Creature on the state flags of Michigan and Idaho / THU 8-7-25 / Financial center of West Africa / European land where much of "Game of Thrones" was filmed / Tourist destination outside of Delhi

Constructor: BEN ZIMMER

Relative difficulty: MEDIUMish

THEME: FRUITLESSLY — 36A: In vain... or how to read the answers to 17-, 25-, 49-, and 58-Across. These answers are all clued as simpler words that make longer words or phrases when a fruit has been added to them.

Word of the Day: UTA (32D: ___ Hagen, Tony-winning acress and theater practitioner). I'm a theatre major; I'm well aware of who Uta Hagen was. But I wanted to highlight her —

Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German and American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful actress." Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.

She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and authored best-selling acting texts, Respect for Acting, with Haskel Frankel,^[1] and A Challenge for the Actor. Her most substantial contributions to theatre pedagogy were a series of "object exercises" that built on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and Yevgeny Vakhtangov.

• • •

Hey everyone, it's Eli back again for one last Rexplacement blog before Rex gets back tomorrow. I was excited to see Ben Zimmer's byline today since I knew that set a floor of at least "competent" for the puzzle. To spoil things, this wasn't one of my favorite of Ben's puzzles today, but it wasn't a complete miss, either. 

Theme answers:

• TOP EARNERS (17A: Mixtures in copier cartridges) (TONERS)
• IMPEACHED (25A: Chatted online, in brief) (IMED)
• ROMAN GODS (49A: Some fishing gear)(RODS)
• PROBLEM ONE (58A: Investigate in detail)(PROBE)

So, right away, I have a couple of issues with the theme. Well, not the theme itself. It's fine. Straightforward, no-nonsense. It probably could have been an earlier week puzzle if the cluing had referenced both the fruited/fruitless version of the answers or used circled letters. I like my Thursdays to have some flash. This one didn't, really, but I liked it ok. FRUITLESSLY is a fantastic revealer for this set. My problems came from a couple of the theme answers. First, TONERS is far weaker in the plural than the singular. I'm sure there are reasons to have multiple toners, but I don't come across them often. Far more troubling for me is PROBLEM ONE. Is that a thing? Am I parsing this wrong?  Am I missing something? Why not Problem 635? Does Jay-Z list all 99? Google doesn't show anything helpful. Problem One is definitely problem one with this puzzle.

Hey, 34D: R U Talkin' R.E.M. Re:Me?

Theme aside, this puzzle played a little tougher for me. It's possible I was just moving slow so I could think of things to blog about, but I definitely ran into a few hiccups. The NW corner just didn't come together to start things off. "Be up" is a fair but hard to parse clue at 1D for BAT, and BUMP isn't the first thing I think of at 1A (Speeding check). Couple that with the fact that I had ETS for UFO at 2D (What arrives in the film "Arrival") and I had to move along to find a place to start. I then confidently entered SELF CONTROL instead of the correct SELF COMMAND at 24D (It's need to stay calm). So to say I had trouble getting footing is an understatement.

On top of that, there was some definite old-timeyness in the grid. GAMIN (54A: Street urchin) and DROSS (51D: Useless leftovers) feel like words that don't spend much time outside of the pages of the OED these days. And ODEUM (7D: Classical performance space) mostly lives in antiquity. I'm much more familiar with ODEON (which means the same thing but also feels archaic) and ODIUM (unrelated). There's also LEG ARMOR (38D: Par of a jouster's protection), which in addition to being old fashioned feels a little generic. Is there not a specific name for it? Greaves, maybe?

Someone who could have used better leg armor

But I don't want to harp too much on the negative. I still found plenty to like. The puzzle played smooth and wasn't without its flash. SOOTHSAYERS (11D: Futures experts?), while distinctly old-fashioned, is a nice long answer. And I loved the cluing on PUERTO (31A: P.R. piece?) and NAN (60D: Grammy, in the U.K.). There were also some fun answers to imagine yelling in public: GOD NO (15A: "Over my dead body!") and I NEED IT (13D: Gimme!). 

