Crossword Puzzles

Jesse Guzman opens our solving weekend.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Perhaps moving from the themed puzzles to the themeless ones during the course of a week is not as traumatic for solvers as I originally thought.In The New York Times, themed crosswords run Monday through Thursday, as well as on Sunday. I like to think of a theme set as the skeleton of a grid, the bones that hold everything else up. As the week goes on and the puzzles become progressively harder, solvers often rely on the themes to help solve the fill that surround them.Or at least that’s what I thought. Swashbuckling displays of wordplay are my jam, and I assumed that everyone appreciated the themes as much as I did. Over the years, however, some readers have confessed in the comments that they solve the puzzles without even noticing the theme. Perhaps these people were timing themselves for speed-solving purposes. But it seemed a shame to me to miss such an entertaining part of the puzzles. That’s why we discuss the themes in detail on Wordplay. We want you to wring every drop of enjoyment out of the crosswords and, to me at least, the themes play a part in that.Once we get over the angst of a tricky Thursday theme, we run straight into the themeless Friday and Saturday crosswords. I’d like to ask a question of newer solvers: Is there a significant difference between how you solve a themed puzzle versus a themeless one?This is Jesse Guzman’s second crossword in The Times and his first themeless grid.Tricky Clues15A. Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong are OPERA ROLEs in “Nixon in China,” which premiered in 1987.19A. SLAM POETS compete with one another to see whose poetry is best, which is the [war of words] in the clue.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

Adam Wagner tells us a small tale.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — I know. The entries seem to have nothing to do with their clues.Take heart: We will figure out this little puzzle by Adam Wagner together, and when we’re done please feel free to slap yourself on the forehead. Not too hard, just a small tap, enough to lightly acknowledge that the raison d’être for Mr. Wagner’s crossword was in front of our eyes all along.This is Mr. Wagner’s 23rd puzzle in The New York Times.Today’s ThemeWhen I am trying to figure out a theme that has me stumped, I employ my stare-at-the-grid-until-the-penny-drops method of solving. If staring woefully at the puzzle doesn’t work, I allow my eyes to travel back and forth between the clue and the entry. Sometimes sighing plaintively is employed.As the penny drops, the palm of my hand strikes my forehead and I bring the ping-ponging of my eyeballs to a rest, lest, as my mother always said, they get stuck like that.You may use this method of solving if you like. It might help you recognize the diminutives at the ends of the first words of the theme clues. Mr. Wagner was even kind enough to leave an extra hint at 8D: The [Diminutive, diminutively] is LIL, the contraction of the word “little.”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

Aidan Deshong and Oren Hartstein write a set of less-than-stellar reviews.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Greetings, my fellow puzzleheads! Deb Amlen here, sitting in for my illustrious colleague, Sam Corbin, who is recovering from a mild mystery illness in an undisclosed location. She will be back next week with even more puns, if you can imagine. I don’t know where she gets them all.The constructors of today’s puzzle, Aidan Deshong and Oren Hartstein, were close friends in high school, and they have maintained their friendship in college.Mr. Deshong has had three puzzles published in The New York Times, and this is Mr. Orenstein’s debut. Their theme was sparked by a bright 36A that Mr. Orenstein had. And now here he is with an entire puzzle published in The Times.All it takes is one spark, and if you stoke it, that spark can become a flame. If you are wondering if you could construct a crossword, don’t be overwhelmed by the idea that you have to have an entire set of theme entries made all at once. Let it cook for a while in your brain. If you can, find published constructors and bat your ideas around with them. They can help you develop a theme by suggesting things you may not have considered. If you are not sure how to find the items that other constructors use, such as word lists and puzzle making software, here is a list of resources.Today’s ThemeThe theme of today’s puzzle is “meh.” That’s not a critique of the puzzle, mind you. It’s simply about less-than-enthusiastic, three-star reviews of a cocktail shaker, the game Battleship, an easy-A class, the city of Tulsa, Okla. and Good Friday, the Friday before Easter.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 helps us out in more ways than one.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — My first experience with Barbara Lin’s crosswords was in 2023, when I wrote the column for her Fourth of July puzzle. It was a breezy Tuesday grid with a timely wink, its themed entries stacked so as to create a tottering pile of burger toppings. It made me smile.That solving experience seems to have had a priming effect on me, because now, whenever I see Ms. Lin’s byline on a crossword, I am transported right back to the dog days of summer. I feel my spirits lift and my worries fade, and sometimes, I can even hear the ocean.I hope that today’s crossword leaves you in similarly, ahem, chipper spirits.Today’s ThemeIt seems like just yesterday we had a gambling-themed puzzle — because it was just yesterday — and here’s another one that antes up. In this case, however, the [Bluffer’s activity] of a POKER GAME (22A) makes up only a part of Ms. Lin’s gambit.Each of today’s themed entries represents a different interpretation of the revealer clue at 37A: [Contributes to a group gift … or a hint to 17-, 22-, 48- and 54-Across]. The answer is CHIPS IN. And the themed entries all have different kinds of CHIPS IN them.A poker game uses chips. The [Treat from a recipe printed on a Nestlé package] is a TOLL HOUSE COOKIE (17A), which contains chocolate chips. A [Crunchy Tex-Mex bowl] known as TACO SALAD (48A) includes tortilla chips. And your [Office workstation] DESKTOP COMPUTER (54A) contains microchips.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

