As someone born and bred in Ipswich, England, it filled me with joy to see my hometown mentioned (for the first time?) in the NYT crossword today! For what it’s worth, if you’re looking for ice cream in Ipswich, my go-to was always the shop I-Scream.
@Joe Ipswich is one of my favorite words - from long before I knew it was a place. Why? It's a long story. So here it is. There was a Saturday Night Live (or maybe Not Necessarily the News, or both) gag in the early eighties called Sniglets. Sniglets are new made-up words that fulfill modern requirements. One "real" Sniglet I remember is "Aspirfection". That was the art of popping exactly two aspirin tablets from a bottle onto your hand, instead of clumsily digging or over pouring. I was around 12 at this time and invented two Sniglets of my own. One was "gleek" - which is when you accidentallly (or intentionally for some lucky people) squirt saliva directly from your salivary glands out of your mouth as tiny jets. This Sniglet seems to have made it into the modern vocabulary somehow. My other Sniglet was "Ipswitch", which is any place on the leg seam on your Levis where the dominant or higher fabric piece changes from the lower leg piece to the upper piece. This usually happens once or twice on most Levis. I've always wanted to visit Ipswich.
@Joe We used to say "I Scream for Ice Cream." BTW, when I visited London twice, I found the ice cream and creams (clotted cream) the BEST ever and I eat a LOT of ice cream (every day). Nothing I ever had in my home country compares to London's!
@Joe Agreeing as a native of Derby (which is not pronounced like you do the race, Americans, it's an 'a' sound). I'm sure there are relevant colouring books but the ice cream rec for anyone who might find themselves in the region is Bluebells. They have a nice farm you can visit and the ice cream is available in a lot of tourist sites.
Only city dwellers eat chervil or chives. On the outskirts of town they eat sub-herbs. (This is a joke i made up to appease our American comrades, in case they’re feeling trampled on today. It doesn’t work in English English. Not sure about Canadian!)
@Petrol Keep this up and soon you'll have a string of Sunday puzzles in the NYT 😐
@Petrol I think the American base'll appreciate it -- not completely certain, just parsley sure.
It's not just British spelling... it's also Canadian!
@Trish … and Australian, New Zealand …
@Trish Shouldn't that be "alsou Canadian"?
A great START for my Tuesday. Finally a correctly spelt puzzle. Thanks to the setter and congrats on the debut.
Well, colour me maple-flavoured, neighbour, but actually I’m Canadian. 🇨🇦
@Kirsten Aren't Canadians also British? Belongs to Great Britain, no? So, it could well have been spelt out in Montreal or Toronto as well.
Congratulations, John! A truly delightful debut.
@Christina Iverson Forgive me, Ms. Iverson, but shouldn't you be spending less time complimenting new setters and more time flying me to the moon on your next late-week puzzle? Just kidding. Sort of... Admiringly, etc.
O (Mr. Ruff,) U R now a constructor! Congrats on your debut and welcome! It's lovely that you're enjoying your retirement wisely, traveling, spending time with family, doing crosswords, and now constructing. Very inspiring! For my whole life, every time I've written "color" or "favor" I've been tempted to write them with O-U-R. I always have the impulse, hesitate a split second, and then consciously stop short of following through. Alas, I would just be considered a fake or a snob since my English, as everyone knows, is American. But I simply find that the added U rounds out the words, making them visually so much more attractive! I've learned to live with the unfulfilled impulse, but if only Dear Abby would make sense of it for me...Or Freud. Thank you, Mr. Ruff, for turning me into a kid in a candy store, plunking in all the O-U-Rs I've always longed for!
@sotto voce When I started learning English in the 1980s (and when I was in school in the 80s and 90s), British English was our standard of the language, and it had been for decades: my wife's grandfather learned British English in the mid-20th century, too, as did my mother in the 1960s. This was probably still rooted in the British cultural, economic, and military dominance of the 19th century, and the conviction that British English was the true original version of the language. American English has become the default only recently, after Poland opened up to the modern world after 1989, and especially in the 2000s, with the rise of the internet. In fact, when I'm writing in English, I still hesitate when I'm skipping the "u" in "flavor" and the like.
