Games

Adam Vincent leans into the patriotic.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Oh, hi. You must be here because you solved or tried to solve Adam Vincent’s very clever puzzle and are wondering what just happened to you. Please have a seat, the theme explainer will be right with you.First, on behalf of the Wordplay team, I would like to wish our readers a happy Independence Day. That wish is related to the theme of today’s crossword, and is a hint but not a spoiler.I’d have to go into a lot more detail to spoil the multilayered theme in this puzzle. Mr. Vincent’s grid put up a mighty fight, but I did eventually crack it, by which time I had worked up a sweat, plowed through my supply of anxiety chocolate and slapped my forehead silly.On the other hand, conquering it gave me a tremendous boost: There is evidence that the “aha!” moment we chase when solving is connected to the release of dopamine — the feel-good chemical — in the brain.So if you tried to solve this puzzle and quit, give it another chance. Try talking to yourself. I mean it — say the entries out loud as you enter them. It may help. And scientists say it may make you feel great.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

Juliana Tringali Golden looks ahead.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Readers, I apologize. I know it may seem as if I’m beating a dead horse (or feeding a fed horse, to some) by assuring you that recurring entries and themes in consecutive crossword puzzles are just coincidence. But I do it only because things like this keep happening: The theme of today’s crossword, constructed by Juliana Tringali Golden, bears an eerie resemblance to the one in yesterday’s puzzle, by Josh Goodman. What’s more, the constructors happen to share first- and last-name initials.Levelheaded as I am, I could understand why one might treat such convergences as some kind of otherworldly sign — to say nothing of the eight “signs” we found in yesterday’s grid. But I’m no psychic. I’ll let you divine the deeper meaning of Ms. Golden’s puzzle, if it exists.Today’s ThemeDid you guess today’s theme from my column’s introduction? If not, any of the divining objects featured in the entries might help. Ms. Golden’s puzzle features four modes of divination, wittily hinted at using common terms.So an [Observation deck?] (17A) consists of TAROT CARDS, and a CRYSTAL BALL is a [Glass eye?] (33A). I CHING COINS are tossed to yield spiritual insights, hence their description as [Metal detectors?] (41A). And if you can’t conjure up the final themed entry on your own, feel free to reveal it below.61A. [Predictive text?]OUIJA BOARDWe 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

Josh Goodman sees things clearly.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — In the past, whenever I was indecisive or needed sage advice, I often turned to the Magic 8 Ball — a weighted, black plastic toy designed to look like an oversize billiard ball and filled with a viscous blue fluid. Inside the ball bobbed a 20-sided die that gave affirmative, negative or noncommittal answers to yes-or-no questions: Does my crush like me as much as I like him? “Very doubtful.” Will I become rich and famous someday? “Cannot predict now.” In hindsight, was my trust in the Magic 8 Ball as a child a precursor to my interest in astrology and tarot as an adult? “Without a doubt.”Now that we have search engines, group chats and astrology apps to provide counsel, the Magic 8 Ball may be relegated to its original use as a paperweight. But if you happen to have one lying around at home, it may help you identify the themed phrase in Josh Goodman’s crossword. Regardless of when the trick floats to the surface for you, I’d say “it is certain” you’ll enjoy the solve.Today’s ThemeStrings of circled letters seem to be either emanating from the grid’s center or angling toward it. Mr. Goodman lights the way for us with his revealer clue at 38-Across: [What all signs point to in this puzzle].The eight “signs” in question appear in circled letters, which must be read from the outside to the inside of the puzzle: CALL, EXIT, PEACE, PLUS, DOLLAR, STAR, NEON and STOP. Taken together, they illustrate the hidden expression: All signs points to YES (38A).I couldn’t determine the exact origins of the phrase “All signs point to yes,” but its popularity since the 1990s seems correlated with that of the Magic 8 Ball. The device was first patented in 1944, as a cylindrical “liquid-filled dice agitator,” before it took on its familiar name and black-and-white form. Then, shortly after it appeared on a 1992 episode of “The Simpsons,” sales of the Magic 8 Ball boomed. In fact, a New York Times report on its comeback used today’s themed phrase: “Can a middle-aged toy find happiness in the hard-bitten 90’s? ‘Signs point to yes.’”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

Margi Stevenson makes her New York Times debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Solving a crossword on your phone may lack the nostalgic appeal of the pen-and-paper method, but I consider it the more whimsical option. Digital solving allows you to guess with abandon and then delete and correct your mistakes without consequence. And, so long as you aren’t trying to break any speed records, it’s a fun way to improve your skills as a solver: You’ll find that fewer and fewer guesses need correction over time.Today’s crossword, constructed by Margi Stevenson in her New York Times debut, showed me that I still had plenty of room for improvement. I had to fix nearly half of my Across entries (half!) once the crossings revealed them to be wrong. I chalk this up in part to the talents of the constructor: It takes a tightly crafted puzzle to leave so much room for error. But I’m also eager to compare notes with my fellow puzzle fiends, so let me know in the comments how you fared.Today’s ThemeI love the way that a clever crossword theme can breathe new life into an otherwise commonplace coincidence of the English language, letting us enjoy its wordplay anew. Ms. Stevenson has done just that with an ordinary series of homophones.To [Author on behalf of someone else] (15A) is to GHOSTWRITE. A [Bat mitzvah] (21A) is an example of a RELIGIOUS RITE. [One half of a noted aviation team] (45A) is ORVILLE WRIGHT. The rhyme of these entries is clear — but what’s the reason?We discover it at 55-Across: [Straight to the point … or, homophonically, what this answer is relative to this puzzle?] is FORTHRIGHT. Why? Because this entry is the fourth instance of the sound “right.”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

