Tuesday: Getting the Theme Down - 12 May 2026 New York Times Crossword

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00][music] [music] >> Hello, it is Tuesday, May 12th, 2026.

[00:00:09]I'm Chris Riemann, and welcome back to the New York Times Crossword Daily [music] Solve. It's a Tuesday crossword today, so I'm going to be attempting today's crossword in an unusual way. I'm going to be trying to solve it using only the down clues. We'll see how far I get with that. We can see some circled letters in this themed grid. And today's very vertical edition of the Daily Solve has been brought to us by Mike from Vermont, Casey Brandt, and as always, the indomitable showman stir and the indefinable Charlie Padgett. Thank you so much to those four benefactors of the Daily Solve Patreon campaign for their generous support. They do, of course, keep this channel going, sustain it day in day out, and for that I'm very grateful. Thank you to them and to everybody who supports the channel via Patreon. To help the channel survive just in the same way they do, you can head over to patreon.com/dailysolve or click the description field link, where you'll find bonus videos available to patrons. And for benefactors like those I've just mentioned, there's the Daily Solve Let's Check the Crosses official mug. Thank you so much to everybody who supports the channel via Patreon.

[00:01:04]All right, let's get on to today's crossword, shall we? This is a of an attempted vertical solve down only crossword well, solve of a crossword by uh constructed by John Ruff, whose debut this is. So, welcome to John. It was edited, as always, by Will Shortz.

[00:01:20]Should be a themed puzzle, reasonably approachable. I will make it less so by using only the downs. We'll see how I far I get with that. Let's start solving.

[00:01:28]Switching to the downs, we have divan.

[00:01:30]It's a sort of a I mean, would you call that a sofa, or would you Is there a better word to use? Let's just try it for now, since I'm doing one of these solves where I don't have as many as much help. Tens or ones place, {question mark}. So, it's something punny. So, it doesn't mean mathematically, presumably.

[00:01:48]Tens or what Maybe it means dollars?

[00:01:52]You know, bills of some sort, a place for them, tens or what? Till, like at a store, a register.

[00:01:58]Leading to poor Yorick. Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him.

[00:02:02]Horatio, from Hamlet.

[00:02:05]Um Al Sharpton's title for short, Reverend Al Sharpton.

[00:02:10]Instrument with a Renaissance era ancestor called a sackbut.

[00:02:15]Do I know this? I don't know if I do.

[00:02:18]So, the instrument itself is not Renaissance era.

[00:02:21]It's the descendant of one. Let's look at the acrosses. Do they seem okay?

[00:02:26]20 across, ALS.

[00:02:29]Yeah.

[00:02:31]Uh 14 across could be oiled or oiler.

[00:02:36]One across could be stars start.

[00:02:39]Stare.

[00:02:42]Mhm.

[00:02:43]Sackbut, boy, I don't know.

[00:02:48]Um I mean, only because of the sack part, I would, you know, say, I don't know, maybe bagpipes or something, but starbed doesn't look very good in one across.

[00:03:00]Mhm. Yeah, I don't I don't know.

[00:03:02]Absolutely. Yes, siree. No, yes.

[00:03:07]You bet. No, I don't know.

[00:03:09]Sense of self, your ego. Hermey is one in TV's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

[00:03:14]Oh, uh an elf.

[00:03:16]Do over at serving, a let in tennis.

[00:03:19]Okay, that's pretty good. So, 15 across is probably ogle.

[00:03:23]Absolutely. You It's not you bet. And why in six across would be weird.

[00:03:29]Uh six across could be quite a few things. Real, peel, heel, uh feel.

[00:03:39]Yeah, I don't know.

[00:03:41]Don't have anything going on there.

[00:03:43]Okay. So, what do I think 17 across is?

[00:03:45]Flavor.

[00:03:50]Probably, right? What about 18 down?

[00:03:53]Pakistani language, Urdu.

