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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

There’s more than one way to solve Hemant Mehta’s Friday puzzle. If at first you don’t succeed with a crossword, develop a good 21-Down.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Where did you begin solving a crossword like Hemant Mehta’s? Did you just dive in anywhere, or did you start at 1A and proceed in clue order? Perhaps you scan the clue list first and fill in the answers you are confident that you know. Maybe your method changes depending on the puzzle in front of you.There is no right or wrong way to solve a crossword, in my opinion. That includes looking up things that elude you, although I know that not everyone agrees. The goal is to have fun and challenge yourself, but if the endeavor becomes an unpleasant struggle, why suffer?Use every tool at your disposal. If one method doesn’t work, be flexible and change things up. Be gentle with yourself, as my colleague Sam Corbin suggested on Wednesday. When you solve a puzzle with as much lively fill and clever cluing as Mr. Mehta’s, it will be worth it.And don’t forget to pat yourself on the back. Maybe you don’t know the name of the third guard from the left in the final scene of “Hamlet” — that’s OK, no one does — but you sure are resourceful. That’s a gift in itself.Tricky Clues14A. The “Place for student mixers?” is not a school gym where a party is being held. It’s a SCIENCE LAB, where the students are actually mixing solutions.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

Sarah Muchnick makes her New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — It’s not uncommon for beginners to miss or be confused by the theme in a crossword. They may even solve the entire grid without using the theme as a solving tool or without looking back to appreciate that the theme even exists. My heart always goes out to these people, because I think that deciphering the theme is a bonus, an extra bit of fun while you’re untangling the clues.Well, today it was my turn to be flummoxed. This doesn’t happen often, but I finished Sarah Muchnick’s clever puzzle and couldn’t figure out the theme. There was a revealer, and I technically understood what needed to be done, but it turns out that I was trying to do it in the wrong place. After a push in the right direction by Christina Iverson, a puzzle editor, the proverbial lightbulb went on, and I was able to get closure.Maybe you missed the theme, too, and you’re frustrated. No need to worry — I will spill the beans on this terrific New York Times debut in the theme section of this column.Today’s ThemeYes, I know. The theme entries and their clues seemingly have nothing to do with one another. As always, there’s a reason for that.Whenever a revealer has the format “___ for ___,” solvers usually need to swap one letter or word for another. The revealer clue at 63A reads “When read forward and then backward, motto that suggests how to interpret this puzzle’s starred clues,” and the answer is ONE FOR ALL (and ALL FOR ONE, when read backward). That means you are going to swap the word ONE where you see the word ALL, and vice versa.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

MaryEllen Uthlaut’s crossword is worth celebrating.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Discovering the theme of a crossword puzzle can occasionally engender a sense of private embarrassment. We ask ourselves how we could have missed the pattern, given how obvious it seems in hindsight. I hope that you’ll give yourself some grace as you solve MaryEllen Uthlaut’s crossword puzzle, though, because its theme isn’t obvious. In fact, I needed a colleague to point out that I was only halfway appreciating its brilliance (another reason to try solving puzzles with a friend, a recommendation I have made in this column before).This is Ms. Uthlaut’s fourth crossword for The New York Times, and she seems to be developing a real knack for subtle theme sets: She can add and subtract letters from common phrases to change their meaning, and she can hide U.F.O.s in plain sight. As for today’s theme, she truly — ahem — rises to the occasion.Today’s ThemeThe occasion alluded to above appears at 57A: “‘Best wishes for your once-a-year celebration!’ (and a wish for solvers of this puzzle).” A couple of annual occasions may fit the bill, so we’ll deduce this one using our other theme entries.A certain “Buzzer you wouldn’t want to hit?” (17A) is a BUMBLEBEE, and a “Breast milk container” (25A) is a BABY BOTTLE. One particularly bold consonant stands out in these entries. It serves as our hint to Ms. Uthlaut’s revealer — HAPPY B-DAY.But wait, there’s more: Solvers of this puzzle are showered with B’s not only in the entries of this puzzle but in their clues: Every clue starts with the letter B. Beautiful, isn’t it?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

