There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solvetoday's puzzlebefore reading further!Sports Cars Constructor:Aidan Deshong Editor:Amie Walker TEN (33A: Perfect score in an IGN review)IGNis a website featuring articles and reviews on video games and entertainment media. IGN historically used a 100-point scale for their reviews, but switched to aTEN-point scalein January 2020. IAN (42A: Smosh co-founder Hecox) Smosh is a sketch comedy brand founded by IAN Hecox and Anthony Padilla in 2005.Smoshproduces a mix of scripted and unscripted content for its YouTube channels. I had not heard of Smosh before, and I had to be quite disciplined to resist falling down the rabbit hole of watching videos on their channel. LILA (61A: Country artist McCann) LILA McCann released her debut single,"Down Came a Blackbird,"in 1997 when she was just 16 years old. Her most recent album,Paint This Town, was released in 2017. NOISE (16A: "Make some ___!") I associate the phrase "Make some NOISE!" with attempts to AMP UP (9A: Energize, like a crowd) fans at a sporting event. This fits right in with today's sports-related theme. ORCA (36A: Willy in "Free Willy" was one)Free Willyis a 1993 movie about the friendship between Willy, an ORCA in captivity, and Jesse, a 12-year-old boy in foster care (portrayed by Jason James Richter). FARSI (52A: Language of Iran) and GERMAN (22D: Austria's language) In addition to Iran, FARSI (also known as Persian) is an official language in Afghanistan (where it is known as Dari) and Tajikistan (known as Tajik). GERMAN is an official language in five countries in addition to Austria: Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. ART (56A: M.C. Escher's field)M. C. Escher(1898-1972) was a Dutch artist. His ART included mathematically-inspired drawings that depict impossible objects and tessellations. STIM (57A: Use a fidget cube, for example) STIM, short for stimming, refers to a self-stimulatory behavior characterized by repetitive action, such as tapping a pencil, drumming fingers on a table, playing with afidget cube, or rocking back and forth. Although often associated with people on the autism spectrum, stimming behaviors are practiced to some extent by nearly everyone. SANG (4D: Performed on "The Voice")The Voiceis a reality singing competition that premiered in 2011. Winners of the competition receive $100,000 and a record deal with Universal Music Group. OMAHA (6D: Nebraska's largest city) Although Lincoln is Nebraska's capital, OMAHA is its largest city. TITAN (7D: Saturn's largest moon) Unlike the Earth, which has one moon orbiting it, Saturn has many moons. Scientists know ofat least 247 moons orbiting Saturn, of which TITAN is the largest. TITAN is larger than the planet Mercury, and is the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere. TITAN is the second-largest moon in the Solar System, after Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. STAR (8D: Invincibility item in "Super Mario Bros.") InSuper Mario Bros., a Super STAR, also known as Starman, is rare but powerful. Obtaining a Super STAR makes a character temporarily invincible to enemies and attacks. ANGELA (9D: "Vampire in Brooklyn" star Bassett)Vampire in Brooklynis a 1995 comedy horror film. Eddie Murphy stars as Max, a vampire in search of a half-vampire woman who is unaware of her vampire heritage. ANGELA Bassett portrays that woman, Detective Rita Veder. MOORE (10D: "The Substance" star Demi)The Substanceis a 2024 movie in which Demi MOORE portrays a 50-year-old movie star whose fame is fading. She purchases a black market serum (the titular substance) in an attempt to counteract the aging process.The Substanceis a horror movie, so as one might imagine in such a film, using the drug does not go well. EMPERORS (21D: Penguins that can dive 1,850 feet deep) I do enjoy a clue that comes with a fun animal fact. EMPERORS are the tallest living penguin species. They live in Antarctica. While hunting, EMPEROR penguins can stay submerged for around 20 minutes and dive to depths of 1,850 feet. CORRELATION (26D: What does not imply causation, it's said) This clue made me smile. Indeed, CORRELATION