Christina Iverson, of Ames, Iowa, is a digital puzzle editor for The Times. She reviews crossword submissions and helps edit the accepted ones for publication. She also runs the Monthly Bonus crossword and writes a weekly column called Easy Mode.
41 daily crosswords
by Christina Iverson
Sun 6/28/2026 Down in the Valley
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Be LIKE a Valley Girl, and add "like" to phrases that match the clues. As if!
Mon 3/9/2026
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A tribute to Sally, Emma, Jodie, and Halle — all Best Actress Oscar winners.
Mon 1/12/2026
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Tue 11/11/2025
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A narrower grid today makes up for yesterday's wider one. Plus, it allows for three 14-letter spanners and this delightful theme.
Sunday NYT puzzles have titles. (With rare exceptions, other days do not.) Sometimes the title gives away the trick, and for that reason, many solvers avert their eyes. Today, I was able to guess the gimmick from the title alone. Fortunately, I guessed wrong, and the real trick is more fun than just shifting ON within a word. Here's how it works:
In the bottom half of the grid, common phrases have their terminal ONs expurgated.
Following Conservation laws, those ONs have to go somewhere. They float up to the ends of the answers immediately above.
These theme types work best when the modifications completely change the meaning of the base text, and that's where this puzzle shines. 3-Down transmogrifies BAT to BATON. That ON was stolen from SEASON in the answer below. Oh, Cap'n, 'TIS THE SEAS is the perfect answer to "Why art thou queasy?"
Entertaining themes only get you so far on a big Sunday crossword. You also need a sprinkling of outstanding clues.
"God whose name sounds like the ammunition he uses" is Eros (aka, Cupid) whose ammunition (!) is ARROWS. Do they sound the same? Very close!
"Takes a car, in a way." In a way gets us thinking that this must be either something about REPO or maybe GRAND THEFT AUTO. Wrong. When one UBERS, one takes a car. I love clues that I know I could never have thought up.
Christina Iverson was just named Patti Varol's assistant crossword editor at the Los Angeles Times.
Sun 12/26/2021 Pest Control
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The clue for 16-Down seems to be an error. The Thriller lyric is "I can thrill you more than any GHOST could ever dare try." The word "ghouls" does occur later in the song, but in a different context. And no, the A TRAIN (43-Across) doesn't quite make it all the way to Kennedy Airport.
