A crossword for India: the NYT Midi problem
by Harshad · 30 August 2026
I was doing my usual post-lunch NYT Midi crossword solve today, when I was stuck on some clues in the puzzle. Not because they were hard, that would have been ok. It was because I had no reason to know the answers.
Now a solver isn't supposed to know every answer, that's what crossings are for. But crossings work only if the clues are at least familiar. These weren't:
- (15D) Nickname for Boston
- (18A) Bit of equipment for a super-G racer
- (23A) South Florida N.B.A. team
Having been born and brought up in India, and never been to the US, the first one is alien to me. The extent of the trivia I know about Boston is the Boston Tea Party.
For the second, I had no clue what a super-G racer is or where it races.
The third is a bit more familiar, basketball has received enough international coverage that N.B.A. is at least a familiar term. But that's about it - unless you are a fan in India, the team names are not part of your daily content consumption.
Now let's come to the adjoining grid. I had solved enough of it to have most of the letters of these answers in place. 15D shared a letter with both these across clues. If I were American, I would have promptly put down "The Hub". But I am not, and so I was lost. Was it The Tub?
Another gap was 20D - "Actress Ward of Gone Girl". The movie is popular, I have probably seen it, and the title is familiar. Some big names in the cast. But the puzzle chooses this to clue SELA. Sela Ward is a supporting actress in the movie, and to be honest, I haven't heard this name at all. And after looking up I know why: she is well-known for American shows on American cable networks, ABC, CBS etc. To a non-American, no reason to know.
So I had to look up a few things to finish the puzzle, because I had no clue about the clues. I don't enjoy that. My partner says the same.
Fair enough, it's a New York paper. But for me, that's a gap.
That's where Crossee comes in. It has a similar approach as the NYT Midi - focused on trivia and words and people you hear about in everyday life in India, mixed in with regular English words on a 9×9 grid that solves fast. When you read a clue, even if you don't know the answer right away, the clue is familiar. That's what (I hope) will make you stay, solve and come back. You never feel cheated out of solving.
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