NYT Crossword Answers for April 17, 2025

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THURSDAY PUZZLE — Ilan and Shimon Kolkowitz — brothers who are, respectively, a doctor and a physics professor — are men of science. They have been trained to approach problems broadly at first, as expressed in the medical aphorism “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.”

I mention this because the Kolkowitz brothers are making their New York Times Crossword debut today with an entertaining puzzle that teaches a similar lesson. While we’re solving, let’s not lose sight of why we’re here. We’re here to have fun and maybe learn something.

Before we discuss the puzzle, you should know that applications are now open for the New York Times Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship.

The fellowship provides mentorship and support for constructors from underrepresented groups in the constructor community, including women, people of color and the L.G.B.T.Q. community. We want our puzzles to reflect the experiences of as many people as possible, which means publishing work that displays a wide range of cultural reference points and language usage. The fellowship is for constructors who have not yet been published by The New York Times. Fellows will get to work one on one with an editor for about three months, and by the end will have a crossword they can submit to The Times for possible publication.

Today’s Theme

Before we get started, today’s puzzle is not a rebus. You’re welcome.

Our job is to see the FOREST for the TREES, as the idiom about shortsightedness goes. Someone who does not see the forest for the trees is considering only the granular details, and not the larger picture.

That crossword forest is appropriately hidden while you are solving today’s puzzle, but reveals itself upon finishing in a way that I thought was very interesting. More about that later.