Crossword Puzzles

Drew Schmenner proves that constructing puzzles is his forte.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — As my colleagues and I have oft repeated in this column, there are many ways to solve a crossword puzzle. You can go Across, then Down; or Down, then Across. You can fill in only the three-letter entries or zigzag around the grid until you’ve found all of your gimmes. You can use the revealer — the clue that cracks a puzzle’s theme — either to fill in missing pieces of the puzzle or to interpret the meaning of an already completed grid. It’s your game to play.To decipher Drew Schmenner’s crossword, I had to use my solving techniques like battering rams against challenging parts of the grid. I broke through eventually, but Mr. Schmenner’s original clue phrasing and deceptively simple theme put up a brilliant defense.Shall we storm the crossword castle together?Today’s ThemeI don’t watch much basketball, but I found the “March Madness component” at 61A — which served as our “phonetic hint to 18-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across” — easy enough to discern from the themed entries I’d already filled in.A “Flag-waver’s specialty” (18A) is SEMAPHORE. “When the going gets tough, the early bird gets the worm” (23A) is an example of a MIXED METAPHOR. Already, a phonetic pattern is emerging. These answers, coupled with the spanner CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, the “Best Actor nominee for ‘12 Years a Slave’” (38A), give us a solid sense of it: March Madness’s FINAL FOUR (61A) is playing on a sound common to the end of each of these answers.The last of Mr. Schmenner’s entries is a New York Times Crossword debut: If something took place “In an unprecedented manner” (50A), it happened AS NEVER BEFORE. I expect this was tricky for several solvers, since a more colloquial — and common — phrasing replaces “as” with “like.”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

Andrew Kingsley and Garrett Chalfin have a pitch-perfect puzzle for us.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — With the exception of professional musicians, it seems as if everyone I know has, at some point, quit a musical instrument. “Quit” doesn’t mean “failed at” of course — or that’s what I keep telling myself about my stints with the piano, the drums, the guitar and, briefly, the ukulele. Some have even said that quitting with intention can be a leap toward your goals. (My goal was to stop having to practice piano.)Today’s crossword, constructed by Andrew Kingsley and Garrett Chalfin, may unite quitters and hangers-on alike in the joys of musical wordplay. The constructors’ themed clues are musical notes — but they have to be interpreted differently in order to be solved.Let’s dig in once more, with feeling.Today’s ThemeJust four themed entries are in today’s grid, but each one is positively delightful once you understand the game. At 17-Across, the musical note “A♭?” is read “A flat.” What’s another word for flat? APARTMENT. And how about “B♭?” (38A), which would read more like “Be flat?” That action sounds a lot like LIE DOWN.These are witty ways to “Follow a composer’s notation” (33D), or READ MUSIC. We interpret the themed clues by reading them — presumably aloud, in our heads — and then solving them as regular crossword clues.To “B♯?” (63A) — as in “be sharp” — is to LOOK ALIVE. If you are “E♯?” (11D), you’re TECH-SAVVY. (Think of the “E-” as an all-purpose prefix, like how it behaves on “e-filing” taxes.)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

Jackson Matz makes his New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — It’s always fun to welcome a new crossword constructor into the club, but there’s a special pleasure for me when I discover that the puzzle maker is young. People are discovering the thrills of solving and the rewards of constructing at a much younger age now, and I think it’s wonderful that this hobby has become popular with new generations. It looks as if the crossword puzzle has shed its image of being Grandma’s pastime.I mean, what were you doing when you were a teenager? I wasn’t making crosswords for The New York Times, that’s for sure.Let’s welcome Jackson Matz, 16, who offers a puzzle packed with lively entries and fun clues.Tricky Clues15A. While I was solving Mr. Matz’s puzzle, I had filled in this entry using the crossings, without reading the clue. I remember thinking to myself, “Huh. I don’t know how he clued THREESOME, but it’s going to be interesting.” Imagine my surprise, and confusion, when I saw that the clue was “Jonas Brothers, e.g.,” the trio of related singers. I laughed, Mr. Matz. I laughed.16A. I love this clue. “Needle on a thread?” makes you think about sewing, but the question mark means that we can’t take the clue at face value. This thread is a series of comments, and someone who needles the original poster or anyone else in the thread is a TROLL.25A. A VAN is “A mover … but not a shaker, one hopes.”26A. “Practice squad: Abbr.” refers to those with a medical practice, or DRS.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

