Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Today's puzzle involving flower names reminded me of an incident from long ago, and a related one from just a little while ago. I went to a liberal arts college that had a required science component. For my last science class, knowing that I wasn't interested in being a science major, I took Plant Tax[onomy]. Its required lab was taking walks in the Woods that abutted our beautiful campus. How great is that! Now, almost 50 years later, whenever I go for a walk in the woods, I remember something that I learned in that class, the name of a flower or a tree or a weed, its tell-tale features. ("Look! A spring beauty! [Claytonia virginica] It only has two sepals.") Just a few years ago, I was able to track down the professor who taught that class and thank him for the way his teaching had enriched my life. I was lucky to have contacted him. He was in his late 80s; and he died shortly thereafter. A colleague of his reached out to me after his death to tell me how much my letter meant to him and to ask if he could use passages from my letter in his obituary. A lesson to us all. Gratitude is important. Give thanks while you still can.

"How'd you do on the botany test?" "Great! I knew all the anthers." ("Sounds like you're pollen through!")

HOLYTOLEDO BATMAN, that puzzle was right in the middle of my wheelhouse. I’ll try to avoid using any flowery prose to describe it. I thought it was a pleasant Wednesday exercise with some ok clues and a theme near and dear to my heart. As an avid gardener I appreciated the floral entries. My own garden contains all the flowers mentioned except for HIBISCUS and DAISY. When I moved into my current home 34 years ago, I wasn’t much of a gardener, and there wasn’t much of a garden here. But when fall arrived a trio of deep purple ASTERs bloomed along the front walk and I was hooked. After 34 years of planting and tending what became a sort of cottage garden, I am beginning to dread the day I will no longer be able to care for it myself.

I don't think I've ever commented on a Wednesday puzzle before but had to make an exception for this utterly delightful and satisfying debut. Looking forward to many more, Mr. Mattina.

OCCAM’s utility knife: the garden tool you are seeking is not in the shed, but out there somewhere, having spent the winter outdoors. OCCAM’s seed packet: the melon seeds you saved last year cross pollinated and will yield tasteless fruit. OCCAM’s wheelbarrow: it’s too full. Stop now before you throw out your back again. Happy gardening season, everyone!

Hi all, James here! Thank you to everyone who tackled my puzzle today, shared it with loved ones, and left thoughtful comments. I was actually able to surprise my family with this debut in person (they also struggled a bit with that NW corner!). The response from this community has been so exciting. What an experience. I've been reading every comment... Genuinely touched by the stories of your personal connections to the theme and the fill. A few extra comments: - @Bill : The ETUDE clue was not mine (I prefer the new clue, it's a great tidbit - thanks to Will Shortz and the editing team) - @Alex : PERU was my clue (love a little trivia) and thanks! I think the lack of Americana in the puzzle may 'stem' from my Canadian 'roots!' - @The X-Phile : Beautiful story - @Everyone : I did not conspire with Ian about MIA HAMM in the midi (coincidence!). Glad you like the 'theme-adjacent' TOMATO/SAGE/RYE/MULCH... I also tried sneaking in the Carolina REAPER as my clue but the harvester works, too! Have a great week, everybody! -James

My history with the NYT crossword goes back about 6 years or so. So I’m experienced, but not a vet who reminisces about the good old days in these puzzles. So for Barry, it might have been Monday level easy but, for me (during my time solving these puzzles), it seemed to be a spot on Wednesday…. which is refreshing since the puzzles of 2026 (and perhaps a bit before) have have been easier than my 6-year average expectation.

A fragrant puzzle, as promised by those April showers. Relaxing, engaging, encouraging, just right for a Wednesday. A sure touch, James Mattina, and delicate, the balance for a tiptop puzzle. Thank you.

I can never hear or read "edelweiss" —as in the clue for ASTER [cousin of edelweiss] —and not think of this song, which is one of my two favorites in "The Sound of Music" – <a href="https://youtu.be/z6-P3pFhmQI?si=W5CTrtaUVFgyE30B" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/z6-P3pFhmQI?si=W5CTrtaUVFgyE30B</a> So now here I am, listening to this and feeling like I've just been handed a huge bouquet of flowers to start May off right. Thank you, James! You've made my day! (And the puzzle, in totum, was a fine debut. Congratulations!) When I was in my teens, someone said to me that flowers that are given with love last the longest. Old wives' tale or not, the notion has served to fill my heart when, for example, I've received a rose that bloomed and seemed to mummify, refusing to droop, and peonies that opened up in slow motion, each day another bit, and then went on and on and on... Marilyn insisted that Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, but what can I say, I think flowers are... P.S. SOCRATIC crossing AGORA was a special touch and didn't go unnoticed. Kudos, James!

