I spent entirely too long trying to make Ringo work. (That’s what Paul said.)
As a long-time fan of Broadway musicals I love the theme. NEPOTISM, SPLIT and AVERAGE JANES are especially clever and LULLABY and REFRAIN are great entries for a musical theme. Several nice supporting clues also... [Fiddler on the Roof matchmaker] YENTE, [Setting for Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”] OCEAN, [Classic theater name] PALACE, [Played a part ] ACTED and [Sign in a theater] EXIT. “Applause” for the constructor.
When they act on Broadway, interior decorators take a curtain call. (I can't wait for their re-pleat performance.)
@Mike Haven't I scene you somewhere before? I feel I may have passed you encore-idors. Please set me straight if that's a possible de-script-ion of your exits and entrances. Direction, please.
@Mike You’ll just have to swatch it again.
@Mike When decorators are ready to retire, they must face the final curtain. It’s much easier for farcical actors, because for them, when one door closes another one opens
For a while I was, like, BABAR is founder of the Mughal Empire, king of the elephants? Sure, why not? (Sorry if I've offended any Mughals). Lots of fun, some tricky areas, but enough toeholds for us non-Broadway fans, for us to build on. Really well constructed and with fresh and alop cluing. Laughed out loud -- I really did! -- at the SPRATS. Can you imagine someone saying, "George, I've invited the Sprats for dinner Friday, do you think your mother Hubbard would like to join us?"
@john ezra "The Sprats for dinner? What are we gonna to have to serve both fat *and* lean?"
@john ezra “Just don’t invite that little Jack Horner. He’ll stick his thumb in the pie!”
@john ezra The whole thing sounds fishy to me.
Today is my second 1 year streak. I have completed nearly every puzzle for the last 3 years, but it took me a while to figure out the gold star streaks. Since then, it has been my goal, but 10 days after my first 1 year streak, I was foiled by the infamous Art Heist, which took me a month to fully understand and complete. So here it is, my second one year streak, instead of my first 2 year streak.
@DocP Same! My Archive is a sea of yellow stars except for December 15, 2024 🤣
@DocP and @CB Right there with you. Dec 15, 2024, a dark day indeed. Or a blue day anyway.
@DocP congrats, a great streak!! Today is #1997 for our current gold star streak, so we are hoping for a big landmark on New Year’s Eve… Fingers crossed!
@FR Kern Ooh how exciting! I hope you get some eclat for your NYE streak!
@DocP I do as much as I can, then put it aside for a few hours. Then I few more pop into place. When I'm really stuck I start looking up answers to the pop-culture names. That will usually finish the puzzle. If it doesn't, then there's that little link at the bottom of the column to look at the answer key. I do that less and less, but it's the only thing that keeps my 'streak' going. Some people call that cheating. I call it learning!
Broadway (and American sports) are my Achilles heel re crosswords. That being so, I enjoyed this puzzle immensely. EINSTEIN, MOBIUS STRIP, and PROLETARIAT were standouts in the creative themed entries. Terrifically fun last Sunday of the year and a lovely tribute to Mr. Eaton-Salners’ mother. Peace to all in 2026.
["Jersey Boys"] CALVES Et tu emu.
@Lewis For years the EMU system would sometimes block comments based on short length alone. They fixed that issue months ago, so artificially lengthening comments should no longer be necessary.
Good one, Lewis! Whenever I see 'Pippin' in the Spelling Bee I think to myself APPLE, THE MUSICAL
For the love of god please don’t think baths are called ‘lavs’ in Bath. They’re called ‘baths’
@Jonathan Baldwin That one had me baffled too. I wouldn't recommend trying to have a bath in the lav. Most unhygienic! 😄
I believe the clue is referring to bathrooms, not bathtubs.