[00:03:58]Uh That I mean, that could be It's It still could be flavor if we're spelling it in British English.

[00:04:17]I mean, this has got to be Urdu, right?

[00:04:19]It's got to be.

[00:04:22]Oh, yeah, it could be Yeah, I was thinking this was going to be soft or something, but it could be flavor of the day.

[00:04:36]Absolutely.

[00:04:38]For sure.

[00:04:41]That would allow the hours to mirror each other.

[00:04:51]Could I put it in here as well? Oh, but it splits apart over here.

[00:04:55]Lowe on TV. Yeah, Rob Lowe.

[00:04:58]Just seeing if I can put hour in here.

[00:05:00]Big Sur.

[00:05:03]West Coast tourist destination.

[00:05:05]Shake with fear. Tremble.

[00:05:08]That Okay, I think this is right. I think this is something about This is going to be something about British English in some way because obviously the New York Times uses uh American English conventions, which wouldn't have this be have this spelled o r, but the fact that it's circled makes me think that's part of the theme.

[00:05:24]So, this is for sure. So, 16 across is Sorry, six across is field. So, what's the instrument?

[00:05:32]Um Start or stare or stars. Oiled. That seems harder to achieve. Oiler.

[00:05:44]Start. Trombone.

[00:05:47]Great, that was a really useful exercise. Oh, perfect. Okay, so 21 across is misses. 23 across could be what? Like obdurate or something or ab- abduction maybe?

[00:05:59]Touched down. Yeah, touched down. Alit if a bird alit, touched down on a sort of perch or something. Stool pigeons in police shorthand.

[00:06:07]I'm thinking this is probably abduction or abductors or something. Stool pigeons, I don't know that one is.

[00:06:13]Explosive initials TNT.

[00:06:15]Kind of arch in architecture. Um an ogee maybe?

[00:06:22]Then this would be abductors maybe?

[00:06:24]Chervil or chives an herb. There we go.

[00:06:26]Or a herb if you're doing British English.

[00:06:29]Um abductors. Nevertheless.

[00:06:32]Even so. Okay, this is going reasonably well actually. Better than these Tuesdays sometimes do. I shouldn't say that. I shouldn't jinx myself. So this could be color coloring books maybe?

[00:06:47]Stool pigeons in police shorthand I still don't know. Oh, CIs? Is that something criminal informants? Something like that?

[00:06:54]So 33 across is est day. I mean that's plausible I guess. It could be anything.

[00:06:58]Um you know, you know, probably east.

[00:07:00]Uh coloring books. Does that work? Let's see. Choose with four. Opt in for uh uh uh uh Wails. Keens. To keen means to wail.

[00:07:13]It's a good thing to remember if you solve cryptic crosswords.

[00:07:16]Um give some lip to to sass somebody.

[00:07:20]Cho- Oh, no, it's chose not choose.

[00:07:22]Sorry. Choose. So it's opted. That is correct. Okay. Opted for. You chose it.

[00:07:26]So 34 across is P. Great.

[00:07:29]Uh resemble, look like.

[00:07:34]Elites maybe? 37 across. Ways to raise capital in brief. Yes, IPOs. Initial public offerings. You raise money on the public stock markets. Okay. So, oh, neighborhoods is probably what 46 across is.

[00:07:52]Uh cause of a shower drain clog maybe hair.

[00:07:57]Uh 50 across could be the brakes like them's the brakes. I don't know. Some are said to be swimming in this.

[00:08:02]Swimming in Don't know what that's about. 41 across could be erst like erstwhile.

[00:08:09]You know, formerly.

[00:08:11]Um Resident of a mid-east sultanate and Omani.

[00:08:15]Uh carne asada.

[00:08:19]Um Sign up for something in then 40 across could be in like a you know, like a tavern.

[00:08:30]Um what would 32 across be? Gammon like a sort of child?

[00:08:34]Uh ram in I don't know.

