Jaw dropped. Not only the mirror corners, but WORMHOLE, PARALLEL UNIVERSE & ALTERNATE REALITY. And lots else to like. Good to see Jack Sprat, who could eat no fat, over what his wife could eat none of: LIEN. Also liked THAT SO over WHITE LIE: that's exactly how I respond to white lies (actually, it's what I respond to just about everything these days). I often feel like I'm living in an alternate reality anyway. In this regard, I recommend two fun books, Fredric Brown's "What Mad Universe" (a comedic pulpy sci-fi novel probably 75 years old by now, but still charming and full of wicked conundrums), and a recent novel by Lawrence Block that riffs on that book, "The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown." Both really fun reads in the parallel universe genre. Alternate reality, BORED, TESLA, CON ARTIST all served to remind me of the alternate reality I know so well! Anyway, this one's a masterpiece and I bet will be shortlisted for many a puzzler's POY choices. Certainly it's on mine.
@john ezra Great recommendations re Fredric Brown. I'm an old sci-fi nut with the shelves full of crumbling paperbacks to prove it but didn't know of the Lawrence Block riff. Tip of 🎩!
john ezra — Thanks for the rec! On that note, I can also recommend Fredric Brown's short sci-fi story "The Angelic Angleworm" very highly.
@john ezra & @SBK in TO My paperback copy of Nightmares and Geezenstacks is missing its front cover and is held together by a rubber band.
The Games app has been glitching out, kicking me out of puzzles since NYT pushed the update this week. I don’t think I’m alone in this. Not sure why it is happening. But it needs to be fixed ASAP.
@Prose Apple Store had a new update today. After install, no crashes as the previous week.
@Prose This is the second day in a row that the puzzle has been quitting on my iPad. I have to go in over a dozen times to finish a puzzle. Only does this in the NYT app. Hope it can be fixed.
@Prose I also finally got the update that shifted the order of puzzles. I don’t do the Wordle anymore, got bored of it, and I really don’t care to see it top of the list. Crossword should be front and center, especially considering its different variations. At least give us the option to customise it, at this point, please.
I didn’t fully appreciate the brilliance of the construction until I studied the completed grid. The semordnilaps and alternate meanings are impressive enough, but then I saw how those separate corners are connected by a WORMHOLE. And the WORMHOLE serendipitously leads to NEIL deGrasse Tyson. Bravo! Jeffrey, your puzzle wormed its way into my heart. One of my FAVORITES, for sure.
Others have said: the link to this page is broken from the app, the app is glitchy and now crashes regularly. Count me in on both of those. But what nobody else has said: I don’t want Wordle at the top of the app. Maybe some do, whatever. But why not let users of the app reorder the games in a way they prefer? Once you fix the other stuff, that is.
@abelsey oh wait, Heidi has said that too. Well, count me as seconding that too.
Incidentally, our tech team is aware of issues some solvers are having with the app. It should be resolved if you update to the latest version, but let us know if not (you can reply here, or email <a href="mailto:nytgames@nytimes.com">nytgames@nytimes.com</a>).
@Sam Corbin Not using the app, but the website on my PC. Second time in a row that Wordplay wasn't available until nearly 6 a.m. Pacific time.
@Sam Corbin I don't have the app, never will get the app, don't use the app....and I still got Page Not Found yesterday....more than once.
@Sam Corbin It was worse after I installed the update and re-started my iPad.
@Sam Corbin I updated the app yesterday and it’s crashing repeatedly today. For what it’s worth, I’m not a fan of the rearrangement of the icons to place Wordle on top and the crosswords down farther. I go back to the crossword occasionally. I never go back to Wordle.
@Sam Corbin I updated it again today and that helped. Every time it crashed when I went back into the app I had to scroll down to get to the crossword. Please, please put it back at the top! Thank you.
@Sam Corbin continues to randomly crash despite the update
Hi Sam, Can the "tech team" also do something to help insure the link to Wordplay is correct each evening? Asking for a friend.
@Sam Corbin the app is still crashing, even after the update.
@Sam Corbin Wordle is still further down the puzzles list. I think I'll hold off on the update for awhile.
