Wednesday, February 25, 2026, Brian Callahan

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a melodious puzzle constructed by NYT, LAT and USA Today veteran constructor Brian Callahan.  At four places in the grid Brian has inserted the names of singer-song writers with each name consisting of two words.  The first words all begin with the letter P and the second with the letter S.  The theme was inspired by the answer to the unifier which is found at:

59 Across:  Beatles hit on "Please Please Me," which could be dedicated to 16-, 24-, 35-, and 50-Across: PS I LOVE YOU.

Here are the four themed answers none of which require explanation beyond their clues:

16 Across:  "Because the Night" singer-songwriter: PATTI SMITH.

24 Across:  "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" singer-songwriter: PETE SEEGER.

35 Across:  "You Can Call Me Al" singer-songwriter: PAUL SIMON.

50 Across:  "Poetry Man" singer-songwriter: PHOEBE SNOW.

Thank you, Brian, for the opportunity to revisit all of those great songs.  Now, after all of that, if anyone has the time and energy, here's how it all appears in the grid:

. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Campbell's container: CAN.

Andy Warhol's Take On The Subject

4. Sports complex: ARENA.  From the Latin harena meaning sandy place.

9. Air quality factor: SMOG.  A portmanteau of SMoke and fOG.

13. The Jazz, on scoreboards: UTA.

14. Cuddly pooch: LAP DOG.

15. University of New Mexico athlete: LOBO.

18. Siberian city: OMSK.

19. Twitter: CHIRP.  An avian reference - not a tech reference.

20. Grumpy person: CRAB.  CRABs (the animals) have a reputation for being feisty and unpleasant.

22. Fed. health law: ACA.

23. Dialect in some Black communities, for short: AAVE.  All you might want to know:

African American Vernacular English

27. Tear sheet?: KLEENEX.  Not tear as in to rip a piece of paper.  Tear as in crying.

29. Flair: TALENT.  A cake entered a TALENT contest.  The Judge asked, "What's your talent?"  "Icing", replied the entrant.

30. "Mars Attacks!" creatures, in brief: ETS.  ExtraTerrestrial BeingS

31. Celtic priest of old: DRUID.  Did this one stump you?

34. Son of Zeus: ARES.

 

38. Ralph Lauren brand: POLO

41. Buff: TONED.  Buff, here, was used not as a verb but as an adjective

42. Sked abbr.: TBD.  To Be Determined.  Sometimes it turns out to be TBArranged.

45. Device for smoking shisha: HOOKAH.  Shisha is  is a wet tobacco that is soaked in a combination of glycerin, molasses or honey, and flavoring.

48. On an elite level, informally: GOD TIER.  This expression is new to this solver.  On a somewhat related note, did anyone else besides yours truly get tired, earlier this month, of the unrelenting barrage of "Quad God" references?  After the disappointing final skate, one half expected the talking heads to switch to "Lutz Klutz".

53. Wine category: REDS.  As opposed to, for example, white wines or rose wines.

54. Jungfrau, for one: ALP.  elevation 13,642 feet

55. Balm-yielding succulent: ALOE.  ALOE, there.  Vera nice to meet you!

56. Small but powerful group: CADRE.  CADRE entered this solver's vocabulary during the Mao Tse Tung era.

57. History: PAST.  The PAST, the present, and the future walked into a bar . . . and things got a little tense.

62. Yale students: ELIS.  From the eponymous Mr. Elihu Yale.

63. "Praying" insect: MANTIS.

64. Dawn goddess: EOS.  A frequent visitor.

65. __ and file: RANK.  

66. Short-lived Ford model: EDSEL.  Often taken on road trips in our puzzles.

67. Private chats on soc. media: DMS.  Abbreviated clue . . .  Direct MessageS

Down:

1. Treat baked in a fluted liner: CUPCAKE.

2. No longer moving: AT A HALT.

3. Longtime residents: NATIVES.

4. Some Energizers: AAS.

5. Turntable meas.: RPM.  Abbreviated clue . . .   Revolutions Per Minute   Remember when we'd talk of tone arm counter weight, Sure vs Audio-Technica cartridges, and direct drive vs. belt drive?

6. Order: EDICT.  Not order as in what you do at a restaurant.  Not order as in an array.  Order as in some directive to be obeyed.

7. __-Dame de Paris: NOTRE.

