Hey everyone! I'm Tarun K, a freshman at SDSU and the constructor for today's NYT crossword. I’d love for you to reach out to me at <a href="mailto:tarunlive@live.com">tarunlive@live.com</a> or on Instagram at @thetarunkrish to collaborate on crosswords, chat about the state of the world, or just talk about anything else. I am currently in the midst of a clinical volunteering/internship/shadowing search in the San Diego area, and I hope any would-be employers enjoy this puzzle! And, as always, thanks for solving!
@Tarun Krishnamurthy Good luck in all your endeavors and future. Keep your options open. And network always. I am retired and turn 65 soon.
@Tarun Krishnamurthy You are very talented and congratulations for being published in PuzzleMania!
@Tarun Krishnamurthy I'm sorry I can't be of help as it's not my field, but I'm rooting for you, hoping a San Diego solver turns out to be just the employer you seek. Smart of you to network here. Something tells me you'll go far and be very successful in all your endeavors. Best of luck to you!
@Tarun Krishnamurthy. Delightful puzzle… you’re an amazing young talent… most of us are so old we never miss our FLUVAX.
@Tarun Krishnamurthy I’m sorry, first time in months I did not enjoy this puzzle for a Monday lol. Nothing felt obvious to me which was a sharp departure from the regular Mondays. Banff, Nilla, Opine in addition to Felix Frankfurter just didn’t come naturally to this Aussie. 🤷♂️
@Tarun Krishnamurthy Almost everyone has some idea of what major s/he wants to pursue when starting college...and more often than one would expect, it's not what they really, really want to do or be. Stay open! (We have been so grateful our offspring did not attend "institutes of technology" but instead entered liberal arts schools, where they were exposed to so many more fields of knowledge!.... They're both engineers. Hah....but with many other interests...)
@Tarun Krishnamurthy Best of luck to you, and please, next time take it easy on the trivia, and don't cross it with words of dubious spelling.
@Tarun Krishnamurthy very fun puzzle and a nice break after the hard weekend puzzles. Best wishes to you!
@Tarun Krishnamurthy Great puzzle Tarun, nice work.
"Want to go with me to a Kentucky fort?" "Opportunity Knox!" (I've posted that a bullion times.)
@Mike I am not Chicken about punning, oven with only a Colonel of a convection.
@Mike What a lode! Did you consult the Auricle?
@Mike I said that was gold, and I mint it!
@Mike I hope you're coin to forgive me for that one.
@Mike If people don’t find this funny, it’s all your vault
@Mike Thanks for the daily FiX. I'll send it to my friends via Fax (of FedeX).
FLyER crossing NyLLA cost me a lot of time at the end.
@jonathanhoey.... Yes, me too! I have always spelled FLYER with a "Y" so it stumped for a long time.... welcome to the club! The dictionary schooled me in the end!
@jonathanhoey glad it wasn't just me!
@jonathanhoey I actually remembered NILLA from previous puzzles, and only that saved me in that spot. Crossing a brand or product name with a word that may be correctly spelled either of two ways seems unfair on any day - especially on Monday. 🙄
@jonathanhoey Exactly the same, took me 7 minutes to figure it out. I really dislike brand names …
@jonathanhoey Cost me a minute or two and then I did a check puzzle so lost the gold.
AI answer "Flier" and "flyer" are often used interchangeably, but "flier" is traditionally used for a person or thing that flies (like a pilot or a bird), while "flyer" traditionally refers to a promotional pamphlet or handbill. However, style guides are moving towards using "flyer" in all contexts
@jonathanhoey I also had FLyER. But when I started on the downs I knew NILLA right away, thank goodness!
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Plan B, for seniors (6)(6) 2. Synthetic oil producer? (3)(6) 3. 46 years? (5)(10) 4. Break character? (7) 5. Combinations with numbers and sets (5) SAFETY SCHOOL ART FORGER BIDEN PRESIDENCY ESCAPEE BANDS
My favorite encore clues from last week: [Contents of some sheets] (4) [Shot-putter?] (5) RAIN NURSE
Fun fact - spring and fall equinoxes are national holidays in Japan!
