0529-25 NY Times Crossword 29 May 25, Thursday

Constructed by: John Kugelman
Edited by: Will Shortz

Today’s Reveal Answer: Tease Up

Themed answers stretch right across the grid, with Ts UP in the line above, over a black square:

  • 60A Give height, as a hairdo … or a hint for entering the answers to the starred clues : TEASE UP or Ts UP
  • 19A *Mensa, for one : CONSTELLATION
  • 36A *One with a minority opinion about the shape of the world : FLAT EARTHER
  • 54A *Two sure things : DEATH AND TAXES

Bill’s time: 12m 05s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

My wife and I are visiting friends right now. As such, I just found time to slip away, solve the puzzle, and write up this abbreviated post. I will get to the full post just as soon as I can.

Apologies, and thank you for your understanding.

Bill

Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1A Nosy Parkers : SNOOPS
7A “Make like a drum and beat it!” : AMSCRAY!
14A Source of the line “The female of the species is more deadly than the male” : KIPLING
16A “Ditto for us” : SO ARE WE
17A Half of an Arnold Palmer : ICED TEA
18A “Ta-da!” : ET VOILA!
19A *Mensa, for one : CONSTELLATION
20A “___ Enchanted,” 2004 film : ELLA
22A What’s never free of charge : ION
23A ___ hat, no cattle (folksy put-down) : ALL
24A Swiss Ms. : FRAU
25A Fed. observance since 1986 : MLK DAY
28A Music biz scandal : PAYOLA
30A Chippewa neighbors : CREE
32A Homophone of 26-Down : EYE
33A Sees red : GETS HOT
35A HBO comedy with 17 Emmys : VEEP
36A *One with a minority opinion about the shape of the world : FLAT EARTHER
37A Word with drum or trumpet : EAR
38A 2013 film that presaged ChatGPT : HER
39A Stick with it : GLUE
41A Insect named for the Virgin Mary : LADYBUG
43A Upton Sinclair novel : OIL
44A Mononymous Irish singer : BONO
45A Captivate : ENAMOR
49A Material for some ropes and curtains : VELVET
51A Words from a loud speaker, maybe : RANT
53A Preceder of way or word : IN A …
54A *Two sure things : DEATH AND TAXES
55A Stage props? : HAND
56A X, Y and sometimes Z : AXES
57A “Yikes”-worthy : CRINGEY
60A Give height, as a hairdo … or a hint for entering the answers to the starred clues : TEASE UP
62A Filled out wrong, say : INVALID
63A One rushing to a Code Blue, in brief : ER NURSE
64A Not equilateral or isosceles : SCALENE
65A Clapped back at : SASSED

Down

1D Something to wear on a run : SKI CAP
2D Anarchist Sacco : NICOLA
3D Without pretense : OPENLY
4D Elders, derisively : OLDS
5D Preparation for a luau : PIT
6D Give a dirty look : SNEER AT
7D Not on solid ground, say : ASEA
8D Witty remark : MOT
9D London’s ___ Row : SAVILE
10D Shepherd’s stick : CROOK
11D Certain seasonal workers? : REINDEER
12D Strip poker? : AWL
13D Formal vote : YEA
15D Big do : GALA
21D Female in Mexican-style wrestling : LUCHADORA
24D One going for a little bite? : FLEA
25D Inst. known for an annual 15-Down : MET
26D Formal vote : AYE
27D Informal 26-Down : YEP
29D Give a dirty look : OGLE
31D One of the “Gilmore Girls” : RORY
34D Younger Lennon son : SEAN
35D Second star ever photographed, after the sun : VEGA
36D Over-the-top dramatic : FULL DIVA
38D Prowl : HUNT
39D End of a Senate address : GOV
40D Dissemble : LIE
41D Listing at Christie’s : LOT
42D Bacchanals : BENDERS
44D Charles Darwin’s ship : BEAGLE
46D Bakery devices : MIXERS
47D Disposable : ONE-USE
48D Croaked : RASPED
50D Bribable : VENAL
52D Chamber opening? : ANTE
55D ___ Park, F.D.R.’s home : HYDE
56D Laptop brand : ASUS
57D Gender prefix : CIS
58D G.O.P. group : RNC
59D One from Hamburg : EIN
61D “S.N.L.” alum Gasteyer : ANA

9 thoughts on “0529-25 NY Times Crossword 29 May 25, Thursday”

  1. 17:34, no errors. At some point, I “understood” the theme, but only to the extent of thinking that certain black squares needed to contain Ts. After I finished, it took me an embarrassingly long time to notice that there was a T above each of those black squares and correctly parse the entry “TEASE UP”. Duh … 😳.

  2. 23:13, no errors. Fortunately for me, being totally oblivious to the theme was not detrimental. Didn’t see the theme until I read Dave’s comment (thank you Dave). Even if I saw the theme, it wouldn’t have helped, didn’t know MENSA is a constellation. I had the most difficulty trying to untangle the LUCHADORA/BENDERS/HAND/RANT knot.

    1. 14A reminded me of an oldie:
      “Do you like KIPLING?”
      “Don’t know, I’ve never Kippled”.

  4. Again not to detract from the cleverness of the theme but “tease up” is somewhat contrived. I just don’t think that’s what people say. They say “tease” hair.
    “Tease up” is actually in Webster’s dictionary but it’s not a familiar term to a general audience (“to improve or bring into being by small changes or touches e.g. ‘tease up a picture'”).

    So another case of a slightly disingenuous and disappointing theme that’s a bit off but which has been forced in as an idiom that is either non-existent or little used.

    Even with google ai, tease up is not recognized as applied to hair. Its real meaning is too obscure as is the term itself but the nyt ran with it anyway and basically fudged it into another more familiar meaning which would have worked perfectly except it doesn’t exist.

  5. 49 min, 2 errors

    I got part of the theme but when I looked for ‘t’ up, I didn’t see it. And that’s because the one place I looked is my error. 8D, I had MON and 18A I had ETVOILA. I see the “t” everywhere else.

    I agree with Anonymous, seemed a bit contrived. And the fact several clues were from left field. For me any way. Especially “TEASE UP”?

  7. Struggled with the theme and with very uncommon clues/answers (NICOLA, VENAL, to name two). I had one letter left and finally figured out the theme which gave me the final letter. My pride of figuring out the theme was quickly squashed when I read Bill’s explanation and realized I only figured out half the theme (like @Dave Kennison). Oh well, a finished puzzle is a finished puzzle.

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