Sunday, August 30, 2026 — Tempus Fugit? Perhaps Tempus Has a Terrible Memory 🙄

Today's crossword relied on an anagram-adjacent concept, that of a letter bank: all the letters in the clue can be used as many times (but at least once) in the answer. Once you realize this (which may only happen once you get the revealer figured out), you can rule out answers that include non-banked letters, considerably shortening the solve. 😀 

What makes the puzzle particularly challenging (and therefore fun!) is the need to recognize the names in the answer based only on an unrelated name. Both cohosts were able to get through this, Jean through talent and encyclopedic knowledge, Mike by repeating his mantra, aka the Galaxy Quest theme — never give up, never surrender*.

 There were a slew of difficult (read: abfab) head scratchers in today's crossword. We don't have enough room to list all of them(!), but these certainly got our attention: 82D, Barolos e Brunellos, VINOS; 52D, John ___ Day (California commemoration), MUIR; and 42D, Double-breasted pieces of menswear, POLOCOATS.

Show note imagery: John MUIR, environmentalist extraordinaire!

*unless it's a Saturday Sam Ezersky puzzle, in which case knock yourself out 😀 

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