May 8, 2026

Title: BACK OFFICE

Constructor: Lynn K. Watson

Editor: Amie Walker

Theme synopsis:

• SCRATCHING POST (20A: Something found in many a cat owner's house)
• IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME (37A: Words said after returning from vacation, perhaps)
• SAFE DEPOSIT BOX (53A: Place to store valuables inside some bank vaults)

BACK OFFICE: The BACK word of each theme answer can be paired with the word OFFICE: POST OFFICE, HOME OFFICE, and BOX OFFICE.

What I learned from today's puzzle:

• IMOGENE (27D: Comic actress Coca) IMOGENE Coca (1908-2001) was a comic actress who had a decades-long career in TV and film, as well as on the stage. From 1950-1954, IMOGENE Coca co-starred with Sid Caesar on the NBC variety show, Your Show of Shows. Although I couldn't come up with IMOGENE Coca's name, I recognized her face once I looked her up. Although Your Show of Shows predates me, I quite possibly saw her in one of her many guest star appearances, perhaps on The Brady Bunch, Trapper John, M.D., or Moonlighting.

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• CROSS (1A: Cantankerous) and SNIT (5D: Bad mood) With these two answers crossing, this corner of the puzzle is in a mood!
• EVIL (6A: "___ Like Me" (song sung by Maleficent in "Descendants")) Descendants is a 2015 made-for-TV Disney movie. The movie centers on the teenage children of Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar, and Cruella de Vil. "Evil Like Me" is sung by Kristin Chenoweth, who plays Maleficent. Dove Cameron plays Maleficent's daughter, Mal.
• SCRATCHING POST (20A: Something found in many a cat owner's house) My cat, Willow, would like it to be known that anything can be a SCRATCHING POST if you scratch it. Not all choices make your human friends happy, however. Here's Willow looking innocent. "Who me?! I never do anything I'm not supposed to do."

• WESTIE (28A: Nickname for a Scottish terrier) WESTIE is a common nickname for the Scottish dog breed, West Highland White Terrier. WESTIEs are medium-sized dogs with white coats.
• TEAM (31A: Mavericks or Bulls) That would be the NBA TEAMs the Dallas Mavericks and the Chicago Bulls.
• AMER (60A: Comedian Mo) Mo AMER is a stand-up comedian, and the star of the Netflix TV series, Mo (2022-2025). Mo is loosely based on Mo AMER's life as a Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas.
• AC/DC (61A: "High Voltage" band) High Voltage is AC/DC's debut studio album, released in 1975. That album was released only in Australia and New Zealand. A year later AC/DC released their first internationally-released album. It was also called High Voltage. Although the albums share a name, the track listings of the two albums are different.
• SAVER (62A: The end of time, maybe?) This isn't a doomsday clue, but simply referencing the fact that SAVER can be attached at the end of the word time to create the word timesaver.
• LONG (9D: "To make a ___ story short...") In my experience, when this phrase is used the LONG story ends up being anything but short...
• TTYL (31D: "byeee," in a text) TTYL = talk to you later. I appreciate the formatting of "byeee" here.
• ESCAPADES (32D: Wild adventures) ESCAPADES is such a fun word. What ESCAPADES can we get up to this weekend?
• HOPSCOTCH (35D: Chalk-drawn sidewalk game) Can you walk by a chalk-drawn HOPSCOTCH game without hopping your way through it? I cannot.
• ING (37D: Gerund ending) The gerund form of a verb is familiarly known as the "-ING form." WritING is a gerund, as is readING. In English, a gerund can act as a noun or a verb.
• PETCO (48D: Retail chain that removed the cat and dog from its logo in 2020) In 1991, PETCO introduced Red Ruff (a dog) and Blue Mews (a cat) as the store's official mascots, adding them to the store's logo. Some customers were disappointed when PETCO rebranded in 2020, and removed Ruff and Mews from the store's logo. (For the record, Willow is extremely disappointed in this choice.)
• A few other clues I especially enjoyed:
• NUNS (42A: Many supporting characters in "The Sound of Music")
• OPERA (65A: Common music-related "Jeopardy!" category)
• ENCHILADA (9D: Rolled dish often topped with queso fresco)

Hello from my HOME OFFICE. I really appreciate the various uses of OFFICE in the phrases resulting from today's theme. Thank you, Lynn, for this enjoyable puzzle.

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