A quick hat tip to the comedian Richard PRYOR, who would be turning 82 in December if he were still with us. If all the rounds are added together, as suggested by the word “and,” it amounts to a BOUT.ĥ3A. I was sure that the word “round” in “Round and round and round?” had to do with sports (rather than twirling) because of the question mark at the end of the clue, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the word that was needed. To “Spread some dirt” means to gossip, and a slang word for that activity is “tea.” If you are about to overshare something about someone else, you are about to SPILL THE TEA.ĥ1A. My first thought when I read the clue “Tahoe or Winnebago” had to do with Chevy models, but both are also the names of LAKEs.ģ9A. In some cases, the plot may turn out to have been a dream that one of the characters had.ġ7A. It’s a literary or dramatic device used to inject something unexpected into the story line. I explained PLOT TWIST in the spoiler section above. There’s more, and while the grid contains quite a few shorter words, those actually come in handy when solvers are trying to gain a foothold in the puzzle. This puzzle is packed with lively entries, and while I struggled a bit in the eastern portion of the grid, I enjoyed myself even as I sweated through it. Roy is a self-proclaimed perfectionist who puts in the work, and it shows. Clever cluing can make up for only so much. It makes me wonder why anyone would bother. Puzzles built that way are a slog to solve, and I can only imagine what a slog they are to construct. In those cases, we typically see a lot of junky entries and uninspiring fill. It’s even easier to tell when a constructor doesn’t put much effort into developing that word list so it is exciting for solvers. It’s easy to tell when a constructor is overly reliant on a word list or the autofill feature in crossword construction software. Roy has become a constructor whose byline I look forward to seeing because it’s obvious how much they care about what they create.

Roy’s third crossword puzzle in The New York Times and their first themeless. FRIDAY PUZZLE - When we last saw Pao Roy, who uses they/them pronouns, they were getting down, so to speak, by making arrows out of the letters I and V.

Noteworthy crossword