NYT Crossword Answers for Sept. 6, 2024

Jump to: Tricky Clues

FRIDAY PUZZLE — Let’s talk about stacks. But not just any stack; I want to talk about crossword stacks.

Crossword stacks occur when constructors deftly pile entries on top of one another. There’s nothing unusual about that on the surface — the whole point of an American-style crossword is that the entries touch one another — but stacks are different. The entries are mostly the same length. Stacks should contain entries that are lively, and crossing answers should, at the very least, avoid junky fill or crosswordese.

That’s not as easy as it looks. If you’ve ever tried to solve a crossword puzzle, you’ve no doubt run into an unfillable spot, or at least a spot where you try to rationalize to yourself that of course there is something called a qvorsk. Everyone knows that word, right?

Adrian Johnson, who constructed today’s crossword, built a triple stack in the center of his grid, and not only does it work well, but it stretches across the entire puzzle. Let’s see if his stack fits our standard without spoiling any of the entries. Remember that this is all subjective, but the following is my opinion.

• Are all three entries lively? Yes, they are. 39A and 40A may sparkle a bit more than 32A, but then again I’ve always been a sucker for verbalizations.

• Does the stack contain any junk or crosswordese? Not to me. All of the crossing entries are pretty interesting, and there are no obscure words, abbreviations or acronyms. The answer at 37D is about as close to junk as these Down answers get, but I don’t think it crosses the line into crosswordese.

There was a mercifully brief period in the early 2010s when a group of constructors decided to compete informally to see whose stacks were the largest. The winner was Joe Krozel, who holds the New York Times record with a quintuple stack that left all those puny quadruples in the dust. Of course, stacks can run Down as well as Across, and there were 13 quadruple-doubles, where each grid contained four sets of stacked 15-letter entries (two Across and two Down), but that’s really getting into the weeds.

These days, stacks have assumed what I consider their appropriate place in puzzle making: They are nice if they are well executed, but I don’t necessarily go looking for them. I did appreciate Mr. Johnson’s stack, though.