NYT Crossword Answers for Jan. 29, 2024

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MONDAY PUZZLE — It’s back to the early-week puzzles for me. Delightful as it was to guest-star on Caitlin Lovinger’s column for the weekend, I forgot that it required solving weekend crosswords. I admit I breathed a sigh of relief when today’s first clue was a simple four-letter word for “Completely enthralled” (1A); I was RAPT in no time.

This crossword is the second published collaboration by Garrett Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley in The New York Times. Their first, in May 2023, was a Thursday puzzle that featured “split peas” (words with double P’s, split down the pair). This grid may not have the complexity of their last one but is loaded with whimsy. Like the Cheshire cat smiling down at us from a tree in Alice’s Wonderland, the puzzle promises mischief — and delivers.

Today’s Theme

Words and phrases that read the same both backward and forward have been the subject of fascination for centuries. An ancient Greek palindrome, written in English as “Nipson anomimata, mi monan opsin,” which translates to “Wash my sins, not only my face,” can still be seen in certain churches.

Mr. Chalfin and Mr. Kingsley have taken their interest in the subject one step further by giving us six themed entries — four Across and two Down — that can be identified as PALINDROMES (36A) but only “when their first and last letters are removed.”

A certain “Amorous cartoon skunk” (16A), for example, is PEPÉ LE PEW. But when we strike the first and last letter of his name, the reversible EPELEPE is born. Likewise, “Just a sec!” (43A) is ONE MOMENT, but strip the answer of its outer letters, and we get the palindromic NEMO MEN — followers of a certain Jules Verne character, perhaps?