Crossword Puzzles

Jackson Matz opens our solving weekend.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Jackson Matz, the constructor of today’s puzzle, is a high school senior who is going through the college application process, a notoriously stressful time in a teenager’s life. I don’t know if we can persuade his first choice of school to admit him, but perhaps if we all cross our fingers and send him good wishes we can help him out.While he’s waiting to hear back from colleges, Mr. Matz is making puzzles, which is a perfectly normal and relaxing thing to do when you’re under stress. (That’s a lot funnier if you’ve ever tried to construct a crossword.)Today’s puzzle has intersecting 15s, a feature that I love. It’s fun to take an overall guess at a grid-spanning entry, write in the letters one by one and hope that, by the time you get to the end of it, you have the entire thing correct. When a crossword has many of these crossing spanners, the fun increases, as does the amount of 10D that I can conquer in the grid by simply solving a few entries.Shorter answers can help fill in crossing entries, but for my money it’s those long answers that make solving themeless puzzles so much fun.Your thoughts?Tricky Clues1A. The philosophy of THEISM was [influenced by Aristotle’s concept of the Unmoved Mover], a being that represents God. According to Britannica.com:“Aristotle’s fundamental principle is that everything that is in motion is moved by something else, and he offers a number of (unconvincing) arguments to this effect. He then argues that there cannot be an infinite series of moved movers. If it is true that when A is in motion there must be some B that moves A, then if B is itself in motion there must be some C moving B, and so on. This series cannot go on forever, and so it must come to a halt in some X that is a cause of motion but does not move itself — an unmoved mover.”7A. As soon as I saw the phrase “pig tales” (as opposed to the hairstyle called “pig tails”) in the clue [Four-year-old in pig tales?], I assumed the answer was Fern, the young girl who rescued Wilbur, the pig in “Charlotte’s Web.” Unfortunately, that name didn’t fit the five-letter slot. Once I had the first and the last letter of 7A filled in, I realized that the answer was PEPPA Pig.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

Josh Goodman has some good advice for us.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — I enjoy themed crosswords, mostly because taking the time to understand a puzzle’s theme offers an extra bit of enjoyment for me. It’s like savoring a good dessert after — or even during — a meal.But sometimes the very thing that defines a theme — a set of ideas that all share something in common — can make solving it a bit of a letdown. Once you understand the reasoning behind one or two theme entries in a puzzle, it’s not that difficult to figure out the others.But what if today’s puzzle, by Josh Goodman, mixed things up a little? What if a crossword theme set contained entries that all had something in common, but the way you got to each answer was different? Now that would be interesting, and it would be interesting throughout the entire solve.Enjoy that dessert, my friends.Today’s ThemeMr. Goodman’s theme offers great advice for navigating the world, even though we didn’t exactly ask for it. Each tip begins with the word “Don’t …” and a hint about where to apply that advice, as in 17A’s [A proverb about risk: Don’t …]. That’s our overall theme. Now we just have to figure out what Mr. Goodman is trying to say to us.The puzzle contains rebuses in both senses of the word. Each theme entry must be interpreted by using the letters in the circled squares to understand the entry phrase. In addition, 17A contains a traditional crossword rebus in that it requires solvers to write more than one letter in each of the circled squares.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

Casey Callaghan and Will Nediger reach new heights in their collaboration debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Tourist season may be winding down in the Northern Hemisphere, but Casey Callaghan and Will Nediger are whisking us away for a last-minute vacation: Their crossword theme takes us on a sightseeing tour of Rome. As I prepare to spend all of my remaining vacation days for the year on a trip to the Maritime Provinces of Canada — which also means that this column will feature several guest stars over the next week or two — I’m thrilled about this bonus bit of travel.I’ll admit, however, that this grid is one of the more challenging Wednesday puzzles I’ve solved in recent memory, and that certain trivia-based entries made the puzzle feel more like a Friday crossword. That shouldn’t deter you from solving! I simply recommend tackling the grid from the safety of your comfiest chair, with a glass of whatever you please beside you.Today’s ThemeTo crack this multifaceted theme, start with 67A, an [Architectural attraction in Rome depicted by this puzzle’s grid?]. One must assume it has something to do with the circled letters that create a diagonal strip down the grid from left to right.This revealer clue, just like 29D, uses a question mark to indicate wordplay. THE SPANISH STEPS aren’t just an architectural attraction; they’re also hinted at by the Spanish numbers UNO, DOS, TRES and CUATRO in the circled squares, whose positions evoke the shape of a staircase.Then, we’ve got the [House of worship at the top of 67-Across] (17A). That’s the TRINITÀ DEI MONTI, a 16th-century Gothic church at the top of the Spanish Steps. Don’t feel bad if you got stuck here — unless you’re already familiar, this answer and THE SPANISH STEPS are nearly impossible to figure out without crossings. (Let that also be a reminder to us all to Use the Crossings, Luke.)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

Howard Neuthaler makes his New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — Do you believe in magic? There might be some of it in today’s crossword puzzle, constructed by Howard Neuthaler. I don’t know that I have convictions either way, but a skilled magician can, at the very least, persuade me to withhold my skepticism for an evening. Last year, for instance, I watched Penn & Teller perform a successful card trick on roughly 1,000 guests at a gala over Zoom. I have barely managed to pull my jaw off the floor since.Mr. Neuthaler’s talents will become evident once you start solving, though his trick is more about language than legerdemain. Today’s ThemeIf you begin your solve from the top-left corner, 17A is the first themed entry you’ll encounter. [“AB negatve?” or “B poditive”?] are two examples of a BLOOD TYPO. This is a play on “blood type.”At 28A, [Odysseus vis-à-vis Ulysses?] is the SAME HERO, because Ulysses is just a Latinized version of Odysseus. Here, the joke is subtler: It’s playing on a figure of speech, “same here.”We’ve just witnessed a brilliant illusion, and it’s explained by the phrase “Presto CHANGO!” (23D): At 17-, 28-, 41- and 52A, common expressions have their final E’s exchanged for O’s — which I’d suggest is also true of the word CHANGO, even though it’s spelled that way in the dictionary. Shouldn’t it be “change-O,” if anything? Aren’t you, too, compelled to rhyme CHANGO with “mango”?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