Google tells me that "flyer" is the preferred spelling over "flier" when referring to a promotional leaflet. A bit rough to have the less-accepted spelling, in a crossing with a US-centric brand name.
@Reuben I was completely stumped by that one. I checked everything twice after filling in the puzzle, but never thought of the alternate spelling, and had never heard of the wafer brand, so I had to give up and look at the answer key. :-(
Reuben, It may not be available now where you shop, but it has been available recently where you solve. NILLA Sun Aug 10, 2025 98D Brand of wafer Adam Wagner and Chandi Deitmer
@Bob one of my favorite cookies but I always call them Vanilla Wafers so the clue stumped me for a minute. Figured it out with the crossing words then thumped my forehead.
@Reuben Yep. I like to challenge myself by doing the crossword without using the down clues (I only look at the across clues, unless I get totally stuck). Today I finished the grid in about 15 mins without looking at the downs, but there was no yellow star, so I knew I had a mistake. But I couldn’t find it. I had to concede defeat and look at the downs and then I realized nylla must be NILLA - whatever that is! Grrr.
It was in my lifetime (1967) that Nabisco changed the name of Vanilla Wafers to Nilla Wafers.
The hidden Odd Couple pairing made me smile. Intentional or not.
@MJS There's an Edna too, but alas no Leonard. Aristophanes....
Very clever never-done-before theme, bolstered by the lovely FLUFF, BEST OF ALL, and EPITAPH in the supporting cast. I was happy to encounter more answers than usual on a Monday that I couldn’t immediately slap down after reading their clues. I also liked seeing LOU, LIEU, and LEW connected in the NE. I noticed many F’s in the grid (14), and XwordInfo confirmed that this puzzle broke by two the record of F’s in a 15x15. WTG Tarun! In trying to guess the revealer, I got halfway there (saw the F/X sandwich, but got no farther). I’m slow in this skill, in which my Frontal corteX is a still a bit of a FuzzboX -- the symmetrical LEWIS LENTO in the grid is quite apt. But I’m ever hopeful! And ever grateful for a high-quality Monday outing. Thank you, Tarun!
I’ll take a flier on this one… If you’re handing out flyers, does that make you a flier? Maybe a Frequent Flyer, if you do it a lot. Or just a high flier, simply taking your shot. You might be a Radio Flyer, if you use a wagon. Or a nervous flier, if you ride on a dragon. But if your path crosses with a Nilla wafer Don’t eat while you’re flying, it’s really much safer.
This puzzle was relatively easy, it did not FLUMMOX me. I did not have to FLEX my brain muscles much to complete it. However, it did let me get my NYT crossword puzzle FIX in.
Tarun, I was right there with you as I read your notes, feeling your excitement for being published in "Puzzle Mania." And the youngest constructor in it! Bravo, sir. As for this puzzle, it was yet another accomplished one of yours, clever and just enough on the tougher side of Monday. I found myself repeating SIDE EFFECTS out loud like a crazy woman until the aha came. Very fun. Thank you so much for a great puzzle and congratulations on contributing to "Puzzle Mania"!!!
More Monday without being boring! Perfect amount of pushback. Loved it.
Holy trivia, Batman! I have no idea how I was able to finish this without lookups, and not far off my best ever time. It seemed like every other entry was a proper name. Oh, and I needed to check the column to graps the theme 🤣. There was ana abstract element to it that I usually struggle with given my imperfect intellect, and even though I know Americans shorten EFFECTS to FX, the two don't sound the same in my head 🤷🏽 So yeah, I completed the puzzle quite easily, but I don't get how that was possible, and I didn't enjoy it, at all. Also, I take offence at FLUFF being of little substance 🤣. Lucek the puppy is mostly fluff yet he is very substantial! <a href="https://imgur.com/a/gSaGJ5f" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/gSaGJ5f</a>
@Andrzej - Love those pictures of your FLUFFy puppy! And fwiw, I needed the column to help me suss out the theme too.
