Crossword Puzzles

Kate Hawkins opens our solving weekend.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — This is purely anecdotal, but Kate Hawkins has managed to do something that I imagine few constructors can pull off. Once constructors are published, they sometimes create subsequent crosswords that stick to a certain part of the week: Some tend to be Monday constructors, while others love to make themeless puzzles that run toward the end of the week.This is Ms. Hawkins’s 14th published puzzle in The New York Times, and she has come very close to hitting for the full-week cycle. She needs only a Tuesday and a Sunday puzzle to have published one on every day of the week.Contributing 14 crosswords to a single outlet is an accomplishment in itself, but constructors who hit for the cycle must also become adept at making a variety of puzzles that follow different rules.Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday puzzle formats are similar, but the difficulty level of the clues must increase as the week goes on, either by virtue of the clue trickiness and wordplay or because of a visual element in the grid.Friday and Saturday puzzles are themeless and more open, which means the constructor must collect longer entries that pique the solvers’ interests, as well as come up with clues that are both entertaining and designed to fool even the veterans among us. And making Sunday puzzles? That’s simply an exercise in stamina and perseverance.Being able to design good puzzles for every day of the week requires skill, dedication and practice. I believe that Ms. Hawkins has developed all of these, and I enjoy her puzzles very much.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

Damon Gulczynski wants to make sure you’re paying attention.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Verbal communication is a funny thing. I might say something to someone and assume the person heard me correctly, both in words and intent. Successful communication, however, does not happen as often as we would like.Damon Gulczynski’s puzzle isn’t difficult, but it may be easier to solve if you really focus on what he’s saying in the clues. I needed to repeat them to myself a few times before I understood what was going on. At some point, you may even slap your forehead, saying, “Ohh, that’s what he meant,” followed by, “You know what? That’s pretty clever.”Today’s ThemeEggcorns are words or phrases that are misheard or misinterpreted. If the misinterpretation occurs in a musical lyric, it is called a mondegreen. (Think “There’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “There’s a bad moon on the rise” in “Bad Moon Rising” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.)Mr. Gulczynski has written some crafty theme clues that contain eggcorns, and, once you understand what he means, the answers will make much more sense.I can tell you, for example, and with apologies to the French, that Americans don’t think of the EIFFEL TOWER as a [Rod-shaped parasite]. We might, however, refer to it as a “Paris sight” or “site” (both are appropriate here).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

Samuel A. Donaldson gives us a chance to beat him fair and square.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — You’ve probably heard me whine about my distaste for math before. The truth is that I don’t actually hate it: Math seems cool! I envy the heck out of Will Hunting, or really anyone who can write a long and complex equation spanning several chalkboards. I just wish that it came naturally to me.That’s why the theme for today’s crossword, constructed by Samuel A. Donaldson, gave me such a thrill: I was suddenly, albeit briefly, pretty good with numbers. The calculations in the grid are simple — we are still a word puzzle, after all — but I think you’ll feel, as I did, that the combination of mathematics and language adds up to something special. Or does it multiply?Today’s ThemeA certain [hairstylist’s observation], split between 48- and 56-Across, doubles as a key calculation to solve Mr. Donaldson’s theme: YOUR ROOTS ARE SHOWING. The themed entries, at 17-, 25- and 34-Across, refer to common phrases that include a number. But instead of the actual number, we need to write its square root into the grid.Luckily, these entries are mere tricks of language. Imagine how disappointing [Seventh heaven] would be if you felt like you were on CLOUD THREE instead of cloud nine.Tricky Clues20A. Unlike other university sports teams, whose nicknames often have something to do with their mascots or states, [Virginia Tech athletes] are called HOKIES only because a past student dreamed it up during a cheer contest at the turn of the 20th century.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

Shaun Phillips is back again already? You better believe it.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Shaun Phillips made his New York Times Crossword debut just two weeks ago. You might remember his puzzle, which appeared on a Wednesday, for its visual cleverness: The black squares formed the arm of a claw machine, which was also the theme.Given the hundreds of submissions we receive each week, it might be surprising to see Mr. Phillips back so soon. But today’s theme suggests that he might actually like keeping us in a state of mild disbelief. Will he return with a third puzzle two weeks from now? Time will tell. And if he does, I will have foretold the time. Does that work? Moving on.Today’s Theme[The answers to the starred clues in this puzzle] (49D) are just MYTHS, right?Either way, the folklore that shrouds the figures in this puzzle — SANTA CLAUS (53A) and the LOCH NESS MONSTER (46A) among them — is key to the wordplay at 32-Across: The phrase that means [“Seriously?!” … or what one might ask of the answers to starred clues in this puzzle?] is ARE YOU FOR REAL?I learned that the TOOTH FAIRY (17A) wasn’t real after losing the last of my baby teeth, when I felt my mother slipping money under my pillow. Rather than outing my parents in the morning, I hid the cash and complained that I hadn’t received my usual gift. My mother, baffled by this news and unable to confess, was forced to hand me some more as a consolation.Tricky Clues19A. I blame the frequency illusion — the false sense of seeing something everywhere shortly after you first notice it — for the fact that, mere hours after learning that [Southern cornbread] was called PONE, I came across some in the pastry display of a local cafe.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