Games

Ella Dershowitz declares her feelings in a lighthearted holiday puzzle.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Subtle it’s not, but I still got a chuckle out of Ella Dershowitz’s declaration of L.O.V.E. blaring from today’s Valentine’s Day crossword. I also needed some L.O.V.E. myself, since I spent over 15 minutes struggling in the puzzle’s southeast corner and wondering: Is this the day I finally choo-choo-choose to walk away from a Wednesday?I didn’t walk away, of course. I persevered, filled with certain gray-shaded sentiments represented in today’s theme. Valentine’s Day may be tiresome for single and partnered romantics alike, but Ms. Dershowitz’s crossword is a welcome escape from the demands of the day. Solving it also reminded me that there’s nothing I L.O.V.E. quite so much as a good puzzle.Today’s ThemeIn discovering the layers of today’s theme, I felt like a child plucking petals from a flower: I’ve solved it! I’ve solved it not. I’ve solved it! I’ve solved it not.Gray-shaded letters in the grid clearly spell the word LOVE. But we don’t discover the significance of their fill until 35-Across, where a revealer points out that certain “Valentine’s Day exchanges” double as a descriptor for “what this puzzle’s shaded areas are?”The answer is LOVE LETTERS. At first, this entry may seem too obvious — of course we’ve seen how those LETTERS spell LOVE! But as we fill in the grid, we discover that each letter contains a term for loving affection: The shaded L is filled with ROMANCE, the O with FONDNESS, the V with PASSION and the E with RESPECT.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

Peter Gordon has the right attitude in today’s crossword puzzle.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — I was asked on a recent evening to participate in a comedy show in which panelists gave slide show presentations on topics of their choosing. I opted for a language-focused segment (obviously) about clichés in reality television, inspired by my longtime fascination with the “Bachelor” franchise.One of my cohorts, a commercially successful actor, presented a lighthearted review of the many odd jobs he’d had on the road to his career. It got me thinking about the language (obviously) of the gig economy, which commodifies our qualities. I have learned to describe myself, for example, as a self-starter — which is a fancy way of saying I’m a morning person.One of these work-force-ready qualities can be found at the heart of today’s crossword, which was constructed by Peter Gordon. As with any crossword theme, the phrase requires a different interpretation to apply to the rest of the puzzle. In corporate terms, it’s versatile and adaptable to new environments!Shall we clock in and get to work?Today’s ThemeAre you a sports fan? If not, today’s theme might not have hit home for you. Appreciating it requires a knowledge of “Ones unconcerned with individual achievements” — that is to say TEAM PLAYERS. Each themed entry is made up of two sports team names; the leagues the teams belong to are appended in brackets.An “Indication that a gas stove is functioning properly” (3D), for instance, is a BLUE FLAME — for the St. Louis BLUEs and the Calgary FLAMEs of the N.H.L. Remember “Clarence in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’” (54A)? He’s a GUARDIAN ANGEL, made up of the Cleveland and Los Angeles baseball teams in the American League of the M.L.B.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

Christina Iverson offers solvers a challenging Friday puzzle.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — As I like to say, some days you get the puzzle, and some days the puzzle gets you. This is especially true of Friday crosswords, because the work that goes into solving is much harder. There’s no theme to lean on, the vocabulary may be tougher, and the clues are written to send the solver off on wild goose chases.But that’s what I love about the Friday puzzles. They’re exhilarating. Solving them is the closest I will ever come to walking a high wire, mainly because I am a chicken about heights.Still, I am beaten by the puzzles sometimes, even after years of practice. At first, I made very little headway on Christina Iverson’s excellent puzzle. It was a bit distressing, but I used a well-known, tried-and-true technique for breaking through my puzzle block: I put it down and walked away from it.Task avoidance may not seem like an especially efficient way to solve a puzzle, but it does the job, as long as you come back to the crossword eventually. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but when you return to the puzzle, you see it differently. You may be able to solve clues that stymied you before. Do the avoidance thing a few times, learn some of the tips from our solving guide, and you may find that you’ve conquered one of the hardest New York Times Crosswords of the week.It’s worth it, in my opinion. If you don’t at least try the late-week puzzles, you’re missing out on some excellent clues and entries. For me, admiring and sometimes giggling at the crossword shenanigans is what makes solving fun.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

Samuel A. Donaldson returns with some advice for people trying to date.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — The first time I heard that Sam Donaldson was coming to the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, I was very excited. Mr. Donaldson had been the highly respected chief White House correspondent for ABC for as long as I could remember, and there were rumors at the tournament that he enjoyed making crossword puzzles as well.So you can imagine my confusion when a man who was decades younger than the veteran journalist walked up to me and introduced himself as Sam Donaldson. It turned out that the puzzle constructor was a law professor in Georgia with the same name as the correspondent.I was not disappointed. I made a friend that day, and he is an incredibly nice person who happens to enjoy crossing words. Also, it may be the reason that he now uses Samuel A. Donaldson for his byline.This is his 39th crossword in The New York Times, and I’m happy to see him back. Also, it may be the reason that he now uses Samuel A. Donaldson for his byline.Today’s ThemeIn four places, two theme entries lie next to each other on the same row. Please note that the theme clues are not italicized or starred, but you will know that you are onto something when the answers don’t make any sense. I know. Welcome to the Thursday puzzle.At 18A, the answer to the clue “Highway crossing” is written as PASSOVER. Now, I have been to plenty of Passover seders in my life, and not one of them took place on a public roadway. There must be more to this entry. In fact, it makes a lot more sense if you flip the word and make it OVERPASS.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

