Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: November 2025

Constructor: Michael Lieberman

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: TILTED ARC (17A: Controversial Richard Serra sculpture once seen in N.Y.C.'s Foley Square) —

Tilted Arc was a controversial public art installation by Richard Serra, displayed in Foley Federal Plaza in Manhattan from 1981 to 1989. It consisted of a 120-foot-long (37 m), 12-foot-high (3.7 m) solid, unfinished plate of rust-covered COR-TEN steel. Advocates characterized it as an important work by a well-known artist that transformed the space and advanced the concept of sculpture, whereas critics focused on its perceived ugliness and saw it as ruining the site. Following an acrimonious public debate, the sculpture was removed in 1989 as the result of a federal lawsuit and has never been publicly displayed since, in accordance with the artist's wishes. [...] The post-minimalist artwork was designed and constructed in 1981. Exemplifying Serra's minimalist, conceptual style, Tilted Arc was a solid, unfinished plate of COR-TEN steel, 120 feet (37 m) long, 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, and 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) thick. As its name suggests, it was slightly tilted. The steel rusted over time.

Placed in the Federal Plaza, the work bisected the space, blocking views and paths of those who frequented the plaza. Serra said of the design, "The viewer becomes aware of himself and of his movement through the plaza. As he moves, the sculpture changes. Contraction and expansion of the sculpture result from the viewer's movement. Step by step, the perception not only of the sculpture but of the entire environment changes."
For Serra, an important part of the work's meaning was that it would interact with the commuter passing through the plaza, a location usually passed through quickly on the way to somewhere else. This would subsequently become important as the basis for Serra's designation of the work as site-specific. (wikipedia)

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Another proper (i.e. appropriately challenging) Saturday, hu(rr/zz)ah! True, I had to put up with a couple of answers that were just two random words to me, answers where, if you'd shown them to me yesterday, I'd've been like "yes, those are two words I recognize, but why are they next to each other?" But at least one of those answers (TILTED ARC) was something I was actually happy to learn about, so I'm not that mad at it, and the other (PEOPLE'S ELBOW) ... shrug (27A: The Rock's signature W.W.E. move). First I'm hearing of it, don't care, will forget about it tomorrow, but no harm done. With that answer and EPIC Games (??) (51A: ___ Games (Fortnite company)), I am reminded that not all crossword answers and clues are written Just For Me. On Saturday in particular, I can just deal. And I did. It's always easier to take the stuff you don't know (or like) when a grid offers you so many other wonderful things. The long answers in the corners are all lovely. None of them feel like filler, and a few of them really stand out (MAYBE PILE! PROXY WARS! MOM FRIEND!). Then there's the alliterative power of the middle of the grid, a series of powerful plosives, "PASS IT ON" and PONIED UP and BEYOND PARODY (I guess PEOPLE'S ELBOW is part of that mid-grid "P" Parade as well). There are 16 "P"s in this damned grid. Is that a lot? That seems like a lot? Ha, yes, in terms of "P" content, it is tied for 5th in the Shortz Era (excluding Sundays). The champion is Byron Walden's Monday, Oct. 10, 2022 puzzle with 20 "P"s! But that was a themed puzzle where six "P"s were baked in). In fact, all the puzzles ahead of this one in "P" content have "P"s as part of their theme, which makes today's puzzle the "P" champion, Themeless Division, edging out a Hoang-Kim Vu themeless from last year. Hey, did you know that this past Monday's puzzle (10/27, SIDE EFFECTS) set a record for "F"s!? 14 "F"s! OK, I'll get out of the weeds now. Anyway, a passel of "P"s kept today's puzzle pulsing with pep.

Bunch of initial errors today, but one in particular stands out because of how certain I was of its correctness and how proud I was of (I thought) seeing right through the wordplay. I'm talking of course (of course?) about 18A: Campus opening? I had the "H" and instantly and confidently thought "Ha, that's HARD C!" Because the "opening" (first letter) of "campus" is a HARD C (unlike the soft "C" of, say, "cell"). Nice try, puzzle! Can't fool me. Only you apparently can because the answer is HIPPO (as in HIPPOcampus, the brain component). If anyone else made the "HARD C" error, please know that my hand is up awaiting your high-five. Don't leave me hanging.