@Jonathan Baldwin I agree, that was a weird one. I think the rationale is that Americans call toilets ‘bathrooms’ and that shortens to ‘baths’ while we (used to) call toilets ‘lavatories’ which shortens to ‘lavs’. As a Brit, this was certainly a head scratcher. I was convinced it was spas but I also wouldn’t let go of my VIPPASS 😏
For everyone upset about the answer being “the Eagles” instead of “Eagles”, it’s true that the band’s name is “Eagles.” I’ve been to an Eagle’s concert. (One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen and I’m not much of an Eagles fan.) But I also would never say “I’ve seen Eagles in concert.” The band is often referred to as “the Eagles” even by their concert promoters, as opposed to, say, Aerosmith, which is not referred to by anyone as “the Aerosmith” as far as I know. The answer is fine.
@Floridaworder Also, it’s important to remember that the editors don’t care about accuracy.
@Floridaworder I have always referred to the band as "The Eagles" and will continue to do so, even though so many are prepared to die on that hill today. Eagles of Death Metal is another story entirely.
Today I completed my second ever Sunday puzzle. Last week's was my first, and it took me just over two hours! (Not all in one go mind you. I often have to set the Thur, Fri, and Sat puzzles down, and let things 'stew'.) Today, I was able to get it done in 1h15m. The icing on the cake is that I now have a 7-day streak--my weakest streak by far, as far as NYT Games are concerned, but I'm so pleased with it! It's true what they say--practice makes perfect when it comes to the crosswords 😊
@Ellemarie, I say that practice makes progress; I tell my third grade students that perfection isn't expected. Congrats on your streak and progress!
Fifty-four puzzles and still finds a fresh take. Amazing. This one was especially fun, because the clues were stage productions but the fills were on their own. Every time, it took me a minute to stop trying to see how the plot could fit into the space. There were some doozies in the other clues as well, all of which made for some much needed cheering up. (Sylvia was a brilliant, profound poet, but the verses are more likely to cause some SOBBING.) I couldn't let go of my quick "mates" when I thought of a "Brig pair," and had to see it was another ICARUS fill, which I always hang onto for too long. There were other traps, including the Bath baths, but I still wouldn't say that one was AOK. Alex, thank you for so many puzzles that help to keep our brig afloat. This one was a very fine Sunday.
@dutchiris I had IRONS there for a while. Don't prisoners get clapped into irons? Or maybe then they don't need to be in a brig?
Very solid puzzle. Thank goodness BABUR filled itself in, since that was an unknown for me. COSEC is typically just CSC nowadays, but the former is still used. Liked "Gathering of moles" for INTEL. Better than average Sunday puzzle.
@Xword Junkie Ditto re: BABUR I kept thinking of Babar from the Jean de Brunhoff books, who was a king among elephants if I recall correctly. But I was pretty sure that wouldn’t fit here 😂
@Xword Junkie Since "sine" was spelled out in the clue, I expected the answer to be "cosecant" (which obviously didn't fit). Wouldn't the clue more properly have referred to "sin"?
@Xword Junkie You've taken to doing the puzzle the evening before? I think that's a violation of the "X-Men Code", the punishment for which is the ending of any streak.
Like Vaer and others, when I saw the title I immediately thought of Andrzej and spit coffee on my The Eagles tee shirt. Of course I enjoyed the puzzle and its theme. When I finished I sang "I'm Still Here" from Follies. I'm guessing Andrzej didn't. Lewis wrote, "in the theme, the puzzle made the solver come up with clue-like answers from answer-like clues." I had a similar thought, but IMO the puzzle would have been better with the clues and answers reversed. Maybe reversing them would have worked better. Or maybe only better for people who know musicals. Or maybe not better at all. But what do I know. I'm not even next to normal. A funny thing happened on the way to this forum ...
@Oh! Absurdum! Sounds like you have a fun home.
@Vaer I do! I do!
@Oh! Absurdum! "...IMO the puzzle would have been better with the clues and answers reversed." I had exactly the same thought, but I would have hated the result, as I don't like musicals one bit.
@Grant Mamma Mia! There you go again. We know.
Thank you, Alex! This was such a fun puzzle. Loved the theme and the non-theme. Especially got a kick out of “Law, but not order.” Perfect for this retired lawyer. I look forward to your next puzzle. Y’all have a wonderful Sunday!
This was a fun one. Lots of clever answers, especially nepotism and proletariat. I liked this so much I'm not even going to complain about Oreo pies.
