NYT Crossword Answers for May 7, 2024

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

TUESDAY PUZZLE — If you tried your hand at solving Monday’s puzzle, constructed by Malaika Handa, digging into today’s grid might give you a feeling of wordplay déjà vu, in that yesterday’s theme also relied on various interpretations of a common idiom. But I can assure you that its creator, Justin Werfel, and Ms. Handa didn’t arrange for their grids to appear on consecutive days. As Christina Iverson, a puzzle editor for The New York Times, has explained in the Easy Mode newsletter — which I recommend to any beginners looking to improve their solving skills — eerie coincidences in the Times Crossword are just that: coincidences.

Mr. Werfel’s debut crossword for The Times, however, is no matter of chance: It takes creativity, diligence and attention to detail for a constructor’s puzzle to make its way to publication, and I found this one to be a winning combination of all three. I look forward to seeing more from him in the future.

Today’s Theme

What do a door-to-door salesman, a cathedral worker and an acclaimed experimental neurologist have in common?

First, let’s identify the characters in question: Our salesman is WILLY LOMAN (16A), from a classic Arthur Miller play. QUASIMODO (35A) is the “Victor Hugo character who works at Notre Dame.” And IVAN PAVLOV (47A) was the Nobel Prize-winning scientist “who conditioned dogs to salivate.”

Now, let’s consider the revealer, which asks for an expression that means “Sounds familiar” (57A). The answer is RINGS A BELL. And this is the “action associated with” the three men above: Loman rang doorbells, Quasimodo tolled the church bell and Pavlov used a bell to make dogs think it was dinnertime. Ding, ding, ding! We have our answer.