Hi Sam, Can the tech team also help insure the link to the Wordplay column is correct each evening? Asking for a friend.
@Sam Corbin I deleted and reinstalled with the update and no more crashing but I’d like to restore the order of my games. Is there a way to do that?
@Sam Corbin Hi Sam- I have a new phone with the latest version of the NYT Games app, and I am actually glad to hear that the problem is as widespread as it is. My advice? Tell Will Shortz this problem is “puzzling”, He may be motivated to solve it himself!
@Sam Corbin Crashes seem to have abated (thank you!), but I am still getting the warning about “This reveal or hint will lose your streak” every single time I go for a word or puzzle check on puzzles from way back in the archive that have nothing to do with a streak. It didn’t do this previously, it is incredibly annoying, and I hope it is not an intended behaviour (why would it be??)! App version 6.32.0 on iOS.
@Sam Corbin Still buggy, post update. Hopefully it’s sorted out soon! :)
@Sam Corbin The app keeps quitting on me on an IPhone 15 usually while entering an answer.
@Sam Corbin I updated and it is still kicking me out of the app with no rhyme or reason.
@Sam Corbin Recently updated to the newest version of Games app on an iPad. Crossword puzzle keeps crashing every few minutes for no apparent reason. At least it remembers my last entry. Has been happening for close to a week. Before and after the update.
@Sam Corbin No issues here. Updated the app and crosswords are back on top and Wordle is where it should be with no crashing. (Year old iPad), (4 year old iPhone)
@Sam Corbin The update seems to work for me on iOS. I had thought I’d already updated, because the order of games in the list was different this morning, but when I checked after crashing on the crossword this afternoon, there was an update available. After installing it, I’ve had no more crashes. Thanks!
@Sam Corbin Just downloaded the latest iOS update from the App Store and it’s been working fine (no crashes) for five or ten minutes (so far).
@Sam Corbin thanks for the post. Updated to the latest version today and it still crashes while I’m solving the main crossword. Only crashed a few times today. Before it was 10x+ per day. So, progress?
Yet again — two days in a row now — the Wordplay link in the usual place on the Games page is broken. (Cute puzzle, by the way.)
@Dan For no logical reason, when I got “Page Not Found”, I entered (for no logical reason) “Gameplay” in the search box and clicking on the first entry, which was Sam’s Wordplay column for today’s XW puzzle.”
I had not noticed until I read the column that the NE and NW corners are isolated from the rest of the puzzle. Rules are made to be broken, I suppose, and this was plenty enjoyable.
@Michael Weiland Thanks for pointing that out. I did notice the isolation, but it did not register that it was the second convention being broken.
Agree with what everyone has posted so far today—great puzzle! I’ll also note that I LOVE the cat photo that accompanies the column. Was off from work today, and I had initially entered “couch” for 1A. So it is doubly apt for my solve experience in addition to being just plain adorable.
@Rachel That cat is my spirit animal. And I'm going to show my boss the caption* if I get any questions about what I've gotten accomplished today. Hey, if the NYT says it, it MUST be so. I don't make the rules here, people. * "If solving the Crossword is the extent of your productivity today, you'll have done plenty."
@Rachel my apt solving experience is that I finished in a palindrome time!
Why must we assume that an eel is always "lurking"?? Maybe it's just hanging out in a reef because it likes it there. Or because that's where the food is. Or because that's where his family and friends life. Or because he's lost. Or because it's come there seeking gainful employment. Or maybe it's just curious. It could be a million things, but no, we must always always assume it's "lurking." That's just profiling!!!
@Jeff Z Well...it *is* because that's where the food is, after all. But righteous point. Could just be waiting for the server to come and take its order.
@Jeff Z Trying like heck not to become nigiri
We know that eels are lurking because they never post anything.
@Jeff Z I have seen eels at the aquarium. They seek out twisty little holes and crevices and it sure looks like they are deliberately hiding there, waiting to leap out at unsuspecting prey. That constitutes lurking in my book. They are not hanging out in bright clothes in underwater street corners buying food in kiosks. I certainly don’t ascribe any moral reprehensibility to it, of course, that’s what Nature evolved them to do, but still, a lurk is a lurk.
