Rainbow Connection

Adam Wagner, of Oakland, Calif., is a creative lead at Patreon, the crowdfunding site for content creators. In 2019 he won a $10,000 grand prize as a contestant on the Game Show Network's Best Ever Trivia Show.

This clever crossword, which is Adam's 22^nd for The Times, doesn't focus on trivia, but the clues for 29-, 82-, 83-, 92- and 107-Across will all test your knowledge.

This puzzle was inspired by my 1 and 3 year olds, who proudly refuse to be governed by the hegemonic lines and designs of the coloring book bourgeoisie. Even though the revealer is color INSIDE THE LINES, something about putting letters where they don't belong in a grid feels true to the way their crayon marks subversively streak across the pages (and walls) of my home.

My original idea was to have a central COLOR INSIDE THE LINES reveal with three hidden colors up top and three below. But this meant ditching INDIGO, and I feel like indigo gets a raw deal in the color world. So I kept it and went with the abridged reveal instead. Curious to hear if the constructors in the crowd would've done the same.

As for you solvers — I figured since this puzzle plays as a themeless once you figure out the trick, I should make sure the cluing shows you an especially good time. To that end, I unloaded an avalanche of wordplay on the editors in my original submission.

A decent chunk didn't make the cut — [Modern day padding for an offensive line?] for NO SHADE, [Cover for a cowboy's cowlick] for STETSON, the meta-crosswordese [E note?] for ADD FUEL. But I've begrudgingly come to accept that there are other ways to make a clue good besides puns — like the quote angles on IRONY/THAT'S or the trivia nuggets on ELM/DESSERT.

Lastly, I always like to throw in one clue just to keep the fact-checkers on their toes. In this case it was [Band whose name is a rhyme scheme their lyrics never featured] for ABBA. It's a shame it got cut, I love the idea of forcing Brad Wilber and company to listen to ABBA's entire oeuvre to confirm it.

The color stripes in Rainbow order hide the letters that make up those color names: RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, INDIGO, and VIOLET.

Crosswords, including those from the NYT, have a colorful history with rainbow themes. In 1993, a young enigmatogist named Will Shortz applied for a job as a crossword editor. He didn't know until after he was offered that the company in question was the Times. He had an inkling, though. The previous editor, Eugene Maleska, had died with no obvious successor in place.

Mr. Shortz represented a radical departure for NYT puzzles. He brought in several innovations — pop culture references, constructor names on the bylines, graduated difficulty through the week, and innovative tricks and gimmicks. He wanted to make his mark right out of the gate, so his first NYT crossword was a rainbow rebus extravaganza by Peter Gordon.

Here are a few others:

• Flying Colors by Rafael Musa in 2023
• Gravity's Rainbow by Ross Trudeau and Lindsey Hobbs in 2021
• Thursday puzzle in 2018 by Milo Beckman and David Steinberg
• Monday puzzle also in 2018 by Michael Wiesenberg and Andrea Carla Michaels
• Lighten Up in 2005 by Patrick Merrell is a novel twist on the theme
• Over the Rainbow in 1981 by Mary Virginia Orna under Eugene Maleska.

Each of these has its own unique take on the theme. Today's gimmick is only possible because they Times can now include color in Sunday puzzles. If your syndicated newspaper still shows only black and white, you likely see a different crossword for this date.