@sotto voce I too think the -our ending looks better--it adds a touch of glamour!
@sotto voce I spell theatre the British way, -re instead of -er. I don’t care if I look like a snob. I like it better that way.
Why yes, yes I am thank you. At last, a crossword with the correct spelling *ducks for cover*. A thoroughly enjoyable debut. I was intrigued at 17A to see where we were going with this, didn’t take long to work it out. I wanted First for 1A, couldn’t work out what divan could solve to; I only know that term for a bed, so TIL it’s also a SOFA. Also TIL the fascinating tidbit re pelicans. I once encountered one on a deserted beach in Florida. Big, aren’t they? It brought to mind the final scene in Jurassic Park as they were flying out. I clutched my small children and tried not to think of Raptors. We don’t have scary animals in the UK. I’m being careful what I write here; the emus have sabotaged my posts for the last week, no idea what or why. Fingers crossed I’m not merely talking to myself. Although I do. I think it’s an age thing.
@Helen Wright You don't? My wife and I were beset by cows in an isolated hillfort in Scotland - they all stared directly at us, and walked slowly towards us, like horror baddies. It was quite unsettling, and actually scary. Also, Reform.
@Helen Wright Seems to me this could be an issue of familiarity. As a coastal American, pelicans are fairly commonplace & non-threatening. As for cows, they are reputed to be so dumb it’s hard to imagine them as threatening. Cow tipping is an old-timey prank. Use the term “bull,” however, and an entirely different connotation will arise.
@Helen Wright That's interesting about "scary animals.". The closest to an apex predator there is a badger. I guess it's not surprising if an island is inhabited by humans long enough the big predators will go extinct.
@Helen Wright I agree pelicans are indeed large at close range, compared to toddlers! As for cows, I grew up in US cow country and found they would come even from far afield curious to see what the humans were up to, then stand and stare expectantly.
Great debut, John! A really fun and clever puzzle. Looking forward to your next one.
Of course the answer to 58 across should be: “because that is how those words are correctly spelt”. Unfortunately, that doesn’t quite fit. Two people divided by a common language and all that. And yes, I still chuckle when my American friends refer to wearing “khaki pants”!
@John What about fanny packs? As an American living in Pompey I was quickly but politely corrected by my flustered co-worker. Never made that mistake again. Lol
Why I had to second guess 64A: A wonderful bird is the pelican, Its beak can hold more than its belly can. It ca hold in its beak Enough for a week. I wonder how the hell he can.
@Patrick J. Same here - I had BEAK in there initially.
@Patrick J. This apparently either was or was not written by Ogden Nash, depending on which source you cite, so all possibilities are covered. My money now is on "was not," even though I've believed Ogden Nash wrote it ever since I first memorized it in grade school.
Chewy for a Tuesday puzzle. Well done.
No complaints with any of the answers today 😊
@Richard You just weren't trying!
Mr. Ruff, I thoroughly enjoyed your debut puzzle! There was an air of charm and freshness in your clueing, and after reading your note I understand why. Thank you so very much.
The first time in a NYT crossword that my knowledge of Renaissance music has been helpful! Surely Palestrina must be next. Delightful.
