Today’s ThemeThe first thing to note is that there are five gray squares in Mr. Ezersky’s (and his housemate, Nick’s) grid. There are five different words for “hat” in the puzzle, but you will have to look for them. For example, at 27A, the clue is “ Casting doubt on ,” and the answer should be CALLING INTO QUESTION. How could Mr. Ezersky (and his housemate, Nick) do this to us? Constructor NotesToday’s puzzle is dedicated to my housemate, Nick.

Source: New York Times December 15, 2018 23:00 UTC