Crossword Puzzles

You’ll have to use all of your senses to solve Kareem Ayas’s crossword.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Today’s puzzle is for those who believe that rules were made to be broken. If that’s you, read on — and if it isn’t, welcome to the party.Since they serve as ideal entry points for newer solvers, and format changes might intimidate those just learning the ropes, Monday crosswords rarely break with tradition. But an unusual grid isn’t necessarily an impenetrable one, and this puzzle, constructed by Kareem Ayas, bends the rules in a way that solvers of any level will enjoy.Christina Iverson, a puzzle editor for The New York Times, emphasized the accessibility of Mr. Ayas’s crossword. “The trick would be too easy for any other day,” Ms. Iverson said, adding that solvers will be further aided by explanatory clues and a theme that, once revealed, has a domino effect. “Once you get it, you can write in all the three-letter words.”Today’s ThemeThe reason all the three-letter words can be identified so quickly is that they’re all the same word. That word is the “Guinness world-record holder for ‘English word with the most meanings’” (71A): SET.SET has 430 senses recorded in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, according to the Guinness entry, so the “Complete collection” (62D) of meanings (that is to say, the SET) could not be featured in today’s puzzle.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

Alice Liang and Christina Iverson open our solving weekend.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Alice Liang made her New York Times Crossword debut almost a year ago as part of the 2023 class of the Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship. Each of the fellows is mentored by a puzzle editor in order to learn how to construct crosswords, and Ms. Liang worked with Christina Iverson.This puzzle is Ms. Liang’s second in The Times and is likely to be a hit with solvers who feel that the Friday puzzles have not been as difficult as they used to be. I wrestled mightily with this one and had a good time doing it. I also learned a few things along the way. Any mistakes were of my own making. For example, a crossing that I originally thought was unfair turned out to be perfectly cromulent after I went back to reread the clues.I encourage those who are just starting to solve the late-week, tougher puzzles to hang in there, because there is a lot to see in this grid. Today’s crossword may give you a run for your money, but you can solve it. The usual methods apply here:Fill in the entries you definitely know first. You can always branch out from there.Take breaks when you feel stuck. Your brain continues to work on the clues in the background, while you are doing something else, and you will probably be able to fill in more answers when you return to the puzzle.Work those crossings. If you don’t know an Across answer, try the crossing Down entries. Your brain loves filling in missing information, and you may be able to take an educated guess at the Across entry once you have a few letters filled in.Look things up if you don’t know them. I know. Some people feel that’s cheating. But trust me: You will become a better solver for it, because you will probably see that clue again.The one thing I hope you don’t do is get so frustrated that you stop solving the puzzle. There’s no rule that says you have to finish, but you will feel so satisfied and pleased with yourself if you do. And hopefully, you will have learned something from the puzzle, as I did.I’m rooting for you. Go get this one.Tricky Clues5A. It’s easy to assume that “Doing long-distance, say” is about running, but this clue refers to a long-distance relationship, and the answer is APART.10A. A bird “Flaps” its wings, and you can have a flap on a bag or pocket, but in this puzzle, “Flaps” is a synonym for states of excitement. The answer, in the corresponding plural, is ADOS.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

Michael Lieberman is not the person he used to be.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Despite what the headline and the photo may seem to imply, Michael Lieberman has not become an emu, at least as far as I know. When I said that he was not the person he used to be, it was a roundabout way of hinting at his theme. And the chance to put an emu at the top of this column was just too much to resist.So the message may be a bit confusing, but the point (to the extent that I have one) holds: Some things are just inevitable. Let’s find out what they might be.Today’s ThemeMr. Lieberman’s theme is relatively gentle for a Thursday. No need to metaphorically swing from the chandeliers in order to solve this one. It’s a simple letter-change theme, which some readers may say is too easy for this late in the solving week. But I think the revealer at 53A was funny enough to make the trade-off worthwhile.The revealer, I’VE CHANGED, is the answer to the clue “‘The old me is gone’ … or what happened between the first and second parts of 19-, 28-, 37- and 48-Across?”The four theme entries are two-word phrases where both words are virtually the same, except that the first word ends in IVE, and the second in ES.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

David Rockow gets organized.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — I have often observed, both privately and in this column, that a daily crossword-solving habit gives way to casual conspiracy theories about patterns in the puzzles. Aside from the theme — an intentional pattern that is concealed and awaiting discovery — these theories rarely amount to more than an appreciation for the occasional synchronicity of the cosmos.I include myself in this observation, of course. While looking into the origins of the phrase at the heart of today’s crossword, constructed by David Rockow, I noticed a clue that seemed to be worded too cleverly to be a coincidence. But my sleuthing revealed that neither the constructors nor the editors had intended anything by it. Drat! I was forced to admire the rest of the puzzle on its own brilliant merits.Today’s ThemeThe “State of order that this puzzle fails to achieve?” (37A) can be observed by looking at the words that each cluster of circled squares spells. Between 16A and 19A, we get TEAL; from 27A up through 24A, we have MALLARD. Two more ducks follow: the common EIDER and a RUBBER variety. This would all be unremarkable, but for the placement of the circles: None are entirely in alignment. This puzzle, in other words, can’t get its DUCKS IN A ROW.As for the coincidence that had me all atwitter: At 40-Across, T.S.A. is clued as “Org. that specifically prohibits bowling pins and pool cues.” Two of the origin stories for the phrase DUCKS IN A ROW happen to come from pool and bowling. Can you believe it? Should we all buy lottery tickets?Tricky Clues14A. Rule-based clues are both infuriating and brilliant, because the only way to solve one is by guessing a little — ideally with the help of crossings — and then checking your guess against the parameters outlined by the clue. The “Feeling that can be caused by the final three letters of this answer” is NAUSEA, from a trip by -SEA. (Hatred also fits, if you have an aversion to the color red.)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 takes a hands-off approach.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — I was excited to see Daniel Bodily’s byline at the top of today’s crossword for two reasons. The first is that, as a relatively recent addition to the Games desk, I still get a thrill whenever I recognize constructors’ names from past puzzles — a novel way of marking time, somewhat similar to notching a wall to track growth spurts. The second reason is that I had a lot of fun solving Mr. Bodily’s last puzzle for The New York Times, a Thursday thinker in which common phrases had their halves reversed to create new ones — “craps tables” became “table scraps,” and so on.It won’t be that hard to spot Mr. Bodily’s trick this go-round. But solving the puzzle is a real throwback — as in, you might just throw out your back laughing, once you figure out the theme.Today’s ThemeMy, my, my. How did it feel when you applied a certain famous “MC Hammer lyric” — the words of which are split across the bottom row of the grid at 66-, 67- and 68A — to all of the starred clues?The sheer catchiness of (U) CAN’T TOUCH THIS, the 1990 hip-hop hit, is part of what makes this revealer so satisfying. I recommend listening to the song while reviewing the puzzle’s list of things you CAN’T TOUCH (or can, but really shouldn’t): a CAMERA LENS (17A), WET PAINT (31A), an ELECTRIC FENCE (38A), a LIMBO BAR (44A) and anything at a CRIME SCENE (60A).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