@Andrzej Always great to see your BFF. I scrolled down from your pic on imgur and saw this funny Canadian post of a N.I.C.E. Agent: <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/just-canadian-comedy-skit-8fqPxnz" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/gallery/just-canadian-comedy-skit-8fqPxnz</a>
I have to disagree with the majority of the comments. This was much more difficult than a typical Monday!
Disagree with what? A majority of the comments so far said nothing about the ease or difficulty of the puzzle. (One or two said it was easy, one or two had trouble.)
A "flier" is an aeronaut. A "flyer" is an ad handed out in the street.
@Edgar And a flying squirrel...?
Fun puzzle. I saw the FX in the entries, as I'm sure many did, but I couldn't stop wondering how special effects would work as the revealer. Nice surprise. Always nice to see LEWIS of course, but too bad LOIS wasn't also clued to Clark.
Nice tight theme. Wasn’t sure which spelling of FLIER was preferred but used the cross to check. NILLA is a pretty common crossword entry (if not such a common cookie to some) so I don’t think this was too unfair. Overall I thought this was good solid fill and above average for a Monday. I’m looking forward to even more from this young, talented constructor.
No matter what day it is, I end up having to look something up. But I'm hanging in there. This was a fun puzzle. I got the theme only after I was almost done. I had the same flier/flyer situation. Bring it, Tuesday.
Respectfully disagree on "flyer" vs "flier" in this puzzle.
Exactly what are you disagreeing about, and with whom?
Well, as it turns out, even though I knew the answer, I did not know how to spell EPITHepT.... yay for good crosses!! Same with going with FLyER first. I didn't immediately get the theme because I don't think of EFFECTS with a closing X sound, rather with a strong ending T, but that's okay. It was a very cute theme nonetheless—and a slightly toughened up Monday, which I enjoyed this fine Sunday. And BESTOFALL, now it's time for a little SNACK, err, I mean dinner.... 😏
I inexplicably geek out when a puzzle prominently features an otherwise marginal letter. It's nice to see x have its day. Let x equal a geekly position of prominence.
@Jeff Z Language trivia time! The Polish alphabet includes Q, V, and X, but none of these letters are used in etymologically Polish words. Your X sound is our "ks", Q is "kł" and V is "w".
part of me wants to yell at tarun: Get off my lawn, kid! but its merely petty jealousy of such a fecund puzzle mind attached to a body of such tender years. and i dont have a lawn.
Fun having multiple X's (though not an excess)... Enjoyed the puzzle even though I myself don't believe the F-X equals "EFFECTS"...at least not the way I enunciate that word, with a long E at the first syllable. Your accent may vary. For those who resent entries such as 68A: perhaps it's best to bow to the inevitable. Learn a few lists: the terms used in/on printed musical scores; the Greek alphabet (capital letters); numerals from one to ten in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and possibly Farsi (who knows what's next?); and major league baseball teams and terms, because I've had to learn all that, so you should, too, instead of leaving me to bear this burden all alone. Well, maybe that last one is over the top...
@Mean Old Lady FX is a homophonic abbreviation of the word effects. It’s used in radio, TV, film scripts to indicate that a non-verbal effect is to be inserted. SFX means “special effects”.
Flier??? A little dodgy. Should have solved for nilla but didn't need to. Or so I thought.
@Tom Drechsler I would spell that handout "flyer," as I would spell an aviator. But both spellings are in the dictionary, and it's important to understand that crosswords don't have to use the most common version when there are more than one.
@Tom Drechsler Yup. I thought that would be FLYER. That's how we spell it here in the USA. It is definitely dodgy.
@Tom Drechsler Trader Joe's publishes a Fearless Flyer every month, listing their new and returning products. So of course I instantly wrote down FLYER. But then I got to 6D and knew NILLA wafers, so I quickly changed it. I wonder if they still make those tasty cookies.
I don't think I've ever heard NPCs referred to as bots. Bots are something else entirely, are they not?
@Chelsea the difference is NPCs are non-player characters, so the hint is in 'players'. ^-^ bots are computer controlled players in multiplayer games where there aren't enough real people to fill a lobby. people tend to call real players they think are bad 'bots', so maybe there's the confusion?
