Advice for an Insomniac
Nathan Hasegawa makes an audacious debut.
A lioness yawned in the grass at the Mara North Conservancy in Kenya in 2020.Credit.Siegfried Modola, via Getty Images
Published April 13, 2021Updated April 14, 2021, 9:44 a.m. ET
WEDNESDAY PUZZLE The Yiddish word “chutzpah” can mean different things to people, depending on the context. Sometimes it means arrogance to the point of rudeness, but it can also be used positively, to describe a good amount of confidence and audacity.
To the adults in my family who spoke Yiddish, people with chutzpah were to be admired (“Can you believe my daughter asked for a promotion and she got it? Now
Not So Intense, Say
Evans Clinchy throws a highly cultured Saturday brunch.
From left to right, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of Israel, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev of Russia, Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin of Israel, President Bill Clinton, Chairman Yasir Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Secretary of State Warren Christopher, and Mahmoud Abbas, P.L.O. chief negotiator, during the Middle East Peace Agreement signing ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, 1993.Credit.Paul Hosefros/The New York Times
April 9, 2021
SATURDAY PUZZLE This kind of grid is my bread and butter, not just because so many of its entries make me think of a nice meal out, but because so many of its entries are completely unknown, absent from my knowledge. That makes for great column fodder, true, but it’s also so satisfying to suss out a little pileup of trivia like we see in the northeast corner, and I found the difficult cluing very likable and fresh.
When Two People Miss Each Other a Lot
Jamey Smith seems to be making a habit out of building Friday crossword puzzles.
E. H. Shaughnessy, the assistant engineer-in-chief at the General Post Office, made a telephone call in 1926. He is still on hold.Credit.Kirby/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
FRIDAY PUZZLE Some constructors love to make themed puzzles and some like to build themeless ones.
This is only his third crossword for The New York Times, but so far, Jamey Smith falls into the latter category. All three of his puzzles have run on a Friday.
I’d say he’s doing pretty well so far. In just this puzzle, Mr. Smith debuts eight entries, and most of them are very lively. I especially liked TAKE THE HIGH ROAD, SPECIAL SAUCE, ON THE REBOUND, WHAT ABOUT BOB and GROUP THERAPY.
South African Plant Used for Herbal Tea
Adrian Johnson makes his New York Times Crossword debut.
Workers at Skimmelberg Farm in South Africa graded and treated Rooibos tea leaves before packaging them in 2017.Credit.MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AFP, via Getty Images
April 6, 2021, 10:00 p.m. ET
WEDNESDAY PUZZLE When my children fledged the nest, I established a text group so I could talk to them both at the same time. To keep things lively, I named the group “Favorite Child.”
I would like to say that many of these texts are (from my end) wise and loving lessons on the complexities of life, as well as (from their end) a plethora of thanks for having raised them with the ability to see the humor in a text group called Favorite Child, but if I’m being completely honest, a vast majority of what goes back and forth are funny memes and cute animal videos.