Combatants in the Titanomachy / TUES 8-26-25 / They spike during the holidays / What you'd expect when you're expecting? / Mother's daughter's daughter, perhaps

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare back for our regularly programmed last Tuesday of August! Hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying these last days of summer. I’ve certainly enjoyed watching my Liverpool win their first two games of the season (we won’t go into detail on how they won and how nail-biting and not fun they were at times — a win is a win!). I discovered some good trails that aren’t too far away from my apartment, so my puppy and I have been on a few hikes lately, and she seems to love the trails. And now I’ve got the U.S. Open tennis to watch (Go, Carlitos and Coco!), with the NFL not far behind (Go, Steelers! But not Aaron Rodgers). 

Anywho, on to the puzzle…

Constructor: Kevin Curry

Relative difficulty: Medium (maybe on the harder side of medium)

THEME: ASYMMETRY (66A: Unusual feature of this puzzle … or, when parsed as two words (1,8), another unusual feature of this puzzle — The only A's present in the puzzle form a large letter “A” in a grid that isn’t symmetrical

Theme answers:

• N/A

Word of the Day: V-DAY (48A: Global movement to end violence against women) —

V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls started by author, playwright and activist Eve Ensler. V-Day began on February 14, 1998, when the very first V-Day benefit performance of Ensler's play The Vagina Monologues took place in NYC, raising over $250k for local anti-violence groups. V-Day was formed and became a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to raise funds and awareness to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence). Through V-Day, activists stage royalty-free benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues "to fund local programs, support safe houses, rape crisis centers, and domestic violence shelters, change laws to protect women and girls, and educate local communities to raise awareness and change social attitudes toward violence against women" during the month of February. The 'V' in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina. (WIki)

• • •

Gimme an A! Gimme another A! And another — well, a bunch more. The reveal of the “A” across the puzzle was clever, and the construction is really quite impressive, even if I ultimately didn’t love the puzzle. The constructor gets points (maybe even an “A”) for there not being any A's other than the ones used to form the A across the puzzle. But this really was a themeless puzzle that the software drew a big A on at the end. (What happened for those who solved on paper, I wonder?) 

I found this to be a slightly harder Tuesday than usual. Maybe it’s that there wasn’t a theme to maybe help you out if you were stuck in a place or two. I may have just had a hard time getting going because I didn’t know LIANE (6D: Former NPR host Hansen) or TATI (14D: Comic actor Jacques) at the top. And then the several long acrosses added a layer of difficulty. Thankfully, I took a COG SCI (24A: Study of the mind, for short) class in college, but that one might’ve tripped some people up. 

Of the long acrosses, the most interesting was SALMONBERRY (60A: Fruit traditionally eaten with the fish it's named for). It’s apparently common in the Pacific Northwest and looks like a quite tasty berry. I will say most recipes that I found for this show the berries used in some sort of dessert, but I’m not from the Pacific Northwest, so who knows. The rest of the long acrosses were just kind of there. ECONOMIST (12A: British weekly on business, politics and culture, with "The") was fine. PROUD PAPAS (16A: Ones taking baby pictures in the delivery room, maybe) was cute. I hated NET EFFECT (20A: Overall impact) with a passion for some reason — it's just so ugly. And PREORDERED (64A: Like goods bought before they hit the shelves) feels somewhat blah. But those sorts of words seem to be the price you pay if you want to work out there being a giant A for your theme of ASYMMETRY in the puzzle. 

There was some crosswordese and a couple answers that I didn’t care for — such as LIE (51A: That's unbelievable!) and WHOA (53A: "That's unbelievable!") clued essentially identically and I’D BET (52D: "My gut says …"). AS PER (7D: In line with) just looks bad. And RELEASE ME (34D: Cry to a captor) feels like a rather tame thing for someone to say who's been tied up. But the fill was fine, if a bit boring. 

I will say I loved the clue for NORM (56D: What you'd expect when you're expecting?). SELF (8D: Beginning of consciousness?) was also funny. I had fun seeing TUFTS (19A: University just north of Harvard) in the puzzle because my cousin went there, and it seems like a great school. BLEAT (39A: What the shepherd heard, perhaps) was cute.

Misc.:

• Where the sidewalk ends is with Shel Silverstein (not the CURB (24D)) 

• Seeing ONE L (25: First-year legal student, informally) in the puzzle takes me back. And it’s to not-very-fond memories of law school! Man alive, I’m glad that’s over with. 
• I like the slight connection that this puzzle constructor’s last name is Curry, and we’ve got TREY (Shot that made its N.B.A. debut in 1979, slangily) in the puzzle, which is the shot that Steph Curry is known for! 
• I would’ve said BLONDEs (44D: Marilyn Monroe or Britney Spears) have more fun. But I dyed my hair red a few years ago and haven’t looked back since. 
• In the Majors (a level up from AAA (40A)) at the Dodgers game last night, V (no, not A) from BTS threw out the first pitch and did quite a good job! You can see the video here. My dad (who actually knows probably very little about this) guesses the pitch was probably around 75 mph. 
• It was nice to have both MOM (61D: Certain parent) and PROUD PAPAS (16A) represented in the puzzle.

And that's all from me! See you in September.

Signed, Clare Carroll, screaming AAAAAAA!!! as Liverpool’s 16-year-old scores a goal in the 11th minute of stoppage time to win the game

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Longest key on a keyboard / TUES 8-5-25 / First modular space station / Singer India.___ / Messy class for kindergartners

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare back this time for the first Tuesday in August! Not much to report given the shorter-than-usual turnaround. But we of course had some important sports this weekend, with the Washington Spirit soccer team winning on a last-minute goal from Trinity Rodman, returning after months out with a back injury. We’re less than two weeks away from the start of the Premier League. (As you may recall, my Liverpudlians won the title last year. I might have mentioned that once or twice.) And tennis is gearing up, with the US Open starting in less than three weeks! In other news, I don’t have a client interview tomorrow at 7 AM, so that’s a nice change of pace! 

Anywho, on to the puzzle…

Constructors: Gary Larson and Amy Ensz

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: Punny answers where the article “a” can be read as separate from the rest of the next word to literally answer the clue, or the “a” can be read with the rest of the word

Theme answers:

• A/CUTE ANGLE (17A: Adorable perspective on things?) 
• A/SCENT OF MAN (28A: Axe or Old Spice?) 
• A/HEAD OF TIME (46A: Major newsmagazine's C.E.O.?) 
• A/CORN SHELL (61A: Taco tortilla option?)

