NYT Crossword Answers for March 25, 2024

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

MONDAY PUZZLE — Spring has finally sprung in New York. Its gentle thaw may be restorative enough for some, but I tend to treat it as a mere preamble to the season that follows. The sight of blossoms budding on park trees drives me into a frenzy of excitement for summer’s arrival. Those are the true dog days of bicycle rides, beach trips and group outings to games of a certain spectator sport — represented in today’s crossword — whose season begins this week.

This puzzle is the first collaboration between Shannon Rapp and Will Eisenberg in The New York Times, and it is also Mr. Eisenberg’s Times debut. It has plenty of shorter fill to ease beginner solvers into the week, along with a few longer zingers to whet the appetites of experts — and a seasonally appropriate theme, to boot. I don’t want to spoil anything by using a figure of speech, but what the heck: They knocked it out of the park.

Today’s Theme

Absent a helpful revealer, or visibly themed clues — denoted, say, by special formatting or symbols — you can usually spot the theme set of an early-week puzzle by the longest Across entries. In today’s puzzle, those are 20-, 29-, 47- and 56-Across.

The “Woven creation of the Ojibwe people” (20A) is a DREAM CATCHER, and “Thick liquid poured on a hot griddle” (29A) is PANCAKE BATTER. Any patterns come to mind yet? How about if we toss in “Emma Stone’s co-star on Showtime’s ‘The Curse’” (47A), NATHAN FIELDER? Here’s a hint: Take a look at the second words of each entry.

The CATCHER, BATTER and FIELDER are all players in a baseball game. Now see if you can score the last entry on your own; otherwise, click to reveal it below.