Jeffrey Lease and Jeff Chen take their chances in a first-time collaboration for The New York Times.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — As Kenny Rogers once said, “Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin’ is knowin’ what to throw away and knowing what to keep.” I’ve never been much of a gambler, but I knew enough not to throw away today’s crossword, constructed by Jeffrey Lease and Jeff Chen. It’s a keeper.This is the constructors’ first puzzle collaboration for The New York Times. That’s a calculated risk: There’s always a chance that constructing styles and senses of humor won’t jell. In this case, I’d say the risk paid off big time. Will I bet on your enjoyment? Yes, so long as the only thing at stake is my ego.Today’s ThemeWhatever the [Big payout potential] is at 53-Across, it doubles as a hint to both the words in the shaded squares and the clue numbers on which they begin.You’ll notice as you solve that certain letters appear repeatedly in the shaded squares (in bold here, for reference). The witty [Court summons?] at 19-Across is an invitation to play on a court: TENNIS, ANYONE? At 27-Across, [Having a benevolent goal in mind] is being WELL-INTENTIONED. And the [Instruments for John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins] at 45-Across are TENOR SAXOPHONES. Do those TENs and ONEs remind you of anything?That payout potential is going to be TEN-TO-ONE ODDS. Not only do these betting odds feature in the shaded squares of each themed entry, they also appear in only odd-numbered clues: 19A, 27A, 45A and 53A.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

Karen Steinberg opens our solving weekend with her first solo themeless puzzle.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — This weekend hundreds of solvers will descend on the Marriott Hotel in Stamford, Conn., to attend the 47th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, the competition that was immortalized in the 2006 documentary “Wordplay.” The tournament is hosted by Will Shortz, the editor of the New York Times Crossword. Many of the constructors whose bylines you see on Times puzzles attend either to compete or help with the judging. I’ve always thought of the A.C.P.T. as a kind of Coachella for puzzle lovers, a place to get your cruciverbal groove on with people who have a similar mind-set.If you are intimidated by the thought of solving against hundreds of other minds, please don’t worry: The weekend includes entertainment, a market displaying all sorts of puzzle paraphernalia and a chance to make new friends. There’s something for everyone.Registration is now closed, but you can still sign up to be part of the virtual tournament. And if you would like to attend next year, the registration page on the A.C.P.T. website will be published in January 2026.Karen Steinberg has had six crosswords published in The Times, three of them collaborations with her son, David Steinberg, and her husband, Paul, who died in 2023. Ms. Steinberg returns today with her first solo themeless puzzle in The Times, and I love her grid design. Constructors call it a “basket weave” because the six grid-spanning entries cross each other at multiple points in the puzzle. That’s not easy to pull off: The constructor has to make sure those long entries cross well and are the liveliest answers in the puzzle, and then to fill around them with interesting entries that are not “junky.”Ms. Steinberg has definitely pulled it off. The 15-letter entries that weave themselves into the basket really floated my boat. No spoilers here, but I think you’ll enjoy them too.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

Hanh Huynh’s puzzle gives main-character energy.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — I like Hanh Huynh’s crosswords. Today’s puzzle is his fifth in The New York Times, and all you have to do is go back to his past grids to see how much he enjoys playing with words.His debut puzzle, from 2023, is my favorite, but I think you’ll like this one, too.Today’s ThemeMr. Huynh’s crossword is a rebus puzzle, and solvers can enter either an asterisk (*) or the word STAR in the appropriate theme squares in order for them to be marked correct. If you are just joining us and solve online, here is how to enter more than one letter in a square.“But, Deb,” I hear you asking, “how can it be a rebus if we can just put a single character, the asterisk, in a square?” Excellent question. There are two kinds of rebuses: those where symbols (such as the asterisk) stand in for words, and crossword rebuses, where more than one letter is packed into a single square. Mr. Huynh’s puzzle does both, but the answers are read differently.There are six squares in which an * or a STAR is to be entered. (Three of them are in the central Down entry alone.) The Across answers are read using the rebus STAR, as in THE (STAR)RY NIGHT at 17A. The Down answers are read using the asterisk, as in Q*BERT (the entry that crosses 17A) at 13D.While you’re solving, take a moment to appreciate that central Down entry, M*A*S*H, and how Mr. Huynh was able to cross three rebuses within it. I marveled at it.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

Try your hand at Daniel Bodily’s puzzle — it’ll all work out.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — I’m tempted to characterize this as Daniel Bodily’s “opening day” of the New York Times Crossword season. Mr. Bodily constructs puzzles regularly for The Times, but this is the first appearance he has made in 2025.A little fanfare is fitting, anyway, because today’s crossword contains eight — eight! — themed entries, including a split revealer. Let’s get a few reps in, shall we?Today’s ThemeWhat happens when you [go out with a bang]? You get a [hint to 16-, 21-, 29-, 34-, 46- and 54-Across]. The answer to this revealer clue is FINISH STRONG — split between 1D and 44D — and refers wittily to the fact that each of the cited themed entries finishes with a synonym for “strong.”At 16-Across, for instance, [Frame, apron, molding, etc.] are examples of WINDOW TRIM. (If you’re wondering whether “trim” is really a synonym for “strong,” see Mr. Bodily’s constructor notes below.) [Like some photos of yesteryear], pictures may be SEPIA-TONED (21A). One who [Collected hot wheels?] has CARJACKED someone, as “hot” is slang for “stolen” (29A).Now that I’ve personally trained you (eh?), see if you can crack the remaining entries on your own.Tricky Clues5A. I thought that the clue [Threat to a king, maybe] referred to a usurpation of royal titles. This king happens to be a chess piece; he can be threatened by a PAWN.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