Word of the Day: PAIGE (34A: Satchel in Cooperstown)  —

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. At age 42 in 1948, Paige made his MLB debut for the Cleveland Indians; to this day, this makes him the oldest debutant in National League or American League history. Paige was 59 years old when he played his last major league game, which is also a record that stands to this day. Paige was the first black pitcher to play in the American League and was the seventh black player to play in Major League Baseball. Also in 1948, Paige became the first player who had played in the Negro leagues to pitch in the World Series; the Indians won the Series that year. (Wiki)

• • •

Overall a pretty good theme, with some above-average, clever fill. I wouldn’t say the theme was anything to write home about, and I sort of missed having a revealer (not that it’s a requirement), but the answers were clever wordplay. The only one I didn’t like was A CORN SHELL / ACORN SHELL (61A) because I really don’t think that ACORN SHELL is in the lexicon. I’ve never talked about an ACORN SHELL in my life. Have you? My favorite was A CUTE ANGLE / ACUTE ANGLE (17A). 

The fill was quite clean and full of uncommon words, especially on a Tuesday. I really enjoyed seeing IMPETUS (23A: Driving force), STASIS (1D: Equilibrium), USURPS (3D: Seizes, as control, ARDENT (49D: Gung-ho), and TACOMA (2D: City that shares an international airport with Seattle). Then SAVES FACE (10D: Maintains one's dignity) and STEAM ROOM (33D: Spot to sit and sweat) weren’t bad long downs. I enjoyed having both TAHOE (54D: Chevy model whose name references a body of water) and RIO (62D: Kia model whose name references a body of water) in the puzzle. Having those close to OCEANS (47D: About 71% of the earth's surface) was clever. 

A few answers made this a slightly harder than usual Tuesday for me. I got stuck on SYNOD (5A: Church assembly) for some reason. I didn’t know ARLO (16A: Janis's spouse in the funny pages). I wasn’t previously familiar with PAIGE (34A), which I’ve now rectified with the Googling I’ve done and learning about what an amazing pitcher and player and person he was. I blanked on MICA (52A: Flaky rock), and TEA TREE (53A: Member of the myrtle family that's the source of an essential oil) was a little old-fashioned for me. 

I didn’t like how the top of the puzzle had STUB (1A: Leftover part of a ticket) and then STUD (10A: Support to which drywall is attached). I also have a big bone to pick with SMEAR (38A: Mascara mishap) because a mascara mishap is most definitely a smudge and not a smear. I even typed out “smudge” because I was so certain, before realizing it wouldn’t fit. I Googled to confirm, and if you search “mascara smear,” results about a smudge are all that come up. 

SPACE BAR (21A: Longest key on a keyboard) was cute. I was staring at my keyboard trying to think if it could be “caps lock” or “command,” wondering what would fit. But it was quite literally the longest key instead. That clue was a long way to go for COOP / CO-OP (22D: Certain apartment (with a hyphen) or farm housing (without one)), but I liked it.

Misc.:

• Here’s a quote from a Q + A with Willie Mays about Satchel PAIGE (wildly high praise from probably the best player in baseball history) —
• Oh, yeah. We were in Memphis, Tennessee. It was like a playoff game. It might have been ’48. Satchel had a very, very good fastball. But he threw me a little breaking ball, just to see what I could do, and I hit it off the top of the fence. And I got a double. When I got to second, Satchel told the third baseman, "Let me know when that little boy comes back up." Three innings later, I go to kneel down in the on-deck circle, and I hear the third baseman say, "There he is." Satch looked at the third baseman, and then he looked at me. I walk halfway to home plate and he says, "Little boy." I say, "Yes, sir?" because Satch was much older than I am, so I was trying to show respect. He walked halfway to home plate and said, "Little boy, I’m not going to trick you. I’m going to throw you three fastballs and you’re going to go sit down." And I’m saying in my mind, "I don’t think so." If he threw me three of the same pitch, I’m going to hit it somewhere. He threw me two fastballs and I just swung...I swung right through it. And the third ball he threw, and I tell people this all the time, he threw the ball and then he started walking. And he says, "Go sit down." This is while the ball was in the air. He was just a magnificent pitcher.
• My sister and I actually met Willie Mays because he gave out baseballs for Halloween in our neighborhood when we were kids. My dad really wanted to meet him, too, but we sprinted ahead because we were so excited. My dad just got to wave to Mays from partway up the driveway. Sorry, Dad! 
• I always love to see TAHOE (aka the prettiest place on Earth) in the puzzle. Especially seeing the weather forecasts recently in TAHOE (54D) versus D.C., I kind of want to move back. 
• I know ULNA (12D: Arm bone on the pinkie finger side) is common crosswordese. But I’ll never forget the name and placement of this bone, along with many others, solely because I went through a phase in high school where I downloaded apps to quiz myself on anatomy because I had been influenced by watching “Grey’s Anatomy” and wanted to be a doctor. That lasted until I took AP Bio my junior year and hated it, then did an internship at a hospital and… fainted my first time in an operating room. Glad I switched to law instead! 
• I’m not sure I’ve had TETLEY (51D: Brand for a cuppa) tea before, even as a tea drinker. I’m more familiar with Bigelow or Lipton or Twinings if I want to get fancy. But I seem to be able to order TETLEY (51D) online, so I may have to try it and will report back! 
• Speaking of sports… The US Track and Field Championships wrapped up last weekend with some incredible performances, including a 16-year-old who finished second in the 800m, setting a U-18 (and also collegiate) world record. There was drama with Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek, who pushed Lyles after losing to him in the 200m (there’s some behind-the-scenes drama there). Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone narrowly missed out on the American 400m record (her main event is the hurdles, where she already holds the world record). She’ll compete in the 400m at worlds and go for the American record again. Gabby Thomas, who won gold in the 200m at the Paris Olympics, made the team by finishing third, one-thousandth of a second ahead of fourth and two-thousandths of a second ahead of fifth. We like Gabby even though she went to a school whose name starts with H. We’re now just about six weeks away from the world championships.

And that's all from me, folks! Have a great August.

