NYT Crossword Answers for Aug. 21, 2024

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — There are situations in which it pays to read between the lines, but a crossword theme with no revealer is not often one of them. So when you start to see the pattern in Stacey Yaruss McCullough’s crossword — her first puzzle for The New York Times — don’t think too hard about it. I speak from experience, having the capacity to overthink just about everything: crossword themes, text-message reactions, side eye from retail workers that I am certain means they dislike me.

No such mental acrobatics are required here. Ms. McCullough’s theme is merely a guileless celebration of rhyme in the English language, which acts as a perfect counterweight to the challenge of the puzzle itself.

Today’s Theme

Rhyming makes everything just a little more whimsical, and Ms. McCullough has managed to have it on both sides of the crossword equation: Her themed clues rhyme, as do their entries. At 17A, [Gathering for a lathering?] is a RUB-A-DUB CLUB. [Jewels for fools?] at 26A could be called DING-A-LING BLING.

You probably won’t hear anyone calling a [Fryer piled higher?] a CHOCK-A-BLOCK WOK, or a [Cup to drink up?] a CHUG-A-LUG MUG, but that can be the greatest gift of a crossword puzzle: We get to see and hear words combined in ways that they might never be otherwise. It’s dreamy stuff when you think about it.

Tricky Clues

36A. [Events at which you try not to lose track?] are MEETS (think track and field).

60A. When you see “not” in a clue, its entry is often an opposite of the word provided. That gets tricky when a word’s meaning is ambiguous. Here, [Not out] means HOME. In a different puzzle, the same clue might have an answer like “safe” (as in baseball) or “secret.”