See the 35 answer words debuted by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano.
C | A | S | T | C | P | L | U | S | I | N | I | T | ||
A | L | A | S | K | A | R | O | L | L | N | O | N | A | |
N | O | C | H | E | B | U | E | N | A | H | T | T | P | |
T | U | R | I | N | W | A | N | N | A | S | E | E | ||
D | A | R | K | E | R | D | O | L | O | R | ||||
T | E | L | E | P | R | E | S | E | N | C | E | |||
I | T | S | N | O | T | F | A | R | R | I | O | T | ||
T | B | H | A | L | T | C | M | A | ||||||
B | U | R | P | D | I | A | E | R | E | S | E | S | ||
S | P | E | A | K | I | N | G | R | O | L | E | |||
R | E | G | I | S | S | C | E | N | I | C | ||||
H | O | S | E | D | O | W | N | C | O | R | E | S | ||
U | F | O | S | W | H | A | T | A | T | R | E | A | T | |
S | E | M | I | N | O | N | O | N | S | E | N | S | E | |
K | N | E | X | S | M | O | K | Y | S | E | E | P |
C | R | A | T | E | A | S | P | C | A | B | T | S | A | L | P | S | ||||
L | E | T | E | M | M | O | L | A | R | U | S | E | S | P | O | R | T | |||
I | N | A | P | U | R | C | H | A | S | E | T | H | E | H | O | R | R | O | R | |
P | A | R | I | S | H | O | N | E | A | N | I | M | A | L | E | V | E | |||
S | L | I | D | I | M | T | O | L | D | F | O | R | T | H | I | S | N | O | W | |
D | N | A | O | A | T | T | O | A | S | T | ||||||||||
S | M | S | M | O | P | S | A | V | E | A | S | T | E | S | S | A | ||||
H | A | W | A | I | S | L | A | N | D | E | R | S | B | R | E | W | P | U | B | |
E | L | E | C | T | E | R | A | H | E | R | O | N | A | M | I | |||||
S | T | E | E | R | G | L | I | D | E | R | N | U | T | C | O | T | ||||
T | R | I | P | L | E | L | E | T | T | E | R | S | C | O | R | E | ||||
A | B | C | R | A | N | G | A | E | L | I | C | N | O | S | E | S | ||||
B | R | O | D | O | Z | E | N | I | C | H | E | L | U | D | E | |||||
B | A | R | C | O | D | E | C | N | E | W | S | H | E | A | D | L | I | N | E | |
A | N | N | A | N | G | O | A | T | E | E | T | U | G | T | A | P | ||||
M | E | L | E | E | B | A | E | T | S | E | ||||||||||
K | R | I | S | T | I | N | S | C | O | T | H | O | M | A | S | T | H | I | N | |
N | A | M | H | O | T | T | U | B | O | N | T | I | P | H | O | N | E | |||
O | D | D | M | A | N | O | U | T | B | U | S | I | N | E | S | E | N | S | E | |
C | O | U | R | T | M | R | I | C | R | E | D | O | A | S | K | E | D | |||
K | N | E | E | B | E | E | E | S | T | A | R | T | E | S | T | Y |
M | A | T | C | H | A | I | S | T | H | A | T | I | T | |
E | R | A | S | E | R | W | I | R | E | L | E | S | S | |
D | E | C | A | N | T | O | P | E | R | E | T | T | A | |
A | S | K | S | P | I | N | S | E | R | V | E | |||
Y | O | Y | O | E | D | T | E | A | S | Y | ||||
R | E | N | E | B | O | A | T | A | O | |||||
C | A | S | C | A | D | I | N | G | M | E | N | U | ||
A | L | L | T | I | M | E | G | R | E | A | T | S | ||
I | S | A | B | E | L | A | L | L | E | N | D | E | ||
S | I | R | E | S | P | E | T | T | A | |||||
H | A | I | M | F | A | A | M | O | S | H | ||||
N | E | W | S | R | A | D | I | O | C | H | I | |||
B | E | E | R | A | M | I | D | N | A | S | C | A | R | |
A | N | T | I | G | O | N | E | E | T | H | A | N | E | |
N | E | S | T | E | G | G | S | R | H | Y | M | E | D |
I'm honored to share this themeless crossword with New York Times solvers! It's my first themeless here, and I'm happy with the overall vibe and the personal touches throughout. Some of my favorite answers are the sassy IS THAT IT, a SPIN SERVE that works wonders for us tennis lefties, ISABEL ALLENDE, who's truly one of the ALL-TIME GREATS, and my old woodwind section, the CLARINETS.
I'm also glad that many of my clues made it through editing mostly intact, including those for EDT, BOA, NEST EGGS, HENS, BIG LEAD, FADES, RING, and ENE.