Signed, Clare Carroll, who when she needs a Lyft feels A LONG FOR THE RIDE

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Hamlet's ill-fated love interest / TUES 7-29-25 / What's touch and go? / Setting of Switzerland's Glacier Express / Golden fruit that started the Trojan War, in myth

Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday of the best month of the year (the one I was born in, of course!). Hope everyone is staying cool as the ridiculous heat and humidity get even more ridiculous (at least here in D.C.). My sister, dad, and I went to watch some tennis at the D.C. Open, which drew some pretty big names, and we thought we might melt, as we were sitting out there in the sun for several hours. My puppy, Red, went on her first hike, at Harper’s Ferry — as we all celebrated my dad’s birthday in the best month of the year — and she was a rock star. My Reds, Liverpool, return to action in just two weeks, so we can see if they defend their Premier League title. Life is good. Maybe even great. 

Anywho, on to the puzzle…

Constructor: Peter Gorman

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME:  BEND OREGON (55A: Western city hinted at seven times in this puzzle's circled letters) — The circled letters each form the word “Oregon,” bent in different ways

Theme answers:

• OREGON (starting with the O in SALON (14A) and ending with the N in SNORT (17A)) 
• OREGON (starting with the O in AGO (18A) and ending with the N in ION (15A)) 
• OREGON (starting with the O in PORED (16A) and ending with the N in I’M ON (23A)) 
• OREGON (starting with the O in DORSALS (46A) and ending with the N in I CAN SO (35A)) 
• OREGON (starting with the O in RUSHMORE (37A) and ending with the N in PANINI (44A)) 
• OREGON (starting with the O in BRODY (64A) and ending with the N in AARON (60A)) 
• OREGON (starting with the O in ORE (65A) and ending with the N in NOG (68A))

Word of the Day: AEGIS (34D: Protection)  —

The aegis, as stated in the Iliad, is a device carried by Athena and Zeus, variously interpreted as an animal skin or a shield and sometimes featuring the head of a Gorgon. The modern concept of doing something "under someone's aegis" means doing something under the protection of a powerful, knowledgeable, or benevolent source. The word aegis is identified with protection by a strong force with its roots in Greek mythology and adopted by the Romans; there are parallels in Norse mythology and in Egyptian mythology as well, where the Greek word aegis is applied by extension. (Wiki)

• • •

That was a fun, clever theme. I got BEND OREGON (55A) easily, and that helped me fill in the rest of the puzzle, so this was a fast Tuesday for me. It’s impressive construction to get seven bent OREGONs in the puzzle formed in all sorts of different ways. The puzzle itself looked a little ugly as I was solving, but I think the payoff was worth having so, so many circles. I had the darnedest time trying to describe the theme answers above, because bits of several different words form each OREGON, so I kind of punted. 

I enjoyed how there were similar words close to one another in the puzzle several times. APPLE (9A: Golden fruit that started the Trojan War, in myth) crossing EDEN (13D: Unspoiled paradise) is brilliant. NORSE GODS (36D: Thor and Odin) ran parallel to EROS (54D: Cupid's Greek counterpart). LOGIC (32D: "___ will get you from A to B. Imagination can take you everywhere" (statement attributed to Einstein)) and IRONY (33D: Humor with a twist) were side-by-side. This is a reach, but DIABLO (6D: El infierno figure) and ELMO (21D: Muppet who's made guest appearances on "Scrubs" and "The West Wing") were also next to each other, and they’re both… red. Not that I like red, or anything. 

The construction smack dab in the center of the puzzle let me down, though. RAS (37D: Dorm aides, for short) crossing PAS (39A: Dads) just looks wrong. The words are almost identical. Then, also in that middle section, there’s GAS as part of INERT GAS (41A: Argon or neon) and PAS again as part of PASSED ON (39D: Forwent). And “forwent” is about as ugly a word as exists. 

I’d also be a happier person if puzzles stopped incorporating phrases such as I CAN SO (35A: Rejoinder to a doubter) or the usual “Are too” or “Am so” or the other seemingly million ways these dumb phrases are clued. 

I didn’t love GO GO (38A: Constantly pushing forward). DORSALS (46A: Some fins), as a plural, also doesn’t work for me. Dorsal fins, sure, but DORSALS on its own? The clue for GLOB (43D: Hunk of melted mozzarella, e.g.) seems randomly specific. Why call out mozzarella instead of referring to cheese in general? The clue for RUSHMORE (37A: Mount with four faces that all face southeast) also randomly specifies that the sculptures all face southeast. Who knew? 

I got slowed down slightly with BAD LEG (47D: Reason to wear a knee brace, perhaps) because I thought it could be “bum leg.” And I tried both “stiff” and “solid” before realizing the answer was RIGID (27D: Inflexible). But I didn’t get tripped up with most proper names in the puzzle: Sophia LOREN (4D), ROGER EBERT (20A), Mary J. BLIGE (19A), AARON Burr (60A), Adrien BRODY (64A), or NEIL Patrick Harris (59D). Your mileage may vary. 

ENORMOUS (8D: Huge) was my favorite down of the puzzle. I also liked the mini mythology theme with NORSE GODS (36D), EROS (54D), AEGIS (34D), and APPLE (9A). And I loved OPHELIA (31A: Hamlet's ill-fated love interest). I’ve had the song "OPHELIA" by The Lumineers stuck in my head for this entire write-up. Luckily, it’s an amazing song.

Misc.:

• If you’re looking for a BOP (48A: Catchy song, in modern lingo), look no further than any of the many songs from the movie “KPop Demon Hunters,” which came out last month. It’s about a K-pop girl group who are demon hunters (shocking, I know!) and have to face off against a boy group made up of, you guessed it, demons. It’s genuinely very good. For BOPs, I recommend starting with either “Your Idol” or “Golden” (which is No. 2 on Billboard right now). 
• I don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me earlier that, of course, Leonardo da VINCI (66A) was literally from VINCI. Leonardo of VINCI. Duh! 
• With 57D: Options for martinis, for me, the answer is olives, olives, olive juice, olives, or more olives. I remember the time I had a sip of a martini for the first time. when I was in college. I tried my mom’s and nearly spit it out because it was just straight vodka. GINS is an ugly plural, but at least the answer wasn’t vodkas. 
• The best sandwich I’ve ever had wasn’t grilled like a PANINI (44A: Grilled Italian sandwich) but was on a trip to Florence. It was made on the freshest bread, with pounds of delicious salami and soppressata, and miles of stringy, salty cheese (not GLOBs). Even better, I ate it sitting on the sidewalk with a glass of €2 wine. 
• My sister and I were just singing along to “Hamilton” and specifically AARON Burr’s (60A) parts. We were either annoying or indoctrinating our dad, who just finished a Rick Atkinson book on the Revolutionary War. 
• Maybe I got BEND OREGON (55A) quickly because I’ve actually been there — once for a soccer tournament and another time to watch my sister at a horse show. It’s quite beautiful.