Stray Thoughts:

• 23D: Director DuVernay (AVA) — I love Ava. One of the many advantages of living in LA is that we get a chance to see things like an anniversary screening of SELMA at the Academy Museum, followed by a talk back with Ava and a large group of cast and crew (including David Oyelowo). An unforgettable experience.
• 63A: Rivian competitor (TESLA) — I don't know much about Rivian, but as long as they're not owned by a Nazi, they are a million times preferable to Tesla.
• 21A: Drink made with an artisinal flourish, maybe (LATTE) — I bought an espresso machine a little over a year ago, and while I'm pretty good at pulling shots and making drinks, latte art has mostly been a failure for me. I was getting frustrated with the fact that I couldn't get it right, when I realized that I've made fewer lattes in the whole time I've been trying than a barista would make in their first week on the job. Good thing the art doesn't add to the flavor.

Latte art I definitely didn't make

• I just realized I couldn't find anything Simpsons related in the grid today. Enjoy this GIF I made as a general purpose way to exit a conversation:

It's getting late, and I've got an early morning. Hope you all have a great Thursday!

Signed, Eli Selzer, False Dauphin of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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Opera with a baritone Iago / WED 6-25-2025 / Rite place at the rite time? / 2008 romantic drama starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow

Constructor: Ben Zimmer and Zach Sherwin

Relative difficulty: Hard (21:46)

THEME: CENTRAL AC — Eight answers in the grid (four across, four down) have their central two letters, AC, in their own box

Theme answers:

• [Historic agreement of 1215] for MAGNA CARTA
• [Expansive parcels] for TRACTS
• ["Dream a Little Dream of Me" singer of 1968, familiarly] for MAMA CASS
• [Healthful snack brand] for TERRA CHIPS
• [Onomatopoetic breakfast trio] for SNAP CRACKLE POP
• [Source of prophecy] for ORACLE
• [907, for a high one] for AREA CODE
• [Popular stocking stuffer?] for SANTA CLAUS

Word of the Day: TETRA (Flashy fish) —

The Characidae and their allies are distinguished from other fish by the presence of a small adipose fin between the dorsal and caudal fins. Many of these, such as the neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), are brightly colored and easy to keep in captivity. Consequently, they are extremely popular for home aquaria. [wiki]

• • •

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another Malaika MWednesday!! (Although I am writing this at nighttime on Tuesday-- it's been a fantastic night in Brooklyn.) Zach Sherwin! He is a comedian / songwriter who does a show called "The Crossword Show" which I was lucky enough to contribute to back in 2023. I don't think I've ever solved one of his crosswords, but he has solved many of mine! So it's fun to have the tables a little bit turned.

Incredibly apt puzzle today, as NYC is getting obliterated by a heatwave. I have a very high tolerance for heat (+ live in a very dense, cool, pre-war building with high ceilings and a courtyard) and have resisted installing my AC unit for soooo long... but today (or rather, Tuesday) was the day that I cracked. 105 degrees is simply too hot to tough it out!! (So maybe the puzzle wasn't quite apt for me personally, as I have had CENTRAL AC for exactly two years out of the past twelve.)

Very interesting to see a rebus puzzle on a Wednesday! I think on Wednesdays, the rebus squares should have circles. But I also think that generally every puzzle should be slightly easier than how it was published, so maybe ignore me. This played hard for me in terms of cluing though! I finished three-quarters of this puzzle in about ten minutes, and then used over ten minutes just aimlessly guessing in the top-left corner. Those two stacked long answers (MAGNA CARTA and ALBATROSS) both had trivia clues that just didn't click for me, plus Bobbsey Twins trivia (NAN), space trivia (PLASMA), and referring to a TAMALE as a treat which just felt weird. It's a food item! Would I call a sandwich a treat, or an empanada a treat?

The theme itself was executed well. It's interesting to see how an idea for a theme can get implemented in different ways-- I think that this could have very well been a Monday puzzle with four long across answers that had AC at their center and no rebus at all. Adding the rebus made it a Wednesday level. I wish there had been a bit more of a rationale for why they were squished together in a box (I was expecting a revealer like "AC unit"), but I guess we wouldn't have gotten the down answers if the AC's weren't rebusified. 

Stay cool everyone!!!