I'm happy to see flowers in May, and having the B E E S mark where they CROSSPOLINATED was fun. Nice debut, James. Now, editors, about the Monday-level clues...

Pros: Not many American sports, actors, towns, colleges, brands etc - hurray! I got HAMM thanks to the Midi today, so that was a bonus, and guessed the Stax city with _EM____ filled in. The flowers were a nice addition. I'm like the columnist: not a particularly avid gardener/florist, but enough to get the entries without any trouble. Plenty of nice clues and fill apart from those too. Con: didn't really need the theme during the solve. As the columnist said it was more like a first-of-the-month one for me, just a normal xword with an unusual number of entries on a particular topic. I much prefer a theme you can really get into and make use of. Always nice to see my adopted country of Peru in here - we do get within just a few kms of the equator but not quite! The Putumayo river border with Colombia just bends away from it at the last moment. Northernmost coordinates are 0°02'19" South (!) 75°10'55" West. Overall an enjoyable puzzle, which is the main thing. Thanks James, and congrats on the debut!

Hi all, how are we doing? Living the dream? Stoking the fires? Feeling your age? Minding the roost? Having gotten the H for the clue ["Great Scott!"] I should've known better than to put down HIGHLANDER, but honestly, can you think of a great Scott whose name begins with an H? But the quote marks were the giveaway. Connor Mac Leod (Christopher Lambert) -- he was a he11a Scotsman. Started reading up on hybridization by bees & whether all the flowers in the puzzle are hybrids rather than species flowers. But all the flowers here come as both species, hybrids, and cultivars, so it's not that easy to say. None of the flowers is a straight-up mutt, there's no easy distinction. You can mainly tell by their Latin names where an "x" indicates a hybrid. I can see Socrates working on me: "So what then is a hybrid? Can a cultivar be a hybrid? Are you not then a hybrid? If two different species plants produce a species plant, is God a hybrid? Or a species?" I learned hybridization can only take place if the two varieties are related enough, and many plants evolved barriers toward preventing that kind of funny business, such as petal shape, different bloom times, etc. Take that, busy bees! I was hoping the bees in this puzzle would produce some new hybrids: the PEOBISCUS, PRIM BELL, VIOLASTER, DAIZALEA, and my favorite triple hybrid, the BLUE AST ROSE. But it was not to bee. Good debut. It was DEARLY BEE-LOVIN'

My solve time was well below my average, but I still agree with Isaac that this wonderful debut puzzle by James Martina is a perfect Wednesday. Maybe it’s because I just got such a kick out of James’ constructor notes. Do I smell freesia???

I solved this in less than half my average time…something I have to say I owe to my wife, who was a horticulturist and who still starts who-knows-how-many plants under grow lights in winter, before moving them out to her small greenhouse, and with whom I watch gardening shows so she can get ideas for our (well, her) gardens. To save myself embarrassment, I’ve had to learn flower names so we don’t keep having conversations like: Me: “I like that flower there.” Her: “Which one?” Me: “That blue one.” Her: “Which blue one? There are three different plants with blue flowers.” Etc. Etc. Etc.

I was happy to see William Bolcom mentioned in 3D. In addition to his set of etudes, he wrote a wonderful collection of piano rags. Here's a video of pianist Marc-André Hamelin playing Bolcom's lovely "Graceful Ghost" rag: - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTLr0j6Gs0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTLr0j6Gs0</a>

I'm hopeless with flowers - in Polish I know many of their names, but I actually only recognize a few of them in the real world: probably the ones that grew in my grandmothers allotment in my formative years. When I think "aster", for example (the Polish and English name is the same) no image forms in my head, and I can think of none of its characteristics. In English it's worse - I basically only know the names of flowers similar to Polish ones (róża/rose, tulipan/tulip, peonia/peony etc.). I have no idea what a bluebell is, for example, or a primrose. So yeah, I needed *loads* of crosses to get today's themed entries. The clues meant nothing to me, and I had to dredge many of the flower names from the deepest recesses of my mind. The NW corner was the last to fall for me, as I obviously didn't know the answer to the musical clue straight away, and I have mostly no idea about how zodiac signs align with the calendar, so the LYBRA clue was a huge mystery until I got many crosses there. Given all my difficulties, I was surprised to finish well below my Wednesday average.

