October 8, 2025

Title: ODDS AND ENDS

Constructor: Alex Eaton-Salners

Editor: Amanda Rafkin

Theme synopsis:

• I OWE YOU ONE (17A: "Thanks a million!")
• RULE OF THREE (24A: Writing principle in "Reduce, reuse, recycle")
• GIMME FIVE (36A: "Up top!")
• BEST OF SEVEN (49A: WNBA Finals format, as of 2025)
• DIVINE NINE (60A: Group of historically Black fraternities and sororities)

ODDS AND ENDS: ODDS – as in ODD numbers – are found at the ENDS of the theme answers: ONE, THREE, FIVE, SEVEN, and NINE.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• SAP (23A: Diet for many gummivores) A gummivore is an animal whose diet consists of tree SAP and insects. Gummivore is a new term to me. The category includes marmosets and lemurs, who live in the treetops where their food is located.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• UCLA (6A: Bruins' school) The Bruins are the sports teams at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The team's mascots are Joe and Josie Bruin. In the 1950s, the UCLA Bruins used live bears as mascots. Fortunately, their current bear mascots are humans in costumes.
• PANT (21A: What hot dogs do?) The question mark in this clue alerts solvers to expect some trickiness. The clue is not talking about hot dogs that one eats, but about actual dogs that PANT when they are hot.
• RULE OF THREE (24A: Writing principle in "Reduce, reuse, recycle") The RULE OF THREE writing principle suggests that trios of entities (characters, events, words in a slogan) are more effective than other numbers. In addition to the saying "Reduce, reuse, recycle," think of the fairy tales The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the cartoon mascots Snap, Crackle, and Pop, or the saying Stop, Look, and Listen. Once you begin noticing the RULE OF THREE, you'll find many examples.
• BEST-OF-SEVEN (49A: WNBA Finals format, as of 2025) In the inaugural year of the WNBA (1997), the season's champion was decided by a single championship game. From 1998 to 2004, the WNBA championship was a BEST-OF-three series. In 2005, the WNBA Final became a BEST-OF-five series. This year, as the clue informs us, the WNBA Final changes to a BEST-OF-SEVEN format, which is similar to the NBA Finals.
• CAT (53A: Pet that might look right at you while batting something off the counter) Well, I knew this answer right away! And I'm sure anyone who has known a CAT had no trouble with this clue. CATs do have an attitude (catitude), don't they? It is one of the reasons I love them, though there are moments... My CAT, Willow, has exhibited the behavior in this clue. Her recent favorite less-than-helpful thing to do is to jump on my desk while I'm working and start chewing on papers. I have a plethora of crossword printouts with gnawed corners.

Catitude

• DIVINE NINE (60A: Group of historically Black fraternities and sororities) DIVINE NINE is a nickname for the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), a collaborative group of historically Black fraternities and sororities formed to "foster cooperative actions of its members in dealing with matters of mutual concern." NPHC was founded at Howard University in 1929. As one can guess from the nickname, DIVINE NINE, the NPHC currently has NINE member organizations.
• STEAM (64A: Cook, like xiaolongbao) A type of Chinese steamed bun, xiaolongbao take their name from the traditional bamboo STEAMing basket (xiaolong) in which they are prepared.
• CLONE (7D: Every dinosaur in Jurassic Park is one) This is a fun clue. Jurassic Park is the titular wildlife park in Michael Crichton's 1990 book, and in the Jurassic Park franchise of movies based on the book. Jurassic Park features de-extinct dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are CLONEs, created from dinosaur DNA (that was extracted from prehistoric mosquitoes preserved in amber).
• ATE (22D: Enjoyed some fried pickles) In most cases, I can't tell you the first time I ATE certain foods. However, fried pickles are an exception. I was on a work trip to Nashville (quite a few years ago now) and was out for dinner with some of my colleagues. (I even remember that the restaurant had red-and-white-checked tablecloths, though the name of the restaurant would take some research.) One of my friends ordered fried pickles, and I had never heard of them before. I wondered why anyone would fry pickles. Then I tried one. And now whenever I am at a restaurant that serves fried pickles, I usually order them.
• FMRI (25D: Medical scan that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow) FMRI (usually written with a lowercase f, as fMRI) stands for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. An FMRI evaluates blood flow in different areas of the brain.
• VAIN (38D: Hardly humble) This seems like a great opportunity to link to Carly Simon's 1972 song, "You're So VAIN." "You're so VAIN / You probably think this song is about you..."
• PH SCALE (41D: Basic measurement?) Another question mark clue. The PH SCALE is a way to measure how basic or acidic a solution is.
• ELVIS (51D: "Neptune Frost" star Ngabo) Neptune Frost (2021) is an Afrofuturist movie set in post-civil war Rwanda in a Burundi village made of computer parts. Neptune Frost is described as being "set between states of being - past and present, dream and waking life, colonized and free, male and female, memory and prescience." ELVIS Ngabo and Cheryl Isheja portray Neptune, an intersex runway.
• THEME (54D: Common crossword feature) I have mentioned before that I will never get tired of this clue angle for the word THEME. It's true; I still enjoy it.
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• METERS (30A: Standard units of measurement for Olympic track and field events)
• ACT (43A: Play part, or play a part)
• BEHALF (45A: "On ___ of everyone here, I'd like to thank…")

I did not have a good guess for the THEME after reading the title. I wondered if we would see synonyms for miscellaneous things. I discovered the THEME early on, however, and had a nice "Aha!" moment as I filled in I OWE YOU ONE. I appreciated the five theme answers today. The puzzle felt theme-dense, but the solve was still smooth, and that's impressive. This THEME felt vaguely familiar to me, but we haven't seen it before. We have seen a puzzle titled "Odds & Ends," which had a completely different theme. We've also seen "Oddly Enough," which was number-related, but in a different way. Congratulations to Alex Eaton-Salners making a USA Today crossword debut! Thank you, Alex, for this excellent puzzle.