Joe O’Neill makes a poetic debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — My favorite magazine cartoon is a drawing of a conductor dressed in tie and tails, standing at his podium and reading a version of the score that reduces his job to its most ridiculous: “Wave the stick until the music stops, then turn around and bow.”In fact, that cartoon was the first thing that came to mind after I solved Joe O’Neill’s debut New York Times Crossword. His theme translates a work of art into something with considerably less gravitas as well, turning the puzzle into a 15×15 square version of Shmoop, the humorously down-to-earth literary study guide.According to Mr. O’Neill’s constructor notes, this happened because he needed a way to make his theme fit the grid and enable him to fill the puzzle well. So he distilled a famous poem down to a very plain-spoken summary.The challenge lies in figuring out what that summary says because it’s written in Mr. O’Neill’s own words, which are not as predictable as the poem’s text. The crossings will be invaluable. While that may make things a bit tougher for some solvers, it’s a cute idea, especially if you are an unostentatious elocutionist like myself.Today’s ThemeRobert Frost (1874-1963) was an American poet whose work realistically depicted rural life. Mr. O’Neill’s theme summarizes Mr. Frost’s 1923 poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” in what is probably the most colloquial way I have ever seen. To see the entire summary, please click on the following links from top to bottom.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

Brad Wiegmann figures he can trick us. And he does.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — For better or for worse, the New York Times Crossword is tailored to an American readership. This can lead to frustrating moments for international solvers, and I sympathize: Even after 15 years in the United States, I am likely to stumble upon a tidbit of trivia that is as mundane to my U.S. colleagues as it is alien to me.Such was the case in today’s crossword, which was constructed by Brad Wiegmann. The last of his themed entries played on the name of an American organization I’d never heard of, resulting in several minutes of utter discombobulation. Did this entry stump you, too? Or was this just one of those days when I’d have done better by staying under the covers?Turn on your headlamps, and let’s shed some light on this grid.Today’s ThemeOne might say that Mr. Wiegmann is counting on your confusion with his themed clues, each of which seems to provide nothing more than a pair of names.“Nicholson and Nicklaus, e.g.?” (19A) refer to two celebrities with the first name JACK. We can refer to these men, wittily, as ONE-EYED JACKS, because each of their last names has only one I — phonetically spelled as EYE — in it.In the case of “Soren Kierkegaard and Chris Isaak, e.g.?” (26A), the double A’s are evident. Since these men don’t share first names, we can just call them DOUBLE-A GENTS. Yuk, yuk.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

You can find several ways through this puzzle by Christina Iverson.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — How Christina Iverson manages to balance her time between editing crosswords for The New York Times and constructing puzzles of her own, I will never understand. I can barely carve out the mental space to journal when I wake up before the crush of formal writing obligations overtakes me.As it turned out, having a mind consumed by the day-to-day of office life was exactly what I needed in order to discover the theme of Ms. Iverson’s latest crossword. It took only the knowledge of a certain workplace item — and understanding a clue’s witty reinterpretation of its purpose — to discover this crossword’s secrets.Shall we uncover them together?Today’s ThemeAs a former competitive punner, I am consistently impressed by the myriad ways in which constructors execute wordplay within the constraints of a standard crossword grid. Some attempts may inspire more groans than others, but their creativity is always to be admired.In today’s grid, Ms. Iverson has taken great pains to make a certain “Spring-loaded office device” serve as “a collective hint to 16-, 26-, 34- and 41-Across” (54A). That device is a THREE-HOLE PUNCH. Let’s take a look at the entries cited in this revealer to see how it all binds together, shall we?The “Flaw in an argument” (16A) is a LOGICAL FALLACY, which is a rhetorical hole.A “Void” (26A) is a physical hole (but contemplate it too long, and it can become an existential one): EMPTY SPACE.One’s “Messy living area” (34A) might be referred to as a PIGSTY — a hole (derogatory).“Many a beverage ending in ‘-ade’” (41A) is a FRUIT DRINK. And this, reader, is the punch.Tricky Clues14A. “France’s longest river” is not the one seen — or Seine, I should say — in Paris. It is the LOIRE, which stretches just over 625 miles across the country.29A. My fitness regimen consists of walking the dog and taking public transit in New York City, so this “Weightlifting item for a biceps routine” was unfamiliar to me. It’s called a CURL BAR, apparently — just like the place I get my hair styled.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