does not imply causation. Just because two things happen at the same time (CORRELATION), that does not mean the two things have a cause-and-effect relationship. TACO (27D: Choco ___ (rhyming treat)) Made by Good Humor-Breyers, a Choco TACO consists of a waffle cone-like shell filled with vanilla ice cream, fudge, peanuts, and a milk chocolate coating. The Choco TACO was invented in the 1980s, though it wasn't available nationwide until 1996. SKA (28D: Genre related to rocksteady) SKA is a music genre that originated in Jamaica, as did rocksteady. SKA combines elements of mento, calypso, jazz, and rhythm and blues. MTV (30D: "Jershey Shore" network)Jersey Shore(2009-2012) is a reality TV series that originally aired from 2009-2012 on MTV. The show followed the lives of eight housemates at a vacation home. In seasons one, three, five, and six, that vacation home was located on the Jersey Shore for which the show was named. In season two the show was located in South Beach, Florida, and in season four it was in Florence, Italy. OTTO (36D: Anne Frank's father) In the summer of 1942 when Jews were being systematically deported from the Netherlands, OTTO Frank and his family went into hiding in a secret annex of a house in Amsterdam. They lived there for two years before their discovery. OTTO Frank (1889-1980) was the only family member to survive the Holocaust. In 1947, he edited and published the first edition of his daughter, Anne's, diary, which became known asThe Diary of a Young Girl. CIA (37D: "Alias" spy org.)Aliasis a TV series that aired on ABC from 2001-2006. Jennifer Garner starred as Sydney Bristow, a double agent for the CIA. HALFTIME (38D: Kitty ___ show ("Puppy Bowl" break)) The Puppy Bowl airs each year (since its start in 2005) on Super Bowl Sunday. Designed to raise awareness of pets waiting for adoption, the show features shelter dogs "playing football" in a model stadium. The Puppy Bowl that viewers see is a compilation of three days of filming from a number of cameras, some of which are hidden in toys and water bowls, and some which have peanut butter around the lens to encourage the dogs to lick them. Since the second Puppy Bowl, there has been a Kitty Halftime show - 30 minutes of kittens playing with laser pointers, balls of yarn, a variety of toys, and a scratching post. It's all adorable. My cat, Willow, says she highly recommends adopting a pet. This photo of Willow makes me laugh. She has buried her nose in her fur; perhaps it was cold. ARMANI (46D: Italian fashion house) Giorgio ARMANI founded his luxury fashion house in Milan, Italy in 1975. SLOP (57D: Bad AI-generated content, informally) We saw "AI SLOP" as an answera bit over a week ago, clued as [Computer-generated junk]. PAGE (60D: "The Umbrella Academy" actor Elliot)The Umbrella Academy(2019-2024) is a TV series based on the comic book series of the same name. The show is centered on a family of adopted sibling superheroes reunited to solve the mystery of their father's death, while also trying to prevent an impending apocalypse. Elliot PAGE plays the role of Vanya Hargreeves, a violinist who can unleash great force by focusing on sound. DODGE CHARGER (20A: Coupe whose name includes a Los Angeles football player) CHEVROLET ASTRO (37A: Van whose name includes a Houston baseball player) FORD RAPTOR (58A: Truck whose name includes a Toronto basketball player) SPORTS CARS: Each theme answer is a type of CAR whose name includes the name of a SPORTS team. I had to laugh a bit when I realized what today's theme is. I have an extremely limited knowledge of both SPORTS and CARS! However, that wasn't a problem here. With the help of crossing answers, my limited knowledge was enough. I appreciate that the theme answers represent three different vehicle types – coupe, van, and truck – as well as three different sports – football, baseball, and basketball. Thank you, Aidan, for this enjoyable puzzle. USA TODAY's Daily Crossword Puzzles Sudoku & Crossword Puzzle Answers This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Crossword Blog & Answers for July 9, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher
