Crossword Puzzles

Christopher Youngs’s crossword is more than the sum of its parts.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Hello, Monday solvers! Sam Corbin normally writes the early-week columns, but she is under the weather — as am I, only somewhat less so than Sam, so I am stepping in to fill her very punny shoes. I hope they fit.This is Christopher Youngs’s fourth crossword in The New York Times, and it’s a fun one. In fact, you may want to give it a round of applause when you’re done.Today’s ThemeHey, kids, let’s PUT ON A SHOW! I’ll write the SCRIPT, those of you who are handy with tools can build the SET, we can all be in the CAST and, if you’re too shy to perform, you can hunt for PROPS.Mr. Youngs offers four entries in which the second parts are elements of putting on a play. For example, the answer to the clue at 17A, “Programming language since 1995,” is JAVASCRIPT. At 24A, a GOLDEN SET is a “Rare tennis feat in which one player wins 24 straight points.” (I was not aware of the term.)The revealer clue at 62A is “Keep up appearances, say … or what to do with the ends of 17-, 24-, 39- and 50-Across?” The answer is PUT ON A SHOW.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

Wind your way through Adam Wagner’s puzzle.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — When does a crossword puzzle need a visual hint at the theme? We’ve seen circled squares, shaded squares, bolded lines and even black squares used as aids to help solvers organize their thoughts. These elements are usually added to the grids during the editing process.This devilishly clever puzzle from Adam Wagner includes shaded squares, and thank goodness they’re there. Not having some sort of visual element might have led to cross words (sorry).Adding a visual element is only one of many jobs of the puzzle editors.“We usually talk about visual elements like this during the meetings when we’re accepting the puzzle,” Christina Iverson, a puzzle editor, said. “In this case, we just thought the visual would be too hard to see without any shading, and if testers find something confusing, we’ll change the presentation,” she added.Joel Fagliano, the digital puzzle editor, agreed with Ms. Iverson and said that other ideas for clarifying the theme were discussed. But, he added: “Ultimately, we settled on what you see now. Even if it makes the puzzle a little easier for a Thursday, it seems worth it to make the theme clear to all solvers.”Today’s ThemeFirst, allow me to give kudos to Mr. Wagner for filling this grid. Making a puzzle where the true answers are basically hidden but what we write in the squares are unrelated words or phrases is next-level constructing as far as I’m concerned. You’ll see what I mean.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

Martin Schneider calls ’em like he sees ’em.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — It’s no secret that crossword puzzles are a good place to expand one’s base of trivial knowledge. Grids regularly feature defunct car makes, academic abbreviations and celebrity first names. While it can be frustrating to lose out on a few minutes of solving time just to guess at an entry I don’t know, I always find myself grateful for having learned it after the fact. Where else can one discover both the full name of the Rubik’s “Cube creator” (39A) and the identity of the “Brian who composed the original start-up sound for Windows 95” (41A) in a matter of minutes?Today’s crossword, constructed by Martin Schneider, scatters plenty of trivia tidbits among wordier entries. I learned, and I loved it. I hope his puzzle teaches you something new, too.Today’s ThemeAs a crossword columnist, I generally celebrate creative uses of the English language. But Mr. Schneider’s theme brought out my inner pedant, who makes an appearance when the occasion demands it.Today’s occasion is DOUBLE MISNOMERS (34A), as in items whose two-word names don’t describe what they actually are. “Carbonated fountain drinks” known as EGG CREAMS (18A), for instance, contain neither EGG nor CREAM. Some “Unusual meat courses” (23A) are called SWEETBREADS, even though they aren’t SWEET and there is no BREAD involved. And what’s the deal with airline food?Mr. Schneider’s list of DOUBLE MISNOMERS is impressive — contagious, even. Have you got any name-based bones to pick? I’m looking forward to seeing your contributions in the comments section.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

Zachary David Levy is really rocking it.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — Before today, I had already written about three of the six crossword puzzles that Zachary David Levy constructed for The New York Times. This being his seventh puzzle, I can now say that I’ve gotten to solve over half of them. But this was merely a fraction (yuk yuk) of the reason that I perked up at the sight of Mr. Levy’s byline. Having seen him rhyme and road-trip his way through previous grids, I knew I could expect a good deal of whimsy in today’s puzzle. And, despite muddling through a few surprisingly tough clues, I was not disappointed.So, what did you think? Did today’s solve make you feel especially young at heart?Today’s ThemeOf the four theme entries cited in the revealer clue, I found 52A’s “Counterpart to a landline” to be the easiest to solve (even if landlines may have fallen out of fashion) — MOBILE PHONE. After that came CRIB NOTES, at 17A. Because we know that the “starts” of themed entries are keys to Mr. Levy’s theme, we can focus on MOBILE and CRIB.To “Make safer, in a way” (63A) is to BABY-PROOF. Without a hyphen, this phrase becomes a clever description of “the starts of 17-, 27-, 38- and 52-Across”: a MOBILE and CRIB are both evidence of a newborn’s presence. Ditto the beginning of a “Fruit also known as calabash” (27A), called a BOTTLE GOURD, and a final first word you can reveal below.38A. “Outbuilding for many a historic home”CARRIAGE HOUSETricky Clues9A. “Lightens (up)” looks as if it’s already a full phrase, but this clue wants us to find a word that means “Lightens” when followed by the word “up.” The answer is EASES.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

Jack Scherban makes his New York Times debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Familiarity breeds contempt, but in the case of language, it also breeds apathy. As a words’ usage shifts over centuries, its potency also fades. This means that we, usually with women and younger generations leading the charge, must redraw the boundaries of what’s considered extreme or taboo. (Wordplay’s own Deb Amlen published a brief history of insults last year, in case you’d like to revisit some barbs from biblical and medieval times).The fighting words that reveal the theme of today’s crossword — constructed by Jack Scherban in his New York Times debut — have been traced as far back as the 1930s. I don’t think I’ve ever used them. Instead, I avoid conflict altogether by deploying the most powerful defense mechanism of all: humor. Thankfully, Mr. Scherban has included a healthy dose of that stuff in his theme, too.Today’s ThemeA trace of snark runs through Mr. Scherban’s clues for his theme entries at 20-, 31- and 38-Across, as though to prime us to come up with an “Unfazed response to a threat” (49A) from the figures therein.The “Beatles album character who apparently is an infantry leader” — emphasis as clued — is SERGEANT PEPPER (20A). And a “Hotels.com mascot who must be a commanding officer” is CAPTAIN OBVIOUS (31A). We get a third military rank in COLONEL SANDERS (38A). And a witty response to a possible threat from any of these charactersmight be YOU AND WHAT ARMY (49A)?Of the words in italics in the clues, Christina Iverson, a puzzle editor for The Times, said they were “a fun way to emphasize the goofiness of the theme.” Goofy, perhaps — but clever, 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