You’re staring at the grid. The timer is ticking away in the top corner of your screen, and you’ve got almost everything filled in except for that one pesky corner. Then you see it: a clue about squiggly lines over a garbage can. If you’re a regular at the New York Times Crossword or their newer hit, Connections, you know exactly the kind of frustration I’m talking about.
It feels like a trick. It kind of is.
But honestly, these visual descriptions are the bread and butter of modern puzzle construction. When the NYT crossword editors, like Will Shortz or Sam Ezersky, look for ways to stump seasoned solvers, they often pivot away from literal definitions and toward "visual literalism."
The Visual Logic of the NYT Crossword
The squiggly lines over garbage can NYT clue usually points to one specific thing: stink.
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Think about old-school Sunday morning cartoons. When a character walked past a dumpster, the animators didn't write "this smells bad" in a speech bubble. They drew three or four vertical, wavy lines rising from the trash. In the world of crosswords, these are often referred to as "wafts" or simply "stink lines."
It’s a classic trope. You've seen it in The Simpsons, Looney Tunes, and basically every comic strip since the 1950s. The crossword relies on this shared cultural shorthand. When you see a clue like "Visual representation of a stench," or "Lines above a cartoon trash can," the answer is almost certainly STINK or ODOR.
Sometimes, though, the puzzle gets a bit more "meta."
If the answer is four letters, you’re looking at PHEW or OUCH (if it’s a metaphorical stinker). But more often than not, the NYT is testing your ability to translate an image into a word. This is a cognitive leap. You aren't just retrieving a synonym from your mental dictionary; you are decoding a drawing that isn't even on the page.
Why Puzzlers Get Stuck on Cartoon Physics
The problem is that our brains don't always toggle between "word mode" and "image mode" easily. When you are deep in a Saturday puzzle—which is famously the hardest day of the week—your brain is primed for obscure trivia or complex wordplay. You're thinking about 17th-century poets or rare minerals. You aren't thinking about Oscar the Grouch.
Then, the editor drops a "gimme" that’s actually a trap.
By describing a visual icon, the puzzle forces you to simplify your thinking. It’s a palate cleanser. Or a brick wall. Depending on how your morning coffee is hitting.
Semantic Variations: What Else Could It Be?
While STINK is the heavy hitter, the NYT isn't above a bit of variety. Depending on the grid's needs, those squiggly lines might represent something else entirely.
Consider the word AROMA. Usually, aroma is reserved for something pleasant, like a steaming pie on a windowsill. But in the irreverent world of NYT wordplay, a clever constructor might use "Squiggly lines over a pot" to lead you there.
There's also HEAT. If the garbage can is in a back alley in a noir-themed puzzle, those lines might represent "heat haze." However, that’s a bit of a stretch for the standard NYT difficulty curve.
Let's look at the actual data from past puzzles. In several instances over the last decade, variations of this clue have appeared:
- "Lines from a tail pipe"
- "Lines over a hot pie"
- "Cartoonish indicators of bad breath"
Each of these uses the "wavy line" imagery to denote something invisible—smell, heat, or gas. The garbage can is just the most common vessel for this specific brand of humor.
The "Connections" Factor
With the rise of the NYT Connections game, the squiggly lines over garbage can NYT mystery has taken on a new life. In Connections, you aren't just looking for one word; you're looking for a category.
Imagine a group that includes:
- Bacon strips
- Medusa’s hair
- A river on a map
- Lines over a trash can
The connection? Things that are "wavy." This is where people lose their streaks. They get caught up in the "trash" aspect and try to link it to "waste" or "refuse." But the NYT is more interested in the geometry of the clue. The squiggles are the key, not the garbage.
Expert Tips for Solving Visual Clues
If you want to stop being tripped up by these, you need to change your approach to the "clue-answer" relationship.
First, look at the punctuation. Does the clue have a question mark at the end? In NYT parlance, a question mark means "don't take this literally." But ironically, with visual clues, the question mark often means "take this extremely literally as a drawing."
Second, count your vowels. Words like STINK, SMELL, and ODOR have very different vowel structures. If you have an 'O' in the second slot, it’s ODOR. If you have an 'I' in the middle, you’re looking at STINK.
Third, consider the "meta" vibe of the puzzle. If the puzzle's theme is "Animated Adventures" or "Sunday Funnies," lean into the cartoon logic.
Honestly, the best solvers are the ones who can think like a child and an academic at the same time. You need to know that The Waste Land was written by T.S. Eliot, but you also need to know that a trash can with lines over it means it's smelly.
The Cultural History of the "Stink Line"
Believe it or not, there’s actually a technical term for these symbols in the world of cartooning. Mort Walker, the creator of the Beetle Bailey comic strip, coined a whole vocabulary for these marks in his book The Lexicon of Comicana.
He called them wafts.
Other symbols include "plewds" (the sweat drops that fly off a nervous character's head) and "briffits" (the little clouds of dust left behind when a character runs away).
While the NYT crossword hasn't yet used "wafts" as a common answer—it's a bit too niche—understanding that these symbols have a name can help you recognize them as a distinct category of clue. You aren't just guessing; you're identifying a "waft."
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Moving Forward With Your Solve
The next time you encounter a clue about squiggly lines over a garbage can, don't overthink it. Don't go looking for synonyms for "disposal" or "rubbish."
Instead, close your eyes and picture a comic strip.
What is that drawing trying to tell you without using words? Usually, it's telling you that something is ripe.
To improve your speed on these types of clues:
- Study the "Comicana" vocabulary. Familiarize yourself with how cartoonists represent invisible forces.
- Scan the cross-references. If the clue mentions another part of the grid, check there first.
- Ignore the "garbage" and focus on the "lines." Often, the object being described is just a distraction from the shape of the lines themselves.
By mastering the visual shorthand of the NYT editors, you’ll shave minutes off your solve time and avoid the mid-morning frustration of a broken streak. Keep your eyes on the squiggles.