Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Oh, the magnitude of what Kathy pulled off today! I'll try to explain... When you have answers that bend in right angles, as the circled words do, it greatly hampers the word possibilities that can go around them, because it constricts the possibilities in two directions, rather than the usual one. It is challenge enough to create a grid in which this happens five times, as today’s does. But then, Kathy also had the right-angled answers coming out of other answers – all long! – an addition of complexity which makes building this grid seemingly impossible. And she pulls it off! PLUS, she had to find four examples of truth-bending in which the beginning of a synonym for “truth” is embedded, such as the first five letters of HONESTY nested in PHONE SCAMS. What? Really?? Wow!!! I bow down to you today, Kathy. This puzzle is a triumph, the work of a master. And it was fun to solve for me because the theme’s layers unfolded in stages. Thank you – this was stunning!

I liked the paired clues/answers at 36A and 53D — Hide NOR hair and Hyde and HARE.

Brilliant construction Kathy, and hat’s off to Sam for eloquently explaining its brilliance! I missed that the bent truths came from a lie during the fill, but it’s just the more satisfying to note on reflection. This is a wonderful example of a Tuesday that seems very difficult to construct, but solves as easily as a Tuesday. Usually stunt puzzles come to some expense of the solver, but here, I’m just impressed.

That was a fun puzzle with a cool theme. I thought it was pretty tough by Tuesday standards. I picked up pretty early that the circled words were synonyms for truth and liked the BENDS THE TRUTH revealer, but a couple of them were still kind of tough to spot. Then the COVER STORY and FAKE NAME with identical clues was nice. The southwest corner in particular I thought was tough. C SPOTS was something I hadn't heard in a while. Then OH HEY felt oddly phrased and SHOUT seemed like a very imprecise answer for the clue to the point where I wasn't sure it was right when I put it in. All crossing OED as an acronym for Oxford English Dictionary which I had to look up after to learn. Then FOAL where I wanted it to be CALF first and OSSA crossed with ETALIA. Most of the puzzle felt like a regular Tuesday but that corner had a few clues I felt like big reaches that made it much harder.

First off, a shout-out to Sam. "Kathy Bloomer won’t give us a straight answer" is as brilliant as the puzzle itself. Kudos! My last square to fall was the G of GABLED. First, I had a C. Then, out of nowhere, Jumpin' Jack Flash popped into my mind. "It's a GAS, GAS, GAS" and that's how [rip-roaring good time] resolved the "almost there/keep trying/you're an embarrassment on a Tuesday" banner across the grid. I did think of that song yesterday, courtesy of the triple jump puzzle. But today, there's no way I can not post Blue Bayou... <a href="https://youtu.be/Kp9G0zkorio?is=2g080s3HumEjfBEy" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Kp9G0zkorio?is=2g080s3HumEjfBEy</a> Thank you, Ms. Bloomer, for a puzzle with a great theme and rich fill that must have been a bear to construct. I'm not BENDing THE TRUTH when I say I'm looking forward to more from you!

I'm always happy to see a Tuesday dressed up, puffed up and strutting its stuff like a Thursday. An unexpectedly chewy start to my early-week morning. Thanks, Kathy and editors.

How beautiful to see such a complex theme in a Tuesday puzzle. It's clear that the constructor had her work cut out for her to pull off the trick(s) she had in mind. Such a lovely and amusing combination of T/RUTH and Fiction. But often, the constructor's cleverness results in us solvers simply saying, "Yeah, I see what you did. Very nice, but it didn't improve the pleasure of my solve." Not so today. We can enjoy the constructor's cleverness and we can enjoy a lovely solving experience. And on a Tuesday! Hats off to you, Kathy Bloomer!

Longest Tuesday time ever. And I couldn’t be more pleased. Viva tough Tuesdays!

NOES?!?!?! Crossing OSSA, which crosses ETALIA? Not good.

A sly Tuesday puzzle, with some clever angles. With 20A I saw what was going on and looked forward to the next ones. Great fun. Thank you, Kathy Bloomer. I'm still smiling.

Nice puzzle. Great revealer.

What incredible density of theme in this puzzle!  To get all these truthy words to BEND in the grid and and at the same time to have all these UNtruthy activities in the grid as well: COVER STORY; TAX SCANDAL; FAKE NAME; and PHONE SCAMS  -- an amazing piece of construction!  Kudos, Kathy! And thanks to a puzzle earlier in the month, I have mended my decades-long ignoring-of-tiny-little-circles-that-I-don't need-to-figure-out-in-order-to-solve-the-puzzle ways.  I call it the birth of my newborn OLD MAN AND THE SEA curiosity.  While I still don't look at tiny little circles while solving, if a revealer piques my curiosity, I'll go back and look at what the constructor has wrought.  And in this case, as in that earlier one, it was well-worth checking out.  A very clever and original puzzle.

