I've been doing crosswords ever since my 10th grade English teacher said they were the best form of SAT prep possible (special shoutout to you Mrs. R because I think it worked). I (at the time of writing this) have a 225 day NYTimes crossword streak, which to my standars is some kind of achievement. That adds up to several days cummulatively spent this past year working on crosswords, so I figured I was qualified to talk about which ones I enjoyed a lot:
10. 24K Magic — Wednesday, September 17
The theme here is based on Bruno Mars' album 24K Magic, which I think I got early because I am significantly younger than the median crossword solver. Regardless, this translates to the construction of the puzzle because there are 24 K's throughout the grid, which isn't a lot more than average, but noticeable enough to aid solving (KNICKKNACK looks weird at the downs without this info).
9. Inside Out and Backwards — Sunday, June 15
The themed entries here have two clues, one that is read literally across, and another that is read by removing the circled letter and reading the answer backwards (inside "out" and backwards). So for example, at 23 across:
- "Device used to clear out nasal passages" reads as NETIPOT
- "Final part of a radio countdown" reads as TOPTEN (I removed, and clue reversed)
It was a challenging gimmick for me but once it clicked it aided solving in a satisfying way.
8. People Food — Monday, October 6
This is just a basic, fun themed Monday puzzle, and KNUCKLESANDWICH as the longest themed clue is very charming. The theme is charming enough that it gets my 8 spot, and it's also the puzzle with the fastest time on this list (4:41)
7. Wile E. Coyote — Sunday, September 14
People who are unfamiliar with crosswords, I have found, get really annoyed when the theme is a part of the actual grid construction. Rebuses are one thing, but adding in different colors or asymmetric black squares throws newcomers for a loop and can be intimidating. So when I opened this puzzle and wasn't too sure what I was looking at, I was in the same boat. But revealing that the theme of the puzzle was Wile E. Coyote, and the grid showing an anvil falling on his head, is incredibly satisfying.
6. Turn Signals — Thursday, July 3
Part of the charm of this puzzle only happens on the app, where animations can play out. The theme here is turn signals, as in, your left and right blinkers. The letters L and R are only meant to be read once apiece for each of the themed clues, so for example, at 16 across:
- "Played a bar game?" is (L)IMBOED, but
- "[Yawn]" is IMBO(R)ED
The animation upon solve really sells this one:
5. Double Negatives — Thursday, May 15
The theme here is that every NONO is read as YES at the across clues (a double negative cancelling out), so 17 across is TIE DYE SHIRTS, not TIEDNONOHIRTS. The downs still use the NO rebus, though. This is a "prototypical" Thursday, in my opinion, and it's why it's probably my favorite day of the week to solve.
4. Under the Tree — Sunday, December 21
Who doesn't love a puzzle that is themed around the time it runs? The theme here is "under the tree", and the circled squares are "presents" that are left under rebuses that are trees. See: OAK in PRELUDETOAKISS at 69 down.
3. Defying Gravity — Thursday, October 30
Part of this is that I am a sucker for the animations, another part of this is that I'm Gen-Z so colored squares instantly grab my attention, and combined with that it ran around the Wicked: For Good press tour and you have all the ingredients to make it onto my list.
I solved this one on my phone on the way to work getting out of the L, and I made an audible reaction on the somber staircase when the animation played. The puzzle is Wicked themed: the down clues with circled letters are read at the second clue first and then loop around to the first (defying gravity). And, the circled clues spell out Elphaba.
2. Minesweeper — Thursday, October 2
I promise this is the last Thursday, but this puzzle is masterful in its construction. The puzzle itself IS a minesweeper game: if you know the rules of minesweeper, you can find where the mines would be in a game of minesweeper. But how do you represent a mine in a puzzle? With a MINE rebus. So, for example, 22 across is read FAMINE.
The fact that this puzzle is a game within a game is what puts it at my number 2. If only NYT had an animation for this one!
1. Wormholes — Sunday, May 25
This puzzle is HARD. It took me almost two hours to solve, not to mention how daunting it is to see colored, circled squares in a Sunday. The theme is that the answers go through the color-coded "wormholes" (each wormhole's rebus is the name of a worm: e.g. bookworm) and continue at the matching location, for both the across and the down clues.
So for example, 115 across starts as MAC, then goes through the BOOK wormhole to come out at the second half of 28 across at AIR, reading MACBOOK AIR. For a down clue: 3 down starts as WHOS goes through the INCH wormhole to come out at the second half of 67 across at ARGE, reading WHOS IN CHARGE. It's an extremely clever puzzle, but also very, very challenging.
And that's my list!
I solved literal hundreds of crosswords this year, so this is less than five percent of my total solves, but I can confidently say that what I am looking for in an NYT puzzle is a clever theme that bends the actual crossword grid itself to either aid in solving, or be satisfying on solve.
I'm currently drafting up a puzzle to submit to the New York Times (I'm shooting for a Wednesday/Thursday level of difficulty. I have my theme!), so hopefully in a couple of years I can be on someone else's list of this form :)