Now I shall sign off because I again have a client interview in Baltimore bright and early tomorrow. (What is it with USCIS scheduling my interviews for Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.?!) 

See you next time (which will actually be in just a week)!

Signed, Clare Carroll, BEND-t out of shape by the USCIS scheduling

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Sing like Ella Fitzgerald / TUES 6-24-25 / Ouzo flavoring / Regular at the Met, maybe / "Yadda, yadda, yadda"

Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday in June. Hope everyone is staying cool in the middle of this crazy heat wave — D.C. is currently horribly hot and humid. I’m writing this after attending an outdoor concert where the temperature was 90-plus degrees (the concert was amazing but ended a few songs early because of the extreme heat), and I’m now enjoying the AC in my apartment… In more important news, this month, the rest of the BTS members returned from their military service, so get ready to hear a lot more about them in future write-ups:) 

Anywho, onto the puzzle…

Constructor: Ingrid Steffensen

Relative difficulty: Medium (if you're not solving the crossword at a concert)

THEME: PARAS (54D: Law firm aides, informally … or a hint to 17-, 26-. 48- and 62-Across) — Each theme answer is a “pair o’” something and when combined with “para” forms another word

Theme answers:

• DOCKS DOCKS (17A: A couple of places to secure boats ... or a logical contradiction?) [Paradox]
• DICE DICE (26A: A couple of sets of game cubes ... or heaven?) [Paradise] 
• LIES LIES (48A: A couple of fibs ... or incapacitate?) [Paralyze] 
• FRAYS FRAYS (62A: A couple of melees ... or put into new, simpler words without changing the meaning?) [Paraphrase]

Word of the Day: “SMELLS Like Teen Spirit” (43A: Nirvana's "___ Like Teen Spirit") —

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records. Having sold over 13 million units worldwide, it is one of the best-selling songs of all time. The success propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts and is often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream. It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain. (Wiki)

• • •

The theme was quite inventive. It took me a while to understand, but once I did, I really appreciated it. Though, the theme answers looked quite strange on their own, without reference to the revealer (DOCKSDOCKS, LIESLIES, etc.). The repetition really helped with the solve after you got the first couple, but the theme itself did skew a bit later in the week for me. I enjoyed the multiple layers to each clue and answer and how it all came together. But — and this is a huge one — I will go to the ends of the Earth to shout from the rooftop that PARAS (54D) is not a short form for “paralegals.” I don’t care what Google or Wikipedia or anyone else may say (though I think they mostly agree with me anyway). It’s just not a common way to refer to that profession. I work in the legal field and work with a lot of paralegals, and I’ve never once heard someone be called a PARA (54D), let alone heard that word around the office. Sorry, that soured me some, apparently! 

Otherwise, the puzzle felt like a pretty standard Tuesday solve. There were some fun words in there — SCOFF (43D: React to a ridiculous suggestion, maybe), BUNGLE (19A: Muff), DRAM (67A: 1/8 fluid ounce), and SCRUM (23D: Rugby pile), to name a few. If you say each of those words out loud, they just have a certain panache (another favorite word) to them. APOGEE (4D: Pinnacle) is also a good word. And then the answer YEA (63D: Word said in passing?) was clever.

Overall, the fill was fine but nothing much to write home about. The long answers outside the theme were okay. OPERA FAN (56A: Regular at the Met, maybe), I can see. SEATBELT (21A: Thing to be clicked in a "Click It or Ticket" campaign) wasn’t horrible. MINISTERS (35D: Preachers) was meh. NANNY CAMS (3D: Surveillance systems installed by parents) was probably my favorite of the long answers other than the themes, though they’re rather creepy (unless you put one in your room when you go to a concert to keep an eye on your puppy to see if you need to ask your roommate to look in on her). 

22A: 1917, 1984, 2001 and others with YEARS seems really basic. Having RPMS (61D: Tachometers measure them, in brief) plural is redundant, as the R stands for “revolutions.” And I don’t have any idea if it’s proper, but DEWS (37D: Morning condensations) as a plural also looks weird, and I’m not sure I’ve seen it written like that before. I struggled a bit with ASSAI (41D: Very, in music) and GELID (33D: Very cold), particularly with them so close together in the puzzle.

Misc.:

• With PACER (10D: Indiana basketballer), all I feel is sadness for the team and Tyrese Haliburton and his stupid Achilles tendon. Poor guy. (For those of you who didn’t watch the NBA Finals — he led his team to the seventh game of the Finals, and into the lead, despite a serious calf injury, then tore a tendon.) Having that answer in the puzzle next to ANKLE (11D: Body part that may be twisted), clued as something that can be twisted, felt ominous. 
• My puppy has an ID TAG (15D: Canine collar attachment) that, on one side, says “Red” and has my phone number. On the other side, it says “Oh f*** I’m lost. Call my mama.” 
• MANO a MANO (16A: (how two foes confront each other) is an interesting one to me because many people seem to think mano a mano means man to man, but it means hand to hand. 
• LEO (6D: Actor DiCaprio, in the tabloids) doesn’t make me think of Leonardo DiCaprio but rather my cousin’s son who’s only five and is trilingual. (My cousin is American, her husband is Italian, and they live in Spain, so little Leo speaks three languages quite well). I feel inadequate. 
• Right now, instead of APRIL (51D: T.S. Eliot's (and the I.R.S.'s) "cruellest month"), June is feeling like the cruelest month because of this heat! 

And that’s all from me. Here’s to cooler weather (HAR) and a great month of July!

Signed, Clare Carroll (I’m signing off now, so I guess that makes me a PARAGON) 

P.S. I really did solve the puzzle at the concert—

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Colorful Hindu celebration / TUES 5-27-25 / Last monarch of the House of Stuart / Like some desks and divorces / Part of a foot or a viaduct

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare for the last Tuesday in May! Hope you all had a wonderful three-day weekend. Liverpool lifted the trophy in the men’s Premier League, so I sure did! (My sister’s team, Arsenal, won the women’s Champions League, so she had a great weekend; and my dad’s team, Tottenham, won the men’s Europa League last week, so we’re all happy!). I’m getting ready for a trip to Cancún in a few days for a friend’s 30th birthday and decided I didn’t need to buy much, but I lost that battle with myself — oops. This might be a quick write-up because I have to be up at 6 a.m. for a client’s green card interview in Baltimore, but we shall see!

