Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Moving Parts
Constructor: Noelle Griskey
Editor: Amanda Rafkin
AAA (1A: Designation for the Nashville Sounds) Class AAA, also known as Triple-A, is a division of Minor League Baseball. There are 30 AAA teams, one for each Major League Baseball team. The Nashville Sounds are a AAA team affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and the team's name is a reference to Nashville's music scene.
ALEC (19A: "Star Wars" actor Guinness) ALEC Guinness (1914-2000) portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983).
MET GALA (23A: Costume Institute Benefit, familiarly) The Costume Institute Benefit, familiarly called the MET GALA, is an annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The MET GALA has a different theme every year. The theme of the 2025 MET GALA was "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style."
BOP (33A: Uptempo jazz genre) The BOP or bebop style of jazz developed in the 1940s. Unlike the earlier dance-oriented swing music-style of jazz, BOP was not intended for dancing. The freedom from this constraint meant musicians could play at faster tempos and include complex chord progressions.
OREO (36A: Customizable cookie) Our crossword friend OREO is making back-to-back appearances, as we saw it in yesterday's puzzle clued as [Cookie in some Blizzards]. On OREO's website, there's a form for ordering customized cookies. Cookies can be customized with the text or image of your choice. The price is just under $50 for 12 cookies.
KAPPA (40A: Sorority's K) Many sororities and fraternities have names consisting of two or three Greek letters. KAPPA is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet. It is preceded by iota and followed by lambda.
TNT (48A: Minecraft explosive) I have previously written about the video game Minecraft in which players have a chance to be creative and explore the world without a set objectives to accomplish. TNT blocks in Minecraft can be discovered in a number of places or crafted by combining gunpowder and sand. As one might expect, TNT blocks explode when ignited.
THE O.C. (53A: 2000s teen drama based in SoCal) The O.C. is a TV series that originally aired from 2003 to 2007. The show is set in Orange County, California. It centers on teenagers Ryan and Seth, played by Ben McKenzie and Adam Brody.
IDOL (58A: "White Wedding" singer Billy) "White Wedding" is a 1982 song by Billy IDOL. The song appears in the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer. Billy IDOL appears in the movie playing himself.
SHE (70A: "Nevertheless, ___ persisted") In 2017, during the U.S. Senate confirmation hearing of Jeff Sessions to become Attorney General, Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke against confirmation, quoting Ted Kennedy and reading a letter from Coretta Scott King. During the proceedings, the Senate voted to require Senator Elizabeth Warren to stop speaking. Referring to Senator Elizabeth Warren's speech, Senator Mitch McConnell said, "SHE was warned. SHE was given an explanation. Nevertheless, SHE persisted." I'm sure he didn't mean for his words to become a feminist rallying cry, but that is exactly what happened. So many women can relate to persisting in the face of opposition.
NESS (71A: Legendary loch) and ICON (58D: Legendary figure) The legendary Loch NESS is located in Scotland. It is legendary in part because of the stories of the Loch NESS monster, who might be considered an ICON by some people.
ASSAM (1D: Darjeeling alternative) I recently wrote about Darjeeling and ASSAM, two teas named for the locations where they originated.
CAT (4D: Leopard, lion or lynx) My CAT, Willow, is always happy to see her big CAT cousins mentioned in the crossword. I appreciate the alliteration of the examples used in this clue.
EAGLES (8D: "Hotel California" band) "Welcome to the Hotel California / Such a lovely place..." The EAGLES released the song "Hotel California" in 1977. The song's lyrics are memorable, "You can check out any time you like / But you can never leave," and so is the ending guitar solo that lasts over two minutes. "Hotel California" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
SPACE AGE (9D: Sputnik's launch began it) In 1957, the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which dissolved in 1991) launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. This began the SPACE AGE, which continues today. The launch of Sputnik also began a competition between the USSR and the United States to achieve superior spaceflight capability.
AMO (24D: "Eu te ___" ("I love you")) "Eu te AMO" is Portuguese for "I love you."
OBIE (34D: Off-Broadway award) The OBIE Awards are presented annually by The Village Voice newspaper to artists and groups in off-Broadway productions. The OBIE Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway.
PPE (45D: Gloves, masks, etc.) PPE here stands for "personal protective equipment."
ACA (47D: Obamacare, for short) Obamacare is officially known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). President Obama signed the ACA into law on March 23, 2010, and many of the law's provisions were put into place by 2014.
A couple of other clues I especially enjoyed:
UBER (38A: One might be called after a night out)
APPLE (2D: Classic American pie flavor)
SPORTS PAGE (17A: Newspaper section with stats and scores)
SMART SPEAKER (29A: Amazon Echo or Google Home, e.g.)
BEST PRACTICE (49A: Optimal method of doing something)
KEEPS TRACK (64A: Maintains awareness)
MOVING PARTS: Each theme answer contains an anagram of the word PARTS: SPORTS PAGE, SMART SPEAKER, BEST PRACTICE, and KEEPS TRACK.
The word "MOVING" in the title immediately had me on the lookout for either a hidden anagram theme or a traveling word theme. As soon as I filled in SPORTS PAGE, which contains the letter sequence RTS/PA, I knew this was a hidden anagram theme. The other PARTS anagrams represented are ART/SP, ST/PRA, and PS/TRA. Thank you, Noelle, for this enjoyable puzzle.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Crossword Blog & Answers for June 12, 2025 by Sally Hoelscher
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