@Chelsea In the late 1990s or early 2000s, when I still only had a dial up internet connection, I played Unreal Tournament - a multiplayer first person shooter game - locally, with bots for opponents. I haven't used the term since then, I think, but it's not wrong. Just the thing it denotes is no longer common.
Actually, I did encounter bots later. Botting - using automated gameplay to defeat the challenges of a game - plagues sole multiplayer titles. MMORPGs - massively multiplayer roleplaying games - have economies. Players may trade in items, resources and services. Bots have been known to crash those economies, by "farming" what the game has to offer (repeatedly taking advantage of the game's systems by automated means). For example, a bot may gather in-game resources (ores, herbs, etc.) 24/7. A net of bots devalues those resources, flooding the market with them. Thus, the prices of services usually bought for those resources are subject to inflation.
@Chelsea Agree. When I hear "bots" it's always in reference to malware. NPC is the standard for computer controlled characters.
Got my 100 Day Streak in style. 3:37 and did it one pass across and down. Nice easy refresher after the tough weekend
@Steven M. I did Sunday and this one back to back; totally agree this was refreshing after a tough weekend! My solve time was nowhere near as good as yours (and only slightly less than my Monday average), but it’s always great when Mondays are thoughtful/thematic without resorting to frustrating gimmickry.
I would have found the revealer a better phonetic hint spelled SIDE EFFECS. As I pronounce 60A, the T is not silent. YMMV. After getting the first two themers, I was was waiting to see more appearances of FALL. That fell in the FIRE. BEST OF ALL, I was glad to see AONE obscure nouns in a Monday puzzle ASA break from improper names. I can take the HEAT and hold the FORT to solve them even if I don't know the steps or the chant. See you in the FENS.
@Barry Ancona I’m OK with SIDEEFFECTS myself; even if the letter X is indeed pronounced “eks” (unless you’re Aphrodite, as Sunday’s puzzle reminded us), “FX” is a well-established way to abbreviate “effects” (see: SFX, VFX). Between that and the confusion “EFFECS” would have created, I have to side with Tarun on this one. I was a bit more encumbered by FLIER, tbh. I’m very used to the “flyer” spelling — for those who fly (“frequent flyer” > “frequent flier”) but *especially* for leaflets. I’m glad I’m not the only one, as both Merriam-Webster and Wikipedia agree that the mainline spelling for the synonym of leaflets is “flyer.” That said, I’ll readily admit I’m a complete wafer ignoramus (never had a NILLA in my life), and most people probably had zero issue with that particular square. Fun puzzle! Great start to the week.
One of the side effects of spelling FLIER that way seems to be that so far no one is upset about FENS being described as “swampy areas”. Perfec Monday puzzle.
@JohnWM For the casual use in a puzzle, consider BOG, FEN, MARSH, WETLAND, SWAMP, and BAYOU as possible entries, regardless of accuracy.
@JohnWM I see what you did there.
Mean Old Lady, You are right, of course. But it is here in the solid reality of the comments, rather than the sloppy land of the puzzle, that I expect to see people precisely defining the water content and plant species of the damp spots on which they have chosen to die. :)
Fun Monday puzzle. Just a bit on the slow side for me, but a nice 'aha' moment when I worked out the reveal and that helped a lot with getting it finished. Couldn't help but wonder how many other answers would fit the pattern. Well... there are quite a few but among those long enough to be a theme answer there are quite a few that would probably never appear in a Monday puzzle. Some examples: FIVETOTENFORSIX FUNNELSHAPEDBOX FIFTEENMINUSSIX FLATRATEBOX FOLIEADEUX FORNAX And there were others. I'll put my puzzle find today in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As promised: A Sunday from November 25, 2007 by Trip Payne with the title "Two out of three." Some theme clues and answers: "Warning about Mel Gibson on a wrestling surface?" MADMAXMANMAYMARMAT "Hound, typically?" FOEFORFOX "Why horses are attracted to a witch's headgear?" HAGHASHAYHAT "Why guitar-loving Cooke was blue when his gal named her favorite musical instrument?" SADSAMSAWSALSAYSAX And a couple of other theme answers: ROBROYROT BIGBICBIZBIO DIPDIDDIGDIN Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/25/2007&g=67&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/25/2007&g=67&d=A</a> Might another puzzle in another reply. ...