Note to self: Babur was the founder of the Moghul empire. Babar is a talking elephant in children’s literature. It took way too long to spot that error. Loved the puzzle. I laughed out loud at nepotism and proletariat. What a lovely way for the constructor to honour his mother.
@Karen same! I thought “didn’t know that was Babar’s kingdom “! 😂
I do math for a living and also as a pastime, and have no issue with "mean" and AVERAGE. I do have an issue with the linked article, which is literally nonsense—it reads as if it were regurgitated by an AI from 2 years ago. It's more likely to confuse or turn one off from mathematics than to educate about an unnecessary distinction! Regardless, I enjoyed the puzzle and the notes!
@Paul After reading the article, I came away more confused. With a given set of numbers, will calculating the mean and the average of those numbers every yield a different answer?
@Paul Hi, I always thought mean and average were the same. Then, I read the article which I agree was pretty poorly written. It seemed like it was saying that the mean is just the average after you throw away a few of the obvious outliers, if there are any, in whatever data set you are dealing with. Is that right? Or is there really no difference? I'm curious now. Thanks.
@Paul Came here to say the same thing, although I would be blunter than you. There’s a reason that you don’t have a problem with it — because in math and statistics MEAN and AVERAGE are identical. The linked piece is just gibberish. @Caitlin, don’t believe everything you read on the internet! It’s true that in casual speech “average” may be used more loosely to mean “typical.” If I say someone is of “average” height I am not literally asserting that their height is the arithmetic mean of some well-defined population. But that’s just usage — it doesn’t change the fact that in math statistics (which are the sole domains in which “mean” is used as a noun) the two words have identical meaning.
It was cool how, in the theme, the puzzle made the solver come up with clue-like answers from answer-like clues. I like how that made me think. Lovely twist, Alex. And lovely grid-building skills, as with 99 theme squares and 11 theme answers, the box was dense with theme, yet solved smoothly, and Alex even shoehorned in five non-theme theater-related clues/answers (Hi, @Anita!). I especially liked NEPOTISM and OUTDOORSY, and the original clues [Law, but not order] for CAREER, and [Cheep trills] for TWITTERS. Funny. I was just thinking the other day that musicals are so unrealistic – I mean, who breaks out into song IRL in conversation? – and yet, and yet, I love so many of them, find so many magical and thrilling (Hi, @Andrzej!). And I carry so many of the tunes with me. So, you had me at the puzzle’s title, Alex, and you kept me through to the last square. This was a heap of fun. Thank you!
@Lewis I think about that EVERY SINGLE TIME I see a musical. It’s so weird, you think I’d be used to that by now. 😂
Half my Sunday average time, cute theme, didn’t know the poet…. Thought it was a little late for Plato to get a Pulitzer but it would definitely be posthumous!
@John I also thought Plato at first lol!
Because I had YARD for playground area, I was actually considering giving YEATS a Pulitzer. Oy.
Okay, so how many of you thought of Andrzej as soon as you saw the title?
@Vaer Which might explain why we haven't heard from our friend. He might have seen the title and washed his hands of the entire enterprise.
@Vaer I thought of myself as soon as I saw the title. However, I have no objection to the theme as it actually required no knowledge of musicals, at all. Then again, it's not pleasant to be reminded the abomination that is musical theater exists... I still didn't enjoy the solve, anyway, for my usual reason; the grid being full of stuff I don't know 🤷🏽. There was so much of this stuff I went straight for reveals, not bothering to Google the arcana.