The reveal had me buzzing!

Wow! Great puzzle! Second day in a row in which I've found the puzzle trickier than usual for that day--the NE was a particular blank, from which only the Dark Knight could save me (and I know virtually nothing about comics.) 3D seemed a bizarrely specific way to clue cross-word staple ETUDE--was that your own clue, Mr. Mattina? Ann Arbor, MI, resident William Bolcom won the Pulitzer prize in 1988, and although I could deduce ETUDE easily enough from the crosses, my mind first jumped to RAG, as that is the musical form this protean composer is most closely associated with. Here is his "big hit," (a relative term), the "Graceful Ghost Rag": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTLr0j6Gs0&list=RDzCTLr0j6Gs0&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTLr0j6Gs0&list=RDzCTLr0j6Gs0&start_radio=1</a> Also in A2, the University of Michigan's Nichols Arboretum features an extensive collection of PEONEs, which is just coming into bloom now: <a href="https://mbgna.umich.edu/whats-bloom-peony-garden" target="_blank">https://mbgna.umich.edu/whats-bloom-peony-garden</a> TOLEDO also has a quite fine Botanical Garden, as well, and features good collections of hostas and daylilies. (Credit goes to @Mr. Connell for introducing me to the TBG.)

Okay, everyone-- Apparently, the kerfuffle of the day is whether Hibiscus flowers, live or fake, can be used in leis. Here's what we know so far-- 1) Although the internet can provide plenty of FAKE NEWS otherwise, let us defer to the observations of residents, current and former, of Hawaii. 2) OTOH, dear @MOL, the Hibiscus, in particular the Yellow Hibiscus (*Hibiscus brackenridgei*), is--at least nowadays--the official State Flower of Hawaii--it's endangered, so don't pick it: <a href="https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/rare-plants/species/ma%CA%BBo-hau-hele" target="_blank">https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/rare-plants/species/ma%CA%BBo-hau-hele</a>/ 3) *Hibiscus* is a genus within the Mallow family, *Malvaceae.* The family contains another, related genus, *Althæa*. The common garden plant Rose-of-Sharon is often called "Althea," but is currently placed in the genus *Hibiscus*: *Hibiscus syriacus.* Why? Go ask the botanists. 4) Back to mallows--many mallow species like to grow in marshy ground--the marsh mallows. The root of one species of marsh mallow, *Althæa officinalus*, had medicinal uses as a cough suppressant (etc.). It also had thickening properties, and French apothecaries/confectioners (the professions often overlapped) would mix it with beaten egg whites and sugar it to create a confection called "pâte de guimauve." Later, the marsh mallow root was replaced with gelatin, but the name ("marshmallow") stuck. 5) Don't try making Rice Krispy Treats from stale-dated marshmallows, as my partner discovered yesterday. They, too, stuck. Aren't you glad you asked?

Watching Wisteria bloom as I solve this garden of earthly delights. Thank you James

I loved this puzzle, James ! As a Texan, I must say, we love our Blue Bell Creamery and its contented cows from "cow heaven," Brenham, Texas. When I was a Baylor University student in the '70s, Blue Bell was not yet widely distributed. We could only buy it on the black market, which in Waco was a Frigidaire freezer in the back of the garage of a gas station. I still believe the black market Blue Bell was even creamier and more delicious than grocery store Blue Bell. Happy Wildflower Season, Texas !

Overheard in a honkey-tonk in MEMPHIS . . . HAMM and TOMATO on RYE? . . . SMH . . . got my PBJ and INTRIGUE CROSSPOLLINATED . . . . here we go . . . HALT! Who grows there? It's PEONY me. METOO! I done had y'all in my RADII. Yeah, you and your purdy TOMATO. Leave AZALEA out of it, I love her DEARLY. Hand over the MOOLA, or I'll plant you two . . . AWE, PETE, OCCAM y'all gotta mess with us. Ain't we PALS? You got a HELLA nerve. Go on, DENY it. You two been trying to RESALE double-licked BLUEBELL pints. That's a LIE! DRAW and get ready to meet your REAPER, (N.B.; I'm no shrinking VIOLET, but still readers, get BRACED for impact . . .) OH lordy, I done been shot in my HIBISCUS! ETUDE, Then fall, bad ICE cream. HOLYTOLEDO, I MIST! Th-th-th-that's OWL, folks!" We'll MEAT again, dear solvers as EVER, W.N.

