Games

Julian Xiao opens our solving weekend with a challenging Friday puzzle.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Before we discuss Julian Xiao’s excellent puzzle, I would like to ask you all a question.How is it March already?As I get older, time seems to pass more quickly, and I feel rushed to pack in all of the things I want to do with my life. We all move at higher speeds now, too. With the pages of the calendar flying off at an ever-increasing speed, I decided that it was time to reflect upon my original stance on the nature of speed solving, which, by definition, is also rushed. It has its place at tournaments, of course, but I have always felt that a crossword puzzle is like a glass of fine wine: It should be savored, not chugged.When you rush through a crossword — whether there’s a prize in it for you or not — you miss out on some of its best qualities, such as entries you’ve never seen before, clues that are so clever that you wish you had thought of them and the high-wire act that constructors and puzzle editors pull off to make a creative theme idea work.I’m happy to say that my opinion has not changed. To continue the wine metaphor, crosswords should be enjoyed. Puzzle lovers should take their time moving through the clues to appreciate the wordplay and the mental tug of war between the constructor and the solver. They should, in a sense, swish the puzzle around in their mouths and allow its essence to roll over their tongues before spitting it discreetly into the bucket at their sides.You get the idea. Sitting down to fully enjoy a crossword is a time commitment, but it is time well spent.Julian Xiao made his New York Times Crossword debut in January in a collaboration with Ben Tolkin. This is the first one he constructed on his own, and it’s a good one. I found it fairly challenging until I hit the halfway mark, and then I had a breakthrough and was able to fill in a lot of the puzzle.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

Esha Datta’s second New York Times Crossword is a nice illustration of the genre.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — When solvers open a crossword, whether it’s in print or on a mobile device, they expect to see a blank grid and a list of written clues. They generally don’t expect to see pictures where their words should be, but here we are.After the initial shock wears off, the questions begin: Why are there pictures in my crossword puzzle? (Because.) Who drew them? (Daniel Savage, an illustrator in Los Angeles.) Are the puzzle editors doing this because I once complained about the Thursday themes? (Probably.)Despite the unusual clue list, this puzzle by Esha Datta is not hard to solve. The nontheme clues are fair and contain some clever wordplay, but the picture clues still need to be worked out, so there’s some challenge. I think that this crossword would be an excellent first Thursday puzzle for a solver to tackle.This is Ms. Datta’s second in The Times. Her 2023 debut was the result of her completion of the 10-week Diverse Crossword Constructor Fellowship, which pairs constructors from underrepresented groups with New York Times puzzle editors.By the way, please make sure your device is updated to the latest version of the New York Times Games app, or print out the puzzle to see it in full. There is a note at the top that says: “This puzzle is intended to have picture clues. If you are solving on an app that hasn’t been updated, you might see a description of the missing image file instead of the intended clue. If you aren’t able to update your app, you can solve online or in print to get the full solving experience.”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

In his New York Times debut, Greg Snitkin has finally made it.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Today, Feb. 28, would normally be the end of the month. But since 2024 is a leap year, we have the luxury — or the misfortune, depending on your opinions about February — of one extra day before March hits. What are we going to do with ourselves?Since you don’t have to worry about the first of the month just yet, kick your feet up and try your hand at solving today’s crossword, constructed by Greg Snitkin in his New York Times debut. Unlike the month in which we currently find ourselves, it requires no great leaps to understand.Today’s ThemeThe thing that ties today’s themed entries together might be described, per the revealer at 53-Across, as “The main takeaway.” But what could that takeaway — which also must be “considered in three different senses” — be?Our big hint, I think, comes at 33-Across. “Someone terrorizing kids in a 1986 Stephen King novel” is somewhat generically described as a SCARY CLOWN, but most of us know this monster as “It” (or as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, but that name hardly fits into a standard grid). Once we learn about the HOKEY POKEY (41A) — the “Participation dance in which you ‘turn yourself around’” — we can deduce the revealer and its meaning. That’s WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT (53A), indeed.These are lyrics from the HOKEY POKEY, but can also be applied to 33-Across — SCARY CLOWN summarizes the plot of Stephen King’s “It.” And above that, COMPUTER SYSTEMS (20A) are what I.T., short for information technology, is all about.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

