Tuesday, March 24, 2026 |

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Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal Crossword “It’s Greek to Me” — Eric’s Review

Tarun Krishnamurthy’s Universal Crossword “It’s Greek To — 3/24/26 (Click to Embiggen)

As I often do, I ignored the circled letters in the theme answers until I had filled in the grid and was trying to make sense of the theme. The puzzle’s title is the only revealer:

• 17A [Illegal lottery] NUMBERS GAME
• 26A [Nostalgic place to visit] CHILDHOOD HOME
• 40A [Halloween outfit that may come with an eye patch] PIRATE COSTUME
• 53A [Certain fragrance] MUSK PERFUME

The “Greek” part of the title refers to the Greek letters that begin each theme answer (but you knew that). I imagine that many compound nouns ending with ME start with a Greek letter, but the ones here are mostly entertaining. (MUSK PERFUME doesn’t spark joy for me, but it’s not objectionable.)

Other stuff:

• 22A [Literary device used to address plot inconsistencies] RETCON It’s from crosswords that I learned this word and the concept of retroactive continuity.
• 32A [Opposite of A.D.] BCE That pairing seems a little odd to me, since the C in BCE is for “Common.” Technically, I guess it works.
• 49A [What might be requested after an iPad is spun around] TIP I try to be nice to the people who work customer service jobs, but tipping a sales clerk always seems like a bit much.
• 58A [Emergency kit] GO BAG It will soon be wildfire season where I live. I’m not too worried about it, but it’ s not something I ignore. Maybe this year we’ll actually assemble a go bag.
• 60A [“My Good Side: A Memoir” author Scheana] SHAY I didn’t recognize the author or her book. Per Wikipedia, Shay is “an American television personality, singer, podcast host, and actress [who] was an original cast member on the Bravo reality television series Vanderpump Rules for eleven seasons.” Reality shows don’t appeal to me, which explains why I’ve never heard of her.
• 11D [Apple skin?] IPHONE CASE Cute clue.
• 27D [Getting a move on] HAULING ASS That phrase doesn’t bother me, but I’m moderately surprised to see it in a Universal grid.

Matt Jones’s Jonesin’ Crossword, “The Power of Three” — buy one, get two free. – Erin’s write-up

Jonesin’ solution 3/24/26

Hello lovelies! This week’s theme involves tripling the last word in some common phrases.

• 7a. [Mic check you can feel in your vertebrae?] SPINAL TAP TAP TAP
• 27a. [Bird feature for Buster Poindexter?] HOT HOT HOT WINGS
• 43a. [Grouch eating like Cookie Monster?] OSCAR NOM NOM NOM
• 54a. [Bottom-of-the-page section about a devilish number?] SIX SIX SIX FOOTER

Other things:

• 40a. [Certain Wall St. trader] ARB, short for arbitrageur. It looks like these folks trade quickly to take advantage of small price differences between markets.

Until next week!