Universal has TOEBEANS and CATEYES, so that automatically wins puzzle of the week. It also has some fun entertainment with a DRAGSHOW and SOAPOPERAS. Hopefully you don't need a SIDEHUSTLE to pay all those cover charges and streaming fees. I'll forgive it RAWDATA, even if I get too much of that in the day job.

The highlight of the LAT is the clue on 43A for PETS.

The Stumper definitely tried to stump. Really wanted the "Early influence on Asimov" to be VERNE or WELLS, but I suppose PULPS is accurate as well. That central pairing of INCAN DESCENT and INCANDESCENT is wild.

The Newsflash has me wondering why OREOs are the official cookie of the NBA? I am glad that Chrome has gotten reliable enough that I'd almost forgotten the AWSNAP message. I hadn't heard Disney+ was planning a new PETERPAN. Hope it's good.

#crosswords #SaturdayStumper #LATXword #UniXword #FireballNewsflash

The last couple weeks' New Yorker puzzles were both on the challenging side; I though this week's was the harder one, though it claimed the lesser "moderately challenging" rank. KINGOFKOWLOON and OSCARSSOWHITE were both excellent if hard to see answers this week, and SONGOFSOLOMON was a nice central themer last week.

Peter Gordon's Newsflash puzzles kick off a new year, with the unfortunate reminder that KEVINMCCARTHY is now Speaker of the House. I assume PATTYMURRAY is a much better choice as Senate president pro tempore, but I will admit I don't know much about her. Also, the names for new drugs always make me laugh: LEQEMBI???

#crossword #NewYorkerXword #FireballNewsflash