Other mistakes: I wrote in PERM before PEDI (23A: Salon service, for short) and EATEN before EAT IN (28D: Put away some groceries?)—my rationale on that last one was admittedly flimsy. "He has put away some groceries," "he has EATEN some groceries." That might have worked for [Put away, as some groceries?] but as written, EAT IN is the better answer, I admit. EATEN gave me -EE for the end of YUPPIE (i.e. YUPPEE!?) and I was like "that cannot be how you spell that" (38A: Materialistic type of the 1980s). True. Otherwise, no more outright errors except the predictable PREENS before PRIMPS and the far less predictable YELLEN before YELICH (whomst amongst us has not confused Fed Chairs and Baseball MVPS!?).

Never heard of ELISE Mertens, I don't think (2D: Mertens of tennis). Getting rid of cable television means that I'm a lot less sports-aware than I once was. I used to have ESPN on in my house by default much of the time, but no more, and so names, even in sports that I do pay attention to (like baseball—sorry Christian YELICH!) don't work their way into my brain as easily. One word that apparently worked its way out of my brain today was AGOUTIS, an animal I know (or knew) exclusively from crosswords (35A: Only mammals that can crack Brazil nut shells with their teeth). Seems like it's been a long time since I've seen it. I had that -TIS ending and thought "COATIS? COAATIS!?" But no, an agouti is a little mouse-like creature ... sorry, a biggish mouse-like creature (i.e. rodent) of South America. I think I've covered all the things I absolutely didn't know today. It's a solid handful, but not enough to bring me down. This is what's cool about crosswords. You can be ignorant as hell and still get to the finish line through the magical power of "crosses."

[AGOUTI(S)]

What else?:

10A: Like some on-the-go purchases (IN-APP) — I get that apps are found on mobile devices, which are portable, but I don't really get the "on-the-go" part of this. I can make IN-APP purchases just sitting on my couch.
19A: "Read Me" readers (USERS) — at first I thought this was the Neal Stephenson novel Read Me, but that book is actually called REAMDE, which I really should've remembered (it is presumably a mash up of the phrase "Read Me"). When my sister and I first discovered the book (after I read its sequel, Fall) we couldn't stop saying it. REAMDE. REAMDE. It's fun to say.

9D: Greek goddess whose name becomes a Mexican beer if you change the first letter to T (HECATE) — thank god I knew the goddess (and the beer) because I could easily have ended up with a controversial sculpture called the TILTED ARM or TILTED ARK (ooh ... did anyone end up with TILTED ARK? That seems at least remotely plausible, since HEKATE is spelled that way sometimes.
52A: Speculative venture (FLIER) — I use the phrase "take a flier on ..." more than any person should. And every time I do, I feel like "am I making this up? Is this a thing people actually say?" Thanks to this puzzle for confirming that yes, someone uses FLIER in this way.
8D: Toyota models from 1978 to 1999 (TERCELS) — probably helps if you lived through (and drove through) that era. I can see how this answer crossing TILTED ARC might've caused some confusion for some (especially younger) people.
11D: "___ am your father (often-misquoted film line) ("NO, I") — I thought the misquote was "LUKE, I am your father." So I'm confused. Wait ... OK, now I'm realizing that I'm confused because the puzzle has given us the actual line and not the misquote (which is what I am familiar with). In my head, the clue was asking for the misquote, and I knew "LUKE, I am your father" was a misquote, so ... I got turned around. OK, it all makes sense now. Phew. (I'll admit—I didn't know what the real quote was—it's no fun to say "NO, I am your father!" in the Vader voice. You need the "LUKE" part for context, and for the fun of holding the "U" in LUKE for an extra-long time).
57D: Prez with a V.P. nicknamed "Cactus Jack" (FDR) — never saw this clue, and thank god. Cactus Jack!? No idea. It turns out FDR's veep, John Nance Garner, got his nickname because he fervently supported the prickly pear cactus as the Texas state flower when he was in the state legislature. Despondent over the fact that the cactus lost out to the bluebonnet, Garner went on to console himself with the vice presidency.