Richard

@Cat Lady Margaret [Crush, mash, flatten, …] SQUISH LIST

@Gooberdog I assume you meant to say ENTRIES rather than CLUES. Even so, the revealer VOWEL is perfectly clued. Every other letter of the GRID (including entries AND black squares) is indeed a vowel, if you consider each black square (or two or three) to be a continuation of the pattern. Every which way you look at the rows or columns the vowels alternate with consonants. For example, from 42A to 43A there are 3 black squares giving dEn vowel consonant vowel tOtAlEd.

@Marshall Walthew Pete Maravich was nicknamed “Pistol” because of his unique shooting style. He would shoot the basketball from his side — almost like he was drawing a pistol from a holster — rather than the more usual from above his head. The nickname also reflected his flashy, gun-slinger style of play - he was known for his creative ball-handling, no-look passes, and long-range shooting that was ahead of its time. Maravich played with a flair and showmanship that made him seem like a quick-draw artist on the basketball court.

@Lewis {Ross, fair, Chandler} Just among friends

@AS I think when Legally Blonde first came out, it was more clearly a pun of “legally blind.” Nowadays we’re so familiar with the movie (and its offspring) that we forget its punny origin.

@Steve L “Seriously?!”

@Cat Lady Margaret How about [*Ring of Fire* backup group?] SQUAD OF CASH

@Gregg I differed a little bit from Deb on how the clue for RUN worked. Yes, a home RUN is a [Homecoming, of a sort?] as Deb suggests since the batter, starting at home plate, rounds the bases to come home again. But a cleaner fit of the clue to the answer is that *any* RUN, not just a home run, must reach home plate and therefore is a [Homecoming, of a sort].

@Steve L Final attempt—You moved! Best of luck in your new digs!

@john ezra Are you saying White Men Can’t Jump? <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@distantreplay/video/7332882752682937631" target="_blank">https://www.tiktok.com/@distantreplay/video/7332882752682937631</a> emus can

@Joe Horton @Grumpy I think the themers and revealer work very nicely together. Each themer ends in an individual’s name but is a phrase you would say to anyone. It has a generic meaning nowadays. The revealer jokingly captures that concept.

@Steve L @Karin @Ragland Ragland and Karin have it right. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/19/elise-stefanik-gets-booed-off-stage/85722064007" target="_blank">https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/19/elise-stefanik-gets-booed-off-stage/85722064007</a>/

@Barry Ancona [Plan B, for seniors]? SAFETY SCHOOL is more like Plan C, D, … or even a Plan Z.

@Steve L The type of clue you wrote about yesterday seems to be taken from the cryptic crossword world’s “&lit” clue where the entire clue provides both the definition and the wordplay. The exclamation point is a feature of the clue. An example would be: [God incarnate, essentially! (4)] The answer is ODIN. The Norse god Odin is hidden in "God incarnate", as clued by "essentially", but the definition of Odin is also the whole clue, as Odin is essentially a God incarnate.

@Sophie Swett The name Jasmine comes from the Persian yasmin or yasamin (یاسمین), meaning “gift from God”

@Dani XWStats lists this puzzle as Very Hard as of 5am ET: 🌎 Global Stats Difficulty Very Hard Median Solve Time 8:16 Median Solver 18% slower ⚡21% of users solved faster than their Tuesday average. 5% solved much faster (>20%) than their Tuesday average. 🐢79% of users solved slower than their Tuesday average. 45% solved much slower (>20%) than their Tuesday average.

@Mo First aid KIT?

So what’s harder than a Monday level? Well, a Tuesday level, for starters. What’s easier than a Monday level? That’s a good question. Same for what’s harder than a Saturday level. Kinda reminds me of the scene from Spinal Tap where Nigel shows how their amp can go beyond the highest level … not only to 10, but to 11 <a href="https://youtu.be/4xgx4k83zzc?si=olhAIVYRYU51M8I5" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/4xgx4k83zzc?si=olhAIVYRYU51M8I5</a>

@Charles Nelson Reilly I like your BODY DOUBLE as the revealer. Each themer has two *body* parts, not just any old parts. Your revealer captures this essence.

@Larry See noun definition 4: “something difficult to do or deal with” <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bear" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bear</a>

@Andrzej Post can mean subsequent to or after. The negative or opposite of post would be PRE meaning prior to or before 😉

@Steve L You moved! Best of luck in your new digs!

@SP As you wrote, “why not capitalize some letters but not the rest?” Well, if you go to nytimes.com to print out the puzzle, the “Standard Layout” option does exactly that. On the other hand, the “Newspaper Version” option has all CAPS with appropriate underlying in the themer clues, which is the way Deb describes the correct cluing. Apparently thought was given to writing the clues for differing formats — just not enough thought.

@Cat Lady Margaret Thank you so much! Never aware of these four. What a wonderful sound!

@Rich in Atlanta Do you think the editorial staff considered the 2021 puzzle and its variation on the theme when deciding to publish today’s?

@Barry Ancona I need your delivery service. My stone tablets aren’t delivered on the upper westside until about 6am on the morning of the day of the puzzle, not the evening before.

@MJ “I couldn’t care less” or is that “I could care less” 😉

@Joseph Shain Deb and I enjoyed the clue as well. However, she seems to have doubts about the efficacy of BOTOX as she says it *supposedly* smooths patients’ foreheads. Sounds like she’s not a fan.

@Steve L Yes of course the secret phrase is a way to verify the unchecked letters but I think that’s a stretch from the generally understanding of what a checked crossword entails. The weakness in that explanation is that the secret phrase has no clue. It’s determined from the unchecked letters. It can’t be said that the puzzle’s title and theme in and of themselves are a reasonable clue to the phrase.

Sorry for the duplicative comment. My UNDO or EDIT button hasn’t been installed yet.

@Times Rita Perhaps you remember Casa Susanna in Jewett, NY? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Susanna" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Susanna</a>

@Dan So is 18D [Women’s professional tennis matches have three of them] just plainly wrong as a clue for SETS?

@Steve L 2nd attempt—You moved! Best of luck in your new digs!

@latenightsolver If they’re a band, Shortz’s Men at Work?

@Andrzej One could say the same thing about watching a stage of the Tour de France but I personally wouldn’t. The Tour is televised in the US from start to finish each day which might sound kinda boring, particularly in a sprint stage finish (as opposed to a mountain top finish) where all the “action” occurs in the last two minutes. However, I find watching the whole stage an engrossing experience. The strategy evident from start to finish by the various cycling teams is worth my time commitment. I also marvel at the physical effort required throughout the stage. From my vantage point, the same can be said about longer track events. YMMV

@Dan On further reflection, I think the clue stands correct as written. When it is said that a tennis match is three sets, it’s interpreted as a best of three, which of course can end after the second set — similar to saying the major league baseball World Series is seven games. Although usually said as a “best of seven,” describing the Series as a seven game series is in the language.