NYT Crossword Answers for June 3, 2024

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

MONDAY PUZZLE — I trust that many of you, being puzzle lovers, have already stumbled upon a New York Times game called Strands. It’s a word search gone rogue that relies on wordplay for its themes. The current version is still a beta, but I mention it here because the impish spirit that makes its puzzles so much fun is present in spades in today’s crossword, constructed by Alana Platt.

Ms. Platt’s theme entries, much like the hidden phrases in a word search puzzle, aren’t easy to see. Even after solving the revealer, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. But after my “aha!” moment, I bounced around the grid again just to enjoy the cleverness of the finished product. Congratulations to Ms. Platt on a dynamic debut. I hope to see more from her soon.

Today’s Theme

Although I don’t eat any “Artfully arranged meats” (35A), this was the only themed clue that jumped out right away. The answer had to be CHARCUTERIE — though another version of this arrangement may be called a “girl dinner.” “Cousin of a pushpin” (32D) wasn’t too obscure, either: THUMBTACK.

A phrase for “Helping to manage a nonprofit, say” (56A) tells us, in some witty way, “where to find” the entries above. ON THE BOARD describes where a THUMBTACK may be found — a bulletin board, anyway — and how CHARCUTERIE is presented. WOOD GRAIN (10D), the “Texture in a cross section of timber,” is found on a floorboard. And I hardly need to tell you where to find a CHESS PIECE (17A).

I love that the grid is also a kind of board, which makes Ms. Platt’s revealer even more of a wink.

Tricky Clues

19A. How novel to have a crossword clue that reads like a riddle: “What’s black and white and wet all over?” An ORCA. Other answers that don’t fit in the grid include: photographs in a darkroom, a soggy newspaper or a nun after a water balloon fight.