@Jeff Z It's, like, their actual behavior. Not an assumption. They (morays at least, which are your usual reef-eel) are sit-&-wait/ambush predators. Most of the time.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Creative in a way that didn’t seem forced or overly complicated, which is always better. The cluing was great, loved the theme and the interplay between the top two corners. Very fun Wednesday. In other news, my app still will not connect to the wordplay column, yes I updated it twice, today and yesterday, I still get “page not found.” The app is broken in terms of linking to this column. Hope this can be fixed soon.
What a delightful puzzle! Loved it! Super cute and fun.
Very fun and clever. I got the upper left section pretty quickly—then got stuck in the upper middle by the diabolically clever bridge clue—EAST? WEST? Neither!—so ended up heading to the bottom where I found the theme. Then noticed the closed off upper corners, and immediately reflected on the trick there—then the wormhole helped me finish it off. So, this was chock full of great theme material which contributed to the solve and my enjoyment, but didn’t give it away too fast and more twisty than the usually Wednesday (could’ve been a Thursday especially compared to what we’ve seen lately?) Maybe an early week POY contender just for audacity, originality, and some clever clues? SUSHIRICE? And WHITELIE which is almost a secondary theme clue (just a little bit off, like mirror universes?) I’ve been kicking around a mirror universe themed puzzle, never could get a handle on it, thanks Jeffrey for showing me how it’s done and saving me the headache of trying to figure out something better. Oh and thanks for the new clue for ORE and reminding me of my dad, SOL.
@SP I had the same thought... it was like a Thursday Lite puzzle! But it made for a very lively Wednesday with a fun bit of crunch.
Nice mirror trick at the top. I only wish it had been duplicated at the bottom, but I’ll take what I can get. Nice job! My only issue with this puzzle is how hard I had to work to find the Wordplay column dedicated to it. Come on, people! And who decided that Wordle is ranked higher than the daily crossword? Doesn’t really bother me, but it seems like a bit of a demotion for the revered OG game.
@Heidi (Note to self: read others' posts before pressing "enter.") Jinx!
Ok, Jeffry, pretend a middle aged man, prematurely gray, is looking over his glasses at you. This handsome man is a professor. He is patient and kind in an avuncular way, but not creepy at all. He tells you that he cannot, in good conscience, endorse constructing crossword puzzles in class. But, then, he says as a sound track of sentimental music plays, that he'll make in exception, just this once, for having created a very enjoyable puzzle. But only if you get the notes from the class, do the homework, and promise from now on to pay close attention to the profound wisdom this overworked, unpaid person is trying to bestow upon you.
@Francis So are you the handsome sentimental professor? Or the hard-working conscientious dweeb at the back of the class who's now expected to hand over his careful class notes to that delinquent ne'er-do-well Jeffrey? Grasshoppers or ants...pick a side.
@Francis Unpaid? Oh, the groves of Academia are o'ergrown with weeds, indeed!
This puzzle was neither an AGATE or a PEARL, but was nevertheless a gem. Who doesn’t love a good semordnilap? That, plus two grid spanning revealers made for a Wednesday that diverted my attention from the Mexico - Ecuador World Cup game. Well done.
I grinned at least five times during this solve. Superb. Now everyone on the train thinks I'm weird. Also superb.
This was such a fun one to puzzle over and eventually grok! (That usage is not just allowed but celebrated in my alternate reality.) But what nefarious actors gave us a semordnilap puzzle when Lewis wasn't around. Have you no sense of decency?!
Fun puzzle! Interesting to see 2 different takes on wormhole between this & Dylan Schiff’s puzzle from last year!
What a fun grid. Questioned my sanity/ability to complete a crossword when the only possible answer to two questions was TESLA. Only then did I notice the circles. Once I got RM in there the fog cleared. Sneaky and clever. I see we’re being told the powers that be are aware of some issues. Yes. Issues. Stop messing with the main screen and for goodness sake sort out the comments page. This little square PIP nonsense is ruining my eyesight. Thank you.
