Tuesday, September 8, 2026 — A Terrific Tuesday Debut! ❤️

We are pleased to report that Sunny Maharjan has joined the elite pantheon of NYTimes crossword constructors. This, his debut, is a gem. It was a quick solve (especially for Jean), but the theme was a hoot and a half (which we conjecture is a well-known adage, somewhere — we just don't know where). What we do know is that the rest of the grid had some abfab clues, such as 67A, College, to Aussies, UNIS; 15D, Shape of conchiglie pasta, SHELL (ok, now we know); and 1D, Jaguar's home, JUNGLE (no...