I enjoyed it—can’t throw shade on someone with 54 puzzles under his belt, nor would this merit it. Maybe a little disappointed that all the themers weren’t as punny as the rest of them—I appreciated AVERAGEJANES, REFRAINS and OUTDOORSY more than, say, EINSTEIN, LULLABY and PROLETARIAT. But still a solid theme and I appreciated the rest of the fill as well, a decent Sunday challenge. Today I learned about SMURFING, that’s hysterical. Just making a tongue in cheek, politically correct nit—why are we assuming Jack Sprat’s wife took his name?—the nursery rhyme never says so. How patriarchal of us! Speaking of punny names for musicals—the constructor’s alternate theme idea—I tried it once as well. My favorites were: Alternative reality musical that has Elvis romancing a princess? THE KING AND DI Sequel to Aladdin where the Genie becomes a used caravan salesman? CAMEL LOT Musical adaptation of Game of Thrones? SINGIN IN THE REIGN
@SP We once talked how I wouldn't enjoy a puzzle of yours. Now there's even more evidence 🤣 And the EINSTEIN thing was just weak. I never appreciate clues that just can't be solved without crosses by anything else than chance 🤷🏽
@Andrzej It adds to the challenge for me when the theme is more of a clue than just the crosses. I assume constructors strive for this, and it as was the case for me with a couple of answers in this one, including EINSTEIN
Oh, I see it’s time for my regular momentary confusion about the difference between PROSTATE and PROSTRATE. An important distinction in churches and doctors’ offices…
@Tim Sneath 😂 Even I fell into the prostate/prostrate trap, and I don't even have one anymore.
@Tim Sneath Unless your clergyman also has medical training. Could be a way to multitask?
Well, the good news for most people not named Nancy is that you don't need to know anything at all about Broadway or off-Broadway musicals to solve this puzzle. Having the deep font of knowledge on the subject that I have confers no advantage whatever. And I sort of wanted it to. But once I got over my minor disappointment, I found the puzzle cute and sometimes amusing. The theme answers varied in the amount of surprise and delight they conferred: NEPOTISM and AVERAGE JANES were the highlights for me. Other than having to change TACO Bell to TACO BARS -- necessitated by AVERAGE JANES --this puzzle presented no real problems for me. Not knowing any gamer-speak because I'm not a gamer, SMURFS was a great big "Huh?" But it came in easily enough. A breezy junk-free puzzle that I found on the whooshy side.
Thank you for this fabulous grid, Alex. In my view, starting with Sylvia PLATH and ending with YENTE made for a perfect Sunday. As a theater lover, I found the clues to be clever, yet attainable, with many of them very laugh-out-loud-able. Please accept my condolences on the loss of your mom and thank you for sharing with all of us your lovely tribute to her. 🫶🏼
I am a CPA and it took me 3 hours to digest “some summers”…doh!
@MC - Bookkeepers do sums. CPAs analyze the results. I am a retired CPA, and I didn't get this answer for a loong time, either.
COSEC is the reciprocal of sin. For sine you would use cosecant. A good Sunday puzzle. Needed some effort. I liked the gathering of moles (98D). Thanks to the constructor and editors.
@Ιασων "COSEC is the reciprocal of sin. For sine you would use cosecant. " Is that true? Or are you trying to find the mathematically gullible? Also, wouldn't it be cool if the biological community accepted and intel of moles (I mean, the real animals, not spies) as an accepted name for groups of moles?
@Ιασων True, but the clue includes "trig" to indicate it's an abbreviation.
@Ιασων That is true in trigonometry, but not in trig.
My wife and I hiked on the Camino de SANTIAGO in Spain last fall. It was then that I learned that Santiago means St. James in Spanish. Hebrew Ya’akov -> Latin Iacobus -> Spanish Iago Etymology is fascinating. “Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global” by Laura Spinney is on my list of books for 2026. Anyhoo…fun puzzle. Thanks!
@Geoff Offermann and perhaps with further alteration -> Diego as in San Diego
@Geoff Offermann It's one form, most common in western Spain. In other parts, James is Jaime, Jaume in Cataluna. Iago is also translated as Jacob.
@Geoff Offermann Thanks for the book rec. And by the way, Ya'aqov -> Janke / Dutch -> Yankee. So, when Jon Stewart joked about what New York's baseball team should have been called, turns out he wasn't wrong. 😉
@Geoff Offermann You might want to add into the etymology the French Jacques (as in Coquilles St. Jacques for scallops, and the scallop shell which is the symbol of St. James and the Camino). And the Italian "Giacomo", which, I suppose is where the "m" comes from in St. James.
As a Brit, Baths in Bath being LAVS is a bit flimsy… it’s most commonly used to mean toilet!
@Keaton yes! You’re being generous. It’s downright wrong. No one calls a bath a lav.
@Keaton As a Brit, you may be amused to learn that public toilets in China are all marked with a W.C. sign. I highly doubt many of them know that stands for water closet.
@Keaton Americans often refer to bathrooms as baths (in real estate, for example). Not sure whether that helps.
@Keaton I thought the answer would be "kazi" (a spelling of "khazi") since "WC" didn't fit, and "loo" is no longer exclusive to the UK. Maybe "tubs", if the clue was referring to the vessel in which one bathes. But I didn't consider LAV. D'oh!
@ER 😆 I've been doing this for a couple years now, and have never once had the opportunity to make the first comment. You get it that opportunity, and provide one of the funniest lines I've ever seen.
I adore musicals, have seen more than 70, and directed several middle school musicals. When my son was a sophomore in high school, he got in some big trouble and was given the choice of being grounded for two months or trying out for the school musical. He got the lead in "Anything Goes."
Super-fun puzzle, full of great words: PROLETARIAT, EREBUS, NEPOTISM, MOBIUS STRIP, OREO PIES (I always love seeing Oreo, deal with it). I got severely tripped up in the NW with Ringo instead of STARR and quorum instead of PLENUM. Also, chicken fingers instead of TENDERS. I managed to finish without SOBBING, though.
@Katie As parliamentarian, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
Anyone seen that tan Ciera?
@Dave, you're dern tootin' I've seen it. Parked near a wood chipper.
@Dave Another Coen brothers allusion along with THE EAGLES whom The Dude hated.
I saw the title and immediately figured it would be an alop take on Broadway musicals. Which I approve of and appreciate. (ITW is one of my favorite musicals, but don't worry I won't launch into my rant about the recentish movie.) I am amused that 2D has "felines" and not "cats"... it kinda could have fit the theme otherwise
@Isabeau Please rant away on Into the Woods, absolutely the worst adaptation of a wonderful musical I can recall. I could include Cats but I hate the Broadway version as well, so that doesn’t count. ITW movie completely decimated an amazing musical.
@Ayse 🧵 “Yes.” But what about Who and Guess Who?
@Ayse 🧵 There’s a Credibility Gap there, somewhere, 😉👋🏽!
@Ayse Not according to The Dude.
"I went to an incredible concert last night! Who was on first!" "That's what I wanna know!"
I got stuck when the answer was “The Eagles” because the band is just called “Eagles” there’s no “The” …. Great puzzle otherwise!
@Mads congratulations on this tremendous late entry for the 2025 “Nitpick of the year award” - you might just have clinched it!
Nice one with maybe just a little problem with 83D ("Université with a Pierre et Marie Curie campus) : in the French system, the "université" (or college) in question should be "Paris VI" (specializing in hard science). "Paris I" or "Pantheon-Sorbonne" deals with the arts and is located elsewhere in the Latin Quarter (it's this university that gave it's name to the zone, actually).
Sorry if someone already pointed this out, but 4D is not good. The name of the band is Eagles, not The Eagles. Saying The Eagles would be like saying The Led Zeppelin.
@Al Except most people have always referred to them as the Eagles. Even their own web page <a href="https://eagles.com/pages/home" target="_blank">https://eagles.com/pages/home</a> has "the Eagles will be performing at the 2026..." I wouldn't say "I'm going to see Eagles tonight" or "I saw Eagles in concert", would you? That sounds like birds.
@Al and Everyone Srsly?? People are spending time and energy caring about the name of some band and how to speak of the group? Should we be spreading our cloaks over the puddles to that they need not get their tootsies wet? There have been 540,000 filings for bankruptcies this year--affecting every corner of the economy. This is a 15-year peak. In other words, what is worth worrying about...and what is not?
I thought this was a really fantastic Sunday puzzle. One of my favorites in awhile!
