STYLE & CONVENTION

Crossword Construction Conventions

The puzzle follows a number of conventions, both for tradition's sake and to aid solvers in completing the crossword:

• Nearly all the Times crossword grids have rotational symmetry: they can be rotated 180 degrees and remain identical. Rarely, puzzles with only vertical or horizontal symmetry can be found; yet rarer are asymmetrical puzzles, usually when an unusual theme requires breaking the symmetry rule. Starting in January 2020, diagonal symmetry began appearing in Friday and Saturday puzzles. This rule has been part of the puzzle since the beginning; when asked why, initial editor Margaret Farrar is said to have responded, "Because it is prettier."
• Any time a clue contains the tag "Abbr." or an abbreviation more significant than "e.g.", the answer will be an abbreviation (e.g., [M.D. org.] for AMA).
• Any time a clue ends in a question mark, the answer is a play on words (e.g., [Fitness center?] for CORE).
• Occasionally, themed puzzles will require certain squares to be filled in with a symbol, multiple letters, or a word, rather than one letter (so-called "rebus" puzzles). This symbol/letters/word will be repeated in each themed entry. For example, the December 6, 2012, puzzle by Jeff Chen featured a rebus theme based on the chemical pH scale used for acids and bases, which required the letters "pH" to be written together in a single square in several entries (in the middle of entries such as "triumpH" or "sopHocles").
• French-, Spanish-, or Latin-language answers, and more rarely answers from other languages are indicated either by a tag in the clue giving the answer language (e.g., [Summer: Fr.] for ETE) or by the use in the clue of a word from that language, often a personal or place name (e.g. [Friends of Pierre] for AMIS or [The ocean, e.g., in Orleans] for EAU).
• Clues and answers must always match in part of speech, tense, number, and degree. Thus a plural clue always indicates a plural answer (and the same for singular), a clue in the past tense will always be matched by an answer in the same tense, and a clue containing a comparative or superlative will always be matched by an answer in the same degree.
• The answer word (or any of the answer words, if it consists of multiple words) will not appear in the clue itself. Unlike in some easier puzzles in other outlets, the number of words in the answer is not given in the clue—so a one-word clue can have a multiple-word answer.
• The theme, if any, will be applied consistently throughout the puzzle; e.g., if one of the theme entries is a particular variety of pun, all the theme entries will be of that type.
• In general, any words that might appear elsewhere in the newspaper, such as well-known brand names, pop culture figures, or current phrases of the moment, are fair game.
• No entries involving profanity, sad or disturbing topics, or overly explicit answers should be expected, though some have sneaked in. The April 3, 2006, puzzle contained the word SCUMBAG (a slang term for a condom), which had previously appeared in a Times article quoting people using the word. Shortz apologized and said the term would not appear again. PENIS also appeared once in a Shortz-edited puzzle in 1995, clued as ["The __ mightier than the sword"].
• Spoken phrases are always indicated by enclosure in quotation marks, e.g., ["Get out of here!"] for LEAVE NOW.
• Short exclamations are sometimes clued by a phrase in square brackets, e.g., {[It's cold!]} for BRR.
• When the answer can only be substituted for the clue when preceding a specific other word, this other word is indicated in parentheses. For example, [Think (over)] can be MULL, since "mull" only means "think" when preceding the word "over" (i.e., "think over" and "mull over" are synonymous, but "think" and "mull" are not necessarily synonymous otherwise). The point here is that the single word "think" can be replaced by the single word "mull", but only when the following word is "over".
• When the answer needs an additional word in order to fit the clue, this other word is indicated with the use of "with". For example, [Become understood, with "in"] can be SINK, since "Sink in" (but not "Sink" alone) means "to become understood." The point here is that the single phrase "become understood" can be replaced with the single phrase "sink in", regardless of whether it is followed by anything else.
• Times style is to always capitalize the first letter of a clue, regardless of whether the clue is a complete sentence or whether the first word is a proper noun. On occasion, this is used to deliberately create difficulties for the solver; e.g., in the clue [John, for one], it is ambiguous whether the clue is referring to the proper name John or to the slang term for a bathroom.