fell away sometime around the turn of the century. Thinking of starting to follow tennis again and figured the US Open would be a good place to start. I quickly learned two things of crossword interest. First, the two-time defending US Open champion and #1 women's player in the world (for nearly two years straight now) is named ARYNA Sabalenka. I can see why SABALENKA hasn't appeared in a crossword yet, but ARYNA!?!? I do believe that Sabalenka is successful enough at this point for her first name to finally make a grid appearance. Stunned it hasn't yet. Also, there is apparently a young Filipino tennis phenom named Alexandra EALA who is *tremendously* popular despite not having won any major tournaments yet: "On August 24, 2026, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18, the highest ever for a Filipino and Southeast Asian in WTA Tour history. She is the first Filipino to break into the top 20, defeat top-10 opponents, reach the fourth round of a major, reach the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event, and win a WTA Tour title, clinching her breakthrough at the 2026 Washington Open" (wikipedia). She is a national hero in her native country, and apparently beloved by tennis fans worldwide. If her name ever gets loose in the grid, which seems likely, esp. if she ever wins a major, then look out. The age of EALA will be upon us.
 |
| [ARYNA (5) Sabalenka] |
 |
| [Alexandra EALA (4)] |
That's all. See you next time.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. someone pointed out in the Comments that the theme “O”s are the only “O”s on the whole grid, which is an elegant touch from a thematic standpoint, although it’s probably the reason the fill is a bit tepid overall. Hard to fill a grid well when you deprive yourself of a common vowel.
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27 comments:
Easy. They shouldn't have highlighted the theme answers, because the intersecting square was always an O/hole.
* * _ _ _
Overwrites:
I thought HYENAs were dog-like, so I had 5D ending in pUp before CUB.
AW HEck at 51D before AW HELL (fixed because HECK showed up at 57D)
No WOEs.
I was ready to yell, "Hurray! A Thursday without a theme!" Then I read Rex' column. OK. I solved it as a themeless, without ever sniffing the trick.
Good puzzle. Needed one look-up, to get UTAH (the last answer I'd have expected from that clue). Never heard of GLAMPS, but got it from the crosses.
Needed to change "empress" to PEERESS.
I've played poker for 70 years, but don't understand how "rivers" fits the clue (anyone?).
And the “hole-O’s” are the only Os in the puzzle
Fun trick to play - thought about rebussing “HOLE” into those squares but didn’t need to. PIE HOLE got me the theme and was also my favorite.
AGES Of You
The 16 high grid was well filled - PET NAME x ENERGIZE and HYENA CUB are top notch. Rex highlights the winners and loser well. Limited glue for a constraining type grid is nice to see - the time was put in on this one.
No one's FUSSY, I'm a target
Not overly difficult for late week but an enjoyable Thursday morning solve nonetheless.
Rory Gallagher
Concur about the Siri thing. I do not talk to it. I am sick of Google Search also now calling itself “I”. And all chatbot things, esp when they claim to “think” or “write.” Algorithmic plagiarism programs are not minds. Only living beings possess minds.
Hey All !
We get a 16 Long grid today. Unsure as to why?
Took a sec, after getting PIEO for the ole brain to ask, "What in tarhooties is PIEO? Ohhh, I see. PIE "HOLE"!" Grokked it, continued on.
Noticed no extraneous O's, unlike YesterPuz's extra M's. Nice
44 Blockers, still a tad high, even for an extra row grid.
Good puz overall. Seems more like it should've ran on Wednesday, but I guess the editors are busy with rolling out the new Games Quickie thingie that has appeared on the NYT Games site.
Hope y'all have a great Thursday!
Three F's
RooMonster
DarrinV
As in the River or last card turned over e.g. Texas Hold’em
The River card is the last community card put up in some poker variations like Omaha.
What a terrific and original idea for a theme. I could only find one puzzle from almost 20 years ago that played with the word “hole”. That puzzle had theme answers such as KITCHEN SINK and MICHAEL J FOX, with the reveal HOLE clued as a word that could follow the last word of the theme phrases.
Today, Zhou goes two layers deeper. First, having the letter O represent “Hole”, and second, crossing that O with a word that starts with or follows “hole”. Brilliant!
What may be hidden in all this cleverness is that Zhou is a superb technician, so cleanly executing a grid with five crossing theme answers – so constricting! – not to mention nixing any o’s in the grid outside of the theme answers.
And, as a coda, she crafts a heart-melting constructor note.
All this has thrown me into a happy-to-be-alive cloud. Ten puzzles into the Times, Zhou, you have already left a lasting mark. Thank you for a splendid outing today!
Easy for me for a thursday at 10:23. Enjoyed it lot, especially the double O in CLASSROOM with the rather classic CUBBYhole and holePUNCH. Nice touch about no other "O"s. We're seeing a lot of Zhou Zhang lately, and I'm enjoying these a lot! So thanks. : )
It’s in Texas Hold’em.
Should have been easy but like Rex drew a blank in the SW after entering OCARDS. Finally had to look up PATINA, then took another 5 seconds to finish. One surprise in NE was PEERESES, an unusual title, that I originally entered as HIERESSES, but of course that didn’t fly. Hand up for pUp before CUB, and Ahdarn/Ahdrat before the AW variations. GLAMPing is something I have learned from NYT crossword puzzles. Overall thought this was a well organized puzzle.
I think you missed one hole. There are five, not four. What about hole punch?
Interesting take by Rex on this puzzle. At first, thought the extra 1/2-star too generous, but (as often happens) after reading the write-up, he supports his view. Guess that's on brand with his chosen career.
Did the puzzle need a revealer though? Given the theme, that each letter "O" was ultimately a substitute for "Hole", I think the possibilities for a clever revealer could have been explored (if able to be crammed into the construction, an obviously big "if").
