NYT Crossword Answers for April 2, 2024

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TUESDAY PUZZLE — In the constructor notes that accompanied his last New York Times Crossword, in July 2023, Billy Bratton left us on a cliffhanger:

This may be my last one for a while, but I shall return …

With these words — and our reaction to them — Mr. Bratton may have unwittingly given us a major hint to today’s puzzle, in which the theme hinges on a synonym for the phrase “Stop right there!” In any case, I’m glad that he has decided to return to us mere months later, as his latest grid offers the perfect Tuesday challenge: It’s crunchy in all the right places, but satisfyingly simple to unwrap. And it doesn’t crumble! (Am I talking about a puzzle or a granola bar at this point? It’s anyone’s guess.)

Let’s descend into the valley of the solve.

Today’s Theme

The revealer at 39-Across asks us to come up with another way to say “Stop right there!” But we have to figure out an expression that might also serve as a “hint to the first words of 17-, 23-, 47- and 59-Across.”

Let’s run briefly through our theme set:

• A “Black Friday offer, e.g.” (17A) is known as a DOOR BUSTER, even if most of these deals are no longer worth busting down any doors for.

• “Something extended to a borrower” (23A) is a LINE OF CREDIT.

• A “Gymnastics sequence involving tumbling” — or triple-double flips, in the case of Simone Biles — is a FLOOR ROUTINE (47A).

• The “Expansive medical center headquartered in Rochester, Minn.,” (59A) is the MAYO CLINIC.

Per the revealer, we’re concerned with only the first words of these entries: DOOR, LINE, FLOOR and MAYO (if you play Connections, another one of our games, you may find this similar to a round of that game). What could precede each of these words to form four distinct expressions? Another way of saying “Stop right there!” is HOLD IT. And voilà: Hold the DOOR, hold the LINE, hold the FLOOR and hold the MAYO.

A note for newer solvers: I tend to unpack the theme here in the order that best explains it, but those revealer “hints” can be used in whatever way helps you crack the puzzle. Let’s say, for instance, you had only the entries containing MAYO and FLOOR. You might then discover HOLD IT, at 39A, and deduce the other themed entries by guessing at expressions with the word “hold.” Some prefer to solve the puzzle entirely before identifying the theme; others kick things off with themed entries. It’s really your journey! I’m just the walking stick. Or something.

Tricky Clues

16A. “Debriefed?” is an adjective here, and a winking one at that. It signifies someone without briefs on: in other words, NAKED.