NYT Crossword Answers for April 16, 2025

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Puzzlers, I don’t lie to you. If I make a rookie mistake while solving, I am willing to acknowledge it in this column. So you can trust that I’m being sincere when I tell you that I nearly had to tap out of today’s crossword, constructed by Kathy Bloomer, and it was only dumb luck (with a little skill, sure) that got me to the finish line.

No amount of shadowboxing (an apt verb for crossword grids, eh?) could have prepared me for such an opponent. Ms. Bloomer’s clever twists and misdirections — her 8D, if you will — are formidable; some of these entries actually made me gasp. One solution didn’t even make sense to me until a colleague explained it, at which point I gasped.

But don’t let my preamble discourage you; if anything, I hope it heightens the thrill of the challenge. No answers in this crossword will be spoon-fed to you, even if the theme suggests otherwise.

Today’s Theme

It’s not the [Places to find the items at the ends of 4-, 8- and 14D] that you should pay attention to, but the phrases in which they appear, because that’s where the wit of this theme really shines. At 23D, that revealer clue solves to CEREAL AISLES.

And indeed, in three “aisles” of this grid, there are cereal-based puns on common expressions. One who [Came out in favor of a certain breakfast product?], at 4D, ENDORSED CHEX rather than checks. At 14D, [Doing some shopping for breakfast?] may be described as GETTING ONE’S KIX — in aisle 66, perhaps? And the [Sugary bulk breakfast purchase?] at 8D is a WHOLE BAG OF TRIX, out of which you may well pull a rabbit, since it’s the cereal’s mascot. Don’t get too excited about this last joke: It’s the reason they chose a bunny in the first place.