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May 24, 2026 
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This is David Steinberg’s 113th puzzle for The New York Times. In his constructor notes for today’s grid, he said: “It’s hard to believe that nearly 15 years have passed since my first puzzle ran in The Times! In fact, I’ve now been constructing crosswords for more years than I’d walked the Earth in 2011, which is … scary, I guess?” Read more of his story in today’s Wordplay column.
Puzzles You May Have Missed
Crossplay Tip
Avoid keeping hard-to-use tiles: Although the generally unhelpful tiles U, W, J and even V will find their way to your rack sometimes, it’s best to try to play them quickly and to not hang on to them for too long. A lone one of these isn’t harmful, but the letters don’t play well with each other. Think of how many words contain U, V, and W compared with how many words contain C, E, and H!
Connections Quandary
Here’s the hardest category from Thursday, May 21. What connects these four things? See the answer in the P.S.
Strands
Last week’s hardest Strands puzzle was WEASELLY WASCALS, from Friday, May 15 — 80.41 percent of solvers were able to complete it.
Last week’s easiest Strands puzzle was IN A MATERIAL WORLD, from Thursday, May 21 — 93.26 percent of solvers were able to complete it.
Strands puzzles last week — from May 15 to 21 — were a lot easier than those from the week before.
Wordle Weekly Recap
Hardest word: MOVER, from Saturday, May 16.
Average guesses: 4.64, with 12.88 percent of players solving in three or fewer.
Easiest word: WRECK, from Wednesday, May 20.
Average guesses: 3.99, with 29.92 percent of players solving in three or fewer.
The Wordle answers last week — from May 15 to 21 — were a little harder than those from the week before.
Spelling Bee Hive
Overall, the Spelling Bee hives last week — from May 15 to 21 — were a lot harder than those from the week before. Of our subscribers who played last week, 33.93 percent hit Genius at least once.
Last week’s hardest puzzle: Sunday, May 17, had the hardest pangrams, with only 33.13 percent of users finding at least one.
Sunday’s pangrams: CARTLOAD, DOCTORAL
Letter set: L A C D O R T
Relax With Us
I found myself in Chicago this past week. I’m from Brooklyn, so most of my opinions about the city before my visit were best not repeated here. No matter, the opportunity presented itself, and I knew I’d be remiss to ignore it.
The catch to this trip? I had to be in and out in about 48 hours. Around Hour 36, I realized I was definitely about to get the flu. Alas! Despite the setback, I yet again proved to myself that any of my geography-based disinclination toward another place can often be cured (or at least begin to show cracks) with a real visit, and not just a jaunt through the airport. I’m grateful to have been wrong about the place and to know there are vibrant people everywhere.
How are we doing?
We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to crosswordeditors@nytimes.com.
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P.S. The answer to the Connections Quandary is that they are all words that can come before mustard.