Rich, Quite the data mine! I could see FLATRATEBOX on a Monday.
@Rich in Atlanta I’ve never heard their music, but, FLEETFOX.
This is a delightful Monday morsel. Side F...X - brilliant! Made me chuckle once I realized it. At first I thought there was a sly F..OX hidden in each theme entry but quickly realized newp. The O was not consistent but the FX were. Once I entered the last letter in the puzzle and didn't get the happy sound, I checked my acrosses and downs and thought "Oh, OK, it's NILLA not NYLLA." Fair enough. But I didn't love FLIER for FLYER.
Well the spelling of flier got me as I can never remember the spelling of the wafer brand (which I don’t think we get in Australia).
@Danielle Would it help if you remembered that NILLA is short for Vanilla?
Fun Xercise today! One word correction and one spelling. I started off with NPCs instead of BOTS, but quickly realized it wasn't going to work. FLyER vs. FLIER was my other correction, courtesy of NILLA. Nice one, Tarun, we'll look for more from you.
Cruel top middle for a non-American. (Well, this Australian, anyway.) BANFF, FELIX, NILLA along with two possible spellings of FLYER and the fact that we do not use FLOOR WAX — at least not under that name. (Meaning FELIX couldn’t be guessed.) Thus even a Monday can present troubles.
Someone on another site pointed out the lovely theme echo FELIX.
Elie Levine With regard to "flexing [your] college level Mandarin," I wanted to suggest learning to recite Y R Chao's translation of "The Walrus and the Carpenter," which appeared in one of his college textbooks. I kept my college-level Mandarin flexed in those days by reciting it from memory. It starts 太陽 [two words lost to dementia]大海上. I can still fake most of the first stanza, but that was 60-odd years ago. I donated my copy of the textbook to some library, and I can't find any reference to it at all on the net. Trying to find it taught me that 太陽 has become 太阳 in China!
@kilaueabart, Brother. Just so you know, some of us are having a hard time keeping up with you these days!
I wanted Harvest Moon for 18A. Same number of letters, but didn't happen. A fine Monday puzzle anyway. Thank you, Tarun.
Regarding 18A, it’s that only in the northern hemisphere. The same celestial event is in a different season below the equator. For this reason I prefer to refer to it as the September Equinox. Just my .02. (I’d also add that in my experience the season mentioned is known primarily as “autumn” outside the U.S.) Mark
Link to an interview with Joel about mini construction, which is in the Gameplay feed. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/crosswords/q-a-with-joel-fagliano.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wU8.OrV4.K9TM8M0wsc_Y&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/crosswords/q-a-with-joel-fagliano.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wU8.OrV4.K9TM8M0wsc_Y&smid=url-share</a>
F U N E X? V F X. F U M N X? V F M N X. The theme for this puzzle reminds me of seeing that funny thing we read aloud as children. It was delightful when we figured it out.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight ABC that goldfish? I never heard any other one-- took me years to "get it"-- with very little reward.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight My mothers version FUNEX? SVFX FUNEM? SVFM OKMNX Very few of the adult people I’ve shown it to can figure it out (?) but it certainly made me laugh as a child 🤣
Good Monday. There is a movie called F/X, from 1986. It is really fun, and I couldn't help but think of it when finishing this puzzle. I remember Siskel and Ebert raving about it. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y4rdztmt" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/y4rdztmt</a>
@Margaret That was such a good movie. Fun factoid: the producer of the film was Dodi Fayed, lover of Princess Diana. When you consider how the movie F/X ends, kinda makes you go, “hmmm…” (For those unfamiliar, in the movie SPOILER ALERT the protagonist escapes with the money by faking his death in a car explosion.)
@Margaret Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy and the debut of Angela Bassett! Great flick.
It’s FLYER. Since we don’t have NILLA in Canada I couldn’t get it via the cross. And I don’t consider the equinoxes or solstices “celestial” events.
