Started solving from the top down . . . didn't notice anything about a theme. Got to the revealer . . . entered "buries the lede" but didn't get the theme. didn't get it. Finished the puzzle and went back to reread the theme clues and revealer clue . . . Pondered it for another five minutes and finally saw it. If the theme is that divorced from the solve, at least for me, it's essentially a themeless. But I actually liked it -- good entries and clues, smooth flow. I just didn't derive any extra enjoyment from the theme.
@DYT ditto. To be honest, I think it’s a bit of a stretch.
@DYT Like you, I was not enamoured of the theme. But there were some endearing sets of clues or fill: The two _____ Minors 7D and 37A The two drops nestled together 31A and 32D A nice complement of ERs 22D and 26D + 59D – if you've got to do it, you may as well go whole hog! Undone by 15A and 16A – can I UN-SEE? can I UN-IT? Those were all fun to catch. Thanks.
@DYT I actually used the theme to fill in BLACK and STRAW :)
"Here's your fruit basket!" "Oh, that's berry much appreciated!" ("Here's your fruit basket!" "Another one? Grape minds think alike!")
@Mike Nice work. It's hard to compote with these.
@Mike That's a nice fruit basket. But I can't-elope with you with just a fruit basket.
@Mike Is it a straw berry basket? A blue berry basket? Black? Glad to see you got a pear of them, anyway.
Breezy, fun puzzle! And I got my Wednesday best time! Though I must admit I had to go to Wordplay to understand the theme. Even after completing the puzzle, buries / berries as homophones didn’t click in my head. I was searching for some sort of buried letters or “lead!”
@Maggie Same! Well done on your time!
I think one day I’ll create a museum for a certain berry, and call it the Lingon Memorial.
@Lewis Go ahead; you just dew that, ya hear?
@Steve L -- The miracle of Mike is that he does it every ... single ... day!
When I was in high school, and at the high schools where I’ve taught, the PSATS are usually for sophomores, not juniors. That’s prime SAT time.
@Bijoun I never thought of that. Indeed I took the PSATs as a sophmore. I switched schools the next year and they were not mentioned at my new school. Sometimes schools do tests for two reasons. I think my first school used the results to test how well we were learning but also to give us practice for the SATs.
@Bijoun In Brooklyn, PSATS were given to juniors, SATs to Seniors.
@Bijoun went to HS in the 60’s, took PSAT as a junior. Probably an age thing
@Bijoun et al PSATs are recommended for Juniors, not least because those scores were used by the National Merit folk to name the Scholars. (I admit it's been quite some years now, but both our kids made that list. It generated massive amounts of mail from colleges and universities. ) There was also a big push for 8th-graders to take the exams, based (I think) on the supposition that it would boost later scores. (It also promised those who fell for it --and paid the fees-- that they would be on mailing lists, etc., for the rest of their years in high school.) Quite the money-maker for the ETS, eh?
@Bijoun It's all tied up in the pressure put on high schoolers. Originally PSATs were the Practice SAT done as a junior, then SATs in Fall of senior year so you could apply to college in Spring. Now many colleges have admissions due in Fall, or students want to apply for early acceptance. Univ of California deadline for regular admissions is Nov 30. Many elite schools receive upwards of 50,000 applications, so need more time to sift through them all. So it's pushed the whole testing regimen up a year. And students want time to take the SAT multiple times, hopefully upping their score each time. Everyone needs to veg out a little!
I'm sure there will be plenty of complaints that bury and berry are not homophones. To my midwestern ear, they are (along with the name Barry). But to one of my college roommates, who was from New Jersey, none of them are homophones.
@GaryR My wife (raised in Massachusetts) and I (from the same Midwest as you, with the same ear) have been having this argument our whole married life, meaning 43+ years. Our most frequent iteration of it rhymes with Barry-bury-berry. We do Mary-marry-merry. I say homophones!
@GaryR I say all the berries and marries, respectively, are homophones. I know someone from Philly, though, who says something like “burries” (rhymes with “furries”).
@GaryR I'm trying to practice saying them differently, but they all come out sounding bury, berry, Barry much the same.
@GaryR I grew up in NJ, and they’re homophones to me.
