NYT Crossword Answers for April 1, 2024

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

MONDAY PUZZLE — Though some may anticipate the arrival of April Fools’ Day, I have found by and large that, for those who have both aged out of schoolyard pranks and tired of try-hard antics from corporate brands on social media, this day is nothing more than an occasion for curmudgeonly skepticism. We should trust nothing and no one, because he or she is probably kidding. (It may also be that, in our “post-truth era,” a day dedicated to fudging the facts feels unnecessary — we’re living it.)

I thought that I had approached today’s crossword, constructed by Alan Arbesfeld, with the appropriate amount of suspicion. I nonetheless found myself duped, as any solvers looking to identify what special trickery lies in store may be. The puzzle itself turns out to be entirely serious — it’s the editors who are having a lark.

“The twist here is that we’re running a gimmick we wouldn’t normally run on a Monday,” said Tracy Bennett, a puzzle editor for The New York Times. She added, however, that editors had “worked hard to make the clues friendly, both in the theme answers and their crossings,” and that she hoped newer solvers would “enjoy the extra challenge.”

While I can’t attest to the value of Mr. Arbesfeld’s theme as an April Fools’ joke, I can certainly recommend it on its own merits. In fact, I’m head over heels for it.

Today’s Theme

When I finally cracked Mr. Arbesfeld’s theme, I flipped — or the clues did. If you were wondering why a clue like “Malfunctioning, literally?” solved to GNITCA, you needed only to turn upside down. It’s the word ACTING, written upward — ACTING up, as it were. To “Start behaving more responsibly, literally?” reads FAELWENA at first; but we can also read this as turning over A NEW LEAF.