--- title: Neil deGrasse Tyson New York Times Crossword Puzzle description: Neil de Grasse Tyson wrote a charming NYT crossword puzzle packed with puns for the crossword puzzle's 75th anniversary. canonical: https://time.com/4707381/neil-degrasse-tyson-crossword-puzzle/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-20T21:51:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:02.998Z og:title: Neil deGrasse Tyson's Crossword Puzzle Is a Total Delight og:description: Question: "Toe testing the waters?" A: "Little Dipper." og:url: https://time.com/4707381/neil-degrasse-tyson-crossword-puzzle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Neil deGrasse Tyson's Crossword Puzzle Is a Total Delight twitter:description: Question: "Toe testing the waters?" A: "Little Dipper." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Neil deGrasse Tyson Blessed Us With an Out-of-this-World Delightful Crossword Puzzle  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 20, 2017 9:51 PM UTC  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 20, 2017 9:51 PM UTC [Neil deGrasse Tyson](http://time.com/3971472/neil-degrasse-tyson-explains-universe/) is one of science’s foremost authorities, but he can now claim cultural prominence in another field: the art of writing [crossword puzzles](http://time.com/4408334/crossworld-puzzle-art-filled-in-91-year-old-woman/). In honor of the [75th anniversary of the _New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/19/crosswords/quite-a-distance-off-garp-scales-nobel.html) crossword (which first debuted on [Feb. 15, 1942](http://investors.nytco.com/press/press-releases/press-release-details/2017/The-New-York-Times-Crossword-Celebrates-75th-Anniversary/default.aspx),) Tyson teamed up with _Times_ puzzle maven Andrea Carla Michaels, to create a crossword puzzle for this Monday that is truly out of this world. As might be expected, the puzzle’s theme has a strong focus on space, with plenty of puns and Tyson’s well-documented sense of humor sprinkled throughout. An example of one of star-related clues and answers? “Toe testing the waters?” corresponds with the “Little Dipper.” You can play Tyson’s space-themed masterpiece [here](https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/index.html?page=home&%5Fr=0). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4707381/neil-degrasse-tyson-crossword-puzzle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4707381/neil-degrasse-tyson-crossword-puzzle/"},"headline":"Neil deGrasse Tyson Blessed Us With an Out-of-this-World Delightful Crossword Puzzle","datePublished":"2017-03-20T21:51:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:02.998Z","description":"This puzzle is out of this world","url":"https://time.com/4707381/neil-degrasse-tyson-crossword-puzzle/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Science topic","neil degrasse tyson","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4707381/neil-degrasse-tyson-crossword-puzzle/","name":"Neil deGrasse Tyson Blessed Us With an Out-of-this-World Delightful Crossword Puzzle"}}]}] ```