@GaryR @Marshall I grew up in NJ. For me, Mary, marry, and merry are all pronounced DIFFERENTLY. Berry and bury are pronounced the same and rhyme with merry. Barry is pronounced differently and rhymes with marry. YMMV of course 🤓
@GaryR My mother, from West Philadelphia, pronounces her niece Meryl's name as if it rhymes with Burrel. That niece pronounces her own name to rhyme with Barrel. I'm going straight over to mom's today and ask her to read the words bury, Barry, and berry. Hilarity shall ensue.
With due respect to our columnist, I think the correct way to parse the “doubly homophonic hint” is as “berry’s the lead”, because in each case a berry’s the lead, and also Barry’s the Lead(er) here in the comments.
If, like me, you didn't figure out the theme until reading the column, you can just let out a sigh, feel blue, razz the creator, mull it over, have a slow chuckle, and call the boys in (Bill and Tay?)
@Katie I thought the homophone might have to do with lede lead.
Ugh. What is with these puzzles recently? The themes are so unnecessarily convoluted. The puzzle was easy to complete but this was the second time in a week I had to read the description to understand the theme. Also buries is not a homophone for berries. Sorry.
@Robert. I agree. Unlike other puzzles lately at least the pointless theme did not interfere with solving this otherwise fine wednesday puzzle.
@Robert It absolutely is a homophone in my dialect of English (Connecticut).
@Robert You solved the puzzle without understanding the theme, but others might have needed the theme or just enjoyed the theme. Like you, I didn't need the theme, but unlike you, I enjoyed figuring it out after I solved. I didn't find it convoluted like you did, but that's OK. That's the beauty of the crossword community. Peace out.
@Robert I’m with you. Too easy, and the theme’s a stretch.
The amazing thing about all the people who report that they don’t pronounce “bury” and “berry” alike is not that they don’t, but rather that they don’t notice that the two are homonyms to many, if not most Americans.
Steve L, Sometimes the Lon Mower drowns out other sounds.
@Steve L Not guilty... I pronounce them pretty much the same, but.... I just didn't "get it"....and I don't care.
Missed it!!! Well, I missed the theme completely before I got to BURIES THE LEDE. And now I know there's a homophone. But where? In GOOSE? In FEATHERS? In ELDER? In CARE? This is all too much for my poor brain. For days like this was the crossword blog invented. And now I find out that the homophone is of a word that isn't there. BURIES/BERRIES. Oh, I see. An enjoyable puzzle -- even if I solved it without figuring out the wordplay. Because the important word's not there, you have to think outside the box today. And, sadly, I was wedged firmly within the box. Topic for discussion: Can you be an important pop singer if your FAN BASE doesn't have a nickname?
Overall I thought it was a fun, well clued puzzle, but even after reading Wordplay I don't get the point of the theme. Because Buries is a homophone of Berries the other clues start with the starts of buries? Huge stretch there. I enjoyed the SALT clue, reminded me of the fun fact that Roman soldiers were paid in salt.
@Chris Well, it does say it’s a homophobic hint in the revealer. I think the homophone works better as “berry’s the lead” as in berry is the lead, rather than “berries the lead”. But I’m nitpicky.
@Chris Apocryphal. The etymology itself might be apocryphal, too, but that's less clear. The were paid in coins made from precious metals. It's possible that their salary in coins was dictated by the cost of salt compared to the value silver
@Chris SALT can also be sprinkled on slightly under ripe Strawberries to improve their flavor.
Cute and easy. I like this constructor. I’m not sure I have heard “bury” pronounced any other way than “berry.” I asked Gemini for alternative pronunciations and got “bur-ee” (rhymes with furry), “beer-ee” (rhymes with cheery) and “byoo-ry” (rhymes with fury). I can see the first one but am highly skeptical about the other two. This brings to mind the story (I believe is accurate) about the football game where they used AI instead of a human camera operator and the camera repeatedly mistook a bald referee’s head for the soccer ball. I haven’t been able to check the comments much lately and it seems like a few regulars have gone missing. Eric Hougland comes to mind. Hope everyone is okay!
@Cyndie That's kind of you to say. Sorry I haven't been around here much. I got busy with other stuff and got out of the habit of reading Wordplay. Plus, I'm trying to cut the amount of time I spend on the computer, especially in the evenings. Like you, I'm skeptical of "bury" rhyming with "cheery" or "fury." (sotto voce sweetly alerted me to your comment.)