[00:08:41]35 across looks like orated probably.

[00:08:44]Sign of Oh, join. Oh, sorry.

[00:08:47]Okay, so oops. Now, what's what am I doing?

[00:08:50]Um so, 32 across gem is probably a name then in this case not a not a word.

[00:08:55]Okay, so 35 across is probably orated.

[00:08:57]Some are said to be swimming in debt.

[00:09:00]So, 41 across is erst and then 50 across is I don't know.

[00:09:05]11 down Mary's weds. One son of Isaac and Rebecca.

[00:09:09]Uh I'm not sure to be honest. Is it Esau or something?

[00:09:15]Not sure.

[00:09:17]Um bacterial eye malady a stye? Is that Is that bacterial? I'm actually not sure. Oh, I forgot about flavor of the day. That turns out to probably be correct especially with stye. So, 22 across looks like ensue.

[00:09:30]And then one So, yeah, it is Esau. Okay, great. So, 10 across is ewe female sheep. 16 across is vest which is obviously a word. Okay, good.

[00:09:37]So, do we think we split hour out here?

[00:09:42]Birdbrain, a dodo.

[00:09:46]Both used to mean kind of idiot.

[00:09:48]And they're both bird-related. Streaming service owned by Disney. Yeah, Hulu. So, this This is going to be O U R.

[00:09:55]Uh site of the world's largest carnival celebration. Yeah, Carnival Rio de Janeiro. Okay, great. So, Oh, outbreaks is 50 across and then sandlots sandlot quarterback ordered to a receiver. Go long?

[00:10:09]Why sand? I don't know why that's because of because of sandlot. I'm not sure.

[00:10:14]You guys hear people say go long?

[00:10:16]For long pass. Okay. So, 51 across could be droll or drill.

[00:10:22]At what time? No, maybe not. Maybe it's wet dwell because at what time could be when.

[00:10:27]And then Brontë heroine, Jane Eyre.

[00:10:31]So, 60 across Dern, maybe Laura Dern.

[00:10:33]And 66 across 1G making with respect to gravity. 58 across O U R O U R British. Okay. Oh, funny. O U R.

[00:10:47]It's their If it's phonetics, sort of sounding out the letters and it makes a phrase, "Oh, you are British." And you've noticed maybe because of these spelling conventions. That's That's very clever. Very good. Okay.

[00:11:00]And then the O U R is itself a sort of British, you know, convention of spelling. Okay, so error of the view, I don't know. Is it ABC? Is there another A option? It's probably ABC.

[00:11:12]Uh wapiti by another name. Wapiti is a name for elk, which I know from having that name being used a lot in a game I helped make called Firewatch.

[00:11:20]Um 64 across is bill, 67 across is Coke.

[00:11:23]Those are words. 62 down put a burden on to tax somebody. Popular female poodle name, oh, Fifi is the kind of stereotypical, you know, French poodle name. Inquires is asks. Word after copy or fancy, copy that or fancy that. So, 55 across is fat. 65 across is Franz Kafka Kafka, presumably the the the writer. And 68 across is exist. And great.

[00:11:53]That was my quickest one of these in ages. It certainly helped seeing this.

[00:11:58]So, let's look at the downs first.

[00:12:00]Quickly fill in, sorry, the crosses.

[00:12:02]Appropriate answer for one across is start. Yeah, fair enough.

[00:12:05]Have the sense of something is to feel it.

[00:12:08]Female shepherded by shepherds are ewes.

[00:12:10]Fuel-bearing ship is an oiler. Leer at someone is to ogle them. One piece of a three-piece suit is a vest. Listing at an ice cream shop in Ipswich would be the flavor of the day.

[00:12:20]Oh, it's Ipswich, right. Okay, it's Ipswich, right. I already forgot about the thing. It's Ipswich because it's here in the UK. And so, it's British English spelling. Flavor of the day, great. Lou Gehrig's disease in brief is ALS, right. I forgot that's what ALS was, but that's what it is. Mrs. Robinson is Simon & Garfunkel song from uh The Graduate.