Alex Eaton-Salners is just clearing things up.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — New York Times word puzzles draw in experts of every kind, from boaters to birders, and these solvers are quick to observe when certain words that come up frequently in their fields aren’t allowed in the games. (I have heard from sailing buffs that the Spelling Bee is especially lacking in their lexicon.)I, on the other hand, have no such expertise. In fact, in solving today’s crossword by Alex Eaton-Salners, I mistook birding words for boating ones.Today’s ThemeMy first instinct for 38-Down — “Common spots for eagles’ nests” — was to guess the tops of ships’ masts, because I could have sworn that’s what those lookouts on ships were called.Reader, I was off by a mile (or half a league). The lookout points atop ships’ masts are called crow’s-nests. Besides, this clue was just asking for a common location for nests built by eagles. Oh, the shame of it all.Eagles tend to build their huge nests in TREETOPS. This entry doubles as “a hint to 2-, 9-, 21- and 24-Down.” Often, when a revealer entry includes a locator (e.g. end, top, first, second), that word is likely to refer to where themed content lies in other entries. Could TOPS be the places to look?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

Jeremy Newton owes us an explanation.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — In a themed crossword, constructors tend to include a revealer, a kind of breadcrumb trail that leads us definitively to the puzzle’s trick. In today’s puzzle, in contrast, Jeremy Newton seems to have scattered the entire loaf — if we’re sticking with the bread analogy — throughout his grid.After I got the gist of Mr. Newton’s theme, it was a delight to keep discovering new dimensions of its execution. Joel Fagliano, a senior puzzle editor for The New York Times, echoed this sentiment in his commentary on what made the grid stand out. “It’s so hard to come up with a simple concept that involves multiple layers like this,” he said. Mr. Fagliano also cited today’s crossword, which he said “unfolds beautifully,” as one of his favorite Monday puzzles of the past few years. And lucky us, we get to solve it now.Today’s ThemeBefore proceeding, I should apologize: The summary of today’s column is a play on words. I’m not saying that Mr. Newton owes us an explanation — I mean that he O’s us one. Because we learn, “by following the path of O’s in this puzzle’s grid” (33A), exactly what Mr. Newton is up to.These O’s, which “Zig or zag” (11A) — i.e. TURN — through a winding route from left to right, represent a ball in a game of MINIGOLF (18A). I was especially delighted by this game’s alliterative clue: “Popular pastime played with putters.”Holes in MINIGOLF are often designed so that their walls can act as conduits for the ball. And here, our ball ricochets from the TEE (58A) right into the CUP (8A), scoring a HOLE-IN-ONE SHOT (33/34/35A)! Solvers of the digital version should see a whimsical completion animation of the winning putt.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

Jesse Cohn makes his New York Times Crossword debut, crossing that accomplishment off his bucket list.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — I love to see constructors make their New York Times debuts, but I love it even more when I can’t tell that it’s their first. That usually happens when the puzzle maker has peppered a grid with lively entries that are fun to write.Jesse Cohn set a goal of having at least one crossword published in The New York Times, and today he realizes that dream. I imagine that checking this accomplishment off his bucket list is especially sweet because of how much work he put into it. More on this after the crossword questions link. Please scroll down to the Tricky Clues section or click the Tricky Clues link above to skip the spoilers.Just look at some of these long entries! I liked ACCENT WALL, WHAT THE HEY, ALL THE RAGE, I’M SO CONFUSED, HIGH SCORES and I’VE BEEN HAD. This was a fun puzzle to tackle.Tricky Clues34A. “Evidence of a past personal connection?” made me think of a Ouija board, but this is a very human connection. Your NAVEL is evidence that you were once attached to your mother by your umbilical cord.49A. These “Stock holders?” are not investors. They are BARNS, which hold livestock.1D. The word “prompter” in “Speech prompter, perhaps” made me think of a teleprompter. Winning an AWARD may prompt someone to give a speech, at least until the walk-off music plays.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 DiPietro takes us back to old Rome.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Last week I wrote about how constructors’ brains fascinate me because they can come up with unusual, creative ideas for what is essentially a two-dimensional pastime that simply involves crossing words. These puzzle makers have elevated the craft to include three dimensional puzzles and visuals that delight the eye, as well as unparalleled wordplay, mostly enabled — sorry, make that encouraged — by Will Shortz, Joel Fagliano and their merry band of editors.Creativity is one thing, but how do some of these constructors manage to be so prolific? I asked Sam Ezersky, an editor of the Crossword, who has had 55 puzzles appear in The New York Times in eight years. It boils down to noticing things that are not readily visible to others, and setting them aside for future use.“As Will Shortz says, they have flexible minds,” he said of these constructors.“I jot things down in my Notes app all the time,” he continued, “just properties of phrases I notice. Some things I’m able to turn into fully fleshed out, fun puzzles.“Your mind just becomes increasingly attuned to thinking ‘Hey, imagine if you could take that phrase and use it to explain this sort of wordplay.’”Today’s ThemeJoe DiPietro offers four theme entries where Roman numerals substitute for parts of phrases. The theme clues sort of hint at this trick by ending in “ … in old Rome?”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