@Cyndie I just watched a couple of clips on youtube of people supposedly pronouncing Mary/marry/merry 3 different ways and I still can't hear it!
Well, I love the kind of mind that comes across the phrase “bury the lede”, and sees a double-wordplay crossword theme. That’s the kind of mind I want making my puzzles. Then came a terrific TIL post-solve, when, while looking up types of berries, I learned that botanically, blackberries, mulberries, raspberries, and strawberries (Hi, @Steve L!) are not berries, while bananas, pumpkins, eggplants, oranges, grapes, and avocados are. Huh! I also had a huge aha when I saw the berry connection in the theme answers before coming to the revealer or its clue. I’m usually not good at that ability, so I gave myself a little bow. No, I didn’t guess the entire revealer, but small steps… Loved the faunal vibe pervading the answer set, with GOOSE, MINK, BATS, LAMB, URSA, RAY, STY, and the three-letter donkey word. I love when simple letters in a box can raise the mood of a day, as your puzzle did, Kareem. Thank you!
What if we pronounce buries as buries.
I finished the puzzle and then was trying to figure out the revealer. I was thinking that maybe straw can be buried, and maybe geese burry things. I suppose one at some point burries ones elders, though preferably at the appropriate time...
@Joe I was wondering if the people who pronounced bury like furry had a harder time solving! Love to see how you tried to logic out the theme, isn’t it funny the way our brains decide on a pattern if we don’t have the tools to find the correct one?
Enjoyed the puzzle, but didn’t catch the “berries” theme even though 1)to me “bury” and “berry” are indeed homophones and 2) I have just made a lot of elderberry jelly. And before that, strawberry. But it was fun. I had to read the column to understand the Fiji clue. Thanks for a good Wednesday.
(Shaggy dog story skipped) I come to seize your berry, not to praise it.
Like many, I solved the puzzle, including the revealer, then stared at the grid, thinking, "but what does it mean?" Didm't help that we missed the last day of U-pick blueberries (Up North Blueberry Farm, Gaylord MI) by several days, so the breakfast pie while solving was IQF cherry. And now, I will provide the obligatory link to Wikipedia's article on "intervocalic vowel mergers before historical /R/," although the point, of puns and poetry, is that words don't have to sound *exactly* alike, to sound alike. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historical_/r/#Merry" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historical_/r/#Merry</a>%E2%80%93Murray_merger Here's Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn enjoying a scoop of "Fresh Oregon Boosenberry ice cream" at Mel's Diner: <a href="https://clip.cafe/guess-whos-coming-dinner-1967/you-know-its-not-bad-not-bad-at-all-i-kind-of-like-it" target="_blank">https://clip.cafe/guess-whos-coming-dinner-1967/you-know-its-not-bad-not-bad-at-all-i-kind-of-like-it</a>/
@Bill Can’t tell you how grateful I am to read about (pet peeve) "intervocalic vowel mergers.” Knowing it’s a regional variation will greatly ease my silly despair
@Bill Thanks for the Wikipedia reference. I was thinking about the same issue. Somewhere in the past, I learned about the concept of "l" and "r" being "liquid" phonemes. Letters around them lose their previous "strength" and can shift around from sound to sound. I guess especially maybe when "l" and "r" are intervocalic. There are also regional differences, as the article states, and individual differences--language varies from person to person.
I was able to finish this puzzle without catching on to the theme. This is one of the few Wednedsays I’ve been able to finish! So I liked it.
Nothing against this clever, well-crafted and enjoyable puzzle overall, but… I have never ever solved a puzzle yet with just across clues so far—but I did today. Seems like a Wednesday shouldn’t be the day to do it. I was just commenting yesterday that I never complain about too easy puzzles early in the week, including Wednesday—but even so, this seems like pretty concrete evidence. That said, for those who thought the revealer and theme was too opaque and non-contributory, I probably couldn’t have done it without it. I had GOOSEFEATHERS, then the revealer at the bottom, deduced there would be more berries, which gave me BLACKBART and STRAWPOLL quickly. ELDERCARE was the last to fall since I tried CARS before CARE (SSA and SEA both work) and SNEERS before SNEEZE. Once I got XYZ, though, it became obvious. So again, fine puzzle and doubly clever theme, but if I had used the downs it would have been over in a flash and a ton less fun.
