NY Times Blasted for Crossword Puzzle Design Resembling Swastika

[additional-authors]

Aaron Bandler

December 20, 2022

Photo by Jewish Journal staff

The New York Times is facing criticism on social media over a crossword puzzle that some say looks like a swastika.

The crossword puzzle appeared in the paper on December 18, the first night of Hanukkah.

Today’s New York Times crossword is um…making me nervous. pic.twitter.com/73CafLiy3Z

— Blake Flayton (@blakeflayton) December 18, 2022

Twitter users excoriated the Times over the crossword puzzle’s shape.

“Disgusting!” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted. “Only the New York Times would get Chanukah going with this is the crossword puzzle. Imagine what they would do to someone who did this and was not ideologically aligned with them? I’ll give them the same benefit of the doubt they would give those people… EXACTLY ZERO.”

Disgusting! Only the New York Times would get Chanukah going with this is the crossword puzzle. Imagine what they would do to someone who did this and was not ideologically aligned with them? I’ll give them the same benefit of the doubt they would give those people… EXACTLY ZERO pic.twitter.com/eZHr0SQbT4

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 18, 2022

“A hidden Happy Chanukah message in today’s [New York Times] crossword?” New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger tweeted.

A hidden Happy Chanukah message in today's @nytimes crossword? pic.twitter.com/iFVPQdTWSi

— Kalman Yeger (@KalmanYeger) December 18, 2022

Civil rights lawyer Brooke Goldstein, who also founded the End Jew Hatred grassroots movement, tweeted, “The New York Times has had a hard time telling the truth about Israel and Jews – this week they published a crossword in the shape of a swastika. @EndJewHatred decided to help them out during this time of rising Jew hate. Share this image which was projected on the NYT in [New York City]!” The image showed the “#EndJewHatred” logo projected onto the headquarters of the Times.

The New York Times has had a hard time telling the truth about Israel and Jews – this week they published a crossword in the shape of a swastika. @EndJewHatred decided to help them out during this time of rising Jew hate.

Share this image which was projected on the NYT in NYC! pic.twitter.com/A7vAxcDHsp

— Brooke Goldstein (@GoldsteinBrooke) December 19, 2022

Alexandra Fleksher, an op-ed writer for the Orthodox Jewish publication Mishpacha Magazine, tweeted, “Even if the @nytimes crossword swastika wasn’t intentional, someone should have caught it.”

Even if the @nytimes crossword swastika wasn’t intentional, someone should have caught it.

— Alexandra Fleksher (@alexfleksher) December 20, 2022

On the other hand, writer Bethany Mandel, who also edits the children’s book series “Heroes of Liberty,” tweeted, “Y’all someone physically assaults a Jew almost every day in New York City. The random shape of the New York Times crossword is not a thing and don’t try to make it one. We have actual problems on our hands.”

Y’all someone physically assaults a Jew almost every day in New York City. The random shape of the New York Times crossword is not a thing and don’t try to make it one. We have actual problems on our hands.

— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) December 19, 2022

A spokesperson for the Times told the fact-checking website Snopes, “This is a common crossword design: Many open grids in crosswords have a similar spiral pattern because of the rules around rotational symmetry and black squares.” Snopes also noted that the designer of the puzzle, Ryan McCarty, had said he “had originally tried to make it work in a 15×15 grid but then decided to expand the grid out to a Sunday-size puzzle with a fun whirlpool shape.” However, Snopes ultimately ruled that the claim that the puzzle “somewhat resembled a swastika shape” was “true.”

This is not the first time that people have accused a Times crossword puzzle of looking like a swastika; in 2017, the Times’s Games Twitter account wrote: “It’s NOT a swastika. Honest to God. No one sits down to make a crossword puzzle and says, ‘Hey! You know what would look cool?’”