This may have been the year that no crossword went unsolved. As a source of at-home entertainment and an antidote to the mind-numbing effects of lockdown, crosswords became a staple of many quarantine diets. With Partner Mode, which we introduced in April, they could even be occasions for long-distance socializing.
For some, crosswords offered a reprieve from reality, a portal to a logophilic DREAM WORLD (Place like Oz or Wonderland: ten letters). But our favorite puzzles went beyond escapism. They wrangled with the politics of language; they shone a spotlight on remarkable people and felicitous phrases; they informed as well as delighted (to paraphrase a crossword-friendly text, Horace’s “___ Poetica”: three letters).
In June, we added a third weekly puzzle, plus three more constructors: Wyna Liu, Caitlin Reid, and Robyn Weintraub joined our roster, alongside Erik Agard, Patrick Berry, Kameron Austin Collins, Elizabeth C. Gorski, Natan Last, Aimee Lucido, and Anna Shechtman. From this abundance, it was daunting to pick only a handful of favorite clues, so, instead, we decided to look for patterns. You’ll find the result below: a taxonomy of New Yorker Crossword clues. As with all taxonomies, worthy categories have been left out. (Speaking of dream worlds, “Wizard of Oz” clues could have been a class of their own.) But we hope you enjoy this glimpse, however unscientific, of the gestalt.
As is now tradition, we will, starting today, bring you a new year-in-review crossword every day through the end of the year. These puzzles will test your knowledge of 2020 across eight subjects: language (Thursday), literature (Friday), science and tech (Saturday), TV (Sunday), movies (Monday), music (Tuesday), sports (Wednesday), and news and politics (Thursday). Once you’ve finished those, be sure to visit the Puzzles & Games Dept. next week for a bonus puzzle to ring in the New Year.
WORDPLAY
There’s a fine line between crossword humor and DAD JOKES, a coinage that made it into Patrick’s language-themed puzzle last year. But we defy you to groan at these puns.
One with four legs and many hands?
A: CARD TABLE
Matching outfits?
A: DATING SERVICES
Disappearing ink?
A: TEMPORARY TATTOO
Desert after the meal?
A: DINE AND DASH
Like gangbusters?
A: TRISYLLABIC
Support staff?
A: CANE
Apple products not intended for kids
A: HARD CIDERS
Soprano of note?
A: JAMES GANDOLFINI
Solve for yourself:
Event involving dough, in two senses (November 25th)
Because wordplay is the bread and butter of crossword constructors, this category merits a few subdivisions, such as:
Bardolatry wordplay, a fitting tribute to the man who added hundreds of words to the English language:
Kingdom for a horse?
A: ANIMALIA
Measure for measures?
A: TIME SIGNATURE
Meta wordplay, or clues about figures of speech:
Subject of Jon Agee’s “So Many Dynamos!”
A: PALINDROMES
“Start of spring” and “frost’s parting,” e.g.
A: ANAGRAMS
Wordplay not suitable for all ages:
Sexy frames for women’s eyes?
A: FEMINIST PORN
Hot spot?
A: EROGENOUS ZONE
QUIPS AND QUOTATIONS
This may be our fact checkers’ least favorite category, because famous quotations are so often misquotations—“coins rubbed smooth by circulation,” to quote Louis Menand. Still, in the cross-world, they’re the coin of the realm.
“Kitchen Confidential” author who deemed truffle oil “about as edible as Astroglide”
A: ANTHONY BOURDAIN
Somali-British poet who wrote, “no one leaves home unless / home is the mouth of a shark”
A: WARSAN SHIRE
Whence the line “Women come to New York in search of the two Ls: labels and love”
A: SEX AND THE CITY
One of the six words in Hemingway’s apocryphal six-word story
A: SHOES
Solve for yourself:
Rapper with the line “real Gs move in silence like lasagna” (March 20th)
GRID-WORTHY NAMES
No disrespect to Enya, Brian Eno, or Yoko Ono, but we’re always grateful when constructors feature people (and characters) who rarely make it into crosswords.
French Surrealist photographer known for “Portrait of Ubu” (1936)
A: DORA MAAR
“Bleak House” character who was one of the first detectives in English fiction
A: INSPECTOR BUCKET
“Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les trois femmes noires” painter
A: MICKALENE THOMAS
Frankfurt School philosopher who said, “To those who no longer have a homeland, writing becomes home”
A: THEODOR ADORNO
Solve for yourself:
Civil-rights lawyer and activist who coined the term Jane Crow to refer to institutional discrimination against women (December 14th)
FUN FACTS
Some solvers argue that trivia has no place in a crossword; we humbly disagree. It’s a bonus when you can hone your “Jeopardy!” skills (we miss you, Alex Trebek) while working through a grid.
Term that comes from the name of a news photographer in Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”
A: PAPARAZZI
Org. that once funded the Museum of Modern Art, Partisan Review, and The Paris Review
A: CIA
Italian salad featuring the colors of the Italian flag
A: CAPRESE
Literary family with a widely misremembered name
A: BERENSTAIN BEARS
Solve for yourself:
Band that’s named after a fictional sex toy (July 15th)
REMEMBRANCE OF SONGS PAST
Sung to the tune of [Showstopping number performed by Jennifer Hudson in the 2019 movie “Cats”: six letters].
DJ ___, former third member of Salt-N-Pepa
A: SPINDERELLA
Song written by Graham Nash called “an ode to countercultural domestic bliss”
A: OUR HOUSE
1976 self-titled album with “Love Hangover” and “Theme from Mahogany”
A: DIANA ROSS
Bessie Smith song with the lyric “My springs are getting rusty, sleeping single like I do”
A: EMPTY BED BLUES
Chick Corea album inspired by a Lewis Carroll novel
A: THE MAD HATTER
Solve for yourself:
Swedish pop band once named Tech Noir (February 17th)
NEOLOGISMS
Just as crosswords can resurface the pop culture of yesteryear, so, too, can they forecast the dictionary additions of tomorrow.
Activity requiring an exit strategy
A: ESCAPE ROOM
Aesthetic mixing soft, delicate colors with dark, punkish fashion
A: PASTEL GOTH
Teen-age micro-demographic based on use of a popular photo-editing app
A: VSCO GIRL
“Sure. Keep telling me avocado toast is the reason I can’t afford a home.”
A: O.K. BOOMER
Solve for yourself:
Captcha confirmation (March 16th)
EMOJI CLUES
Our first and only. So far . . .
Solve for yourself:
☹ (October 16th)
Wishing you a year of smooth solving ahead, and a 😊 2021.