Anywho, on to the puzzle...

Constructor: Ginny Too

Relative difficulty: Challenging (for a Tuesday)

THEME: HOLY TRINITY (60A: Central Christian belief … or a phonetic hint to 17-, 27- and 44-Across) — Three homonyms for holy form a trinity of answers

Theme answers:

• WHOLLY OWNED (17A: Like a subsidiary with only one parent) 
• HOLEY CHEESES (27A: Swiss and Jarlsberg) 
• HOLI FESTIVAL (44A: Colorful Hindu celebration)

Word of the Day: M.C. Escher (9D: "Hand With Reflecting Sphere" artist) —

Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular interest, for most of his life Escher was neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the late twentieth century, he became more widely appreciated, and in the twenty-first century he has been celebrated in exhibitions around the world… Hand with Reflecting Sphere, also known as Self-Portrait in Spherical Mirror, is a lithograph, first printed in January 1935. The piece depicts a hand holding a reflective sphere. In the reflection, most of the room around Escher can be seen, and the hand holding the sphere is revealed to be Escher's. (Wiki)

• • •

I found this puzzle to be on the challenging side for a Tuesday. It had a good theme, but the puzzle was bogged down by some weird clues and tough fill. 

Overall, I thought the theme was quite clever with all the different homonyms of HOLY. I particularly loved how there were three answers, making a TRINITY (60A). I do, however, wonder about HOLI FESTIVAL (44A) — there’s a FESTIVAL called HOLI, but I’ve never seen it called HOLI FESTIVAL, and Google doesn’t seem to have heard that term, either. Overall, I wouldn’t say the theme helped me with the solve, but it provided a nice “aha” moment toward the end. 

I had a hard time getting a foothold in the puzzle because there wasn’t much I was confident about at the top. I usually start in the NW, and if I don’t see something obvious, I’ll move to the top middle section. Early in the week, something almost always drops. But I wasn’t positive about HENCE (15A: thus) and was thinking more like “since.” WHOLLY OWNED (17A) and GEODES (21A: Glam rocks?) took some finagling. For me, opera titles pretty much blur together, so I needed crosses to get TOSCA (1A: Puccini heroine who "lived for art, lived for love"). And once I had the M.C. for 9D: "Hand With Reflecting Sphere" artist, I wasn’t thinking of those letters as initials; so while I’ve heard of M.C. ESCHER, his name didn’t jump to my mind. 

I hopped around a bit from there and struggled in other sections. I couldn’t think of STOAT (3D: Animal with chestnut-and-white fur); those fur coats have long gone by the wayside. I can’t really explain it, but I disliked BADASSERY (11D: Acts that are tough, rebellious and cool, in slang). I don’t think BOLT (40D: Eat quickly, with "down") is obvious, especially for a Tuesday. STAGE (67A: Old West transport) might’ve been my least favorite clue/answer because it’s a “stagecoach.” I know it miiight be slang to just call it a STAGE, but it wasn’t clued as slang. 

Some of the clues just seemed to be trying too hard. Why did we need to go all that way for LIPO (33D: Poet written about in the Books of Tang)? Or LIMO (37A: Caaaaaaar, you might say)? (I disliked that clue, especially.) And for the crosswordese ERIE (30D: Lake ___, body of water about 120 miles south of London), did we really need all the trickery with the clue for London, Ontario? 

In general, I just never seemed to be on the same wavelength as the constructor. There’d be a few different options for an answer, and I consistently first wanted to put in the wrong one. I tried “oh my” instead of OH NO (24D: "Heavens!") or “shyer” instead of COYER (43A: Showing more false bashfulness) — or anything other than BLEH (32D: "Ick!"). 

But there was more than just the theme that I liked! EDEN (53A: Couple's first home?) was clever. GEODES (21A) was a reach for a Tuesday, but I kind of enjoyed the clue/answer combo. I’M ALL EARS (34D: "Tell me") is a fun expression. DEBT (13D: Red state?) is clever. I really like the book “The Elements of STYLE” (52D), so that getting recognized made me happy to see (can you tell I come from a family of editors?). BRIE (40A: Gooey spread) is my favorite kind of cheese! Hmm… I may be reaching now. It might be time to wrap up?

Misc.:

• The clue for 37A: Caaaaaaar, you might say reminded me of when I was a kid and, for some reason, shouted “Car, car, c-a-r, stick your head in a jelly jar” when one went past. I’ll blame my dad for that one. 
• With 10D: Xing user as PED, I was reminded of all of the soccer carpools where my four teammates and I would pass the 30-minute drive by often playing the “alphabet game” (in two teams, because of course we had to compete), and the PED Xing signs really came in handy for an X. We got in many a fight over, “No, I saw the sign first!!” 
• My dad told me he got launched as an editor at The Wall Street Journal based on what he learned from 52D: Strunk & White's "The Elements of STYLE." White’s intro talked about how Strunk lectured on the need to “Omit needless words,” which Strunk did so relentlessly that he had to repeat things to fill the hour. So the dictum became “Omit needless words. Omit needless words. Omit needless words.” 
• While I thought very little of FAE (22D: Winged species of folklore) when I saw it in the 5/19/25 puzzle because of all of the romantic fantasy books I've read, I read Rex’s write-up, and he talked about how infrequently that word has been in the puzzle and how odd the clue may be. This is only the fourth time it’s appeared in the puzzle apparently but is the second time in eight days! Rex is not a fan. In the write-up, he said: 
• "37A: Race of mythical beings, in fantasy fiction (FAE) — the last time this term appeared was three years ago, when Erik Agard clued it as [Neopronoun with a nod to folklore] (in a Friday puzzle). Before that, the last time it appeared was ... when I was two months old. That's right, January, 1970—when FAE was clued as [From: Scot.]. And before that ... there was no before that. You now know the clues for all three lifetime FAE appearances. For perspective, GAE has appeared thirty-three times, and ... 'What the hell is GAE?' you rightly ask (allegedly, Scots for 'go'). If we're bringing FAE back, then I think 'Neopronoun' is the only reasonable way to go, 'cause if FAE were viable as 'fairyworld,' believe me, people would've used it, and clued it that way, more than Zero Times."

