Check out the new Midi crossword
In the classic fable “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the fair-haired heroine enters the home of three bears and samples three bowls of porridge. One is too hot, one is too cold, but one is just right. We’d like to offer you a similar experience to that of Goldilocks: a puzzle that is just right — not too small, not too big, not too easy, not too hard. Enter the Midi. The Midi is a “bridge” crossword for both new and experienced solvers looking for a fun challenge on a larger canvas than the Mini, but one that’s still not as intimidating or time-consuming as the full 15-by-15 daily puzzle. Most Midis we’ll be sharing are 9 by 9, which is large enough to offer a theme you’d find in the classic New York Times Crossword puzzle, yet small enough to solve in just a few minutes. Some puzzles will be larger or unusually shaped to accommodate the theme. Oh, and do you like swag? Eagle-eyed solvers will notice two letters highlighted in green after completing each puzzle this week. At the end of the week, provided you complete all the puzzles, you’ll have collected 10 such letters, which will be an anagram for an appropriate two-word phrase. You can use this phrase to enter on Friday for your chance to get $25 off in the New York Times Store. (No purchase necessary to enter, open to legal residents of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., at least 18 years of age, while supplies last. Limited to 100 promotional code redemptions. Subject to Official Rules.) We’re taking a break from our normal Gameplay programming to celebrate Midi week. We’ll be rolling out a new puzzle every morning for the next five days. Monday and Tuesday are on the gentler side; Wednesday is a little further along the difficulty spectrum; Thursday is tricky; and Friday is a tougher themeless offering, though even if the grid is a little thorny, the clues will still be accessible. After this week, we’ll release one Midi puzzle every Monday, and these will almost always skew toward the easy side. The nonthematic vocabulary and clues are fun and light, skewing closer to the tone and style of the Mini. The themes are easy — mostly Monday- and Tuesday-level difficulty — but still elegant and playful. Each themed puzzle also has a title that will help you figure out the theme, though there will be some themeless puzzles. The Midi will adhere to the classic symmetrical rules of crosswords, but look out for mirror symmetry or, if the theme dictates, asymmetric grids! Enjoy today’s puzzle. I hope it’s … just right! Solve The Puzzle
About today’s puzzleWhen evaluating a puzzle’s theme, my fellow puzzle editors and I often discuss the number of theme answers in a puzzle. Most early-week daily puzzles (15 by 15) have four to six answers. The higher the number of theme answers, the less flexible the nonthematic fill becomes. When you have to run answers through two (or three!) theme entries, the fill can suffer. But we rarely discuss the number of thematic squares in a puzzle, mostly because it’s easier and faster to just count the answers. But counting the squares can be equally insightful. I’ll skip explaining the math, but a recent sample of 10 Monday daily puzzles from mid-April to mid-June had an average of 26.87 percent theme squares. This means that just over a quarter of the fillable grids were thematic. That’s a nice percentage for a solver — a meaty enough theme that allows the grid to breathe while still allowing for longer fill. Today’s puzzle, on the other hand, has 37.8 percent theme squares, which is probably higher than I’d normally go. This is partly because of the smaller grid (a 5-by-5 mini with no black squares and two noncrossing 5-letter theme answers would have 40 percent theme squares). But it’s also because I crammed in five theme answers. So, I’ll continue to calibrate the right number of theme entries to find a sweet spot for the Midi.
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