Constructor: Kate Hawkins Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging THEME: none  Word of the Day: OMNI (38A: Onetime magazine that covered science fiction) — Omni was a science and science fiction magazine published for domestic American and UK markets. It contained articles on science, parapsychology, and short works of science fiction and fantasy. It was published as a print version between October 1978 and 1995. The first Omni e-magazine was published on CompuServe in 1986 and the magazine switched to a purely online ..read more

Constructor: David Kwong Relative difficulty: Medium [sorry about all the blue eyes in the grid—I shut my puzzle before taking a screenshot so I refilled the grid with "Reveal All" rather than type it all in again] THEME: A STAR IS BORN (A STAR IS "B" OR "N") (63A: Thrice-remade movie ... or, when parsed as six words, a hint to the theme clues in this puzzle) — theme clues all start with stars (asterisks), which you have to imagine as either "B"s or "N"s in order to make sense of the clues: Theme answers: ELECTION DAY (17A: *Allot time) (Ballot) MOTHER OF PEARL (23 ..read more

Constructor: Joseph Gangi Relative difficulty: Medium? Medium-Challenging? Probably depends on your familiarity with the story... THEME: ONE EYE (73A: Feature of 20-Across ... and, when sounded out, a feature of today's puzzle (clues and all!)) — the "theme" is POLYPHEMUS, a (not "the"!) cyclops in the ODYSSEY, whose "eye" Odysseus puts out. There is an awkward and gruesome representation eye-gouging in the NW, where MAIM goes right through the puzzle's (and POLYPHEMUS's) only "I" ("eye"), which is the first word in the imagined (humorous?) exclamation, "I CAN'T SEE!" Oh, and the ..read more

Constructor: Amanda Winters Relative difficulty: Medium (normal Monday) (solved Downs-only) THEME: AS ABOVE / SO BELOW (39A: with 41-Across, philosophical principle in which Earth mirrors heaven ... or a hint to the shaded squares) — bunch of ASSO squares (top two letters "AS," bottom two letters "SO") Word of the Day: ASIAN PEARS (3D: Yellow fruits that, despite their name, look more like apples) — Pyrus pyrifolia is a species of pear tree native to southern China and northern Indochina that has been introduced to Korea, Japan  ..read more

Constructor: John Rippe and Jeff Chen Relative difficulty: Easy THEME: "Savings Plan" — we get to watch various animals GO EXTINCT (fun!) (104A: Disappear ... like the circled creatures might do, if not for the 112-/114-Across (i.e. the ENDANGERED / SPECIES ACT (112A: With 114-Across, conservation law that celebrated its 50th anniversary in December 2023)); long Down answers (marked BEFORE) contain the names of animals (in largely non-consecutive circled letters), and then the Down answers directly beneath those answers (marked AFTER) are words made up of the letters th ..read more

Constructor: Jess Rucks Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (Easy + PADIDDLE) (?!) THEME: none  Word of the Day: PADIDDLE (1D: Game played on a road trip) — An exclamation shouted in a game by the first of a group of people who spots a motor vehicle with only one working headlight, this person being entitled variously to kiss or hit the others. (OED) • • • Well this was great, but unfortunately I ended on PADIDDLE, which is ridiculous. Just completely ungettable nonsense for me. The wikipedia description of the "game" is so full of "[citation needed]" that I couldn't use it, so I ..read more

Constructor: Evan Kalish Relative difficulty: Easy THEME: none  Word of the Day: ANVIL (44A: Block with a horn) — An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are as massive because the higher their inertia, the more efficiently they cause the energy of striking tools to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool. Before the a ..read more

Constructor: Dan Caprera Relative difficulty: Medium THEME: SECRET / PASSAGES (44A: With 46-Across, some areas in Clue ... or a hint to the first, fourth, twelfth and fifteenth rows of this puzzle) — the letters in "PASSAGES" appear (secretly!) in black squares, in the indicated rows: Theme answers: FOOD PREPARATION (1A: Slicing and dicing, say) COURTSIDE SEATS (20A: Pricey basketball tickets) MAN-EATING SHARK (57A: "Jaws" menace) PRIME REAL ESTATE (70A: Valuable property) Word of the Day: TARA VanDerveer (10D: ___ VanDerveer, coach who holds the record for the ..read more

Constructor: Bill Thompson Relative difficulty: Medium THEME: broken spells — words meaning (roughly) "spell" are "broken" inside longer answers (i.e. they are split into two parts that then bookend the longer answers): Theme answers: CHARM (39A: Spell that's "broken" by 17-Across) CHICKEN PARM (17A: Popular Italian entree, informally) HEX (11A: Spell that's "broken" by 23-Across) HENRY KNOX (23A: First U.S. Secretary of War) POX (65A: Spell that's "broken" by 49-Across) PENCIL BOX (49A: Container in a kid's backpack) CURSE (37A: Spell that's "br ..read more

Constructor: Caroline Sommers and Freddie Cheng Relative difficulty: Easy THEME: You Name It! — famous names ending -ET or -ETT are reimagined as "[verb] + IT" phrases directed at the people with those last names: Theme answers: "WARREN, BUFF IT!" (20A: "Hey, Mr. Gazillionaire from Omaha—go shine the car!") "LYLE, LOVE IT!" (34A: "Hey, Julia Roberts's ex—you're doing great!") "JED, CLAMP IT!" (42A: "Hey, patriarch of '60s television—shut up!")  "CATE, BLANCH IT!" (56A: "Hey, acclaimed Australian actress—prepare the broccoli!") Word of the Day: Jed Clampett (42A) — The Be ..read more