Sunday, June 2, 2024 | (2024)

LATtk (Gareth)

NYT13:28 (Nate)

WaPo521 (Matthew)

Luke K. Schreiber’s New York Times crossword, “Typecasting” — Nate’s write-up

-22A: QUOTATION MARKS [“RUFFALO” and “TWAIN”?]
-33A: CUT-OFF JEANS [HARLO and SMAR?]
-46A: JUMPING JACKS [L^OR^D and K^EM^P]
-63A: STARBUCKS [*O’NEIL* and *ROGERS*?]
-66A: LONG JOHNS [CEEEEENA and LENNNNNON?]
-85A: SPLICED GENES [WILDERODDENBERRY?]
-100A: DASHED HOPES [S-O-L-O and L-A-N-G-E?]
-112A: TWO DOLLAR BILLS [RU$$SELL and BLA$$?]

In today’s puzzle, common phrases are repurposed as celebrities being clued typographically, hence the “Typecasting” title. Pretty straightforward with some fun finds and a solid number of theme entries – an enjoyable solve with solid fill all around!

In a rush to head off to my first Pride event of the summer, so that’s all for now. What did you think of the puzzle? Let us know in the comments – and have a great weekend! And to all the LGBTQ+ legends out there – Happy Pride!

Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Let Me Give You a Hand” — Matthew’s write-up

.pdf and Amuse Labs solvers get the full effect of Evan’s theme this week – if you solved from a .puz file, your theme clues were names of playing cards, in all caps, while in other formats, they were actually images of the cards themselves. In this writeup, I’ll use the text versions:

• 23a [NINE OF DIAMONDS] BASEBALL TEAM
• 28a [TWO OF HEARTS] VENTRICLES
• 50a [KING OF CLUBS] ARNOLD PALMER
• 63a [TEN OF DIAMONDS] MOHS NUMBER
• 79a [THREE OF HEARTS] MENAGE A TROIS
• 94a [QUEEN OF CLUBS] DRAG ARTIST
• 103a [ACE OF SPADES] HEAD GARDENER

A fun theme conceit, especially with a first clue-entry pairing that has definitely been used before, in and out of themes. The rest rang novel to me, particularly DRAG ARTIST, the [QUEEN OF CLUBS], which took longer than the others to set in but is my favorite. [TEN OF DIAMONDS] to MOHS NUMBERsits a little less smoothly in my brain, but it’s a small nit.

Each theme entry contains a circled letter. From top to bottom, they spell ACE HIGH, the ‘hand’ promised by the puzzle’s title.

Away from the theme, I enjoyed a number of colorful entries in this one, and had a pretty smooth and connected trip through the grid. TRIPLE A, PATTY MELT, PUERILE (I just like the word), and the echoed clue [Tenor’s choral colleague] for ALTO and BASS were highlights for me.

Owen Bergstein and Jeff Chen’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Emerging Pride”—Jim’s review

It’s June, so a Happy Pride Month to you! Today’s puzzle features the letters LGBTQIA (plus a “plus”) as letters COMING OUT of the left and right side of the grid. The answers to the starred clues (sans their beginning or ending letters) are still valid—though unclued—crossword entries. The dual revealers are COMING OUT (94a, [Announcing one’s true LGBTQIA+ identity … like 16 entries on the sides of this puzzle]) and THE CLOSET (107a, [Metaphorical locale for concealed identities, as depicted by black squares at the bottom of this grid]).

• 1a. [*Labor technique] (L)AMAZE / 11a. [*Bit] MORSE(L).
• 20a. [*Vegas strip activity] (G)AMBLING / 23a. [*Dramatic finale] SWAN SON(G).
• 31a. [*Item that gets cast] (B)ALLOT / 40a. [*Fidelity alternative] SCHWA(B).
• 53a. [*Area 51 or Los Alamos] (T)EST RANGE / 52a. [*Level below ground] BAsem*n(T).
• 60a. [*Hosts of the 2022 World Cup] (Q)ATARIS / 75a. [*Backyard cookout, in short] BAR-B(-Q).
• 76a. [*New Yorker, or New York center] (I)SLANDER / 80a. [*Media for some children’s art] MACARON(I).
• 105a. [*Spoiler in the family, perhaps] (A)UNTIE / 109a. [*Big ___ (howitzer nickname)] BERTH(A).
• 118a. [*More luxurious, as velvet] (PLUS)HER / 122a. [*Extra] SUR(PLUS).

Impressively done! That’s a lot of theme material to pack into the edges of the grid, and I like a lot of the finds, especially (L)AMAZE, SWAN SON(G), and MACARON(I). I had a hard time grokking the PLUSes in the last row, but eventually the light bulb came on.

I will admit to not having figured out how the “black squares at the bottom” of the grid depict THE CLOSET. Is it the four black squares in the bottom row that the clue is referring to, or is it the vertical stacks of the three black squares at the bottom center of the grid? Neither of them speak “closet” to me and no entries are missing any “closet” letters in the way the main theme answers are missing letters.

Hmm. With another glance, perhaps THE CLOSET is the doorframe-looking collection of black squares surrounding both theme revealers. (And note the two big plus signs on either side of it.) I’m betting that’s it, but still, the clue probably could’ve been worded a little more clearly.

Moving on, I love the stacks and crossings of long fill throughout the grid. Highlights include “I CAN HELP,” AD SLOGAN, TEEN ANGST, PLATEAU, NEED A NAP, ANTONIO, FIBONACCI (that entire center section with no theme material is beautifully filled), IDEA MAN, CONTESSA, NEOPHYTE, NAUSEATE, “ONE LOVE,” IGNOBEL, ROLL AWAY, TAPENADE, and CRESCENT. That’s a lot of great stuff!

NO BONES is a rather meh answer to [Feature of some wings], but it would be too long of a partial from the phrase, “No bones about it.” And speaking anatomically, after coming across plurals TIBIAE and TALI, I instinctively wanted AORTAE instead of AORTAS at 99d. That felt a little awkward.

Clues of note:

• 57a. [Passes through someone’s legs, in soccer lingo]. MEGS. Needed every crossing for this one. Where does that come from?
• 110a. [Go astray, as a soccer ball]. ROLL AWAY. Another soccer reference? Is this another insider term? Because if it’s not, it looks pretty random. Why not clue this as the bed type?
• I like that both MOMS (2d) and DADS (77d) appear in the grid and each gets the same clue [Pair for some families].

Impressive grid, both in the theme and in the fill. A lovely debut from Owen Bergstein assisted with the guiding hand of editor Jeff Chen. 4.25 stars.