NYT Crossword answers (Oct. 16, 2025) — “How Whiskey Might Be Served”

Thursday’s New York Times crossword by Kareem Ayas hinges on a tidy, literal theme: “How whiskey might be served” — NEAT. The puzzle strips the letter string ICE from each starred entry, so the grid contains shortened forms while the clues point to the full phrases. As an extra touch, no other entry in the fill contains the sequence I-C-E.

Theme mechanic (NEAT = without ICE)

For the seven starred clues, the grid entry omits ICE; mentally add ICE to get the clued phrase. Here’s the mapping you need:

Tricky and notable clues

• 34A “High lights?” → AURORA.
• 41A “Music box?” → AMP.
• 28D “Whom you might greet with open arms, for short?” → TSA.
• 2D “Certain Windows hard drive malfunction” → IOERROR.
• 35D “Enjoys oneself uninhibitedly … or a punny title for this puzzle” → ROCKS OUT.
• 54D “Performed amazingly, in slang” → ATE.
• 25D “What allows Neo to disconnect from the Matrix” → RED PILL.

Complete across answers (grid fill)

Note: Starred across entries are the NEAT forms; add ICE to read the clued phrases shown in the theme table above.

Key down answers (including theme downs)

Theme-down reminders: 3D, 10D, and 41D appear in the grid without ICE and expand to NOTICEABLE, OFFICE HOURS, and APPENDICES when read with the theme.

This grid runs 15×15 with 78 words and 36 blocks, and it leans into the concept cleanly: seven theme entries altered the same way and a tidy fill that quietly avoids the ICE sequence everywhere else. If you’re solving postmortem, the tables above reflect what you actually enter in the squares; use the theme mapping to reconcile any starred clue that looked “off” while filling.