puxxled® 🧶

There's only letter difference between the words autopay and autopsy.

@TheDailySolve @NYTGames I haven't been on Twitter much since new management in 2022, but I had to pop in to see if TDS is still active here, having heard a plug for it from the YT video for XW 10 November 2021 in which an amusing contranymic faux pas was shared about what the letters ASPCA stand for.

Today's Friday crossword was entirely fair, but I kept running up against pockets of resistance! How did you fare with this themeless puzzle? Join me for the solve. #nytxw @NYTGames youtu.be/3DXVoht95NU

Yay! Judge Rules Pentagon Restrictions on Press Are Unconstitutional nytimes.com/2026/03/20/bus…

@MacyMeadowsx Alas, I was afraid of that. That's too bad.

My Instagram got banned 😭

#PBS @newshour 2/27/2026 Full episode: The show's full episode from February 27, 2026: pbs.org/newshour/show/…

These facilities to transfer human beings efficiently nationwide are modeled after Amazon's innovations for moving packages. #PBS @NewsHour pbs.org/newshour/show/…

Find me 11,780 volts, if Trump is found guilty of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to death.

Rousing and moving statement, Don Lemon talks about what happened to him today, and expresses gratitude to all the people who had his back. youtube.com/live/_wBVNqrpt…

Megyn Kelly choosing to embrace MAGA after Trump verbally abused her personally when she moderated a debate tells me that for some, personal abuse and rude insults are an effective weapon to secure loyalty. youtube.com/live/q9EZ95nQ0…

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Heyyy that's a pretty cool record! I work pretty hard to cram as much themed fill into these puzzles as I can so I'm glad someone noticed!

Putin could issue an order and within minutes the war would stop. Russia is responsible for ALL the killing past, present, future.

James Woods: “When people say horrible things about Rob right now, I find it…infuriating and distasteful. Did I agree with his politics? I did not. Did I love him as I friend, as an artist, as an icon of Hollywood, and as a patriot? I most certainly did”

Since so many people are blithely talking about Ukraine ceding territories to Russia, we should perhaps remember what the current US law on the matter is. It is from the “Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act” (CAATSA), which passed Congress 419-3 in the House and 98-2 in the Senate, and became law on August 2 2017, after being signed be President Trump. Section 257: “It is the policy of the United States— (1) to support the Government of Ukraine in restoring its sovereign and territorial integrity; (2) to condemn and oppose all of the destabilizing efforts by the Government of the Russian Federation in Ukraine in violation of its obligations and international commitments; (3) to never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Government of the Russian Federation or the separation of any portion of Ukrainian territory through the use of military force; (4) to deter the Government of the Russian Federation from further destabilizing and invading Ukraine and other independent countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucuses.” Ah, then there’s the general: “SEC. 253. STATEMENT OF POLICY. The United States, consistent with the principle of ex injuria jus non oritur, supports the policy known as the ‘‘Stimson Doctrine’’ and thus does not recognize territorial changes effected by force, including the illegal invasions and occupations of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea, Eastern Ukraine, and Transnistria.” So I’m not sure what the real estate agents playing at foreign policy are concocting there but Trump can’t easily offer recognition without triggering resistance from Congress, and that’s before we talk about potential sanctions relief which (unlike pure recognition) is more constrained under CAATSA. On a related note, what an abject abjuration of principles foreign policy this administration of kooks is!

With 56 themed clues out of 86 total—65.5%—it may be the most themeful NYT Monthly Bonus puzzle yet. (Getting beyond 50% with this series is less often than so.) (TILT exclusively from eminent video-streaming #NYTXW solver Chris of @TheDailySolve) (2/2)

Solving past NYTXW puzzles, I came across @AimeeLucido's Monthly Bonus puzzle from August 2024, available online only for @nytimes games subscribers, titled "The Dog Days of Summer". These are heavily themed puzzles w/o a unified wordplay gimmick. It may hold a record. (1/2)

Such a devastating news. Cinema lost one of its own today. Rest in peace, Rob Reiner.

@sarbearsmiley Wow thanks! 🙏

@puxxled Aw good luck! Lmk if you ever need a beta tester :)

@sarbearsmiley I just noticed that you authored the 2nd Monthly Bonus puzzle I ever solved. "Fashion Forward". Because my fashion trivia knowledge is so weak, it was a really hard puzzle! So I had it in my head that these puzzles were especially hard. (1/)

@sarbearsmiley Thank you for your response! I've been sitting on a themeless for more than a year. I love the grid fill. I just need to finish crafting the cluing I've had a bad case of chronic cold feet. I love your puzzles, and you've put a spring in my step to banish cold feet syndrome. ❤️

@puxxled NYT reached out directly, which I think is currently the case for all of the monthly bonus puzzles! They shared their slate of upcoming themes and I pitched a couple ideas, of which they were most interested in fashion! Was honored they thought of me :)

How'd you break into constructing Monthly Bonus puzzles. Was this one submitted as a regular daily puzzle? Or did you specify it for MB? Were there special circumstances? (I've submitted 3 puzzles to the NYT, all themed w/o wordplay—the main reason they didn't pass muster.) (3/3)

(The one I did before was sports-themed, which I'm also weak on.) Then I went back in the archives when Fred Piscop was doing them & was surprised how insanely easy his puzzles were, packed with straightforward (not wordplay) fill themed densely to a single subject. Question: (2/