E | A | R | S | K | I | S | L | A | T | C | H | ||||
G | L | O | W | H | A | R | T | S | A | G | A | M | E | ||
O | F | F | O | N | A | L | A | R | K | T | O | M | E | I | |
S | A | L | M | O | N | Q | U | I | E | T | E | R | R | ||
B | I | G | L | I | T | T | L | E | L | I | E | S | |||
E | R | S | R | H | O | M | A | A | M | ||||||
S | A | U | D | A | F | R | O | S | R | U | P | E | E | ||
O | P | P | O | S | I | T | E | S | A | T | T | R | A | C | T |
S | T | E | N | O | S | C | O | U | R | A | L | O | T | ||
R | O | U | T | N | A | H | A | N | A | ||||||
L | E | F | T | R | I | G | H | T | A | W | A | Y | |||
I | T | O | B | A | L | O | O | L | L | A | M | A | S | ||
T | H | O | S | E | O | U | T | I | N | F | R | O | N | T | |
U | N | D | U | E | B | R | A | C | E | D | A | T | A | ||
P | O | S | E | R | S | L | I | T | N | I | X |
MATTHEW: The general idea behind this theme has been explored before, but I still thought this iteration was a worthy addition to the mix. I'm so glad Enrique wanted to hop on board for the collab. His grid layout got this one over the finish line, and with two long NYT debut entries at 10- and 30-Down to boot. I hope this puzzle brightens your Tuesday!
ENRIQUE: The theme for today's crossword came from Matthew's brilliant puzzle mind, while I contributed a grid structure that lent itself to some nice long fill slots. My favorites are the pair that ended up as SUPER FOODS and SOUR BEER; I'm partial to kriek (cherry) lambic, a delicious way to get both in one glass!
A | R | E | P | A | I | S | I | T | V | E | G | A | S | ||
M | A | N | I | C | N | O | L | A | E | R | O | D | E | ||
A | Y | E | C | A | P | T | A | I | N | L | E | T | I | N | |
N | O | R | D | O | L | M | A | P | L | A | T | E | D | ||
A | N | G | L | E | S | I | C | L | A | U | D | I | U | S | |
Y | E | M | E | N | E | S | M | E | |||||||
S | A | U | D | I | E | D | G | E | S | R | O | C | K | ||
I | R | S | A | I | W | E | I | W | E | I | R | O | E | ||
B | E | E | S | O | M | E | G | A | D | A | D | D | Y | ||
T | O | T | O | Y | A | L | I | E | |||||||
A | Y | C | A | R | A | M | B | A | T | E | R | R | O | R | |
L | E | A | R | N | S | A | R | G | O | N | H | A | I | ||
T | E | R | R | E | E | Y | E | O | P | E | N | E | R | S | |
O | S | T | E | R | N | O | N | A | S | H | R | E | K | ||
S | H | A | D | Y | D | U | A | L | S | L | E | D | S |
I'm happy to have another Tuesday puzzle out in the world, this time with a classic theme type. My ideation process started with the EYE OPENERS revealer, and the theme entries came together quickly from there. The most interesting to me is AI WEIWEI, who feels like a worthy centerpiece that ties the puzzle together.
I submitted this puzzle to the Times in 2021, and in the meantime, a puzzle in the USA Today by my friend Brooke Husic came out that also uses the "ay" sound, including AI WEIWEI, but with a theme execution that goes in a different and lovely direction. I encourage you to read about it and also to consider solving the USA Today's daily crosswords if you enjoy the New York Times' early week offerings. You can find my byline there regularly!
T | R | A | P | S | W | E | B | S | N | O | G | O | ||
O | N | T | O | P | E | D | I | T | A | P | E | D | ||
T | A | M | P | A | A | G | R | A | G | E | N | Y | ||
S | C | A | R | E | D | Y | P | A | N | T | S | |||
C | I | T | I | E | S | A | N | A | I | S | ||||
B | L | A | C | K | H | A | T | E | T | O | I | L | E | |
S | K | O | L | T | R | E | A | T | R | E | Y | |||
E | M | P | T | Y | S | U | I | T | ||||||
M | S | G | O | M | N | I | A | I | D | E | S | |||
E | L | E | C | T | S | T | U | R | N | C | O | A | T | |
S | I | N | A | I | B | A | K | E | R | Y | ||||
S | T | U | F | F | E | D | S | H | I | R | T | |||
A | T | I | T | T | A | P | A | N | O | R | S | E | ||
G | E | N | A | C | R | U | Z | I | C | E | U | P | ||
E | D | E | N | H | E | R | E | A | K | I | R | A |
I'm thrilled to be back with another puzzle, and this time it's a light-hearted theme that might (?) give you the motivation you need to clean out your closet.