This puzzle was just like an ALTERNATE REALITY in a PARALLEL UNIVERSE. Beyond the ordinary, i.e. phenomenal. Thank you, Mr. Martinovic! (I think I'll go re-watch "Sliding Doors".)
I was proud of myself to get PARALLEL UNIVERSE with no crosses whatsoever. However, it was only at this point that I stepped back and noticed something odd: both top corners were completely closed off, usually a no no for a crossword. Fortunately, both LIEN and NEIL were filled out, so the mirror symmetry immediately jumped out, and I immediately got the gimmick. At this point, I did something that I never do: I slowed down and jumped back and forth between the mirror entries. Yes, the answers were the same for the downs, but it was still fun to see the different cluing for each. Normally, I try to speed solve, but slowing down allowed me to savour the puzzle for just a bit longer. I'm sure there is some kind of moral or lesson to this. In any case, hats off to the constructor. One of the most enjoyable solves in weeks.
@DocP Also, for everyone who loved this puzzle, and loves the sci-fi multiverse/parallel universe genre here are 2 great low budget indie flicks that are great watches: Coherence and Redux Redux.
In case you're wondering, no, I did not get 73A without crosses. I briefly looked at it, realized that it was benzene based because it is clearly highly unsaturated. I should have seen the three nitrogens and the six oxygens a dead give away for a trinitro compound. But after what I guess to be about a second, I went on. I rarely spend more than a second with any clue until late in the solve. I say "a" TNT because there are six total possible compounds that can be described as "trinitrotoluene". (There also could be others that are not toluenes.) They are all really explosive. In fact the most common isomer, the 2,4,6 isomer, is the most stable, and hence most "easily" handled. By the way, trinitrotoluene, trinitroglycerin...anytime someone offers you something that starts with "trinitro--", be very wary.
@Francis I got the T on the cross, and threw in THC. Seemed good at the time.
@Francis Indeed, I was wondering if anyone got it without crosses. I forgot all my o chem. Methane, methane, propane, butane and I forget from there. The C7 did suggest to me that there may be a benzene ring, but then I saw the nitrogens and figured it would be an organic molecule that I would get on the crosses.
@Francis Sony used to make a TV called the Trinitron. Your taxonomy suggests we should have foreseen the danger of a TV set in every living room!
@Francis & DocP Well, I got it, from the "N"s and the fact that it was three letters--what else could it be? Although I would have expected the formula to be parsed/expanded differently. And my only chemistry background is Organic Chem in high school in the 1970's. Thank you, Mrs. Chachet! Ruth Chachet was an avid baker, and would bring in homemade treats to her classes on test days. The time she brought banana bread on the day the test was about acetic and butyric esters seemed particularly suspect.
@Francis I got it from crosses, but did double-check: yep, 3 Ns.
@Francis I got it from crosses, but did double-check: yep, 3 Ns.
What a great puzzle. The NW and NE seemed easy to solve, but I can admire the skill in creating the PARALLELUNIVERSE.
Very clever, but I don’t think the two clues for ELAN represent different meanings.
@Steve L One of them could have been another automotive clue, but maybe that was too obscure for a Wednesday. Given TSAI, maybe not.
@Steve L Agree, but both clues are sufficiently multi-faceted to create the desired confusion.
I long for a parallel universe where the CEO of the car company was one-tenth as intelligent and decent as the man whose name his company uses. I'm just glad it was ELAN in the grid and not that idiot's name. Nice puzzle, quick and easy.
@Scott Oh, but he *must* be an intellectual giant. I mean, he *is* rich, right? And in this country if you're rich you are automatically considered extremely smart. Of course I jest. The reason these billionaire types never go into science is because they'd get their tails handed to them if they did.