[00:12:37]Happen afterward is to ensue. Some limb-moving muscles are abductors. Oh, right. Okay, so in this case, it's that, not people who steal, I don't know, children or whatever.

[00:12:46]Kids' items at a daycare in Derby would be coloring books. Here's our same same thing. And along similar lines, this is pronounced Derby in British English.

[00:12:55]Um pack tight Oh, it's not a name, sorry. It's to jam in, to pack pack things tightly to be to jam them in.

[00:13:01]>> [clears throat] >> Cuz I've I've known people with this name, which is why I That's why where my brain went.

[00:13:05]Uh Spanish for this, este, okay, right.

[00:13:08]I thought it was going to be east.

[00:13:10]Um pod uh tidbit would be a pea.

[00:13:13]Spoke to a convention, say, would be orated. Members of the aristocracy would be elites. Establishment that might offer free breakfast could be an inn.

[00:13:20]Quaint lead-in to while, yeah, erstwhile.

[00:13:24]Leads off is opens. Areas on a map of Manchester, once again, a place in the UK, some neighborhoods.

[00:13:29]With no U R. Sudden widespread appearances of illness would be outbreaks. To live in is to dwell in.

[00:13:35]Thanks a mill, informal appreciation.

[00:13:36]Thanks a million. Butcher's discard could be fat.

[00:13:40]Hmm, why the spellings of 17, 27, 46 across? Oh, you are British. That's very I very clever. Wraps up very nicely.

[00:13:48]Laura of Jurassic Park, Laura Dern.

[00:13:50]A pelican can hold more water in this than in its belly, bill. That's pretty amazing, but I guess it makes sense to look at them.

[00:13:57]Franz Kafka, Prague-born writer of dark fiction, indeed.

[00:14:01]Um, I recently watched uh Orson I recently read The Trial by Franz Kafka, which was a an unfinished novel of his, and then watched Orson Welles' adaptation of The Trial. And I would I would recommend both.

[00:14:17]Uh It was a strange film. I mean, it's [snorts] a strange book, but it was sort of a strange adaptation as well in some ways, sort of extremely literal and yet at the same time not in meaningful ways.

[00:14:29]Force holding us onto Earth informally, 1 G. Yeah, I mean, 1 G is the amount of gravity that, you know, to which we are accustomed on Earth.

[00:14:37]Perhaps the alternative would be Coke.

[00:14:40]>> [clears throat] >> And to be present is to exist, great.

[00:14:42]And we've already essentially looked at the theme, so oh, you are British. Oh, you are spelling used in flavor of the day, coloring books, and neighborhoods, very good. Um this was so much quicker than my Tuesday solves usually are. I wonder why that is. I guess the downs were just, you know, maybe I sort of lucked out with the downs. Although, yeah, I don't know. I mean, these I think I would have noticed the usage of British place names in these acrosses, but flavor of the day would still potentially have been difficult to get. Maybe downs was the the easier way to solve this, because, you know, I got the crosses of these, and so I was able to get the O U R, and kind of figure out what was going on, where if I were just solving the acrosses cold, that might have actually been more difficult.

[00:15:27]You know, I think I probably did slightly luck out in that regard. So, I'm pleased with this time, under 11 minutes, that's good. There we go. Great. Well, that was uh I think a fun crossword appropriate to me, I'd say, um you know, solving these uh American crosswords while living in the UK. So, this was a good um this was a good sort of Venn diagram thing on the Venn diagram there.

[00:15:50]Uh uh for my my sort of solving uh enjoyment.

[00:15:56]And that's that. I'll be back tomorrow to solve a Wednesday crossword in the normal fashion. So, do come back and join me for that. But, until then, please do have an excellent remainder of your Tuesday. Take care.