NYT Crossword – Thursday, October 30, 2025
Constructor: Howard Neuthaler
Editor: Will Shortz
Difficulty: Thursday (moderate to challenging)
Grid: 15×15
Total Words: 80
Total Blocks: 39
What’s going on in this puzzle
Seven clues are marked with a star (*). Each of those theme answers contains circled letters. Read those circled letters from left to right across the grid and they spell the name of the singer of “Defying Gravity.” The full theme entry appears at 66A (DEFYING) and 68A (GRAVITY).
Complete Clues and Answers
Across
| # | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1A | Place for a pencil sharpener | DESK |
| 5A | Argentine plain | PAMPA |
| 10A | Prayer leader | IMAM |
| 14A | Droves | ATON |
| 15A | Disney princess who longs to be “part of that world” | ARIEL |
| 16A | Come to | WAKE |
| 17A | Either acting sibling Andrew or Elisabeth | SHUE |
| 18A | What pulls out all the stops? | DRANO |
| 19A | Food generally known outside the U.S. as “lady’s fingers” | OKRA |
| 20A | Start illegally, say | HOTWIRE |
| 22A | What every baseball inning starts with | NOONEON |
| 24A | “Kind of” suffix | ISH |
| 25A | Shore up the ranks | RESTAFF |
| 27A | Little pest | ANT |
| 28A | Animal with a white rump | ELK |
| 30A | Highlands hat | TAM |
| 31A | Epitome of simplicity | ABC |
| 33A | Binge | SPREE |
| 35A | “I’ll ___ you!” | SUE |
| 36A | Pop-pop | GRAMP |
| 39A | Country sharing the world’s longest international border | CANADA |
| 41A | Showed great pride, in a way | BEAMED |
| 42A | Desirable Vegas couple? | ACES |
| 43A | Lake in the homeland of the Washoe people | TAHOE |
| 47A | ___ Blaster (toy) | NERF |
| 48A | Inconsequential | MERE |
| 49A | Journeys by foot | TREKS |
| 50A | Ones eliciting knee-jerk reactions, informally? | DOCS |
| 51A | Exemplar | PARAGON |
| 53A | Having a strong sense of direction? | BOSSY |
| 57A | Likely oriented toward platonic relationships, in brief | ARO |
| 58A | Members of the dolphin family that prey on dolphins | ORCAS |
| 63A | Like a revving engine | AROAR |
| 64A | Skater Midori | ITO |
| 65A | Words after “ding, ding, ding” | TOAST |
| 66A | With 68-Across, “Wicked” song suggested by the answers to the seven starred clues (and whose singer is spelled by the circled letters reading from left to right) | DEFYING |
| 68A | See 66-Across | GRAVITY |
| 70A | Bronzed | GOTATAN |
| 71A | Not just yet | LATERON |
| 72A | Abjures | ESCHEWS |
| 73A | Target of urban renewal, say | EYESORE |
Down
Starred entries (*) are part of the hidden theme that feeds into DEFYING GRAVITY and the circled-letter reveal.
| # | Clue | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1D | Soup stock in Japanese cuisine | DASHI |
| 2D | *The ones over there | ETHOS |
| 3D | Washington, Jefferson or Madison | SOUTHERNER |
| 4D | Already heard, say | KNEW |
| 5D | *One selling commercial time, informally | PADRE |
| 6D | Takes in | ARRESTS |
| 7D | The Marlins, on scoreboards | MIA |
| 8D | Lewis Carroll or George Orwell | PENNAME |
| 9D | *It’s used to scrub in the tub | ALOOF |
| 10D | Jubilant postgame report | IWON |
| 11D | Show up unannounced? | MAKEACAMEO |
| 12D | *Some Scandinavian money | AKRON |
| 13D | Indicated | MEANT |
| 21D | Irritated | IRKED |
| 23D | Old enough | OFAGE |
| 26D | Symbol for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its radius | TAU |
| 29D | *Stand before a meeting | LEASE |
| 32D | *Genre for Aretha Franklin or Usher | BRAND |
| 33D | One might start “Your Social Security number has been compromised” | SCAM |
| 34D | Rate | PACE |
| 37D | Chicago exchange, for short | MERC |
| 38D | Certain attachments | PDFS |
| 40D | Flour used in Indian flatbreads | ATTA |
| 41D | Kiss in a telenovela | BESO |
| 44D | Calls to court | ARRAIGNS |
| 45D | *Your home | HEART |
| 46D | Voice command to an Android device | OKGOOGLE |
| 51D | Fool’s gold | PYRITE |
| 52D | Write, as music | NOTATE |
| 53D | Symbol of authority | BADGE |
| 54D | Small dessert sandwiches | OREOS |
| 55D | Left of center? | SOFTC |
| 56D | Get ready to have one’s tonsils checked, perhaps | SAYAH |
| 59D | Wanders | ROVES |
| 60D | World capital on the world’s longest river | CAIRO |
| 61D | Family name with an eponymous Row, Court, Place and Avenue in New York City | ASTOR |
| 62D | Composer Jule | STYNE |
| 67D | Slangy refusal | NAW |
| 69D | Fish also known as a batomorph | RAY |
Puzzle Characteristics
Grid stats:
- Mirror symmetry.
- 80 words, 39 black squares.
- No J, Q, X, or Z appear anywhere.
Notable features:
- Seven starred theme clues feed the meta.
- Circled letters across those starred answers, read left to right, spell the name of the performer of “Defying Gravity.”
- The main theme entry is 66A/68A: DEFYING GRAVITY.
Unique entries:
- 3 answers are unique to this puzzle in modern-era NYT crosswords.
- 1 additional answer has appeared only once previously in the modern era.
