Sam Corbin

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Sam Corbin

wordplay, the crossword columnBarbara Lin helps us out in more ways than one. Jump to: Today's Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE - My first experience with Barbara Lin's crosswords was in 2023, when I wrote the column for her Fourth of July puzzle. It was a breezy Tuesday grid with a timely wink, its themed entries stacked so as to create a tottering pile of burger toppings. It made me smile.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Sam Corbin

Our suspicions of sabotage are confirmed at 49-Across: There's a [Person who may have ruined your puzzle experience]. In order to identify the vandal, though, we'll need answers to 18-, 29- and 61-Across. These clues are "partners," so to speak, because each one relies on another's solution. In general, the best way to break into such clue sets is to use crossing entries to figure out one answer, and then use that solution to crack the other clues.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Sam Corbin

wordplay, the crossword columnRyan Mathiason makes his New York Times Crossword debut. Jump to: Today's Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE - This is Ryan Mathiason's first puzzle for The New York Times and, in keeping with today's theme, I'm already starting to like what I see. Today's crossword has some wonderfully original fill, but it all jells. Or gels, you might say. In any case, I hope we'll see more of Mr. Mathiason soon. Shall we comb-over the puzzle together?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Elie Levine |Sam Corbin

The game's most devoted solvers have unlocked creativity and complexity in the classic logic game. Sudoku is like any other logic puzzle, in that it relies on deductive reasoning for its solution. There are numbers in the game, but no arithmetic is required to figure out where they go. Its simplicity notwithstanding, sudoku's popularity far outpaces that of similar logic puzzles, such as KenKen.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Sam Corbin

MONDAY PUZZLE - I can't help but notice that, for all the thrill of science fiction stories about evil twins, violent clones and spooky parallel dimensions, most real-world examples of duplication are fairly benign. What's so scary about identical twins (not counting the Grady sisters from "The Shining")? Today's crossword, constructed by Patti Varol, plays on one such instance of lighthearted repetition in language itself.