THURSDAY PUZZLE — I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that the puzzle editors got the days mixed up again. You’re thinking that the Thursday puzzle was easier than the Wednesday puzzle, primarily because we had our rebus in the Wednesday puzzle. Whereas the Thursday puzzle by Ricky Cruz, who makes his New York Times debut, has no rebus at all.

But I don’t think that’s the case. There is a lot to reflect on in this crossword, and there is nary a revealer to help us. There is some lively cluing and general knowledge to know. “One harder than Wednesday” is the rule for Thursdays, and even if there is no high-wire trick to this puzzle, it still qualifies as a Thursday level crossword and, in my opinion, is a very nice debut.

Tricky Clues

1A: A “Queen or king, e.g.” in this puzzle is a chess PIECE.

6A: “Make way?” can mean to step aside for someone or something, but in this puzzle it hints at actually making a way for people. The answer is PAVE.

19A: “Number of operas?” is not a counting exercise. The clue is asking us to think of what a musical number in an opera is called, and that would be an ARIA.