Good puzzle! I thought it was sweet, maybe juicy, I don't know I'm tired, people. My husband likes berries so very much. And he, like I, say berries the same way he says bury. I tricked them into saying each and so now I know they're the same. I'm a great wife, dontcha think!? Har!!
Interesting note about place names ending in "bury": both spouse and I pronounce them inconsistently, sometimes BUH and sometimes BAIR. It seems related to how we have heard others say them. I say Glastonbury--where I lived between ages 6 to 10-- as BAIR but Roxbury--town where our church is--as BUH because of the "Charlie on the MTA" song.
@RozzieGrandma - Always remember to keep the HAM in Eastham, but never in Dedham.
Has anyone yet insisted that BURY and BERRY are not homophones? Asking for a friend... ;^)
Captain Q, In New York, I'm Barry; in Iowa, I'm Berry. But bury me not on the lone prairie. Also, when I started in newspapering, typesetting was done in hot metal (lead), and we learned not to bury the lead. Only in the 1970's, when phototypesetting had taken the lead out of the composing room, did people start writing about a lede. Go figure.
My fastest Wednesday ever! I I remember once upon a time thinking I would never be able to finish a Wednesday without using any hits or looking up an answer!
I’ve been playing a lot of travle and globle, so thankfully I knew NIGERIA borders Chad and Benin. If you want to sharpen your geography skills, I highly recommend playing! And there’s lots of other fun -le games. Anyway, I liked this puzzle. Berry, bury fun!
@Elena I play a different geography game, but it's amazing how much it helps me in the puzzle. Same experience as you today in that regard! I'll try to remember to check out the ones you mentioned though just to see if I might like them more.
@Elena I like <a href="https://worldle.teuteuf.fr" target="_blank">https://worldle.teuteuf.fr</a>/
This puzzle reminds me of my little dog BERRY that I had years ago. I always had to explain that her name was like BERRY as in STRAWBERRY but I suppose that BURIES would also be a good name for a dog. I bought her at the Lucky Dog Pet Shop, but she wasn't that lucky. She was a cute little poodle, terrier and sheepdog mix with her sheepdog hair covering her eyes.
I wasn't trying to figure out the theme as I went along today, so when I got to the revealer and looked back at the all of the berries, it made me laugh. What more can I ask for on a Wednesday morning?
@Nancy J. Cooler temps! Rain! A qualified Cabinet member leading the DOJ Oh, and world peace.
I might was well say it first. A strawberry is not actually a berry. (Welcome to nit week.)
@Steve L Botanically true, commonly (and culinarily) false.
@Steve L Irrelevant. The name of the fruit is "strawberry", so it fits the (IMO, very weak) theme.
@Steve L People are not understanding the point of your post. Also carrying on with the recent tradition of that's not a homophone to me.
@Steve L When isn't it nit week here?! 😏
@Steve L Neither are blackberries but for a different reason. The strawberry flesh is not even fruit. A banana is a true berry. More nits to consider...
@Steve L Checking in at 4 pm looks like people are letting the (Darryl) Strawberry slide and are focusing on the homophone.
Well that’s not how RE is spelled in the song!
@EJ You may want to check out the lyrics from the Roders and Hammerstein Foundation. "Doe – a deer, a female deer, Ray – a drop of golden sun, Me – a name I call myself, Far – a long, long way to run, Sew – a needle pulling thread, La – a note to follow sew, Tea – a drink with jam and bread. That will bring us back to do! Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do." <a href="https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/song/the-sound-of-music/do-re-mi" target="_blank">https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/song/the-sound-of-music/do-re-mi</a>/
@EJ While the notes of the solfège system are indeed spelled "do re mi fa so la ti do", the clue references the song, and thus is valid. Less commonly known is that there are also related hand gestures: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/157299750/Solfege-pdf?utm_source=perplexity" target="_blank">https://www.scribd.com/document/157299750/Solfege-pdf?utm_source=perplexity</a>
Didn't understand the theme until I read the article. BURIES THE LEDE (a phrase I'm not familiar with) sounding like “berries the lead" is a STRETCH! Annoying!
@Charlie Fuchs “Lede” is an exact homonym for “lead,” in the sense of coming at the beginning. It was spelled that way to avoid confusion with lead, the metal. “Bury” is pronounced differently than “berry” by some, but certainly it is pronounced the same by most. In fact, most dictionaries only give one pronunciation. So I don’t think it’s a stretch. Maybe it’s a stretch for you because you don’t know the phrase.