Hi solvers! So glad you enjoyed John Ruff's puzzle. This was a fun one to solve and write about. A small announcement: I'm working on an article about streaks. Breaking them, keeping them, using them to stay in touch with your loved ones — I want to hear your stories about them. If you've ever done anything drastic to keep your streak, or simply have strong feelings about them, fill out this form. I'm looking forward to reading your stories and I may reach out to ask for more info. All the key details can be found here: <a href="https://nyti.ms/4nx7yJZ" target="_blank">https://nyti.ms/4nx7yJZ</a>
A fun and clever puzzle! Very satisfying that O-U-R British was used so neatly as the revealer!!! Need to file OGEE away for future arch-related questions...it was there somewhere in the back of my brain, so helped me with the Spanish article, which, as somone just pointed out, could end with one of three letters. Been away from the crossword for awhile...we are fostering-to-adopt a little puppy from our local shelter. He came with a broken leg, so that has been taking most of my attention. What a delightful puzzle to come back to; hope for more from John Ruff! HA! I just looked up the author of this puzzle to write the above, and I am chuckling that the author's name is so befitting of my dog-oriented world these days!! 🤣
@Heather K I very recently saw a clip (?) with the Dog who Speaks English (answering questions like, "What's on top of a house?" ....and of course the last one was "RUFF!"
@Heather K Foster-adopters are my kind of people, Heather. Good on you, and thanks!
Thanks to the incredible tech team at NYT Games I can now do the Tuesday puzzle on Monday morning! (Actually, because I want to do this puzzle at the right time etc. I did not read the column or take a look at the puzzle). Unfortunately the same time travel element here in Games is not available for the business section. I was not able to make a killing on pork futures. No doubt this comment will be erased when the Times resets. Naturally the emus will blame the rheas for the error.
I posted that at 7:17am this morning. It will be interesting to see if the comment is removed, along with this one.
@john ezra So they posted the puzzle ahead of schedule, eh? But they still haven't posted Tuesday's Wordplay column in the browser, only the app. Not just that, I noticed this today, when googling NYT Wordplay: "NYT Daily Wordplay Column A crossword column written by Deb Amlen, Caitlin Lovinger and Sam Corbin. Every day, our columnists dissect the trickiest clues of the daily crossword and feature notes from the puzzle makers." Hello-oh! Yoohoo! How about an update, ye good folks!
@john ezra Naturally, it's rheasonable to blame other birds.
Growing up I was taught there are two kinds of people in the world. There are the British and there are foreigners.
Huh, I'm wearing an Under Armour sweatshirt, and it just occurred to me that an American manufacturer was using the British spelling. Blimey!
Well, I Googled it, and it turns out that they spelt it that way so they could use the phone number 1-888-4ARMOUR.
A very agreeable Tuesday puzzle. Congratulations on your debut, Mr Ruff. As every Moody Blues fan knows, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. I think the Brits, Canadians and Aussies commenting are worried for no reason about those Us. We can deal. Today's picture above the column is very of the moment. It's from an article posted within the last few days about Maya Lin's work at the new JP Morgan Chase building in MidTown. Here's a unlocked link if you're interested in reading about it. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/arts/design/maya-lin-manhattan-skyscraper.html?unlocked_article_code=1.h1A.VSij.uuaTL0ohhqPL&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/arts/design/maya-lin-manhattan-skyscraper.html?unlocked_article_code=1.h1A.VSij.uuaTL0ohhqPL&smid=url-share</a>
@Vaer As every Fleetwood Mac fan knows, Rumours.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour It's mnemonic! (In New Jersey we learned it as 'Fudge' though)
What a lovely puzzle. We Canadians tend to use the British spellings, so that made it fun. Such clever wordplay. Hip, hip, hooray, Mr. Ruff!
@Natdegu But did you nationalize or nationalise your health care?
One g is acceleration (or gravitational field intensity), not force. The force holding you on Earth is your weight.
@Cliff Elis And I first read it as O negative!
Cliff Elis, I'm not following your distinction. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-force</a>
@Cliff Elis Yes, but ONEGM (1 g m) doesn't fit. ;-)
Congrats on your debut! What a great bucket list item to cross off! I’ll be honest, not my favOURite theme ever, a little bland even for a Tuesday—but a solid grid and well executed, so kudos on that!!
As an American living in England, I enjoyed this.
A clever and fun debut from someone in an age cohort that I hope I reach. What's not to like? Well done and many thanks.
