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Same Difference

New York Times, Sunday, October 19, 2025

Author:
Daniel Grinberg
Editor:
Will Shortz
Blog:
Business traveler's convenience
TotalDebutLatestCollabs
108/28/201910/19/20251
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
5111110
RebusCircleScrabDebutFresh
131.757156%
Daniel Grinberg

This puzzle:

Rows: 21, Columns: 21 Words: 140, Blocks: 72 Missing: {QXZ} This is puzzle # 10 for Mr. Grinberg. Grid flow: 30.9 Sunday freshness: 77%
Will Shortz notes:
Daniel Grinberg is a user experience researcher for a consulting company in Philadelphia. This is his 10th crossword for The Times and it has one of the tightest, most constrained themes ... read more
Jim Horne notes:

In this clever design, each answer Across and Down works with or without the circled letters.

Those circles themselves spell DROP IT.

1
S
2
M
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A
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S
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H
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C
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L
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O
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S
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E
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A
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N
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E
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W
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D
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N
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A
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P
O
L
K
A
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S
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H
A
N
K
Y
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L
O
V
E
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B
E
A
D
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I
R
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U
N
T
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E
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O
P
E
N
U
P
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O
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C
O
M
P
A
N
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Y
C
A
R
D
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C
O
U
N
T
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E
S
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E
N
O
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B
O
O
K
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R
O
F
L
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D
S
L
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D
A
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N
S
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A
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L
U
M
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P
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A
R
T
A
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K
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E
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A
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P
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R
I
L
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C
L
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E
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T
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S
Y
S
T
E
M
46
L
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M
L
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A
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R
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G
E
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W
H
O
O
51
S
H
52
E
N
T
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A
P
S
E
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R
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A
L
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M
E
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U
P
H
E
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R
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E
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R
A
T
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O
L
D
S
T
E
R
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T
S
A
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A
C
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E
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D
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M
R
R
66
O
B
O
T
O
67
R
C
68
A
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P
L
70
A
Y
O
F
F
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S
72
T
A
K
I
73
A
L
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A
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A
A
76
C
E
L
L
S
77
F
L
O
78
S
T
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E
P
I
N
80
S
H
R
E
W
D
81
L
U
A
U
82
P
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J
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S
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L
E
N
A
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P
E
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I
D
E
A
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L
I
S
T
S