@Charlie Fuchs So annoying! Not my favorite by a long stretch.
Reminds me of one of our kids’ favorite books back in the day, Jamberry: “One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry…” Thx for a fun puzzle!
@FR Kern We also have fond memories of reading that book to our children. Maybe more of a wordplay book than a narrative book? And maybe that's why we, who later became crossword fans, liked it?
@FR Kern What about _Blueberries for Sal_ ?? A big fave... Plink, plank, plunk....
I think the theme was pretty well buried, alright. Needed the column. The constructor's mind linked berry with bury. Mine never would. Also, I don't why the example in the Constructor's Notes wouldn't work. "Goose" and "bumps" are both words. Oh well, the puzzle itself was easy enough to fill out. I appreciate that on a busy Wednesday.
@jennie While goose and bumps are both words on their own, goosebumps is written as one word. GOOSEFEATHERS works better because its two separate words.
Fun theme but a bit too easy for a Wednesday.
I saw Jennie Finch(pictured) pitch a perfect game, one of her many, for the Chicago Bandits a few decades ago.
Kind of a long Wednesday workout for me, but managed to finish it. And... must confess that I wasn't grasping the theme even after I was done. Had to come here to get it. No big deal. Puzzle find - A Sunday from May 19, 1996 by C.M. Deber with the title: "The Stars are Out." Even looking at the completed puzzle, it took me a bit to grasp the theme. Anyway... some clue and answer examples: "SC*". RECONNOITER "CL*" INFLUENCE "B*" PRIZEFIGHT "UNC*H" ILLMANNERED "R*ES" INTERSTATES Think about it. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/19/1996&h=85a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/19/1996&h=85a</a> ...
@Rich in AtlantaI I'm always citing Charles M. Deber's puzzles as uniquely clever, challenging, and stellar. I think he's still a busy professional, but--alas-- no longer making puzzles for us.
@Rich in Atlanta Not much to think about. The title gives it away, wholesale.
Are the colored squares in Connections part of a theme I don't get or just some annoying new improvement.
@ad absurdum I was just going to mention this. Intentional. Ties in with the Midi and a couple of other games. Hope that's not too spoilery. But yes, I found it disorienting. PS The Midi's 9 Across is one of my all time favorite movies and still relevant in 2026.
@ad absurdum We found it really disconcerting and unpleasant in Connections. We suppose that disconcertion (did we just make up a word?) was the intent, but it was too much in our opinion
@ad absurdum Super distracting! I hope it doesn't stay.
@ad absurdum We just looked, there are related answers in Spelling Bee, the Mini and Wordle in addition to those already mentioned. We're getting slightly dizzy and a little bit of a stomachache just thinking again about the application of the theme in Connections.
Easy puzzle but I had to read the article to understand the theme. Well done.
Given their tendency to invade other lands, Roman soldiers were certainly worth their salt.
Revealer put me on the wrong track due to pronunciation variations of “buries.”
@Brennan I'm afraid to tell that when I pronounce it, it sounds like BURR-eez, not BEAR-eez...
Care for a little ELDER "bury" wine compliments of Elton John? <a href="https://youtu.be/sYFngdzbShA?si=-WqIgPiZeKSS50V1" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/sYFngdzbShA?si=-WqIgPiZeKSS50V1</a> The other half of a KIR Royale is Creme de Cassis, which is a black currant based liqueur.
@Vaer I am glad you are keeping current on mixology. I hope it is a useful raison d’etre.
Merry Mary buried the berries. It's one of those LOST CAUSES.
@Linda Jo Who did Merry Mary marry? Was it hairy Harry? ....
Yes, we do see what you did there. Fun while it lasted. Two nouns signing off.
I think 4 down is my favorite clue in a while, short and sweet (as a berry)
@mTownTeapot we agree, clever cluing
“Berry” and “bur”y sound alike to me, but older folks where I grew up in SW Missouri would pronounce “buries” more like “furries”. Our nextdoor neighbor there would make a big batch of elderberry wine each year and give us some. But ours was not a drinking family. My dad would have a little, but I think it was too sweet for him.
@NYC Traveler, Oh, for an edit button 😕