Caught in the middle, I am, spelling things sometimes ‘American’ and sometimes ‘British’. A case of either our. Nice Tuesday puzzle, with a few clues that had me saying “erm” (which I think rhymes with “what the?”).
@JohnWM All I can say is it's aboat time! (Soar-ee)
Well, that was fun! Just saying the word "sackbut" is almost as fun as listening to one! Here's a rather angry Neptune, accompanied by a quartet of them: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz-ezun8cCg&list=RDPz-ezun8cCg&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz-ezun8cCg&list=RDPz-ezun8cCg&start_radio=1</a> (From Jean-Pierre Ponelle's brilliant production of Claudio Monteverdi's *Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria*, Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting.) Certainly, today's puzzle will elicit many comments from our Canadian neighbours--or are they neighbors? Don't be too sure. Here's a quiz, offered by the Language Portal of Canada: <a href="https://nos-langues.canada.ca/en/quiz/are-you-an-adviser-or-advisor-eng" target="_blank">https://nos-langues.canada.ca/en/quiz/are-you-an-adviser-or-advisor-eng</a> Neither I nor my Canadian Partner aced this, btw.
@Bill I got 3 out of 8. Oy vey. Relieved that your Canadian partner also didn't do too well!
Fun puzzle, wonderful revealer! Nice to throw a sop to our friends across the pond. Now I expect a puzzle theme based on Polish spelling for all our friends in Warszawa. (And I hope you like JAM IN, too)
@ad absurdum Americans may gasp at our chrząszcz (beetle) or rzerzączka (not that gonorrhea looks much better, TBH) - much like I am feeling the onset of a stroke as I look at "strengths" (siły, for us), or "eighths" (ósemki) - but we also have words like lipa (linden tree), papka (mush), and kot (cat - you can see the shared etymology here). (Also, SOFA I haven't tried JAM IN)
@ad absurdum These days most of my JAMmIN' is done with peanut butter. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqVy6eRXc7Q" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqVy6eRXc7Q</a>
Fun puzzle ! Streak reached 2400 today ( 6.5 years ) ! Does the TIMES track streaks ? Is there a Guiness record for longest ? Just wondering . Maybe I'm getting there -lol .
@Cathy Parrish Wow! Impressive streak!!! If you come back to the comments, I hope you look for the post by the NYT person Elie who Is looking for people's stories about streaks.
Nice puzzle, lovely for a Chewsday :)
Is this Circles Week? Ahem. Ogden Nash has spoken, and we say the pelican's "BEAK can hold more than his bellican." Further: people in debt are NOT "swimming." Too late for that! They are DROWNING. Psych! The 61D clue mentions "Wapiti"--didn't I just mention that name? We are experiencing a herd of ELK in Crosslandia.... Aaaaand I got DOOKed at 66A, wondering how a blood type was affecting our gravitational status.....
@Mean Old Lady At last, the correct plural of Elk!
@Mean Old Lady The best plural for ELK is "wapiti." And to make sure it's seen as plural, just say it over and over: Wapiti, wapiti, wapiti... It's so fun to say!
I would have liked this better if there hadn't been any tiny little circles for the theme answers. The themers would have been a bit harder and the revealer -- where the tiny little circles are what make it sing -- would have come as a MUCH bigger and better surprise. But a cute puzzle anyway, if rather easy.
Several posters have cited the limerick, often attributed to Ogden Nash: "A wonderful bird is the pelican, Its beak can hold more than its bellican. It ca hold in its beak Enough for a week. I wonder how the hellican." (or some variant thereof.) "Guess what?," he politely asks, "Nash didn't write it!" It was first published in 1913, in the Florida Tribune--which described it as already "a classic–one which merits conspicuous publication in all the high-class literary journals," and attributes it to one C. M. Mars(h)to, an editor at the Chicago Record-Herald. Who knew pelicans were such long-distant migrants? In any case, long before Nash. <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/06/20/pelican" target="_blank">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/06/20/pelican</a>/ Know what Nash did write? "There goes the wapiti, Hippety-hoppity!" (New Yorker, 1933)
Thank you, John, for this lovely debut and delightful theme with its flavourful nod to our UK friends!🇬🇧 I hope we see you again soon and that you and your wife continue to enjoy a well-deserved retirement -- hats off to our educators!😊
Two thoughts about specific clues and answers: 14A: Is this way of cluing CIS more acceptable to the intolerant than the other way it has been clued lately? (It was not obvious to me the way it was clued this time.) 61D: Are the clue and answers both singular, or both plural? (I think the correct answer here is “Yes.”)
