It also seems to be Howard Barkin’s and the puzzle editors’s mottos, since Mr. Barkin’s crossword starts our solving week with a smooth puzzle. Today’s ThemeAll three theme entries in Mr. Barkin’s 15x16 grid are making debuts, while the “Kind of ice cream suggested by the starts of 21-, 27- and 47-Across,” NEAPOLITAN, has not been in The New York Times Crossword since 1987. Even then, it was clued as “Certain Italian,” and not as the banded assortment of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream that makes up what we call a Neapolitan. Before that, there was some mention of this mixed flavor ice cream. Mr. Barkin offers us a set of theme entries where the first word in each answer is one of the flavors.

Source: New York Times February 10, 2019 22:52 UTC