Apparently I had more to say than I thought! And so with that, I’ll say, “So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, good BYE [until June]!” 

Signed, Clare Carroll, WHOLLY sold on my Liverpool Reds (and my puppy, Red)

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Bestrewn with droplets / TUES 4-29-25 / Double-decker checker / Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, for three / Verb that has largely replaced "Skypes"

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare for the last Tuesday of April! 

Did you all just hear that? Yes? That was me screaming with joy because my Liverpool Reds won the Premier League title!! In our first year with our new manager, we clinched the title with four games left! So I’ve been on cloud nine since Sunday. Life is good! Well, mostly… A couple of weeks ago, I had a bike accident and ended up in the ER. Luckily, there were no cars involved, and I’m all good now (I just still have a very swollen finger and a painful neck). But I’ve got a new bike now that I get to go pick up tomorrow! In the meantime, I’ll keep my feet up and watch some more sports (like watching my Warriors eke out a win against the Rockets to go up 3-1 in the series). 

Anywho, on to the puzzle…

Constructor: Gene Louise De Vera

Relative difficulty: Medium-hard

THEME: GROWING PAINS (21A: Early struggles for a new enterprise … or a hint to the shaded squares) — The shaded squares are words that are usually exclaimed when in pain and grow in number of letters from left to right in the puzzle

Theme answers:

• TOO LATE NOW (28D: "You had your chance") 
• HIT THE ROOF (29D: Go berserk) 
• DON’T SLOUCH (32D: Instruction to improve posture) 
• PHOTOSHOOT (34D: Cameraperson's session)

Word of the Day: Juana INES de la Cruz (55D) —

Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana was a New Spanish writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, as well as a Hieronymite nun, nicknamed "The Tenth Muse", "The Mexican Phoenix", and "The Phoenix of America" by her contemporary critics. She was also a student of science and corresponded with the English scientist Isaac Newton. As a Spanish-criolla, she was among the main contributors to the Spanish Golden Age and is considered one of the most important female writers in Spanish language literature and the literature of Mexico. Sor Juana's significance to different communities has varied greatly across time, having been presented as a candidate for Catholic sainthood; a symbol of Mexican nationalism; and a paragon of freedom of speech, women's rights, and sexual diversity, making her a figure of great controversy and debate to this day. (Wiki)

• • •

This was a somewhat challenging Tuesday puzzle and a nice debut from constructor Gene Louise De Vera. The theme didn’t excite me a whole lot at first glance, but I liked it a whole lot more when I realized that the four exclamations that are the theme answers grow in size from left to right. SHOOT (34D) seems like a bit of an outlier, but I suppose it is still something you’d say if you stub a toe (or you might say a four-letter word that’s not quite crossword-appropriate). My biggest complaint with the puzzle is that it sure seemed that TANGENT LINES (53A: Figures that are straight approximations of curves, in geometry) should have some relation to the theme, given that it has the same weight as GROWING PAINS (21A) and was toward the bottom of the puzzle, where the revealers were. But then TANGENT LINES was just there with no relation, which felt clunky. 

I wasn’t particularly wild about any of the theme answers, but they were fine. PHOTOSHOOT (34D) was probably my favorite. DON’T SLOUCH (32D) was my least favorite, but maybe that’s just because I, of course, have great posture; or maybe I just repressed the memory of my mom saying this to me repeatedly growing up. HIT THE ROOF (29D) seems antiquated, and I can take or leave TOO LATE NOW (28D). 

It was nice that there wasn’t much crosswordese; the construction doesn’t lend itself to too many three-letter words (which also might’ve had something to do with my finding it to be a bit harder Tuesday than usual). The structure of the puzzle is aesthetically nice, too. 

I struggled with some of the proper nouns in the puzzle — EBSEN (35D: Buddy ___, Jed Clampett portrayer on "The Beverly Hillbillies"), ROS (39D: Children's author Asquith), and INES (55D) tied me up for a bit. And then HIED (29A: Went in haste) and ELO (37A: Rating system used in chess) are words that I knew somewhere in my brain but that took a while for me to come up with. 

I loved some of the other words in the puzzle, like OOMPH (22D: That extra punch), SCOWL (5D: Death stare), and SHOD (56D: Like a racehorse's feet). I also loved the clue and answer for KING (8D: Double-decker checker). And ST. PAT’S (47A: Green day, familiarly?) is another clever clue/answer. PRIMROSE (38A: Proper-sounding spring flower?) is both very clever and cute. DRAPERY (46D: Curtains) is a good word. ON A WHIM (58A: Without forethought, say) is a great phrase. I’m not sure why, but I liked seeing ICE WINE (48D: Dessert drink made with frozen grapes) in the puzzle. 

Still, there were some other things I don’t think worked. The clue for DNC (25A: Blues group, for short?) is trying a bit too hard. I didn’t love HOT OR NOT (43A: Early 2000s rating site with a rhyming name) being right there at the center of the puzzle. And is a SCEPTER (56A: Pageant prize) actually given to pageant winners now, or is it more likely a tiara, a sash, and a bouquet? 

But overall, this was a clever puzzle with some fun fill, and I’m looking forward to more from this constructor!

Misc.:

• PRIMROSE (38A) reminds me of the younger sister character in “The Hunger Games” series, which I just finished a reread of. I also read the new book “Sunrise on the Reaping.” It was emotionally devastating but so well done. Now we’re getting casting news, and it looks like it’s going to be a stellar movie (when it comes out in November 2026). 
• I’m stretching a bit here, but CODE (57D: What a software developer develops with) also relates to the medical field and is something that a doctor might say in an ER — like “CODE blue!” And… speaking of ERs… Everyone should watch a drama on HBO (41A) called “The Pitt,” where each episode in the 15-episode season represents one hour of the same shift in the ER. It’s fantastic. Brilliant. Stupendous. Wonderful. All the good things! 
• Seeing LENA Headey (18D: "Game of Thrones" co-star Headey) in the puzzle reminds me of this quite funny clip from a few years ago that’s recently been making the rounds on my TikTok, where a comedian has a show where the premise is that she has to interview people she’s never heard of and guess who they are. 
• My puppy is now six months old and is, of course, as adorable as ever (not that I’m biased or anything)! Please admire the pictures below because I’m officially a dog mom who needs to show hers off all the time. The fact that her name is Red is pretty perfect, because my Reds just won the Premier League, so I’d say she was a good luck charm. My sister and I managed to snag the pic on the top left (as she was trying desperately to bite my jersey — or maybe just kiss the crest like a good little Red).

