Crossword Puzzles

Boaz Moser makes his New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — It didn’t happen often, but on occasion, I used to sit down to solve a Friday puzzle only to discover that the grid contained a theme. That must be a mistake, I thought, with my brow furrowed. Fridays are always themeless puzzles. If the subsequent reader commentary and emails were any way to gauge the reaction to this supposed impossibility, I wasn’t alone in that assumption.I haven’t seen a themed Friday grid in a while, and while Boaz Moser’s debut for the New York Times Crossword does not actually contain a theme, I thought it did when I started solving. I have to admit, I got a little excited at the prospect of solving something a bit different.I originally thought Mr. Moser’s grid contained a theme was because of 1D and 26D. The two entries have twin clues and synonymous answers. They are both on the perimeter of the puzzle, which has been used as a place to “hide” theme entries, as this 2003 crossword does.Alas, that’s as far as today’s theme-that-was-not-a-theme goes, but no matter. Mr. Moser’s puzzle is packed with fun and unique entries, and I am looking forward to seeing more from him, theme or no theme.Tricky Clues1A. The “jackknives” in [What jackknives can help to carve] are exercises, not actual carving tools. They look like this and target, among other muscle groups, the ABS.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Parker Higgins needs our help making good matches.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Parker Higgins, the constructor of today’s puzzle, made his New York Times Crossword debut in 2022 with one of my favorite puzzles of that year. I remember thinking that Mr. Higgins had a flair for developing brain-twisting themes, and today’s crossword left me feeling no different.The only thing solvers will need to understand Mr. Higgins’s puzzle is familiarity with a certain type of clue. I’m not saying that this kind of clue is actually in the grid, but it will definitely help to know about it.If you’re not sure what kind of clue I’m referring to, here’s a hint: It’s in the “More Types of Crossword Clues” section of our guide, “How to Solve the New York Times Crossword.”Today’s ThemeMr. Higgins has taken a fairly common cluing device and turned it on its head. We typically see partner clues, not partner answers.A partner clue wants you to come up with a word that is typically paired with a word in the clue, separated by “and.” An example would be the clue [Partner of live], with the answer being LEARN, as in “live and learn.” The trick to solving partner clues is to run through all the idioms you know that contain the clue word, add the word “and,” and then figure out which idiom fits.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Barbara Lin reflects on common sayings.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Over the last few years, I’ve noticed the emergence of a strange tic in my speech: I swap the opening syllables of words. These swaps are called spoonerisms — and boy, do I spoonerize. I might think, for instance, about how much I enjoy solving crosswords, but then say aloud that I enjoy “crolving saucewords.” Ah yes, the saucewords! My favorite is “marinara.”I normally find these lapses in communication to be embarrassing, if not a worrisome portent of cognitive decline. But it’s likely that this tendency helped me to identify the theme of today’s crossword, which was constructed by Barbara Lin.Today’s ThemeTo allow a slang phrase or longer expression as a crossword entry, The New York Times’s puzzle editors have to deem it idiomatic enough to resonate with most solvers.Ms. Lin’s expressions are rather obscure in their forms as written; it’s only when you flip them that you discover something familiar. At 17A, for instance, to [Swim around, scare some people, ram a boat …?] solves to LIFE OF JAWS. That solution is true enough to the clue, but the more recognizable expression is its reverse: “Jaws of Life.” At 22A, a [Good quality for a midwife?] is a LOVE OF LABORS, but swap the nouns and you have the common expression “labors of love.”59A was my favorite of these reversals: [Jacket sleeves?] are ARMS OF COAT. Why yes, I thought, they certainly are.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Daniel Bodily shows himself to be a man of letters.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. These sentences, besides describing the kinds of images I hallucinate after taking Benadryl, achieve something delightful: They use every letter in the English alphabet.Daniel Bodily accomplishes a similar feat in today’s crossword, which is his 10th for The New York Times. If any of you are inspired to come up with other phrases that feature the clue for 51A, a [Group whose members are represented completely (with no repeats)], I’d love to see them in the comments. Have at it — just don’t forget to pack my liquor jugs.Today’s ThemeCONSONANTS, the entry for 51A, abound in this grid; there’s nothing remarkable about that. But in the clues at 21-, 26- and 43-Across, we get all of the CONSONANTS in the English alphabet, each appearing exactly once. They appear inside the circled squares (in bold here): HEMINGWAYESQUE (21A), EXECUTIVE BOARD (26A) and J.F.K. PLAZA (43A).I suppose it wouldn’t be as impressive to pull the same thing off with vowels, since there are comparatively few. Still, I offer the following options free of charge to any enterprising constructors:“Audio, yes?”“Oily sauce.”“Ugly asteroid!”Tricky Clues1A. The lesson of this entry is that not every adjective needs a corresponding noun. The [Cause of a Richter scale blip] is a SEISM, as in the noun form of seismic. I will be the first to say that this sounds terrible.24A. On a computer, you can [Close the tab] with a simple click. But to do so at a bar, you have to PAY.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Tim D’Alfonso makes his New York Times debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Last week was the beginning of the academic year for many. The months of learning ahead are neatly planned out. But where does that leave those us of who don’t go to school? What lessons can we expect to learn, aside from how to cope with fewer hours of daylight (a Himalayan salt lamp, I’ve heard)?My suggestion is to bring a bit of scholarly rigor to your daily Crossword habit. If you haven’t made it past the Wednesday puzzles yet, push yourself to try the Thursday and Friday ones through the end of 2024. If you have Monday solving down pat, test your personal best with time limits or speed runs. And if you’re just starting the New York Times Crossword, welcome! Monday puzzles are the place to begin, and today’s grid, by Tim D’Alfonso, can be a lovely introduction.Remember that these courses of action are neither graded nor pop-quizzed by anyone but you. Our columnists and puzzle editors hold de facto office hours in Wordplay and in the Easy Mode newsletter in case you have questions — and you can always ask your fellow classmates in the comments section for help.Today’s ThemeGray is the default color choice for highlighting specific themed squares in our crosswords, since it’s friendly to black-and-white print. Today, that choice happens to be essential to the theme: To [Make a subtle insult] (63A) is to THROW SHADE. If you look at the shaded areas in Mr. D’Alfonso’s grid, you’ll see that they contain synonyms for THROW.A [Beach project that rarely survives high tide] (18A) is a SANDCASTLE, the [Sandwich specialty of Maine] (56A) is a LOBSTER ROLL and so on. If the idiom for a [State of total happiness] (39A) is HOG HEAVEN, though, why aren’t we saying “All hogs go to heaven”? And while I accept that a [Numbskull] (23A) is a CHUCKLEHEAD, what’s the difference between that and a knucklehead? I welcome your insights, theories and observations on these matters.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Adrian Johnson opens our solving weekend.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY 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.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More