An Unforgettable Moment

8. Shocked: AGHAST.  A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget's Thesaurus crashed losing its entire load.  Witnesses were stunned, startled, AGHAST, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.

9. __-mo replay: SLO.

10. Certain representative for a child actor, casually: MOMAGER.  A portmanteau formed from, MOM and ManAGER.

11. More than indecent: OBSCENE.  We'll skip the graphics on this one.

12. Kids' racers: GO KARTS.

14. Sass: LIP.  See also The Sex Pistols "Don't Give Me No Lip, Child"

17. Cherry or lime: TREE.  Flavor, fruit, and pie filling were all too long.  Soda would have fit.

21. Arthur in the Television Hall of Fame: BEA.  Best known for her role as Maude.

24. Lima's country: PERU.  A reference to either the country or to the beans which were grown in PERU even before corn was grown there.

25. Jump for joy: EXULT.  See also Van Halen "Jump"

26. Flair: ELAN.

28. Secret-protecting doc: NDA.  NonDisclosure Agreement

32. Late start?: ISO.  The beginning (start) of ISOlate.

33. Down Under canine: DINGO.

35. Jab: POKE.  Not in the "Lonesome Dove" sense.

36. __ Mix cat food: MEOW.

37. "That's strange": ODD.

38. Element of a basic reading test?: PH PAPER.  PH PAPER can be used to determine, or read, where something falls on the acidic, neutral, alkaline (base) scale.  Nice wordplay.

39. "How swanky!": OOH LA LA.

40. Keeps updated: LOOPS IN.

42. Like much Grateful Dead merch: TIE DYED.  Okay, so there's no TIE DYE in this video but the images are great (no pun intended) and how could we pass on the opportunity?

43. Double space?: BEDROOM.  A place for a double bed.

44. "The Lorax" creator: DR SEUSS.  Written in 1971, "The Lorax" was a relatively early piece of work focusing on environmental issues.

46. Legal org.: ABA.

47. "I could use a hand": HELP ME.  In keeping with today's theme (and I would guess that this was an intentional "move" by Brian).  Of course, we could also have gone with The Beach Boys.

49. Four-time NBA All-Star Young: TRAE.   In 2017–18, TRAE tied the then NCAA Division I single-game assists record with 22 and became the only player to ever lead the NCAA in both points and assists in a single season.

51. "Deeply unfortunate": SO SAD. . . . and the opposite from Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker:

52. Düsseldorf denials: NEINS.  Today's German lesson.

56. Walgreens rival: CVS.  A drugstore reference,

58. Disappointed cluck: TSK.  We never know, at first, if it will be TSK or TUT.

60. Cell service letters: LTE.  All you might wish to know:  Long Term Evolution

61. Part of EVOO: OIL.  I always thought that the concept was quantum but what do I know??

Well, that will wrap things up for this musical Wednesday.  Have a Grate(ful) Day, everyone!

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MM Out

Wednesday, January 28, 2026, Brian Russell, Zouqin Burnikel

 

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists, Malodorous Manatee here . . . and, yes, you read that correctly . . . . with a recap of a Wednesday puzzle.  As C.C. mentioned late last year, I have gone from recapping on alternate Fridays to recapping the final Wednesday puzzle each month.  Call it semi-retirement or a new adventure . . . or both.  As the fates would have it, for this, my first Wednesday foray, we get a puzzle co-constructed by C.C.  I have reviewed something like 125 puzzles here on the corner and this is first C.C. puzzle I have had the privilege to recap.  To make things even more special, C.C's co-constructor is our own Brian "Rusty Brain" Russell who is making his debut.  What a nice way to enter the Wonderful World of Wednesday.

Let's start with the unifier:

63 Across:  Impromptu jazz performance, or an apt title for this puzzle: JAM SESSION.  In this case a JAM is a group of musicians playing together more or less making it up as they go along.

At four places in the grid, C.C. and Brian have asked us to come up with answers that riff on the word JAM in its various forms

17 Across: Filled pastry: JELLY DONUT.  Jelly, marmalade, confiture, etc.  In other words - JAM.

24 Across:  Office machine: LASER PRINTER.  We are all familiar with printer jams.   Bottleneck, congestion, stoppage.  In other words - JAM.

39 Across:  High-flying NBA All-Star event: SLAM DUNK CONTEST. Stuff, push, cram.  In other words - JAM.  A basketball reference.  A slam dunk is also called a "jam" and that formed the basis of a successful electronic game:

51 Across:  Rush hour gridlock: TRAFFIC SNARL.  AKA a traffic jam.  This one could have referenced a musical moment by Steve Winwood and Dave Mason.

