February 11, 2026

Title: PASSING REMARKS

Constructor: Adryel W. Robles Ojeda

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• NONE FOR ME THANKS (20A: "Appreciate the offer, but I don't need any")
• HUT HUT HIKE (35A: Quarterback's before-the-snap phrase)
• MAY I HAVE THE SALT (53A: Polite request for some seasoning, perhaps)

PASSING REMARKS: Each theme answer is a REMARK made that pertains to PASSING: "I'll PASS," "PASS me the football," and "PASS the salt."

And now a word from our constructor:

Adryel: Thrilled to be debuting in USA Today! This puzzle came about from noodling with the bits and pieces of a couple of different entries. I spent a few summer nights discussing possibilities for this idea on Discord with some friends (and if you're reading this, you know who you are). I didn't think it would get anywhere, but it was Amanda in particular who helped me adjust the set and distill it down into its final form. What I love about USA Today crosswords is how hands-on the editing team is in working collaboratively to make an idea work, so I really look forward to working with them in the future.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• ONE (30A: Number of Winter 2026 Olympians representing Benin) Benin is a country in West Africa. The climate in Benin is hot and humid year-round, which isn't exactly conducive to training for winter sports. However, Benin does have ONE Winter 2026 Olympian. His name is Nathan Tchibozo, and he is representing Benin in alpine skiing in both the GIANT slalom and the slalom. Regardless of how his events go, Nathan Tchibozo is making history; this is the first time Benin has participated in the Winter Olympics.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• B-BALL (5A: Caitlin Clark's sport, for short) I'm always happy to see sports content that I'm familiar with, and I definitely know about Caitlin Clark! I have previously written about Caitlin Clark, who currently plays B-BALL for the WNBA's Indiana Fever. In college, Caitlin Clark played basketball for the University of Iowa.
• LAVA (14A: Chocolate ___ cake) Chocolate cake with a molten "LAVA" center of gooey chocolate. Yes, please!
• MANTIS (25A: Smallest member of the Furious Five, in the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise) KUNG FU PANDA is a franchise of animated movies about "The Furious Five," a group of anthropomorphic animals who are Kung Fu masters. The first Kung Fu Panda movie was released in 2008. Kung Fu Panda 4 was released in 2024. Master MANTIS, who is the smallest of the five (as the clue informs us) is voiced in the movies by Seth Rogen.
• LEARNED (31A: The "L" of TIL) TIL = Today I learned
• ARABS (40A: Many people in Algeria) Algeria (officially the People's Republic of Algeria) is a country in North Africa. Here's a bit of trivia for you: Algeria is the largest county in Africa. The capital of Algeria is Algiers. Most people in Algeria identify as ARABS. Algeria is a member of the ARAB League, and its two official languages are Arabic and Berber.
• ERICA (45A: "LEGO Friends" voice actor Mendez) ERICA Mendez is a voice actor whose first major role was as the voice of Pac-man in the video game, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. LEGO Friends is a LEGO toy line. There have been several TV series and specials based on the toy line. ERICA Mendez voices the character of Andrea.
• FARM (49A: Where one might tune in for the nightly moos) I tried "barn" first, but FARM works, too! (And most importantly, FARM works with the crossing answers...) I enjoyed this playful clue, and I like the visual of cows on a FARM giving the "nightly moos."
• ALBA (57A: "Fantastic Four" star Jessica) In the 2005 superhero movie, "Fantastic Four," Jessica ALBA portrays Sue Storm AKA Invisible Woman. She reprises the role in the sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).
• ISLAM (61A: Religion with Five Pillars) I wrote about the Five Pillars of ISLAM yesterday, when we saw PILLAR clued as [The Hajj is one of five, in Islam].
• BEET (65A: Schrute Farms vegetable) Schrute Farms is a fictional bed and breakfast and BEET farm owned by The Office character Dwight Schrute. Although I have never watched the TV series The Office (2005-2013), I learned about Dwight Schrute's BEET farm from the April 23, 2024 puzzle.
• BACON (5D: Common pancetta substitute) Pancetta is a salt-cured meat made from pork belly. It originated in Italy. Similarly, BACON is also salt-cured pork.
• ADAM (7D: Figure skater Rippon) ADAM Rippon is a retired competitive figure skater. He won a bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Also in 2018, he won season 26 of Dancing with the Stars with Jenna Johnson. At the 2026 Winter Olympics happening this month in Italy, ADAM Rippon is part of the NBC commentary team. Watch for him if you are tuning in to any figure skating events
• ROMAN (10D: "What's your ___ Empire?) Recently, there was a social media trend that involved people (mostly women) asking their partners (primarily men), "How often do you think about the ROMAN Empire?" That led to the trend of asking people, "What's your ROMAN Empire?" In other words, what do you think about all the time? I had the amusing thought while I was writing this up that I don't really think about the ROMAN Empire much, but as a crossword blogger, constructor, and editor, I probably think about the Inca Empire more often than the general population. What's your ROMAN Empire?
• HONEYBEE (35D: Worker who might generate a lot of buzz?) The question mark in this clue alerts solvers that the clue is not referring to something that generates a lot of interest, but an animal that literally generates a lot of buzz, a HONEYBEE.
• SCALENE (42D: Triangle that isn't equilateral or isosceles) Hey, who put math in our word puzzle? I had to dig deep for this one, since it's been quite some time since I thought about geometry. (That is definitely not my ROMAN Empire!) A SCALENE triangle is one that has three sides all of different lengths. An equilateral triangle has three sides that are all the same length. An isosceles triangle has two sides that are the same length.
• GIANT (48D: ___ Slalom (Winter Olympics event)) GIANT Slalom is an alpine skiing event. It involves racing between sets of poles. The poles are spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom events, but are closer together than they are in Super-G events. If I'm reading the schedule correctly, it looks like the GIANT Slalom events at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will happen on February 14th (Men's) and 15th (Women's).
• RHYME (51D: What frogs and dogs do) Clues for the word RHYME are always delightfully misleading. I enjoyed this one a lot. Last month we saw the following clue for RHYME: [Looks for books, for example]. 
• A couple of other answers I especially enjoyed:
• TAMALES (38D: Food in corn husks)
• BIZARRE (41D: Very strange)

The theme here is a category theme, where each theme answer is an example of the title – in this case PASSING REMARKS. I think this is very fun and clever. Congratulations to Adryel, making a USA Today crossword debut! Thank you, Adryel, for this interesting puzzle.