And that’s all from me! See you all in May. 

Signed, Clare Carroll, still screaming aaaaaaAH

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Oregon trail vehicle / TUES 3-25-25 / Ren's cartoon buddy / Like Eeyore in "Winnie-the-Pooh" / Horse that excels in equestrian sports

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare for the last Tuesday in March! Hope it’s been getting warmer wherever you are — I start to feel more like a real person once it’s spring. My Monday was hectic because I had a court filing due today for an asylum hearing in a couple of weeks and I have a client’s green card interview in the morning… so I got to unwind with some sports on in the background and a crossword puzzle on my laptop. The rest of my family is into the Miami Open tennis, but I’m obsessed with the women’s college basketball. Namely: UConn. (I love Paige Bueckers. Who doesn’t love Paige Bueckers?)

In other news, my puppy is five months old! She’s over 28 pounds and is getting smarter (in annoying ways — like faking out that she was going to run down the stairs so I’d follow her… just so she could sprint into the other room to eat my sister’s dog’s food). My puppy gate is now practically useless because my puppy can figure it out any which way, and she’s learned how to jump into our giant bathtub. Puppies! 

Anywho, on to the puzzle!

Constructor: Bob Benson

Relative difficulty: Slightly harder than an average Tuesday

THEME: Phrases that end in a word that relates to film and/or TV

Theme answers:

• PLASTIC FILM (17A: "The Lego Movie"?) 
• SPACE PROGRAM (23A: "Star Trek"?) 
• WATER FEATURE (52A: "Finding Nemo"?) 
• WORLD SERIES (62A: "Planet Earth"?)

Word of the Day: SAD SACK (26A: Schlemiel) —

Sad Sack is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, Sad Sack depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and humiliations of military life. The so-called "unnamed private" was actually Ben Schnall, a true-life private in the US Army during World War II, member of Yank magazine and good curmudgeonly friend of Sgt. George Baker. The title was a euphemistic shortening of the military slang "sad sack of shit", common during World War II. The phrase has come to mean "an inept person" or "inept soldier". (Wiki)

• • •

I’ll get to the puzzle — with its cute theme answers and kinda meh fill that was a bit harder than a usual Tuesday — in a minute. But first, did anyone suffer from an apparent puzzle glitch (or horrible new design)? I somehow came out unscathed, as did my sister, who solved the puzzle on the app, but for my poor dad (and, it seems, many others) who were solving the puzzle on the webpage, there was a problem: What appeared to be an iPhone keyboard covered half the page. My dad, of course, immediately texted my sister and me to blame us for doing… something. We, of course, blamed him for being technologically inept. Then, we learned that a lot of people were having similar issues. Whoops! 

So now that we’ve talked about that (I hope it didn’t affect too many times or solves), we can move on to other, brighter things — like this being a good debut from constructor Bob Benson. I liked the theme answers and appreciated them the more I thought about them. It’s quite clever how the constructor combined specific movies/TV shows (“The Lego Movie,” “Star Trek,” “Finding Nemo,” and “Planet Earth”) with words that are synonyms for movies/common phrases that have to do with movies and TV shows (FILM, PROGRAM, FEATURE, and SERIES). That might’ve been obvious, but it occurred to me a bit after finishing the solve. (I’m also running a little bit on fumes, so make of my epiphany what you will!) 

CACKLE (18D: Laugh like a witch) was fun. The clue/answer for 45D: Spirit guide? as BAR MENU made me chuckle (not CACKLE, though). SAD SACK (26A) is a fun expression that I didn’t know the origin of. I liked seeing Eeyore in the puzzle at 14A: Like Eeyore in "Winnie-the-Pooh," even if I’d say he leans a bit more toward being depressed than just SOMBER. SOAP BOX (50A: Political platform, perhaps) is an interesting visual. And I liked the use of SIGN (26D: Communicate with the hands) and KOKO (34D: Gorilla that famously learned to 26-Down) together. 

Still, the puzzle did seem to skew a tad old. FRIAR’S CLUB (11D: Locale famous for roasts) is pretty old-fashioned. VOLARE (9D: Hit 1958 song officially titled "Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu") is an old-timey song. RICOH (47A: Tokyo-based company that produces cameras and office equipment) was a hot company… in the ’90s? And even though I liked SAD SACK (26A), it’s from a comic that debuted more than 80 years ago. 

I usually like my long downs, but other than FRIAR’S CLUB, the only one we’ve really got is DEPARTMENT (28D: Cabinet division), which is a bit boring. Having both IRE (30A: Fury) and IRA (19A: Oldest Gershwin brother) in the puzzle feels lazy. There’s also 12D: Alternative name for planet earth in the puzzle and then 62A: “Planet Earth”? I can’t think of a good reason why that would’ve been intentional. It’s also probably a stupid complaint, but STIES (37D: Complete messes) is an ugly, ugly word, and I hate it. 

But overall, this was a promising debut for the constructor — in a puzzle that seemed to focus on theme over fill.

Misc.:

• 26D: Schlemiel reminds me of how my dad used to be a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and once wrote a feature about sailing across the Atlantic in a 42-foot boat as a crew member in a race, having never sailed before. Just about everything possible went wrong over the 27 days at sea (according to him, 12 days of near-constant storms, 65-knot winds, 70-foot waves, signs that the boat was breaking up, and all sorts of other fun stuff.) So his lede was a play on Moby Dick: “Call me Schlemiel.” 
• I used to love playing HEARTS (49D: Game in which players tend to avoid the queen of spades) on our old desktop computer, and I was quite good at it! Granted, I was playing against computers, and I think I chose the difficulty, but who’s counting? 
• Both my sister’s and dad’s ALMA (21A) maters (Cal and Michigan State) are out of the women’s NCAA tournament; I guess we’ll have to root for the Spartans in the men’s tournament. (Yes, the Yale men lost to Texas A&M in the first round.) 
• WAGON (52D: Oregon Trail vehicle) makes me think of when I was in maybe third grade and played this sort of strategy game in our computer class that was loosely based on the trip many people took across the U.S. I probably died of dysentery a thousand different times. 
• My puppy keeps closing my computer as I’m trying to type. Maybe she’s telling me to go to sleep. Or maybe she’s saying she wants me to stop what I’m doing and take her to a PET SPA (5D: Places where puppies are pampered). Though I think she gets pampered enough at home!
• 

(Now doesn't that look like a pampered puppy?)

Hope you all have a great month of April!

Signed, Clare Carroll, president of the Paige Bueckers fan club

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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Gesture with razzle-dazzle / TUES 2-25-25 / Native of the Dutch Caribbean / Call after last call? / Mario Kart item providing temporary invincibility

Hi, everyone, it’s Clare for the last Tuesday in this short month of February! My write-up last month was delayed because I had to prep for a client’s asylum hearing. It ended up being postponed but only until last week, AND HE GOT ASYLUM! In other, not-at-all-related good news, my Liverpool Reds are looking mighty good right now (yes, I just knocked on wood). There are 11 games left in the Premier League season, and we have a large lead over Arsenal (my sister’s team; sorry, Shannon!) My other Red (my puppy) is also doing well. She’s getting so big (already 23 pounds at four months) and is still very cute, if a little insane and energetic and bitey sometimes (all the time?).

Anywho, on to the puzzle...

Constructor: Greg Snitkin

Relative difficulty: Easy-medium

THEME: NOT ON MY WATCH (56A: "I forbid this" … or what a smart device wearer might claim regarding the ends of 20-, 30-, 40- and 48-Across?) — the end of each of the theme answers contains a typical feature of an analog watch that would presumably not be found on a smartwatch

Theme answers:

• BILLY CRYSTAL (20A: Meg Ryan's co-star in "When Harry Met Sally …") 
• DRUNK DIAL (30A: Call after last call?) 
• NUT CASE (40A: Kook) 
• JAZZ HANDS (48A: Gesture with razzle-dazzle)

Word of the Day: NENA (59D: Band with the 1984 hit "99 Luftballons") —

Nena was a West German Neue Deutsche Welle band formed in West Berlin in 1981. In 1983 and 1984, their German-language song "99 Luftballons" (and its English version, "99 Red Balloons") reached number one in the singles charts of countries around the world. By the time the band released its second album ? (Fragezeichen) in Germany in January 1984, "99 Luftballons" was starting to climb the US charts, where it reached number 2 and became one of the most successful non-English-language tracks in US Billboard chart history. With the English version of the song ("99 Red Balloons") achieving the number 1 position in the UK, the band became internationally famous. (Wiki)

• • •

That was a decently cute puzzle. It was also somehow on my wavelength, so this was one of the faster Tuesdays I’ve had in a while. I liked the theme answers, especially JAZZ HANDS (48A) and DRUNK DIAL (30A), and the phrase for the theme revealer, NOT ON MY WATCH (56A), but the more I think about it, the less I’m convinced the revealer really fits. My sister’s Apple smartwatch has a DIAL and a CASE, and the displays on some smartwatches can be made up of LED CRYSTALs. 

Some of the clues may have been trying a bit too hard to be clever, but there were several clue/answer combos that I chuckled at and enjoyed. My favorite was 25D: Big name in brewing as LIPTON. And then the puzzle had SAMUEL (51D: Adams in a bar) in it, too, which was clever. I liked 63A: Call it an early night? as DUSK and 33D: Launch party? as NASA. Less clever was 69A: Most of 1999 as NINES (though I liked that the clue number had a nine in it.) I think the clue for 62D: Leave a small tip to get HINT (62D) was trying too hard to misdirect us toward thinking about a restaurant; you don’t “leave” a tip if you are HINTing about something; you “give” a tip. I could take or leave 39A: Sister as NUN, which has been done before, but it also reminded me of the movie “Conclave” and how it feels like this awards season is a reenactment of the movie’s plot. We may even get a real conclave soon, if the pope’s health sadly continues to deteriorate. 

The construction of the puzzle was fairly basic. There weren’t any answers longer than seven letters, other than the themes and revealer, and there were only two of them. The bulk of the puzzle was instead four- and five-letter words, which weren’t terribly exciting and which made the puzzle feel a bit dry. (Though I did like METE and DEFT.) The puzzle was actually a pangram, which I don’t think necessarily added much but which also didn’t feel like a stretch, as pangram puzzles sometimes can. 

I didn’t like having both TONI (57D: Woman's name that's an anagram of 58-Down) and TORI (2D: Spelling or Amos) in the puzzle, along with IS IT (19A: "You sure about that?") and ON IT (58D: "I'll get to work right now!") and then TIS (43A: "___ the season") to round it off. Having DONEZO (29D: Finished, in slang), ZONKED (49D: Totally beat), and NOOB (53A: One most likely to get pwned) all in that western section together was a bit too much slang. I was prepared to dislike REAL MAN (4D: One who wears pink, in a breast cancer awareness campaign) because it sounded very strange to me, until I remembered that “Real Men Wear Pink” was a campaign for breast cancer awareness. I do think, then, a better answer would’ve been “real men.” 

But overall, this was a cute enough puzzle with good theme answers, a few interesting words, and fun phrases (see: YOGA MAT, JAZZ HANDS). And it's always satisfying to be fast.

Misc.:

• I’m confused why, when you click on 58D on the puzzle on a computer, it highlights 1A. That didn’t happen on my phone, though, so it seems like it was a bug of some sort. 
• USA (32D: Women's soccer powerhouse) is indeed very, very dominant. For those interested, the USWNT is playing in the SheBelieves Cup right now, and the final game is Wednesday night. If the USA beats Japan, they win the tournament. Yes, it’s a mostly meaningless tournament and is about getting young players more minutes and trying different formations, but it’s still the USWNT and is therefore incredible. 
• My sister and I plan to go see GYPSY (55D: Hit 1959 musical with the song “Let Me Entertain You”) in New York with the insanely talented Audra McDonald. I just need to figure out what to do with my puppy while we’re gone. 
• With STAR (1A: Mario Kart item providing temporary invincibility) and ONE UP (66A: Extra life, in video games) both in the puzzle, I might need to play more video games! 
• Why wait until Black Friday to SHOP (10A)? Novices. I shop year-round. 
• No matter what he’s in or where I see him, BILLY CRYSTAL (20A) will always be Miracle Max from “The Princess Bride” to me

And that’s all from me! Have a great March. 

Signed, Clare Carroll, a smartWATCH-er of Liverpool

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook]

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