Beautiful puzzle Refreshing theme, learned some interesting fun facts (azaleas!!) And 'Bees' at the crosspollination points - nice... Congrats on landing this very solid debut!

I had fun. For me the clues seemed appropriately Wednesday-ish and thinking was required to solve. And it was a fun theme, which brought to mind this Talking Heads tune. <a href="https://youtu.be/2twY8YQYDBE?si=WAFHZvVuTf_zXuWr" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/2twY8YQYDBE?si=WAFHZvVuTf_zXuWr</a> Congratulations on the debut.

The bees’ knees as we used to say (or maybe my parents at one time). Nice debut and I thought decently crunchy for a Wednesday, personally. Where’s Mike tonight? There’s too many bee puns to even pick from, but I won’t try to steal his thunder

OMG!! I just started my solve--uncharacteristically, at the top--and I reached 4D "Blossom in a lei".....and I ...Could. Not. Believe. My. Eyes!!! Is there no end to ignorance? I would love to watch someone string the one-day blooms of the HIBISCUS to make a lei......just to see if there IS, in fact, a limit to what Art Buchwald labeled "Dumbth." Plumeria, yes. Pikake, yes. Carnations were the big deal in the Fifties when my sister had a date to the prom. Long-lasting, fragrant, amenable to being strung as a LEI. Never, never, never HIBISCUS. I am going to get a cold cloth for my head so I can do the rest of the puzzle. But that clue??? Oh god ohgod ohgod.

I did not see these clues, for the most part, as Monday-easy, but then again my difficulty detector is on the fritz. But [Scary spice, by another nickname] was something I was only going to get it I knew every cross. Also, I don't know flowers at all. I honestly think that by trying to do archive puzzles from the 00's, that I've ruined my self-confidence. There are so many that I don't know, or don't know if I know, that I kind of freeze. A lot of it is because they're harder, but some of it is because they aren't as fresh. For example, [Continental, for example] was LINCOLN. It's been a long, long time since I've seen a Lincoln Continental. I don't know if this is a phase new solvers sometimes go through, or if it's a malady of my own making. But it's making me grumpy.

I spent last Saturday planting a bunch of flowers, including a patch of daisies. Simple yet cheerful, they are my favorite flowers because they always look the happiest. I put them next to the balloon flowers, my perennial drama queens who make a big show of puffing out their heads before bursting into bloom. Both of them stay away from the azaleas, who are nothing but trouble.

I especially like the theme clues, particularly [Flower found at the end of a rainbow] for VIOLET, [Flower found along a metaphorical path of ease] for PRIMROSE, [Bloom whose toxic nectar is one source of "mad honey”] for AZALEA and [“Link" in a botanical chain] for DAISY. Other than that the clues were disappointedly straightforward. The only thing close to a misdirect was [Bed cover]. [DC good guy], sadly, cannot possibly be a misdirect. A pleasant puzzle and a rosy theme. Congratulations on your debut, James.

Nice puzzle. Typical long Wednesday workout for me, but a really nice moment when I finally tumbled to the theme. Don't recall another one quite like this. And... ... puzzle find today - a Tuesday from August 1, 2017 by Jay Kaskel. This one was all in the clues. Some examples: "Shocking!" to an astronomer? OHMYSTARS And all the other theme clues started with "Shocking?" Some others... "....to an Ohio tourist?" HOLYTOLEDO "...to a seamstress?" ILLBEDARNED "...to a teetotaler?" WELLINEVER "...to a Thanksgiving guest?" GOODGRAVY Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/1/2017&g=25&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/1/2017&g=25&d=A</a> ....

Awesome puzzle! It is such a cold spring here in Quebec, nice to have a flowery theme! 🐝 🌺

If you do the Midi first, you get 4A for free in the main...

Love the botanical theme, but I don't think the HIBISCUS is as strongly associated with lei-making as pikake, tiaré, orchid, and plumeria. It's more likely a flower behind the ear.