Bullets:

• [Flanged girder] for IBEAM— I read this clue over and over again and thought "those can not possibly be words. Are those words." Well, let me tell you, they are words!! "Flanged" means that it has a ridge on the end, and a "girder" is a piece of a framework.
• [Miscellaneous collection] for RAGBAG — Really??? Not "ragtag"???? What on earth!! 
• [Bit of gear for Vermeer] for PALETTE — Was so stuck here thinking that the entry would be something super-specific to Vermeer and my hours spent rereading the YA book Chasing Vermeer would finally pay off but alas no
• ["Quickest way to Harlem," in song] for A TRAIN — This is the best train in NYC, in my opinion (so fast!! Manhattan Brooklyn Queens!! Beach!! JFK!!!!) but this entry took a bit to click because I associate the A with Washington Heights
• [Rite place at the rite time?] for ALTAR — Very good clue

xoxo Malaika

P.S. One of my crosswords was published today! It's small and themeless and you can solve it here.

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]
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• Boswords (Boston) (Sun. July 27, 2025)
• Lollapuzzoola 18 (NYC) (Sat., Aug. 9, 2025) 
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• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

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1940s combat zone in brief / THU 4-15-21 / Emperor who abdicated in 2019 after 30 years / Idyllic spot of myth / Once-plentiful endangered fish nicknamed Albany beef / Gritty films informally / Philosopher who favored simple explanations

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley and Ben Zimmer

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: MIDDLE "C" (58A: Starting point for a piano student, or a phonetic hint to 17-, 18, 22-, 33-, 41-, 49- and 55-Across) — themers are three-syllable words / phrases that have the sound "C" (i.e. "see") in the MIDDLE of them, with that "C" sound spelled differently each time:

Theme answers:

• TAXI CAB (17A: City transport, redundantly)
• CALCIUM (18A: Most common mineral in the human body)
• PUSSYCAT (22A: Gentle, mild-mannered sort)
• PRESEASON (33A: Warm-up time for pro athletes)
• TOP SECRET (41A: On a need-to-know basis)
• NO-SEE-UMS (49A: Camping pests)
• HALCYON (55A: Happy, as bygone days)

Word of the Day: GORDO (47A: Astronaut Cooper as portrayed in "The Right Stuff") —

Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human space program of the United States. Cooper learned to fly as a child, and after service in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, he was commissioned into the United States Air Force in 1949. After service as a fighter pilot, he qualified as a test pilot in 1956, and was selected as an astronaut in 1959.

In 1963 Cooper piloted the longest and last Mercury spaceflight, Mercury-Atlas 9. During that 34-hour mission he became the first American to spend an entire day in space, the first to sleep in space, and the last American launched on an entirely solo orbital mission. Despite a series of severe equipment failures, he managed to successfully complete the mission under manual control, guiding his spacecraft, which he named Faith 7, to a splashdown just 4 miles (6.4 km) ahead of the recovery ship. Cooper became the first astronaut to make a second orbital flight when he flew as Command Pilot of Gemini 5 in 1965. Along with Pilot Pete Conrad, he set a new space endurance record by traveling 3,312,993 miles (5,331,745 km) in 190 hours and 56 minutes—just short of eight days—showing that astronauts could survive in space for the length of time necessary to go from the Earth to the Moon and back. (wikipedia)

• • •

It was weird to zip through a Thursday grid, all the while wondering what was wrong ... when was the axe going to fall ... when was it going to get MACABRE!? (great clue there, by the way: 8A: King-like, in a way). I just knew that some vicious trick was going to be lying in wait around the next corner, or the next, but once I got well over halfway done, I realized it probably wasn't coming, and just sailed to the end of what felt very much like a Wednesday-level puzzle to me. The good news is that I solved the puzzle in exactly the right order, such that my path ended exactly where it was supposed to end, with the revealer, which at first glance felt pretty ho-hum (I was very briefly worried that the answer meant that the *letter* "C" was going to be in the "middle" of all the answers, because wow ... that would not be much of an accomplishment). But then I noticed the sound pattern, which was simple, clever, and elegantly expressed. I like the idea of the *sound* being in the "middle" (as opposed to a letter or letter string being literally physically in the middle). And I really like that the answers are all three syllables (with "see") in the middle, and that each word / phrase achieves that "see" sound with different spelling. It's got layers, this theme, which is what makes its simplicity lovely (rather than plain or boring). The "see" words are all nice stand-alone answers, too—nothing feels forced, the way some themers in a very dense theme often can. Not the usual Thursday challenge, but enjoyable nonetheless.