For those unfamiliar with the word, although it can, as clued, mean excited, TURNT is most often used in the context of intoxication or partying. A person saying they're "Gonna get turnt" is not announcing their intent to get excited, and you also shouldn't tell your kids you "Got turnt" at dinner to mean that you drank a lot. It's that combination of being under the influence and excited that usually gets you to turnt level. An event or group of people described as turnt, however, are closer to what the clue indicated. A wild party or rowdy crowd of fans after a game might be described as turnt regardless of their collective sobriety. Your mileage may vary regionally, of course--just err on the side of caution.
@Rory Thanks! That was really interesting to me! I had no knowledge whatsoever of TURNT, and your nuanced description of how to use it impressed on me how difficult it is to standardize a language. Languages always seem to burst at the seams.
@Rory I've never heard "turnt" to mean anything other than wasted in reference to a person. And if a party was turnt, it would mean lots of booze and/or drugs were available.
turnt - drunk+high turnt up - go wild turnt down - brush/floss+go to bed early u turnt - highly erratic driving maneuvers
@Rory In my day (circa 1970s) we used the term "rurnt" for your interpretation of "turnt". Seems to fit better.
agree with the two commenters whove pointed out that the band is not called The Eagles. also, are Baths in Bath really LAVS? i mean you dont bathe in them, unless youre either homeless or in a state of some financial or criminal exigency, do you? if bath were a diminutive of bathroom it would work. but as far as i know, its not.
@Matt no, this one absolutely doesn't make sense and had me so puzzled because "advanced" could easily have been SENT or WENT.
@Matt the idea that anyone living in Bath calls anything ‘lav’ is laughable
@Matt, it’s common to say the hall bath, or the master bath, when referring to bathrooms in one’s home (or LAVS in Bath). Or in a real estate listing, three beds / two baths.
Blatant error in this puzzle. The band is “Eagles”, not “THE Eagles”
@Paul I had a feeling I wouldn't be the only one to notice that. Maybe the constructor doesn't like them, and did it on purpose?
@Paul I'm sorry, but I have only, ever, referred them as The Eagles. If we bought tickets to see them, we bought tickets "to The Eagles", not "to Eagles."
@Paul - Great comment. The band is “Eagles,”. No “The” big error.
@Paul Conversely, it's "THE Smashing Pumpkins"
I don't think anyone has mentioned yet that Eagles eschew THE.
@Captain Quahog Holy schnikies!! Are you serious!? I had no idea from reading the previous 499 comments! 🤣 I had a good laugh over your comment, too funny!
I immediately know I’m in for a treat when I see that Alex is the constructor - thank you, and hope to see you again soon!
Would somebody please be so kind as to tell me what a summer CPA is?
@JGrey IMO, a reach. But for those who think that any amount of twisting is valid, it refers to a Certified Public Accountant, who a summer, as in one who adds things up. I doubt any CPA would describe themself as such.
@JGrey Would have loved a ? at the end of that clue.
One of the best Sunday puzzles I've done in a long time! The clueing was just genius! So much word play, so many "aha!" moments. Loved it!
The most despicable puzzle I have played in years. Constructing a puzzle like this is the constructors was of saying “LOOK how smart I am everyone!!!” (Without saying those words… Boring and painstakingly arduous does not equal smart or clever.
@Darren you might not be cut out for this game
@Darren Though I liked it, I can understand it not being to someone's taste, but despicable!? And not even just despicable but the most despicable. Wow! It just seems a little extreme for what seem a fun and fairly innocuous puzzle to me. Most people out here save this level of ire for the art heist and rebus puzzles, both of which I'm also fond of.
@Darren Hard agree. Cue the chorus of New World Order sycophants to tell us that possessing the knowledge of a fabric connoisseur should in fact be prerequisite for enjoying a nationally published crossword.
My Diary of a Crossword Fiend review: <a href="https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/12/27/sunday-december-28-2025/#ny" target="_blank">https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/12/27/sunday-december-28-2025/#ny</a>
@Eric Hougland I had the same experience in the NW and thought, wow, this is Friday level stuff, this one's gonna take a while, and felt the pace was kind of uneven, slow in some areas and a little too easy in others. Good review, agreed all the way.
@Eric Hougland 16:16 was your time? Impressive. 21:25 here.