The New York Times on Sunday responded to a wave of criticism over the design of its crossword, which many prominent Jewish figures said resembled a swastika.
“This is a common crossword design: many open grids in crosswords have a similar spiral pattern due to the rules surrounding rotational symmetry and black squares,” a Times spokesman told on Monday.
The puzzle’s silhouette has caused a stir on social media, with several prominent Jewish leaders and political figures expressing their outrage – particularly since it was released on the first night of Hanukkah.
Some claim the pattern — which is striking and jumps off the page even at first glance — is a coincidence, while others claimed it was one of the latest and most brazen examples of the newspaper’s alleged history of anti-Israel rhetoric.
In another controversy, Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to return to the post of prime minister after the country’s recent elections, blasted the Times for an editorial criticizing his right-wing coalition.
The New York Times on Sunday responded to a wave of criticism over the design of its crossword, which many prominent Jewish figures said resembled a swastika
The New York Times crossword editor, Will Shortz, has been with the newspaper since 1993 and oversees the newspaper’s popular word puzzles
“After years of burying the Holocaust on its back pages and decades of demonizing Israel on its front pages, The New York Times now shamefully calls for undermining Israel’s elected new government,” Netanyahu tweeted Sunday.
Although Netanyahu did not address the crossword controversy, other critics were quick to link the puzzle to the publication’s editorial positions on Israel.
Israeli media network Israel Nation News pointed out that the mystery came a day after the Times editorial warning about the new Israeli government led by Netanyahu.
The outlet went on to ask its 38,000 followers if they thought the disturbing images were intentional or not. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a query from on Saturday night when faced with the same question.
Netanyahu, ousted last year after four years in office, has maintained a firm stance on Palestine in his border struggle over Gaza.
After an election victory last month, he is expected to return to power as head of the country’s most right-wing government.
In another controversy, Israeli politician Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the Times for an editorial criticizing his right-wing coalition
In the article published on Saturday, The Times warned that “Netanyahu’s government, however, poses a significant threat to Israel’s future – its direction, its security and even the very idea of a Jewish homeland.”
The Times also faced setbacks during the Holocaust for making little mention of the mass extermination of European Jews during Hitler’s conquest of the continent.
Out of more than 24,000 front-page reports over this period, the Nazis’ systemic killings were mentioned only 26 times, and often only the victims as “refugees” or “persecuted minorities.”
The newspaper is run by AG Sulzberger – the sixth member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to serve as editors for The Times since the newspaper was bought by Adolph Ochs in 1896. The family is of both German and Jewish descent.
Other people who expressed concern about Sunday’s crossword included two prominent New York politicians and several Jewish groups and leaders.
NYC Council member Kalman Yeger wrote, “A hidden Happy Hanukkah message in today’s @nytimes crossword?”, while his counterpart, Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, shared his post while exuding similar disbelief, writing, “Seriously @nytimes !?“
SAFE CUNY, a coalition of City University of New York scholars and students devoted to the Zionist movement, wrote: “Today’s Crossword Puzzle from the New York Times for Hanukkah. Pretty much sums up @nytimes over the last few years regarding Jews and Israel.’
The organization serves as a kind of anti-Semitism watchdog, flagging local authorities in their colleges across the city.
It’s not the first time a Times crossword has been criticized for resembling a swastika.
A similar incident happened in 2017, and at the time the newspaper tweeted, “Yes, hello. It is NOT a swastika. Honest to God. No one sits down to do a crossword and says, “Hey! You know what would look cool?”