There are spoilers ahead. You might want to solvetoday's puzzlebefore reading further!Play to the Crowd (Freestyle) Constructor:Dena R. Verkuil Editor:Amanda Rafkin ADU (15A: Soccer star Freddy) Freddy ADU is a former professional soccer player. He was born in Ghana, and moved to the U.S. with his family when he was eight years old. In 2004, Freddy ADU signed a contract to play with Major League Soccer (MLS) team D.C. United. At the time, he was only 14 years old, making him the youngest person to sign a major league contract (a record that stood until 2024 when Cavan Sullivan signed with the Philadelphia Union). ARI (63A: Poet Banias) ARI Banias' first book of poetry,Anybody, was published in 2016. You can read somepoems by ARI Baniason thePoetry Foundationwebsite. COSMO (9A: Pink drink, for short) A cosmopolitan, or COSMO for short, is a pink cocktail made with vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and lime juice. PCP (20A: Go-to doc) PCP here stands for "primary care physician." ADA (23A: Programmer Lovelace) ADA Lovelace (1815-1852) was one of the first computer programmers, and is considered to be one of the first people to recognize the full potential of computers. DANKE (25A: Thanks, in German) I took a semester of German when I was a freshman in college. There's not a lot I remember from that semester, but I was able to remember that "DANKE" is German for "thanks." ADE (35A: Juicy ending?) The question mark in the clue alerts solvers to be on the lookout for trickiness and word play. Therefore, this juicy ending is not an exciting plot twist. Instead, the clue is looking for an ending to the names of juice-based drinks, or ADE (as in limeADE, lemonADE, etc.). AHS (36A: FX show whose middle letter stands for "horror")AHShere stands forAmerican Horror Story, a TV series that first aired in 2011.AHSis an anthology TV series, meaning each season is a self-contained miniseries with a different set of characters and story lines. SID (37A: "Ice Age" sloth) I have never seen the 2002 animated movieIce Age, or any of the sequels. However, from crosswords I have learned that these movies feature a sloth named SID (John Leguizamo), a wooly mammoth named Manny (Ray Romano), a squirrel named Scrat (Chris Wedge), an aging sloth named Granny (Wanda Sykes), and a one-eyed weasel named Buck(Simon Pegg). (There are lots of other characters, too. I just haven't come across them in crosswords ... yet!) PHI (41A: ___ Beta Kappa)PHI Beta Kappais an academic honor society founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. There are currently 293 PHI Beta Kappa chapters. The group's members include select arts and sciences students who are usually inducted in their senior year of college. KAPUT (51A: Broken down) KAPUT is a fun word! Seeing it in the puzzle made me curious about its etymology. The word originated with a French card game called piquet. The French used the word "capot" to describe both big winners and big losers in the game. German speakers borrowed the word, respelling it as "kaputt," and using it only to refer to losers. By the time English speakers adopted the word, they dropped the final t, spelling it "KAPUT," and used it to refer to things that are broken down or useless. PTO (53A: _aid _ime _ff) Here we have a split fill-in-the-blank clue, where each blank represents one missing letter. PTO is paid time off. TOURIST TRAP (54A: Fisherman's Wharf or Times Square, e.g.) Fisherman's Wharf is a popular destination in San Franciso, California. It is home to Pier 39 (known for its shopping and sea lions), Ghirardelli Square, and the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Times Square is a popular destination in Manhattan, New York City, formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. It is the hub of the Broadway Theater District and is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards. I have been to both of these TOURIST TRAPS, and can report that they both attract large crowds. ODE (57A: "homage to my hips," e.g.) Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) is the author of the ODE"homage to my hips."Whenever this ODE is referenced in the crossword, I like to watch and listen to Lucille Clifton read it. I highly recommend you take the time to listen; it's a couple of minutes well spent. SUBREDDIT (60A: Niche community for a specific topic)Redditis an online social site for news aggregation and discussion. One of the features of Reddit is multiple discussion boards, or SUBREDDITs, focusing on particular topics. There are over 138,000 active SUBREDDITs, so there's a good chance you might find one that interests you. And yes, there is acrossword SUBREDDIT. CODAS (64A: Finales to many fugues) In music, CODAS are ending passages. I appreciate the alliteration in this clue. TEA (64A: Leaves in a cup) There's some mildly tricky wordplay happening in this clue. "Leaves in a cup" is not a phrase clueing "not drinking the remaining contents of one's drink." Rather, "leaves in a cup" is referring to actual leaves – TEA leaves, that is – in a cup. COBS (9D: Inner ears?) The question mark here alerts solvers that the clue is not referring to the inner parts of organs that help you hear, but rather the inner parts of ears of corn, or COBS. SPINAL (11D: "This Is ___ Tap") I wrote about the 1984 movieThis is SPINAL Taplast weekwhen we saw the answer ELEVEN clued as [Max volume on Spinal Tap's amps]. MANTRA (12D: "Om mani padme hum," for one) "Om mani padme hum" is a MANTRA in Tibetan Buddhism. It is often translated as "praise to the jewel in the lotus." This MANTRA is believed to cultivate compassion and wisdom. TENNIS (22D: Sport where "love" means zero) I wrote about TENNIS scoringlast weekwhen we saw DEUCE clued as [40-40, in tennis]. ANI (24D: Righteous Babe Records creator DiFranco) ANI DiFranco has released all of her albums on Righteous Babe, a record label she founded in 1990. SUBURBIA (37D: "WandaVision" setting)WandaVisionis a 2021 TV miniseries featuring Marvel Comics characters Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). The show is set in SUBURBIA, three weeks after the events of the 2019 movie,Avengers: Endgame. However, as the show progresses, things are not as they seem... DRY (40D: Like Death Valley) Death Valley is located in eastern California in the Mojave Desert. The DRY desert climate of Death Valley makes it one of the hottest places on Earth. Death Valley lies in the rain shadow of four major mountain ranges, which explains why its climate is extremely DRY. The average annual rainfall of Death Valley is just 1.5 inches. PET SPA (44D: Place for a "pawdicure") and CAT SAT (48D: Kept tabs on a tabby) Although my CAT, Willow, is always happy for PET content, she would like it known that she is not a fan of the PET SPA or of being CAT SAT. I have a fun story about Willow to share with you today that relates to one of the other answers in this puzzle. A couple of days ago I walked into my office to find Willow on my desk looking at the computer monitor. When she realized I was back in the room, she turned around and gave me this, "I was not reading about SPINAL Tap" look. TAR (52D: La Brea goo) Hancock Park in Los Angeles, California was formed around the La Brea TAR Pits. For tens of thousands of years, natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground in this area. The TAR preserved the bones of animals unlucky enough to get caught in the pits centuries ago. ETSY (58D: "Keep Commerce Human" site)ETSYis an online marketplace with an emphasis on handmade and vintage items. ETSY's tagline is "Keep Commerce Human." A few other clues and answers I especially enjoyed: HAD (38A: "You ___ one job!") DEEP DIVE (3D: Thorough examination of a subject) EYES (5D: Lumps of coal, for a snowman) PLAY TO THE CROWD (Freestyle): There's no theme today, as this is a freestyle, or themeless puzzle. The title is a nod to TOURIST TRAP (54A: Fisherman's Wharf or Times Square, e.g.). I also think it could relate to RUSH HOUR (42A: High-traffic time to drive). As I REVIEWED (31A: Wrote up an assessment of) today's puzzle, I was reminded that one of the things I enjoy about solving crosswords is that the entries in the puzzle often take me on trips down memory lane. Today, ORGANS (13D: Instruments heard in ballparks) reminds me of singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch. USER ERROR (17A: Input mistake) reminded me of an incident just the other day when I told my husband, "The printer is not cooperating!" A few minutes later, I confessed, "I discovered it was USER ERROR." What memories came up during your solve today? Thank you, Dena, for this memorable puzzle. USA TODAY's Daily Crossword Puzzles Sudoku & Crossword Puzzle Answers This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Crossword Blog & Answers for July 21, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher