Work through the levels. Reveal the Spangram only when you’re truly ready.
Today’s clue: “They don't make 'em like they used to”
A gentle direction — no specifics.
Closer — the category is coming into focus.
Near-direct — only read if you’re stuck.
Direction only.
Getting closer.
Near-direct.
5 theme words — lengths in random order
Spaces not counted in total
All theme words — shuffled
These words fit the theme on the surface, but aren’t part of today’s solution. Knowing them ahead of time can save you minutes of searching.
A dial-era phone is the first retro gadget many solvers picture, so these letters feel like they must be lurking somewhere in the grid.
Antique desk implements are irresistible guesses in a puzzle this nostalgic, and the letter shapes look perfectly at home in a word grid.
It's the go-to example of an outdated tool, so solvers often scan for it before anything else on the board.
Records are shorthand for retro nostalgia, which makes this short, familiar word a very tempting target during a first sweep.
a textbook decoy
The score sits at 5.0 mostly because the clue is generous but the entries are uneven in size: ICEBOX usually lands first, and once it does, the set snaps into place — INKWELL and TYPEWRITER belong to the desk corner, TELEGRAM and PAGER to the messaging corner, and the grid turns into an attic of retired gear. PAGER is the sneakiest of the five, short enough to hide inside other letter runs and modern enough to feel out of place beside the older nouns. The spangram is more confirmation than discovery here, since 'old' sits in plain sight, though tracing all twelve letters across two opposite edges still takes a pass or two. What keeps this from being trivial is that the group is defined by a shared absence rather than a shared shape — none of the entries look or sound alike, so there's no linguistic hook to lean on.
The clue is doing double duty: 'They don't make 'em like they used to' is the classic grumble about shoddy modern craftsmanship, but Tracy Bennett flips it — here it's literal. Nobody manufactures an ICEBOX, INKWELL, PAGER, TELEGRAM or TYPEWRITER anymore, and OLDFASHIONED turns that nostalgia into a single word. Once you read the clue as an obituary rather than a complaint about quality, the whole grid opens up, and the spangram even nods at the vintage styling of the phrase itself.
What makes this set elegant is its consistency of angle: instead of general antiques, the editor picks one object per vanished infrastructure — kitchen, desk, messaging — so the group reads as a survey rather than a list. The spangram is the only adjective in the grid, converting five nouns into a single verdict and giving the puzzle a punchline rather than a category. It's a theme you feel before you can name.