I've always had EMPTY SUIT and STUFFED SHIRT stored in the same corner of my brain, as they feel silly and visually evocative in similar ways. I thought it would be fun to build a theme around them, and started by adding SCAREDY PANTS, which brings to mind the delightful SpongeBob SquarePants. GOODY TWO SHOES was also in the mix for a while, as well as a series of possible revealers that never quite hit the mark. A big thank you to the editorial team for suggesting that I drop the revealer and look for additional examples, which led me to a pair of shorter finds. BLACK HAT is a fun one, evolving from its roots in Western flicks to become a current term in cybersecurity.
I like to give each of my crosswords a title, and for this one, I think "Does It Spark Joy?" sums things up nicely. Hope you enjoy it!
A | W | O | L | S | O | N | S | R | I | V | A | L | ||
R | A | V | I | T | H | E | E | E | L | I | T | E | ||
I | T | E | M | A | G | R | A | S | L | A | M | S | ||
S | T | R | E | A | K | O | F | L | U | C | K | |||
E | S | T | A | T | E | S | M | U | E | S | L | I | ||
D | A | S | H | O | F | P | E | P | P | E | R | |||
J | A | R | E | D | B | A | E | T | O | T | E | |||
A | R | E | E | C | A | R | D | K | E | N | ||||
M | B | A | S | L | A | M | S | E | E | M | E | |||
B | O | L | T | O | F | F | A | B | R | I | C | |||
A | R | M | A | N | I | E | A | R | S | H | O | T | ||
R | U | N | N | I | N | G | S | T | A | R | T | |||
I | P | A | D | S | E | D | I | T | A | L | S | O | ||
C | A | N | O | E | S | E | G | A | S | L | O | P | ||
E | X | A | M | S | T | A | N | G | Y | E | N | S |
I'm thrilled to be back in the New York Times with an easy Monday offering that could have been titled "Off to the Races"! This theme arose from the roll-off-the-tongue sensation when you say a phrase like STREAK OF LUCK, and tying a few of these together with the revealer RUNNING START felt like a fun way to kick off a Monday morning.
For the grid, I decided to aim for a low word count, accessible fill with good flow, and lively mid-length answers. And my favorite clues that the editing team kept in are at 34-Across, 39-Across, and 12-Down. Anyone remember the heyday of PEZ?
I'd also like to share something very cool: the AVCX, an indie crossword publication I love and got my start with as a constructor, is expanding its offerings! The Kickstarter for this expansion is now live, so go check it out and snap up some rewards. I'm honored to play a part in helping more constructors get their puzzles in front of a wider audience, and I hope the crossword community enjoys these new creations.
W | O | R | K | A | B | O | V | E | H | A | R | D | ||
E | X | E | C | D | E | V | I | L | A | S | H | E | ||
T | O | F | U | D | E | E | D | S | S | T | O | P | ||
P | I | E | R | R | E | S | A | U | N | A | ||||
O | H | M | T | R | Y | T | O | O | T | T | E | R | ||
L | E | A | S | E | S | T | A | T | E | S | T | |||
D | A | K | A | R | M | E | A | D | O | W | ||||
P | O | L | A | R | O | P | P | O | S | I | T | E | ||
S | T | E | L | A | E | P | L | A | I | N | ||||
A | N | I | I | C | E | E | E | Y | O | R | E | |||
R | A | N | D | O | S | A | M | S | A | S | E | W | ||
R | U | N | I | N | K | N | I | C | K | S | ||||
I | S | I | T | F | I | N | C | H | W | A | R | D | ||
V | E | E | S | I | N | U | R | E | A | C | E | R | ||
E | A | S | Y | B | E | L | O | W | P | L | A | Y |
I'm excited to be making my debut at the New York Times with this puzzle, which I hope you find FRESH, not STALE! The theme was inspired by all the fun crosswords that have used the idea of "grid as object," whether they involve grid art, answers bursting out from the edge of the puzzle, etc. The notion of polarity first came to mind, then the revealer POLAR OPPOSITE, and finally a theme of "grid as world" with pairs of antonyms sitting on the border in rotationally symmetrical slots.
There were a bunch of equal-length antonym pairs to choose from after digging around online, so my goal was to whittle them down to pairs that felt resonant, fit comfortably around the grid's border, and covered a variety of lengths. I was happy to end up with pairs of length 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the final product. Looking back at the layout, there are definitely opportunities for a more open grid, but overall I'm not mad at this early construction effort.
If you'd like to see more puzzles from me, I offer free monthly crosswords with an indie vibe on my site, datalexic.com.