NYT Crossword Answers on June 19, 2023

17 d. Am I the only one who accidentally had an A instead of an E here? While BRIER seems to be more associated with etymological roots From “a thorn in a forest,” I often see it spelled “briar” in place names, as in Briarcliff Manor, New York

47 d. Etymologists I don’t quite know How the word TOP-NOTCH came to mean “best of the best,” but the popular etymologies surrounding it are fascinating, including one suggests it Parents used to indicate their consent to betroth their daughters by raising a candle to the “first class” so that it would burn longer while the couple met.

Solution advice

Verb or adjective?

When the clue appears to be using a verb in the past tense, tread carefully: the correct answer may depend on whether that verb is actually a participle, which is formed from a verb but functions as an adjective. Some examples from previous puzzles:

• In the May 29 crossword puzzle, at 35-Across, we saw the clue “Equally Divided”, which was solved in half. “Bisected” is used as an adjective. If “Bisected” functions as a past tense verb, this clue’s answer might instead be “Half.”

• Some verbs sound the same across sounds and tenses. For example, the clue phrase “put it away” could refer to an adjective describing someone who was put away, or imprisoned. It can function as a verb in the past tense, as in “put us away” or ATE, pizza. Or it could be a present tense verb that refers to putting something away or storing something. Search for the directory phrase On XWord Info It just goes to show how many ways it can be interpreted, so look at life.

Creator Notes

The crux of the matter hit me early in 2022. After spending many hours perusing lists of the world’s greatest sandwiches, I got down to what might be the most classic sandwich of them all, after seeing the effect of the very funky 12″ x 12″ grid shape. 19 can be produced. (I spent a very has long grappled with the fiercely contentious question of whether it should go beyond PB or go down to J.)

Maybe it’s because I’m a rule-follower the rest of my life, but I’m always a little more excited about puzzle ideas that break one of the standard crossword puzzle rules. (It takes a bit of surprising generosity to describe “repeating an entry in a puzzle” as an act of rebellion, but here we go.)

And I’m glad I finally got out on Monday; I’ve been trying for years to write good start-of-the-week mysteries, but I’ve always struggled with coming up with interesting and approachable topics. I have a huge pile of disapprovals to show for those efforts, and an even bigger pile of respect for the Week 1 creators who made it look so easy.

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