NYT Crossword Answers for July 19, 2023
Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues
WEDNESDAY PUZZLE — In the spirit of 43-Across, and at similar urgings from the characters of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” I’ll keep my opening remarks about today’s crossword to a minimum. Suffice it to say that if you obey the clue at 28-Across, you’ll solve it in short order.
Our puzzle comes to us by way of Billy Bratton, the constructor. Some may remember Mr. Bratton for his impressive debut in The New York Times in September 2021, in which one had to convert all of the themed answers to metric measurements to make sense of them. I wasn’t working here at the time, but the Canadian in me would have demanded permission to write that day’s column.
Today’s Theme
A Wordplay columnist is probably meant to love every kind of crossword clue in equal measure, but I have a secret favorite. And it happens to be exactly the kind of clue that Mr. Bratton used to build his theme.
These are the clues that seem to be common expressions using the word “it” in them, only they covertly require you to solve for exactly what “it” is. They feel like puns, but they’re not. They’re just really, really clever.
Source: The New York Times
