NYT Crossword Answers for July 1, 2024

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MONDAY PUZZLE — Solving a crossword on your phone may lack the nostalgic appeal of the pen-and-paper method, but I consider it the more whimsical option. Digital solving allows you to guess with abandon and then delete and correct your mistakes without consequence. And, so long as you aren’t trying to break any speed records, it’s a fun way to improve your skills as a solver: You’ll find that fewer and fewer guesses need correction over time.

Today’s crossword, constructed by Margi Stevenson in her New York Times debut, showed me that I still had plenty of room for improvement. I had to fix nearly half of my Across entries (half!) once the crossings revealed them to be wrong. I chalk this up in part to the talents of the constructor: It takes a tightly crafted puzzle to leave so much room for error. But I’m also eager to compare notes with my fellow puzzle fiends, so let me know in the comments how you fared.

Today’s Theme

I love the way that a clever crossword theme can breathe new life into an otherwise commonplace coincidence of the English language, letting us enjoy its wordplay anew. Ms. Stevenson has done just that with an ordinary series of homophones.

To [Author on behalf of someone else] (15A) is to GHOSTWRITE. A [Bat mitzvah] (21A) is an example of a RELIGIOUS RITE. [One half of a noted aviation team] (45A) is ORVILLE WRIGHT. The rhyme of these entries is clear — but what’s the reason?

We discover it at 55-Across: [Straight to the point … or, homophonically, what this answer is relative to this puzzle?] is FORTHRIGHT. Why? Because this entry is the fourth instance of the sound “right.”