Geez-o-Pete, that was a strange clue! Yeesh!

Awesome, really enjoyed this. Loved the final twist!

Thirty years ago when I was of college age, I convinced my parents that I wanted to pursue a career in cheek quivering. Essentially it’s what Nixon did when he spoke, but to a more refined and controlled degree. The problem was there was only one cheek quivering conservatory in the whole world at the time, a far cry from today, when they seem to be on every corner now, even more plentiful than Starbucks. The conservatory was located in the Himalayas, just at the base of the south col of Mt. Everest, so getting there was a bit of a trek, and, being the only school of its kind, the tuition was exorbitant. $3Million per semester, and it was a seven year program. It would have been even more expensive but I agreed to commute each day from STATEN ISLAND to save my parents some money. All in all I’d say the program was pretty good, but not great. I feel like if I went back today it would be a more comprehensive syllabus, but the program was in its infancy then. All-in-all I don’t regret going because I made some lifelong friends and partied really hard, but if I had to do it all over again I’d probably have chosen a normal college and a career in something lucrative like Eleanor Roosevelt impersonation, or pogo stick salesman impersonation.

I liked this and thought it was quite difficult! Is it just me who could not parse "deices" as "de-ices"?? I was reading it like a Spanish word and it was the last section of the puzzle I got!

Great puzzle, but calling C-spot slang for a $100 is just objectively false in that slang is used in everyday speech. Give the under 30s a chance!! Maybe clue it as retro slang?

Proof that a puzzle can be (relatively) easy, yet have elegant construction. Thank you, Ms. Bloomer! (Notes on the use of musical clefs after work.)

I honestly didn't care for this puzzle. It's a little too "oh, aren't I clever" for a Tuesday submission. I'm sure the constructor had to make compromises for the theme to work. Unfortunately, some of them, like NOES and CSPOT, just took me right out of the mode. I quit caring and used the cheater tools when I was less than halfway through.

500 day gold streak. Previous high was 53. I’d love to say I’ve improved that much, but the late week puzzles have definitely been nerfed over the last couple years.

I was driving through Montreal on the way to La Ronde, and there was a stop sign, partially covered by a tree branch. My passenger spotted it, and called out, "ARRET, ARRET!" I replied, "A what?" and drove right through the intersection.

So, a couple days ago we had C CLEF, and today we have ALTO clef, both clued in regards to violas. There are three clefs: F-, C-, and G-clefs. They were origianlly fancy versions of those letters, and they mark on which line of those pitches fall. Put C-clef is on the middle line of the staff, and it's called the "alto clef," used in viola parts, in the lower part of its range; put it on the second line from the top, and it's called the "tenor clef," used by cellos, bassoons, and trombones, in the *upper* part of their ranges. BUT, there is also the soprano clef (the C-clef on the lowest line of the staff), and the mezzo-soprano clef (C-clef on the second from bottom0, and even the baritone clef (C-clef on the top line of the staff, or the F-clef on the middle--it works out to the same.) And these were all previously used for vocal music, through the end of the 19th c.--you will see them in Dover reprints of older editions of Bach and Wagner. And not just in vocal music: Bach, et alii, would use the soprano clef for the right hand parts of keyboard music, and even Brahms sometimes used the alto clef in the left hand parts of organ music. And there was something called the "French violin clef"--G-clef on the bottom line--I guess because French violinists played higher than Italian ones? Modern tenors (singers) usually use the G-clef, read down an octave--sometimes there is a little "8" put below it to distinguish it.

loving the wordplay in today's puzzle!

So very clever for a Tuesday. I loved it. Like a Thursday without the brain pain.

C notes is a slang term for 100 dollar bills. C spots is not. Give me a break!

Very enjoyable puzzle! I didn't catch the 'bent truths' until nearly the end, a pleasant surprise! Thank you for the fun!

Felt more like a Wednesday than a Tuesday with a Thursday twist in the theme. More than I wanted but fun none the less

On what planet was today’s puzzle a Tuesday?

I’m starting to believe there’s a socialist plot to create cruciverbal justice and equality in the NYT, because while late puzzles may be getting a bit easier it also seems like the early week puzzles are getting more challenging (no complaints from me, anyone else have a say?) I did not get very far at all with acrosses on this one which is a very unusual Tuesday for me. Also there’s a decent amount of excellent theme material especially with two crossing the same entry. And bonus entries of TAXSCANDAL and PHONESCAMS in a puzzle about bending the truth? Deliberate or lucky? Chef’s kiss there. I also think there’s a plot to kidnap constructors before they can write their notes lately, which I miss, because I’d like to hear Kathy’s story about this one. I would include a meme from “A Few Good Men” but suffice it to say that Ms. Bloom is certainly not one who “can’t handle the truth”.

I liked the puzzle and all that, but NOES? Come on man.

