Scroll on for our recommendations from the last week of puzzles!
Remember that this is not an attempt to pick the “best” puzzles, and we won’t be commenting as critics. Our approach is best described as “puzzles we don’t think you should miss.” Kind of like staff recommendations at a local bookstore.
Los Angeles Times: (5/18) by Parker Higgins. Impressive themeless grid and a delightful symmetrical pair in the center. —Rich
McGrids: Chasm No. 14 (5/18) by Ryan McCarty. A seven-stack of nines? I don’t know how he does it. —Rich
USA Today: (5/17) by Sally Hoelscher & Olivia Mitra Framke. Loaded with strong themers and a more-complex-than-usual theme for USA Today that’s hopefully a sign of things to come. – Will
The Atlantic: Caleb’s Inferno (5/19) by Caleb Madison. These are so freaking hard! This one with its especially devilish split entry down the middle challenged me in the best way. —Norah
Slate: (5/20) by Sid Sivakumar. The Slate puzzles have quickly become a favorite for me. I’d recommend all of them if I could but I chose this one for Sid’s hallmarks of the uber-clean grid and clever wordplay. —Norah
The Modern Crossword: (5/23) by Rafa Musa. Fun and breezy with a bunch of references that I enjoyed. —Norah
Vox: (5/23) by Will Nediger. That Will continues to get this much theme density in to these puzzles week after week is astounding, not to mention consistently fun to solve. -Norah