Make some noise for Daniel Mauer’s musical crossword.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — If you have only recently begun solving the New York Times Crossword and reading the accompanying Wordplay column, you may be flummoxed by some of the terms that get tossed around here. Why is everyone always bringing up emus, for example? (It’s an apocryphal reference to our comment moderators.) And what the heck are veiled capitals? (They are hidden proper nouns in clues; read more about them in our solver’s guide.)One bit of crossword slang I’m still getting used to myself is the “revealer,” which is a clue that cracks the rest of the theme by pointing out its pattern. Some themed puzzles have them, while others — like today’s grid, constructed by Daniel Mauer — leave us to discover the pattern for ourselves.Shall we cross the threshold of revelation together?Today’s ThemeThe entries at 18-, 28-, 47- and 64-Across make up today’s theme set, and all of them deal in “refrain(s)” of hit songs. But repetition concerns more than just the choral hook. In the case of these particular songs, it comes down to the syllables themselves.What’s the “Refrain in a 1971 hit by David Bowie” (28A), for example? It’s CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES, as written. (Yes, he drops one CH- in the second line of the chorus.) And the “Refrain in a 1965 hit by the Who” might have come easily to you as MY G-G-G-GENERATION — depending on your generation, indeed.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

Victor Barocas takes a detour.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — Those who know me have learned that I tend to involuntarily vocalize. I yelp during suspenseful movies; I sigh while reading an emotional book; and I chuckle when I discover particularly clever crossword entries, a hearty handful of which can be found in today’s puzzle by Victor Barocas.This is Mr. Barocas’s 20th crossword for The New York Times, and you can be certain that my colleagues were treated to periodic cackles while I solved it. It’s nice to know that, even as constructors become more experienced, they never tire of keeping puzzlers on our toes.Today’s ThemeI was giddy about discovering today’s revealer because, while I didn’t know exactly what was going on with the themed entries, I could see that they were common expressions that had somehow been altered.The “Gist of a Dear John letter?” (21A), for example, is LOVE DONE, as in a breakup note. But since there are no spaces in the grid, my brain also read it as the more natural phrase LOVED ONE. Ditto with “Tinkling racket on a windy day?” (54A). That’s a CHIME DIN, though I’d normally read this string of letters as CHIMED IN.62-Across reveals there’s more to this game than just a few clever punchlines. Parsed in a certain way, “Change a map of southern England?” tells us what we “need to do to the answers to the starred clues.” It’s MOVE DOVER — which can also be read as MOVED OVER, in the style of the other odd entries, but cracks the formula when read as MOVE “D” OVER.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

Ryan Judge opens our solving weekend.Jump to: Tricky CluesFRIDAY PUZZLE — When constructors mention seed entries for their themeless puzzles, they are referring to words or phrases that enchant them so much that they choose to build entire crosswords around them.These entries are usually placed in the grid first, just as a gardener plants a seed in the ground. The rest of the fill is entered into the grid around that seed, the clues are written and then the entry is watered in well. With diligence, a dose of well-timed fertilizer in the spring and a bit of luck with regard to the weather, a constructor can look forward to a decent crop at harvest time.I’m sorry, I drifted. What I meant to say was that these seed entries can sometimes be the most interesting answers in the grid. While today’s puzzle by Ryan Judge is no different, he also includes a lot of other lively fill and clues for us to enjoy.Tricky Clues1A. This “Sky-high” is an emotion rather than a location. The answer is IN ECSTASY.15A. My brain has been trained to look for any misdirection in the clues, to the extent that I sometimes overthink them. I thought that “Solo act?” might have something to do with Solo cups, the ubiquitous party fixtures. In this puzzle, it’s an actor’s solo, and the answer is MONOLOGUE.17A. I knew that the “Footwear with distinctive yellow stitching” was made by the Doc Martens brand, but I had never seen it referred to as DR. MARTENS. A visit to its website showed me that’s actually the official name.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

Simeon Seigel takes us on a white-knuckle roller coaster ride.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Like Simeon Seigel, today’s constructor, I have never liked amusement park rides. Call me a buzzkill if you want, but I am terrified of heights and sudden drops, as well as rickety contraptions that look and feel as if the last time anyone did maintenance on them was 50 years ago.As always, your mileage may vary.What I do like is Mr. Seigel’s crossword. The people who dislike rebuses will be relieved to learn that there are none. What they may have difficulty with is figuring out how the circles in the grid function (and perhaps keeping their breakfasts down).Trust me, this one is very clever and well worth a try. Just keep an open mind about how theme entries are supposed to appear in a puzzle.Today’s ThemeGot a tight grip on the arms of your chair? Good, let’s get this ride started.The three theme clues are starred for visibility. Oh, and one thing to note if you haven’t seen this before: When a circle encloses four squares, as it does here, all four letters are included in the answer.Mr. Seigel’s theme is a series of LOOP DE LOOPS (61A) on a roller coaster, and the letters needed to complete its theme phrases follow those loops. Two loops are in each theme entry, one going clockwise and the other going counterclockwise.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?  More