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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

Hemant Mehta opens our solving weekend with one of the crunchiest crosswords in recent memory.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Once in a while, readers may hear commenters refer to grids as crunchy or chewy. When applied to crosswords, the terms are interchangeable, and the best way to define them that I can think of is to compare them to peanut butter. Stay with me on this.An easy puzzle that flows well is like smooth peanut butter.A crunchy puzzle is like extra-chunky peanut butter. There are smooth areas, and there are areas that require a bit more chewing. The crunchy parts are unique and fun entries that will give you a run for your money, but you are willing to put in the work because you’re having a good time.The Wordplay column is the refreshing beverage you drink after you finish, to help pry the puzzle off the roof of your mouth.See? It’s a very useful analogy.Anyway, Hemant Mehta offers a puzzle that requires a considerable amount of chewing, and I definitely had a good time. His crossword is packed with unique entries (a whopping 10 debuts, by my count), and many of the clues contain that devious wordplay that Mr. Mehta mentions in his note below.So crunch away on today’s puzzle. I thought it was delicious, and I hope you will, too.Tricky Clues19A. [Short elevations?] should be read as “A shortened version of a word that means elevations.” The answer is HTS, which is short for “heights.”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

Christopher Youngs’s theme spotlights one of the toughest types of clues.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — In 2017, I was asked to write a comprehensive guide to how to solve the New York Times Crossword, and my task was to show readers how to think about the different types of clues. As we know, there are a lot of them, which is why I won an unofficial award from the production desk for the longest Times guide in existence, along with a polite suggestion that I never do that again. It wasn’t a Pulitzer, but it was nice to be recognized for something.I bring up the guide because it may help some solvers understand Christopher Youngs’s revealer at 58A. The entry utilizes one of my favorite facets of the English language to bamboozle people, and I discuss this trick in the theme section below. Seeing this concept used in an entry instead of a clue is a nice twist, and it makes today’s crossword a worthy foray into Thursday puzzles for Mr. Youngs.Today’s ThemeMr. Youngs’s theme played out for me in the way he probably intended. I solved the puzzle, including the rebus (here’s an article on how to enter more than one letter in a square), and then I looked back at the revealer at 58A. It took a minute for the penny to drop, and when it did, I laughed out loud.There are four HAND rebuses in this grid, and solvers can enter either the entire word or just the first letter, H, to be marked correct. For example, at 17A, the answer to the clue [Mixed drink with an alliterative name] is SCOTC(H AND) SODA. The rebus works for the Down entries as well: The answer to 5D’s [ “Let me go, you brute! “] is UN(HAND) ME.Now let’s talk about heteronym clues and entries. Heteronyms are two or more words that are spelled the same way, but they are pronounced differently and have different meanings. The revealer clue at 58A is [Part of a clock depicted four times in this puzzle?], and the answer is MINUTE HAND. While it’s true that the word HAND is part of each of the answers, why are we focusing specifically on the HAND that indicates the minute?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

Meghan Morris makes no formal pronouncements.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Forgive me if I’ve shared this poem before. I have a large and colorful carousel of interests and references, I swear, but the horses come around again at some point. In any case: A little over a century ago, a Dutch writer who went by the pseudonym Charivarius laid out his gripes about the irregularities of English pronunciation in a poem, which he titled “The Chaos.” His verses demonstrated hundreds of inconsistencies, using eye rhymes like the following:Wholly, holly, signal, signing,Same, examining, but mining,Scholar, vicar, and cigar,Solar, mica, war and far.Meghan Morris engages with the same idea in today’s crossword — but she lets us discover the chaos for ourselves.Today’s ThemeSeveral themed clues in today’s grid are nested, meaning that they rely on your having solved one or more previous clues. Don’t panic! You can find your way in by solving a few gimmes. For example, here’s a clue I solved right away: [It gets baked] (21A) — DOUGH. This entry helped me tackle two themed clues.29-Down is a [Rhyme of DOUGH, but not a homophone of 43-Across]. And 43A’s [By way of] solves — with the help of crossings, for me — to THROUGH. What rhymes with DOUGH but isn’t a homophone of THROUGH? The answer is THROW.8-Across is a [Rhyme of 46-Across, but not a homophone of DOUGH]. 46A’s [Attention-getting sound] is a COUGH. What rhymes with COUGH and isn’t a homophone of DOUGH? The answer is DOFF.(And, in case it’s not clear, the word THROUGH doesn’t have a homophone, nor do the other words clued this way. That aspect of the clue is intended to hint at the answer, because THROW would be a homophone of THROUGH if both -OUGH words were pronounced with that long O.)Give it a try. You’ll be saying OHH — or your [Exclamation of understanding] (36A) of choice — in no time.Tricky Clues12A. In a puzzle in the middle of the week, you’re less likely to see a question mark at the end of a clue like [Key that might be part of a chain], even though there’s misdirection involved. An ISLE is also called a key, and it can be connected to other ISLEs in a chain (often called an archipelago).25A. In the category of words I don’t think I’ll ever need: ASSAY, which means to [Evaluate for purity], as with gold or chemicals. When will I next be conducting such an evaluation? I can’t ASSAY.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 Raymon rides the current.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — Some crossword themes have punchlines. Others end in “aha!” moments. And some, like today’s theme, have no beginning or end at all. They merely drift into focus and then echo in our minds long after we’ve solved the puzzle. I have a soft spot for themes in this third category and was thrilled to find one in today’s crossword by Daniel Raymon.These gentle, revealerless themes tend to highlight something simple about language: the various uses of a cliché, for instance, or a specific way that words go together. Perhaps this kind of thing shouldn’t surprise me — a crossword being about words? what a concept! — but I love that these observations can still make me gasp a little gasp. And that’s just what I did today once Mr. Raymon’s theme was in view.Today’s ThemeAll of today’s themed clues are spoken, which is to say they appear between quotation marks, although they aren’t the only clues to do so in the puzzle. The way to identify them is not by their cluing, but by their common format: Each consists of the word AS, followed by a pronoun and a verb.The clue for 17A, [“Any option is fine by me”], for example, solves to AS YOU PLEASE. And for 21A, a more succinct way to say [“Or so the motto goes”] is AS THEY SAY. By contrast, a way to say [“What a surprise!”] stretches across 27A, 33D and 51A: AS I LIVE / AND / BREATHE!See if you can solve the remaining two themed entries at 59- and 65A and get to the finish line AS the crow flies.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