Nate Cardin must think he has put one over on us.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — If you grew up north of the U.S. border in the 1980s or ’90s, you might have become acquainted with a Canadian children’s music trio known as Sharon, Lois & Bram. Their music was lighthearted, interactive and absurd — one song, for example, was a jazzy ode to peanut butter and jelly (and a well-deserved one — it’s a timeless sandwich).Today’s crossword, constructed by Nate Cardin, brought to mind a particular song from the trio’s discography. What a treat to remember it, after all these years! I’ll share it after explaining today’s theme, to avert any spoilers.Shall we get our solving engines humming?Today’s ThemeYou may call me a woman of simple pleasures — and I’m not even sure if that’s an insult, really — but I found it just delightful that there was nothing more to this grid than a series of simple rhymes.The first of these rhyming words is at 18-Across, for a “‘Toy Story’ dachshund with a springy body”: SLINKY DOG. One row below it, at 20-Across: “This emoticon: ;-)” is a WINKY FACE. So that’s SLINKY, WINKY — and heck, let’s keep it going. STINKY TOFU (35A), “KINKY BOOTS” (40A) — you get it now. I’ll leave the discovery of the last two rhyming words to your inky pens. And as promised, I’ve included a rhyming addendum by Sharon, Lois & Bram above.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 Marquez treats us to a clever Monday puzzle.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — In 2017, a Styles article in The New York Times examined the cultural backlash to Venmo, an app that people in the United States use to pay one another for various services. The article argued that, rather than simplifying transactions and encouraging magnanimity among friends, “the app arguably promotes the libertarian, every-user-for-himself ethos of Silicon Valley.”I’m inclined to agree with that assessment (though I continue to rely on Venmo, to my eternal chagrin). So I was delighted to discover that the theme of today’s crossword, constructed by Joe Marquez, hinged on an expression of generosity. I hope that solving it brightens your day — and that you go brighten someone else’s afterward.Today’s ThemeThe New York Times takes the use of the term literally seriously. “When literally is used correctly,” our stylebook reads, “it is often unneeded.”The puzzle editors, however, have made an exception for today’s crossword, in which the phrase “I’m paying for this round” is described as “a literal hint to this puzzle’s theme” (59A).The figurative expression DRINKS ON ME is made literal through both the use of gray-shaded squares — inside 17-, 28- and 46-Across — and pairs of circled letters, such that the words VERMOUTH, WINE and SAKE sit squarely over the letters M-E.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

Larry Snyder makes his New York Times Crossword debut.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — Let’s talk about heteronym clues. They are some of the toughest for solvers to crack because they take advantage of an interesting quirk of the human brain: We sometimes make assumptions about the written word based on our experiences. That’s especially true when we are moving quickly, as some people do when they’re solving a crossword. When we finally solve such a clue by using the crossings, we feel like kicking ourselves for not seeing it sooner.This type of clue is designed to bamboozle you. Not that you asked, but my advice is to not be too hard on yourself if you are fooled. And lean heavily on those crossings.Spoiler alert: I’m going to discuss the heteronym clue in Larry Snyder’s puzzle. If you don’t want it to be spoiled for you, please click the “Tricky Clues” jump link above and you can skip this part.Webster’s New World College Edition defines a heteronym as “a word with the same spelling as another or others, but with different meaning and pronunciation.” For example, “tear” can be a noun that means a drop of water, or a verb that means to rip.Let’s take a look at 2D. I’m going to go out on a limb and bet that those who are just getting into late-week puzzles may have had some trouble with this one. The clue is “Early number?” with a question mark, so we already know that there are shenanigans. The natural assumption is that the clue refers to numerals, and that the word “early” hints at something that happened early in history. Could the answer have something to do with Roman numerals?Congratulations, you’ve just been sent on a wild-goose chase. A solver can make some perfectly reasonable assumptions about this clue and still be wrong because the word “number” is not about numerals at all. The B sound in “number” is pronounced, and the clue is about an early form of anesthesia, or something that numbs. The answer is ETHER.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

Dan Schoenholz’s initial idea for his theme was different.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — This is the 29th crossword Dan Schoenholz has published in The New York Times. He is currently two days short of “batting for the cycle,” or having at least one puzzle published for each day of the week.I don’t know whether that’s a milestone that Mr. Schoenholz wants to achieve, but he’s just missing puzzles for Friday and Saturday. Maybe his next one will be a themeless toughie.Today’s ThemeWhen solvers *encounter (NEGATIVE) a theme like the one in Mr. Schoenholz’s puzzle, they are often required to *deconstruct (DRUM UP) the clues in order to crack the entries.Not sure what I’m talking about? Do you now suspect that I have finally gone completely off the rails? That’s entirely possible. But what if I told you that solving this puzzle boiled down to nothing more than reading the clues slightly differently from how they are written?The hint I gave in the first sentence of this theme explanation may have spilled the beans, but if you missed it, here’s the David Attenborough version:Here we see a lone Thursday theme clue, perched high atop the clue list, in search of a solver. Its elegant markings — the designation 17A and an asterisk — suggest to all who may encounter it that it is ready to be written in.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