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B
L
E
90
N
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D
S
92
E
G
O
I
93
S
T
94
O
D
E
S
A
95
S
O
R
O
R
A
96
L
97
R
U
S
E
98
H
99
A
100
J
I
S
101
O
T
O
102
A
103
J
A
R
104
C
105
R
O
N
U
T
106
R
107
H
108
O
109
A
110
N
T
I
V
111
E
N
O
M
112
T
R
A
I
N
D
E
113
L
A
Y
S
114
G
A
Y
M
E
C
C
A
115
W
R
E
N
S
116
G
R
I
M
M
S
117
A
P
P
E
A
R
E
D
118
H
I
T
I
T
119
Y
E
M
E
N
I
120
R
A
E
121
T
U
T
S
122
O
M
E
N
S
123
D
E
N
S
E
© 2025, The New York Times10/19/25 ( No. 27,739 )
Across
1
Huge success : SMASH
6
Seal, say : CLOSE
11
From the beginning : ANEW
15
___ sequencing (lab technique) : DNA
18
Lively Bohemian dances : POLKAS
20
Alternative to a tissue, informally : HANKY
21
Bit in a hippie's necklace : LOVEBEAD
23
Poker declaration : IRAISE
24
Remove, as a ribbon : UNTIE
25
Share confidences with : OPENUPTO
26
Business traveler's convenience : COMPANYCARD
28
Divisions on a map : COUNTRIES
29
Brian ___, songwriter who popularized the term "generative music" : ENO
30
Second volume : BOOKII
31
😂😂😂 : ROFL
32
Broadband inits. : DSL
33
Fights back tears? : DARNS
34
Michelle Obama, to Princeton : ALUM
36
Indulge (in) : PARTAKE
40
National Arab American Heritage Month : APRIL
43
Place to hang at home? : CLOSET
45
Oppressive political regime, so to speak, with "the" : SYSTEM
46
Have an ominous presence : LOOMLARGE
50
Sound of a joke going over one's head : WHOOSH
52
Giant Middle-earth creature : ENT
53
Arched recess : APSE
54
Person I truly am : REALME
56
"Hey!" from on high : UPHERE
59
Word with pack or rug : RAT
60
Senior, informally : OLDSTER
61
Org. that confiscates liquids : TSA
62
Knocked out of the park : ACED
65
Pop culture hit about dystopian technology : MRROBOTO
67
Former parent of NBC : RCA
69
Eliminators of some teams : PLAYOFFS
72
Corn chip with a "Fuego" flavor : TAKI
73
In the vein of : ALA
75
Smallish batteries : AACELLS
77
Rapper ___ Milli : FLO
78
Get involved : STEPIN
80
Perceptive : SHREWD
81
Hawaiian shindig : LUAU
82
Clothes for a doze, in brief : PJS
85
Native of the Delaware Valley : LENAPE
87
Pursuers of utopian goals : IDEALISTS
89
Coffees that aren't single-origin : BLENDS
92
Self-admiring sort : EGOIST
94
Major Ukrainian seaport : ODESA
95
Sisterly : SORORAL
97
Sneaky plot : RUSE
98
Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia : HAJIS
101
Ear-related prefix : OTO
102
Not fully open : AJAR
104
Hybrid pastry : CRONUT
106
P, to Pericles : RHO
109
Injection associated with a certain toxin : ANTIVENOM
112
Annoyances for ticket holders : TRAINDELAYS
114
Palm Springs or Puerto Vallarta, notably : GAYMECCA
115
Brown songbirds : WRENS
116
Tale-telling brothers : GRIMMS
117
Turned up : APPEARED
118
"Strike up the band!" : HITIT
119
Neighbor of a Saudi : YEMENI
120
Nickname for Rachel : RAE
121
Verbally expresses disdain : TUTS
122
Warning signs : OMENS
123
Tightly packed : DENSE
Down
1
Food enlivener : SPICE
2
Hardly a genius : MORON
3
Home to a chapel with the Texas flag flying beside it : ALAMO
4
Spotify button : SKIP
5
Loves, loves, loves the occasion : HASABALL
6
Hurls : CHUCKS
7
Feature of a Hawaiian house : LANAI
8
Being prosecuted : ONTRIAL
9
Go downhill fast, say : SKID
10
___ candy : EYE
11
Chilly : ALOOF
12
Orange juice preference : NOPULP
13
With no one ahead or behind : EVEN
14
Lost all liquid resources : WENTDRY
15
Remove hair from : DEPILATE
16
Main antagonist on HBO's "Euphoria" : NATE
17
Clamors : ADOS
19
Mexicali mister : SENOR
22
Ruptures : BURSTS
27
Over there, poetically : YON
28
Openly reveal one's sexuality : COMEOUT
31
Process for would-be Greeks : RUSH
33
It's over a quarter of a quarter : DIME
35
Features of the names of many Apple products : LOWERCASEIS
37
N.Y.C. stadium eponym : ASHE
38
Doll of a guy? : KEN
39
Vitals checker, in brief : EMT
40
Interrupter of dreams, maybe : ALARM
41
Genre for Keith Haring : POPART
42
Political platforms? : ROSTRA
43
Saxon's foe : CELT
44
Competitive athlete's goal, perhaps : TOPSPEED
47
Guthrie who sang "Alice's Restaurant" : ARLO
48
Bureaucratic barriers : REDTAPE
49
Fuel source : GASOLINE
51
"Care to dance?" : SHALLWE
55
Sea, to Seurat : MER
57
They may be caught in the summer : RAYS
58
Prefix with sphere : ECO
60
Tribute in the Tribune, say : OBIT
63
Flow out : EFFUSE
64
Keys above C's : DFLATS
66
Blesses : OKS
68
"That feels ama-a-azing!" : AAH
70
Alan with six Emmys : ALDA
71
Composer who led the U.S. Marine Band : SOUSA
74
Canniest, for instance : ANAGRAM
76
Artist's feedback session, informally : CRIT
79
Olaf's creator in "Frozen" : ELSA
81
Tops : LIDS
82
Channel supported by pledge drives : PBS
83
"Jenny From the Block" singer, to fans : JLO
84
Immune cell variation : SEROTYPE
86
Flow (out) : POUR
88
Hung around idly : LOITERED
90
"Sorry, I'm unavailable!" : NOTIME
91
Tried to convey : DROVEAT
93
Hide : SECRETE
96
Surgical instrument : LANCET
98
Lifts with a pulley : HOISTS
99
"Dear ___" (greeting in an old advice column) : ANN
100
Overly fault-finding : JUDGY
103
"The Grapes of Wrath" family : JOADS
105
Entered quickly : RANIN
106
Food traditionally eaten with chopsticks : RAMEN
107
Songs on Sundays : HYMNS
108
Actor Davis who delivered Malcolm X's eulogy : OSSIE
109
Gelatinous thickener : AGAR
110
___ Valley : NAPA
111
Shade lighter than cappuccino : ECRU
112
Decorative auto upgrade : TRIM
113
Mojito garnish : LIME
115
50,000-watt clear-channel radio station in Iowa : WHO

Answer summary:
10 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Modern Era but used previously.

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