Kate Chin Park offers a challenging puzzle.FRIDAY PUZZLE — It has been a while since I’ve written a First Pass Friday, the occasional feature in which I show readers how I forged my way into the dreaded, second-hardest puzzle of the week (the hardest is on Saturday). I had trouble finding a way into Kate Chin Park’s entertaining, formidable puzzle, so I thought that some of you who are just starting to play the crossword might be interested in seeing how even an experienced solver can be tripped up. Based on the reader responses to earlier First Pass Fridays, it is also an excellent opportunity to feel smarter than me before the solving even begins. No, don’t thank me; that’s what I’m here for.The best way to break into a grid, in my opinion, is to scan the clue list and find the gimmes. Fill in the answers you definitely know first, and you’re in.Your gimmes may not be the same as my gimmes, and your knowledge base will be different from mine, and that’s OK. Work the crossings if you are having trouble with an entry. And don’t forget to take breaks when you’re stuck. That way, you can come back to the crossword with a refreshed brain. Keep a bag of chocolates nearby for when the going gets tough.But don’t be afraid of what’s ahead. A good late-week puzzle should make your heart sink a little.Fortunately for me, there were a couple of entries that I had committed to memory over the years because they appeared frequently and were usually clued in similar ways. For example, if there is a three-letter slot that is clued as [Adornment for a kimono], or that has anything to do with a kimono, the answer is invariably going to be OBI, a wide sash that wraps around the wearer’s waist. Similarly, if a five-letter slot is clued as [First name in cosmetics], you can bet that the answer will be ESTÉE, as in ESTÉE Lauder. The clue for 36D was a fill-in-the-blank of sorts, [Rae of “American Fiction”], which tripped the pop culture wire in my brain, and I was able to write in ISSA.Also, in the past, readers have asked why I solve using Autocheck. The answer is that I work on deadline and have to solve the puzzles quickly. This is how far I got during my first pass through the clues, and I’ve been doing this for 13 years.The New York TimesWe 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

Rajeswari Rajamani makes her New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — I’m always happy to welcome new constructors into the fold. I’m even more happy when they make their debuts on a Thursday — that beautiful, infuriating day of the week when any sort of wordplay or trickery can happen in the puzzles — because I get to witness a new voice emerging. So do you.This is Rajeswari Rajamani’s debut in The New York Times, and if this is any indication of her talent, I hope to see more from her. The theme set in her puzzle is particularly tight, and her clues make her mid-to-late-week puzzle very accessible. There’s even a neat trick that I will explain in the theme section. That’s enough to keep me happy on a Thursday.Ms. Rajamani finished the Diverse Crossword Constructors Fellowship under the tutelage of Sam Ezersky, one of our puzzle editors, and I think that he guided her well.“Raji was such a pleasure to work with!” Mr. Ezersky said. “An innate talent alongside an eagerness to learn really set her apart, and both of these attributes are nicely reflected in today’s puzzle.”Today’s ThemeI’d like to drop a pearl of experience (I wouldn’t call it wisdom, necessarily) that not everyone thinks about while solving: Sometimes, in order to solve a puzzle, you will have to go back and alter the clues themselves.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