Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Pick Apart

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13-06-2025

There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solve today's puzzle before reading further! Pick Apart
Constructor: Jared Goudsmit
Editor: Jared Goudsmit
Jared: I'm so stoked to see this puzzle run! Constructing today's grid was an especially ambitious challenge for me because of those 15-letter bonus entries at 3- and 10-Down. One of my favorite aspects of USA Today puzzles is that grid designs don't have to follow rotational symmetry, giving constructors the flexibility to make more creative choices. I'd also like to give a shout-out to 33-Down, a resource I often use when hunting for fresh new clues!
MARCH (9D: Hinamatsuri's month) Hinamatsuri is a Japanese holiday that is also known as Doll's Day or Girls' Day. It is celebrated each year on March 3 and celebrates the health and happiness of young girls and women. The observance of Hinamatsuri includes a display of dolls on a multitiered, red-carpeted platform.
TARYN (27D: Body positivity activist Brumfitt) TARYN Brumfitt is a writer, speaker, filmmaker, and body positivity advocate. She is the founder of Body Image Movement, an organization that teaches people to love and appreciate their bodies. In 2023, TARYN Brumfitt was named Australian of the Year.
COCA (30D: Mate de ___ (herbal tea)) Mate de COCA, also known as COCA tea, is an herbal drink made using the leaves of the COCA plant. The COCA plant contains alkaloids from which cocaine is derived. Although a cup of mate de COCA contains a low amount of the alkaloid, it is enough to cause a positive result on a drug test for cocaine. Mate de COCA is currently illegal in the United States unless it has been decocainized.
KFC (1A: Raising Cane's competitor) Like its competitor KFC, Raising Cane is a restaurant specializing in chicken. Raising Cane's specific specialty is chicken fingers. The company was founded in 1996 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is named after the dog of one of the founders.
RHEA (15A: Actress Seehorn) RHEA Seehorn played the role of attorney Kim Wexler on the TV Series, Better Call Saul (2015-2022), a spin-off of and prequel to Breaking Bad (2008-2013).
ROMAN (42A: Like Augustus) Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE), also known as Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus was the founder of the ROMAN Empire. He was the first ROMAN emperor, serving from 27 BCE until his death.
AYE (46A: Blackbeard's "Yes!") AYE, Blackbeard was the nickname of Edward Teach/Thatch (c 1680-1718), who was a pirate in the West Indies and off the eastern coast of North America. Blackbeard has been the inspiration for many fictional pirates.
PICTURE BOOK (58A: "Boys Don't Fry" or "Pete's a Pizza") Boys Don't Fry is a PICTURE BOOK by Kimberly Lee, illustrated by Charlene Chua. It tells the story of a Malaysian boy who wants to help prepare the Lunar New Year feast. Pete's a Pizza is a PICTURE BOOK written and illustrated by William Stieg. It tells about a boy (named Pete, of course) whose father "turns him into a pizza" to help him overcome the disappointment of cancelled plans. I'm a fan of PICTURE BOOKs and I appreciate the use of specific examples in this clue.
EAR (64A: Body part with a tragus) The tragus is part of the external EAR. It is a small pointed prominence that projects backward, helping to collect sounds from behind. If you put your finger on your cheek and let it travel back towards your ear, you will discover your tragus; the little part that sticks up slightly and is located above your earlobe.
TESLA (66A: Inventor Nikola) Nikola TESLA (1856-1943) was an inventor and engineer known for his contributions to the design of modern electricity supply systems and alternating current. One of Nikola TESLA's inventions was the TESLA coil, an electrical resonant transformer circuit. TESLA invented the coil in 1891. Although they've been used in a variety of applications, today the main use of TESLA coils are for entertainment and educational purposes. Tesla coils can even be used to play music.
KAPPA (1D: Letter after iota) KAPPA is making back-to-back crossword appearances, as we saw it yesterday clued as [Sorority's K].
EMU (11D: Liberty Mutual bird) The Liberty Mutual insurance company has used LiMu EMU as its mascot since 2019.
ABC (29D: "The Golden Bachelorette" channel) The Golden Bachelorette is a dating reality TV series that premiered last year, joining ABC's offerings of dating reality shows. The Golden Bachelorette features a bachelorette and contestants who are older than those seen on its counterpart The Bachelorette.
WIKIPEDIA (33D: Web resource with a "List of lists of lists" page) I'm always happy to see WIKIPEDIA highlighted, as it's a resource I, like Jared, am extremely grateful for. WIKIPEDIA's "List of lists of lists" page is a fun one to check out. As the name suggests, the page is a list of other WIKIPEDIA pages that contain lists of other lists. One could spend a lot of time digging into the links on this WIKIPEDIA page. (I don't have any personal experience of that, of course...)
BDAY (38D: NYE, for Bebe Neuwirth) Bebe Neuwirth has won two Tony Awards for her work on Broadway and two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Lilith Sternin on the sitcom Cheers (1982-1993). And her birthday is on New Year's Eve. The abbreviation NYE in the clue alerts solvers that the answer will be BDAY.
ORE (43D: Mined resource in the game Deep Rock Galactic) Deep Rock Galactic is a cooperative video game released in 2020. The game is set on an alien planet, Hoxxes IV. There are a number of different OREs on the planet that are mineable resources.
IKEA (56D: Seller of SKOGSTA tables) SKOGSTA tables sold by IKEA are made of acacia wood.
IN A (59D: "Genie ___ Bottle" (Christina Aguilera hit)) Christine Aguilera's song, "Genie IN A Bottle" is from her self-titled debut studio album. "Genie IN A Bottle" was the biggest summer hit of 1999, spending five weeks at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
Some other clues I especially enjoyed:
ALOE (13A: Succulent that kind of sounds like a greeting)
WAITER (50A: "___, there's a fly in my soup!")
TRUNK (22D: Part of a car or tree)
HATE WATCH (35D: Enjoy some trash TV, perhaps)
POPSICLE STICK (20A: Part of a frozen treat that may have a joke printed on it)
PITCH BLACK (37A: Totally dark)
PICTURE BOOK (58A: "Boys Don't Fry" or "Pete's a Pizza")
PICK APART: The word PICK is split APART and found at the ends of each theme answer: POPSICLE STICK, PITCH BLACK, and PICTURE BOOK.
The theme answers here represent each possible split of the word PICK: P/ICK, PI/CK, and PIC/K. I'm glad that Jared persevered and came up with a grid that included the grid-spanning Down answers CORPORATE LADDER (3D: Something an office worker may climb) and SMOKE AND MIRRORS (10D: Magician's trickery), as those two answers are quite nice. Thank you, Jared, for this excellent puzzle.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword Blog & Answers for June 13, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher