Friday May 15, 2026 — It was so quiet you could hear a NEEDLEDROP ... er, something like that 😀

This was Maddy Ziegler's second NYTimes crossword. Her first appeared on Saturday, so it will very interesting to see on what day her third (which, based on her second, we are sure is going to appear sooner or later) pops up. With absolutely no insider information, we're betting on another Saturday. This was a pleasing Friday crossword — no theme to bedazzle, all the clues had to pull their weight, and they did so here. We had a debut at 31D, Dangerous ocean phenomenon, ROGUEWAVE; a bla...