Enrique Henestroza Anguiano offers a challenging Friday puzzle.Jump to: Tricky CluesNote to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.FRIDAY PUZZLE — I’m only human, despite what the puzzle editors might have told you. That means I find some crosswords tough, too, even though I’ve been a daily solver for years.And I love it when that happens. Yes, I get frustrated and wish it were easier, but my overriding feeling is one of excitement because I know I’m about to learn some new things. That feeling is what keeps me solving until the very end. Well, that and the fact that it’s in my job description.This is Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s eighth puzzle in The New York Times, and it gave me a pleasing run for my money. Mr. Anguiano’s grid is packed with lively entries, nine of which make their debuts, some of which I had to look up, such as 17A and 26A. In my opinion, the clues are just right in terms of Friday difficulty, in my opinion, and there is enough wordplay in them to keep even a struggling solver happy: Even if I don’t know the answer right away, I can admire a well-written misdirection.Your thoughts?Tricky Clues10A. I wasn’t sure at first how IN IT was an answer for [Still alive]. But upon further rumination (the non-cud kind), I think it has to do with remaining in the game, so to speak. If you’re IN IT, you’re still alive.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

Paolo Pasco and Sarah Sinclair deliver.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesNote to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.THURSDAY PUZZLE — I’m hungry. Are you hungry?Let’s sink our teeth into this crossword by Paolo Pasco and Sarah Sinclair. That should assuage our cravings for a fun puzzle. If you’re solving online, try not to get any pixels caught in your teeth; I’m all out of grid floss.And if you are tempted to give up on this one for some reason, don’t — there’s a nice surprise when you’ve had your fill.Today’s ThemeAt first, I thought that Mr. Pasco and Ms. Sinclair’s rounded grid represented a cell, with all its parts swirling around inside, and that the revealer was going to be something like “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”I was disabused of that notion when I got to the actual revealer, at 26A, which reads [Pepperoni, mushroom or green pepper … or what each cluster of black squares represents in this puzzle]. The answer is PIZZA TOPPING, but I had a problem: The answer, like many of this puzzle’s entries, didn’t fit in its slot.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

Rebecca Goldstein’s puzzle is anything but pedestrian.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesNote to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Like many of the brainy, industrious solvers who play the New York Times Crossword, I find it hard to unplug my brain and do nothing. My penchant for productivity lurks behind even the most seemingly inane activities. I’m not just watching “The Bachelor,” I’m gathering meaningful data about mainstream culture!As a leisurely source of self-improvement, the Times Crossword needs no defending. Every grid is filled with trivia both light and profound — about nature, sports or language itself — and I feel that I emerge from each solve an infinitesimally better person. To that end, I’d like to thank Rebecca Goldstein, who constructed today’s crossword. Ms. Goldstein taught me so much in this grid that I won’t feel guilty when I go home tonight to binge-watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm” — ahem, I mean, to meditate on a modern-day parable about the pitfalls of extreme wealth.Today’s ThemeEven if you haven’t seen the 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy,” you’ve probably heard of its most famous line — which, as the revealer at 52-Across points out, was improvised. That [Memorable ad-lib] is I’M WALKIN’ HERE! The phrase is emblematic of the gruff, no-nonsense New Yorker, but it’s also [what the starred clues would say about their answers].[Jesus] walked on the SEA OF GALILEE (20A). [Dorothy Gale], the heroine of “The Wizard of Oz,” walked on the YELLOW BRICK ROAD (24A). And [Neil Armstrong] walked on the moon, but this entry names the specific site of his small step for man: the TRANQUILITY BASE (45A).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

Seth Bisen-Hersh and Jeff Chen game the system.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesNote to readers: In the past, Wordplay indicated crossword clues with quotation marks. In crossword construction and editing, though, clues are typically indicated by brackets, a practice Wordplay is now following.TUESDAY PUZZLE — Seth Bisen-Hersh, who constructed today’s crossword with Jeff Chen, wrote that he was inspired to craft this grid’s theme while watching a TV show hosted by Penn & Teller, the prolific magician duo. I grew up admiring Penn & Teller, too — only it was because of their prank book, “How to Play With Your Food.” The book was given to me by my aunt, no doubt in the hopes that I’d terrorize my parents with it. And reader, I did: One my favorite tricks from the book involved palming a single-serve creamer from a restaurant’s dining table, and then casually starting to play with a fork near my face. Having subtly brought the hand with the creamer near my eye, I’d stab the cup with the fork and scream as the creamer spattered unsuspecting family members with a stream of white liquid that my eye seemed to have expelled.This puzzle’s theme relies on slightly higher-brow sleights of hand — hint — but I’m willing to bet that you’ll love it.Today’s ThemeYou may know the [Card game whose winning hands can be found hidden in 17-, 27-, 42- and 54-Across] (33A) as blackjack, but constraints in the grid led the constructors to refer to it by its other name, TWENTY-ONE. Each of the entries cited in the revealer clue hides a pair of cards that adds up to 21 — or blackjack — in the game.[Sloppily making out, in slang] (17A) is known as SUCKING FACE. The [Piece of jewelry consisting of a single line of diamonds] (27A) is a TENNIS BRACELET. An ace is worth 11 points, while the remaining honor cards — jack, queen and king — are worth 10 apiece. TWENTY-ONE is played with a two-card hand, which means that to reach exactly 21, you have to have draw an ace and an honor card.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