Here is how it all appears in the grid:

. . . . and here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Violin players: BOWS.  Not the musicians.  What they often hold in their hands.

5. Discussion site: FORUM.

10. Omelet need: EGGS.

14. Potatoes, in Indian dishes: ALOO.   This has become a crossword staple.

15. Remove from memory: ERASE.

16. Young stallion: COLT.  By definition.

19. Clarinet kin: OBOE.  Frequently heard in our puzzles.

20. Promotional cost: AD FEE.

21. Field expert: REF.  A REFerence to a REFeree (on, for example, a football field).

23. Night before: EVE.

29. __ Martin cognac: REMY.

32. Charlottesville sch.: UVA.

33. Slow-cooked dish: STEW.

34. "Peace" shape: VEE.

35. Camera component: LENS.

37. "Gotcha": I SEE.

44. Keep a sauce from congealing, say: STIR.

45. Screw feature: SLOT.  Oh, the noun.

46. __ sequitur: NON

47. Tech in key cards: RFID.

49. Prove human, in a way: ERR.  A misstep frequently occuring in our puzzles.

50. Attention-getting hiss: PSST.  A sound often heard in our puzzles.

55. Gut punch reaction: OOF.

56. Sheridan of "Ready Player One": TYE.  Unknown to this solver.  Thanks, perps.

57. Tree that's tapped: MAPLE.

61. Ride-hailing company whose cars once featured big pink mustaches: LYFT.   From Wiki: "The Lyft pink mustache was a large, fuzzy icon that drivers attached to their cars to identify themselves as part of the Lyft ride-sharing service. It was replaced in 2015 by a smaller, glowing dashboard version called the "glowstache" to create a more subtle appearance."

67. In __ land: LA LA.  Slang for being out of touch with reality.

68. Acting award won by Ke Huy Quan in 2023: OSCAR.  For his role in "Everything Everywhere All At Once".

69. Patch up: MEND.  How do you mend a broken Jack O'lantern?  With a pumpkin patch.

70. Winter slider: SLED.  People ask me why I keep bringing my sled to places like yard sales and flea markets.  I tell them the answer is simple...Toboggan!

71. Rosary components: BEADS.

72. Mount Olympus figure: ARES.  One of twelve.

Down:

1. Mexican peninsula, informally: BAJA.  Una de las lecciones de español de hoy.  BAJA California.

2. Screen on some handheld games, for short: OLED.  Organic Light-Emitting Diode

3. Canine in some fairy tales: WOLF.

4. Exclusively: SOLELY.  I hear that Google is set to come out with a new browser that manages search results based SOLELY on your DNA.  The browser is going to be called Google Chromosome.

5. Provided with kibble, say: FED.

6. El Dorado building material: ORO.  Una de las lecciones de español de hoy.  El dorado is the legendary city of gold.  ORO is gold in Spanish.

7. Legged it: RAN.

8. Take illegitimately: USURP.

9. Units of length: METERS.  So many to choose from.  Thanks, perps, for narrowing things down.

10. Earth-friendly prefix: ECO.

11. Intermediaries: GO BETWEENS. Liaisons.

12. Baseball fielder's need: GLOVE.  MITT was not long enough.

13. Take the wheel: STEER.

18. Vote of approval: YEA.  We never know if it will turn out to be AYE or YEA.  At least there's not a three-letter word with the same letters that begins with E and means a vote of approval.

22. Mesh with a group: FIT IN.

25. Chekov colleague: SULU.  Not a Russian novelist reference.  A "Star Trek" reference.  Pavel Checkov and Hikaru SULU.

26. Makes level: EVENS.

27. Irritates deeply: RANKLES.

28. Cheep digs?: NEST.  Cheep not cheap.

29. Campers on wheels, briefly: RVS.  Recreational VehicleS

30. Slippery swimmers: EELS.  What a shocker!

31. Fundraising event where one can win a round: MEAT RAFFLE.  Round as in a round roast.  From Wiki:  "A meat raffle is a tradition of raffling off meat, often in pubs and bars in Australia, in some areas of Britain and the US, and in Western Canada."  New to this solver.

36. Treat with contempt: SCORN.

38. Those, in Havana: ESOS.  Una de las lecciones de español de hoy.  The language of Havana, Cuba is, of course, Spanish.