Didn't notice the "hole-O" exclusivity until coming here. Amen to personifying and genderizing SIRI...NOT A "SHE!". When that was the answer needed to be filled in, I uttered (in a Roy Kent voice) "It".
And greatly amused that Rex's observations in the long paragraph about the US Open culminated in their crossword puzzle names' appropriateness. NYT Magazine (perhaps where I read it) had a recent article about the exorbitant cost of tickets to that event. Rex's take was a more enjoyable read.
I'm going to channel @Nancy, and post before reading Rex or anyone else. There are two big problems with this puzzle. First, the theme is not symmetrical. There should be a theme answer where GLAMPS is. Second, "Well, shucks" clues AW HEck, not AW HELL. Of course the HECK would have been a dupe, so I didn't put it in--but AW HELL just doesn't mean the same thing. I got stuck in that corner after almost finishing an otherwise very easy puzzle, and finished only by looking up what Tina Fey got Emmys for.
Now I'll go read everybody and come back.
I enjoyed the theme even though I didn’t find the puzzle that easy.🎈🎈🎊🎊
The Greek mythology fan in me enjoyed MUSE crossing SIRENS. Also liked HECK and HELL so close together.
After solving, I felt like this could have used one more themer. But I had not notcied the "where they are found" element which makes it more complex.
Terrible clue for AGES.
Caught on at PIEO, O=hole, I thought, and this will be fun, I thought and it sure was. Didn't really notice that the holes were all connected to the crosses until I finished and went back to see what I had missed and was suitably impressed. Very nice work indeed.
I have yet to see either Seinfeld or Bridgerton but the crosses were easy enough. Found out something interesting about PUMAs and was delighted to see two old friends crossing each other, hello HIES and you too SMEE.
Interestingly enough, I watch just enough tennis yesterday to notice the name ARYNA and had exactly the same reaction as OFL. Coming soon to a puzzle near you.
Very nice Thursday indeed, ZZ, and if you think I'm abandoning Zig Zag as how I solved, I am not. Thanks for all the fun.
On a personal note, as our house felt wrong with no cat, we went to the Humane Society yesterday and brought home 14-year oirl, Nike, a jet black short hair, She is quickly settling in and things are returning to semi-normal.
A winner, with a straightforward theme and pretty much straightforward cluing as well. My kind of a Thursday.
PEERESS was new to me, but the crosses were solid so hard to argue with that one. All muses are pretty obscure to me, so the fact that Rex chose one as the WOTD just indicates that they probably chose a “particularly” obscure muse, lol. . I will try to remember CLIO in that regard, but my first thought when I saw that clue was some type of an award. Side question - was Mrs CLIO one of those late-night rip off infomercials (I believe she played a psychic or a mind reader or something). Are those things still around (infomercials?), or has that genre pretty much coalesced around the Home Shopping Network and whatever similar incarnations have popped up out of the woodwork ?
Rex mentioned it, and I concur that the clue for END CUT is at best a head-scratcher. It’s technically correct, but misses the mark pretty badly in my opinion.
B
L
A
C
K
O UT E R S P A C E
I’m a fan of ZZ’s puzzles, but today’s was a bit tepid. Brilliant construction, not much fun to solve. Oh, well.
If the ROAD to hell has a MAN[HOLE], that must be a shortcut to your destination.
I had to read Wordplay to realize that there were no non-thematic Os in the grid, a nice touch that makes me feel better about the whole thing.
I GLAMPED once, in Namibia, before the word was invented. We were driving along, it was after dark, and we had not booked a place to stay--we had planned to stay in a game park, but they were fully booked. So we saw a place along the highway, turned in, and were told that what they had were "luxury tents." They had real beds and en suite toilets (a mixed blessing.) But it was raining, so we took it. That was back in the 1990s, only much later did I learn about GLAMPING here in the USA.
Happy anniversary to the constructor!
Kind of annoying that the app/website doesn't accept the rebus hole.
Good write up by Rex and I was relieved to have an NYT-worthy puzzle today! Having not watched Bridgerton (but seeing ads/blurbs, etc) I also put heiRESS before PEERESS. Also, because I don’t know much about Texas hold’em and “pocket rockets” (um, at first I thought of those motorcycles called “crotch rockets”) the SW area took me a little longer to suss out, but fair crosses made it workable.
ZZ has become one of my favorite constructors!
I knew River as a poker term due to Nate Silver's use of this term as a metaphor relating to one's political sensibilities
Why did the forty thieves in the ALI BABA tale never go to prison? They had good alibibis.
Knock knock.
Who's there?
SMEE.
Come in.
(From yesterday.) A religious sect comprised of divorced folks who still worship their former spouses: EXISTS.
We were driving around in a rented Ford Bronco recently, following the directions from its GPS lady. She said, "At the next light, you must turn right." A few moments later she repeated, "At the next light, you must turn right." Then, without skipping a beat, she said, "If the glove don't FIT, you must acquit." Amazing.
I learned two new poker terms today: river and hole card. Once in a while, when I'm flipping through TV channels, I run into a POKER GAME on one of the sports channels. It's amusing to think of it as a sport, and brings me back 70 years to when my dad would sit around playing gin rummy with his buddies. In food-stained undershirts covering their big bellies, they smoked cigars and drank schnapps. I never realized they were athletes.
Never thought of using "hole" for a rebus, just went with O being "hole" (for downs) and it worked. Really enjoyed uncovering the trick, but took me longer than many as I just thought I was making mistakes, all the way down to MANO. But wanted more. No blacko? (thank you, @Lewis), oinone? asso? hello? Maybe the crosses for some would be tough. Just wanted more on this cold rainy start to Thursday, but happy taking what I can get.
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