@Byron The NYT generally seems to disregard that piece of AP Style guidance for flyer. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/style/fliers-memes-instagram.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wk8.V93C.6mGRVilAZXVZ&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/style/fliers-memes-instagram.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wk8.V93C.6mGRVilAZXVZ&smid=url-share</a>
"Since we don’t have NILLA in Canada I couldn’t get it via the cross." Byron, We don't have ESSO in the U.S., but we're supposed to know it in the NYT XWP. Mon Jun 9, 2025 12D Canadian gasoline brand Aimee Lucido Personally, I prefer IRVING, but it's never been clued that way!
@Byron I put in FLYER and it really messed me up for the longest time thinking I'd lost my mind.... I mean, NYLLA??? egads.
@Byron Nilla comes up often enough that I was able to get it. And I bet from now on you will always remember it, too!
I'm wondering how many (U.S.) solvers who had FLyER when they thought they had solved the puzzle were so sure of the answer that they didn't bother to check the crosses ... and how many saw NyLLA but didn't realize it was incorrect.
N.B. As a stone tablet solver not seeking to set any speed records, I tend to check all crosses before entering, even on Mondays. I treat an answer like 15A as a KEALOA.
@Barry Ancona That is exactly what happened to me. I had to check to find the error.
@Barry Ancona My wife fell for FLyER/NyLLA. I didn't as - surprisingly for sure - I remembered the product from previous puzzles. A very poor idea for a cross that was, especially on Monday.
@Barry Ancona I'm surprised that nobody has posted a NILLA wafer cake recipe. And the FLyERs are a hockey team, in my neck of the woods.
@Barry Ancona I'm American, and even I would use FLiER over FLYER. FLYER sounds more like a pilot or something that flies. (Yes, I know why somebody may call that a FLyER, but still)
@Barry Ancona I initially had the Y, but then checked the downs in that section before I moved on, and then read the down clue and went "oops" and fixed it well before completing the puzzle. I didn't have to go look, but there are Nilla Wafers in my cupboard. And I've seen both Y and I versions, so I concur with waiting to see which is indicated (I rushed it a little).
Forgot to mention that I was just happy to finish this one in a reasonable time, given my sweating, feelings of anxiety, wooly tongue, and sausage fingers. FLENTOX: ask your doctor.
Enjoyed the puzzle, but woof I was another FLyER casualty :-(
Does anyone still use a Filofax? I remember when they were quite the status symbol.
Grant, Yes, apparently. <a href="https://us.filofax.com" target="_blank">https://us.filofax.com</a>/
@Grant I still have mine, it’s sort of an archive of another time, I haven’t used it in over a decade…
I'm surprised by the Nilla/flier confusion. I thought Nilla was nearly as famous as Oreo. 🙂
@Mr Dave I can only speak to the situation in Belgium, but we have a few Oreo offerings in our grocery stores and I think I've also been exposed to that brand in media and online, however, I had almost never heard of Nilla before starting with crosswords.
Regarding the FLIER controversy: It’s clear that this spelling for the pamphlet is a legitimate although less common and preferred spelling for the pamphlet, and therefore the clue is fair. Nevertheless it is surprising the editors did not attempt to clue it as the aviator. It’s not like this was an alternate spelling that couldn’t be clued any other way and was the only way to make the grid work. It’s a Monday there’s not even a case to be made for misdirection. Fair enough?
@SP My wife also got caught in the FLyER/NyLLA trap. Very poor choice of crossing, as clued, especially for Monday.
This was a fun one… One note regarding both a clue and the notes about the clue— I don’t have the book or the movie at hand, but I’m pretty sure that the Tin Man is a Woodsman and not a Woodman. Not that it matters in the least
M G, The clue is correct. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_Woodman" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_Woodman</a>
I can see where there might be some confusion because the definition of woodman and woodsman are almost identical. woodsman - a person living or working in the woods, especially a forester, hunter, or woodcutter. woodman - a person working in woodland, especially a forester or woodcutter. As Barry pointed out, in the Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man is specifically referred to as a woodman. Given the looseness usually afforded clues in the crossword, if the clue had substituted "woodsman" for "woodman", it would still be valid.
Far too complicated for a Monday. Did not enjoy.
@Scarzi Perhaps you are on the wrong planet....