Yay me!!! I can’t believe i managed this excellent crossword using only the Across clues! Did it in 35:36. I never looked at the down clues. What a blast! Set myself a challenge and…. Wow! The bottom half was the key to unlocking the top — once i had my ALTERNATEREALITY and my PARALLELUNIVERSE the right way round. I started off upside down but it was clear from the crosses which had to be which. I’ve never heard of chocolate called SKOR but i guessed it was different from the yoghurt called Skyr so it was probably a WORMHOLE and not a wyrmhole, and this gave me a toehold in the top half. But Jack had me really really stuck. Jack Black? Jack-anape? Jack-anory? The mirror solved it! I was about to give up when i noticed that ENOLA and ALONE were backwards, so it wasn’t “tents“ because Jack couldn’t be”stnet” and of course it was TARPS! And it’s NEIL not Neal and a potato is not a baker or a frier or a dicer but a TUBER! I am BUZZING. Fantastic puzzle.
Felicitations, chère Petrol! I've very rarely succeeded at the acrosses-only trick and then only at kiddie-level, kiddie-sized puzzles. Enjoy and stay cool!
@Petrol Here's my question: If you wanted to stop approaching the solve unidirectionally, could you?
@Petrol Impressive. I looked both ways and it took me 27:05. I'll have to give the one-way solve a try to see if I can even do it at all.
Lewis would love this one. In addition to the semordnilaps in the upper corners, I noticed ROOM/Moor, NOH/Hon and LATE/Etal elsewhere and some short palindromes at the bottom, SIS and TNT. There may be more, buts that's all my poor brain could contain moving between the puzzle and here. And thank you Sam for the cat pic.
@Vaer Answering yesterday's query: GMC stiffed all the pensioners during one of the downturns. GMC took a huge bail-out from the government. GMC has poor reliability -- quality issues earn consistently low ratings in automobile magazines and consumer evaluations.
I half expected Spock with a goatee to appear as an animation when I finished. (Look it up, zoomers.) Doubling (quadrupling?) down on the trick in the bottom half would have been an unREALIstic expectation on my part, I suppose... Very nicely done, sir.
@Matt I was expecting Evil Abed lurking on the darkest timeline.
@Matt Or a leather-clad Alyson Hannigan as Vampire-Willow.
This one was a lot of fun! First I thought I must be wrong with my answers for 2D/13D. When I made my way down to the two thematic spanners, the "Aha!" moment was brilliant. Kudos to Jeffrey Martinovic! Happy Canada Day from up north! 🍁
I love the puzzles that seem daunting in the first 5 min and then crumble like fresh buttery scones. Fun to get annoyed with how TESLA was clued on the left and then a feeling of satisfaction with how TESLA was clued on the right! That man was a genius. TESLA, I mean. His birthday is in 10 days!
I actually swore in admiration when I realized what was going on here. Nicely done, Mr. Martinovic!
Whew. And Wow. Typical Wednesday workout for me, and... must confess that I wasn't catching on to the trick even after I finished. Had to come here to find out. Pretty amazing to be able to construct those opposite corners. And of course, a puzzle find. A Sunday from August 7, 2005 by Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon with the title "You are Here." Some theme answers: URBANDEODORANT NEUROCONSERVATIVE THECURRYINGGAME BUREAUBRIDGES HOURLYMATRIMONY TOWNWITHOUPURITY ALTEREDSTATURE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/7/2005&h=59a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/7/2005&h=59a</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta Wow, I don't know how I keep missing these, since I've done virtually every puzzle since about 1965. When I was in H.S. Lee Glickstein was my best friend's boyfriend, and he became my friend, too. Eventually, he moved to California, and we lost track. I ran into him a number of years ago at the ACPT, but I had no idea that he'd had a puzzle published.
This page's URL should be: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2026-07-01.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/30/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2026-07-01.html</a> (It's missing the "daily-puzzle-" before the 2nd 2026.)
@Michael Weiland It continues to baffle me how often the NYT needs its crossword solvers to figure out what the url should be.
@Michael Weiland Yesterday I gave up waiting for the links to be fixed. Today I did a Google search for NYT Wordplay and got here that way. I know budgets are stretched tight and there are more important things going on in the world, but is basic IT competence really too much to ask?
