Crossword Blog & Answers for March 23, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher

Constructor: Zachary Edward-Brown

Editor: Anna Gundlach

Comments from Today’s Crossword Constructor

Zachary: I’d like to thank Amanda and the USA Today team for helping me make this puzzle as good as possible. For any future collaborations, email me at [email protected]. I’d love to do more collaboration work.

What I Learned from Today’s Puzzle

• MONROE (8D: “Longlegs” star Maika) Longlegs is a 2024 horror movie (set in the 1990s) about an FBI agent tracking down a serial killer. Each case involves a father killing his family and himself, and the killer leaves behind a letter signed by “Longlegs.” Maika MONROE stars as an FBI agent assigned to the case.

Random Thoughts & Interesting Things

• ALL (5A: The “A” in GOAT) GOAT stands for “greatest of ALL time.”
• MOONS (8A: Saturn has over 140 of them) This is a timely clue, because just this month, astronomers confirmed the presence of 128 additional MOONS orbiting Saturn. This brings the number of confirmed MOONS for Saturn to 274. Hooray for science in the crossword!
• SPONGEBOB (16A: Fry cook at the Krusty Krab) This is a reference to the animated TV series SPONGEBOB Square Pants. On the show, which is in its 15th season, SPONGEBOB works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab, a fast food restaurant owned by Mr. Krabs.
• NAME DROP (20A: Casually mention having lunch with Taylor Swift, say) Ha! This clue definitely made me laugh.
• ONEIDA (22A: Nation in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy) The Haudenosaunee are an indigenous confederacy comprised of Six Nations: the Mohawk, Onondaga, ONEIDA, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples. The ONEIDA people refer to themselves as Onyota’a:ka, which means “People of the Standing Stone.”
• EMU (31A: Bird in Australian Aboriginal rock art) Aboriginal people (Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland) used rock surfaces as a canvas. Rock art has been discovered in rock shelters and in caves. The artwork often depicts stick figures. Some pictures contain representations of EMUs, including EMU tracks and eggs.
• ACME (34A: Company that supplies Wile E. Coyote with invisible paint) The ACME Corporation is a fictional business featured in the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons. The company is the source of many devices used by Wile E. Coyote in his attempt to outwit the Road Runner, such as invisible paint, anvils, exploding tennis balls, dehydrated boulders, rocket-powered roller skates, and, well, you get the idea.
• IKEA (40A: Furniture chain that sells lingonberry jam) This clue made me smile. I don’t go to IKEA often, but when I do, it’s fun to browse their section of Swedish food products. Lingonberries, which are native to boreal forest and the Arctic tundra, grow wild in the Nordic countries, including Sweden. Lingonberry jam is traditionally served alongside Swedish meatballs (you can also buy those at IKEA).
• MILK MOUSTACHE (52A: “Facial hair” that results from a certain drink) The iconic ads of celebrities sporting MILK MOUSTACHEs grew out of a 1990s ad campaign for the California Milk Processor Board. The first MILK MOUSTACHE ad, accompanied by the iconic “got MILK?” slogan ran in 1995. It featured model Naomi Campbell.
• ABBA (58A: “Dancing Queen” group) Every single time “Dancing Queen” is referenced in a clue for ABBA, I get this song stuck in my head. There are, admittedly, much worse fates. Good thing I’m a fan of this song, originally released by ABBA in 1976. “You’re in the mood for a dance / And when you get the chance / You are the dancing queen…”
• HANOI (3D: Capital of Vietnam) Time to review some geography. Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. Its neighbors are China, Laos, and Cambodia, and it has coastline along the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. HANOI is the capital of Vietnam, and the country’s largest city is Ho Chi Minh City.
• EGG (4D: Easter ___ (video game secret)) This is a fun clueing angle for EGG. The term “Easter EGG,” referring to some secret message or content, is used not only in the world of video games, but also in movies, music videos, social media posts, computer software, etc. Programmers have been creating hidden surprises in video games since at least 1973, but the term “Easter EGG” didn’t come into use to refer to these secrets until programmer Warren Robinett hid his name in the 1980 Atari game Adventure in response to Atari not including programmers’ names in the credits. When his name was eventually discovered, Atari realized it was going to be too expensive to remove it. Instead, they kept it, referred to it as an Easter EGG, and encouraged the inclusion of Easter EGGs in future games.
• ALBA (5D: “Fantastic Four” actress Jessica) Jessica ALBA plays the role of Susan Storm/ Invisible Woman in the movies Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). 
• OREOS (9D: Cookies filled with “Stuf”) The other day I was at a gathering where cookies were being served, and some of those cookies were OREOS. I took one to my husband and said, “Have a crossword’s-favorite-cookie.”
• DRY (21D: Like some deserts and some humor) I was extra careful to avoid a typo here. Deserts are DRY, but desserts should generally not be.
• EMMA (25D: “Superbad” actress Stone) Superbad is a 2007 coming-of-age movie. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera star as teenagers Seth and Evan who want to party and lose their virginity prior to graduating from high school. EMMA Stone plays a supporting role as Jules, a friend of Seth’s. Superbad was EMMA Stone’s movie debut.
• DENIM (30D: Jorts material) Jorts are DENIM shorts. The term “jorts” is a portmanteau of “jeans” and “shorts.”
• TIBET (49D: Nepal’s neighbor) A little more geography review today. TIBET is an autonomous region located in the southwestern part of China. The capital of TIBET is Lhasa. Mount Everest is located on the TIBET-Nepal border.
• ROE (57D: ___ v. Wade) ROE v. Wade was the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that protected the right to have an abortion. In 2022, ROE v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The last time I wrote about ROE v. Wade, I learned that the ROE v. Wade hearing included what is widely considered to be one of the “worst jokes in legal history.”