The density of the theme is *probably* to blame for what felt like an uptick in crosswordese / repeater fill today. Lots of the very familiar short stuff, though some of it is so old-school, I feel like recent solvers might not even recognize it as crosswordese anymore. "ERI tu" and ETO are some serious throwbacks—they used to roam the grid like buffalo but then they were largely hunted out of existence (the buffalo analogy is bad, though, as the near-extinction of ERI and ETO was far less tragic). A sizable list of other common short answers are here too (e.g. ACTA, ERMA, IWO, NCO, SSN, ECTO, RAE, etc.), and then some short partials or add phrases (UPTWO, ENDIN, WASI), all of which me feel a little like I was being swarmed by the crossword equivalent of NO-SEE-UMS in the spaces between the themers and longer answers. Only I could "see um." But as I say, the themers were both plentiful and strong, as were the longer Acrosses in the corners, and so all that crosswordy stuff was occasionally annoying but not overwhelming or exhausting. 

Had no idea about GORDO or PARR (33D: Surname of the Incredibles), but otherwise, all the answers in this one were familiar to me. I've seen "The Incredibles," but just once. Their family name is not a household name to me. Oh, and I guess I don't really know all the Braxton names ... in fact, I know only TONI Braxton, because she was a very successful R&B singer in the '90s and '00s. But TRACI slotted into the grid easily and felt right, so no trouble there (43A: One of the sisters on TV's "Braxton Family Values"). Made a few errors. Had the last "H" in MICH. but wrote in UTAH because I didn't read the clue past "State" (8D: State whose northern residents are known as Yoopers: Abbr.) (the "northern residents" live in the Upper Peninsula, or "U.P."—hence the name "Yoopers"). Wrote in INEPTLY before IN ERROR (16A: Wrongly). I don't like this whole "S"-plurals-on-fish thing. One, two, three STURGEON. Say no to TROUTS, say no to STURGEONS (20D: Once-plentiful endangered fish nicknamed "Albany beef"). Really happy that when I first looked at 32D: Make corrections to (EMEND), I already had the "E" in place, so I didn't have to suffer through my usual "wait, what's the difference between AMEND and EMEND again???" crisis. I was also happy to know SIROCCO. I have no idea why I know it, or know how to spell it, but it whooshed down my grid off of the "S" and every letter proved correct. Sometimes you luck out. Volkswagen used to make a SCIROCCO, which is why SIROCCO always looks wrong to me. But it's just a variant spelling. Wikipedia says the wind is also known as JUGO or, "rarely," simply SIROC. Why have I drifted into trivia? I better stop now. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Lexicographer Partridge / SUN 5-3-20 / Maker of Instant Feathers and Hi-Speed Tonic / British spy Christopher in 2016 news / Drum heard in raga music / Casual vodka order / Dr Seuss character who becomes king of mud / Banned display of firepower informally / Gambino crime family patriarch

Constructor: Ben Zimmer and Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (10-something, not drunk, but ... having had a strong one, for sure)

THEME: "Shifting Sounds" — familiar phrases where the "A" (as in "sands") sound is changed to an "OU" (as in "sounds") sound, creating the wackiness you might expect:

Theme answers:

• HOUND SHAKE (23A: Dog's order at a malt shop?)
• COUNT MISS (3D: Bad shot by Dracula?)
• NED FLOUNDERS (29A: "Game of Thrones" patriarch has difficulties?)
• COUNSELED CHECK (58A: Advised a chess player to attack the king?)
• MOUSE MARKETING (76A: Part of Disney's advertising budget?)
• TROUNCE STATE (107A: Decisively defeat a cabinet department?)
• FUZZY MOUTH (117A: Feeling one gets under anaesthesia at the dentist?)
• FAIR COUCH (79D: Comfy seating at a carnival?)

Word of the Day: RISD (81D: New England art inst.) —

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD /ˈrɪzdiː/) is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877 and offers bachelor's and master's degree programs across 19 majors.

RISD's campus is located at the base of College Hill and contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions, which share social, academic, and community resources, offer a joint degree program and students can cross register for classes.

