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Wordplay, The Crossword Column
‘Peanuts’ or ‘Pickles’
Ease into your solving week with a Neville Fogarty puzzle that’s very relaxing.
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Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
By
Nikita Richardson
Nikita Richardson edits the “
Where to Eat
” restaurant newsletter.
April 26, 2026,
6:00 p.m. ET
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MONDAY PUZZLE
— Neville Fogarty managed to tear himself away from his job as a mathematics lecturer to give us a breezy puzzle to kick off the week. Today’s crossword handsomely rewarded me for my obsession with pop culture and taught me some very interesting facts from 1978 about a certain Olympic gold medalist who defeated Muhammad Ali and a certain humorist and columnist who was at the height of her powers.
After all what are tough clues, but a form of trivia and another opportunity to learn something new about the world?
Today’s Theme
My own career in gaming has never been all that modern. (My favorites include The Sims, around since 2000, and a handful of games on the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64.) But I have been to one of those experiential bars where you can play as many virtual reality games as your inner ear can tolerate, and I had a pretty good time. There, you have to use the [Device worn by a video gamer … or a hint to 17-, 24- 39- and 53-Across], known as a VR HEADSET.
V and R form the backbone of today’s theme, which I admit I did not figure out until after I’d completed the puzzle. But without knowing the theme just yet, I figured out 17A [Singer’s recovery period], 24A [Pumice or basalt] and, of course, 39A [Spinoff of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”] because I know a sexy, unique clue when I see one. Solving those three early on broke the puzzle wide open for me.
Tricky Clues
19A. [“Catch my drift?”] or GET ME is slangy way of asking if someone is picking up what you’re putting down.
20A. In this case, [Shop] is a noun, not a verb. We’re looking for a synonym: STORE.
50A. The real difficulty with this clue is the spelling. For [______ of hand (magician’s skill)], we’re not looking for slight, thin fingers, but deft and SLEIGHT ones.
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