@Steve L I've been watching a few cop shows lately and they frequently refer to their confidential informants as CIs, so had no trouble getting the reference. But I also have no problem with the other clue being used.
@Steve L Both of my replies to both of your thoughts- 1) Both 2) Both (Now “both” doesn’t sound like a real word. Both…both. Both. Both. Both…)
As to the FLAVOUROFTHEDAY and cross-cultural differences in language, if you're ever in California and want to partake in some delicious ice cream, you should know that New York's fountain treats may have different terminology on the West Coast. Here's an unauthorized lexicon: In New York, an "ice cream soda" is soda (let's say root beer) with a scoop of ice cream in it (maybe also some flavored syrup--I'm not sure). One of my favorite soda fountain treats is New York is a "float," which is a milk shake with an extra scoop of ice cream "floating" in it. If I order a float in California, I get an ice cream soda, as described above--a disappointment that only happened once. There are other confusing menu terms...I'm at a loss now. Except one thing I can tell you, if you sit down in a restaurant in California, the wait staff will "always" bring coffee with the menus, hamburgers "always" arrive with lettuce and tomatoes and usually with mustard and mayonnaise (no thanks from me for the sauce--give me my Heinz 57). And let's not get into sneakers/tennis shoes and height/heighth. I won't even bring up the topic of egg creams...you can forget about that.
@lucky13 Have you every been to California?
@lucky13 I grew up in New York, and one of my favorite childhood treats was a tall glass of vanilla ice cream with a foamy pour-over of root beer, eaten with a long handled spoon. We called this a root beer float. And where *don’t* hamburgers arrive with lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayo? (OK, some places leave off the mayo, but if it’s takeout I add it at home.) I’ve never had an egg cream, so nothing to offer there.
@lucky13 "Heighth" is not a word, any more than "supposably", "acrossed", "nucular", "athalete", or "realitor". It is not a legitimate variant, it is simply a mispronunciation. People confuse it with constructions such as "length" and "breadth" and "width" - thank you, English language.
@lucky13 I'm with Heidi on what a root beer float is. I grew up on Long Island and on hot afternoons in August, I'd have one as a treat.
@lucky13 As Heidi said, root beer with ice cream in it is a root beer float. (A Coke float substitutes Coca-Cola for the root beer.) An ice cream soda is made with chocolate or vanilla syrup and seltzer, with a scoop of ice cream (your choice of flavor) in it. A chocolate soda with vanilla ice cream is called a black and white. There is no white and black. An egg cream is the syrup and the seltzer, with a bit of milk mixed in. Chocolate is the standard, but vanilla is possible. BTW, vanilla soda is bottled commercially as "cream soda." Fox's U-Bet is the standard for a NYC chocolate egg cream. Source: I was a soda jerk in my grandfather's pharmacy in 1968-69.
@lucky13 Bizarre. I grew up in New Jersey, and a "float" always referred to soda with ice cream in it, usually root beer or orange soda. But when we moved to South Dakota we quickly discovered (literally on day one) that if you go to a Midwestern pizza place and order a "plain pie" they will have no idea what you mean. Out here they call it a "cheese pizza." And they will cut it into squares, even if you beg them not to.
@lucky13 Now see what you've started!?!! And no one even got into the soda/pop/soft drink/cola thing. This thing spread like wildfire. My advice: change your name and hide! Putting you on the Prayer List.
