Force Play: NYT Sunday Crossword of May 4

May 11, 2025

The New York Times Sunday Crossword Puzzle of May 4, 2025 was by Brandon Koppy and titled Force Play.

The theme of the puzzle was that eight squares contained not one but two letters, the latter one being U. There was one hint clue to the scheme: 70-Across: [Sci-fi-inspired greeting that’s a hint to eight squares in this puzzle]. I could see the famous Star Wars line MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU almost fit, but was short by a letter. The answer: MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU. I had to look up whether this was a real greeting, and it is—it started as a pun on the movie quote and gave rise to the unofficial recognition of May 4 (”MAY THE FOURTH”) as Star Wars Day.

The answer hints that eight squares in the puzzle have two letters, with a U (“WITH YOU”), and that these squares appear as the fourth (“FOURTH”) square of the clue, counting from the start of an Across clue.

The double-fills are read both for the Across and Down clue. The pairs:

• 22-Across [Product that “can cut a slice of bread so thin you can almost see through it!”, in old ads]: GINSU KNIFE and 23-Down [“Well, OK”]: SURE. I had not heard of ginsu knives, a Japanese-sounding pseudoword.
• 34-Across [Bunless cookout entrees]: LETTUCE WRAPS and 8-Down [Dew, for example]: MOISTURE. This stumped me until I realized one of the squares was a double-fill.
• 44-Across [Book review of sorts?]: IRS AUDITS and 45-Down [The Masters host city]: AUGUSTA. I liked the first clue, but I didn’t know Augusta.
• 52-Across [Given reluctantly]: BEGRUDGING and 53-Down [Countrylike]: RUSTIC. This is where I first discovered the double-fill scheme, though I hadn’t yet solved the hint clue.
• 87-Across [Companion who might take your breath away?]: BLOW UP DOLL and 88-Down [Big name in organs]: WURLITZER. The first was funny—my favorite clue of this puzzle. But I didn’t know Wurlitzer for the second.
• 97-Across [Over and over] AD NAUSEAM and 93-Down [Routes across low waters]: CAUSEWAYS. I didn’t know how to spell “nauseam”, and didn’t know causeways.
• 107-Across [Famous Leonardo da Vinci drawing with four arms and four legs]: VITRUVIAN MAN and 102-Down [Just what the doctor ordered?]: DRUG. I recognized the drawing, but didn’t remember the title Vitruvian.
• 122-Across [Steaminess]: SENSUALITY and 123-Down [Sport that takes place in a dohyo]: SUMO.

Beyond the Star Wars Day theme, I found myself struggling with a lot of cultural knowledge I just don’t have: I didn’t know that the U.S. Masters golf tournament is held in Augusta, that Arrid is a deodorant brand, that there is an actress nicknamed KStew, or that there is a Pixar film called Coco. And so on. Some things to note:

• [Follower of a bit?]: MUCH. I was sure MORE would be a perfect fill, so it took a while to find the correct answer.
• [Antique purchase for an audiophile?]: HIFI. This makes little sense to me as I don’t see why high-fidelity technology is “antique”. I had LOFI filled in at first.
• [Ballet handrail]: BARRE. I didn’t know this word.
• [Grp. with so-called “camp shows”]: USO, the United Service Organization which provides live entertainment to the US military. I didn’t know this, and initially filled USA guessing the USA television network had such shows.
• [Dune buggy, e.g., in brief]: ATV, or all-terrain vehicle. This is inaccurate according to my Google search: dune buggies are not considered a type of ATV.
• [Photog’s setting]: F-STOP. This is the aperture setting, also known as the focal ratio, which controls exposure and depth of field. I did not know this.
• [Third degrees?]: PHDS. I feared this might be the answer. I don’t think it’s valid: it seems to assume academic degrees go in the sequence bachelors, masters, doctorate, which is not necessarily the case.
• [Witticisms]: BON MOTS. I didn’t know this. Bon mot is literally “good word” in French and means a clever remark.
• [Screwdriver component]: VODKA, referring to the cocktail. Funny.
• [Alphanumeric component]: DIGIT. I had initially considered this but rejected it because it only makes sense for numbers, not letters. So why mention alphanumeric? I guess to throw us off, but I didn’t find it satisfying.

Final thoughts

Overall, this one was more frustrating than fun—between trivia I didn’t know and clues I found questionable. The theme was appropriate for its publication a day after Star Wars Day, but I received the newspaper a week late due to a mistake, and now I’m behind on solving the Sunday crossword. Here’s hoping I have a better time next week.