LAT tk (Kyle) rate it
NYT 9:43 (Nate) rate it
USA Today tk (ZEB) rate it
Universal (Sunday) tk (Jim P) rate it
Universal tk (Adam S) rate it
WaPo tk (Matt G) rate it
Rich Katz’s New York Times crossword, “Box Sets” — Nate’s write-up
07.05.2026 Sunday New York Times Crossword
22A: BABE IN THE WOODS [{Elijah, Ruth, Natalie}]
28A: BEAT AROUND THE BUSH [{Kerouac, Dubya, Ginsberg}]
41A: POWER BEHIND THE THRONE [{WC, AC, DC}]
66A: HONOR AMONG THIEVES [{Bonnie, Oscar, Clyde}]
88A: TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE [{Larry, Sue, Emma}]
97A: ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES [{Cinnabon, Kool-Aid, Hi-C}]
113A: DOWN IN THE DUMPS [{Landfill, goose feathers, junkyard}]
Each theme clue is a set of three things with (most of the time) one part of the clue being boxed in by the others, hence “Boxed Sets” as a title. This mostly worked for me! DOWN IN THE DUMPS and ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES felt fun, while HONOR AMONG THIEVES and BEAT AROUND THE BUSH felt a bit looser in terms of how closely the set components related to the words in the theme answers.
A few things that didn’t work as well for me with this theme:
– Unless I’m missing something (which is quite possible), “Boxed Sets” would suggest one part of the set being surrounded (boxed in by) the other two. That’s notably not the case for POWER BEHIND THE THRONE (where WC comes first) or either TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE or ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. (I’m probably just being too literal with the title. ETA: I was! See the constructor’s explanation in the comments below.)
– In TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE, the last name Bird is pluralized for the theme asnwer since there are two (Larry Bird and Sue Bird), but Woods was not pluralized in BABE IN THE WOODS to indicate multiple Woodses (Elijah Wood and Natalie Wood). (Grammar sticklers, let me know in the comments how this felt for you. I’m probably wrong about this, too!)
At the very least, I appreciated the interesting theme idea and fun execution + a pretty quick solve! The only real place where I got stuck was at 46D [“No way, no how!”] where I had NOTON_B_T for a while and confidently plunked in “not one bit” instead of NOT ON A BET, which was new to me and felt strange, given the clue. A bit of research indicates that it’s a thing, but I’d’ve hoped for a bit more to hint at the “bet” part of the answer. Finding that error cost me a bit of time, but it’s a small complaint in a largely enjoyable grid.
How’d the puzzle treat you? Let us know in the comments. For the Americans out there, happy 4th of July weekend!
NYT constructor here. The intent of the title wasn’t that two of the entries in each set would “box in” the third, but rather that each clue was a set of three things, and by putting the entry into a cartesian grid you are “boxing” it.
Ah! That makes sense – thanks!
Nate – regarding your comment about plurals, I think BABE IN THE WOODS is correct – BABE Ruth between two people named WOOD. The theme entry that stands out to me as potentially inconsistent is 41-A. It seems like that should be plural POWERS BEHIND THE THRONE – all the other theme entries pluralize the pair of elements of the set that are the same.
I thought it was a fun theme – all in-the-language phrases, and figuring them out kept me sufficiently entertained to finish the whole puzzle (not always a given on a Sunday).