But no, this is a golf clue, and the place where a slice might go is the ROUGH.ģ4D. I know very little about golf, so I saw the clue “Where a slice might go” and immediately thought of where a slice of pizza might go (“belly,” maybe?). “‘Really?,’ in textspeak” is the clue for SRSLY, which is short for “Seriously?” on the internet (or in texts).ġ2D. I really wanted “diary” for “Book that comes with a set of keys,” but in fact the clue referred to an ATLAS, which comes with map keys that explain the various symbols in the ATLAS’s maps.Ħ9A. An example of an IN APP purchase might be buying extra lives in a game app.ĥ6A.

I was a little flummoxed by the clue “Like some online purchases” but ultimately uncovered the entry IN APP, as in IN APP purchases that one can make within a phone app. I definitely entered “pants” by accident when trying to type PASTS for the clue “Some people have checkered ones,” and then giggled to myself because some people do, indeed, have checkered pants.ġ5A. More on the theme below, but for now I’ll just say that new solvers should always be on the lookout for visual clues like shading or circles, which can provide extra hints to the solve. Shaded square themes always tend to go a little faster for me because I am (usually) able to use those squares to uncover the theme early, which I did right away today. We’ve seen a lot of debuts over the past couple of years and quite a few collaborations as well, but I think this is the first married-couple puzzle I can remember solving.Īfter noting today’s byline with delight, I took a look at the grid: We’ve got some shaded gray squares making their way through the long Across entries (three of which are 15 letters long, spanning the whole grid!). Zetzman makes her debut! I love their notes, below, which describe how this puzzle was created while they prepared for the birth of their first child. Vu makes his second New York Times Crossword appearance and Ms. TUESDAY PUZZLE - Congratulations to the married couple Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman, as Mr.

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