40. Annoy slightly: MIFF.

41. Train of thought: DRIFT.  As in "Do you catch my DRIFT?"

42. __ vez: again, in Spanish: OTRA.  Una de las lecciones de español de hoy.  Literally, another time.

43. Blasting material: TNT.

48. Home project done solo: DIY JOB.  Do It Yourself

50. Blood bank supply: PLASMA.

51. Charges on roads: TOLLS.

52. Fit for a queen: ROYAL  Add an E and we get:

53. Stop: CEASE.

54. Suite divs.: RMS.  RooMS

58. Place to dock: PIER.  I never wanted to go to the docks, but after my friends pestered me for an hour I finally gave into PIER pressure.

59. Unaccompanied: LONE.

The LONE Ranger

60. Stops: ENDS.

62. Little bit: TAD.  The teacher asked, "Name three famous Poles!"  Tommy proudly answered, "North, South and TAD."

64. Former Lynyrd Skynyrd label: MCA.   This solver did not know the label but it was pretty clear, after a couple of perps, that it was going to be either RCA or MCA.   And, since it's been teed up:

65. Like lyrics full of heartache: SAD.  One of the saddest:

66. Critical-care hosp. areas: ERS.  Emergency RoomS

Well, that will wrap things up for this Wednesday.  Have a great day, everyone.

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Friday, December 26, 2025, Joe Rodini

Good Morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with the recap of a Friday Puzzle by Joe Rodini.  Unlike the puzzle of two weeks ago, the theme of this one is quite straightforward.  Let's start with the reveal (and the clue even uses that word - nice touch):

38 Across . Revealing garment, or how to make 17-, 23-, 49-, and 53-Across match their clues: CROP TOP.

A CROP TOP is a sleeveless or short-sleeved garment that is cut short to show the midriff.  However, in the case of todays puzzle we are required to crop, as in to cut or remove, the letters T O P (or the word TOP, if you prefer) from four filled-in answers in order to make that fill properly answer its respective clue.

17 Across.  Can't and won't: CONTRACTOPTIONS.  Contract Options being an acceptable term for choices in an agreement.  However, crop the top, and we are left with CONTRACTIONS.  Can't, of course being a contraction for can not and won't being a colloquial contraction for will not.

23 Across.  Respectful title in "Bridgerton": TOPHERGRACE.  Topher Grace is an actor who was in That 70's Show (among other gigs).  Crop the top and we are left with the title HER GRACE - a form of address for royalty.

49 Across.  Tribute band's set list: COVERTOPS.  Covert Ops (operations) are a form of intel gathering.  Crop the top and we are left with COVERS.  When a band plays a song that was popularized by another band it is called a COVER of that song.  Below, the Grateful Dead at Woodstock performing a COVER of Merle Haggard's song "Momma Tried".

53 Across.  Decorator'ssamples: STOPWATCHES.  SWATCHES  A stop watch is a timer.  Crop the top and pieces of cloth, or SWATCHES, appear.

 

This is how things appear in the grid:

Here are the rest of the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Personal space, perhaps: BLOG.     A BLOG is a website that allows users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal where readers may comment on posts.  Does this sound familiar?

5. 1950s politico Stevenson: ADLAI.

10. Wax-coated cheese: EDAM.  Often eaten in our puzzles.

14. All that's left of a spent apple: CORE.  Spent as is used up.  Apple, Inc (the giant tech company paid Apple, Corps (the Beatles company) over $600,000,000 to settle a trademark dispute.

15. Rings up: DIALS.  A reference to the days when telephones looked like this:

16. Chianti o pinot grigio: VINO.  Lezione di italiano di oggi.  Chianti and Pinot grigio are both wines.  VINO in Italian.

20. Absolut rival: STOLI.   A vodka reference.

21. Actor Watanabe: KEN.  Ken Watanabe's Wiki page

22. Call off a romance: END IT.  Weird Al said it best:

26. Oracle: SEER.  A man goes to consult a SEER.  He knocks on the door and from the inside the seer shouts "Who is it?"  Disillusioned, the man walks away.

27. "__ all adults here": WE'RE.  We are?

28. Jelly bean dispenser opening: SLOT.  Remember these?

31. Reiteration opening: I SAID.  Anything I say here will be redundant.

33. Take off politely: DOFF.

37. Babe: HON.  Terms of endearment.

40. __ culpa: MEA.  Literally, my fault or my mistake.