I figured out a work around for those who want to access the column in the NYT app instead of the games app. After opening it on the games app, click on the writer for the column and it will open their page on the NYT app, then simply click on “Latest” and select the most recent crossword column. Voila!

Really brilliant construction, Kathy, as well as wonderfully clever commentary by Sam! This was a longer than usual Tuesday solve for me, but was so enjoyable!😊

I cannot BENDTHETRUTH, that was a terrific puzzle!! It's fun when I figure out the theme early on and can use it to help fill in some unknowns. At 11 down I had seXSCANDALS, and just moved on without checking my crosses. A crossword sin, no doubt, but I guess better than either a sex or a tax scandal! Anyhow, that's why I didn't get the music but I figured it out pretty quickly because cross is obviously make no sense. Fun, fun!

Well, this was a very nice Tuesday puzzle! --the kind that favors a person who habitually begins at the bottom of a puzzle! (Ain't that the TRUTH?!) I had forgotten Hale-BOPP, which is fun to say. At first I had in mind BYRD, but Oops! That's a neighbor of ours. Silly me. I was tempted by the --TS at the end of 26A to put GRANT on the $100-bill, but it would have hurt Ben Franklin's feelings. We recently identified the C CLEF for viola, and today it's ALTO... PhysDau is never around when I need her these days! Ah, well. Superannuated Parents...what good are we after "the kids" reach their Forties? Well, we had another day of Sun-STORM-Sun, followed by a night-time broken by a 2-hour thunderstorm with sideways rain. Flooding, sinkholes, trees down, power out, roads and parks closed..... and in other news, Europe in desperate straits with the heat domes making things miserable... Need to appease the Weather Gods!

I’ll be honest, this was truly a great puzzle. And you can take that to the bank!

Glad to see violists getting some love, with not only the ALTO clef mentioned today (which usually has been clued differently), but also with the CCLEF a couple of weeks ago. Didn’t think I’d be thinking about that clef so frequently!

Interesting to see 2D [Tallest animal in North America] MOOSE in the Mini today and 32D [Most dangerous animal in Maine, it's said] MOOSE in the Crossword today. That makes two MOOSES, I guess.

Very clever and fun puzzle! And I don't know what everyone is complaining about - I actually finished 41 seconds under my average Tuesday time!

As someone born in 1995, I fear I had no chance with answers like CSPOT, OLEO and HALEBOPP. Better luck next Tuesday.

Rough Tuesday. Unnecessarily difficult for the day. For those in the comments talking about how good they are and how they didn’t have a problem, great, how quickly we forget what it’s like to be new. I would wager when you started doing this you probably started with Mondays and Tuesday’s to get better and grow. The whole point of easier days is to allow more people to participate and get better. Puzzles like this ruin the whole concept. Congrats on getting it. So did I, but making it this challenging on this day prevents others that may be newer from growing and getting better and participating. There are decades and decades of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays that may be more your speed if having slightly easier days is so annoying to you. This puzzle would make for a great Wednesday. But it is not a good Tuesday. No fault to the creator who made a good puzzle, this is a NYT issue. They put the puzzle on the wrong day of the week.

Lovely and just tricky enough puzzle. I remember squeezing the oleo bag as a child when butter was too rich for the family budget.

This is my slowest Tuesday yet! I got weirdly tangled in the left with HALEBOPP being close to HONESTY - I thought that the Y was a lead off from HALLEYS comet. I realize this makes zero sense but I also couldn't parse the clues in that area either. Oh well haha - it was a fun and clever puzzle!

That's the toughest Tuesday I've done in a long time.

Very clever puzzle but felt more like a Wednesday. I think more people would be happy worders in that scenario. But I did enjoy learning about gabled roofs

Some uneven cluing leading to some dry spell areas, as others seem to have also experienced. Would have liked to see it more even overall, but enjoyed the challenge and the theme was cute.

Too many intersecting proper nouns/foreign language answers. Not how you make a good puzzle.

This was NOT a Tuesday puzzle. Coulda been a Wednesday or an easy Friday. Annoyed.

This was fun. Never having made a crossword, I would think that creating a puzzle easy enough for early in the week, yet tricky enough to be fun, would be a challenge. This one managed both. I didn't see the truth benders until the end, but clever idea. I've never heard of a hundred-dollar bill being called a CSPOT, but once it became clear that CnOTe wasn't going to work I didn't have much choice. On the other hand, I do remember hearing people in my grandparents' generation (born probably in the 1880's or 1890's, referring to margarine as OLEO. Nobody younger than that, though. Now, out of curiosity, does anyone know when they--whoever "they" are--decided to drop the possessives in comet names? The first time I recall hearing it was when what I would call Kohoutek's Comet was being called the Comet Kohoutek.

Hands up if you had another SCANDAL in mind (that also ends in X) before you corrected to TAX SCANDAL.

Very satisfying Tuesday. Thoroughly enjoyed, thanks!