The RISD community includes 181 full-time and 421 part-time faculty members, and 2,009 undergraduate and 492 graduate students. The school has nearly 30,000 alumni. (wikipedia)

• • •

There just isn't much to this one. It's a very old-fashioned sound-change theme without a lot of zing to it. The wackiness isn't nearly as Big as it needs to be to carry a Sunday-sized puzzle. There's just not enough that's interesting about this particular sound change. The title is also pretty limp—starts out seeming overly basic ("yes, the sounds are indeed changing ... and?") and then *maybe* you eventually realize that the title is a play on the phrase "Shifting Sands," but maybe you don't, and even if you do, it's not exactly a great joke or a huge Aha. In short, the theme felt stale. Also, the "A" sound in "CATCH," for me, is not at all the same as the "A" sound in all the other changed words. I say "CATCH" more like "ketch." It doesn't rhyme with "hatch," not coming out of my mouth, anyway. Sound-change puzzles *routinely* run into this kind of problem, which is sometimes a regional problem and sometimes just a Problem.


The grid is otherwise fine, I guess. I moved through it pretty easily and didn't have many significant grumbling moments. I still don't really believe UBID exists, and no one says SOCKO except the good people at Variety, and only the puzzle thinks it's UNARMS as opposed to "disarms," and the INURE v. ENURE thing is always low-level annoying, and ESTOP is less-than-lovely crosswordese and N-TEST feels very last-century (I'M (actually) AMAZED at how long it seems like it's been since I've had to deal with the whole A/H/N-TEST issue) and LLB is unlikely to rev anyone's engine, *but* it's a big puzzle and a handful of less-than-stellar answers doesn't really have much effect on the overall solid feel of this grid. Sunday themes need to be great, not just ... long.


I had a little trouble grasping the exact nature of this theme at first—again, I blame, in part, the theme, which is ultra-lifeless and unhelpful. I got COUNT MISS first, and figured there was some syllabic swap happening, whereby (in this instance) "miscount" became COUNT MISS. I think I was all the way down the west coast and into MOUSE MARKETING before I got the whole "A"-to-"OU" gimmick. After that, the theme was not an issue. I had some trouble with the upper middle of the grid because I screwed up the chess term and started 58A: Advised a chess player to attack the king? with CASTLE ... I guess you "castle" when you *protect* the king??? I literally would not know. This is what happens when I try to get all fancy with my chess answers instead of just waiting patiently for crosses to take care of things. I also had Yoda as Luke's MASTER (66A: Yoda, to Luke = MENTOR), had YESSES as YES, YES (45A: Words of affirmation), and because of all this screwup, had zero idea what the Jimi Hendrix / Patti Smith song could be ("HEY, JOE"). Outside that section, though, things went pretty smoothly. I had RERUNS for REAIRS (67A: Shows as an encore presentation) and BEYONCÉ before SOLANGE (92D: Singer Knowles with a 2016 #1 album).


I hope you're doing well and not rushing back out into your prematurely reopened state!

Promotion time!

First, Peter Gordon's got "A-to-Z Crosswords: Petite Pangram Puzzles," daily 9x11 puzzles that use every letter of the alphabet! I find pangrams superfluous in standard crosswords, but in tiny daily crosswords where the pangramminess is the point—that actually sounds cool. Anyway, his Kickstarter is fully funded, so the project is a Go. Subscribe here!

Second, Caleb Madison is the crossword writer over at The Atlantic and as of today they are running themed 15x15 crosswords from outside contributors. So, constructors, here's his pitch:

The Atlantic is looking for 15x15 puzzles with fresh, fun and intuitive themes at a medium difficulty (think Wednesday level) with a word count of under 78. I love themes with elegant parameters applied consistently that generate in-the-language entries and leave enough room for clean fill with minimal partial answers or obscurities. The Atlantic puzzle is online only, but in the future there may be opportunities to publish in the monthly magazine. 

Constructors should email me their theme sets at cmadison@theatlantic.com. I'll provide feedback to all themes within the month and if I like the theme, ask for a filled grid. Currently the Atlantic pays $350 a puzzle.

Caleb tells me they're also introducing "social play" this weekend, so you can solve the puzzle with a friend. Anyway, if you're a solver, check out The Atlantic Daily Crossword, and if you're a constructor and want to do some edgy themed stuff, consider Caleb (he used to edit the Buzzfeed crossword, when that existed, and I found him a real pleasure to work with when I published there).

Lastly, today's co-constructor Brendan Emmett Quigley, along with the veteran constructing team of Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, has a Sunday subscription puzzle called The Hub Crossword. It's just $3 / month for top-notch Sunday action. Check out their Patreon page here.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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