41. Eco-friendly beauty brand: AVEDA.  Known to this solver only through crosswords.

43. To the __ degree: NTH.

44. "Army of Darkness" director Sam: RAIMI.

46. Insulation resistance tester's unit: MEGOHM.  MEG - is a slightly shortened prefix for mega, which is 1x10 6; - OHM is the basic unit of resistance, which is represented by the Greek letter omega (Ω). A megohm, therefore, is an impedance measurement that represents one million OHMs.

48. Doorway: PORTAL.  To another dimension?

55. Photo session: SHOOT.  A bit of slang derived from "to shoot a photograph".

57. Half and half?: ONE.  Basic math

58. Put into effect: ENACT.  As, for example, a law.

61. Sliced fruit in some salads: PEARS.

62. Metric weights, casually: KGS.  Kilograms.  Kilo, or sometimes "ki" (pronounced key),  was a word commonly heard in the '60s.

63. Florida city that hosts an annual Pirate Festival: TAMPA.

64. Shows curiosity: ASKS.  Why didn’t 4 ASK out 5?  Because he was 2²

65. Match component: SET.  A tennis reference - game, SET, match.

66. Sudden and jarring transition: LEAP.  As in "a LEAP of faith".

Down:

1. Covertly includes on an email: BCCS.  Blind Carbon Copy.  Remember carbon paper?

2. Booty: LOOT.  Buttocks would not fit.

3. "Welp, never mind": OR NOT.

4. "Amscray!": GET LOST.

5. Orthodontist's org.: ADA.

6. Hall of Famer Eric who was NFL rushing yards leader four times in the 1980s: DICKERSON.  A football reference.

7. "Peace": LATER.  Both are slang for "goodbye".

8. Accompanied by: ALONG WITH.

9. Web gateway co.: ISP.  Internet Service Provider

10. Made plain to see: EVINCED.

11. Part of LED: DIODE.  Light Emmitting DIODE.  As in LED lamps.

12. Years of Caesar's reign: ANNI.  Latin for years.

13. Guinness superlative: MOST.  A reference not to the stout (beer) but to:

18. Stinky: RIPE.  Slang

19. Wardrobe malfunction: TEAR.  Wardrobe malfunction is a term (and a bit of a euphemism) popularized by an incident involving Janet Jackson.

NSFW ?

24. Beneficiary: HEIR.

25. Mulligan: REDO.

28. Ersatz: SHAM.  Which alcoholic drink can give you the illusion that you're hurt?  Sham-pain.

29. Not just fancy: LOVE.  Fancy as in the British English sense - to like something.

30. Universal donor's type, briefly: O-NEG.  A reference to blood typing.

32. Germane: APT.

34. Leave out: OMIT.

35. Disaster relief org.: FEMA.

36. Come to nothing: FAIL.  What is it called when your knee transplant FAILs?  Irony.

38. Partnership, informally: CAHOOTS.  As in "to be in CAHOOTS with someone".

39. Oracle: PROPHET.  ‘Atheism is a non-prophet organization.’ - George Carlin

42. __ Without Borders: DOCTORS.  A reference to the group providing charity medical care around the world.

45. Tottenham's opponent in the North London derby: ARSENAL.  A soccer reference.

47. Letters for a GOAT, perhap: MVP.  Goat, in this case does not refer to an animal.  Greased Of All Time = Most Valuable Player

48. Abbreviation that refers to many racial identities: POC.  Person Of  Color

50. Tree hut dwellers on Endor: EWOKS.  A "Star Wars" reference.

51. Kitchen fixture: RANGE.  Something you might use to provide the heat for cooking.

52. Statistical tool for comparing means: T-TEST.  All You Might Want To Know

53. Water down, say: SOAK.

54. "Me too": SAME.

55. Self-care destination: SPA.

56. Chaps: HES.  Not what a cowgirl might wear.  Chaps being slang for men.

59. Busy bee in Apr.: CPA.  Certified Public Accountant

60. Draft source: TAP.  In this clue it is a reference to beer as in  "cold beer on TAP"

Well, that will wrap things up for this Friday and, for yours truly, for Fridays in general.  Starting next month I will no longer be blogging two Friday puzzles each month.  In something of a shift towards semi-retirement (after approximately 125 recaps here),  I will henceforth be blogging one puzzle each month and that will be on the final Wednesday of each month.  Hope to see all y'all on January 28th!

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