A propos GETS LOOSE; some may recall that when we first rescued our little pom Foxy at 8 months old, she was only 2.5 lbs. This is a problem because, although we have a fully fenced backyard (unlike some of our neighbours) the back is wrought iron rather than wood, and backs onto a bike path. Because she was teeny enough to squeeze through the bars, she got loose often, and the neighbours kids became quite skilled at helping us retrieve her. Obviously, after the first couple of escapes, we put a wire mesh all the way around, but the little imp still found ways to escape. Fortunately, never for too long (we were warned to always supervise her as she is easy pray for coyotes, hawks and owls). For those who missed it, Foxy just before we got her: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/QVNCqs8" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/QVNCqs8</a>
@DocP Does she squeeze through after greasing herself with pomade? (Sorry)
@DocP As in, "coyotes pray for small, defenseless puppy-dogs" ?? Ha ha, they'll never allow us to edit our typos or other slips of the keyboard...
A dazzling puzzle, complicated and fun to work. I was prepared for a Wednesday puzzle, not too much and not too little, and it was a masterpiece of right down the middle. When RAT was repeated at the top of the puzzle, I said the classic, "What the .....," then saw that the right side fills were the mirror image of left, and thought "Here we go!!" Nit pick: I had a hard time taking out "suitably" for 68A, after I had given a hat tip to the constructor, and replacing it with MODESTLY, which was okay, but...... Jeffrey Martinovic, I hope we see your next puzzle very, very soon. Thank you for this one!
Loved it. Reminds me of my favorite Tuesday ever. I must love a little rule breaking… Happy Wednesday all!
I loved this puzzle! Managing to squeeze both PARALLELUNIVERSE and ALTERNATEREALITY in there is super impressive, and the fill was great. The cluing in the top portion was distinct enough that I didn’t notice the mirroring until I got all the way through the acrosses to the other TESLA.
Worked it out quite quickly as ENOLA ALONE was a giveaway. It's the title of track 4 on Everything Must Go by Manic Street Preachers, one of the best British rock albums of the 90s.
I'm a crossword enthusiast; I'm not a X-word purist. I don't care if you break the "rules". They're just conventions; they're not laws of nature. All I ask is that when you break the rules, we can say that it was worth it. Was it worth it today? I'd give it a thumbs up...albeit not as enthusiastically as I might have wished. The PARALLEL Minis in the NW and NE are pretty darn amazing. And it doesn't bother me (much) that the constructor needed computer-assistance to make them. But... I might have wished that, upon completing the solve, the WORMHOLE caused the UNIVERSES to "open up" in some mind-blowing way. A solver can dream, can't they? Thanks, Jeffrey Martinovic, for an amusing puzzle!
@The X-Phile That transformational, teleportational, metempsychotic Times crossword hidden-dimension-opening-portal experience is happening way less often than ever before in the last ten years. This grid did try. Which is something for a Wednesday.
one for the books breezy easy fun puzzle at the same time deep funny and brilliant thanks Jeffrey!
This was a truly staggering feat of construction. The two top corners alone would have been impressive, but sneaking in a WORMHOLE above both PARALLEL UNIVERSE and ALTERNATE REALITY? All while still having fun wordplay and clueing? Phenomenal. This was an absolutely dazzling Wednesday for me. Thank you, Jeffrey!
Android app link not working but my brain is. Nice little week streak on the go so clearly I'm in a parallel universe or some alternate reality where I can actually solve puzzles! Thoroughly enjoyable!
This puzzle made me tap into my sci-fi knowledge. What’s your favorite alternate universe? Mine was Fringe. Although that finale was a bit hard to take.
With how much money they’re taking in from Games subscriptions, would it be too much to ask for a properly functioning Games app? The change to the commenting was bad enough, and now the Wordplay article is just MIA? Amazing puzzle, though!
@Joe It’s too much to ask for it 100% of the time. It’s not just making updates that work, it’s making updates that work whether a user has updated their app or not, whether they’ve updated their operating system or not, no matter which operating system or browser someone chooses to use, whether a user has added browser plugins that interact with how sites work, whether the code works with all variations of accessibility settings a user may have toggled, whether a standard code library they rely on changes something with little warning, and sometimes having to do this fast due to a newly discovered security vulnerability. Things look easy from the outside. Like constructing exquisite crossword puzzles.
Quite difficult for a Wednesday in my opinion, but what an excellent puzzle! Enjoyed it :)