Congratulations on an enjoyable debut, Mr. Mattina! Two answers in particular reminded me of my 50+ years (gulp!) of living in Texas: 17A BLUE BELL ice cream (I regret we never made it to their creamery in Brenham) and 59A SOCRATIC method (a few of my professors at the UT Law School were adept at using that method, and their classes were ones I looked forward to). 30D brought back memories of a Trivial Pursuit game with my brother and his family in Dallas; it seemed that no matter what the question was that night, the answer was PERU. (One of my nephews was then in middle school and learning Spanish, so we practiced pronouncing it the way a native Peruvian might.) On the other hand, 20A CBD is right out of my new home. There are dispensaries all over town. Hope we see you back soon! Thanks for the fun!

This was a slow solve for me, mostly because of the current lack of caffeine in my system. Satisfyingly rigorous, happy to see this level of difficulty on a Wednesday. I usually rush to the comments to kvetch when a puzzle is a flop (cough…Sunday…), so it feels nice to start my day by giving some positive feedback. 😊 Hope to see more puzzles from this constructor soon!

A nod to the pollinators, who are busy these days. Blooming in our garden now: Jerusalem sage, Mystic Spires salvia, African daisies, Mexican bush sage, autumn sage, thryallis, rose mallow, and several native and hybrid lantanas.

Plants, are my favorite people, lol. Fun puzzle, loved the clues in the NW corner, clever misdirections. I finished this early this AM, because it's raining, leaving me sitting inside with my coffee, otherwise I'd be out in the garden, dodging all the stingy (hard 'g') things and checking for the sneaky bindweed that oozes through the fence from my less gardening-inclined neighbor's yard. The blooms do glow under the overcast sky though, and the pansies and the iris appreciate a cooler day, and a gentle shower. Have a good one all.

Wow I read that a group called Defending Education got the US Dept of Education to target Smith College for admitting trans women. I can’t think of a worse misnomer for such a group than “Defending Education”.

I am newbie here and I almost had three (count 'em three) days in a row without any lookups. But I got caught up on 6D [Bed cover]--which I should know because I was MULCHing today and yesterday, etc. Today I was cutting up my spent daffodils which are taking over and which I removed. I saved the gazillion bulbs and cut the stems up in little pieces and threw them in the flower bed as MULCH. Constantly building the topsoil up with mulch is popular advice for today's gardeners, (rather than turning over the soil to add biomass--which will disturb the complex micro biome there. [Is that a word?]) In my garden I have PEONies, ASTERs, HIBISCUS (also called Rose of Sharon), AZALEA, TOMATO, and SAGE. Another nice spring flower just coming into bloom: lilac. Oh, and don't forget iris.

I had to do forensics after the solve to figure out the theme. Fun puzzle. I don’t know nothing about grids and black squares. But it seems like there are very few blacks for a Wednesday grid? I keep turning and squinting, but I can’t get my eyes to make a magic eye flower or bee. Maybe a butterfly flying northeast? Congrats on the debut. James

Florals for spring? Groundbreaking. <a href="https://youtu.be/a6MG--mTDZQ?si=R8QA_aYF9tgKzB08" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/a6MG--mTDZQ?si=R8QA_aYF9tgKzB08</a> That's all.

Not being super-erudite or a flower afficionado, or a gud speller, I found this to be a Wednesday and a half but still quite enjoyable. The southeast nearly did me in, but i prevailed unaided. Kudos to the constructor on a nice debut.

I loved this puzzle! I am a relatively new solver but find many Wednesday puzzles fairly easy - this one was pleasantly challenging and a bit of a head scratcher at times. I am an avid gardener so got all the flowers fairly quickly, but mostly from a couple crosses rather than some of the esoteric clues. Very well done, constructor, thank you!

"It’s a very good example of what I would consider to be a perfect Wednesday..." Isaac, How about a perfect Monday? <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-05-06" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-05-06</a>

Impressive debut. How mind-blowing would it have been if the specific crossing flower pairs were, in fact, crosspollinatable? (Knowing nothing about botany, I checked. And they're not.) Would have been not only a strong rookie outing but a never-before-seen level of meta-verisimilitude in a Times grid, I'd wager.

I really liked it. It felt like something of a throwback.

I rather enjoyed it. Just challenging enough to make beefing a legit possibility. I'm running an insanely high streak now, and I know I'll eventually beef, but please, God, not on a Wednesday!

Excellent puzzle while noting that it mat not be possible to come up with a more obscure clue than one that asks for the alternate nickname of a Spice Girl. Come on.

Really enjoyed this puzzle, wonderful debut!!

Clever, fun puzzle. I am far from a botanist but the crosses provided the little extra I needed to complete the fill. Rating: 8/10