@lucky13 Your California cuisine crit sounds like the Denny's syndrome. Next time drive into town and expand your experience.
In honour of our British friends, eh? Having lived in Britain and in Canada, I easily slide between spellings and don't really think about it. 'Twas an easy puzzle for me.
@Linda Jo My sister and her husband lived in Toronto for 35 years...and repatriated in the 80's. My sis would say "Huz" for the plural "all of us" and had stopped saying "y'all." Tsk. Transitions!
My first introduction to the term "sackbut" was its usage in the Cohen Brothers film, The Ladykillers. Such a good movie with the quirkiest of characters. I particularly loved Irma P. Hall (leff my wallet in ElSegundo. All that hippity-hop!)
@Jerry Wait a minute! "The Ladykillers" had Alec Guiness, and it was a great movie well before the COEN (note spelling) Brothers came along. What has transpired? Did they do a remake on a movie that could not be imrproved-upon? Say it ain't so...
Nice Tuesday puzzle. More than a few clues that put up a bit of resistance (ABDUCTORS, OUTBREAKS, JAM IN, DEBT), and a solid Tuesday theme with a charming and satisfying revealer. And I'll but a Czech-mark next to any puzzle that includes Franz KAFKA. Nice job, John Ruff. Congratulations on your debut! And, from you short bio, it sounds like you are living a wonderful life!
And... another puzzle find. A Thursday from October 24, 2019 by Matt Ginsberg. The first theme clue and answer... "When prefixed with 72-across, what a friend wishes for you" BUTTHEBEST And... there was no 72-across in the puzzle. Some other similarly clued theme answers: TOSNEEZEAT TOWEAR UPMYSLEEVE LEFTBEHIND TOIT BUTNET Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/24/2019&g=57&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/24/2019&g=57&d=A</a> ....
I wonder if you can get a Chipwich in Ipswich. (Maybe in the one in Massachusetts.)
@Steve L You might be more likely to find the chipwich in Sandwich (on Cape Cod) than in Ipswich (near Cape Ann). Incidentally, Cape Ann also has a Manchester, although the locals started calling it "Manchester by the Sea" to differentiate themselves from Manchester NH.
Re the column, I don't think ogee is quite crosswordese. It is a common answer but not rare. If you have ever done any remodeling, picture framing, or furniture repair, you will encounter an ogee.
@fionatimes I've had an interest in architecture for decades, I've read about it in both Polish and English, and Gothic is my favorite style (over the years I've visited almost all major European Gothic cathedrals, often spending a whole day exploring one) - yet OGEE was a stumper for me today, especially as it crossed with a word that could have been EST(a/e). The fact I wasn't sure if the muscles were ABDUCTORS or ABDUCTeRS didn't help. I needed lookups to make sense of it all. (I know the Polish name for the arch though: "przeginka" or "ośli grzbiet")
@fionatimes Crosswordese doesn't have to be something that's unused and obsolete. It just has to appear more often in the crossword than in real life. Brian ENO, for example, is a brilliant and accomplished musician and producer, but we don't talk about him once a week unless we know him personally.
Thanks, Mr Ruff, for a fun puzzle. As a newbie, I enjoyed solving today! Hope to see more puzzles from you soon.
The circles really seemed silly here, suggesting the possessive "our" rather than the cute phonetic OH YOU ARE of the revealer. Decent fill and solid enough theme. No circles needed.
"A fun and spirited Tuesday solve" I couldn't agree with you more!
As a Canadian, it was amazing being able to use OUR spelling for once in a NYT puzzle!
Fantastic debut. What a great idea for a themed Tuesday! Congrats!
Absolutely spiffing puzzle. Redolent of a First Division table of the mid-70s. Ipswich, Derby, Manny - I can almost picture Don Revie and Brian Clough snarling at each other... Minor, but este/esta/ese/esa in place of esto/eso always irritates me - you can't randomly pick a gendered form!